Can the folding screen mobile phone be the main mobile phone？ I tried Samsung Fold2 on National Day.

Original leon ye pinwan

Author: leon ye

Mailbox, yeliyan@pingwest.com

The official price of Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G (hereinafter referred to as Fold2) is as high as 16,999 RMB, which is probably the most valuable digital product I have ever used.

As the successor model of Samsung Galaxy Fold, which was released in December last year, the Fold2 launched by Samsung only nine months ago did not attract as much attention as its predecessors. Even though the first generation of Fold has many shortcomings in products, as the first mass-produced folding screen mobile phone, the significance of its smooth sale is greater than everything else-"the first foldable screen mobile phone that can be bought" is enough to support the sky-high price of the first generation of Fold of 15,999 yuan among geek players.

Fold2, which has unloaded all kinds of "first" auras, must be examined in a more practical context. As a long-term user of the original Fold and other brands of folding screen mobile phones, I bought this Fold2 at my own expense on the day of the launch of the Bank of China out of my crazy love for all geek toys. During the National Day holiday, I used Fold2 as much as possible to replace other digital devices I have, and traveled light-the purpose is to test what Fold 2 can do and what the experience is in the second year after the folding screen device entered our hands.

A more usable mobile phone: wider external screen and stronger camera module.

No matter how it is defined, Fold2, a folding screen device, first exists as a smart phone-from my own experience, it really takes me far more time to fold and use the original Fold as a mobile phone than when it is unfolded as a tablet.

As an ordinary smart phone-this is the most lacking part of my experience when I used the original Fold in the past. The narrow external screen of the first generation of Fold makes most of the routine operations we have long been used to on mobile phones extremely difficult-typing, reading a slightly longer message, or even just pulling down the notification bar and clicking the next button to switch songs. The probability of wrong input is much higher than that of doing the same operation on ordinary mobile phones.

Fold2′ s outer screen is bigger, and most importantly, it has finally widened. The most intuitive comparison is that the width of the Fold2 outer screen is actually wider than that of the iPhone SE generation. Of course, compared with the ordinary smart phone that is nearly 7 inches now, the Fold2 outer screen is still mini, but its size absolutely ensures the usability of ordinary operations. Cheers, users who are used to full keyboard typing like me. The crazy experience when using the original Fold is gone forever.

▲ The external screen of Fold 2 is wider than that of iPhone SE generation.

Although the effect of opening the Fold2 and using the huge internal screen as the viewfinder is very shocking when taking pictures, I still use it as a mobile phone to take snapshots in the folded state in daily use. During the long vacation, in addition to scanning codes and documents, I also used it to take photos of my travels and share them on social media. As far as the proofs are concerned, although the colorful style of Fold2 is not to my taste, the imaging of wide-angle, main camera and telephoto camera is definitely more than enough for social sharing. It is worth mentioning that the phase quality of the night scene mode on Fold2 is quite good, and the progress is very great compared with the level that the original Fold is close to unusable.

▲ 1.0x main sample

▲ 2.0x telephoto proofs

▲ 0.5x wide-angle proofs

As a smart phone, thanks to the enlarged external screen and camera module with better imaging quality, the usability of Fold2 is significantly improved compared with the original Fold.

A better tablet: durable inner screen and durable hinge.

So how about unfolding Fold2 as a flat plate? We should know that the first generation of Fold media evaluation machine was collectively recalled and the sale was postponed, which was caused by the fragile internal screen and the need to improve the design. Of course, I won’t abuse the Fold2 I bought at my own expense like JerryRigEverything, but from the test results, the UTG ultra-thin glass used in the Fold2 and the improved screen frame buffer pad have enhanced the firmness of the Fold2 screen and ensured that users don’t need to protect their mobile phones too much like taking care of babies.

The durability has also been improved, as well as the hinge part of Fold2. This time, Samsung also brought a similar design in the hinge of Galaxy Z Flip, a mobile phone with the same folding screen, to Fold2, adding a small brush for dust prevention. Similarly, from the actual measurement of JerryRigEverything, the new structure has a quite good barrier effect on dust and sand.

