Samsung reveals its first tri-fold phone – and its desktop mode

Samsung has revealed its first tri-fold phone, and it runs the Korean giant’s DeX desktop environment without the need for an external monitor. DeX debuted with 2017’s Galaxy S8 range and allowed users to connect their smartphones to a monitor, keyboard, and pointing device. The software presented a WIMP interface that more …

[Anonymous Coward]

Super trooper

It's right on time for my late 2015 or early 2016 X-Mas!!! ;)

[Pascal Monett]

So, now it's tri-fold

When are we going to get six-fold ? What is this nonsense ?

You want a phone, you buy a phone. You want a desktop, you buy a PC.

Why not a sports car that tri-folds into a motorcycle ?

Madness.

[Dan 55]

Re: So, now it's tri-fold

I'm waiting for the Samsung Accordion.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: So, now it's tri-fold

I'm waiting for the Samsung Accordion.

Pfft! I'm waiting for the Samsung Origami...

[that one in the corner]

Re: So, now it's tri-fold

> I'm waiting for the Samsung Origami

A clever design, but nobody could ever get it to fit back into the OEM case; which led to the famous lawsuit from Apple over the phrase "you are folding it wrong".

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: So, now it's tri-fold

Or the new Mobius phone with only one screen

[Jedit]

"I'm waiting for the Samsung Accordion"

You know the definition of perfect pitch, don't you? It's when you throw a bagpiper off a cliff and he lands on an accordionist.

[Neil Barnes]

Re: "I'm waiting for the Samsung Accordion"

And the definition of a gentleman is one who knows how to play an accordion, but doesn't...

(come to think of it, I can play an accordion - or I could fifty years ago, the last time I tried.)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: So, now it's tri-fold

What is this nonsense ?

Tsk, task ...

You just do not understand.

There are countless millions of fools out there who are more than willing to pay good money for this sort of crap.

A good part of those countless millions will actually do it.

Modern marketing was invented just for them.

Whilst the phrase 'A fool and his money are easily parted' is said to be from the 16th century, the concept behind it is probably as old as the wind.

.

[Anonymous Custard]

Re: So, now it's tri-fold

I'm just wondering if this will go to the (il)logical conclusion of so many screens that you get mixed up in how to fold it back up again and it ends up in a crumpled ball.

Something like an old-school map. Even better if it's used to display the navigation app of your choice at the time...

[Jedit]

"Something like an old-school map"

A whole new meaning to "what OS does your phone use?"

(For those not in the know: in happier times OS stood for Ordnance Survey, the UK government map-making organisation.)

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: There are countless millions of fools

Oh, you must be talking about the 'Apple Sheeple' who, according to the anti-apple media, are willing to spend thousands on the latest i-gadget so that they can boast about it on anti-social media for a few clicks. I'm sure that samesung's advertising will be aimed squarely at them in the hope of converting them to Android.

Yes, that is a jaundiced view but there again, I'm an old git who uses a secondhand iPhone SE and finds it suits me perfectly.

I was in London at the weekend and there was this young woman with a folding phone using it on the tube to post selfies on some site. Then she folded it up and stuck it in her jeans back pocket when the train stopped at Oxford Circus.

If there was a sign saying 'Steal Me' then this was it. One move by a thief and she'd be down a grand and more. My phone stays in a zipped pocket when I'm on the street or the tube unless I have to use it.

[JPCavendish]

Re: There are countless millions of fools

"Oh, you must be talking about the 'Apple Sheeple' "

How did you end up making this about Apple? They don't even have a folding phone ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[that one in the corner]

Re: There are countless millions of fools

Once you use an iPhone, even a second-hand SE, *everything* is about Apple.

Just be glad the patent on the Electric Fanboi Field hasn't expired yet, 'cos once it does and *every* brand starts to use it we'll all be hoarse from shouting "shut about your EFFing...".

[Jedit]

"They don't even have a folding phone"

Any phone can fold, if you try hard enough.

[MiguelC]

Re: "Any phone can fold, if you try hard enough."

Ask me how I know.....

[sstroud]

Re: There are countless millions of fools

That's really the point. Everything is rubbish in their heads, until the cult of apple releases one, and then it's the best thing ever..

It's all rather pathetic.

[werdsmith]

Re: There are countless millions of fools

Actually, iPhone is rubbish but I am forced to use one because the mainstream alternative is even more rubbish.

Really, sneering at somebody else’s choice of phone is really rather pathetic.

