Foldable

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 - 30 Things You Didn't Know!

The Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 has now officially been unveiled by Samsung. This is by far the Phone that I’m most excited for this year so, without any further ado, here are 30 things you probably didn’t know about it! 

1) New Hinge Mechanism 

There is a brand new Hinge mechanism that now allows the Fold to stay open at pretty much any angle that you want, just like the Z Flip did. This means that you can actually prop it up and take a selfie or a group photo using the Front, or even the Back-Facing Camera Module. There are over 60 individual components in this new Hinge and Samsung said that they’ve tried over 100 different prototypes and approaches to make this possible. 

2) Video Controls 

Something else that you can do with this, is keep it semi-open and have certain video controls on the bottom screen while you’re watching a video on the top screen. This could easily be updated for Games as well so that you get the controls on the bottom and the Game itself on the top Display. 

3) Personalise the Hinge

Speaking of the Hinge, when you order your Galaxy Fold 2, you can now customise it. This isn’t live on 'samsung.com' just yet, but you will be able to change the colour of the Hinge when you order your Fold 2 through their website. 

4) Dust Protection

The technology in the Hinge has been massively updated in the Z Fold2 (Source: Samsung)

The technology in the Hinge has been massively updated in the Z Fold2 (Source: Samsung)

Something that I was hoping to be improved with the Fold 2, and it finally has, is Dust Protection. Samsung is calling this the most advanced Hinge design ever, even more so than the mechanism that the Z Flip introduced, with the whole structure of the Phone reinforced to make the Fold more durable to drops and dust.

In fact, they even showed ‘JerryRigEverything’s’ dust and dirt test for the original Fold to point out that they’re now using smaller sweepers in the Hinge, similar to the ones used by Dyson Vacuum Cleaners to keep the debris out. 

5) Water Resistance 

Water Resistance is here too, to some extent at least. Even-though Samsung has not confirmed this directly, Max Weinbach says that the Fold 2 has an Anti-Erosion Waterproof Coating on the main internal components of the Motherboard. It’s not waterproof per se, but it will help survive a quick drop in water or possibly even withstand rain, if you get caught in it.

6) No Wireless Earbuds

Unfortunately, if you were a fan of the free Galaxy Buds that came in the box of the Fold 1, Samsung would not be including any free Headphones inside the box of the Fold 2. Personally, I was hoping of some free Galaxy Buds Live this time, but it seems like this won’t be the case. 

7) Free Galaxy Buds Live 

Or is it? Speaking of the Buds Live, if you pre-order a Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, you do get a pair of Galaxy Buds Live for free. Samsung hasn’t said if they will be doing the same thing for the Fold 2, but I would expect them to do so.

If you do get your Fold after the pre-order window has closed, you would not be able to claim the free Galaxy Buds Live anymore. 

8) Premium Box

However, the box that the Fold 2 comes in is still as premium as before. It’s a gigantic box, which makes me think that Samsung has bundled a few things inside, possibly a free case again. The box itself opens in a unique way so the unboxing experience itself is indeed very premium.

9) Thinner 

Now, one of my main complaints with the Fold 1 was that it was quite thick, especially when closed down. Luckily, Samsung has made some massive improvements here.

First, the entire device is thinner when unfolded. It was still pretty thin before at just 6.9mm, but now it is just 6mm when unfolded.

When folded or closed down, Samsung has managed to make the Hinge close flatter, so the gap that was previously quite big is now noticeably smaller, making the device thinner when closed due to both of these improvements. 

10) Heavier 

Unfortunately, there is no way of making so many improvements to a device without increasing its weight. The Fold 2 is now heavier at 279g, compared to the 263g of the Fold 1. 

11) Camera System

This is very similar to what we saw on the S20’s, but it’s hard to complain at that.

This is very similar to what we saw on the S20’s, but it’s hard to complain at that.

Speaking of improvements, I’m a bit disappointed when it comes to the Camera Module. Rather than this being the Note 20 Ultra’s Camera System, it is actually the same Camera Module as on the Galaxy S20, for the most part. We have a Main 12MP, f/1.8 Aperture Module, which is the same exact one as on the S20’s, with larger Pixels and a larger Sensor overall. I’m very happy with this, as that was an incredible Camera.

The second Module is a 12MP, f/2.2 Aperture, Ultra-Wide Angle Module, the same as on the S20’s. However, the Telephoto Module is not quite as good. 

12) No 64MP

On the S20’s, we have a 64MP Telephoto Module with which you can have 30x Digital Zoom. Unfortunately, the Fold 2 only has a 12MP Module, which gives you a 2x Optical Zoom and 10x Digital. 

13) No 8K

Not only that, but because there is no 64MP Module, there is also no 8K Video Recording on the Fold 2. This is something that we’ve had on all the S20’s as well as both Galaxy Note 20’s. 

14) Why No S-Pen?

Now, one of the early rumors was that the Fold 2 will include an S-Pen, this was one of my main requests as well. I’m not a massive user of the S-Pen myself, but I do have to say that having it on a device as big as the Fold 2 would make a lot of sense.  Unfortunately, there is no S-Pen at all.

Samsung did actually make an official statement on this, saying that they engineered the Fold 2 to have its own special qualities that are suited for Foldables, which makes me think that they couldn’t do it as of yet. My initial guess was that they couldn’t do it, as they would need to make the tip of the S-Pen extremely soft in order for it not to damage the Display. But, if it is really soft, it would flex when you press harder and then the plastic body of the S-Pen itself could touch the Display, which would easily damage it. 

It could also be a case where Samsung wanted to make a thinner Fold 2 and they just couldn’t have done that if they had the S-Pen inside.

15) 120Hz 

Now, one of the big improvements that the Fold 2 gets is a 120Hz Refresh Rate Display, which is absolutely nuts on such a massive Display. 

This jump in Refresh Rate is definitely something you’ll notice.

This jump in Refresh Rate is definitely something you’ll notice.

We don’t yet know if the Display will be able to run at Native Resolution whilst also running at 120Hz.The S20’s can only run at 120Hz if you turn down the Resolution to 1080p and the exact same applies to the Note 20’s, including the Note 20 Ultra. Now, the Fold 2 has a much larger Display, it’s pretty much a compact Tablet really, so we definitely do need this Display to run in Native Resolution as even the text on the Galaxy S20 Ultra was a bit blurry when running the Display in 1080p. We don’t know if Samsung will allow us to do this, but the good news is that the Resolution on the Fold 1 was fixed, you couldn’t change it. So, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a Native Resolution at 120Hz. 

16) One CPU Model

Now, what gives me hope in terms of this, is the fact that the Fold 2 would only come with one CPU model, as opposed to the Galaxy S20’s or even the Note 20’s. These come with either an Exynos 990 Processor, if you buy the International Version of those Phones, or the Snapdragon 865.

The Fold 2, same as the US Version of the Note 20 Ultra, will feature the Snapdragon 865+ Processor. Since there’s no Exynos at all, and the Snapdragon is around 20-30% more powerful, we could see 120Hz at Native Resolution. 

