100 days with the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip phone: So fashion, much cool

Do flip phones in 2020 make sense?

Samsung's first foldable phone, the Galaxy Fold, re-released late last year after a major redesign, proving that phones with foldable screens are much more complicated than envisioned. Only Samsung has the might and reach to test its ultra-high-end signature device to a wide enough audience and afford a re-work to see through what was once a prototype, into a real device anyone can choose to own. This year, alongside the traditional Galaxy S series line-up with the S20 troupe, Samsung also released another foldable phone, the Galaxy Z Flip. 

While Fold's concept was a phone-to-tablet foldable, the Galaxy Z Flip takes on the old-school flip phone paradigm. Of course, it comes with a 'relatively lower' price too, though it does not come with the latest flagship specs. Given that, what is then the appeal for getting a Galaxy Z Flip in 2020? 

As a gadget freak, I couldn't wait to find out and dashed to be an early adopter. Since many were concerned of the phone's durability over prolonged usage, here's what I found after 100 days with the Galaxy Z Flip as my daily driver, right after this quick video overview by my editor:-

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Design and Ergonomics

When the Z Flip is in 'standby mode', that is in folded form, it feels very snug in the palm (just 73.6 x 87.4mm folded), even if it is thick (17.3mm on the fattest side). In fact, it feels like holding a rather exquisite and large powder compact, just without powder, and the 'mirror' is the camera app. Here is where the choice of colour makes a lot of difference. It may not be apparent in photos, but the Mirror Purple finish is significantly more eye-catching than the Mirror Black. More recently, a striking Mirror Gold colourway was added to the colour options with more on the way.

Its front is mostly empty real estate, save for a tiny 1.1-inch 300 x 112 pixels resolution Super AMOLED Cover Display on the bottom left, and a dual-camera module on the bottom right. The front display is so tiny that it can be mistaken for not being touch responsive, but users can actually interact with it, though with limited actions: Swipe to see notifications, and the text of notifications will come… scrolling past the small display.

Some may argue, why not just utilize the real estate for a larger, more useful display, like the new Motorola Razr? While it's a valid question, having a large reflective real estate makes the Galaxy Z Flip look classy and 'in vogue'; a person holding it will not just possess a tech product, but a product of fashion.

On the right side of the phone are the power button and volume rocker. The power button also acts as selfie camera activation, and the volume rocker acts as a camera shutter when using the Z Flip's folded selfie mode, a feature I'll explore further in the review. 

One interesting thing about Z Flip is that its fingerprint scanner is located on the power button (just like the Galaxy S10e). It may seem like a step back from Samsung's implementation of an in-display fingerprint scanner in newer devices, but ergonomically, it makes sense. After all, one will have to hold the sides of the phone to flip open the phone anyway, so having the fingerprint scanner on the side button makes ergonomic sense. Using a traditional fingerprint scanner also results in ultra-fast and reliable unlocking. This is especially useful when there is a frequent need these days to use biometric scanning to log into SingPass to facilitate entry into malls and supermarkets during this period where contact tracing is necessary.

On the top of the folded Z Flip is Samsung's new hideaway hinge. According to Samsung, it is a redesigned hinge that strengthens the durability, allows the Z Flip to be held open at any angle you might require, and minimize dirt and dust going in between the hinges. Since I've never used its predecessor, the Galaxy Fold, I am unable to quantify the differences between the hinge improvements of these two devices. That said, I've been using the phone for more than a couple of months, and I must say I have little worry about the hinge despite heavy usage.

That Display

When fully unfolded, the Z Flip hosts a rather oblong-shaped 6.7-inch FHD+ resolution Dynamic AMOLED Infinity Flex display. It has a rather odd display ratio, at 21.9:9, which seems a tad more ‘ultrawide’ than the usual ultrawide definition. While suitable for anamorphic movie formats, it has rather amusing results for practically everything else, one being a seemingly very long web browsing view (a positive outcome), another being sides getting cropped when viewing Instagram Stories (which is not so great).

