The best just got better

When people and some critics said a year or two ago that foldable smartphones wouldn’t work, Samsung set out on a mission to prove them wrong. And we’re glad they did, because we love the sound of foldable smartphones. So the latest from the Samsung camp is the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, which arrived for review. We spent more than 25 days with this device to understand everything about it. To learn more, read the rest of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 review below.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 review: Design and display

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In a slim cardboard box, you get the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 smartphone, a USB Type-C charging cable, a SIM tray tool and a warranty information manual. These days, most Samsung smartphones don’t come with a charger in the box, and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 is no different. The smartphone is available in three colors Phantom Black, Beige and Grey-green. From which we got our hands on the other one.

This smartphone is ridiculously stunning. Yes, some might say it looks the same as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, but the Fold 4 has its own identity. The design is more angular with flat lines all around. It screams premium. Everything from the front screen to the back cover is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+. The Spine is now more robust and the premium metal frame (the smartphone includes) is nothing short of a miracle.

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The location of the camera and keys is still the same. Users get traffic light-style triple rear cameras with LED flash and a selfie camera on both the main screen and the inner screen. The front main screen is 6.2 inches and supports a resolution of 904 x 2316 pixels with an aspect ratio of 23.1:9. The internal screen is 7.6 inches with a resolution of 1,812 x 2,176 pixels and a screen-to-body ratio of 90.9 percent.

Both screens are dynamic AMOLED 2X displays and support a 120Hz refresh rate. It makes everything look smoother, including scrolling in social media apps. We threw everything at these screens including the bathroom tub and they stood firm. Colors are brilliant and look even better on the deepest blacks thanks to the super high contrast ratio supported by the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4. In addition, HDR 10+ is supported and the maximum screen brightness reaches 1,200 nits. Thanks to this, they are very easy to read in direct sunlight.

We played games like Asphalt 9, Apex Mobile etc. on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 and loved every bit of it. In addition, YouTube videos, Netflix shows and other OTT movies were excellent. We never found the colors to be out of place or the hue distorted in any way. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 can give some of the best smart TVs a run for their money when it comes to display quality (both inside and out).

Read also: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 review: Love at third sight

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 review: Performance and cameras

Before we dive into the performance part, let’s quickly shed light on the technical specifications of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4. This smartphone has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset/CPU with octa-cores clocked at a maximum of 3.19 GHz. But don’t worry, this speed only kicks in when the app requires it, otherwise it drains the battery. The rest of the time other cores with lower clocks are used.

The graphics are powered by the Adreno 730 and up to 1TB of storage is available in India with 12GB of RAM standard on all models. Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6 and NFC are also supported. The power button doubles as a fingerprint scanner just like the previous version and recognizes the slightest touch to unlock the phone in no time.

When we started using it, we thought well, we’ve already experienced and used the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 for a long time, how much better can the fourth iteration be? Much to our surprise! We saw at least a 20% increase in speed and performance in all sectors. Whether you’re playing a game or casually browsing your Instagram, everything is much nicer and smoother.

The gaming experience and the visual experience have already been discussed, but we will touch on the audio part. With separate (dual) speakers on the top and bottom, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 excels in the audio department. Yes, you get a more boomy/bassy output with headphones, but for just casual day-to-day viewing or gaming, these speakers are by far the best in their class.

Let’s move on to the operating system. Android 12 with Samsung UI 4.1 comes on the device out of the box. There is so much going on in the OS department in the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4. You can work in multiple windows side by side with a bottom taskbar with application shortcuts and more. It gives you Windows 11 laptop vibes, which is a good thing. It makes multitasking and switching from one application to another very easy. Just wake up and you’ll be golden. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 also supports the S-pen, but since we didn’t review it with the S-Pen, we’ll just keep it as an honorable mention.

Read also: Vivo T1 5G review: Good for the price

Jumping to the next bright part of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 are the cameras. Samsung has provided a total of 5 cameras on this device. Three are on the back panel. These consist of a 50MP wide-angle, a 10MP telephoto and a 12MP ultra-wide. One on the front main screen is a 10MP selfie camera. And the last one is under the internal display, which has a 4MP sensor. This one is our least favorite because it’s not as great as the others.

And the rest is very brilliant.

We played around with the rear cameras a lot and the primary 50MP exceeded all our expectations. Day or night, the images captured by the camera were fine. Color accuracy is excellent and we enjoyed clicking with it. The telephoto and ultra-wide-angle lenses also do a very good job during the day and in good lighting conditions. At night they lose a bit of quality and noise seeps in. To capture details with these two, it’s better to use the supplied flash. 8K videos can also be shot using the rear camera setup, which brought a smile to our face. Colors are very vibrant in the sharp videos we are able to click and do not bleed at all. Human subjects stand out with pleasant shades when shooting in 8K resolution.

Moving on to the selfie camera, the 10MP cameras on the outer screen do a very good job. Portraits come out clean and you get natural colors close to life. Low-light shots, however, were a bit distracting around the edges. A tip here, when clicking in low light, keep your hand very steady as this will give you better results.

Moving on to the battery life of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4. The 4,400 mAh battery is located in the back cover of the smartphone. Compared to the previous edition, we were able to squeeze 10% more battery life out of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4. Yes, we were impressed too. After a full charge and nominal use (this included calls during the day, family banter in a WhatsApp group, half an hour to 45 minutes of gaming), we got over 24 hours of battery life. Not bad Samsung, not bad at all.

Statement

So it all boils down to its price. At Rs 1,54,999 (256GB version), should you buy it? Yes. The price may seem high, but this smartphone is made for both work and play, and there is nothing else like it. You get an excellent dual-screen experience, excellent hardware under the hood, loud speakers, good battery life, and much more. If you can afford it, buy it.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 Pro

A foldable smartphone with 2 exceptional screens

Good battery life

Exceptional performance

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 disadvantages

The inside under the camera display still needs some work

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