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  • The Galaxy Foldan ambitious new take on what smartphones can do and what smartphones

  • can look like. Today we're going to see what the Galaxy Fold is made ofboth physically

  • and metaphorically. This is a brand new sealed retail Korean version of the Galaxy Fold:

  • version 2, since version 1 never quite made it to public market. Maybe if we bend this

  • fold backwards far enough in the wrong direction, we can snap it into two phones instead of

  • just one. You never know unless you try.

  • Let's get started.

  • [Intro]

  • So right out of the box, this phone of the future has many warnings for us: Avoid pressing

  • too hard on the screen, only tap it lightly, the phone is not water or dust resistant and

  • don't allow any foreign objects into it. Also don't attach anything to the main screenno

  • screen protectors. And keep the Fold away from objects affected by magnets like credit

  • cards.

  • Those all seem like pretty big issues to me. Cell phones are quite possibly some of the

  • most accidentally abused pieces of technology on the planet and Samsung's there telling

  • us not to touch it very hard. Not very confidence inducing. Before we commence the first fold,

  • let's see what's inside the box.

  • Underneath the phone holder we have a note written in what looks like Korean. Google

  • Translate on my Galaxy S8 Plus shows that it's another little hype paragraph for the

  • phone. The Galaxy Fold also comes with a case. A very thin layer of carbon fiber material.

  • It just snaps onto either half of the phone. I guess any protection is good protection.

  • And underneath that we have the wireless Galaxy earbuds and the normal USB-C charger.

  • Let's get back to the fold. Right off the bat this thing definitely feels good. It feels

  • solid, well engineered and very well planned out, even without folding it yet. There is

  • a visible crease running down the center of the display. It's not as visible when the

  • screen is turned on, but still definitely there. Now this is only the second folding

  • smartphone I've ever come across in real life, but while folding, it's definitely the better

  • feel of the two. The hinge makes the phone feel like it's supposed to bend easily and

  • smoothly, and then softly clicks into the closed position and is held shut with it's

  • magnets. And it does all this very gently. When I would fold the Royale Flexpai hinge,

  • the foldable phone I tested previously, it was more of a spring that always wanted to

  • stay in the open position and it did not want to fold on it's own free will. The Galaxy

  • Fold feels much more natural. Honestly, if this phone survives the durability test, I

  • might even switch to it as my daily driver.

  • It feels pretty awesome. The fold also has a much smaller profile than the Flexpai. The

  • Royale Flexpai seen here in it's very well-loved condition. It has a much larger footprint

  • than the Galaxy Fold when it's opened, as well as when it's closed. As a matter of fact,

  • the closed Flexpai is as big as the Galaxy Fold is when it's open, and both of them have

  • some very strong magnets inside. So as far as, you know, form factor goes when talking

  • about phones, I think the Galaxy Fold comes out on top. It's smaller design makes it seem

  • more like a phone, and the Flexpai is more of a folding tablet.

  • The Galaxy Fold has a fully functional front display and can control the whole phone from

  • here. I can activate the front facing camera and then fold open the phone to switch to

  • the internal screen and smoothly switch to the internal front facing camera all at the

  • same time. This thing has 6 total cameras which we'll get to in just a second.

  • This thing is kind of mind blowingly futuristic. It doesn't register that the phone is closing

  • until it actually clicks shut. And then I can go back to using that front screen like

  • a normal phone if I want. It's time to start seeing what this Fold is made of.

  • My Mohs hardness picks can numerically tell the difference between different minerals

  • and materials. Plastic scratches at a level 3. Glass scratches at a level 5 or 6. And

  • sapphire would scratch at a level 8 or 9. This front display is 4.6 inches with a 720p

  • resolution, and starts scratching at level 6 with deeper grooves at a level 7. Pretty

  • normal for a smartphone, even though this phone is anything but normal. Let's mosey

  • on in to the inner display.