Despite that, its quirkiness does have its advantages such as viewing long emails or a long a grocery list, easily. Another being that the multi-window split-view actually looks better on an ultrawide screen.

One side effect of having a foldable screen is having a slight crease on the folding line of the screen. Whether it bothers the user or not depends on personal preferences and the ability to ignore it. For me, it is obvious, but I am able to ignore it for its other positive attributes this form factor accords me.

While the display, made of Ultra Thin Glass (UTG),  is proclaimed to be tougher than the display used on the Galaxy Fold, it still has some ways to go before achieving the toughness of a conventional mobile phone screen that many are accustomed to these days. On that note, I tried using one hand to flick open the Z Flip - using mainly my thumb. My nails were not long, neither were they just trimmed, yet it managed to leave a slight indentation on the screen.

With that painful lesson, I learnt that one must never attempt to pry open the Z Flip single-handedly; it is impossible without risking your thumbnail scratching the screen surface. However, once you have flipped open the phone, clasping it shut with one hand is possible, and it really does make for a very satisfying feel.

Caveats

The Z Flip is obviously not waterproof in any way. This is expected, due to the hinge mechanism which allows for some tiny spaces on the phone and hence some degree of ‘porousness’. What is unexpected is the lack of a microSD storage expansion option, and that DeX mode is not available on the Z Flip. This is disappointing as there really isn't any technological limits inherent to the Z Flip preventing Samsung from incorporating DeX, even if it’s an assumption that the target group buying the phone won’t be needing it.

 

Flex Mode

One major use for the Z Flip’s foldability is the ability for an app to host two contextually different actions within the same screen. In Youtube, for example, when the Z Flip is in free-standing form, you can view the video on the top half, while reading comments or looking for further recommendations at the bottom. Samsung brands this as ‘Flex Mode’, and is working closely with Google to bring Flex mode to their apps and eventually the concept to other phone manufacturers as well. 

So far, there are not many apps supporting Flex Mode at the moment. Other than Youtube, Flex Mode is already implemented on Google Duo, which allows users to easily select AR emojis. Some stock Samsung apps, such as Camera and Gallery, support Flex Mode as well, but they offer little additional UI functionality other than to make the image viewer smaller, and the actions panel much bigger.

What really shines in this foldable form factor though is Flex Mode’s close counterpart: Multi-Active Window. Thanks to the Z Flip’s long-ish screen, it facilitates apps to still display a substantially sized view even in split view mode as compared to other Android phones. It is also useful for mobile video-conferencing: for instance, using a video call app on the top window while saving the bottom view for email or other productivity tasks (or even some entertainment). Plus the ability to lay the bottom half of the phone flat further facilitates the split-screen activity with ease.

 

SimplyGo without flipping open

This should fall under the ‘cool’ category, but one can use the Z Flip to tap in and out without needing to flip the phone open. Samsung Pay incorporates SimplyGo, hence once that is activated, you can tap in and out of MRT gantries as well as the card readers on public buses effortlessly. It feels more secure and safe to be holding a ‘powder compact’ to tap onto the card reader instead of holding a full-fledged phone.

However, for regular purchases, you will still need to flip open the phone and activate Samsung Pay. The only way to continuously make regular purchases when the Z Flip is closed is, ironically, to switch to Google Pay.

It must be noted that the NFC module is actually nearer to the top at the bottom half of the foldable. This translates to it being slightly below the middle of the phone when unfolded. Thus, while making regular contactless payments, take note to position the phone appropriately as the phone may be too long for some POS terminals to capture the NFC signals properly.

 

Flex Mode while wireless charging

A good number of wireless chargers are of the lie-flat design. This can be frustrating at times when you need to pick up the phone occasionally just to check notifications. Z Flip’s Flex Mode allows you to wireless charge the phone flat on the surface, while being able to see and interact with the screen at the same time.

Unique camera capabilities

Instead of jumping into the technical aspects of the Z Flip’s camera, let me first touch on the many new ways of taking photos on the Z Flip thanks to its foldable nature. 

