Initial review: The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 is a further refinement to the foldable formula, and this year’s iteration is the most consumer-friendly of the lot.

Pros

• Handier than last year’s model
• The external screen makes it easier to use like a normal phone
• Lots of UI and quality of life updates

Cons

• Still pretty expensive VS a normal phone

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 Philippines Specs:

• Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor
• 12GB LPDDR5X RAM
• 256GB/512GB/1TB UFS 3.1 storage
• 7.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED Infinity Flex Internal Display, 2176×1812 resolution, 120hz adaptive refresh rate
• 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED External Display, 2316×904 resolution, 120hz adaptive refresh rate
• 50-megapixel f/1.8 main camera with OIS and Dual Pixel AF, 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle camera, 10-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto camera with Dual OIS, PDAF, 2x optical zoom
• 4-megapixel f/1.8 under-display selfie camera (inner display)
• 10-megapixel f/2.2 selfie camera (outer display)
• 4G, LTE, 5G
• WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS
• Side-mounted fingerprint scanner, IPX8 Rating, stereo speakers
• 4400mAh battery
• 25w fast charging
• Android 12, One UI 4.0

Foldables are quickly becoming more mainstream in 2022, with everyone and their grandma releasing their own take on the new form factor. That being said, Samsung is still one of the best brands in the market for a foldable, which isn’t a hot take considering they’re three generations deep for their flagship model.

And so it comes as no surprise that the fourth generation model, the Galaxy Z Fold4 comes with a host of refinements and improvements over the previous model without offering anything groundbreaking in terms of tech.

Design

The design of Samsung’s flagship foldable model hasn’t changed – the Galaxy Z Fold4 still uses an inward-facing display, which necessitates the use of two display panels – one on the inside, and one on the outside.

While the form factor is the same, Samsung has tweaked the dimensions of the Fold4 to better fit the hand of your average Juan. It’s slightly shorter and wider than the Fold3 despite having the same screen size for both the external and internal displays. The aspect ratio has changed a bit for the better vs last year’s model, which is a positive change considering one of the main stumbling blocks for everyday use of the Galaxy Z Fold3 was its almost comical overall length.

Having shorter and wider displays (like the one on the OPPO Find N) is better for overall usability here – there’s really no reason to make these phones taller than your average device as there’s a bigger internal display if you need more space.

There really isn’t a lot more to share on the design side of things – the phone still uses a mechanical hinge to fold and unfold, though just like last year Samsung has reinforced the hinge to take even more abuse (Samsung claims that the hinge is rated for around 200K folds in its lifetime). The phone is still water resistant thanks to that IPX8 rating, which still blows our mind considering how many moving parts there are to this thing. The chassis still uses Samsung’s Armor Aluminum blend of metals to protect the innards, and as always the Galaxy Z Fold4 still has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner for secure log-ins.

Display

As we mentioned earlier the Galaxy Z Fold4 has two screens in its body – one external display on the front, and a bigger, foldable panel inside.

The 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED external display uses a new aspect ratio (23.1:9), which results in a resolution of 2316×904. The internal panel has a 7.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED panel that has a 2176×1812 resolution with an aspect ratio of 21.6:18. Both displays have adaptive refresh rates that go up to 120Hz.

As far as display quality goes, the two panels on the Galaxy Z Fold4 look fantastic. There’s really nothing like a Samsung-made panel (which is why many of its competitors buy Samsung displays for their own phones), and there’s enough real estate here for both work and play.

The slightly shorter size of the phone in general has done wonders for its general usability when the main display is folded and you’re only using the external panel. One of the main gripes I had with Samsung’s previous Folds was how awkward the external panel was to use with normal apps. One of the things I really liked about the Huawei Mate Xs 2 was how normal it felt to use with the screen folded. The foldable’s tweaked size has done wonders for the external screen’s usability, though the phone is still a fair bit thicker than your average phone when folded.

