Galaxy Fold 2

Image Courtesy: Samsung

It has been almost 4 weeks after the Unpacked and unveiling of the fold 2 but it was more like a sneak peak than an announcement and finally they have shared all the things we need to know about the fold 2.

When the original galaxy fold was announced it was kind of confusing for everyone if it was a phone that was a tablet or the other way around, whatever it was the only selling point of the phone was the fact that it was the only sophisticated and most refined foldable device at that time as it didn't have many features that justified the sky high price or to persuade the buyers towards it.

But after releasing the fold, retrieving it back, re releasing it, introducing the Z-flip and doing a ton of R&D Samsung has finally released a device that not only attracts the tech enthusiasts but also the crazy rich who want to stand out in a crowd not that there will be a crowd in the near future.

First lets get the price out of our way, it is priced at a whopping $1999

Let's talk specs

• Fold 2 comes with a snapdragon 865+ worldwide no compromises there.

• Front display is a 6.2" super amoled Infinity-O display(25:9) with 386ppi without 120Hz

• Inner display is a 7.6" 120Hz Infinity-O Dynamic Amoled with an aspect ratio of 22.5:18.

• Comes with an internal storage of 512 or 256 with UFS 3.1 storage.

• 12GB of RAM and 4500 mah battery.

• It supports 5G on milli meter waves and sub-6 so there's that.

• The power button acts as a finger print scanner which is kind of nice.

• Samsung has put in two 10 MP front face cameras one on the cover display and one on the main screen.

• There are three main cameras one 12 MP wide angle shooter with dual pixel auto focus, one 12 MP wide angle camera that covers 123° and one 12 MP 2x telephoto shooter.

• The 120 Hz display adjusts itself from 11Hz to 120Hz for prolonged battery life.

Samsung: The master of partnerships

Since Samsung announced the Galaxy Note 9 they have been all for partnerships and rightfully so, having almost zero control over the software of the platform, the only way Samsung a company with one of the most superior engineers and hardware can thrive is by partnering with the giants in the software game.

That was evident as soon as the launch started with them talking about continuity working with Spotify which has been the music streaming service partner of Samsung for a while now.

You also get 4 months of YouTube premium and 6 months of Spotify premium if you pre order in the US, we are not sure about other regions.

Interestingly you get

Google had announced their intentions to make android compatible with the foldable and we saw announcements related to that too.

Few of those announcements were google duo supporting full HD video calls as well as it being compatible with flex mode which is one of celebrated feature among the Z flip users.

Image Courtesy: Samsung

You can now watch 8k videos on the Galaxy fold 2 now!

Cover display: Makes sense

The original galaxy fold had a very small cover display, so it made it difficult to text, consume content or do anything productive without opening the main display but now Samsung has changed it to 6.2" Infinity-O 120Hz display on the front.

Few of the features Samsung talked about was:

• Now you can use the main triple camera of the fold to take selfies using the front display.

• Before if you closed the foldable display it would put the phone on sleep mode but now you can use continuity in reverse, so if you are watching a YouTube video on the foldable display, closing it will make it play on the cover display.

• Dual preview lets you look at the viewfinder on both display, so the person you are taking a photo of can also have a preview.

So not only you have a large display to use a secondary screen now, Samsung has integrated a lot of the continuity features with the front display which coverts the cover display from a cool feature to have into a useful thing that people would use day in and day out.

Flex mode is coming

Flex mode initially announced on the Z flip, was initially limited to the camera and YouTube app.

With fold 2 it still hasn't increased with only Google Duo supporting it but it still has got a few improvements. They all support continuity now. The lower half gives you a preview of how the photo would look after taking it and also you can add filters before clicking it itself.

With Google partnering with Samsung we are hoping more apps will support flex mode and they will support more features that will make foldable devices more as a tool than a flashy phone that attracts attention.

Image Courtesy: Samsung

Now with flex mode and continuity you can just flex it to more than 90° and your content shifts to the inner display.

Video Courtesy: Samsung

Flex mode is supported at angles between between 75° and 115°.

Multi tasking has seen improvements

Samsung with fold had allowed users to use 3 apps together and you didn't have many customisation options but now with fold 2 you can change layout, change the sizes of the apps, you can save layout of the most used apps together so that you don't have to manually set it up together every time.

Office apps have been optimised for multi tasking.

You can scroll through mail inbox on the left side of the display and look at specific mail on the right side.

You can use 2 different office apps side by side, so as showcased by Samsung, you can just drag and drop your files from excel onto your power point by running them side by side.

Miscellaneous

• AR search where you can search something and your fold would pop up a AR version of it on your camera viewfinder.

• When you are taking a photo and your camera detects another person, it automatically shifts to wider angle to accommodate that person.

• "Sweeper", mechanism engineered by Samsung that cleans the fold every time you fold it.

• 3 years of software has been announced for all fold devices.

• Flex mode works on calendar and stopwatch.

• Punch hole instead of a notch which minimises the distraction.

Galaxy fold Thom Browne Edition

Samsung also announced the Galaxy Fold Thom Browne Edition which is a $3299 bundle of fold 2, watch 3 and buds live with exclusive Thom Browne theme and a few wallpapers and also 2 filters you can put on your photos.

You also get Thom Browne designed straps for you watch, leather cases for the fold and case for the buds live.

Colours

Samsung showcased both Mystic Bronze and Mystic Black colour variants of the fold 2 and also customised hinges colours which are only limited to 21 markets only and sadly India is not one of those countries and I am telling these photos do not do justice for how good Mystic black looks with mystic gold hinge, you've got to see the event for that.

Galaxy fold 2 is the first foldable device that actually makes sense. It has very less compromises and also filled with features that cover up it downsides. It is kind of durable as we saw from the previous foldable devices, they have added a new mechanism in the hinge that works as a sweeper, we have to look forward to JerryRigsEverything video to find out how good of a work it will do, my bet is good enough. Obviously it is very expensive and a normal person should not buy it but also it wasn't made for him.