Now that the revised Galaxy Fold has finally been released, JerryRigEverything’s Zack Nelson decided to take it for a spin. Nelson puts new gadgets under a torture test to check their sturdiness. Given the initial fiasco, most consumers would want to know a thing or two about Galaxy Fold’s durability before buying it.
Samsung has made a couple of changes to increase the Galaxy Fold’s durability. For instance, the top protective layer has been tucked in beneath the bezel so that it’s not taken off. The hinge has also been strengthened and steps have also been taken to protect the phone from external elements.
The Reworked Hinge Is Pretty Robust
According to Nelson, the new hinge is definitely strong. When he folded the device backward, the hinge didn’t break. A gentle curve and some cracks did appear, but the device didn’t split into two. This shows that Samsung meant it when it claimed the device can withstand 200,000 folds and unfolds.
Even though the hinge sounds quite robust, it needs better protection. In a cautionary video, Samsung has warned users that the phone should be kept away from water and dust.
However, that’s practically impossible. While you might succeed at protecting the phone from water, there is not much you can do when you are at a desert, mountainous terrain, or the beach.
To find out how the phone holds up against dust, Nelson put some tiny beach gravels on the phone and snapped it shut.
Now, since there is a gap between the two halves of the device when it’s folded, some of the debris slowly came out. However, the little rocks did manage to scratch the screen a bit. And not just that, they also entered the hinge, causing it to make noises.
Galaxy Fold’s Durability Seems To Have Been Undermined By The Fragile Display
Since this is a foldable device, the internal display features plastic. While it’s understood that plastic is not as scratch resistant as glass, the Galaxy Fold is too much of a letdown in this department. It scratched at just level 2 on the Mohs hardness scale. This means even a fingernail scratch can prove lethal for the display.
In the aforementioned video, Samsung has requested users to be very gently with the screen. Needless to say, that’s kind of impractical, and at one point or another, you can expect to tap the phone a little too hard for its liking. And when that happens, you risk doing considerable damage.
We say that because when Nelson’s razor came in contact with the plastic made lip around the edge of the screen, it demolished an entire line of pixels. Not only did this affect the touch sensitivity of that portion, it actually made the internal screen nearly unusable.
As the YouTuber points out, such a light poke will never do this much damage to a regular phone. Samsung has also warned users again putting up any kind of protection on top of the main display, which means you can do nothing to safeguard it.
On the bright side, it seems to be pretty resistant to heat.
Initial Market Response Seems Better Than Expected
In South Korea, the Galaxy Fold was apparently sold out within minutes of the pre-orders going live. What’s crazier is that some consumers in Hong Kong are actually willing to buy it for $4000, which is nearly double its price. Thus, despite the fact that the phone’s screen is too fragile, early adopters are still willing to try it. Samsung has allegedly decided to ramp up supply to keep up with the demand.
It also helps that Huawei’s Mate X isn’t expected to make it to international markets anytime soon.
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Source: ndroidheadlines.com