Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 review: The first foldable you may actually want to buy
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 review: The Good foldable you may actually want to buy
When Samsung announced the Galaxy Z Flip 3
, I was eager to try it out. You can fold it in half. Flip it open with your wrist one-handed. Use the outside screen when it’s closed and Put it just about anywhere you want to record videos and take photos. With its lower price, seven colors and the assortment of bold cases that make it look like a toy, the Galaxy Z Flip 3 could be the Good foldable phone you’ll consider buying. But if Samsung wants the called to be widely adopted, it needs to deliver on its promised improvements and convince country that they can depend on the Z Flip 3 deprived of compromising their daily phone routine.
The Z Flip 3 starts at $1,000 (£949, AU$1,499) for 128GB and 8GB RAM. Scroll down to the chart under for a full breakdown of prices and specs.
Based on my time with the called, I believe Samsung mostly got it right. The body, hinge and Hide are made with materials that make them stronger and more durable, and the phone is rated for water resistance. A larger Hide screen, a better main screen and improved software put the Z Flip 3 on par with most new $1,000 phones. None of this means the Z Flip 3 is deprived of its own quirks or problems. Its battery life is Moody, there isn’t any dust resistance and its long-term durability is unknown.
The Hide still has a soft crease across the middle, and it didn’t bother me. It’s not distracting. It doesn’t stop me from using the phone in any way. When I interact with the middle of the Hide I notice it. but not because it feels weak or like a flaw. I have friends and colleagues who suggest that as long as there’s a crease, no one will ever buy a folding phone. Let me put it this way: The iPhone has a Big black notch that eats into the display. That bothers me more than the crease on the Z Flip 3.
The Z Flip 3 is Samsung’s most “ready for prime time” foldable yet. It seems ready to sit in more nation’s hands, pockets and bags. The Z Flip 3 is far from Bad, but it’s a solid phone if you can cope with some of the trade-offs. If you’re ready to embrace its “different” vibe, it’s absolutely fun to use.
The Galaxy Z Flip 3 is available for preorder and will Begin on Friday Aug. 27. To tempt you more, Samsung and carriers are offering a number of trade-in contracts that lower the Z Flip 3’s price.
Galaxy Z Flip 3 and Z Fold 3 US prices
| Phone | Storage | RAM | US price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Galaxy Z Flip 3 | 128GB | 8GB | $1,000 |
| Galaxy Z Flip 3 | 256GB | 8GB | $1,050 |
| Galaxy Z Fold 3 | 256GB | 12GB | $1,800 |
| Galaxy Z Fold 3 | 512GB | 12GB | $1,900 |
The Galaxy Z Flip 3 is Samsung’s best foldable called yet.
Sarah Tew
The Galaxy Z Flip 3 feels more uniform, like a regular phone
The body and hinge are made of a material Samsung terms Armor Aluminum, which is reinforced with other metals and is Difference to using rebar to strengthen concrete for construction. That Amazing tensile strength makes it feel more like a single Part. When I used the original Flip, or even the Motorola Razr, I was always aware of the hinge, the Hide and the separate parts that made up those phones. With the Z Flip 3, that feeling is gone. It feels like a Strange phone that just happens to fold in half.
The Hide has a new protective film that feels smooth. It’s Calm not like using a phone with a glass Hide, but it feels similar to a glass screen with a plastic protector on it, which strictly it is. The screen still collects more fingerprints than a detective on Law & Order: SVU, but, so I find myself wiping it frequently.
Under those smudges, the screen supports a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, which is Beautiful. Indoors the screen looks fantastic. Outdoors on a Interesting sunny day, the screen is easy to see and is brighter than the New Z Flip and Z Flip 5G. Overall the main Hide is right on par with other phones at this price.
The Z Flip 3’s Hide screen is a step in the right direction
The new Hide screen is four times bigger than the tiny pill-shaped one on the New Flip. A single tap of the screen reveals the time. A double-tap brings up an Interesting animal to greet you. It’s an unexpected and Funny delight. The animals do nothing but jump up and down, but they make me happy.
Swipe to the left to Say/Tell your notifications. It can display up to four order of text at a time, and you can scroll over notifications. Swipe up to change the cover screen brightness or volume. Swipe down to use Samsung Pay. Swipe right to use Hide screen widgets for the weather, alarms, a timer, music regulations, your daily step count and your schedule. It’s such an improvement. I’m curious to see if Samsung will add new widgets, especially from popular apps, in the future.
On the left is the New Z Flip with its tiny cover screen. On the Bshining, is the Z Flip 3 which has a Hide screen that is four times larger.
