I’ve had a few chances to briefly gets hands on with Samsung’s Galaxy Fold.
And during those times one thing in particular has stood out to my oddly-specific brain.
Taking calls is wild.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2019/10/samsungs-second-foldable-is-a-flip-phone-with-a-next-gen-design/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/esow2wqkqtjjf1pcnvkp.jpg” title=”Samsung’s Second Foldable Is A Flip Phone With A Next-Gen Design” excerpt=”The Galaxy Fold recently went on sale, but at Samsung’s 2019 developers conference, the smartphone giant just released a teaser for its next foldable phone.”]
Unlike Huawei’s Mate X, Samsung’s offering has an in-fold design. This means that it folds inwards to close and protect the larger inner screen.
Closing the device also reveals the placement of the speaker, which is on the outside of the phone.
But while being nestled in a bezel above the outer screen doesn’t look particularly odd (in fact you can barely see it), I’m just not used to the speaker being MIA from the primary screen that my eyes tend to be fixed to.
But to be honest, I didn’t really notice this seemingly minor difference until I went to answer a call… which required me to close the Fold if I want the conversation to be private.
This action felt weird and counter intuitive after years of answering mobiles in the same repetitive way. And if you go back even further, it goes against what flip phones taught us – open to answer and close to hang up.
While users do have the option to answer the Fold while it’s open, it forces the device to go into loud speaker mode. No thank you.
None of this is a complaint, merely an observation regarding how foldable devices will challenge conventional phone use. I expect this will continue as foldables and other non traditional communication devices become increasingly normalised.
And that’s exciting.