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Welcome to the Scote, a show that can proudly say we outlasted Samsung's $3,000 smartphone. I'm your host, Will Saddleberg. On today's show, Allison Johnson, senior reviewer at The Verge, joins to discuss her experience with the Galaxy Z Trifold. If you haven't already read about the hoops she jumped through to acquire one of Samsung's extremely limited foldables, uh, it involves a sketchy $4,500 eBay purchase and Singaporean ROMs. Great. Awesome. Very fun stuff. Uh, we also chat about Google's, uh, new agentic tools on Android, which inevitably leads me to ranting a little bit about the state of AI. Uh, what can I say? I am consistent if nothing else. Uh, but it's a really fun conversation with Allison. Um, I think you're really going to enjoy it. And it all starts right now.
I am thrilled to welcome Allison Johnson to the show. Uh, she is the senior reviewer at The Verge, one of the best in the biz. Uh, we are here to talk about, uh, the Galaxy Z Trifold, which you have had an adventure with. Um, Allison, I think that's safe to say. And then also I want to touch a little bit about, uh, Gemini automation and the S26 Ultra and smartphones because that is, uh, the world you live in. So welcome to the show, Allison.
Thank you for having me. Yeah, all of my favorite subjects.
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Well, so let's start with the trifold. Um, right before we started recording, you published, uh, an article called My Brief Weird Time with the Samsung Trifold, which I think is a great headline to kick this conversation off. Um, because your experience reviewing, hands-on-ing this phone, uh, is unlike anything I've heard anybody have to face before. So, walk me a little bit through, uh, what happened with the trifold.
Yeah, it has been a real journey. Um, I can't say I've ever had an experience, uh, acquiring a phone or using a phone that's been quite like this. Um, so it all starts way back. Um, you know, Samsung releases the phone in the US. Um, the inside baseball is like, you know, typically they will reach out to us and, um, be like, we've got one for you to borrow, and then you use it and all that. Um, that did not happen this time. It was a very different experience. So, uh, we were like, okay, well, we're going to buy one because we need this thing. Um, and it sold out instantly. We did not get one, um, when it went on... like, it was minutes.
Yeah. Um, and so we're like, huh, okay. Well, and we did a few kind of rounds with Samsung, we're like, you sure you don't have any lying around? They really didn't have any lying around. So, we went to eBay. Um, which was maybe, uh, you know, we learned some lessons here.
Yes. Yeah. You kind of know what you're getting into. Um, so we kind of sorted through. We found a seller who had good ratings and a lot of history, and they claimed that they had, um, Taiwan versions of the Trifold. So it had Google services, Google Play, um, and for an exorbitant amount of money, like just bonkers money for a phone. Uh, and we're like, well, we're buying this thing. And this was happening all in the midst of, um, phone apocalypse. I don't know what we would call the last like three weeks. Like Samsung Unpacked, Mobile World Congress.
Yeah. Like just every event of the spring happening within about, like, a three-week time span. And then like the last couple weeks has been sort of dead again. It's like you guys absolutely could have spread this out or consolidated Mobile World Congress, just everybody go there.
Have thoughts on that. Um, so that's all happening, and then we kind of like get to the end of that, and we're like, where's our trifold? Um, has not shipped, which was weird.
Yeah. We went back and forth with the seller, and they're like, oh, it's, you know, it's going to be there Tuesday. And all of a sudden it was shipping from Arizona instead of, um, like Hong Kong or wherever it had initially appeared. Um, shows up at my door. The, uh, it's very, it's just a FedEx bubble wrap packet, like one of those envelopes, and then the retail box is inside for this, like, you know, priceless phone we've been trying to get a hold of. Um, so I open it up, and there's a... I have the box behind me.
This is an audio medium, but it's fine. Listen, there will be a video. You can check this out on the 9to5Google YouTube channel if you're listening in your car while you're doing this.
Exactly. Um, so it had these like, there were two stickers on the side of the box here that were like, do not accept this if it has been tampered with. And it's very clearly been tampered with. Like there's this bubbling under. I was like, that's, um, that's strange. I open it up, and there's like other weird things going on where I'm like, this is not the first time this package has been opened. And the phone was set up. I turned it on, and it was already like on the home screen. Um, and immediately asked for a bunch of permissions, like everything under the sun, and I was like, no.
It's like the biggest, it's like the most obvious red flag you could read into, where you're like, I don't know what this is asking me or why it's like in this state. But yeah, I would also have that moment of like, oh, I got scammed, or I'm certainly not touching this thing. Like, I know in your piece you had said that the screen protector had like hair and like crumbs under it because it had been replaced. Awful.
