Samsung this year launched its flagship Fold and Flip series in South Korea and Gadget Bridge was a part of the Indian contingent to see what the new devices are all about. We have reviewed the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 and now is the turn of the Fold. We have been playing around with the new Fold and this is our extensive long-term review of Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5.
In This Article
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 review: Design and Display
Right out of the box, the smartphone asks you to give it all your attention. First, let’s quickly go over the box contents. Excluding the charger, which the company stopped giving years ago, the box contains the smartphone and the USB Type-C charging cable. You do not get a case in the box, but you can buy one for a few extra thousand. For the purpose of this review, we have been given the Case with an S-pen attachment as the device is capable of using a stylus.
A new Icy Blue Colour has been introduced, which we are also playing around with for this review. At first glance, it does look a lot like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4, which we reviewed last year. But Samsung has made some subtle and some good changes around and in the device. While the camera placements on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 remain the same, the folding mechanism has been upgraded and the two sides shut even closer than before leaving almost no gap for dust to seep in.
When folded the front has a large 6.2-inch display and on its right, you will get all the buttons including the power button that doubles up as a fingerprint sensor, and the volume rocker key. Both are nicely placed for one-handed operation. On the left side, you will find the robust chrome spine with Samsung Branding on it. Also, you get 4 mics located on the top and bottom with twin loudspeaker grilles for stereo sound.
Inside, you get a large 7.6-inch foldable display, which also has another selfie camera hidden behind the screen.
So, let’s go ahead and talk about the screens and their quality and whether are they the best bang for your buck?
Let’s start with the outer screen first. The outside display has Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection on it, but no screen protector has been placed here. You do get it (screen protector) on some of the mid-range smartphones by Samsung. This is a dynamic AMOLED screen with 904 x 2,316 pixel resolution. 16M colour depth and 120Hz refresh rate are also what you get here.
This screen is slimmer than the usual smartphones, however, it is far superior in terms of quality and colours. We loved every bit of it as 40% of the time we were on this screen and the rest 60% on the larger one. The colours here are vivid and you get deep blacks. Over that, the text is crisp and the brightness is very very good.
Moving to the inside screen, the continuity display comes to Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 too, which means if you are working on an app on the outside screen and then unfold the device, the same app will be open on the inside display too. The inner display is as good as the outside one, if not better. The screen’s pixel ratio is set at max 2,176 x 1,812 pixels. 120Hz refresh rate and HDR 10+ capabilities are part of this screen too. This one is an AMOLED screen too, so all the brilliant colours and deep blacks you see on the outside screen are available on the large one as well.
The text characters are crisp, and we did not face any sunlight legibility issues (on both screens). We played a lot of things on these displays and not once did they give us a chance to squabble. Everything from Netflix shows to YouTube films to video games were played on the AMOLED displays and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 kept performing at its best.
Overall, it was a delight to work on the dual screens and both displays do perfect justice to the device and the name of Samsung with its superior performance.
Read also: Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5 goes on sale for the first time in India
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 review: Performance and Cameras
Before we deep dive into the performance of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, let’s quickly talk about the tech specs of the folding smartphone. Inside this device sits the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Octa-Core CPU with 3.36GHz max clock speed. This is partnered with 12GB RAM and 256/512GB or 1TB storage. For the review, we are using the 256GB variant. Graphics are powered by an Adreno 740 chip and multi-band Wi-Fi including Wi-Fi 6e is supported.
We have to say, with the s-pen support the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 becomes a great everyday workhorse, especially for people like us who edit a lot and do a lot of markings on a PDF or Word document. The S-pen is an excellent attachment for people who draw a lot or are constantly scribbling files for their peers.
However, the main fun lies in the dual-screen system. The continuation method of switching between screens is flawless and one can easily work on internal and external screens, as and when needed. The operating system on the device is Android 13 with Samsung UI 5.1 on top of it. There is hardly any bloatware on the system and the Samsung suite of apps is exceptional, mostly. Coming from Fold 4 to Fold 5, we felt at home and everything seems to be in order if not better. The operating system is fast, responds well on both displays and we faced no glitches. The OS will get at least the next 2-3 updates of Android, so this can be your long-term investment.
Moving on to its cameras. We had a mixed bag of emotions here. While the 50MP wide-angle lens on the rear camera system gave us brilliant, vivid, and crisp results during the day and low light, the 10MP telephoto gave us a bit of noise in the images clicked indoors. The 12MP ultrawide on the other hand gave us much better results, which were close to the 50MP main camera.
Night photography is another powerful mode in the system, which gets you very good results. We clicked quite a few images from the main camera and were quite happy with what the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 had to spin out. If you are in extremely dark places like the nightclub, we recommend using the flash as that does a superb job at night.
We were happy with the front selfie camera as well. The 10MP wide-angle lens does a good job in both day and low-light shots. In extreme darkness, you will lose a lot of details and colours. The internal display has a 4MP camera hidden behind the screen, which we would say, use only if you are in good outdoor lighting, else (indoors) it fetches a lot of picture noise. Use the 10MP front one instead. So, that is a good thing, you have options.
Videos from the main rear camera system can be recorded at 8K at 30FPS. This got us superb results, however, if you turn on the steady mode, the resolution drops down to QHD. So, if you do not mind a slight jerk in your videos, we do recommend the 8K mode that fetches vivid lifelike moving imagery.
Coming to the battery life of Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, we managed to squeeze out 22 hours of battery life with its 4,400 mAh battery. If you keep the power saving mode on, you can get more than 30 hours. However, that will water down a lot of performance and display abilities. Nonetheless, 22 hours is not bad at all, as that includes our whole workday and this we have been extensively testing. One thing that irks still is that only 25W fast charging is supported, which does bring the phone to about 49% in under 30 minutes, but to get it to a full hundred it takes over an hour. So nighttime charging is recommended.
Another thing we loved about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is its audio output. You get twin stereo speakers on the smartphone that deliver brilliant resonance. No matter what you are viewing on the device they deliver great lively sound.
Verdict
Multiple 5G bands are supported on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 and it does a wonderful job of being a superb working machine, which switches into a party monster when the need arrives. It has become thinner, has the latest firepower and does manage to get you good to great images in all types of settings. Available in multiple colours the new folding phone from Samsung does good for a shiny penny, but you can get a lot of discounts in the shop and with different bank cards. The base price starts at Rs 1,54,999 (256GB). If you can afford it, we see no reason not to buy it. Yes, the stylus that comes with the cover is additional and is highly recommended.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 Pros
2 display
Slim design
Good primary camera quality
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 Cons
25W charging
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