Is the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 worth it?

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 is the best foldable phone yet, and a productivity powerhouse, with a larger cover display, better design, and revolutionary Flex Mode.

Pros:

Bigger cover display
Flex Mode adds versatility
Improved multitasking
More durable design
Apps make use of tablet mode

Cons:

Quite expensive
Relatively heavy
Not water resistant

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 isn’t just an improvement over the first Galaxy Fold; it’s a quantum leap forward. It also needs to be worth about $2,000 to be worthwhile. The front monitor is significantly larger, 5G is normal, and the obnoxious notch on the inside has been removed. This foldable is even more robust than the first.

Also, Read: Best Samsung Smartphone Features You Should Know

With the addition of a new Flex Mode, Samsung has further enhanced the versatility of this phone-tablet hybrid. Furthermore, multitasking is improved by the ability to run up to three applications at once, and most apps feature a dual-pane view for increased efficiency.

The Galaxy Z Fold 2’s cameras are not as advanced as what you’ll find on the Galaxy S21 Ultra (especially the zoom) and the design is pretty hefty, but overall the Galaxy Z Fold 2 does a much better job this time around of justifying Samsung’s high asking price (though that price dropped recently).

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What do we love about Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2?

A bigger front display makes a huge difference:

The cover monitor has been increased to 6.2 inches, so you won’t have to rely on the internal display to get things done. However, the screen on the outside is smaller than on other tablets.

Apps finally make the most of tablet-size screen:

Gmail, for example, shows the email list on the left and the body of messages on the right, while Slack shows contacts on the left and messages on the right. This is something that the iPhone is incapable of.

Multitasking is better:

Creating app pairs to launch three apps at once is easy. In some applications, We also like that you can drag and drop content from one window to another.

Flex mode adds versatility:

You can open the display at different angles thanks to the cam mechanism in the hinge. Flex Mode is there to help you make the most of it. In the camera app, for example, you’ll see the live previous on top and controls below.

Also, Read: 3 Things To Do After Switching to Samsung Galaxy Smartphone

What we don’t love:

The main display is smudged prone:

While the 7.6-inch screen’s Ultra-Thin Glass is more robust and has a better feel, it is prone to smudges. And, indeed, the crease remains visible.

Limited zoom:

I can do without the 108MP sensor on the Galaxy S21 Ultra, but having just 2x optical zoom on a $2,000 phone while the Note has 10x is a bummer.

No water resistance:

When it began to rain outside, I brought the Z Fold 2 inside because the device’s water resistance isn’t guaranteed.

This is a hefty device:

The Z Fold 2 is slightly heavier than the initial Galaxy Fold (9.5 ounces), and I noticed some pressure after a few minutes of typing. On the other hand, you’re having a phone and a tablet in one device.

Price and availability

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 was scheduled to be released on September 18, 2020. It can be purchased unlocked or via a variety of carriers.

The Galaxy Z Fold 2 cost $1,999 when it was first released, with 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM. It’s worth noting that there’s no microSD card slot and no other storage options. The Galaxy Z Fold 2 now costs $1,799. This is after a $200 price reduction. (This may be an indication that Samsung is trying to clear out inventory ahead of the Galaxy Z Fold 3’s expected to release later this year.)

If you’re searching for Galaxy Z Fold 2 discounts, the handset is now available for as little as $999. So it may be worthwhile to keep an eye out for discounts on this foldable phone. The Galaxy Z Fold 2 is unlocked and accessible from all major carriers, including AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile (Sprint).

For the Z Fold 2, Samsung provides the Galaxy Z Premier Service, which includes on-demand concierge assistance from dedicated experts. Z Fold 2 owners can also get a FoundersCard membership, which grants them access to a prepared meal from a Michelin-starred restaurant as well as access to a variety of golf clubs.

