Now don’t for a second try and tell me I’m a fanboy or something like that – I had a plenty honest opinion of the first folding phone the Samsung Galaxy Fold – but this is different – very different.
Someone with more time on their hands than me will confirm that since the very start of this folding screen race, I’ve said that the flip shut form-factor is the way to go. And here it is – my dream phone.
You see with the Galaxy Z Flip you get a full normal smartphone. It’s a big screen, quite tall, but also thin enough to not be hard to hold in your hand and swipe around with your thumb.
But, when it’s in your pocket or you’re just walking along holding it in your hand, it’s tiny. Fits in the palm of your hand, because it literally just folds in half.
Glancing at your phone for the time – easy there’s a little screen on the outside that shows you that.
Got a notification? Easy – the screen will scroll the text of that notification across. To be fair, it’s hard to really get the gist of a message in the ticker scroll format, but you can see who it’s from – and most of the time that’s all you need to decide if you’re going to open up or not.
Unlocking the phone can be done with fingerprint or facial recognition. To be honest, I found the face recognition sub-par on today’s impressive standards, primarily in low light or if you’re wearing a hat or something.
But the fingerprint sensor which is on the power button at the side of the phone, perfection. Every time.
I found this to be a good battery life, not amazing again, but enough to last the day – you’re probably reaching for the cable faster than you would on any smartphone from the last few years – but again, who’s not charging their phone every day anyway?
That fold in the screen? Yep, it’s VERY much there – you can feel it under your finger and you can see it when the light is on the right angle – but that’s when you’re looking for it.
In actual regular use, I barely noticed it.
The Camera
It’s the only heading I’ve put in this review because it matters most. It’s a reason to buy this device.
You see it’s true, the camera on this Galaxy Z Flip isn’t a patch on the Apple iPhone 11, or the Samsung Galaxy S20 (Or S10 really for that matter), but it’s still damn good.
It’s HOW you use it that makes it a winner.
Are you someone who takes selfies? Are you someone who takes group shots? This phone will change your thinking forever.
I took the kids on a bushwalk (yes, me – how weird is 2020) – myself and three kids. Out there, who’s going to take a photo of us? Like this:
Well, The Galaxy Z Flip did.
Because I sat it half-opened on a log, rear-facing camera pointing at us, I lined up the shot, set a timer and off I went. Easy!
The same could be done with the front-facing camera, but that’s lower quality, though perfectly fine I’m sure in many circumstances.
At $2,199 – it’s pricey. When you consider it based on specs alone, it’s overpriced – but when you consider that THE SCREEN FOLDS IN HALF this is a remarkable price.
Motorola’s RAZR should have owned this category, the return of the flip phone, but their $2,699 price tag and critical stock shortages and delays mean they’ve missed their opportunity. Sorry.
Samsung will sell these in big numbers, it’s a great phone, and it’s just the start of what we’re going to see in terms of foldables in the years ahead.
