the Galaxy fold an ambitious new take on what smartphones can do and what smartphones can look like today we're gonna see what the Galaxy fold is made of both physically and metaphorically this is a brand new sealed retail Korean version of the Galaxy fold version 2 since version 1 never quite made it to public market maybe if we've been this fold backwards far enough in the wrong direction we can snap it into two phones instead of just one you never know unless you try let's get started so right out of the box this phone of the future has many warnings for us avoid pressing too hard on the screen only tap it lightly the phone is not water or dust resistant and don't allow any foreign objects into it also don't attach anything to the main screen no screen protectors and keep the fold away from objects affected by magnets like credit cards those all seem like pretty big issues to me cell phones are quite possibly some of the most accidently abused pieces of Technology on the planet and Samsung's there telling us not to touch it very hard not very confidence inducing before we commence the first fold let's see what's inside the box underneath the phone holder we have a note written in what looks like Korean Google Translate on my galaxy si plus shows that it's another little height paragraph for the phone the Galaxy fold also comes with the case a very thin layer of carbon fiber material it just snaps onto either half of the phone I guess any protection is good protection and underneath that we have the wireless galaxy earbuds and the normal USB sea charger let's get back to the phone right off the bat this thing definitely feels good it feels solid well engineered and very well planned out even without folding it yet there is a physical crease running down the center of the display it's not as visible when the screen is turned on but still definitely there now this is only the second folding smartphone I've ever come across in real life but while folding it's definitely the better feeling of the two the hinge makes the phone feel like it's supposed to bend easily and smoothly and then softly clicks into the closed position and is held shut with his magnets and it does all this very gently when I would fold the royal flex by hinge the foldable one I tested previously it was more of a spring that always wanted to stay in the open position and it did not want to fold on its own free will the Galaxy fold feels much more natural honestly if this phone survives the durability test I might even switch to it as my daily driver it feels pretty awesome the fold also has a much smaller profile than the Flex by the Royal flex buy seen here and it's very well-loved condition it has a much larger footprint than the Galaxy fold when it's opened as well as when it's closed as a matter of fact that closed flex buy is as big as the Galaxy fold is when it's open and both of them has some very strong magnets inside so as far as you know form-factor goes when talking about bones I think the Galaxy fold comes out on top it's smaller design makes it seem more like a phone and the Flex PI is more of a folding tablet the Galaxy fold as a fully functional front display and can control the whole phone from here I can activate the front-facing camera and then fold open the phone to switch to the internal screen and smoothly switch to the internal front-facing camera all at the same time this thing has six total cameras which we'll get to in just a second this thing is kind of mind-blowing ly futuristic it doesn't register that the phone is closing until it actually clicks shut and then I can go back to using that front screen like a normal phone if I want it it's time to start seeing what this bolt is made of my Mohs hardness picks can numerically tell the difference between different minerals and materials plastic scratches at level three glass scratches at level five or six and sapphire would scratch at level eight or nine this front display is four point six inches with a 720p resolution and starts scratching at level six with deeper grooves at level seven pretty normal for a smart phone even though this phone is anything but normal let's mosey on into the inner display this thing is much larger at 7.3 inches with all of Samsung's warnings about the inner display and the previous recall due to display fragility we kind of knew this was coming but still seeing scratches at a level 2 with deeper grooves at level 3 kind of just hurts a little the galaxy fold has a screen hardness comparable to Plato soggy bread or a $2,000 stick of chewing-gum even my fingernail can do considerable damage to the screen granted we knew the display would need to be made from soft plastic since glass doesn't Bend too well but it's still unfortunate that there's no way to safely add a screen protector you might be asking yourself but what happens if dirt or sand from my pocket gets caught between the two halves of the phone when it gets closed won't that damage the screen and most definitely if the grain of sand or piece of dirt is big enough you will definitely leave an indention on either side of the screen there is a small gap between the two halves so dust and dirt could slip out but that same gap could also allow for stuff to slip in so if you get this phone it might be a good idea to vacuum out your pockets every morning before you put on your pants Samsung did say this phone is not dust resistant whatsoever and I believe them and you believe them but I don't think dust believes them more is going to play by their rules so let's see what happens if you take this phone to the beach the phone closes alright and there's just enough of a gap between the two halves to make this the world's most expensive salt shaker and somehow from having dust on top of the screen there's no sand permanently grinding inside of the tone hinge which is unfortunate the screen has a few new minor Nick's scratches and divots but it's still amazing how quickly the dust got inside the phone I understand this was a lot of Little Rock's but still the phone's only been alive for about five minutes I thought the newly added hinge lips were supposed to help keep dust out and they don't seem to be working too well Samsung says they mimic the precision of wash mechanics with a lot of little gears inside for smooth articulation those internal gears