Would You Buy A $2k SmartPhone That Folds?

Well Galaxy Unpacked happened and boy is it trending! It’s all over twitter and instagram and I cannot even get away from it because I too am excited to know about this new look, new phone!

It’s essentially like a tablet that folds and makes calls! With a slick design and features to boot. But is it worth $1980?

Well it depends on who you are, what you’re willing to spend on a phone that you might break, how big your pockets are (literal pockets, can this fit in literal pockets), what your purchasing priorities are, and are you the trending type that needs to be trending?

What We Know

We know that the Royole Flex Pie is the first foldable phone, and it works and looks just fine beating out Samsung by several months. But the Galaxy Fold was also on everyone’s radar and a hot button topic. I was excited to finally see it in action, and boy it looks great. From the reviews I’ve seen so far, it looks promising.

But would I purchase this? This almost $2000 smartphone that folds, is the folding worth almost $1000 more?…

So here’s why I would buy it:

1. I can see myself working on this and not having to strain my eyes sockets to see what the hell I’m doing. I know it’s not smart, but I’m always in Linux. I access my home computer and many times even code from my phone. YEAH, not bragging but I can code pretty damn good on my phone. This would come extremely handy because I wouldn’t have to stop and start my tablet to code. You do not know what hardship is when you can’t find the damn missing ; or bracket on a smaller phone. The Galaxy will come with 12GB of RAM, and 512 of flash storage which is supposed to make for faster performance and for processes like switching between fold and unfolded.
   

   The Galaxy Fold can run 3 apps at a time in unfolded mode.

    

2. To access my stuff from my home computer, to look at multiple screens and even from the cmd line on Linux. Again, if you don’t know, I breath Linux all day. But it’s hard on the eyes just like programming is. This phone would be a big help being able to multitask different apps and screens.
3. Reading the news or emails. I get a report 3 times a day for my 2 companies (compevo.com & techrich.hk  – shameless self promoting there).  If you read a lot, and I do (even for 5 minutes), you know how hard that can be on your eyes. Naturally you pull the phone closer to you eyes and body to see better. The same goes for watching videos, which the Galaxy Fold can do brilliantly.
   

   Have a video you want to stream or watch? Galaxy Fold can do that for you on a 7.3 display (unfolded)

    

4. Final reason I’d buy this: It’s Samsung. When I bought my first Galaxy- the first one ever with that giant screen, even my brother in law (who worked for Sony at the time) laughed at the size. Nobody at the time thought big screens would take off. But Samsung saw a need. A need to see better and see more at a time, so you weren’t squinting. They understood that people will watch videos, download books, send & receive documents that you need to see on a bigger screen. That was back in 2011. I trust Samsung (who my brother in law works for now), they make smart phones and smart choices. I see that they’re looking beyond the now, and looking at the need in 10 yrs.
   

   The first Galaxy Note was launched in 2011

    

It’s foldable. Pretty damn simple. You have the choice to see on the small screen or large. Because it folds you could probably shove it into your pocket (4.2 display screen when folded so it can most likely fit into a man’s jean pockets) -(if you can stomach accidentally sitting and breaking $2k).

Samsung unveils the Galaxy Fold.

So here’s why I’m NOT buying this:

1. The features that I like are not worth $1980 to me.  In fact some of the features are a concern. 6 camera’s for example. WHY? Well you can justify it by saying that it gives you more selfie options yada yada yada, or its’ 6 camera’s that has a backdoor to watch you. No thanks.

2. 2 batteries to run this thing. For the amount of processing it’s doing, it needs it. Imagine the cost of replacing those batteries, or the phone if something ever happens- like you drop it or sit on it. I’m sure you’ll be careful but at the same time, you won’t be. 1 battery will be on each side of the phone, combining to be 4,380-mAh battery.

2 batteries power the Galaxy Fold, it will need it for all the features it’s running

3. As I was saying, this would come in handy for when I’m coding or doing business, and it’ll be easier on my eyes, plus I can mutli task- WELL, the FIRST foldable phone, the Royole Flex Pie can help me do that too- and for cheaper. The Royale Flex Pie made a foldable phone, and it actually works, does about the same and is cheaper. Lets not forget the Huawei- who has patented for their foldable phone, and can support 5G is also in the game and most likely going to be cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy Fold.  I can do programming, my beloved Linux stuff, business, emails, reading all on one of these Chinese branded options and I’d still have extra money in my pocket. Plus getting a lower spec version will make it even cheaper for me (the Royole Flex Pie lowest model sells for about $1300, almost $680 savings – to put it into perspective, a Samsung washing machine costs about $700. So yeah, get a foldable phone and a washing machine).

Quote from Android Authority on the Royole Flex Pie phone – the first foldable phone.

Huawei Foldable Phones

4. If I had to put that money down for a foldable phone, I’d probably pick one of these options rather then the Galaxy Fold. It’s kinda like how I feel about Apple phones. I could go and put down $1400 for an Iphone that does basically everything an Android does, but Android phones do it without the zombie cult mentality of following the lead zombie- the very thing Apple tried to crush in that first ad. So should I spend a few hundred dollars more on the Iphone which is just a symbol of a ‘zombie follower’ or do I want to branch out to purchase what’s more bang for the buck- the combination of a good quality phone with great features, life and usability.  I’m applying the same logic here.

So really it boils down to a few things to consider:

a. Do you want this phone because it’s a great phone for the money?
b. Because it’s stylish and it’s name brand Korean smartphone
c. Because it costs $1980 and I need people to see it and view me as a wealthy person
d. I just want a good quality phone, I don’t need it to fold
e. I need a good quality phone and I need it to fold
f. I have the money to burn to buy the Galaxy Fold
g. I’m not an idiot and I’ll buy a cheaper foldable/nonfoldable and buy some shares in Samsung instead.

I’m G. For now at least, until more reviews and opinions come out about how this phone truly runs and performs. I guess at that point in time, we’ll have the true answer to if this phone is worth the $1980 price tag.

UPDATE: I got asked how I code from my smartphone, well it’s a bit tricky but I use plain text editor- it’s hard of course. And if I’m feeling stupid and insecure I’ll use dropbx (but I don’t do this often -unless, again, I’m feeling stupid and insecure). I will also mention that I’m using 2 smartphones, both are Androids.

What are your thoughts?

Cheers,

Areeb