Samsung Says No Anticipated Shipping Date Yet For Galaxy Fold (reuters.com) 56
Samsung said on Tuesday it cannot confirm the shipping date for its foldable device Galaxy Fold yet and apologized to its pre-order customers in the United States for the delay. From a report: The world's top smartphone maker delayed global sales of the splashy $1,980 foldable phone after reviewers discovered problems with its display, dealing a setback to Samsung and its efforts to showcase its innovation. "If we do not hear from you and we have not shipped by May 31st, your order will be canceled automatically," the South Korean tech giant's U.S. subsidiary told Galaxy Fold pre-order customers in an email late on Monday, which was confirmed by a Samsung spokeswoman. As per U.S. regulations, Samsung was required to notify customers that the pre-orders would be canceled in the event the product had not been shipped by May. 31, it said in a separate statement to Reuters.
Let us know when they are shipping (Score:3)
Let us know when they are shipping. This would be news. We already know that they don't have a shipping date.
Duke Nukem Forever (Score:2)
Duke Nukem Forever is a longer than the usual forever, especially near the end
Moving parts are always a problem. (Score:3, Interesting)
I rather see Samsung Delay the product until they got it right, then trying to rush to the market, and sell junk.
Folding materials is always a problem because there is always a degree of stress on them, and for the consumer market, they are not expecting to treat the device like it is fine glassware. We saw in the demo, the person folding the phone much like a large book, we watch the YouTube reviewers try to open and close it with one hand snapping movement. Then there are parts and gaps that will pop up, where dirt and grime can get in.
Folding Displays technology has been out for a while, but most companies didn't jump on it, because there are a lot of issues to be addressed. I applaud Samsung for making the attempt vs just waiting for someone else. But after their first set of reviews where people accidentally broke it, with their unboxing. It seems like back to the drawing board.
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I don't don't see you doing any better.
We need to applaud when there is a failure and efforts go out to fix the problem. We have too many companies and people who fail, then try to talk their way around the failure vs. actually trying to fix it.
I have never seen the perfect product, especially one of any complexity. In stead of berating the failure, we should recognize it, point out it isn't ready yet, and go back to the drawing board.
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If I paid $2000 for a phone, I damn sure would.
Re:Moving parts are always a problem. (Score:5, Insightful)
For a $2000 device you're better off buying something that doesn't fold.
Re:Moving parts are always a problem. (Score:4, Funny)
For $2000 you're better off buying two $799 phones, a $399 phone, and some duct tape.
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"for the consumer market, they are not expecting to treat the device like it is fine glassware."
If I paid $2000 for a phone, I damn sure would.
If I paid $2000 for a phone, I'd ask my doctor to give me a brain scan to see how big the tumor is.
But hey, if that's what people want let them have at it.
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So you're saying that cancer causes cell phones?
Terrible design with a promising future (Score:5, Insightful)
I rather see Samsung Delay the product until they got it right, then trying to rush to the market, and sell junk.
That's not really how Samsung rolls. They tend to push products to market pretty much as fast as possible in as many versions as possible. A lot of them are pretty good. Some not so much. They have a throw it against the wall and see what sticks development philosophy. Almost the anti-Apple. Not saying that's bad but it's not like everything Samsung ships is optimized in the first iteration.
Honestly I think these current generation of folding tablets are terrible designs and doomed to fail. The idea of a folding tablet/phone is a very promising one but I really don't think they've nailed the formula yet. The soft plastic screen is going to get scratched and damaged almost immediately with any real world use. The devices don't fold flat upon themselves so I'd be very hesitant to put one in a pocket. Plus the price point is just absurd. A combo device has to be either cheaper than the two devices it merges separately or it needs to offer features/capabilities not available in separate devices. Samsung's offering appears be be both more expensive and less capable. Ergo it is DOA.
I love the idea of a folding device and I think it is likely to be the future of mobile devices but the current versions are very much works in progress.
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Folding materials is always a problem because there is always a degree of stress on them...
...and there's always going to be some "journalists" who use them to crack walnuts.
Inside info on release date (Score:2)
There is more engineering work to be done (Score:5, Funny)
They haven't figured out how to get it to burst into flames yet
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From my personal experience repairing phones this is something really easy to achieve.
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Their new innovating hinge technology uses interlocking gears made of flint and steel. They call it: the Fire Phone!
No wait, Amazon did that one.
Pass - Let Someone Else Test It (Score:3)
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OTOH, those engineers who cried "it's not ready yet!" will be vindicated, and the execs with egg on their face for trying to rush it out anyways will throw massive engineering resources at trying to perfect it ASAP. If it landed with a thud and nobody cared, they could bury it, but now they HAVE to fix it.
Who cares. (Score:1)
It's samsung. The back button is on t he wrong sing and you have to install your own OS to prevent insanity.
I stopped on the note 3 (? It was ages ago I would have to check) as better options were available.
Fuck samsung and it's shitty mulalated android.
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Because the left is the logical side. Obviously! That is why only samsung does it wrong in some attepmt to say hey we are revivant.
Try it for a bit, you will like it.
Also samsung pointlessly tries to add shit that no one wants.
Bixby, you have to install an aopp to stop it.
Samsung calender. No I want google calender,.
Fuck you samsung. Stop wasting money on developing shit no one cares about.
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Furthermore, the side mouse button on a desktop is literally hitler and has to be disabled.
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A smartphone from Red Hat would have a Gnome desktop that would take your phone down to a crawl. The PulseAudio would be nice, except SystemD would take so long to resume it from a power-down that you'd miss every call.
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You can spend $200 on enough used books to get an awesome education.
Problems with the screen. (Score:3)
Lots and LOTS of problems with the screen.
And if they're going to charge TWO GRAND for it, it'd better fucking be PERFECT!
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I'm pretty sure nobody wants to pay $2K and have a device that dies in a couple of days.
Regardless of how neuvaux they are.
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They can put it on the shelf next to their Newton and first-gen Galaxy Note 7. It'll be a collector's item.
I've given it a bit of thought, (Score:2)
that 180 degree fold is a lot to overcome reasonably.
Why not a roll-up screen in a case that's useful even when rolled up? If you want a science-fiction TV show example think of the global from Earth Final Conflict.
Re: I've given it a bit of thought, (Score:2)
Or how about make a phone a little thicker and have the bottom half (depthwise) slide out horizontally then up slightly to be flush with the main screen.
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I've been saying that for ages. Two ordinary screens (maybe curved at the edges) with some sort of light pipe along the middle to hide the join.
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The light pipe idea is brilliant. Nothing but fiber optics with a centralized light-engine core. Three LED's and an array of gates around them - almost an inverse DLP.
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It should be a rollable screen between two cylinders.
Waking it requires that you unroll the screen and also say the voice activation command "Hear Ye, Hear ye".
Pathetic, Samsung. (Score:2)
Copying Apple yet again, and doing it poorly.
Apple has had foldable screens since the iPhone 6.
https://www.extremetech.com/mo... [extremetech.com]