Selfie Mode

Normal selfie is kind of boring, with users having to contend with a relatively inferior front camera. With Z Flip, you can use the rear dual-camera to take a selfie, with the tiny front-facing Cover Screen acting as a quick viewfinder. While the phone is ‘clammed up’, you can just double-tap the power button to invoke the main rear camera, and then press the volume rocker button to snap. Alternatively, if you’ve enabled hand gestures to activate the camera shutter, you can use your other hand to wave at the camera and it will take a snap. This also lends itself nicely when taking a wefie shot. Here's a quick example of that in action:-

It might feel weird at first as the ‘viewfinder’ being a small rectangle, does not show the entire view, and you’ll have to rely on your face being within the ‘viewfinder’ to get a rough estimation that your face would appear somewhere within the center portion of the frame. Even then, the user still has to rely on some intuition and the reflective back of the Z Flip’s surface to gauge - again demonstrating why Mirror Purple and the new Mirror Gold finish is better than Mirror Black.

Photos taken with this mode are restricted to 1:1 aspect ratio, i.e. “Instagram ratio”. 

Ad-hoc hands-free photography / videography

There are times where you will want to take a photo or record yourself in action, but you have to keep both hands free, say for example posing a proper and full OOTD (outfit of the day), or recording a vlog session. Yet, not everyone has a good mobile tripod, and even if you have one, you probably won't want to be lugging it around with you every day. What most will do is to find a backing surface to prop the phone against - and pray it does not fall flat and damage the glass screen. This is where the Z Flip’s foldability eliminates the hassle completely as it can prop itself. Just find a flat surface, open the Z Flip partially, and it becomes a standing phone on its own without further assistance. You can even activate the camera timer remotely by raising your palm. There is no way to remotely start a video recording though - at least not yet.

Camera Quality Expectations

Having explored the novel ways of photography, let us look at the technical specifications of the Z Flip itself. Unlike other top-tier phones, the cameras on the Galaxy Z Flip are not creme-de-la-creme. At its back is a dual-camera system, both using 12MP sensors, one which is a standard wide-angle lens with OIS and the other has an ultra-wide-angle lens to help you nail a tight shot or landscapes at ease. It's not the triple-lens system that has been present since the Galaxy S10 series, but it's the same cameras used on that series (and the Galaxy Note10), minus the telephoto lens so no optical zoom. 

The front-facing hole-punch camera on the main display is a rather ordinary 10MP camera with similar FOV as the rear camera's standard wide-angle. This underscores why the Z Flip's selfie mode is so useful - you can do an ultra-wide-angle selfie using the rear camera, which is most handy for wefies! Also, most selfie cameras don't quite match-up to the rear camera capabilities, and on the Z Flip, you can use the rear cameras to easily snap a selfie, which will fare a lot better than most phones in the market with traditional selfie cameras.

When comparing the quality of the primary dual-rear camera system against other rear-camera shooters, it is however not in the same playing field as the new Galaxy S20 series. At best it slightly surpasses my previous Galaxy S10, with the caveat of not having a third telephoto lens.

That is not to say the photo quality is shabby and is plenty decent for a regular high-end phone. Just don't expect the bells and whistles that come with newer flagships like its Galaxy S20 cousins.

Performance

The Galaxy Z Flip is powered by a Snapdragon 855 Plus and comes with 8GB RAM. While it's not the same class as Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 865, it's still a powerful high-end processor nevertheless and the best available in 2019. Now for those who've been following Samsung closely, you would know that they generally use Samsung's own Exynos processors for most models sold in this region. As such, their choice of using a single Snapdragon 855 Plus mobile chip for all international variants of this particular flagship phone is surprising. As such, how does it fare against other flagships, including its traditional Exynos cousins from the Galaxy S20 series? Here's what we found...

Jetstream 2

For web browsing, we use JetStream 2, which measures the browsing performance of a device when processing JavaScript. It takes into consideration the underlying hardware performance, favouring in particular browsers that start quickly, execute code well, and run smoothly. 