This was the, like, when you take it out of the retail box and there's that like kind of temporary black film on top. Um, the adhesive around the side had like crumbs and hair on it, was like gross. Um, so I freaked out. I factory reset the thing like so fast, and I just like powered it off and put it in the corner of the room like it was haunted or something. Um, and I kind of came around to it. I wanted a physical SIM to set it up, which was another thing I'm not at all familiar with. I put it in and I like reset it up, and it becomes clear that this is not a Taiwan model trifold. It is from China. And, um, you know, the seller said that they had powered it on and all this and installed Google Play, you know, for my convenience. Um, and I was like, well, I didn't want you to do that actually, and this is not the phone you said it was. Um, so it just kind of hung out for a while. I would like look at it and open up the web browser and play with it and be like, well, that's the end of that. In the middle of this, Samsung discontinues the trifold, says, we're done. No more trifold. Um, it's been real.
Which like, so now you're out, you know, or The Verge is out $4,500, and you have this like paperweight model that is like, you know, at best a paperweight for now, at worst a security risk.
Yes. And it's like, to what end? Because a review of this thing is not going to help anybody anyway. Like if you reviewed it today, that doesn't... you can't... nobody can purchase it unless they, of course, buy a Chinese model for $4,500.
Yes. Uh, which you say not to do.
Strongly discourage that. Um, yeah. So it just like changed the whole dynamic where I was looking at this phone being like, we got to send this back and like try and get one through, you know, legitimate means. Um, but then they announced that they're like, well, we're just not selling anymore. I was like, well, this is it. This is the only trifold, you know.
Yeah. This isn't going to be like a funny story about the trifold before we get the real trifold.
Um, and in the meantime, we had a reader reach out and kind of point to the XDA forums, um, which had a detailed set of instructions on how to flash, um, the Singapore ROM onto a Chinese trifold, um, because a number of other people have ended up with this version of the phone, right? Um, and the thinking is the internals are the same. You can put the Singapore ROM onto it, and it's going to behave fine, you know. Um, so I got real brave. This is not...
You've never done this, right? You were not a ROM person. I mean, that's... uh, and it's funny, this is the second podcast we've talked about installing ROMs that I recorded today. But, uh, you know, I would say ROM enthusiasts are a defunct breed, save for like 20 people around the world, as I described earlier today to somebody. Um, but back in the day, I mean, like I was that sicko installing... I bricked my LG G2, uh, installing something, uh, and spent... I remember I bricked it at 2 in the morning, and I had it back up at 6:00, and then I went to bed.
Oh my gosh. Awful decisions. Uh, wasting time when you're 19 years old and you're bored. Um, yeah. So, but like, I mean, even today, even if I sat down to install a ROM today, I would have no idea what I'm doing. That muscle memory is gone. So for you to sit down and do this in 2026, like, bravo. Um, especially because it involved you in setting up a virtual Windows machine on your Mac.
Yeah. Which itself is annoying.
So stupid. Like I had no idea. I was like, okay, run Odin. I don't know what that is. I'm like clicking on the file on my MacBook, and I'm like, oh, this is not going to work. So I had to like solve for that. Got everything going. You know, it didn't work a couple times for various reasons like user error or whatnot. Um, but at like 8:00 p.m. that night, I finally got it going. And that's the ROM experience.
Oh, man. Just multiple hours of being like, what did I screw up? What one line did I screw up this time? What one setting did I forget to turn on when I'm pushing ADB commands over and over again? Yeah.
Oh god, I was like, I switched out the USB cable. I was using my lucky USB cable. I thought that was going to be fine. Maybe it was...
Wait, hold. Okay, what makes it a lucky USB cable?
Okay. Um, it has not failed me. I bring it when I need to do the live blog photos at like a Google I/O or Apple iPhone announcement.
High pressure situations, fast moving situations.
Yeah. Yeah. This USB cable is 100%... um, has never failed me. So I keep it. I'm like... it's like how athletes are like superstitious about their socks or something. We're exactly like athletes, um, is what I'm saying.
So I always pack my special little USB cable. Um, so, but that wasn't working. I had to like find another one of similar quality, and, uh, something worked. I have honestly no idea like what variable changed and it worked. But...
That's the ROM experience I remember. Good to know it hasn't changed.
Yeah. Yeah. Um, and it makes me feel a little better when everyone else is like, yeah, I don't know, I just kind of tried stuff until it worked, and I'm like...
Yeah, that's the key. Well, and in your case, it's like, okay, worst case scenario is you brick it. I mean, like, it sort of seems like it's kind of in a state of being bricked anyway if you can't do much with it until there's a new ROM on it. So...
Yes. Yeah, the stakes were like very high, and also it was kind of the only option, I feel like.
Um, but yeah, everything is totally functional. I have all my regular stuff on it. Um, so then I was like, well, what do I do with this?
