Samsung Galaxy Fold SM-F907N

Pros

Genuinely innovative form-factor
Great battery life
Galaxy Buds in the box
Loads of cameras

Cons

It’s too delicate
Outer display feels too limited
It’s better as a tablet than a phone
Cameras aren’t class-leading

Product description

Unlocked cell phones are compatible with GSM carrier such as AT&T and T-Mobile, but are not compatible with CDMA carriers such as Verizon and Sprint.Main Display 7.3" QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED Display (4.2:3) Infinity Flex Display (2152x1536) 362ppiCover Display 4.6" HD+ Super AMOLED Display (21:9) 720x1680 399ppi4380mAh (typical) dual battery, Fast Charging compatible via power cord and wirelessRear Camera: 16MP Ultra Wide Camera FOV: 123˚ F2.2, Super Speed Dual Pixel AF : 1.4μm FOV: 77˚ Dual Aperture: F1.5 mode/F2.4 mode 3 12MP Telephoto Camera PDAF, OIS Pixel size: 1.0μm FOV: 45˚ F2.4

Skip iThe Samsung Galaxy Fold, however, is clearly a first-gen product that just makes me more excited about what is going to come Screen and Design – An impressive achievement, even with the issues

The Galaxy Fold suffered numerous issues when it first launched. Early US-based reviewers struggled with debris getting caught under the panel and some even peeled off the outer layer of the foldable panel mistakenly thinking it was a screen protector. Not a great start.
Fast-forward six months and the Fold I am using is actually different to that original device. Not enough for Samsung to call it the Galaxy Fold 2, but enough to make it feel slightly different to use. The screen now runs right under the bezel (you couldn’t even attempt to peel it off) and there are thicker caps at the top and bottom to try and avoid stuff getting caught under the panel.
These fixes, for me anyway, seem to have worked and during my time with Fold it hasn’t broken. Which is, of course, good news.
Look past those initial issues and it’s hard not to get a feeling of excitement when you unbox the Fold. The phone consists of two screens: an outer 4.6-inch (1680 x 720) and an inner display that folds out into a 7.3-inch (2152 x 1536) almost square screen. That outer screen immediately looks odd, as there’s a (very) hefty bezel around it. Why this display doesn’t run edge-to-edge seems like an obvious design flaw and one that’ll hopefully be addressed in the followup.

The outer display is mainly used for notifications

Due to its small size, I mainly found myself using this 4.6-inch screen to answer calls, check incoming notifications and the time. Beyond that, it’s simply too small. Trying to type an email on the dinky keyboard is an unhappy task and while you’ve got full access to Android and all your apps, you won’t really want to game or watch Netflix on it. To be honest, I think Samsung knows this, but there really needs to be more to this outer display than just being a glorified notification panel.
It’s when you unfurl the Fold that the fun really starts. This turns an oddly-shaped phone (someone in the office said it resembled a landline phone) into an almost mini-tablet that you can slip in your pocket. Thanks to some clever software continuity, if you have a WhatsApp message open on the outer display and unfold the Fold it’ll show up instantly on the bigger screen. For the apps that support it, this is great, and even for the ones don’t it only requires the app to restart, and that just takes a couple of extra seconds.

Software – Tweaks for the unique form-factor are mostly a success

Foldables as a category is brand-new, so there’s not yet a definitive software experience we expect to see. The tweaked One UI software – built upon Android 9 – used here feels like a mixture of Android’s tablet and phone interface, with some apps showing more than you’d normally see on a typical phone screen.
Of course, having a bigger canvas to play with means there’s more space to have multiple apps open at once. With the Fold you can have three: a main one and two almost secondary apps. These can be resized and all interacted with at the same time. There’s also a handy ‘dock’ that slides out from the sides to show other apps you can jump to.
Open an app on the outside screen and when you flip the phone open, that app (if it’s properly supported) will instantly jump to the bigger screen. It works in reverse too, though this is switched off by default but can be altered on a per-app basis.
All these additions are nice, however the biggest issues come from something completely out of Samsung’s hands: app compatibility. Open Instagram on the folded out display and everything feels off. Nothing scales properly, some elements are too small and a single post takes up the entire screen. The same goes for other apps I use a lot, like The Athletic and Monzo. Others fare better, with BBC Sport, video apps like Netflix and Google Maps all displaying well.
Oddly, I’ve probably had the most issues with a lot of Google’s apps and it feels like they’re often defaulting to the tablet view but then having to squash everything onto the Fold’s screen. Both YouTube and Gmail suffer from this, with the latter sometimes displaying fine and other times not.

larger screen.

The speakers are good too: punchy and loud. However, the positioning on the sides does mean they can easily get blocked by your hands when the phone is unfolded.
While the phone lacks a headphone jack, Samsung has included a pair of its truly-wireless Galaxy Buds in the box. This is a nice touch and they’re a decent set of earphones if you’re not fussed about any ANC skills. These buds can also charge themselves upon the Fold thanks to the nifty Wireless Powershare feature.

There are two batteries inside the Fold

In the box there’s 15w fast charger which will take the Fold from 0-100% in roughly one hour and 50 minutes. I managed to get from 0-40% in 40 minutes. These aren’t the fastest speeds on the market and this is one area the Fold already feels somewhat outdated. I’d expect the Fold 2 to come with much faster charging.

Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy Fold?

As much as the Galaxy Fold is a look at what the next wave of smartphones might be, at this stage it’s hard to recommend that anyone.
It’s impressive in a number of areas: great battery life, nice and productive software that actually makes some use of the bigger display and there are certain situations where having a tablet in smaller form-factor work.
But overall, it just feels like something that needs a lot of work. It’s far too delicate, has too many issues with the plastic inner display and doesn’t have a class-leading camera.
I have loved using the Galaxy Fold, and for Samsung to release something as genuinely new and exciting as this at a time when the majority of phones all feel very samey deserves plenty of appreciation. This is clearly a very innovative product that shows Samsung is going to be at the forefront of mobile innovation as we enter the next decade.

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