definitely need more dust and dirt protection than what they have right now we'll get a closer look at how the hinge works from the inside during the teardown the frame of the Galaxy fold is made from metal along with both the power button and volume rocker both metal at the top of the phone we find a microphone hole and a loudspeaker grill and right about here is where we see the unfortunate gravity of soft displays did you catch that let's rewind a little and watch that again while I'm rotating the phone the tip of my razor catches the raised lip around the edge of the dynamic AMOLED display and pops the pixels like a marshmallow on a roasting stick literally killing an entire line of pixels across the screen on the Galaxy fold one wrong move one little accident and now the whole top section of my phone is dead pixels as well as touch sensitivity the whole thing has gone kind of haywire all from that one little prick this would never happen inside of a normal phone and now the full screen doesn't even want to turn on half the time and we haven't even gotten to the bin test yet I'm not a huge fan of this new development let's keep going anyway the galaxy fold does have a SIM card tray but no expandable memory at least this tray has a rubber ring to keep some dust out if only the rest of the phone had this same feature the bottom of the phone has USB C and no headphone jack but since Samsung actually included a pair of wireless @ funkbox I'm pretty okay with it the center articulated spine of the Galaxy fold is mid to middle it's also interesting to note that Samsung has carved their logo and didn't laid little reflective letterings inside each of the little grooves this usually looked super cool for about the first year so and then the letters fall out we've seen it happen on some of the old-school Nexus phones the back panel is made from glass which is good it makes sense for a phone at a 2,000 dollar price point to be made from glass the raised front lip around the edges of the inner screen is made from plastic we call this lip Marquez's fault because it's márquez's fault if we make our way around to the back side we get the triple camera lens setup and it's covered with glass the 16 megapixel wide-angle camera up top the 12 megapixel normal camera in the center and the 12 megapixel telephoto zoom camera on the bottom then over here on the front side of the closed phone the 10 megapixel exterior selfie camera is also protected by glass along with the metal earpiece grille then flipping the phone open to the internal cameras the screen still doesn't really want to function at the moment we have another 10 megapixel selfie camera and an 8 megapixel depth sensor for a total of 6 cameras in one phone even though Samsung has a very strict rule against sticking screen protectors to the screen sticking things to the back is actually just fine shoutout to D brands latest limited edition robot skin it's got a pretty awesome I caching design that proves you can look awesome on the outside even if you are kind of dead on the inside I'll leave a link in the description so you can see what your phone looks like with the robot installed and thanks addy Brandt for sponsoring this video the screen is still a bit finicky not turning on sometimes and not sensing touch other times that little poke really did some unfortunate damage I don't think the lighter is gonna make things any better but with the semi dead screen and a hinge that sounds like a pepper grinder I don't think we have much left to lose after about seven seconds I could see that pixels going white and starting to burn but as soon as I pull the lighter away they completely recovered it's interesting that the plastic on top of the screen is not bubbling or melting like we saw on the flexible display watch or some of the other plastic screen devices we've tested I burn the screen again for about 10 more seconds and still no damage to the plastic just the interior pixels shutting the phone and flipping it around to check the front screen it lasted a bit longer at 15 seconds with the heat from my lighter glass absorbs some of the heat before it reaches the pixels now you can bring up that cool tidbit at parties the screen does completely recover now for the Ben test in perfect factory enclosed pristine conditions folded by robots Samsung's hinge is rated to over 200,000 folds which means if the fault gets folded and absurd 200 times a day it would still last you almost three years in a non pristine environment of course and one contact with a spoonful of dirt it lasts about 20 folds before the hinge starts sounding like a crumpled up bag of potato chips but let's say we were to accidentally on purpose bin the phone the wrong direction we already know that the Royall flex bias survived for a while even after the hinge broke so let's see what happens to the Galaxy fold flipping the phone around to bend it backwards and I apply some force surprisingly the hint remains intact this is kind of a huge surprise the last folding phone snapped backwards pretty easily and even the iPad pro broke easier than this Samsung's Galaxy fold might have a few glaring weak points but the articulating hinge is definitely not one of them the whole phone still folds in the correct direction but when folded back the wrong way all I get is a gentle curve but no permanent damage the hinge is just as strong as Samsung's normal non folding flagships pretty incredible the antenna line is cracking along the frame but the hinge itself is still 100% functional and the device is still in one piece this is a tough one how should we categorize the Galaxy fold the structure of the phone is still intact but the inner screen is basically unusable from that accidental poke I made earlier should we say the Galaxy fold passes the durability test or failed let me know down in the comments personally I think when samsung figures out how to seal the hinge from dust and find a way to allow screen protection this foldable phone format it's gonna be a winner do you see yourself ever using a foldable phone hit that subscribe button I'll be right here testing out Samsung is the next folding phone as well and don't forget to check out the brand's robot skin with the link in the description come hang out with me on Instagram and Twitter and thanks a ton for watching I'll see you around