Before you ask – the crease is still there, although it’s less noticeable this time around. I would have preferred it to be completely invisible but realistically that’s not in the cards this year (or next year). Yes, it’s there, but it’s far less annoying than what we’ve seen in previous generations.

The phone still uses an under-display camera, though it’s no longer as noticeable this time around VS last year’s implementation. It’s still just 4-megapixels though – so if you want to do selfies it’d be a better option just to use the one on the secondary panel or use Flex mode to take a photo of yourself using the main cameras.

Cameras

Speaking of cameras, the Galaxy Z Fold4 has three – a 50-megapixel f/1.8 main camera with OIS and Dual Pixel AF, a 12-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 10-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto camera with Dual OIS, PDAF and 3x optical zoom.

Samsung traditionally has saved its best cameras for its S series of devices that are launched at the start of the year, so our expectations are tempered a little bit as far as camera performance goes for the Galaxy Z Fold4. That being said, those cameras are not a slouch by any means, and Samsung’s added more capabilities on the telephoto that now has their 30x Space Zoom.

Performance, software, and battery

It’s no surprise that the Galaxy Z Fold4 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, along with more RAM and storage that you can use. You probably already get the gist of it at this point – the Galaxy Z Fold4 is a proper flagship, armed with the very best internals money can buy. It performs exactly as you’d expect from a phone of its caliber – it feels extremely fast and responsive as soon as you unlock its screen.

Aside from rock-solid hardware, the Galaxy Z Fold4 also comes with top-notch software too. Samsung has said that the inner camera should work better with apps like Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet. If I remember correctly, it should also have auto framing, which we saw on the Tab S8 Ultra.

But aside from that, we all know that Samsung made the Fold to be a Multitasking Monster and they’ve made some tweaks on their UI to push that even further.

One way they do this is by simply adding a dock on the bottom of the screen when you launch apps so that you can easily switch around to get more work done or maybe make it easier for you to hide that you’ve taken a quick YouTube break at work.

The other way is actually a very elegant solution for those who take advantage of the screen real estate.

They’ve also introduced something called App Pairing, which pretty much launches two apps you’ve designated to tag team to launch in a single tap.

There are two battery cells on opposite sides of the Galaxy Z Fold4 that combine to give the phone 4400mAh of juice. There’s 25W of fast charging here – positively slow compared to the charging speeds of its competitors, but if you’ve been with Samsung for a while you know that they tend to play it safe as far as charging speeds go.

Wrap-up and early verdict

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 doesn’t really offer anything groundbreaking in our early review of it, but from what we learned during our time with the phone is the fact that it’s the most polished device of its kind in the market.

That doesn’t hide the fact that the Galaxy Z Fold4 is priced significantly higher than your typical flagship phone, though if you’re in the market for a foldable you already know that by now.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 Quick Review price:

The Galaxy Z Fold4 that was featured in this quick review has a price of Php 98,990 and Php 105,990 for the 128GB and 256GB variants respectively, plus, a 1TB samsung.com exclusive priced at PHP 119,990, in Gray Green and Phantom Black. Customers can also avail of the 256GB variant in Beige, exclusively released in samsung.com.

Pre-orders start at August 10 until September 1, where those who will pre-order via Samsung.com, can get a Standing Cover with Pen, a Super Fast Wireless Charger Duo, 50% off on the new Galaxy Buds2 Pro, 30% off on the new Galaxy Watch5 Series, and 1 Year full protection Screen & Device with Samsung Care+.

Those who will pre-order through Samsung Experience Stores, Authorized Samsung Stores, Lazada, Shopee, Abenson.com and MemoXpress Online from August 11 to September 1 will get a Standing Cover with Pen, Super Fast Wireless Charger, 50% off on the new Galaxy Buds2 Pro, 30% off on the new Galaxy Watch5 Series, and 1 Year full protection Screen & Device with Samsung Care+.

 

This post is search optimized by the #1 SEO Services Company in the Philippines – SEO Hacker