17) Inner 60Hz 

The Inner Display would still be a 60Hz Panel. 

18) Outer Display Improvements

However, this Display has received some massive improvements, with the biggest one being in terms of the size.The Fold 1 had a tiny 4.6” Display with gigantic Bezels that I was almost never using, but this time we have a 6.23” Bezel-less Display with just a single Punch-Hole Camera Cutout, making this Panel fully usable now. 

19) Inner Display Improvements

The Inner Display is now bigger, more fluid and has that Notch is now gone (Source: Samsung).

The Inner Display is now bigger, more fluid and has that Notch is now gone (Source: Samsung).

But, there are also big changes are on the Inner Display. 

Aside from the 120Hz Refresh Rate, this Display is also getting larger from 7.3”, to 7.6”. Not only that, but that massive Notch has been replaced by a single Camera Cutout, just like on the front, and Samsung has also made this Display way more durable. Just like on the Z Flip, Samsung is using UTG (Ultra-Thin Glass). 

So, the Display assembly is now: a Plastic Layer, then the UTG underneath that, then the Display Panel itself and then the UMC (Under-Metal Cushion). All of these make the Display much more durable than ever before. 

20) LTPO

Speaking of the Display, the Inner Display is also an LTPO Panel, meaning that it can dynamically adjust the Refresh Rate based on the content that you’re watching. It can go from 120Hz, all the way down to 60Hz, 30Hz or even 1Hz, in order to improve Battery Life.

21) Battery 

In terms of the Battery, this is now a larger 4500mAh Battery, compared to the 4235mAh that we had on the original Fold. 

22) Faster Charging

Speaking of the Battery, Fast Charging has also been improved with support of up to 25W Charging, compared to the 15W we had on the Fold One. 

23) Storage Dropped

The amount of Storage that you get has been dropped to 256GB from 512GB, which I think that’s fine. But there are rumors that this wasn’t made to decrease the price, but rather to be able to keep the price the same as before. The price itself is not known yet.

24) SD Support

Speaking of Storage, there is no SD Card Support on the Fold 2 and since 256GB is apparently the only capacity that Samsung will be offering, you will be stuck with that amount of Storage. 

25) Fingerprint Reader 

No In-Display Fingerprint Reader, but we do have the next best thing (Source: Samsung).

No In-Display Fingerprint Reader, but we do have the next best thing (Source: Samsung).

Now, in case you’re wondering if we’re getting an In-Display Fingerprint Reader this time, the answer is no. This is still a Side-Mounted Fingerprint Reader. But, Samsung have indeed mounted it onto the Power Button, as opposed to having a Power Button and then a separate Fingerprint Reader Sensor next to it, like they did with the Fold 1. 

26) Frosted Back

Source: Samsung

Source: Samsung

The back of the Fold does indeed have a Frosted Glass texture, but we don’t yet know if this is just on the Gold Model or the Black one as well. The press images seem to show the Black Model as being Frosted as well, while Samsung’s own 3D Viewer on their own website seems to show this as Regular Glass. 

27) New Leather Case

Apparently, there is a new Leather Case that is now made out of a single piece, rather than two pieces, and I believe it stretches over the Hinge rather than leaving it open, like we had with the Fold 1’s Leather Case. 

28) Thom Browne Edition

As with the Z Flip, the Z Fold2 is part of a Limited Edition ‘Thom Browne’ set (Credit: Samsung).

As with the Z Flip, the Z Fold2 is part of a Limited Edition ‘Thom Browne’ set (Credit: Samsung).

Just like the Z Flip, Samsung will be selling a more exclusive Thom Browne version of it, which will be more expensive. But, you also get a Thom Browne Edition Galaxy Watch 3, as well as Thom Browne Galaxy Buds Live, included in that gigantic box. 

29) 2011

Samsung has stated that work on their first Fold started in 2011, which is the same year that Samsung demoed their Flexible Displays at CES 2011 for the very first time. 

30) 5G and Foldables 

Moving forward, Samsung has confirmed that their main focus would be on Foldable devices, as well as 5G, with more more Foldables being released in the future. 

31) Updates for Three Generations

Finally, interestingly enough, Samsung has also confirmed that you would be getting software updates for the next three Generations moving forward, which is an incredible move.

Samsung Galaxy Fold 2 - The iPhone 12 Killer?

As some of you might know, the Samsung Galaxy Fold has been a true game-changer for me. It has finally re-ignited my excitement for new Smartphones because, ever since the first iPhone, Smartphones haven’t really changed that much, aside from just getting larger Displays, thinner Bezels and better Cameras. The Fold finally delivered something new. An innovative experience unlike anything I’ve seen since 2008, when I got my iPhone 3G.

You can watch our full Review video on the Galaxy Fold, where I talk about how much this has changed the way I use a Smartphone. The Galaxy Fold is now my main Smartphone that I use, so this why I am so excited for the Fold 2. The improvements that we’re getting are gigantic in every single way, so without any further ado, here are all the latest Leaks & Rumors and everything we know so far, in terms of the Samsung Galaxy Fold 2!

Design

Design wise, Max Weinbach reports that Samsung could release three models of the Galaxy Fold 2. This is just a rumour and not 100% confirmed. According to Max, one Fold 2 model would have an Ultra Thin Glass Display, so just like the Galaxy Z Flip, while the other two would be lower-end and would have the same plastic Display as the original Fold.   Apparently, the code-names for these are ‘Winner2’ and ‘Champ’.

Now, just to make it clear, the Z Flip did not have a regular Glass Display, ‘JerryRigEverything’ showed us that the Z Flip did have a plastic layer on top of that ultra-thin Glass Display and that plastic layer, if it was damaged, would render the Display useless. At the end of the day, they both break as easily so it doesn’t really matter if one’s plastic or if one has glass underneath that plastic layer. 

Max also says that Samsung could release a Fold 2e, priced at just $1100. That would be insane as this would be a Foldable Tablet, which is the way Foldables should be. There’s no point in folding a regular Smartphone other than to look cool. But anyway, having a Foldable Tablet, for just $1100, when the Fold 1 was $2000, would finally bring Foldable Smartphones to the every-day consumer, that’s so awesome! According to Max, Samsung will be making some tradeoffs, in terms of the number of Cameras and the Outer Display, which will either be smaller or even removed entirely.

Industry insider Ross Young tells a similar story. Samsung will be selling a Galaxy Fold at just $1100 but rather than this being the Fold Lite that Max talked about, this would be a Fold Special Edition, which will literally just be a Galaxy Fold 1 at a lower price. This is so Samsung could get rid of the remaining inventory. Now, both Ross and Max are very reliable sources, so I believe that they’re both correct and in that case, we would essentially get two models of the Fold 2, with that Fold 1 Special Edition as well.

The design of the original Fold was a breath of fresh air, but can it be better?

