Opinion: Criticism of the Galaxy Fold unfairly undermines Samsung's success

The internet has exploded in the face of the apparent problems that Samsung has encountered with the screens of a handful of Galaxy Fold review devices. This is undoubtedly an embarrassing situation for the company. After all, it's a brand product, supposed to be a symbol of technical expertise and innovation that only Samsung is capable of. Do not forget though that it's only in 2017 that Apple has launched one of the first full-screen phones in the market with the iPhone X, but we are in the first half of 2019 with Samsung's first collapsible phone. This is a major achievement that some have quickly criticized as "not ready" or "public beta test".

From the moment it was unveiled, some critics quickly reacted, claiming that Samsung was making a collapsible smartphone just because it could and not because it solved a particular problem. Some of these skeptics quickly changed their tone when they had the exam units in hand and admitted that it seemed special and that they had the impression that it was there. ;to come up. It turns out that the possibility of having a small enough device to be placed in a pocket and that it can always be used with one hand, which then deploys in a screen of size similar to that an iPad mini, was really nice to live.

Then, we had the awesome news that a day or two after the readers had received the Galaxy Fold in their hands, several devices had lost the display. At least two of these problems were genuine problems that Samsung is committed to investigating, and at least some have been caused by the critics themselves who inadvertently detached a layer of plastic protection that is supposed to remain in place to protect the screen. It seems that some units had a warning label placed on the screen and others not. Those who took off ended up suffering major dysfunctions of the screen. In response, Samsung issued a public statement on these issues.

In response the Wall Street newspaper published a review [sub.req.] it's the journalistic equivalent of the shock-jock radio entitled "Non-Examination of the Samsung Galaxy: We Are Not Your Beta Testers". Rather than accepting Samsung's replacement of the Galaxy Fold (after inadvertently manipulating the plastic protective layer), the columnist retorts: "It's no good that I write a simple comment on a product that is clearly not ready. to test a prototype here? The piece concludes with the following remarks:

"And if companies send products with known weaknesses, they should not just hope that we read a user manual – and not accidentally remove plastic."

The plastic layer to which this layer refers is undoubtedly a design compromise. It is not particularly well integrated with the screen, but that's because the Super AMOLED folding panel is made from a plastic (not glass) substrate. This means that the screen is prone to detect small dents and fingerprints, as well as scratches under normal use conditions. That's why Samsung has opted for a design that folds inward rather than outward. However, technology companies have made design compromises of one kind or another for centuries. As a customer, the question is whether you are ready to accept this compromise. In this case, if you do not do it, you simply do not have the collapsible smartphone of the future here.

Samsung has the merit of having tried to question the status quo of smartphones with advanced technology and to suggest that it markets a "prototype" a little beyond reality. The company would not proceed with the launch if it feared for the durability of the screen. After all, it has been proven that the screen can support 200,000 folds. He also made it clear that the Galaxy Fold was not meant for everyone and was intended for early users of the technology. Since he only sells the Galaxy Fold in limited quantities (already sold out), he just had to inflate his price to nearly $ 2,000 to help offset what would have been a massive investment. However, this price also includes a set of Galaxy Buds that normally costs $ 129, a custom case and Samsung Care, which covers users for accidental damage as well as for protection against screen malfunctions, if any .

Whatever you want to say, positive or negative, the Samsung Galaxy Fold changes the game. Technology will improve over time and the price will eventually drop. As a technology lover, I want to see new technologies like this succeed, not fail. Of course, this is not the case for Apple fans who hasten to condemn Samsung on the blogosphere. They argue that it is a perfect example of why Apple never adopts new technologies quickly. Technology, says Apple, always comes late with technology, but it offers the best product on the market. The latest Apple product to launch was the HomePod. He arrived late, but is the worst intelligent speaker in the market from the point of view of the AI, in my opinion, speech recognition. Compared to Samsung, Apple has become boring and predictable. The Fold may be defective, but it's definitely the future of smartphones and it's here now, thanks to Samsung.