Samsung
Earlier this year at Galaxy Unpacked 2022, Samsung announced additions to its Galaxy Z Series lineup, including the Galaxy Z Fold4 and Galaxy Z Flip4. You can access my full write-up on the event here. In the past three years, flip phones have become a mainstay in the smartphone market. Samsung is the leader in foldable phones, but with that comes the temptation to add incremental improvements rather than major innovations with each new generation. I’ve spent the last two years testing the Z Series Foldables, and a good chunk of that time was using the Galaxy Z Flip3. You can read my full review here.
I think one of the biggest opportunities for the foldable form factor is business users looking for larger screens to run productivity and business apps. The devices are well suited for the era of hybrid work and I think Samsung is continuing to up its B2B game with its foldable devices. I know Samsung made some welcome improvements to the Galaxy Z Flip4, but like most, I like to evaluate the device after extended use. Samsung sent me a Galaxy Z Flip4 and I used it extensively for four days. Let’s delve into my experience.
design
Out of the box, the Galaxy Z Flip4 looks like an optimized version of the Galaxy Z Flip3. The “hamburger” style of the Galaxy folding line is compact and fits easily in your pocket. The Galaxy Z Flip4 hinge is thinner, the frame is flatter, and the device has a matte glass finish on the outer cover. External changes are very subtle, but with the foldable form factor only a few years old, each design iteration will only see subtle tweaks. The frosted glass on the outer cover of the device is a very premium yet stylish feel and sometimes difficult to hold onto the device. I hate to admit that I dropped the machine several times while hand walking, but it happened. The device is also durable with Gorilla Glass Victus+ and an IPX8 water resistance rating. It should also last up to 200,000 folds or about five years of use.
The phone comes in four colors: Blue, Rose Gold, Graphite and Bora Purple.
Samsung
My review unit came in Bora Purple, a bit garish for my taste. The waves of color add a little pop, but I tend to go for a more neutral color. The smaller 1.9″ external screen is great for quickly checking notifications without having to unfurl the whole phone. I mainly use it to check the time, messages and battery life. When the device it is closed in the pocket, it protects the main screen.scratched by keys or a metal wallet.
I appreciate the 6.7″ 120Hz main display, which is incredibly fast and responsive. Samsung was one of the first smartphone manufacturers to implement these high-refresh rate displays, and it offers a great viewing experience. user, but it’s a battery drain. If you’re concerned, you can always switch to a 60Hz refresh rate to squeeze more battery out. The main display has a 2640 x 1080 resolution with a 22:9 aspect ratio. It’s a strange aspect ratio and results in a narrow and long ratio.screen but it doesn’t hinder me in any personal use case.I like video streaming and watch a lot of YouTube content history channels every night before from going to bed. I like that you can bend the screen slightly to prop the phone up to watch videos. I found myself doing this while watching a video and eating at the same time. The cameras, the power button, the volume buttons and SIM card slot appear to be in the same place as the last generation, which makes sense. I’m not advocating “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”, but this design has been solid from the start.
Samsung
performance
The Galaxy Z Flip4 addresses some of the challenges of hybrid work with its versatile design and flagship specs. The new Galaxy Z Flip4 has the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 octa-core processor, and my review devices had 256GB of storage and 8GB of memory.
This chip powers many other flagship Android smartphones and is top of the line in terms of performance. Through Samsung’s partnership with Qualcomm, it was able to equip the Z series devices with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is a much more impressive SoC compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen1 and puts it at the height of the Galaxy. S22 Ultra in terms of performance. During my time with the Galaxy Z Flip4, I didn’t see any noticeable lag or hiccups. I quickly ran conferencing apps like Teams and Google Chat and productivity apps like OneNote and Google Drive.
I like that you can fold the screen in half, make a video call in Messenger and be hands free. The Dolby Atmos speakers are loud and clear if you want to stream audio out loud. One of my favorite ways to use the foldable screen is to run OneNote at the bottom of the screen and have an Edge browser on top for web research and note-taking.
One thing I appreciate about a foldable design is that there are endless combinations of apps you can run simultaneously depending on your use case. You can watch a video while taking notes or a video conference and check your email. For someone interested in multitasking, this is a great device.