The design of the original Fold was a breath of fresh air, but can it be better?

Max Weinbach has also now reported a few more details about the Fold Lite recently, saying that it would be 4G only and that it would come with 256GB of Storage, rather than 512GB. He also said that it would come in two colours, Mirror Black and Mirror Purple. The Display would be just plastic, like previously reported, and Max also says that it would be equipped with a mix of 2018, 2019 and 2020 parts. It would also have a smaller Outer Display, similar to the one on the Z Flip. It will be available internationally and come with the Snapdragon 865 Processor, an Aluminium & Glass Enclosure (rather than Stainless Steel and Glass) and the price is again said to be $1100. So, we have both the Fold Lite and the Fold 1 Special Edition at $1100, which is a bit odd. I don’t really see Samsung selling both at the same price, but we’ll see. What’s definitely looking to be certain for now is that Samsung will indeed have at least one affordable Galaxy Fold 2 model at around that $1100 price point.

Now, what about the actual high-end Galaxy Fold 2? The one that likely has that ‘Champ’ codename. Well, design wise, my main complaint with the Fold 1 was that it was extremely think when closed. At 17.1mm at its thickest point, the Fold was almost as thick as a Nokia 3310, when closed.

However, if you take a look at the Hinge, you can probably tell that the Fold doesn’t actually close flat. Instead, the Hinge itself has this wedge shape, meaning that if the Fold were to close perfectly flat, it would be much thinner, at 15.7mm thick. The Galaxy Z Flip for example, which was released after the Galaxy Fold, does indeed use a brand new Hinge design, which not only closes almost flat but it also has these fibres inside that help keep dust out. Overall, they would add to the durability of the Fold significantly.

Now, my second complaint with the Fold 1 was that the Outer Display being way too small. The Bezels on that Outer Display are also just way too big. Luckily, this will also be improved with the Fold 2. According to Max Weinbach, the Fold 2 will have an Infinity V Display on the front, meaning that the Bezels would now be removed pretty much entirely. We’ll have a Full-Screen Display, which would only be interrupted by that single ‘V’-shaped Front-Facing Camera Cutout. That would be such a big change in just a year. The Display is also reported to be getting wider. Ross Young reports that the Main Display would now be a 7.59” Panel, up from the 7.3” Panel that we had before. So, the whole device is getting a bit wider.

In terms of the colours, Max Weinbach claims that it would come in Blue, Silver, Gold, Pink as well as Black, with both Ceramic and Stainless Steel finishes.  So, Samsung is definitely planning on making the Fold 2 a bit more fun and even more premium at the same time. 

Display

Right, let’s get into some juicy Display specifics.

We’ll get that 7.59” Panel on the inside with a 2213x1689 Resolution, again according to Ross Young, a well known Display Analyst. The PPI would be 372 and the Refresh Rate would be 120Hz, which is amazing.

120Hz on a Foldable Smartphone would be insane and not something that we would have expected on the second generation.

120Hz on a Foldable Smartphone would be insane and not something that we would have expected on the second generation.

Not only that, but it will also be an LTPO Panel, which will consume significantly less power and also allow for a Variable Refresh Rate, which the S20 line didn’t get. Interestingly enough, Ross Young also claims that the iPhone 12 won’t have LTPO, meaning that Samsung will have a big advantage with the Fold 2 and the Note 20, over the upcoming iPhones. We would be able to have any refresh rate from 1 - 120Hz, whenever we want. 

Aside from the larger Display, the higher Resolution, the 120Hz adjustable Refresh Rate and the UTG Panel, another big Display improvement is that we no longer get that massive Notch on the top right. Instead, we would have a single Camera Cutout, just like on the Galaxy S20’s. We don’t really know if this would be centred or to the side, but if I were to guess, I would say that it would very likely be to the side. As you know, the Fold would fold in the middle, so you cannot really have a Camera there. This is why we’ve modelled ours with the Punch-Hole Camera to the right.

When it comes to the Outer Display’s specifics, according to Ross Young, this would be a 6.23” Display. A massive size increase from the 4.6” Panel that we had on the original Fold. The Resolution is said to be 2267x819, another massive upgrade. However, the Refresh Rate will be 60Hz. 

So, some pretty big improvements when it comes to the Display and honestly, I wasn’t even asking for 120Hz, just a larger Outer Display. It’s pretty amazing to see that Samsung will be bringing such a massive upgrade to the Fold 2.

Camera

Moving on to the Camera, the Fold 1 had some pretty good Cameras. It had six Cameras: one front Camera on the Outer Display, two front Cameras on the Inner Display and then three more on the back. Now, these Cameras were exactly the same ones as we got in the Galaxy S10+, which were outstanding, but now we’re in 2020 and those Cameras are indeed a bit outdated.

So, as expected, the Fold 2  will come with the same Cameras that the S20 came with. Luckily, it won’t come with the S20 Ultra’s Cameras but instead, the S20+’s Cameras.  The S20 Ultra did have a ton of issues with the Camera, ranging from very poor Low-Light performance, especially when recording video, to focusing issues including blown out highlights and crushed shadows. I covered all of that in the full S20 Ultra Review, so make sure you check it out in case you missed it. But the Fold 2, just like the S20+, won’t have any of those issues.This means that, on the front, we would have the same 10MP, f/2.2 Module that is capable of recording in 4K60, just like on the S20 & S20+.

Don’t worry, we won’t be getting the S20 Ultra’s Camera system.

Don’t worry, we won’t be getting the S20 Ultra’s Camera system.

The same goes for the Inner Display. It’ll just be one Camera and no Notch with multiple Modules or anything like that. Finally, on the back, the Main Module would be a 12MP, f/1.8 Module with Dual Pixel Autofocus. Then, according to Ross, it seems like we’ll have a 16MP Ultra-Wide Module, as opposed to the 12MP Ultra-Wide Module on the S20’s. That Ultra-Wide Module is usually pretty bad in Low-Light, so a lower Megapixel count is actually preferred here.

Finally, the third Module would be the 64MP Telephoto Module with an f/2.0 Aperture. This is the same one that the S20 and S20+ featured, which will allow you to zoom-in digitally, up to 30x. Not only that, but you can use this Module to take some very high Resolution 64MP photos as well as record 8K video. 

So, from the looks of it, aside from that Ultra-Wide Angle Module, which looks to be identical to the one from the S10 and Galaxy Fold 1, we are getting the exact same Camera system as on the S20 & S20+.

Performance

In terms of the specs, the Fold 2 is said to come with the Snapdragon 865. Now, we don’t know if Samsung will also release another variant, with the Exynos 990 Processor, but I really hope they don’t.

The Snapdragon 865 variants of the S20’s have all significantly outperformed the Exynos 990 variants in both performance as well as Battery Life. Even when it came to heat management, the Snapdragon models were always on top. The Fold 1 only came with a Snapdragon Processor, so I really do hope that this is the case again with the Fold 2. With the RAM, we don’t have a confirmation on this just yet, but it’s likely going to be the same 12GB that we had on the Fold 1, possibly even with 16GB on the high-end model. Storage is expected to remain the same at 512GB, but the Fold Lite is said to come in 256GB as well.

