GoKawiilis a senior reviewer with over a decade of experience writing about consumer tech. She has a special interest in mobile photography and telecom. Previously, she worked at DPReview.
I was ready to give up on the Galaxy Z TriFold.
We had a strong case for getting a refund from the eBay seller — they’d claimed it was the version sold in Taiwan, but the phone that arrived at my door came with a Chinese serial number. That meant no Google services and lots of unfamiliar apps all requesting sensitive permissions. It was weird. Better off just sending this one back and trying again to acquire the US version, I thought. Then Samsung discontinued it.
Suddenly, the TriFold on my desk wasn’t just a funny thing that happened on the way to getting a real TriFold. It was the only TriFold I was likely to get my hands on, probably ever. It was this one or nothing.
I didn’t trust this thing when it first arrived.
Around the same time, a reader pointed us to a post on XDA forums with detailed instructions for flashing Singapore ROM to a Chinese TriFold. The internals are the same, the post claims, so everything should function normally once you install the new software. Downloading a new ROM to a phone isn’t terribly complicated, but there’s always the possibility of something going wrong and bricking your phone. I’d never attempted it, but it suddenly felt like my only option if I wanted the true TriFold experience. I lit a candle for good vibes and rolled up my sleeves.
Four hours later, after I’d learned how to run a Windows virtual machine on my MacBook, downloaded all the necessary drivers and software, and read upsetting phrases like “soft brick” one too many times, it worked. My concerns about security risks were alleviated; gone were the unfamiliar apps asking for permission to track my every move. It was the same phone as before, but also a totally new one. Mission accomplished! But… what exactly is it?
Most of the time, I feel like I’m using it wrong
Most of the time, I feel like I’m using it wrong. The TriFold is so heavy that when it’s folded up, doing normal phone stuff on the outer screen feels like a constant reminder that I’m not using the phone’s full potential. But the inner screen is so big and wide that if I’m just doing one thing at a time, I feel like I’m underutilizing all that real estate. I need to open windows — lots of them — pair a keyboard and a mouse, start a spreadsheet, watch a video, anything. Pretty soon I get overwhelmed and fold it back up, then the cycle starts again.
I even started an Xbox Game Pass subscription to see if gaming felt like the right fit, but there aren’t as many games with touchscreen controls as I was hoping. Bluetooth controllers do nothing for my dream of curling up on the couch with my phone-turned-tablet and playing any old game I want. And if I’m going to set up this $3,000 phone with a keyboard and mouse just to play Blue Prince, then I’ve probably gone wrong somewhere.
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