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Comment by wraptile | Hacker News Reader

I just bought a 2nd hand Fold 6 for 800$ and I'm not going back to slab phones ever. Primarily because I've never done as much reading as I've done in the past month with this phone. Removal of friction here has been such a game changer when it comes to productive use of my phone - now when I would doom scroll otherwise I just unfold my phone and do a bit of reading.

The only drawback is the camera but turns out it's much easier to carry a dedicated camera (Canon g7xm3 in my case) than a dedicated reading device / tablet.

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I felt this way at one point and vocally proclaimed as such on here. My Fold 5 developed a bubble under the screen protector after about 18 months. I sent it into Samsung through the website to get it repaired. Whoever "repaired" it, just seemed to slice the screen protector down the middle with an knife so it had a big ugly line down the center. Predictably, it was full of bubbles again within a week. I'm not even bothering opening it anymore for fear that it will break the inner screen. Between this and the fact that I had another two Samsung phones that developed hardware faults making them unusable after 2 years of use, I'm absolutely done with Samsung. Before that, I had an iPhone that was still going strong after 7 years. I'm preordering an iPhone tomorrow and selling the Samsung. Doubt I will be venturing into the Android ecosystem again. Might get an Apple foldable depending on what the initial reports are like on durability after it's been around for a couple of years. The time sink of having to transfer a phone across is high and I really cba with doing it because of avoidable screen repair.

>I had another two Samsung phones that developed hardware faults making them unusable after 2 years of use, I'm absolutely done with Samsung

I haven't tried any foldable phones and I have no intention to anytime soon, but with other samsung phones my experience has been completely different. I've only ever used Samsung smartphones, and the only times they broke was when I dropped them or mishandled them myself somehow. My current one is past the 6 year mark, and I have no issues with it. It still keeps 48 hours of battery with my normal use (though that might not be saying much considering my normal use is different from most people's normal use of watching videos for hours)

My experience with 5 Samsung phones over 10ish years, last one being 2019:

Great hardware that nearly always impresses. Very infrequent hardware issues compared to its main competitors (in the android space).

Extremely annoying software experience. Locked bootloader aside, as I recognize that's only an issue for a very small group. But the software goes through these intense hills and valleys where you can go a long time without updates, with bugs, with bloat, with problems. Then a burst of updates that seem to address many of those issues, then it just slides back into the shit. And the amazing hardware is dragged down in this cycling, to the point where the phone will feel old at an accelerated rate. I've hard that exact complaint about apple and a few other android manufacturers many times but only Samsung has genuinely given me that experience.

It's very unfortunate. If they unlocked the bootloader I could bypass the software issues myself and have damn near the perfect phone.

Oh how I wish I could root Samsung phones. The best hardware all around. Cramped down by the dumb bootloader lock and Knox tripping!

I had a fold 3, and now a fold 6. The screen protectors are easily replaceable yourself. It's the only weakness on the phone I've found, and a cheap ($17ish) wear item. The replacement ones I get feel much nicer and thicker than the original.

Samsung literally tells you not to replace the inner screen protector yourself.

And the FDA tells you not to cook your steak rare.

That's not completely true. The FDA rules are an oversimplification because the actual rules are complicated.

Chris Young has a video about this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbaZpJ1AhFU

Rare stake is fine; it's rare burgers that are a risk, because bacteria can get ground into them.

I love the replacement matte inner screen protector on my fold 4. It's so much better than the glossy screen protector and it was cheap, and easy to install.

There's a video out there of a bunch of guys flipping Samsung phones all day long. It starts failing after about 6k flips.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MPPLhYDnkFA&t=1s&pp=2AEBkAIB

FTV, main issues from the fold test:

  A forced reboot error first occurred between 6,000 and 10,000 folds, and the same error repeatedly appeared at roughly every 10,000 folds afterward (e.g., around 16,000, 26,000, etc.).

  Around 46,000 folds, creaking noises started coming from the hinge.

  At 75,000 folds, an unknown black liquid came out of the hinge, but it has not appeared again.

  At 175,000 folds, all speakers (earpiece, top, and bottom) stopped working.

  The hinge has become smoother. Free-stop still works, but elasticity seems to be lost.

The reboots at 10K intervals seems like a software problem fixable by an update.

The speakers failing at 175K folds seems like the major failing point. I suppose bluetooth would probably still be working so you could still limp through day-to-day activities.