  • This thing is much larger at 7.3 inches. With all of Samsung's warnings about the inner

  • display and the previous recall due to display fragility, we kind of knew this was coming.

  • But still, seeing scratches at a level 2, with deeper grooves at a level 3 kind of just

  • hurts a little. The Galaxy Fold has a screen hardness comparable to Play Doh, soggy bread,

  • or a $2,000 stick of chewing gum. Even my fingernail could do considerable damage to

  • the screen. Granted, we knew the display would need to be made from soft plastic since glass

  • doesn't bend too well, but it's still unfortunate that there's no way to safely add a screen

  • protector.

  • You might be asking yourself, 'But what happens if dirt or sand from my pocket gets caught

  • between the two halves of the phone when it gets closed? Won't that damage the screen?'

  • And most definitely if the grain of sand or piece of dirt is big enough, it will definitely

  • leave an indention on either side of the screen. There is a small gap between the two halves

  • so dust and dirt could slip out, but that same gap could also allow for stuff to slip

  • in. So if you get this phone it might be a good idea to vacuum out your pockets every

  • morning before you put on your pants.

  • Samsung did say this phone is not dust resistant whatsoever, and I believe them and you believe

  • them. But I don't think dust believes them or is going to play by their rules. So let's

  • see what happens if you take this phone to the beach. The phone closes alright. And there's

  • just enough of a gap between the two halves to make this the world's most expensive salt

  • shaker. And somehow, from having dust on top of the screen, there's now sand permanently

  • grinding inside of the phone hinge, which is unfortunate. The screen has a few new minor

  • nicks, scratches and divots, but it's still amazing how quickly the dust got inside the

  • phone. I understand this was a lot of little rocks, but still, the phone's only been alive

  • for about 5 minutes. I thought the newly added hinge lips were supposed to help keep dust

  • out. And they don't seem to be working too well.

  • Samsung says they mimic the precision of watch mechanics with a lot of little gears inside

  • for smooth articulation. Those internal gears definitely need more dust and dirt protection

  • than what they have right now. We'll get a closer look at how the hinge works from the

  • inside during the teardown.

  • The frame of the Galaxy Fold is made from metal, along with both the power button and

  • volume rockerboth metal. At the top of the phone we find a microphone hole and a

  • loudspeaker grill. And right about here is where we see the unfortunate gravity of soft

  • displays. Did you catch that? Let's rewind a little and watch that again.

  • While I'm rotating the phone, the tip of my razor catches the raised lip around the edge

  • of the dynamic AMOLED display and pops the pixels like a marshmallow on a roasting stick,

  • literally killing an entire line of pixels across the screen on the Galaxy Fold. One

  • wrong move, one little accident, and now the whole top section of my phone is dead. Pixels,

  • as well as touch sensitivity. The whole thing has gone kind of hay-wire all from that one

  • little prick. This would never happen inside of a normal phone. And now the full screen

  • doesn't even want to turn on half the time. And we haven't even gotten to the bend test

  • yet. I'm not a huge fan of this new development.

  • Let's keep going anyway. The Galaxy Fold does have a SIM card tray but no expandable memory.

  • At least this tray has a rubber ring to keep some dust out. If only the rest of the phone

  • had this same feature. The bottom of the phone has USB-C and no headphone jack. But since

  • Samsung actually included a pair of wireless headphones in the box, I'm pretty okay with

  • it.

  • The center articulated spine of the Galaxy Fold is made from metal. It's also interesting

  • to note that Samsung has carved their logo and inlayed little reflective letterings inside

  • each of the little grooves. This usually looks super cool for about the first year or so,

  • and then the letters fall out. We've seen it happen on some of the old school Nexus

  • phones.

  • The back panel is made from glass which is good. It makes sense for a phone at a $2,000

  • price point to be made from glass. The raised front lip around the edges of the inner screen

  • is made from plastic. We call this lip Marquez's fault because it's Marquez's fault.