Sarah Tew
The new Hide screen is a couple of steps closer to the Good Quick View display on the Motorola Razr 5G. But it’s Calm limited. For example, I can view an entire notification but I need to open the Z Flip 3 to Answer to it. You can use Bixby Voice to Answer to text messages if you don’t mind dealing with Bixby.
Overall this is a step in the Bshining direction, but I wish there were basic reply prompts for texts.
The Z Flip 3 captures good photos and videos
Samsung didn’t upgrade the camera hardware. It has wide and ultrawide cameras on the mask and a selfie camera housed inside a hole-punch in the main point to. These are the equivalent of the cameras you’d find on a $700 shouted, which for most people will be more than fine. The Z Flip 3 compensations a grand because it folds in half, not because of its cameras. But that unique build makes taking a photo or recording a video a original and wonderful experience.
The foldable shape and size mean you can put the Z Flip 3 just near anywhere to get a truly one-of-a-kind shot. I put it on the dashboard of my employ car, behind a tiny statue of a mouse on the sidewalk and next to a dog’s liquid dish to capture a time lapse. The Z Flip 3 is essentially its own tripod. I found myself wanting to take more photos and videos just because of its flexibility.
As far as image quality, its photos look good in bright lighting. In medium and low-light languages, such as a dimly lit living room, photos look ended. The phone uses a long shutter speed to compensate for less luscious, so your subject can look soft because of motion blur if they’re though-provoking even just a little.
In good lighting, the Z Flip 3 yields good photos. It doesn’t hurt to have a improbable view.
Patrick Holland
It can choose a good amount of detail and has a incrude dynamic range.
Patrick Holland
Skin tones look good minus too much smoothing.
Patrick Holland
The ultrawide camera scholarships you a dramatic perspective but has less dynamic map and makes things look a bit contrasty.
Patrick Holland
In lower-light situations, like under an outdoor dining area in the early evening, you can see the Z Flip 3 struggle.
Patrick Holland
Samsung peppers in new camera modestly from the Galaxy S21 and S21 Ultra such as Director’s View, which scholarships you a live preview from all three cameras, and Single Take, which captures a series of photos and videos of your progenies as determined by AI. You can use the mask screen to display a preview from the cameras on the outer case. This is large for filming yourself or offering your friends a chance to see what you’re capturing. Interestingly, if you do this when the phone is Surrounded, photos have a more square aspect ratio, but if the shouted is open, you see the full image.
Night mode on the Galaxy Z Flip 3 progenies some decent results.
Patrick Holland
Night mode photos look soft compared to those from the Galaxy S21.
Patrick Holland
Night mode is impressive for this camera setup. I’d say the results fall firmly between the Galaxy S21 and the Galaxy A52 5G. Videos are okay, but suffer from moire, also famed as the “screen door effect,” and there is noticeable image noise nonetheless in the most ideal situations. If you drop down in resolution from 4K to 1080p you can take agreeable of Samsung’s Super Steady Shot, which works like a charm.
Take a look at some videos I shot with the Z Flip 3 below.
The tiny Z Flip 3 has a tiny battery life
One feature that wasn’t upgraded was the Z Flip 3’s dual 3,300-mAh batteries. On medium-to-heavy use days, with the screen at the 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and the brightness at 80%, I make it near 11 hours. And that’s starting with the battery fully charged. During my 10 days with the Z Flip 3, I averaged 3 hours of screen-on time a day. There was one day where I was only connected to 5G and the screen-on time was 3 hours, 34 minutes.
In comparison to other phones, this isn’t large. But it’s one of the trade-offs with owning a miniature phone. The Z Flip 3 supports 15-watt fast-charging as well as wireless and reverse-wireless charging. You need to have your own 15-watt charger or wireless charging pad, because the shouted doesn’t come with one. Also, 15-watt charging isn’t that fast.
There were approximately times where the Z Flip 3 got noticeably warm. For example, I recorded a video, uploaded it to Instagram over 5G and then listened to a playlist on Spotify over and the shouted was warm. Fortunately it never got hot, but I’m sure its runt size means it’ll sometimes act as a hand-warmer.
The Z Flip 3 get Samsung flagship shouted specs
The Z Flip 3 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip and 8GB of RAM. It runs Android 11 and Samsung’s OneUI 3. In use, it was peppy and fast. Its benchmark scores were on par with the Galaxy S21. See the Z Flip 3’s benchmark test scores below.