[JPCavendish]

Re: There are countless millions of fools

"Really, sneering at somebody else’s choice of phone is really rather pathetic."

^ This. What works for you works for you.

And the sneering is generally one-sided; you very rarely see Apple users starting it.

[thedarkstar]

Re: There are countless millions of fools

Not that you were looking at her rear end at all to see this.....

Yeah nothing here mentions Apple who as others have said, don't have a folding device. Well, unless a Macbook is included as that does technically fold.

These days with phone theft in the capital a bigger sign would be having it in your hand unlocked so the thieves can get at your data and personal information.

[Empire of the Pussycat]

Re: So, now it's tri-fold

I'm waiting for the eight-fold, which will bring users to nirvana.

[that one in the corner]

Re: So, now it's tri-fold

You can not own the eight-fold phone, you can only contemplate ownership.

Ommmmm

[Neil Barnes]

Re: So, now it's tri-fold

Is that not the Zen phone: the one with everything?

[Havin_it]

Re: So, now it's tri-fold

Wrong. The purpose of the eight-fold is to avenge the seven-fold.

[thedarkstar]

Re: So, now it's tri-fold

"Why not a sports car that tri-folds into a motorcycle ?"

I'd have a sports car that folded out into an awesome robot, aka Transformers

[doublelayer]

Re: So, now it's tri-fold

Why not? The only way improvements can be made is by trying something to see if you can and if people want it. People use phones. People use tablets. People like to carry both around. If you magically could give someone a thing that did both and was easier to carry around, some would want that. Not me, as I don't much like tablets, but there are plenty who do. Sounds like you have a market if the engineers can achieve it.

[Gene Cash]

Re: So, now it's tri-fold

> People use tablets

Citation needed. I have never seen a tablet in the wild other than the Motorola Xoom I bought.

I'd like to have a tablet for Google Maps, but they're locked down harder than a Disney IP.

So I got a laptop, for a hell of a lot cheaper than a tablet, and I got a bonus hardware keyboard and mouse.

[Calum Morrison]

Re: So, now it's tri-fold

You've never seen a tablet being used? Really? They're literally everywhere.

[doublelayer]

Re: So, now it's tri-fold

So let's see if I correctly understand you. You want a tablet and actually bought one, but because you're displeased with the choices available, as I would be as well, they're not a thing? Numerically, that's wrong, because although the market isn't growing, 38M new tablets were sold last quarter. Since you've decided to put anecdotes over that, I know several people who like and frequently use tablets, from an older person who finds it more convenient to use than a laptop to a young one who has lots of electronic materials and thinks a tablet is better than a laptop to read them and keep notes. Then we have all the people in your category (that of people who do have a use case for a tablet) who either don't know or don't care about the problems with software that put you off from buying another one. There is a category including me of people who just don't want a tablet for anything right now, but lots of tablets do get sold.

[that one in the corner]

Re: So, now it's tri-fold

He's rkight, you know.

I thought I was typing this on a tablet, but then the wife asked why I kept waving one finger in the air and I realised that this is all just in my imagination. None of you exist!

[Charlie Clark]

Re: So, now it's tri-fold

What have you got against screens of adjustable sizes? The original plan was to make them rollable, like projector screens of your but the plastic PCBs didn't work.

These devices are popular in Asia where space is at a premium and people don't have a phone and a PC, they have just a phone.

[MrAptronym]

Re: So, now it's tri-fold

Not sure I think a trifold is a good form factor, but I have found my folding phone to be a great upgrade. The only time I have felt any interest in a phone in forever. I regularly need to read larger documents while I am on the go and not needing a tablet or laptop while I am at a work site or traveling is fantastic. It is a tablet I can easily keep in my pocket and that is great.

[werdsmith]

Re: So, now it's tri-fold

Agreed. I don’t have one but I have used them and if they were available for pocket money like my used iPhones, I would have one, especially this one since it doesn’t suffer from running Android.

[Bebu sa Ware]

309 g and 12.9mm ?

Reminds me of the early 1990s pre GSM (analogue) Nokia 100 with the "thin" battery.

Back to the future.

"alarm alerting the user of incorrect folding" — immediately thought of Capt Parmenter (F-Troop) attempts at map folding.

[AMBxx]

Connecting to external screen

I think MS cracked that nicely over 10 years ago. Good to play with for a few minutes but never used again.

I miss my Lumia 950XL.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Connecting to external screen

Looked similar to W10, as I recall. But very much a solution looking for a problem!