Special Features

Moving on to the special features, there are a few things that I would’ve loved to see in the Fold 1, such as Water Resistance, Dust Resistance and an S-Pen. Samsung is actually bringing one of those to the Fold 2 and that is…the S-Pen!

The original Fold had very few short-comings but the ones it had, made it quite fragile.

The original Fold had very few short-comings but the ones it had, made it quite fragile.

According to Max Weinbach, the Fold 2 will actually come with an S-Pen, a new form of S-Pen that is. This makes me think that Samsung has come up with a softer S-Pen that won’t damage that thin plastic foil on the screen that’s required for the Fold 2 to work. This could be another reason why the Fold 2 is getting larger, to make room. This was also reported by Ross Young, so S-Pen support is looking very likely now.

Aside from this, unfortunately, we wouldn’t be getting any other massive changes. In fact, we might even see some accessories removed from the box, such as the USB C to USB C adapter and possibly even the GalaxyBuds. If not on the high-end model, definitely on the Lite. There’s still no Water Resistance, still no dust protection and still no microSD card. But, the Ceramic Frame should now make the Fold 2 look and feel even more premium than before.

Battery

In terms of the Battery, the Fold 1 came with a fairly small 4380mAh Battery, considering that it had a massive 7.3” Display on the inside. But, thanks to that Snapdragon, and not Exynos, Processor, the Fold actually lasted for pretty much an entire day of use, for me. This is pretty much on par with my iPhone 11 Pro Max so I don’t really have anything to complain about, in terms of that.

The Battery will be getting larger with the Fold 2. However, we don’t yet know the exact specifics. Considering that we’re also getting an S-Pen inside, I would be surprised if the Battery ends up being any bigger than 4800mAh.

Fast Charging will be improved from 15W to 25W, just like on the S20’s. It could even be 45W like the S20 Ultra, however the Charger that you’ll get inside the box would likely still be a 25W Charger. Wireless Charging is still there at 15W and Reverse Wireless Charging will still be at 9W, just like on the S20’s. 

Release Date

So, what about the release date? When is the Fold 2 coming out?

Well, according to Ross Young, the Fold 2 will be announced alongside the Galaxy Note 20 in August, which would make a lot of sense since the Fold 2 will also have an S-Pen, just like the Note line. In terms of when it would ship, this is set to be in September 2020. This way it would also compete with the new iPhone 12’s.

Price 

And finally, you’re all probably wondering, how much will the Fold 2 cost? The Fold 1 was already an extremely expensive device, at $1980.

Well, according to Ross Young, the price will be between $1780 and $1980, making it possibly $200 cheaper than the original Fold. That’s pretty nuts. We’re getting a larger Outer Display, thinner Bezels, a larger Inner Display, no Notch, a 120Hz Refresh Rate, improved Cameras, a faster Processor, an S-Pen and it’s cheaper? We love seeing that.

Also, we should not forget about the other two Folds. The Fold Lite and the Fold 1 at a new, lower price. The Fold Lite looks likely that it will be at that $1100 price-point. So, there you go, the era of Foldables is about to hit on a pretty big scale.

Samsung Galaxy Fold (2020) - Long Term In-Depth Review

Ever since the original iPhone came out in 2007, completely changing the Cell-Phone industry, Smartphones haven’t really changed that much. Sure, we did get OLED Displays, Dual, Triple, Quad and even Penta Camera Modules, but the idea of a Smartphone has remained the same. It’s essentially this block of glass that we carry with us all the time, which helps us communicate with each other and accomplish our daily tasks on the go. 

But, that block has remained just a block since 2007. Displays started getting larger and Bezels started becoming thinner to the point where we now have Smartphones that are just a massive Displays, and nothing else. However, we’ve now reached a point where there’s only so much we can do with that Form-Factor. 

You might have noticed that since 2017, when Apple and Samsung added a Full-Screen Display to their Smartphones, the design has remained almost unchanged. So, when I started hearing all the rumors about Foldable Smartphones, I got very excited because we were finally going to get something new. I am very glad to say that I’ve been using a Samsung Galaxy Fold for more than a month now as my Daily Driver and this has completely changed my view on Smartphones. I honestly would not be able to go back to a standard one, after using the Fold. So, here is my Full In-Depth Review of the Samsung Galaxy Fold! 

First of all, you’re all probably wondering, why are you reviewing the Galaxy Fold now? This Smartphone was originally teased in November 2018, fully unveiled in February 2019 and was released in September 2019. Well, it’s simple.. I finally got my hands on one.

Ironically, we were actually one of the first channels to talk about the Galaxy Fold. We started making videos on this back in 2017, three years ago. Samsung has been working on Foldable Display technology for the past nine (or more) years now. They showed us their first Foldable Display prototypes back at CES 2011. They then showed us a now famous TV ad where someone was folding a Tablet into a smaller Phone and then unfolding it back into a Tablet, back in 2014. 

When I heard about the leaks & rumors that Samsung was finally working on a Foldable Smartphone that they would sell, I was extremely exited for this future. That’s why we made so many ‘Leaks & Rumors’ episodes on this, just because I was so hyped for something new.

The general design of most Smartphones has been pretty much the same for the past few years.

The general design of most Smartphones has been pretty much the same for the past few years.

Then, right after the February 2019 unveil, they started sending over a few Review units to some of the biggest tech channels in the world. We didn’t get one, but luckily this was the first generation that had a ton of issues and was literally breaking after just a few hours of use. Samsung postponed the release, redesigned the Hinge, even the Display to some extent, and then fully released it seven months later, in September 2019.

That’s when Samsung started sending loads of Review units to a ton of larger, and smaller, Reviewers. Unfortunately, we weren’t on that list and even though I tried my very best to get ahold of one, Samsung UK just didn’t want to send us one. It was also almost impossible to buy as it wasn’t in stock pretty much every single time I checked, so we just skipped making videos on it because we couldn’t get ahold of one.

I did go to IFA 2019, in September, and I did go to Samsung’s booth, but we got kicked out because the whole place was closing down. I was about 10cm away from the Fold and I just couldn’t touch it.  Then, in October 2019, about a month after the Fold came out, I attended the OnePlus 7T launch event, in London. Emkwan, a great guy who also runs the Em Kwan Reviews tech channel, had a Galaxy Fold. He let me use that for a good 15 minutes and I was impressed. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, but it felt like a prototype device.

Fast forward a few months and when Samsung finally sent over the Galaxy S20 Ultra Review unit, they also sent over a Samsung Galaxy Fold for me to check out. While the S20 Ultra ended up being the most disappointing Smartphone I’ve ever used, the Galaxy Fold ended up being the most outstanding Smartphone I’ve ever used. I used it as my daily driver for two weeks, after which Samsung asked for it back. So, I went and bought my own, just because I loved it so much. The Fold has now replaced my iPhone 11 Pro Max as my daily driver and I have loads to say about it.

