Galaxy Fold- Reviewers Say “Amazing”; iOS 13-Dark Mode, More Multiple Windows; Facebook-Merge NewsFeed & Stories for Swiping; Lyft Pulls e-Bikes in 3 Cities

Samsung has finally let some media people have hands on time with the ultra pricey Galaxy Fold. (No, I’m not amongst them!) Cnet.com reports that it definitely has a premium feel…despite the plastic screen. apparently, it opens and closes smoothly, but an interesting rub is…the outside screen works well when using it closed in ‘phone’ mode. One reviewer noted that because it is narrower than a usual phone, it is easy to handle and snap a picture closed…then, you can open it up and edit the pic on the full 7.3 inch phablet screen. The bigger screen also makes it easier to compose longer messages or email. If you are running an app on the small, outside screen, when you open the Fold up, that app ‘unfurls’ on the bigger screen. You can have up to 3 apps open on the larger inside screen. Because no one has had a Fold for very long yet, the crease where it folds seems minor, but could get worse with time and use…time will tell. It went on resale last week for $1980. The Huawei Mate X is $2600. The price will obviously drop with time and more mass production, but at this point, it looks doubtful that we will ever see a folding phone for under $1000.

Apple will roll out iOS 13 at World Wide Developers Conference in June, with it becoming available in September with the newest iteration of iPhones, as usual. According to 9to5mac.com, there will finally be a system wide dark mode, much like what is on MacOS already. While that’s a nice feature, if the apps don’t support it, it is a bit less useful…as the dark mode is great until you hit a window in, say, Safari, that’s not dark and it blows your eyes out of your head. Another feature that is particularly useful is multiple windows…you can already open two apps on iPads, but this will allow them to contain ‘sheets’ that are initially attached to a portion of the screen, and then can be dragged elsewhere on the screen. This will be handy, as the present split screen sometimes has one app covering the controls of another and you can’t easily deal with them. The detachable windows, or cards, can be stacked, or ‘flung away’ to dismiss them. Also coming probably is a universal ‘undo,’ which would replace the non-intuitive shaking. The Mail app will be upgraded, allowing organizing messages into categories like marketing, purchases, travel, ‘not important,’ and more. There will also be a ‘read later’ bucket, like many third party mail apps.

Facebook is testing out a way to combine your News Feed and Stories into one, swipeable mess…er, carousel. Engadget.com says they have been demoing the format, which would show the Feed and Stories side by side, and you would swipe or tap left to right. Naturally, ads would show up in the mix, too. It looks like no matter how you have avoided the stupid Stories feature, Facebook is going to force you to deal with it further…

Lyft has pulled its fleet of pedal-assist e-bikes in 3 cities due to braking issues. Theverge.com reports that the cities are: New York, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco. Apparently, the front brakes grab too hard, and as anyone who rides knows, that’s a good way to be tossed over the handlebars. This actually happened to a rider in New York who broke a hip in the landing. There have been dozens of injuries, apparently. The problem could be particularly sticky in San Francisco, which is considerably more hilly than New York or Washington. The e-bikes only make up about 15% of the total fleet in the 3 cities, so you can still rent a bike…but with just pedal power.