Some of you might be surprised by reading that title. It's not something you would normally expect to read on SamMobile. It may even be considered rude on some level but we feel that this reaction is justified now. We are sounding the alarm for the Galaxy Fold, the most expensive device that Samsung has ever made.
We have purchased four Galaxy Fold units here at SamMobile. They were bought from Germany since Samsung hasn't started selling them in the Netherlands. This post is not about any hardware problems. All of our units have been working exactly as they're supposed to. We genuinely feel that the Galaxy Fold is a great device.
Our issue here is the lackluster software support. Until today, our Galaxy Fold was running the August 2019 security patch. All of our units are the 5G variant (SM-F907B) and Samsung hasn't shown enough haste in rolling out updates for this variant compared to the LTE-only SM-F900F. The October 2019 security patch was released for the 5G variant earlier today and it has only rolled out in the United Kingdom so far. This is the first firmware update for the 5G variant since it went on sale with the August patch pre-installed.
This meant that our devices, the pinnacle of Samsung's achievements in mobile technology so far, was on a security patch that wasn't as up to date as the one on your Galaxy S10 or even the Galaxy S9. Normally, we're not too concerned if Samsung takes a couple of weeks to release an update for all of the variants of a device. In this case, the SM-F907B didn't receive any updates at all until today.
Now we don't know the reason why Samsung took its sweet time to release this update for the 5G Galaxy Fold, which finally brought some new features that owners of the LTE variant have enjoyed for a few weeks now. What I can personally tell you is that this is a very strange user experience for someone who paid top dollar for the most premium device in Samsung's lineup.
Yes, us early adopters have taken a chance on the Galaxy Fold and this is kind of a long and protracted “beta” experiment. However, the way Samsung has been indifferent about the software experience for Galaxy Fold users is really confusing. Software is what most Galaxy Fold owners care about now and Samsung should do better in this department because we have all paid a hefty chunk to essentially test its first foldable smartphone.
It should also engage this most loyal of customer bases by giving them the opportunity to test new features. The Galaxy Fold experience can be seriously elevated even further if new software features are released frequently. Why make them wait until One UI 2.0 and Android 10? I've said it before as well, Samsung should offer more useful camera features on this device to fully take advantage of its six cameras. Yet, it is still not possible to activate the cover display when using the foldable display as a viewfinder. It's a missed opportunity.
I'm sure that many who are in the same situation will appreciate if Samsung brought some consistency to the software experience for the Galaxy Fold. Nevermind the fact that some even think an exception should be made for a device that costs this much and that it should be supported for three major Android OS updates. That's never going to happen but at least Samsung can do its part and not make us wait terribly long for these minor updates.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Comment below and let's get a conversation going.