Design

With the Design, the Galaxy Fold is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. On the outside, when the Fold is closed, you have this very weird looking Phone that reminds me of the old Nokia 7280, if you guys remember that? That very odd phone that was extremely tall and had this very small and narrow Display. The Fold, when closed, is sort of like that. It has an extremely small 4.6” Display, with a very tall 21:9 Aspect Ratio some insanely massive Bezels, they’re even putting the Bezels of the very first iPhone to shame. It’s crazy thick as well, at 17.1mm at the thickest point and 15.7mm at the thinnest, the Galaxy Fold is actually very comparable to a Nokia 3310, which had a thickness of 22mm. 

I really wish that Samsung would redesign the Hinge so that it would close perfectly flat. This way, the Smartphone would be 1.4mm thinner. Samsung has improved the Hinge heavily with the Z Flip, which closes almost entirely flat. I’m confident that when the Fold 2 launches, it will also have a design similar to that. 

Is it a Smartphone? Is it a Tablet? Well, it’s both (sort of).

Is it a Smartphone? Is it a Tablet? Well, it’s both (sort of).

Once you unfold it, that’s where the magic happens as you’re greeted with a massive 7.3” Display with a 4.2:3 Aspect Ratio, which is absolutely gorgeous to look at. The Fold now becomes much thinner at just 6.9mm, making it considerably thinner than even the S20 Ultra, for example. So, while the Fold does indeed look very outdated from the Front, when compared to other Smartphones, once you open it, that’s when it truly shows its value. Having what is essentially the equivalent of an iPad Mini right in your pocket, is just unbelievable. 

Now, because of how small the Outer Display is and how massive the Bezels are, you can indeed use the Fold closed with one hand, which is perfect for when you’re outdoors and in a hurry. However, I found that unless I really had to, I was using the Fold purely in Tablet Mode. I was really only using the outer Display when I was out shopping and I had my shopping bag in my other hand. But other than that, this is a Foldable Tablet and not a Foldable Phone.

On the bottom, we have the Speaker, a Microphone and the USB C Charging Port. On the right, we have the Fingerprint Sensor, which strangely enough is actually not built into the Display or even the Power Button, like on many other Smartphones. It is instead a separate Sensor. We then have the Power Button as well as the Volume Buttons. On the top, we have another Microphone and the second Speaker. Finally, on the left, we have the SIM Slot, which only supports a Single Nano-Sim.

In terms of how the Fold fits in my pocket, it does feel gigantic. It’s almost like carrying a TV Remote all of the time, just one that’s a bit thinner than usual. It’s also very heavy, at 263g, the Fold is one of the heaviest “Smartphones” that you can carry in your pocket in 2020. The Huawei Mate XS is a bit heavier though, at 300g. I personally don’t have a problem with how thick and heavy it is in my pocket, mostly because of how much this Smartphone has to offer. For now, I’m ok with that tradeoff.

But something that I do want to mention here is that accessories are pretty hard to find. While D-Brand do make a few Skins and Spigen do make some Cases, other than that, you’re pretty much out of luck. If you’re looking for a car mount when open, the Fold is just too big for a regular Smartphone mount, so you’ll need to buy a Tablet mount. When it is closed, the Fold is just too narrow. It will definitely take some time until accessory makers will start making accessories for Foldable Smartphones, so until then, choices are pretty limited. 

Display

Moving on to the Display, we have a 4.6” AMOLED, 21:9 Aspect Ratio, 720x1680 Resolution Display with a PPI of 399 on the outside. On the inside, there is a 7.3” AMOLED, 4.2:3 Aspect Ratio, 2152x1536 Resolution Display with a PPI of 362. Some of you might be wondering, why hasn’t Samsung made the Fold so that it folds on the outside? This way, you would’ve been able to use half of that massive Inner Display, as the outer Display. Huawei has done it on the Mate X, so why hasn’t Samsung done the same?

Well, you see, glass doesn’t fold. In order for the Inner Display to fold, Samsung would have had to use a plastic Display. Even on the new Galaxy Z Flip, where Samsung claims that they’re using glass, JerryRigEverything showed that it’s still just plastic in the end. Plastic is also far more susceptible to scratches and damage, than glass. This is why we had those big warning signs when we unboxed the Phone and is why Samsung chose to have that very sensitive plastic Display on the inside. If they had put it on the outside, any keys, coins or anything sharp in your pocket, could’ve permanently damaged the Display. This way, since it folds on the inside, it is always protected. The Display on the outside is standard Gorilla Glass, similar to what you would find on regular Smartphones.

You can set preferences for the App Switch on an App-by-App basis.

You can set preferences for the App Switch on an App-by-App basis.

So, how does the App Switch work? By default, if you have an App open on the Outer Display and you open up the Fold, that App will continue on the Inner Display. When you close the Inner Display, just like on those old Clamshell Smartphones, it would shut that Display off. If you go into the Settings, you can indeed enable continuity on an app-by-app basis so that when you close the Inner Display, the app continues on the Outer Display too. YouTube, for example, works flawlessly and many others do as well. You can have a video playing on the Inner Display, close it, and it will continue playing back on the Outer Display right from where it left off.

I’m using a tool called ‘GoodLock’. Harry, our Video Creative & 3D Concept Designer, who also has a Fold himself, recommended that App to me. With GoodLock you can force all Apps to continue to the outer Display, which is what I’ve done and it works really well.

Interestingly enough, Samsung’s Launcher is considering each Display as a separate device, in a way. They both have their own specific Home-Screens so even when you change the Wallpaper, you have to do it for the Home-Screen and the Lock-Screen of each Display. So in that case, you have four Wallpapers that you can assign. However, if you use a third party Launcher, both Displays will match, in terms of App layout.

Also, pro tip, I highly recommend adjusting the text size to ‘Small’. This way, not only will the DPI Scaling be higher, but some Apps (such as Chrome) would recognise the Fold as a Tablet, rather than a Smartphone. You would get a Tablet UI with Browser Tabs and more.

Other than that, both Displays are a standard 60Hz Panel, so no high Refresh Rate here. However, both Displays have excellent Colour Reproduction. The Brightness is good too, but I do wish that the Inner Display could go brighter, to match the Brightness of the S20 line for example. We measured the peak Brightness on a Full-Screen White Window, using the ‘Xrite i1Display Plus’ Professional Display Calibrator.

Now, since this is a folding device, there is a crease in the middle. Personally, that never really bothered me. I do feel that it’s there and I do see it at certain angles but it hasn’t really been an issue for me. It’s been like the Notch on the iPhone or the Camera Cutout, where you get used to it very quickly.

