Tech
Galaxy Z Flip hands-on preview: Samsung just killed the RAZR – Android Central
Just as expected, Samsung went ahead and unveiled the new Galaxy Z Flip alongside the Galaxy S20 series at its February launch event. In fact, it actually led the presentation with the Z Flip, which shows just how much it cares to put the spotlight on the new foldable after the Galaxy Fold’s rocky launch in 2019.
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I’ve had a solid hour with the Galaxy Z Flip, going over its every curve and getting acquainted with this new form factor. Here are my initial takeaways.
Design: Beauty, covered in fingerprints
A massive wave of leaks of the Z Flip, along with Motorola’s release of the RAZR, have tempered our expectations for this sort of vertical-folding clamshell form factor. Even still, it’s quite a sight. Having this roughly square piece of hardware that unfolds to a tall-and-skinny modern smartphone form factor is just downright cool.
The Z Flip’s hardware is surprisingly ‘normal’ outside of the fact that it folds in half.
Outside of the novelty of its ability to fold in half, the hardware is typical Samsung quality. A metal frame rounds out on all sides with great symmetry, and the glass curves to meet it on the back. The one difference is the glass finish, which is incredibly fingerprinty. The super-mirrored finish reminds me of the Galaxy S7 … but twice as reflective. Of course the issue was of course made worse by harsh lighting at the launch event, but it was impossible to keep smudges from piling up on this thing.
The fingerprint issue was minimized on the all-black model, but that color was so devoid of any interesting features that it makes you want to take on the color-shifting purple or rainbow-like gold and just deal with the fingerprints. After all, you’re buying a Galaxy Z Flip to stand out, right? And you absolutely will. But it’s not just looks — the hardware feels really nice.
This thing is gorgeous … until you touch it and it gets loaded with fingerprints.
When the Z Flip is either open or closed, the hardware seems rather … normal. There’s a regular volume rocker where you’d expect it, and a power button that integrates a fingerprint sensor. There’s a regular USB-C port and speaker on the bottom, and nothing else particularly interesting anywhere else. And that’s a good thing; Samsung made large swaths of this experience very “normal” despite the fact that it folds in half.
On the outside of the Z Flip you’ll see a typical pair of cameras — a standard and ultra-wide — next to a tiny 1-inch “cover display” that shows quick information like the time and date, and incoming notifications. It’s actually touch-sensitive so you can scroll through recent notifications, but it’s so tiny you won’t want to interact with it for long. It serves its purpose well for showing you time and date information without having to flip open the whole phone.
Hinge and screen: Learning from mistakes
Less than a year ago, we were going through an entire saga of hardware issues with the Galaxy Fold, watching displays fail spectacularly. So it’s amazing to see the Galaxy Z Flip debut with several improvements that, when grouped together, seemingly address all of the issues of Samsung’s first generation.
Switching to a glass screen covering is a complete game-changer for foldable phones.
First, is the screen covering itself: it’s glass. Actual glass, and yet it still folds. It doesn’t quite feel like the glass on any other smartphone, but I expected that considering the complex physics involved with it folding. But more importantly, it feels dramatically better than any other folding phone I’ve touched. The screen glass doesn’t flex or dent, and unlike the Motorola RAZR it doesn’t shift around when you press it hard.
You can still feel the crease in the middle, but in my time with it I didn’t notice it visually. Even when tilting the phone at extreme angle, trying to catch the light in the crease, I barely could see the dip. And because it’s glass, and folds intelligently to leave a gap between the panes when closed, I wouldn’t expect the crease to get irregular or worsen over time.
The glass covering doesn’t flex or dent, and the crease is dramatically reduced.
I can’t overstate just how much the screen being covered by glass changes the experience of using a foldable phone. The plastic screen coverings on every other foldable are an eyesore I just can’t get over; here, you just feel like you’re using a regular smartphone.
The screen itself looks really good, though I haven’t used it outdoors yet. At 6.7 inches (21.9:9 aspect ratio) with FHD+ display the density is a little bit on the low side, but once again the glass covering completely makes up for it compared to any other “better” display being covered in plastic.
I’m not sold on the infinitely adjustable hinge, but Samsung has made a lot of changes to improve durability.
Samsung says it made several improvements to the hinge, including a new lining of fibers that will help keep dust and debris from making it behind the display — though there’s still no IP rating here. The hinge is also much tighter than even the redesigned Galaxy Fold, and it’s so tight that it can actually hold the Z Flip open at any angle. Samsung thinks you’ll want to keep the phone open at a 90-degree angle or something more obtuse like a laptop, splitting apps 50/50 along the fold line … but there really isn’t enough screen space to use it this way.
The bigger thing the hinge tightness contributes to is making it more difficult to open and close the Z Flip with one hand. Even doing the classic “wedge your thumb in from the side” move, it’s really hard to open up gracefully — though because the screen has glass covering it you’re not worried about pressing your thumb on the screen in the process. When it comes to closing the Z Flip, you have to get it really close to closed before it snaps shut on its own. But between the tight hinge and magnets, it closes authoritatively.
More Galaxy Z Flip to come
I can’t wait to use the Galaxy Z Flip longer. I still need to see what it’s like to actually use a phone with this form factor on a daily basis. I don’t know how comfortable it is to slide into a pocket, how awkward it can be to use one-handed with that super-tall display, how long the 3300mAh battery will last, and so much more. Samsung’s execution is seemingly good, but there are still things inherent with this form factor that I need to figure out.