I have this like massive phone now in my life. Um, and that's been the question of the past like 48 hours where I'm like, yeah, is this the one foldable to rule all the foldables? Is it just a little blip in the, you know, timeline? Um, that's where the weird, you know, part of the experience has come. It's all been weird, but...
It's all been weird. Okay. Okay. But like, so you have it running. You have a trifold in front of you. I mean, to that point, like, what have you been doing with it, I guess?
Well, I, you know, got all my normal stuff on. I've tried using it like a normal phone where it's all folded up. Um, it's so heavy that that quickly becomes like, I'm done with this. I don't think I need to be scrolling Instagram anymore. Um...
And you and I have complained to each other about phone weight many times. Like, I feel like whenever we're at a hands-on event, if the phone is at all heavy or one of us is using a heavy phone, we will complain about it.
Oh yeah. Um, but I know especially you and I have complained about the first-gen Pixel Fold.
Yeah. And when I was reading your piece that went up right before we're recording, I noticed you mentioned it was heavy, and I was like, what was the... I can't remember what the Pixel Fold weight was anymore.
Yeah. It's 26 grams lighter.
Ooh. Is it? It's 283 versus 309 on the trifold.
And I'm like, you know, when you put it like that, it's not light. It's definitely too heavy for a phone. I think...
Honestly, I think the heaviest a phone should be is probably like 230 grams. I think anything above that you're going to start feeling. You know, not currently, but like the last few S20 Ultra models were around that weight. I'm always like, that's like peak. Once you're above that, you start to notice it. Like even the Pixel 9, Pixel 10 Pro Folds, I still think those are a little... you notice them. Not as much, but you do. But it's just so funny to be like, this thing is way too heavy. Also, three years ago, Google shipped a not-trifold of about this weight. I know. Um, because 26 grams is five-ish nickels.
It's not that big of a difference.
Um, but man, it is surprising how much phone weight can actually impact how you're using the device and how much you want to use the device.
Yeah. Yeah. It's a strange thing. It looks like not very much on paper, but you feel it so much. And I think we're just so attuned to how much a phone should weigh. You pick up something that's like a bit heavier, and you're just like, well, this is unreasonable. So...
I have, um, I'm working on a review of the small S26, and I'm like, there are many aspects of the Pixel experience, which is where I'm usually at, that I miss. But this thing is like 20-something, 30 grams lighter than my Pixel 10, and I'm just like... And I usually put a case on my Pixel 10, and I don't have a case on this thing, and I'm like, man, I don't want to go... it's so bulky and heavy for the same size device. Like I'm kind of dreading going back, but also I miss so much of the software experience. Like, there's no winning there. I really... Google, please make lighter phones.
I know. The S26 is the last small Android phone that we have.
It's small. So like when I look at it from the back, I'm like, yeah, it is small. The second I'm looking at the screen, it doesn't feel small because it's 6.3, I think, inches, and it's just not a tiny screen. Like...
It doesn't feel small in practice. I guess it definitely fits in my pocket better, but that's the only advantage at this point.
The other bizarro thing I'm doing is the iPhone Air is my main phone right now.
Which is also not a small phone. It's like I struggle to reach across the screen, and...
But you put it in your pocket, you're like, oh, this is great. Actually...
I held Abner's, uh, in a taxi in Vegas during CES. Uh, he was there for like 24 hours, and I was like, yeah, man, this is nice, isn't it? This is a very nice piece of hardware. I really had to be like, do not spend $1,000 on this thing. Like, you cannot spend $1,000. You don't need it. There's no reason for you to buy it. Like...
But I did have that moment of like, yeah, but I'm often carrying an iPhone and an Android phone on me at the same time. And like, wouldn't it be great if the iPhone was less noticeable in my pocket? I think... Okay, I have a theory. I think the best use case for the iPhone Air is for people like us who are carrying two phones.
You can't tell me this, Allison. You have no idea how bad I am at impulse buys. Like, no idea.
All I'm saying is if you had to... No. Um...
I know. It's like the most niche use case is like if you're a weirdo.
But that's how I convince myself to buy things is I look at niche use cases and I go, but that would fix so many things in my life, and it doesn't because I keep doing it clearly. It never does.
Um, except for one. I will say I finally, after like years of threatening—sounds bad, but saying I was going to spend $1,500 to $2,000 on an OLED television for our living room—I did finally pull that trigger a year ago, and I've been fully vindicated. Our viewing experiences are so much better since purchasing this television, to the point where Maddie, my fiancée, has like retroactively been like, yeah, you were right. It was a call. The only one that I felt like actually did kind of fix my life a little bit.
Yeah, you can hold on to that one for the rest of your natural life, I think.