Speaking of Notches, for those of you who thought that the iPhone or the Pixel 3 XL had the biggest Notch out there, think again because the Galaxy Fold has one humongous Notch on the inside. This holds the Dual Front-Facing Camera as well as the Light Sensor, it’s pretty massive. I did forget about this after using it, it just took me way longer to forget that this massive Notch was there, compared to the crease.

Camera

When it comes to the Camera. The Galaxy Fold doesn’t have a Single Camera, but instead it comes with six Cameras, which sounds crazy. On the front, when the Fold is closed, we have a 10MP Selfie Camera, which has an f/2.2 Aperture and 1.22μm Pixels. This is literally the exact same Front-Facing Camera Sensor as on the regular Galaxy S10, just with a smaller f/2.2 Aperture, rather than f/1.9.

When we open up the Fold, on the inside, we have Two more Selfie Cameras. The one on the left is the same Camera as on the outside. On the right we have an 8MP RGB Depth Camera, with 1.12μm Pixels and an f/1.9 Aperture. Essentially, on the Inside Display, we get the same Front Camera System as on the Galaxy S10+ from last year, with that Depth Sensor. 

Despite being pretty similar to the S10, the Cameras on the Fold hold up very nicely. They’re certainly better than the S20 Ultra’s.

Despite being pretty similar to the S10, the Cameras on the Fold hold up very nicely. They’re certainly better than the S20 Ultra’s.

So, that’s three Cameras so far. On the back, we get three more, which are the exact same Camera Systems as on the Galaxy S10 line, from last year. That means that we’re getting a 12MP Main Camera with that Variable f/1.5-f/2.4 Aperture and 1.4μm Pixels. We then get a 12MP Telephoto (Zoom) Module, with an f/2.4 Aperture and 1μm Pixels and finally, we’re also getting a 16MP Ultra Wide Angle Module with an f/2.2 Aperture and 1μm Pixels. While this might seem quite disappointing, when you compare it to the 108MP Sensor of the S20 Ultra, or the 100X Space Zoom of the Ultra, the results actually point to the contrary. I’m not going to cover the Ultra’s Camera as I’ve already done that in the S20 Ultra Review. But ironically, the Fold, with last year’s Cameras, is actually performing better than the Ultra does.

Night shots are better. Night video is better. HDR Processing doesn’t have any of the issues, such as the crushed blacks and blown out Highlights that the Ultra has. So overall, this is a very good Camera. The regular S20 does indeed have better Cameras than this with, not just 8K video recording, but also 4K 60 on the Front, where the Fold is limited to 4K 30. But, most people don’t care about those and for how good this Camera is, it will easily satisfy all of your needs.

Also, another pro–tip, on the Fold you can easily install the Google Camera APK and get those awesome Pixel style photos, just like on a Pixel 4. Unfortunately, since this isn’t an official App that you can install, but rather a tweak, it would only work on the small Outer Display. 

Performance

When it comes to the performance, unlike the regular Galaxy line, which comes with either a Snapdragon or an Exynos Processor based on the region that you buy it from, the Fold only comes with a Snapdragon Processor. This is pretty awesome. There have been many issues with the Exynos versions of Samsung Smartphones ranging from Battery Life issues, to performance issues and even Camera issues. I talk about those comprehensively in my S20 Ultra Review so once again, definitely give that a watch.

But, I’m glad to say that none of those are an issue with the Fold, having that Snapdragon Processor is the reason why we can indeed run the Google Camera APK. This wouldn’t have worked if we had an Exynos variant. So, thanks to the Snapdragon 855 Processor, as well as 12GB of RAM, performance on the Fold has been excellent. Things are snappy and Navigation is fast & fluid. Since you have those 12GB of RAM, I haven’t had any issues with Apps closing in the background and in fact, you can even lock certain Apps in the background so that they never reload and always stay open. 

Software

But performance really means nothing if you cannot take full use of that power. I’m happy to say that the Fold fully utilises that performance, which combined with massive 7.3” Display, you can open three Apps at the same time and use them fully. You can even have one more as a floating App, for a total of four. These can all be running at the very same time and all of them are usable in real time.

You might think that I’m always on my Smartphone because…I review Smartphones, but that’s actually not the case at all. I spent almost my entire day in front of my computer, I only use my Smartphone when I’m at home and even then, I still prefer using my Laptop. However, when I’m traveling or on the go, this is when I spend all of my time on a Smartphone. This isn’t just for communicating but also for doing actual work such as replying to emails, setting up my calendar and scheduling content, all of that. Because of this, I need a large-screen Smartphone.

The Fold runs Android 10 and gets more than enough updates to keep it going.

The Fold runs Android 10 and gets more than enough updates to keep it going.

I remember this one specific time, when I was travelling to IFA last September and I had a PDF with all of my activities for the week. I had to put events from that PDF onto my Calendar. But, on my iPhone, I couldn’t do that at all because you cannot run split-screen Apps. You have to constantly go back and forward between them and remember the info that you had in the previous one, which is an absolute nightmare. This is why I was always using my Note 10+, whenever I was traveling, because of that massive Display & S-Pen. The Fold is just an even bigger Note 10+, which is even more perfect for what I do. This is really the best productivity based Smartphone, I just wish it had an S-Pen.

Samsung’s OneUI 2.0 looks incredible. It’s by far my favourite Android Skin. I love the ability to have Folders in the App Drawer as well as on my Home-Screen as it gives me an extra layer of customisation. One-handed usability is also there as you are able to bring down the Notification Panel by swiping down anywhere on the screen.

Samsung have finally started releasing more updates for their Smartphones. The Fold now runs on Android 10 and while it is not getting as many updates as the Note or the Galaxy S line, it is still receiving more updates than all of my other Android Smartphones, with the exception of Pixel and OnePlus devices.

Probably the best part about OneUI is DeX. So, when you connect the Fold to a monitor, it would boot into this Desktop UI Mode where you can connect a Keyboard, a Mouse and really use the Fold like you would use your desktop PC. You can run the Desktop versions of Chrome and Microsoft Office, so if you can’t be bothered buying a PC for your home, the Fold can actually replace three devices now. It’s a Smartphone, a Tablet and a Desktop PC (for very casual users).

My only complaint, software wise, is that the the Wallpaper sometimes glitches out and sometimes I do have some frame-drops. I didn’t really had this before the Android 10 update, so I’m hoping that these would be fixed in a future software update. But, nothing too major.

Special Features

Moving on to special features, let’s talk about the ones that the Fold lacks because there’s quite a few of those. To start with, the Galaxy Fold has no Water Resistance at all. Because of that Hinge design, Samsung couldn’t water-proof this Smartphone, meaning that if rain drops hit it, it’s as good as dead. To add to that, there is no Dust Resistance either. This reminds me of Smartphones back in 2015, way before Water and Dust Resistance was even a thing.

Also, unlike the Galaxy S or Galaxy Note lines, there is no SD Card slot at all on the Fold and, like you’ve heard before, you only get support for one physical SIM. The second SIM that you add has to be an eSIM. The good news is that you get an insane 512GB of Storage and there is no higher-end version of the Fold, there’s the baseline and that’s it. This also has UFS 3.0 Storage, which is insanely fast with speeds of over 1Gb/s. 

