For several years we’ve seen phones with folding displays from Samsung, Google, and several Chinese phone manufacturers. There’s even been rumors of Apple working on one. On the surface it seems like a great idea to be able carry a large screen device in your pocket. It’s like having a tablet and phone in one device. Or is it?
I have to admit I had an urge for one ever since they became available, and I got to try one over the past couple of weeks when I purchased a refurbished Samsung Z Fold4. What I found was something less appealing than I originally expected. The larger screen didn’t always provide an added benefit over the normal screen for such things as email, navigating to text intensive websites, etc. But it was useful for watching videos on Netflix and YouTube and displaying spreadsheets. I found I was often switching back and forth between screens, trying to figure out which was the best to use in a given situation, and I would sometimes need to sign in again on the second screen, even though I had just signed in on the first one.
One of the reasons the larger screen wasn’t as beneficial as I expected was that apps such as email do just fine on smaller screens. We tend to scroll through a list of emails, open up one email at a time, and scroll again through the email as we read them. Doing this in a larger window doesn’t add much value, particularly as the font size remains the same. And in the unfolded position I held the phone more like a tablet, in my lap propped up with two hands. It was often more unwieldy than holding the phone in one hand using the primary screen.
Dual screen phones also come with two drawbacks. They’re very expensive, most costing $1800 or $1900. Second, the flexible display and hinge mechanism are fragile and not always dust and water-resistant. While manufacturers say they have been tested for anywhere from 200,000 to 400,000 cycles (they don’t necessarily say that they last that long!), based on my limited experience and research, I strongly question their claims.
When I received my phone the large screen was pristine. While you could see a slight ridge down the center where the screen folds, it did not detract from the large expansive image. But after about a week of use, perhaps 100-200 fold cycles, bubbles began to show up at the top and bottom of the crease due to separation of the built-in permanent screen protector. After a few days the two bubbles turned into a very noticeable 1/4 inch wide de-lamination down the middle of the display. I contacted the seller and sent a picture. They said it was defective and to return it for credit.
Before deciding whether to replace it with the same model, I did more checking on forums and chatrooms for Samsung phones. What I discovered were many others experiencing similar issues, some after months of use, and even with their newest models. More surprising were many complaining that Samsung would not always cover the repair under warranty, often charging $500 for a screen replacement. And for some it happened a second time. Some are even threatening suing.
Not surprisingly I decided to opt for a non-folding phone for now and concluded that maybe buying a phone with cutting edge technology phone as a refurbished products was not a very smart idea.