All of those issues were addressed, and surprisingly well to boot. Those pesky gaps have been plugged up with plastic stoppers and what appear to be small strips of adhesive. The phone is still easy to open, even with one hand, but the Fold's halves lock into place much more securely. And that screen? It's been bolstered with some extra material that prevents the soft plastic panel from flexing downward too much. More importantly, the protective plastic layer on top of that screen doesn't look like a flimsy screen protector anymore -- it stretches underneath the screen's raised bezels, removing all temptation to peel it off.

Because Samsung hasn't discovered time travel yet, it couldn't go back and re-engineer the Galaxy Fold and fix certain other fundamental issues. That big, beautiful screen is still prone to jelly scrolling, where content on one side of the display moves slightly faster than the other. And you're just going to have to get used to that crease because it's not going anywhere. These aren't great characteristics for a phone this expensive to exhibit, but I wouldn't say they're dealbreakers.

In any case, I went out of my way to open and close my Fold more than I ever needed to -- in a way, it became a ludicrously expensive fidget toy. And on the occasions when the Fold accidentally clattered to the ground, it didn't seem any worse for the wear. Because of these improvements, this version of the Fold doesn't feel quite as slapdash as the original, and in my experience so far, it's not quite as flimsy as some of the prevailing chatter would have you believe.

But again, that's only for now. Living with a phone for three weeks still isn't enough time to say for sure how it'll hold up in the long term, especially when it's objectively more fragile than other smartphones. Even though I stopped worrying about the Fold suddenly dying on me, that low-key fear didn't exactly disappear. Now I wonder what will eventually do it in, because something surely will. A careless drop onto asphalt while the screen is open? Maybe. Will some pocket lint somehow squeeze in where it wasn't supposed to? I can't rule that out either. Sometimes, things just happen. And well after I had I drawn some conclusions about the Fold, something did.

Last week, I popped out for an after-work drink with a few friends. Since the Fold is nothing if not a conversation-starter, one of them asked to see the device for themselves. A few oohs and aahs later, she handed the Fold back to me and asked "what those green spots were."