Surprise! The Galaxy Z Flip actually surpasses its Galaxy S20 cousins who use newer Exynos processors! Interestingly, the performance is on par with the OnePlus 7 Pro, which is using a standard Snapdragon 855 processor. Technically, the Galaxy Z Flip should even surpass the OnePlus 7 Pro, but given the Galaxy Z Flip's slim form factor and different optimization, the performance outcome is expected.

Geekbench 5

For CPU performance, we go to Geekbench, a cross-platform processor benchmark that tests 

both single-core and multi-core performance with workloads that simulate real-world usage. 

Again, despite not sporting the latest Snapdragon flagship, it is still close to or surpasses its Exynos-based S20 cousins.

Antutu 7

This is an all-round sub-system test benchmark where the CPU test evaluates both integer and floating-point performance; the GPU tests assess 2D and 3D performance, the memory test measures available memory bandwidth and latency, and the storage tests gauge the read and write speeds of a device's flash memory. In our test run, it seems that the Galaxy Z Flip has some ways to catch up to the S20, but it still put up a decent showing.

3DMark

3DMark Sling Shot is an advanced 3D graphics benchmark that tests the full range of OpenGL ES 3.1 and ES 3.0 API features including multiple render targets, instanced rendering, uniform buffers and transform feedback. The test also includes impressive volumetric lighting and post-processing effects. We ran the benchmark on Unlimited Mode, which renders the test offscreen and hence ignores screen resolution.

Not surprisingly, it fares somewhat below the Galaxy S20, but not too shabby either.

Battery life

Our standard battery test for mobile phones has the following parameters:

• Looping a 720p video with screen brightness and volume at 100%
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity turned on
• Constant data streaming through email and Twitter

Samsung Z Flip packs a 3,300mAh battery, which is a little behind what's expected of new high-end Android phones these days, but the limitation is to be expected considering the phone's size and form factor. The reality of having a small battery is directly reflected in our battery life benchmark results too. With only 7 hours and 20 minutes of run time, it was well below the 569 minutes clocked by Galaxy S20 that packs a 4,000mAh battery. Perhaps the large screen does consume the battery faster. 

Conclusion

Before my Samsung Galaxy Z Flip ownership, I didn't have high expectations handling a foldable-screen phone as the idea of such a device just seemed too fragile. Leaping to embrace the classic flip-style phone of yore, I found the Galaxy Z Flip is actually a rather sturdy device that has withstood well with my casual handling - at least until I made a slight indent on the screen due to overconfidence (so don't try to open it single-handedly). Despite that encounter, I have never worried about handling the Z Flip outside of the house and putting it through its paces like any other phone.

It must be stressed, however, that this phone is not meant for people looking for flagship specs and over-the-top features even if it carries a big price tag. It has no DeX support, does not support expandable storage, does not use the best camera system Samsung has to offer, no big battery, no Wi-Fi 6 connectivity (only up to Wi-Fi 5) and does not sport the latest processor. 

Fundamentally, the Galaxy Z Flip is about embracing its cool factor, being fashionable and just having fun, whereby simply using it - especially when clasping the phone shut - can turn heads. And I've experienced that first hand as some cashiers in supermarkets, and F&B outlets got curious about this phone. The foldable nature of this phone in a clamshell form factor made photography fun without having to fumble for tripods or standing surfaces to prop up the phone. Just unfold it to any angle you want, and it can snap away, hands-free.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip originally debuted with Mirror Black and Mirror Purple colourways​​​​​​. Recently, Samsung added a new Mirror Gold colourway and will be launching the Thom Browne Edition later in June, so the Galaxy Z Flip is undoubtedly here to stay.

While it's a lot 'cheaper' than the Galaxy Fold, the Galaxy Z Flip's retail price of S$1,998 (that's two grand) is still a costly affair, and you would have to observe some handling etiquette to ensure it stays looking as good as you first bought it. Foldable phones are still in their early days, so their long-term reliability is still untested. At this point, after 100 days, my phone has kept up well to-date, and I expect it to continue for some time to come. Despite some of the concerns, if you've always wanted to go retro with clamshell-style phones, be the first mover in embracing cutting-edge technology and look cool while doing so, there's little else to keep you from making the jump - just like I did.

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