I even had my son-in-law log into his Clash Of Clans account to test the gaming performance, and the phone worked great. Mobile games on a 120Hz screen feel great compared to the 60Hz screens that mobile gamers have used for years.
cameras
The cameras on the Galaxy Z Flip4 mirror what was on the last generation Z Flip3. With two rear cameras and a front selfie camera. The rear cameras are a large 12MP F1.8 lens and a 12MP F2.2 ultra-wide lens with a flash located just below the two cameras. The selfie camera is a 10MP F2.4 camera.
I used the wide and ultra-wide cameras to take pictures of my French bulldogs sleeping, and the results had vibrant colors and sharp details. The selfie camera doesn’t look as sharp as some Samsung devices I’ve used in the past, but it’s not a deal breaker. The selfie camera, like previous designs, is a hole, and can interfere with watching videos if you zoom in to fill the entire screen.
Samsung
A unique feature of the Galaxy Z Flip when it comes to cameras is that since the phone folds in half like a hamburger, you can use the rear cameras to take selfies while the main screen is closed. Not a huge use case for me, but it’s always nice to have options. Overall, the Galaxy Z Flip4 cameras will offer good image quality, but they won’t compare to the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Battery Life
When I evaluate a phone, what I care about is whether I can get full days of use out of the device. The Galaxy Z Flip4 topped the line with what I would consider a full day’s use during my testing. The downside is that I only got 5-6 hours of battery life with a high productivity use case running business apps, video streaming, email and other general tasks on my Galaxy Z Flip3. With the Galaxy Z Flip4, there was a slight upgrade in battery life during heavy use. Instead of getting 5-6 hours, I consistently experienced 7-8 hours. I played the occasional YouTube video, made phone calls, and lightly used productivity apps for a few days. On lighter productivity days, I went to sleep several times with the Galaxy Z Flip4 still at more than 50% capacity.
On the plus side, Samsung increased charging from 15W with the Z Flip3 to 25W with the Z Flip4. Samsung upgraded to faster 25W charging and the company also increased the battery capacity from 3,300 mAh to 3,700 mAh. So you’ll be happy for users who want faster charging and more battery capacity. The Galaxy Z Flip4 also supports Quick Wireless Charging 2.0.
I’m sure most users can get more than 10 hours of daily use out of this phone. I don’t take it easy on my devices and I like to know what my worst case scenario will be with battery life. I still spend a lot of time in airports and on airplanes, so a realistic measure of battery life is essential for me.
price
Like the previous generation Galaxy Z Flip3, the Galaxy Z Flip4 starts at $999.99 with 128GB of storage. If you need more storage, upgrading to 256GB will set you back $1099.99 and 512GB up to $1219.99. If you pre-order the Z Flip4, you can get a free upgrade from 128GB to 256GB of storage, which is a pre-order bonus. The Galaxy Z Flip4 is available on August 26 at most retailers.
Like the Galaxy Z Flip3, the entry-level price of $999.99 may entice business customers looking for a rugged and affordable device for hybrid work.
wrapping
Some people might argue that Samsung isn’t making huge leaps with each iteration of the Galaxy Z Flip, but I wouldn’t be there politely. The luxury of creating a quality product in the first iteration is that you can gather feedback from the market and make significant but subtle design improvements to the device to improve the experience each generation. Samsung offers a slimmer design, longer battery life and solid performance in the Galaxy Z Flip4. The device isn’t perfect, but no smartphone can do everything right at once.
It’s still early days for foldable smartphones. It’s exciting to think where the form factor could be in 3-5 years. It takes a lot of investment and risk to move to an unproven form factor, but Samsung is the right horse to bet on in this race. If Samsung can get business users to adopt a foldable smartphone design to increase productivity in an era of hybrid work, it could become a sticky business. For me, it’s hard to go back to a regular smartphone after getting used to running multiple apps at once on a foldable. With the company’s commitment to improving both foldable designs like the Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy Z Fold, I think we’ll continue to see more foldable devices for years to come. Great job, Samsung.
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