▲ The test that you definitely won’t do proves that Fold2 is dustproof (Source: JerryRigEverything)

As far as my own short-term use experience in the past three weeks is concerned, there is no damage to the inner screen and hinge-a few scratches caused by the fierce battle of Wild Fighting only appear on the protective film pasted at the factory. This protective film, which Samsung does not recommend users to remove by themselves, may be very important for the protection of the Fold2 inner screen, but it is similar to the sticky feeling brought by rubber to fingers, which also compromises the smooth touch that the ultra-thin glass of the inner screen should have.

As a flat panel, Fold 2 removes the huge "oblique bangs" on the original Fold, uses a perforated camera design, and adopts a screen with a high refresh rate of 120 Hz and excellent impression, which can be said to have achieved a leap in entertainment experience. With dual speakers and the Flex mode brought by the hovering hinge, Fold2 is the best entertainment equipment for me when I watch games during the intermission of travel and in hotels. Among them, the new 120 Hz high refresh rate internal screen, which brings the greatest improvement to the look and feel, not only stays in fluency, but once and for all solves the problem that the left and right half screens of the original Fold are not synchronized when the refresh rate is 60 Hz.

▲ Flex mode (Source: Samsung)

It is true that Fold2, as a tablet, also needs to face the App adaptation problem common to almost all other Android tablets. But after solving the regret left by the original Fold on the screen and hinge, Fold2 has evolved into a better tablet.

A good computer: software and hardware that need to be improved

In the past three weeks, I unexpectedly enjoyed using my Fold2 as a computer-although Samsung officials did not make any publicity in this regard. During the trip, a portable Bluetooth keyboard was connected and the bracket of the fiber protective case was opened, and Fold2 became a small notebook computer. Samsung’s adaptation to multitasking on the software level is very complete, from split screen and windowing to Edge Panel side screen panels that can be exhaled at any time. Fold2, which combines all these functions, with the good endurance of the machine itself and the support for 5G, is fully qualified for the notebook role used for code words when traveling.

▲ Fold2 that I used as a laptop.

Of course, to truly become your next computer, Samsung Fold series needs more improvements-for example, Samsung must add support for first-party accessories of Fold series, including magnetic keyboard and S Pen; For example, Fold products should be allowed to directly enter the dex desktop mode like Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 after an external keyboard is connected. For example, the current Dex desktop mode still has a lot of room for improvement, and there is still a significant delay when using the scroll wheel for sliding operation, and so on.

It is completely feasible to use Fold2 as a computer now-for example, this text was written entirely on Fold2-but to make it fully competent for this role, Samsung needs to make more efforts in both software experience improvement and hardware adaptation.

Practice from Imperfect to Perfect

Even in 2020, when the price of the flagship mobile phone has already exceeded 10,000 yuan, it is still very difficult to defend any mobile phone with a asking price of nearly 17,000 yuan-but from my actual experience in the past three weeks, the functions realized by Fold2 are completely worth its seemingly outrageous price-whether Fold 2 is folded as a mobile phone or unfolded as a tablet, these two experiences are very close to the top level of these two categories. In the second year after the folding screen entered the mass production market, Fold2, as Samsung’s answer sheet, was almost perfect.

But almost perfect means still not perfect. Among consumer electronics products, computer manufacturers have also begun to try to apply folding screen technology to broaden the application scenarios of notebook computers. Will mobile phone manufacturers represented by Samsung take over the desktop torch of mobile phones that started from Motorola Atrix 4G and continue to explore and try in the direction of mobile productivity?

▲ Application of Folding Screen in Notebook Computer ThinkPad X1 Fold (Source: Lenovo)

In addition, although from the evaluation of a number of technology media and the evaluation of buyers, Fold2 has indeed been favored by technology aborigines, but the generally high price of folding screen equipment is still the biggest resistance to the public users. The entry-level version of Fold, which had been rumored for a long time and was more affordable to the people, failed to appear at this year’s Samsung Galaxy Unpacked conference. It seems that it will take time for this rapidly mature technology to enter the hands of the public.

However, it only took less than a year from the first generation of Fold to the almost perfect Fold2, which has nothing to do with the word "perfect"-and the practice of folding screen technology will not last long from the crowd to the public.

Original title: "Can the folding screen mobile phone be the main machine? I tried Samsung Fold2 on National Day.

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