To be fair, 175K folds is like folding it once every 5 minutes for every waking hour of the day for two and a half years.

They also did it constantly, which would build up heat. Doing it like a normal person would probably give you a few multiples more folds.

yeah I had my samsung phone brick after three years. Not sure I trust samsung hardware either.

If you prefer to carry a dedicated camera in addition to a phone, aren't you a far outlier? To the point that one of the most common sayings in photography is "the best camera is the one you carry" (even when it's the sub-par one).

I think that's really that most people don't know or don't care enough about photography. Which is fine. That's up to them. But some of us do care.

"The best camera is the one you carry" is about opportunistic capture of moments i.e. it's better to record them on anything than nothing. That doesn't always work. I've lost more moments than I gained on a smartphone camera which won't focus on what I want, does weird uncorrectable things with white balance, has a pretty nasty digital zoom, or has gunk on the lens from being handled.

Exactly! To add, if I take a dedicated camera with me it feels like a side quest permission to go out there and look for actual photography targets actively rather than just wait for an opportunity. It's kinda like taking a shovel to the beach - you'll end up digging some holes just because you took it.

That's fair. (Heading off topic:) My take on that saying is that I make art when the inspiration strikes. So I am often caught carrying a minimal amount of stuff but noticing something and wanting to play with it. My very mediocre 1st gen iPhone SE is indeed absurdly far in capabilities from my serious camera - but historically there have been far worse cameras. (And it has never been quite the same since I replaced the battery and I annoy my friends by tapping the phone so it will auto-focus.)

The phone camera is still very much functional but it's not newest gen Pixel. It probably matches most 2-4 year old slab phones. The slab cameras are actually very much in right now and my g7x I had for 5 years now has risen in value which basically never happened with cameras before.

Given the price and fragility of foldables, I’m happier to stick to a cheap phone with a small screen to minimise the urge to use it (second-hand iPhone 13 Mini), and carry around a Kobo for reading needs.

> I’m happier to stick to a cheap phone with a small screen to minimise the urge to use it (second-hand iPhone 13 Mini)

Me too, but this option is disappearing. As our minis reach end of life, I don't think we'll have other "small" options than foldables, unless you're willing to go for super niche android phones (eg unihertz)

Hopefully the foldables become more resilient by then

I fully expect to get 3-4 more years life out of my 13 Mini; hopefully by that point Apple will do another small(ish) phone release for people who are holding out.

Haven’t even had to replace the battery in our 13 Minis yet, so hoping as well for another 4 years. After that, I hope Apple has glued two small iPhone Airs together and made a foldable.

The fragility is mostly a myth. New foldables are very durable.

Yup, a friend of mine has been into folding phones for some years now, and he warned me that these foldables seem to last about two years before something happens. (He didn't quite specify what would happen, though.)

I got a friend on a fold going on four years now, it's fine. Milage varies I suppose.

I have a friend that doesn't have a foldable phone. I'm skeptical such phones even exist.

Good to know, thanks!

I should have noted, it doesnt look as good as a slab phone does after that period. The crease is now (at least to me) very noticable, but it does still work. I've been watching his to see if I should make the transition away from Apple back to Android haha.

I have one of the newer lowend Razrs. It wasn't that expensive, less than a base model iPhone and it actually helps me use my phone less because it takes intention to actually open it.

I also bought a 2nd hand Fold 4 for $700... it lasted a year before the wifi/bluetooth broke, it stopped folding all the way, and eventually stopped booting up.

Seem to always have reliability issues with Samsung phones. Hopefully the 6th iteration is more stable.

The google fold seems better quality

I'd still prefere regular phone (wouldn't mind something smaller, like 5,5" with bigger battery) and dedicated e-ink ebook reader... it's just more convenient and with it I'm guaratneed to be distraction free...

I had two friends that said the same thing and now both have iPhones. They got sick of constantly sending in their phones to be replaced for screen failures. One had a pixel other had a Samsung.

The one with a pixel final break was when he landed in Belize to start a vacation and the screen died. Entire vacation he had to borrow wife’s iPad mini to read.

Which app do you use to read?

Play Books is actually really underrated! It's quite minimal, cross platform with cloud state and does everything really well. One cool unique feature I found is that it can sync notes and highlights straight to a google drive folder.

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