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Render of COBOD BOD3 3D Construction Printer. |
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The BOD3, COBOD’s third printer model, is the outstanding achievement of years of dedicated research, development, and close collaboration with customers. It is a vital advancement in automated construction technology, directly addressing the urgent global demand for faster, smarter, more efficient and sustainable building solutions. Like every COBOD 3D printer, the BOD3’s modular design offers customization, allowing it to easily adapt to any customer’s size wishes in addition to complying with the various sizes of construction sites anywhere in the world. The BOD3 follows COBOD’s vision to build smarter through automation. Its operational stand combines the control and monitoring of both the 3D printer and supplementary equipment in one user-friendly system. The Advanced Hose Management System (AHMS) transports 3D printable material from the materials delivery system to the printhead via hoses secured within E-chains, minimizing physical labor and optimizing material flow. With the addition of the dual dosing system for additives, operators can better control the concrete and adapt it to onsite environmental conditions. By introducing additives directly at the printhead, the system reduces drying time between layers, speeding up the overall construction process. Designed for easy operation and precision, the BOD3 can be operated by a small, trained, and certified team, reducing the costs of projects. Incorporating the innovative Universal X-Carriage, the BOD3 is ready for future COBOD advancements and technologies, like the introduction of additional tools for the printer aimed at insulating, painting, sanding, etc. This ensures long-term versatility and performance that will keep the BOD3 at the forefront of the industry for years to come.
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Universal X-Carriage with Printhead. |
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Artificial intelligence‘s recent rise to the forefront of business has left most office workers wondering how often they should use the technology and whether a computer will eventually replace them.
Those were among the highlights of a recent study conducted by the workplace communications platform Slack. After conducting in-depth interviews with 5,000 desktop workers, Slack concluded there are five types of AI personalities in the workplace: “The Maximalist” who regularly uses AI on their jobs; “The Underground” who covertly uses AI; “The Rebel,” who abhors AI; “The Superfan” who is excited about AI but still hasn’t used it; and “The Observer” who is taking a wait-and-see approach.
Only 50% of the respondents fell under the Maximalist or Underground categories, posing a challenge for businesses that want their workers to embrace AI technology. The Associated Press recently discussed the excitement and tension surrounding AI at work with Christina Janzer, Slack’s senior vice president of research and analytics.
Q: What do you make about the wide range of perceptions about AI at work?
A: It shows people are experiencing AI in very different ways, so they have very different emotions about it. Understanding those emotions will help understand what is going to drive usage of AI. If people are feeling guilty or nervous about it, they are not going to use it. So we have to understand where people are, then point them toward learning to value this new technology.
Q: The Maximalist and The Underground both seem to be early adopters of AI at work, but what is different about their attitudes?
A: Maximalists are all in on AI. They are getting value out of it, they are excited about it, and they are actively sharing that they are using it, which is a really big driver for usage among others.
The Underground is the one that is really interesting to me because they are using it, but they are hiding it. There are different reasons for that. They are worried they are going to be seen as incompetent. They are worried that AI is going to be seen as cheating. And so with them, we have an opportunity to provide clear guidelines to help them know that AI usage is celebrated and encouraged. But right now they don’t have guidelines from their companies and they don’t feel particularly encouraged to use it.
Overall, there is more excitement about AI than not, so I think that’s great We just need to figure out how to harness that.
Q: What about the 19% of workers who fell under the Rebel description in Slack’s study?
A: Rebels tend to be women, which is really interesting. Three out of five rebels are women, which I obviously don’t like to see. Also, rebels tend to be older. At a high level, men are adopting the technology at higher rates than women.
Q: Why do you think more women than men are resisting AI?
A: Women are more likely to see AI as a threat, more likely to worry that AI is going to take over their jobs. To me, that points to women not feeling as trusted in the workplace as men do. If you feel trusted by your manager, you are more likely to experiment with AI. Women are reluctant to adopt a technology that might be seen as a replacement for them whereas men may have more confidence that isn’t going to happen because they feel more trusted.
Q: What are some of the things employers should be doing if they want their workers to embrace AI on the job?
A: We are seeing three out of five desk workers don’t even have clear guidelines with AI, because their companies just aren’t telling them anything, so that’s a huge opportunity.
Another opportunity to encourage AI usage in the open. If we can create a culture where it’s celebrated, where people can see the way people are using it, then they can know that it’s accepted and celebrated. Then they can be inspired.
The third thing is we have to create a culture of experimentation where people feel comfortable trying it out, testing it, getting comfortable with it because a lot of people just don’t know where to start. The reality is you can start small, you don’t have to completely change your job. Having AI write an email or summarize content is a great place to start so you can start to understand what this technology can do.
Q: Do you think the fears about people losing their jobs because of AI are warranted?
A: People with AI are going to replace people without AI.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration said Tuesday that it would provide up to $325 million to Hemlock Semiconductor for a new factory, a move that could help give Democrats a political edge in the swing state of Michigan ahead of election day.
The funding would support 180 manufacturing jobs in Saginaw County, where Republicans and Democrats were neck-in-neck for the past two presidential elections. There would also be construction jobs tied to the factory that would produce hyper-pure polysilicon, a building block for electronics and solar panels, among other technologies.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said on a call with reporters that the funding came from the CHIPS and Science Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022. It’s part of a broader industrial strategy that the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, supports, while Republican nominee Donald Trump, the former president, sees tariff hikes and income tax cuts as better to support manufacturing.
“What we’ve been able to do with the CHIPS Act is not just build a few new factories, but fundamentally revitalize the semiconductor ecosystem in our country with American workers,” Raimondo said. “All of this is because of the vision of the Biden-Harris administration.”
A senior administration official said the timing of the announcement reflected the negotiating process for reaching terms on the grant, rather than any political considerations. The official insisted on anonymity to discuss the process.
After site work, Hemlock Semiconductor plans to begin construction in 2026 and then start production in 2028, the official said.
Running in 2016, Trump narrowly won Saginaw County and Michigan as a whole. But in 2020 against Biden, both Saginaw County and Michigan flipped to the Democrats.
The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
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