Mobile phones that can be folded are still a type of device that is awkward and not proven. But for the last three generations (with fourth possible on the way), Samsung has made a big step with its design, opening the way for innovative alternatives (although sometimes quite expensive) for typical glass bricks. And when you combine it with sales close to 10 million devices last year, it feels like folding Samsung finally starts to enter the main stream.
But regardless of a number of improvements over the years, there is one aspect of Samsung that can be folded that still requires a lot of work: endurance. Last year, after buying my own Z Fold 2, I documented some of the problems that I face after having it for 10 months. And after increasing to Z fold 3 fall, I am here to report back how the latest mainstay Samsung lasted only one year later.
Now at this point, some people might ask questions why I enhance it completely. The bubbles suffered by my Z Fold 2 screen are very annoying, but they are not too bad that I consider switching back to the standard candy handset. Conversely, my main goal to buy a model (apart from professional curiosity) is to get folds that might be better to survive from newborns.
Compared to a typical smartphone, the lack of air resistance Z Fold 2 is all but guaranteed to be a problem after my son was born. It feels like I have to keep the phone in a separate room, don’t let me be a little chance to spit or drool to damage the device. And that’s not something I want to do, that’s what makes me interested in Z Fold 3 and the IPX8 ranking. I think that if a phone can hold to sit in the water for up to 30 minutes at a depth of up to five feet, it can handle anything that can be thrown by the baby (or spitting) as well.
Fortunately, I thought my strategy was successful, because even though the price was around $ 800 to increase after being traded at my Z Fold 2, the money had been paid alone. Z Fold 3 I have been released, have vomited and had splashed milk on it, and it was really good. This phone has also been undermined more than a few times has no effect. So, while the addition of water resistance to folding Samsung may not be too attractive, considering the ordinary telephone that has had it for years, this is a big increase in daily use.
Other telephone bodies also survive quite well. There are relatively large scratches on the frame and some blisters on the hinges, but all of them are cosmetics. I also have to mention that I am not someone who put the phone into the skin or kasing, this thing has lived naked since the day I got it. So while I haven’t traveled much, how many times this phone has survived from my hand or fell on the floor while rushing to reach my child after a rather impressive nap. Even dust and crumbs have been handled by extra feathers that Samsung entered in its hinges.
The large exception for the durability of Z Fold 3 that was increased once again was the default screen protector. For this model, Samsung said it switched from TPU material used in Z Fold 2 to a new PET film while also using sticky adhesive, which was designed to prevent bubbles from forming between protectors and the appearance itself. But in my experience, no one helped.
For the first six months I had it, my Z Fold 3 screen was pure. There are no defects, bubbles or anything. But one day of winter when I was walking on the road, I opened the phone and heard a gap. At first, I was afraid of the worst, thinking the exterior cover screen was destroyed or something important in it was damaged. But after being examined more closely, I noticed that there was a fine line that stretched in the middle of the phone near the fold, as if the protector had been pulled or stretched.
And while I was still not sure what caused it, my theory was after removing a call from my pocket, cold winter air made an extraordinary fragile screen protector, causing it to clamp instead of bending when I opened the phone. This is a problem that has been found by a number of other Z Fold owners, and once you suffer from the initial gap, it is only a matter of time until the bubbles begin to form. Over the past few months, the bubbles have grown into air gaps that stretches throughout the middle of the screen, and there is no amount of pressure or trying to smooth things that have many effects. Recently, some dust has been pinched between the protector and the screen itself, which is honestly rather dirty. And because I tried to obey Samsung’s insistence that screen protectors should only be replaced by certified technicians, I haven’t tried to fix it myself.
Naturally, the next step is to bring a phone to one of Samsung’s retail locations to serve, at which point I found me far from one person who was dealing with this. When I arrived, there were three other people who were already on the waiting list – and they all waited to get a screen protector on their Z folds. Indeed, this is just an anecdotal observation, and I’m sure my choice to go to the Samsung 837 location in NYC has to do with a high concentration of $ 1,800 mobile phones that can be folded.
But, this is also not a coincidence. After talking to two other customers, I learned that they also had problems with bubbles around the sign of six to eight months. In addition, one of the representatives of Samsung Care+ that I talked about basically confirmed that this was a rather broad problem, said that the replacement of screen protectors was the most common improvement to fold Samsung. Unfortunately, because it takes about an hour to replace the screen protector and I am in fourth, I can’t wait to fix my fold. So, this is a pro tip, if your cellphone needs to be serviced, be sure to schedule an online meeting promise, so you can avoid channels.
In the end, while I planned to return to replace the screen protector, my big collection after having Z Fold 2 and Z Fold 3 is that there is a most likely you will experience bubbles after half a year or more. And without a kind of radical increase to screen construction, the next generation Z device might suffer the same fate. It was a bit disappointing, because I had to sit down for hours to fix something that might happen again. And it runs double or triples for anyone who has to send on their device because they do not live near the certified repair site.
Like standing, the bubble is certainly annoying and not too beautiful. Fortunately, the side effects are far more invisible inside or at night, so even though it is far from ideal, it can be tolerated. I will also admit that if I don’t plan to write this story, I will replace the screen protector a few months ago. And if you experience problems similar to Z Flip or Z Fold, I strongly recommend that you overcome every bubble as soon as possible, before other related problems arise.
But if Samsung wants to fold as popular as the S or A-Series telephone, a bubbling screen protector is a problem that needs to be resolved faster than later. As for me, while I haven’t decided whether I want to improve again or not, I just hope that anyone on the fence will now have a slightly more realistic idea about what kind of life with cellphones that can be folded actually.