Galaxy Z Fold 2 Specs:

Price: $1,799
OS: Android 10
Main display: 7.6 inch inches 120Hz (2208 x 1768 pixels)
Cover display: 6.2 inches 60Hz (2260 x 816 pixels)
CPU: Snapdragon 865 Plus
RAM: 12GB
Storage: 256GB
Rear cameras: 12MP wide, 12MP ultra-wide, 12MP telephoto (2x optical/10x digital zoom)
Selfie cameras: 10MP (cover), 10MP (main display)
Battery: 4,500 mAh
Battery life: 10 hours 10 minutes
Size: 6.2 x 2.6 x 0.66 inches (closed); 6.2 x 5 x 0.27 inches (open)
Weight: 9.9 ounces

Design and durability

Because of its wider exterior display, the Galaxy Z Fold 2 gives a better first impression than the Galaxy Fold. Since the cover screen has expanded from 4.6 inches to 6.2 inches, you no longer feel like you’re using Android through a peephole.

The Galaxy Z Fold 2’s interior display is also larger, measuring 7.6 inches as opposed to 7.3 inches on the previous iteration. Better still, the obnoxious notch on the main screen has been replaced with a tiny cutout for a selfie frame.

Samsung also improved the Galaxy Z Fold 2’s durability and usability with a few tweaks. This includes a new Ultra-Thin Glass panel that is intended to provide a better touchscreen feel than the Fold’s plastic screen, as well as a Hideaway hinge that uses sweeper technology to keep dust and dirt out.

The Galaxy Z Fold 2 uses a CAM mechanism, similar to the Galaxy Z Flip 5G, to allow you to place the screen in multiple positions. When the phone is closed, there is still a distance between the two sides, but it is smaller than before.

Mystic Bronze and Mystic Black are the two colors available for the Galaxy Z Fold 2. If you order from Samsung.com, however, you’ll be able to add some flair in the form of four different hinge color choices. Metallic Silver, Metallic Gold, Metallic Red, and Metallic Blue are among the available colors.

The Galaxy Z Fold 2 is significantly shorter but broader than its predecessor, measuring 6.2 x 2.6 x 0.66 inches closed and 6.2 x 5 x 0.27 inches open. The Z Fold 2 is also larger, weighing 9.9 ounces vs 9.48 ounces for the original form. After several minutes of talking on the phone and typing messages, I felt a little tired.

Galaxy Z Fold 2 Software and Flex Mode

Many of the applications on the Galaxy Fold looked like blown-up phone apps in tablet mode, which was one of our concerns. Samsung, on the other hand, is tackling this flaw with the Galaxy Z Fold 2.

In Gmail, for example, I could see my messages on the left and the email body on the right. My contacts were on the left in Slack, and my messages were on the right. To see these improvements, you must switch the Galaxy Z Fold 2 monitor to landscape mode, but it makes a significant difference in productivity. It also gives the Galaxy Z Fold 2 a more laptop-like feel. In Microsoft Office and YouTube, Samsung promises a better viewing experience.

Flex Mode on the Galaxy Z Fold 2 offers this foldable phone a lot of flexibility. For optimum productivity, you can have controls or settings on one side of the monitor and content on the other.

I liked using Google Duo in Flex Mode because it allows you to put the phone down in a laptop-like position and have a video call with the other person without having to keep the phone. It’s something I wish my iPhone could do right away.

Flex Mode is supported by a number of Samsung applications, including the Camera, Video Call, Gallery, Video Player, Clock, and Calendar, according to Samsung. Flex Mode is also supported by Google on YouTube and Google Duo. Samsung is also collaborating with third-party developers to build Flex Mode-compatible games.

Multitasking is another significant upgrade in the Galaxy Z Fold 2. You can now open up to three apps at once with the enhanced Multi-Active Window feature, and you can easily build presets called App Pairs that you can launch with a single tap.

I tried launching three apps at once with Slack, Twitter, and Spotify, as well as YouTube, Photos, and Messages, and it was a lot of fun.

You can also drag an app from one window to another or re-arrange the interface with a tap.

You can also drag and drop content from one window to another, which is even better. Dropping a picture from the Gallery app into an outgoing message was easy. It did not, however, fit with the Google Photos app. Drag and Drop is supported by a number of Samsung applications, as well as Microsoft 365, Gmail, Chrome, and Google Maps.

