Zack Nelson’s Christmas gift to his 9.7 million YouTube subscribers was a durability test of Samsung’s TriFold smartphone.
“Every so often there’s a piece of technology that lands on my desk that almost makes me feel bad for what’s about to happen … almost,” the guy behind JerryRigEverything says at the start of the test, leaving you with a strong feeling that it will not end well for Samsung’s first-ever phone with not one but two hinges.
Anyone who’s already witnessed one of Nelson’s durability tests knows that it involves lots of scratching and plenty of scraping. Phones will also have handfuls of grit poured over them, and a naked flame held to their displays.
Nelson begins the video by showing the list of warnings that appear on the phone’s display when you first power it up. Don’t remove the protective film on the main display, one of them says, while another points to the phone’s inability to handle small particles like sand. It also makes clear that when folding the device, you should “always start with the panel that has no camera,” as “starting with the panel that has cameras can damage your phone.”
Yes, it seems like a rather delicate device, and before Nelson has even brought out his first metal scraper, you have a strong feeling that you’re about to witness a horror show.
The TriFold’s soft flexible inner display, which opens to a huge 10 inches, doesn’t take kindly to being pressed with a hard pointy object, but that’s the same with all foldable screens. They’re just too soft to avoid damage if you treat them harshly.
Then in comes the grit. A lot of it. Nelson acknowledges that it’s a ridiculous amount, but it’s still awful listening to the crunching sounds as the phone’s hinges fail to cope with all of that dirt.
“I would be very nervous to ever set the TriFold down on a non-pristine surface,” Nelson comments.
And then for the infamous bend test, where the YouTuber uses his bare hands to flex the phone in a bid to learn more about its structural integrity. Within a second or two of feeling the force, the TriFold’s screen fizzles, though the device at least manages to stay in one piece.
Nelson notes that the TriFold has become “the first Samsung ever to kick the bucket during my bend test,” before concluding: “If you’re going to treat the TriFold nicely, it’s probably the coolest phone on the planet. But if you’re the kind of person who’s loose and carefree with your hardware, this probably isn’t the phone for you.”