That said, the phones were alright though - Windows Mobile was much better than the versions of Android available at the time.

[Anonymous Coward]

Trifold?

Looks to only have two folds, albeit three screens. Am I missing something or being unnecessarily pedantic? Both not unlikely.

[I ain't Spartacus]

Re: Trifold?

You missed something. It can also be unfolded into a small sheep containment and protection device - should your miniature sheep be menaced by wolves - or in fact large insects.

I really don't know why El Reg missed that vital bit of the press release...

[ParlezVousFranglais]

Re: Trifold?

You'd need a really small sheepdog though...

[RockBurner]

Re: Trifold?

The digital rendering (for such it is), seems to have 2 hinges that fold in the same way. IE, each fold will put the two outer "leaves" being folded into a "face-face" arrangement with the central "leaf".

So ... if BOTH hinges work like that... which part of the time-space continuum is the left (or right) "leaf" pushed into when it tries to move into the same spatial coordinates as the right (or left) "leaf" which has been folded over the central "leaf".

I assume that this HAS been thought about.... but the rendering would suggest otherwise.

[doublelayer]

Re: Trifold?

I don't know how this works, but most hinging things that work like that have a hinge with a smaller turn radius and one with a larger one. You close the smaller one first and then close the larger one over it. That also means only one of their folds would have to be very flat, and although folding phone manufacturers have been doing that for a few years now, I still instinctively think that the tighter it folds, the more likely something is to go horribly wrong.

[ParlezVousFranglais]

Re: Trifold?

Depends whether "tri-fold" is referring to the number of folds or the number of screens! The term onefold could happily be applied to a "normal" phone, denoting it has a "single part", therefore trifold for three screens would hold true - in this regard the meaning of "fold" seems to come from the Old English "-feald" suffix, denoting a multiplier, although confusingly the modern English "fold" is also derived from the same root, so your own comment is also a perfectly sound assumption - you've just gotta love english...

My "bifold" doors at home have 5 panels - go figure... ツ

[JPCavendish]

Re: Trifold?

"My "bifold" doors at home have 5 panels - go figure... ツ"

On no planet is this a bifold. Unless it refers to folding both directions rather than the number of panels?

[ParlezVousFranglais]

Re: Trifold?

I think it's just that nobody can be arsed to name the doors based on the number of panels any more - they are "bifolds" regardless of the number of panels

I'm sure when Samsung eventually release a phone with eight folding screens the same ambivalence will have long taken hold...

[JPCavendish]

Re: Trifold?

"they are "bifolds" regardless of the number of panels"

This makes no sense.

[JPCavendish]

I have an Asus portable monitor which plugs straight into my iPhone's USB-C. Works great when I need a 'desktop experience' but can't be bothered to bring the laptop (a.k.a. "watching films on a plane"). Apart from this use case, I really struggle to see the point of any vertically folding phone let alone a trifold.

[JimmyPage]

Not a single mention of any "AI" ...

Does this mean there is none ? Or that it's now assumed.

What a great article.

[that one in the corner]

What is on the outer screen when you are looking at the tablet?

This is ripe for all sorts of fun:

An app that use the tablet-side camera to see when the user has pretending to read the news whilst peering over the top to gawp at the girl in the seat opposite: fill the outer screen with the camera feed and an enhanced leer. Or just an "AI" video of the user quietly picking their nose hidden behind the tablet.

Puts up a bumper sticker "My other phone is a Huawei".

You lot can come up with "better" ideas, I'm sure.

[Anonymous Coward]

You're folding it wrong!

[Dave Coventry]

Does it have the unremovable Israeli firmware?

I'm reminded of the episode regarding medical pagers last year.

Forgive me if I'm inclined to give Samsung a wide birth.

[DrXym]

The solution and problem are obvious

The answer is "money" and the question is "how do we take it from people?".

Samsung knows there are people who'll pay a two and a half grand for some flimsy gadget that will break and need replacing in a year. Even though they could buy a separate phone and tablet for half the price.

[sstroud]

Louis

I just want to see Samsung use Lous Theroux in their advertising..

[harrys]

samsung phones

Avoid them like the plague ... they are riddled with nasty samsung software

Running on top of the nastier insidious layer called google play services .... a peice of crap beloved by lazy android developers

[An_Old_Dog]

The New Old

"Twenty simultaneous apps ought to be enough for anyone." -- Samsung.