Samsung’s App Continuity feature, which debuted with the original Galaxy Fold, is also present. The idea is that you can start an app on the cover monitor, then open the main display and continue from there. This worked in most apps, but when I moved to the larger canvas in Sky Force 2, I had to restart the game.

Cameras

When it comes to the cameras, the $2,000 Galaxy Z Fold 2 is a step down from the $1,300 Galaxy Note 20. You won’t get a 108MP key sensor, 5x optical zoom, or 50x Space Zoom, but you will get three capable shooters to use in a number of situations.

A 12MP main wide-angle camera, a 12MP ultra-wide-angle camera with a 123-degree field of view, and a 12MP telephoto lens with 2x optical zoom and 10x digital zoom are all included in the Galaxy Z Fold 2.

The excitement really begins with the Galaxy Z Fold 2’s special camera features. Dual Preview, for example, allows subjects to see how they’ll appear on the front monitor when you’re shooting. The rear cameras can also be used to take better selfies.

Simply switch on the camera on the cover monitor and press the top right corner button, and the Z Fold 2 will invite you to unfold the unit and show you a live preview.

Another plus: when taking video, you can prop up the Galaxy Z Fold 2 in what appears to be laptop mode, and it will hold your subject in focus using a function called Auto framing. You can also review recent pictures on the bottom half of the screen while keeping the live preview on the top half, thanks to Flex Mode.

The camera on the Z Fold 2 did an excellent job of catching a close-up of these yellow and violet flowers. When you zoom in, you can see fine details in the petals and even fine droplets of water.

Performance

The Snapdragon 865 Plus processor, 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of internal storage power the Galaxy Z Fold 2. (UFS3.1). As a result, we anticipate comparable output to that of the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

The Galaxy Z Fold 2 scored 3,193 on the multi-core portion of Geekbench 5, which tests overall results. The Note 20 Ultra, which uses the same chip, scored 3,294 points, while the Asus ROG Phone 3 scored 3,393. With 3,500 points, the iPhone 11 Pro was the cheapest.

The Galaxy Z Fold 2 scored 1,461 frames on the Aztec Ruins (High Tier) off-screen benchmark in the GFXBench graphics comparison, compared to 1,455 frames for the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and 1,657 frames for the iPhone 11 Pro.

Overall, the Z Fold 2 performs well, but I did note a few minor software glitches. The YouTube app’s view remained unchanged. At one point, I switched screen modes but restarting the app fixed the issue.

The Galaxy Z Fold 2 supports both mmWave and sub-6GHz 5G frequencies, so you should have no trouble connecting to 5G networks where they are available. In central New Jersey, I didn’t see the best results. The download speed of the Galaxy Z Fold 2 on AT&T’s network was only 22 Mbps, but it was 122 Mbps on T-network Mobile’s in the same place.

Since the Z Fold 2 supports Ultra Wide Band, you can use Samsung’s Nearby Sharing features to easily share files with other compatible devices, which are currently limited to the Note 20 Ultra.

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 is the quintessential example of a business listening to its customers and responding with a wide variety of enhancements. This phone is still very much for early adopters, even at its reduced $1,799 price. At the very least, the Z Fold 2 seems to be a functional product rather than a prototype.

The Galaxy Z Fold 2’s front display alone is a significant improvement. Flex Mode and the versatility it provides this phone are also appealing to me. The ability to prop up the Z Fold 2 at different angles makes it feel like a whole new form of unit. Although the Mult-Active window multitasking has a learning curve, it greatly increases efficiency.

The iPhone 12 Pro Max is the better choice if you want a more powerful phone with better cameras, but Apple doesn’t have anything near as creative in its portfolio to compete with the Z Fold 2. It’s possible that an iPhone Flip will be released at some point, but we doubt it will be anytime soon.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 is expected to launch later this year, most likely in the second half of 2021.

Overall, I’m blown away by what Samsung has done with the Galaxy Z Fold 2. This is unquestionably the best foldable phone to date, and it heralds even better things to come in the category.