Header Ads

Week in Review - Samsung tries to unfold a winner

TechCrunch Newsletter
TechCrunch logo
Week in Review logo

Saturday, February 15, 2020 By Lucas Matney

Hey everyone, welcome back to Week in Review where I dive deep into a bit of news from the week or just share some thoughts and go over some of the more interesting stories of the week.

If you’re reading this on the TechCrunch site, you can get this in your inbox here, and follow my tweets here.

The big story

This past week, I checked out Samsung’s big reveal of their new smartphone lines, the most intriguing was of course their new folding phone. The last foldable from Samsung, was –in short– a disaster, this one has some definite potential.

More from my colleague Brian’s time with the device:

“For starters, the form factor just makes more sense. The "why" of the Fold was significantly more difficult to explain to those outside the industry (and frankly, many of those inside it, as well).

Anyone who's ever used a clamshell phone, on the other hand, will immediately get the Flip. You've got a roomy 6.7-inch screen that you can snap shut and stick in your pocket. It's pretty much as simple as that — it's just that there was a lot of innovation that had to happen in order to get us back to square one with a larger, uninterrupted touchscreen display.

Also of note is the price. Of course, $1,380 isn't cheap by practically any measure, but that's a pretty big drop down from the $2,000 Galaxy Fold. The argument that Fold users should have been extra careful with the device given its price point have always struck me as somewhat counter-intuitive. If anything, a device that price ought to have added safeguards built-in.

The Flip has implemented a number of learnings from the earlier product, namely a glass covering, edges hidden beneath (sizable) bezels and an advanced folding mechanism designed to keep dust and debris out. In fact, this time out, the folding mechanism itself is considered a marquee feature. Per Samsung's press material:

Inspired by a lotus blossom, the Hideaway Hinge is precisely articulated for a satisfying folding motion — even allowing you to adjust the folding angle. Sweeper technology helps repel dirt and dust to keep your folds as smooth as your style.

That's a marketing way of saying that it's a lot harder to get crap trapped behind the screen, which could eventually break it. The folding mechanism is, indeed, a nice step up. It feels more robust than the sometimes floppy Fold. You can keep it open at different configurations, like a 90 degree "L" shape for watching videos.

The biggest downside of the more robust mechanism is that it's harder to flip open with a single hand, owing to resistance, and it doesn't have as satisfying a snap shut. Those all seem like pretty minor quibbles, to be honest — especially if it means a more robust product. Samsung rates the Z Flip at 200,000 folds — same as the Fold. Of course, in CNET's testing, the Fold lasted about 120,000 mechanical folds.”

Read more

The big story image

Get Zendesk for the best discount of all – free.

Sponsored by Zendesk for Startups

Whether it's for customer support, sales, or everything in between, Zendesk can help you win on every channel. Qualifying startups can join the Startups Program and get Zendesk products free for 6 months. Apply now.

Read more

Trends of the Week

Here are a few big news items from big companies, with green links to all the sweet, sweet added context:

  • Mobile World Congress is canceled
    One of the biggest tech conferences in the world has been shelved after many of the event’s biggest corporate attendees announced that they were pulling out due to coronavirus concerns. Read more here.
  • HQ Trivia shuts down
    One-time viral success HQ Trivia is no more, shutting down Friday after company leadership says an acquisition bid for the company fell apart. Read more here.
Trends of the Week image

Extra Crunch

Extra Crunch just had its first birthday and we’re churning out more content than ever to our premium site, my colleague Alex Wilhelm touched on a topic that’s quite hot in the venture world right now, debt funding versus equity funding.

Why startups are raising more venture debt as VC dollars near all-time records

As I write to you, SaaS and cloud stocks are busy setting fresh all-time highs and as we've seen, venture interest in modern software companies is pushing more money into the sector. But despite it appearing to be an incredibly good time to raise equity funding, venture debt and revenue-based financing appear to be having a moment.

So why are more folks talking about and raising debt to help power their startups, even when valuations are high and there is a lot of venture capital to be raised?”

Sign up for more newsletters, including my colleague Darrell Etherington’s new space-focused newsletter Max Q, here.

Read more stories on TechCrunch.com

Newest Jobs from Crunchboard

See more jobs on CrunchBoard

Post your tech jobs and reach millions of TechCrunch readers for only $200 per month.

Facebook Twitter Youtube Instagram Flipboard

View this email online in your browser

Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Unsubscribe

© 2020 Verizon Media. All rights reserved. 110 5th St, San Francisco, CA 94103

1 comment:

  1. I liked the way you explained the subject. Really, your blog has a lot of stuff. Thank you for sharing such valuable information with us. We also provide such information to Audience. You can also check our blog at once for more information.
    Montecarlo Ltd
    Forex Charts
    international trade
    Happiest Minds Technologies

    ReplyDelete