Samsung Galaxy Z Flip

It seems that every veteran phone company is on a mission to make a folding smartphone in 2020. Several models have hit the market but they’ve been a bit hit or miss in terms of quality and performance. Will Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip change this trend?

Design

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip has the novelty folding screen and pocket-friendly sizing of a flip phone with the full power of a modern smartphone. Reviewers said the hinge seems to hold up well to the abuse of folding and unfolding repeatedly.

Display

The display has a solid design concept and seems to have perfected what many reviewers felt were disappointments with more recent attempts at a flip-style smartphone. The seam for the screen is barely noticeable when unfolded and the outside has a small screen for displaying incoming calls and notifications.

There aren’t any detectable bumps or odd warping on the screen. It can handle the stress of being folded and remains responsive without any issues. The outside has a smaller display that shows the time, date, notifications, and incoming calls though reviewers said that unless the contact’s name was short it often did not fit on the screen.

The Guardian said, “The notification panel on the outside is enough to show me there’s something important waiting or the time, but I wish it was slightly longer so scrolling text was easier to read.”

Performance

Reviewers advised that the phone performs great. However, because of the folding design there are a lot fewer features on the device. Still, the feature set was okay and didn’t impact their enjoyment in any significant ways.

Software & Storage

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip ships with a modified version Android 10. The management of split screen multitasking was a favorite among reviewers. The phone offers 256GB of storage space, so you don’t need to worry about running out of room for your apps and games anytime soon either.

Cameras

Camera quality disappointed reviewers. They felt that it simply lacked for the price paid for the phone. It did an okay job taking pictures with decent detail, but it cannot keep up with the latest top-tier phone releases. It just won’t capture details, texture, and lighting nuances the way other similarly priced phones might.

Battery Life

Battery life was also only so-so, lasting about 8 hours on a full charge. You will need to carry your USB-C cable if you’re a heavy phone user and even casual users will want to plug it in every night.

Audio

While no reviewers mentioned anything about the speakers on the phone, they had a lot to say about the absent headphone jack. This is because many experienced issues using their Bluetooth earbuds with the phone. Songs would often stutter as if the connection between the phone and the earbuds wasn’t strong enough.

Specs at a Glance

• Glass and plastic chassis
• Folding 6.7-inch super AMOLED display
• Octa-core 2.95 GHz Qualcomm SM8150 Snapdragon 855 processor
• 8GB of RAM
• Android 10
• 256GB of storage
• 12MP front-facing lens/ 12MP rear-facing lens
• 3300mAh battery

Bottom Line

Whether or not folding phones will ever become mainstream and overtake flat smartphones is unknown. The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip has improved what was lacking with its predecessor the Samsung Galaxy Fold. Despite this, reviewers are torn on whether that’s enough to make the grade. To many, it seems more like a novelty at this time.

Android Police says, “It’s a folding vision from the future, loaded with flaws and bent like a scythe in preparation of the Flat Phone Reaping. Even if you don’t buy the Z Flip (and you shouldn’t), your current phone’s days are numbered.”

The Verge states, “Samsung’s brand-new Galaxy Z Flip is the third folding screen phone that I’ve reviewed. It happens to also be the best folding screen phone I’ve reviewed — but don’t let that fool you. As with the Galaxy Fold and the Motorola Razr, the Z Flip is more of an expensive experiment than a real product anybody should buy.”

Tom’s Guide remarks, “The Galaxy Z Flip is the best foldable phone we’ve seen so far, topping the Galaxy Fold and Motorola Razr. But at a still-high [price], it’s hard to recommend this phone over more traditional flagships like the iPhone 11 Pro and Galaxy S20 Plus.”