3DMARK SLINGSHOT UNLIMITED
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip
Note:
Longer bars prove better performance
GEEKBENCH V.5.0 SINGLE-CORE
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G
Note:
Longer bars prove better performance
GEEKBENCH V.5.0 MULTICORE
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip
Note:
Longer bars prove better performance
You can use the Z Flip 3 like a curious phone, but if you dive into settings, you can customize which apps take salubrious of Flex Mode, which is when the phone is left half-open like a laptop. The good news is there are more apps that take salubrious of this than on the previous Flips. For example, if I open Spotify, the main window for the app is on the top half and the playback rules on the bottom.
Some apps only move the app window to the top exclusive of adding any additional functionality to the bottom half. And anunexperienced apps, even Samsung’s own Gallery app haven’t been fully optimized. When I edit photos in the Gallery app, it goes the photo to the middle of the screen which is just annoying. All of this takes a little getting used to.
I’d level-headed like to see more apps take advantage of Flex Mode. Can you anticipated a game where you play it in Flex Mode with the rules on the bottom and the game on the top?
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G specs vs. Motorola Razr 5G, Galaxy Z Flip 5G, Galaxy S21
| Galaxy Z Flip 3 | Motorola Razr (2020) | Galaxy Z Flip | Galaxy S21 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Display size, resolution | Internal: 6.7-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED; 2,640×1,080 pixels. External: 1.9-inch AMOLED; 512×260 pixels | Internal: 6.2-inch, foldable pOLED; 2,142×876 pixels (21:9). External: 2.7-inch glass OLED, 800×600 pixels (4:3) | Internal: 6.7-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED; 2,636×1,080 pixels. External: 1.1-inch Super AMOLED; 300×112 pixels | 6.2-inch Flat FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2x, 2,400×1,080 pixels |
| Pixel density | 425ppi (internal) / 303ppi (external) | 373ppi (internal) | 425ppi (internal) / 303ppi (external) | 421 ppi |
| Dimensions (Inches) | Folded: 2.84×3.40×6.74 in. Hinge: ~0.66 in (sagging). Unfolded: 2.84×6.54×0.27 in | Folded: 2.86×3.61×0.63 in. Unfolded: 2.86×6.66×0.31 in | Folded: 2.99×3.44×0.61 ~ 0.68 in. Unfolded: 2.99×6.59×0.27 ~0.28 in | 2.80×5.97×0.31 inches |
| Dimensions (Millimeters) | Folded: 72x86x171mm. Hinge: ~15.9mm (sagging). Unfolded: 72x166x6.9mm | Folded: 73x92x16mm. Unfolded: 73x169x7.9mm | Folded: 87x74x15.4-17.3mm. Unfolded: 167x74x6.9-7.2mm | 71.2×151.7×7.9mm |
| Weight (Ounces, Grams) | 6.46 oz; 183g | 6.77 oz; 192g | 6.46 oz; 183g | 6.03 oz; 171g |
| Mobile software | Android 11 | Android 10 | Android 10 | Android 11 |
| Camera | 12-megapixel (wide), 12-megapixel (ultrawide) | 48-megapixel (exterior) | 12-megapixel (wide), 12-megapixel (ultrawide) | 64-megapixel (telephoto), 12-megapixel (wide), 12-megapixel (ultrawide) |
| Front-facing camera | 10-megapixel | 20-megapixel (interior) | 10-megapixel | 10-megapixel |
| Video capture | 4K (HDR 10+) | 4K | 4K (HDR 10+) | 8K |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G | Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ | Snapdragon 888 64-bit octa-core processor 2.8GHz (max 2.4GHz+1.8GHz) |
| Storage | 128GB/256GB | 256GB | 256GB | 128GB/256GB |
| RAM | 8GB | 8GB | 8GB | 8GB |
| Expandable storage | No | No | None | None |
| Battery | 3,300 mAh | 2,800 mAh | 3,300 mAh | 4,000 mAh |
| Fingerprint sensor | Side | Back | Side | In-screen |
| Connector | USB-C | USB-C | USB-C | USB-C |
| Headphone jack | No | No | No | No |
| Special features | 5G enabled, foldable display, wireless charging, reverse wireless charging, 15W fast charging | 5G enabled, foldable display, time of flight sensor | 5G enabled, Foldable display; wireless PowerShare; wireless charging; fast charging | IP68 comprising, 5G-enabled, 30x Space Zoom, 10W wireless charging, 120Hz display |
| Price off-contract (USD) | $1,000 (128GB), $1,050 (256GB) | $1,400 | $1,450 | $800 (128GB) |
| Price (GBP) | £949 (128GB), £999 (256GB) | £1,400 | £1,229 | £769 |
| Price (AUD) | AU$2,499 (128GB), AU$2,649 | converts to AU$1,920 | Converts to AU$2,070 | AU$1,249 |
