I have had the good fortune of taking the Galaxy Fold with me on holiday in Egypt this week. As many of you will be aware, I have been enamored with this device ever since it was first unveiled. I was very excited to get my hands on it again and start using it as my primary device.
It's been a good week. The weather is lovely and the country amazing. I've been taking pictures a lot more than I usually do because that's what you do on a holiday. So this has enabled me to really get a good sense of the photography experience on the Galaxy Fold. I am impressed with a couple of things but there's something that is just an unnecessary annoyance.
Ever find yourself wishing for a larger viewfinder? It would certainly help with framing and composing the picture exactly the way you want it. While taking pictures when the device is folded is good enough as it's easy to hold, simply unfolding the device takes things to the next level. You immediately have a 7.3-inch viewfinder for photos and videos, something that has never been possible before on smartphones.
It's also good that there's no learning curve when it comes to the camera software itself. All of the camera modes that Samsung users are familiar with are onboard. If you have been using Samsung devices for long, you'll be right at home in the Galaxy Fold's camera app.
What I'm annoyed by is that Samsung hasn't done much in the way of extra functionality even though the device was delayed by almost six months. It could have cooked up a few things in the time that the hardware design team was working on improving the device's durability. For example, there are possibilities with the cover display which could have been realized.
Let's circle back to using the foldable display as a viewfinder. It's pretty great but what I don't understand is why there's no option to activate the cover display at the same time? That would allow the subject to look at the composition and framing and to make any adjustments to their pose or surroundings themselves.
Samsung actually gives you separate front cameras for the cover and foldable display, however, it has to be admitted that the front cameras could have been better. What doesn't make sense also is why it's not possible to use the triple rear camera setup for selfies, particularly wide-angle selfies? The selfie quality would certainly be better if this was allowed, you could pop the phone open, use the cover display as a viewfinder and take a selfie with the primary camera setup.
Samsung should offer Galaxy Fold owners more useful features, particularly for the camera, so that the truly unique nature of the device can be utilized. These are changes that Samsung could still make through software updates but whether or not it will do that is another matter. We can only hope for the best.