Despite all that it can do, the current Fold is still very easily damaged.

Despite all that it can do, the current Fold is still very easily damaged.

The vibration motor is very good. It seems to be the exact same one as in the Galaxy Note 10+ and the S20’s. You get an actual Haptic response every time to type or when you hit a toggle in the Settings. It gives you the impression that you’re actually pressing physical buttons on the screen. 

We do get 5G, sub-6GHz and mmWave 5G, which is great. You also get something called ‘Samsung Concierge’ and ‘SamsungCare+’ with the Fold, meaning that you have access to exclusive 24/7 Help. Samsung will replace your Display for free during the first year as well as fix or replace the entire Smartphone if you’re having any issues with it or even if you accidentally drop or break it.

However, you do have to register for SamsungCare+ manually, which is quite bad in my opinion. You have 30 days to do so and in my case, I tried registering but the website is all glitched and I couldn’t click the next button to actually register. I’ve been in talks with Samsung support, but hey don’t now what the issue is and they’re currently looking into it. My only complaint here, aside from the SamsungCare+ registration, are that the Fingerprint Reader is slow and very difficult to find. So, I’m pretty much using FaceUnlock exclusively on my Fold. 

The S-Pen would’ve been perfect on a device like this. We don’t have one but we’ve seen tons of leaks & rumors that the Fold 2 will indeed come with one. 

Battery 

Battery Life has been excellent, even with that fairly small 4380mAh Battery. It can easily last me through an entire day and we get Fast Charging, Wireless Charging and Reverse Wireless Charging, for charging things like those Galaxy Buds that we got in the box. 

Value 

In the end, is the Galaxy Fold worth it? Right now, no. But that’s because the Fold 2 is coming out very soon. We’ll have a video on that in the upcoming weeks so definitely subscribe and hit the bell icon for that. 

But as a whole package, the Fold offers something that no other Smartphone offers. It offers a Tablet that you can put in your pocket. The Screen-Size is perfect for reading and for emailing. The typing is great, I love the more squared off Form-Factor and in the end, like I said, this is the perfect device for productivity.  So, if you’re a CEO or a business person, there’s nothing better than this.

For the average person, unless you can get this for a very good deal, paying $2000 for it isn’t worth it at all. Also, keep in mind that you have to be extra careful with this Smartphone. But, I’m personally extremely happy with my Fold and I’m genuinely looking forward to the future. Because you see, this is the future of Smartphones. Just like the first iPhone, the Fold isn’t perfect but it lays the foundation for what’s yet to come.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip – 30 Things You Didn’t Know!

Samsung has now released another foldable phone, right after the Galaxy Fold, and it’s called the Galaxy Z Flip.  We had a chance to go to the Unpacked Event ourselves and use it for a while, so here are 30 Interesting things you probably didn’t know about the Galaxy Z Flip!

We did a similar video & article, covering 40 things you didn’t know about the Galaxy S20’s. So feel free to check those out in case you’re curious about the S20’s, as this article is solely focused on the Z Flip!

1 - Crease 

So, since the Z Flip is a folding phone, albeit a vertical folding one rather than the horizontal style, it will have a crease in the middle. Now, is the crease noticeable? We would say no. We’ve used it for probably around 20-30 minutes at the event and while yes, you can see it from certain angles, we didn’t really notice it until we intentionally looked for it, so nothing to worry about.

2 - UTG

Also, unlike the Galaxy Fold, which just like all the other foldable devices that use plastic screens, such as the Royole Flexpai, the Huawei Mate X and the Moto Razr. The Galaxy Z Flip is the world’s first foldable phone to actually use a glass display.

It’s using Samsung’s brand new UTG (Ultra-Thin Glass) technology. We’re extremely curious to learn how on earth they managed to make this fold. Long story short, Corning did this, not Samsung. Samsung’s simply using Corning’s Flexible Gorilla Glass but regardless, this results in a much more durable screen, compared to the plastic display that you could literally destroy by just pressing a bit harder with your fingernail.

3 - Aspect Ratio

Something pretty awesome that Samsung didn’t really talk that much about, is the aspect ratio of this display. On TV’s and Computer Monitors, we usually have a 16:9 aspect ratio. The S10’s from last year had a 19:9 aspect ratio, a much taller and much more cinematic display.

Screenshot 2020-03-13 at 12.15.19.png

The S20’s from this year have a 20:9 aspect ratio, even taller than the 19:9 on the S10. The Z Flip has a 22:9 (well, 21.9:9 to be more precise) aspect ratio display which is actually the tallest display on any smartphone. This is even taller than the Sony Xperia 1 which had a 21:9 aspect ratio and was known to have an extremely cinematic display.

4 - No High Refresh

Unfortunately, the display on the  Z Flip does not have the high 120Hz refresh rate display that the S20’s get, or even a 90Hz refresh rate. Instead, we get a 60Hz refresh rate panel, same as what the S10’s had last year and similar to what we already have on most other smartphones today.

5 - Resolution

Next up, even though the Z Flip has a pretty large 6.7” display, the same size as the S20+, the Z Flip is actually taller than the S20+ by quite a bit because of that 22:9 aspect ratio. Also, the resolution itself is lower than on the regular S20’s. We have a 2636x1080 resolution vs 3200x1440 on the S20’s. This translates to 425 PPI vs over 500, which is what we get on the S20’s.

6 - Bezels

If you do care about Bezels, the Z Flip has thicker bezels than the S20. It’s essentially this uniform border that surrounds the phone, sort of like the border on the iPhone 11 Pro’s, just with no notch.

7 - microSD

Something pretty interesting is that, unlike all the S20’s which do have a microSD card slot. The Z Flip does not, so you’ll be forever stuck with the base storage.

8 - Storage

Speaking of the storage, we do get 256GB as the baseline on the Z Flip which is pretty good. It’s pretty much double of what we get on the S20’s, which only come with 128GB But like I said before, this storage is fixed and you cannot expand it, whereas you can on the S20’s.

Also, the Z Flip now features the new UFS 3.0 storage, just like the S20’s, which gives you double the read and write speeds, compared to the S10. This translates to just over a 1GB/s read which is pretty insane on a smartphone. 

9 - New Hinge

Now, one of the most important things about a foldable phone, is the hinge. Luckily, Samsung has learned a lot from their Fold and the Z Flip now has their latest hinge design. It features synthetic fibres on the inside to protect it from any dust or dirt getting into the hinge but, my favourite part of it is that you can stop it at different angles. 

10 - Split-Screen 

If you stop at a 90 degree angle, the Z Flip will use this split-screen mode, where certain apps will use the two sections of the display as two separate displays. To give you guys a better idea, you can use this in the camera app and prop it up on a table and take a selfie, which is pretty cool. You can also use it in the gallery app and have a preview window of your photos on the bottom section of the display and the main photos on the top. It’s pretty much just a gimmick but at least they are making some good use of it even when the phone is half folded. Really good job Samsung. 

