Five Days With The Fabulous Fold

Samsung’s Galaxy Fold is quite a marvel despite being just a first step with a new form factor.

- Mala Bhargava

The Galaxy Fold may have had its initial troubles but that isn’t stopping early adopters with cash to spare from buying the interesting new gadget, now that it’s back with better safeguards. People around me are accustomed to seeing me with new phones, but I now often get comments on how I ‘haven’t seen nothing’ because I don’t have that fabulous foldable phone on me. Well, now I do but won’t let anyone touch it as it makes me stop breathing to see someone else handling it too casually. Fragility is a fear with this device, though I managed to give it back undamaged.

The Galaxy Fold may seem like an extension of our regular smartphone, and it is in some ways, but it really is a whole new form factor calling for totally new usage behaviour. When the Fold is folded up, it definitely is thick and heavy when compared with regular phones. It’s even heavier than a cordless phone. It would strain any pocket and you would feel its weight in a handbag. But it’s also narrow enough to grip firmly in the hand. Most people of a certain age who see it immediately think back to the Nokia Communicator with great nostalgia. That had a keyboard fitted into one half but users loved it despite all the thumb-work they had to do.

Usable screen

On the Galaxy Fold, the closed up version has a usable screen on the top and nothing on the bottom or underneath. The top or cover screen fits in a 4.6 inch display, leaving quite a bit of room all around, making it look like a miniature or toy screen fitted into a larger space. I suppose we are now used to seeing displays so big they spill right over the sides, maximising usable area. But the Fold’s cameras and other components do have to go somewhere, so this is how it is.