  • If we make our way around to the back side we get the triple camera lens set up and it's

  • covered with glass. The 16 megapixel wide-angle camera up top, the 12 megapixel normal camera

  • in the center, and the 12 megapixel telephoto zoom camera on the bottom.

  • Then over here on the front side of the closed phone, the 10 megapixel exterior selfie camera

  • is also protected by glass. Along with the metal earpiece grill.

  • Then flipping the phone open to the internal cameras, the screen still doesn't really want

  • to function at the moment, we have another 10 megapixel selfie camera, and an 8 megapixel

  • depth sensor for a total of 6 cameras in one phone. Even though Samsung has a very strict

  • rule against sticking screen protectors to the screen, sticking things to the back is

  • actually just fine.

  • Shout out to dbrand's latest limited edition Robot Skin. It's got a pretty awesome eye

  • catching design that proves you can look awesome on the outside, even if you are kind of dead

  • on the inside. I'll leave a link in the description so you can see what your phone looks like

  • with the Robot installed. And thanks to dbrand for sponsoring this video.

  • The screen is still a bit finickynot turning on sometimes and not sensing touch

  • other times. That little poke really did some unfortunate damage. I don't think the lighter

  • is going to make things any better, but with a semi-dead screen and a hinge that sounds

  • like a pepper grinder, I don't think we have much left to lose.

  • After about 7 seconds I could see the pixels going white and starting to burn. But as soon

  • as I pull the lighter away they completely recovered. It's interesting that the plastic

  • on top of the screen s not bubbling or melting like we saw on the flexible display watch

  • or some of the other plastic screen devices we've tested. I burn the screen again for

  • about 10 more seconds and still no damage to the plastic, just the interior pixels.

  • Shutting the phone and flipping it around to check the front screen, it lasted a bit

  • longer at 15 seconds with the heat from my lighter. Glass absorbs some of the heat before

  • it reaches the pixels. Now you can bring up that cool tidbit at parties. The screen does

  • completely recover.

  • Now for the bend test. In perfect factory enclosed pristine conditions folded by robots,

  • Samsung's hinge is rated to over 200,000 folds which means if the Fold gets folded an absurd

  • 200 times a day, it would still last you almost three years. In a non-pristine environment

  • of course, and one contact with a spoonful of dirt, it lasts about 20 folds before the

  • hinge starts sounding like a crumpled up bag of potato chips. But let's say we were to

  • accidentally-on-purpose bend the phone the wrong direction, we already know that the

  • Royale Flexpai survived for a while even after the hinge broke. So let's see what happens

  • to the Galaxy Fold.

  • Flipping the phone around to bend it backwards. And I apply some force. Surprisingly, the

  • hinge remains intact. This is kind of a huge surprise. The last folding phone snapped backwards

  • pretty easily and even the iPad Pro broke easier than this. Samsung's Galaxy Fold might

  • have a few glaring weak points, but the articulating hinge is definitely not one of them. The whole

  • phone still folds in the correct direction, but when folded back the wrong way, all I

  • get is a gentle curve but no permanent damage. The hinge is just as strong as Samsung's normal

  • nonfolding flagships. Pretty incredible. The antenna line is cracking along the frame,

  • but the hinge itself is still 100% functional. And the device is still in one piece.

  • This is a tough one. How should we categorize the Galaxy fold? The structure of the phone

  • is still intact. But the inner screen is basically unusable from that accidental poke I made

  • earlier. Should we say the Galaxy Fold passes the durability test or failed? Let me know

  • down in the comments. Personally, I think when Samsung figures out how to seal the hinge

  • from dust and find a way to allow screen protection, this foldable phone format is gonna be a winner.

  • Do you see yourself ever using a foldable phone? Hit that subscribe button. I'll be

  • right here testing out Samsung's next folding phone as well. And don't forget to check out

  • dbrand's Robot Skin with a link in the description.

  • Come hang out with me on Instagram and Twitter, and thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you

  • around.

The Galaxy Foldan ambitious new take on what smartphones can do and what smartphones

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