11 - Secondary Display

On the back of the Z Flip we do have a small secondary display, which is very small actually. It’s a 1.1” AMOLED display, with a resolution of 300x112. It’s mostly there to show you the time and the date.

12 - Selfie Display

However, if you close the Flip down, and press the power button, you can actually use this display as a viewfinder and take a selfie with the main camera module – which is pretty cool! The display is indeed extremely small, so it’s quite hard to position yourself, but at least it’s something. 

13 - VS Razr

How does the Z Flip match up to it’s main competitor?

How does the Z Flip match up to it’s main competitor?

Now, in case you’re wondering how the Z Flip compares to the Motorola Razr, which is really the only other vertically foldable phone on the market right now, the Z Flip is better in almost every single way.

It has much better specs, much better cameras and it has a glass display vs the plastic display on the Razr. The display is bigger, 6.7” vs 6.2”, it has a higher resolution as well, you get 4K60 video recording vs 4k30 on the back. You get 4K30 on the front vs 1080p 30 on the Razr and you get Android 10 vs Android 9 on the Razr. The Razr has a gigantic chin too so the Z Flip is the foldable phone to get, in case you’re looking for one that folds vertically.

14 - Fingerprint

Next up, compared to the S20’s, there are a few areas in which the Z Flip is a downgrade, aside from just the Display. For example, while the S20’s have an in-display fingerprint reader, the Z-Flip does not and instead it uses a fingerprint reader that’s embedded into another button.

15 - No 8K

Also, unlike the S20’s which can all record 8K video, the Z Flip maxes out at 4K30.

16 - S10 Cameras

Speaking of the cameras, the Z Flip actually uses the same exact main camera as the S10 did, from last year. The means a 12MP main module, with 1.4 µm pixels. 

17 - Goodbye Variable Aperture 

Unfortunately, we no longer get that f/1.5-f/2.4 variable aperture lens that the S9 and S10 had. Instead, we now get a fixed f/1.8 aperture, so low light performance on the Z Flip is actually worse than on the S10 from last year. The S20’s all get brand new sensors which larger pixels, but the Z Flip does not.

18 - S20 Wide

But luckily, we at least get the very same 12MP ultra-wide angle module that we have on the S20. 

19 - No Zoom

However, since we only get two camera modules on the back, both with 12MP of resolution, we cannot really get the same level of zoom that we get on the other three S20 models. In fact, we don’t really get any Optical Zoom at all, so even the 2x or 5x “zoom” that we’ll get will be purely digital. 

20 - Front Camera

Also, the front facing camera is very similar to the one on the S10. It’s a 10MP sensor, only with a smaller f/2.4 aperture, down from the f/1.9 aperture that we had on the S10. It’s actually a bit worse than the S10 one, however, the front facing camera cutout is actually smaller than on the S10 and Note 10, so at least that’s a plus.

21 - Water Resistance

In case you’re thinking of taking the Z Flip to the pool, don’t even think about it! That’s because the Z Flip doesn’t have any water resistance whatsoever. So avoid using it in rain as well.

22 - CPU

While the CPU is actually a flag-ship level CPU, unlike the Moto Razr, the Z Flip still uses the Snapdragon 855+ processor. Interesting enough, there is no Exynos version of the Z Flip at all. The 855+ is actually just a slightly overclocked 855 so the CPU performance is very similar to the S10’s from last year. The S20’s all get brand new 2020 processors with the Snapdragon 865 for the US & Canada versions and the Exynos 990 for the international version.

23 - RAM

Another downgrade of the Z Flip over the S20’s is in terms of the RAM. While the S20’s come with 12GB and even 16GB of RAM, on the highest end 512GB version of the S20 Ultra, the Z Flip comes with 8GB of RAM and that is the only option that you can get.

24 - Free Case

Screenshot 2020-03-13 at 12.22.18.png

Back to some positives for a bit, the Z Flip does come with a free case in the box, which is pretty useful considering that cases for foldable phones are definitely not the easiest thing to find.

Credit: Samsung (left)

25 - WiFi

If you recently bought a brand new WiFi 6 router, you’re out of luck because the Z Flip doesn’t actually support WiFi 6, or Wifi 802.11ax like the S20’s and even the S10’s do, so that’s quite strange.

26 - Slow Charging 

Something else that you’re missing out on, is fast charging. The Z Flip supports 15W charging which his still pretty good, but comparing this to the 25W charging that we have on the S20’s or the 45W charging that we have on the Note 10 and the S20 Ultra, you can see that the Z Flip is lacking behind again.

27 - Battery Life

Speaking of the battery, I’m a bit concerned when it comes to the battery life of this phone. It has a massive 6.7” display but the battery size is only 3300mAh, which is actually smaller than the 3400mAh that the regular Galaxy S10, that had a much smaller 6.1” display, had last year. So I’m quite concerned in terms of how long this phone will actually last. 

28 - Goodbye DeX?

We’ve tried finding any notes about DeX support on the Z Flip and we haven’t found a single thing that mentions that DeX is supported on the Z Flip. In fact, even on the S20’s, DeX support isn’t listed anywhere on the Specs sheet. You have to go on the main web-page and it is indeed listed there in the Galaxy Essentials app list. 

29 - Concierge

Now, since the Z Flip is a very expensive phone, and I’ll get to that in my last point, it actually does come with a Premium Support service. It is called the Galaxy Concierge and you get 24/7 customer support, 7 days a week plus 1 year extra of free accidental damage cover. This is something that the Galaxy Fold also features.

30 - Screen Replacement

Also, in case you do need to get your screen replaced, it would cost you £99 in the UK for the Z Flip or £115 for the Galaxy Fold which is crazy low. I wasn’t expecting Samsung to only charge this much, considering that Apple chargers £326 for the iPhone 11 Pro Max’s display replacement, which has a more standard, non foldable display. 

31 - Don’t buy it 

And finally, the last thing that we want to mention is that you really shouldn’t buy the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip. That’s because it’s very expensive. At a price of $1400 or £1300, it costs more than your laptop probably does and it’s still just a smartphone.

In many ways, the S10 from last year is actually a better phone. You get a zoom module as well as a better front facing camera and also a better main camera module, alongside a larger battery. Sure, it doesn’t fold in half but the thing is, this is the only reason why the Z Flip is so expensive. It’s because it folds in half and it’s still a brand new technology that’s very expensive to manufacture. If you took all the folding away, what you would be left with would be a Samsung Galaxy S10e, with a larger 6.7” display and that’s it. 

Sure, if you do have some cash to burn and you just want a cool phone and you don’t really care about having the best specs and the best camera, then go for it. Otherwise, either go for a regular phone or go for the Galaxy Fold as that’s essentially a tablet that folds in half, so it’s actually much more useful than the Z Flip is.