Absolutely. Well, it wasn't just a size increase in display, but it was also just like so much nicer that like anytime we did end up not having time to go see a new release movie or something that we had to catch at home, it felt better than watching it on like a normal older television. So that is the one.
Um, okay. 100 layers up, back to the trifold. Um, you know, that's the show. Uh, okay. So, big, heavy, but big screen. What are you doing on the big screen?
So, um, I spent the winter developing this habit of using the inner screen and a little tiny keyboard, um, and making that my personality where I go to a coffee shop and I put it all together and I'm writing my little blogs.
Have you told Michael Fisher you're doing this?
I called him. No, I called him when I was like deep in it. I was like, how do you do this? Like, what is your secret? Like, do you have secret apps that you love? And he just kind of gave me some advice on keyboards and stuff. I went right to the source. Um, and I've adopted the lifestyle. So I was like, well, this is the purpose of a trifold. Um, and I set it up, and it's... Yeah. You get windowing. You get to do that like wireless DeX thing where it's just like you can resize windows on the inner screen of the phone, like do whatever you want. Um, which is very cool. But the problem is you're still using a phone, and like you're still using phone apps, or you know, like at best you're going to get an Android tablet experience, which...
Not amazing. I generally... some people live with it. Um, but I'm just...
I mean, it's just you have to get used to phone apps. Really, that's how you use an Android tablet is that you're just kind of accepting that like, you know, Android can handle big screens fine now, I would say, but the app experience just never really caught up in the way that it did on the iPad, and it never will probably.
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So that's where I just get frustrated where I'm like, let me run Google Docs in a Chrome tab. Quit shoving me into the app. I want like everything in front of me, right? Um, and there's workarounds and download another browser and trick your phone into thinking that you don't have the Google Docs app installed. Um, but that's just where I end up, and I'm like, well, this hasn't solved any of the... I had all these same complaints with the Z Fold 7, but when I'm carrying that phone around, it feels like a normal phone. It's, you know, it's like a heavy slab-style phone. Um, so I don't feel like I'm trading off so much. And that's just where I've landed with this thing. I even tried like cloud gaming. I was like, maybe cloud gaming exists. I don't know. I like signed up for Xbox Game Pass. Um, I was like, I've got a big screen. I could play something. And I got like 10 minutes into streaming like Banjo-Kazooie on it, and it was the most frustrating experience of my life.
Well, and it's like... I'm very big on like these emulation devices. I talk about my... I bought an AYANEO Thor. I don't know if you know what...
I don't even know those words.
Okay, because you're gonna love this. So it is a... Let me turn both of these on and make it brighter, and I will just cut this. Okay, so it is a dual-screen emulation device.
Uh, that is... so it's a 6-inch OLED screen up top, and then a 3-something-inch 1x1 screen below that is like perfect for like DS and 3DS emulation, obviously, but like you can do whatever. It can run...
It can run a lot. It has a Snapdragon... I think it's an 8 Gen 2 in here, so it's like relatively powerful. Yeah.
And this is the high-end model, so it's like 16 GB of RAM. Like, it can emulate some Steam games. I had like Disco Elysium running on it. Um, but the thing you're going to love about it is that this bottom screen, uh, they sourced from unused LG Wing panels. It's the screen from the bottom of the LG Wing.
It's like it was reborn into this thing that I'm using to play Pokemon ROM hacks. Um, I, you know...
That's great. I love that. For me specifically, me only, I guess.
How did we get here? I don't remember how we got here.
Oh, gaming. Gaming. What I was gonna say about gaming on a phone, and like I've tried this so many times with like remote play. Um, it's why I think like the PlayStation Portal is kind of like a sensible device in a way is that like, man, you're either stuck using virtual controls, which are awful.
Mhm. Especially for a game where it wasn't designed for that, like a Banjo-Kazooie, or you are, you know, pairing a controller with it, whether it's a grip or just like an Xbox controller, whatever. Um, and then the second you get a notification, like you have to... it's just awful. Even for people like us who have multiple devices, it's still like inconvenient and not what you want to use. I have found that like the Backbone is like really nice hardware, but it's like the second you slot a phone into it, you're like, I still have to be able to respond to things when they come in, and it's inconvenient to try to type with the controller in or whatever.
Oh, and so I could even see that extending to the trifold where you're like...
I mean, I don't know. Maybe I guess you could keep it in a window, but there are shortcomings to this. I guess that's kind of my broader point, uh, or my broader thinking, and I'm curious if you sort of ran into this, which is that is the trifold sort of like the true culmination of like a jack-of-all-trades sort of device where it's like, yes, it can technically do all of these things because it's got this screen, but it's not really... like all of the dedicated devices you're replacing this with, like a laptop, your actual phone, and so on and so forth, do all of these things better to the point where why are you spending $3,000 on one thing when $3,000 would get you all of those things?
