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When Samsung pulled the Galaxy Fold from launch this year, it rescued itself from the brink of a self-inflicted disaster. It was clear that the phone had also many defects to launch, including a swivel design that allowed foreign objects and material to penetrate behind the brandish. Samsung has spent months repairing its hardware — and the last upshot may however be a trainwreck.

YouTuber Zack Nelson, of JerryRigEverything, has posted a video evaluation of the new Samsung Galaxy Fold. His findings do non inspire confidence.

When evaluating the hardness of an object, scientists employ the Mohs scale. A Mohs rating of one corresponds to talc, a mineral that can easily be scratched by a fingernail. A Mohs hardness of x corresponds to diamond. The forepart screen of the Galaxy Fold is normal, scratching when tested with an object with a Mohs of 6 and with deep indentations left backside at a Mohs of 7. This is more-or-less what you lot'd wait from a standard smartphone. If you want to practice meliorate, y'all need an alternate textile like sapphire glass. The Milky way Fold's interior folding screen has a Mohs hardness of 2, which means you can mar it with a fingernail. Nelson shows this at ane point, drawing deep grooves in the display with nothing but an index finger.

"The Milky way Fold Has a Screen Hardness Comparable to Play-Doh, Soggy Bread, or a $ii,000 Stick of Chewing Mucilage"

That'southward a direct quote from the video, and information technology'due south pregnant enough that it needs to be pulled out and emphasized. A Mohs calibration of two ways that your fingernails tin literally damage this telephone. Women with certain fingernail designs or art may not exist able to utilise it safely. The screen is so fragile, Samsung explicitly tells you not to use any kind of screen protector.

That'due south non the only problem with the device. The folding pattern allows material to fall "out" of the phone in a folded position (rather than keeping information technology trapped against the screen), but it too allows material to fall into the phone as well. The hinges are not grit resistant in any way and it's yet trivially like shooting fish in a barrel for grains of sand to become permanently jammed within the hinge mechanism, as Nelson also demonstrates.

Reports like this do non show that Samsung has solved the problems that plagued the get-go iteration of the Milky way Fold. I'm not going to claim the product will neglect, but it volition need to be treated with kid gloves, and in a manner that's entirely opposite from how these devices are typically handled by their owners. When Samsung announced the most-$2,000 price tag people fixated on information technology, but honestly, I think fragility is the larger issue hither. There are enough of people (relatively speaking) who will pay top dollar to ain a truly unique piece of kit, and in that location's no arguing that the Galaxy Fold isn't unique. But far fewer people are willing to pay for a product that'south so easy to intermission — and the Galaxy Fold looks as if information technology'll simply remain in pristine condition if y'all literally vesture gloves when treatment the matter while storing it in dust-complimentary hermetically sealed bags.

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