My First 24 Hours With The Galaxy Z Fold 7 Left Me Completely Mesmerized

1 week ago

Has Samsung yet done it? I've been asking myself that mobility this full day, arsenic I've been going astir life pinch the Galaxy Z Fold 7. By now, my erstwhile regular driver, nan Pixel 9 Pro, devoid of SIM cards and artillery life, has been relegated to my drawer of forgottenness. With a foldable this thin, light, and capable, it conscionable had to beryllium this way.

Also: Everything announced astatine Samsung Unpacked: Galaxy Z Fold 7, Flip 7, Watch 8 Series, more

Samsung's latest Z Fold 7 looks and feels for illustration what tech enthusiasts had each hoped for erstwhile nan shape facet was introduced six years ago. It besides looks for illustration a 'phone from nan future,' arsenic my Uber driver curiously put it during an day travel yesterday.

Then I collapsed nan bad news: nan Samsung telephone costs $2,000. That earned maine a startled laughter -- hopefully a five-star rating, too.

My first time pinch nan Z Fold 7 made 1 point clear to me: slim phones, whether they fold aliases not, are present to stay. Compared to its predecessor, nan Z Fold 7 is noticeably thinner (3.2mm less), pinch a weight that's 24 grams lighter, and a brace of displays that are some wider and larger. While those whitethorn conscionable beryllium numbers connected a spec sheet, they equate to a hardware acquisition that's importantly improved compared to past year's Z Fold 6.

Also: The champion Samsung phones to bargain successful 2025

The sides of nan Z Fold 7 fresh nan contours of my thenar much people erstwhile my different manus is holding onto a subway pole, nan 6.5-inch screen surface gives conscionable capable added width to greatly trim typos, and erstwhile unfolded, nan 8-inch canvas feels for illustration a playground for multi-app usage, media consumption, and Circle to Search galore.

Having tested nan Oppo Find N5 and Honor Magic V5 up of Unpacked, it's safe to opportunity that Samsung yet has a foldable telephone creation that tin compete pinch nan champion connected nan market. And I'm gladsome much group will beryllium exposed to this technology, whether they upgrade to nan instrumentality aliases simply prime it up astatine a bearer shop aliases retailer.

Samsung says it has achieved this melodramatic displacement successful creation by making galore smaller decisions, from opting for an precocious armor aluminum that's thinner yet stronger, to a flex hinge strategy that closes much tightly.

The improved teardrop hinge, by nan way, gives nan telephone a springy feedback erstwhile you fold and unfold it; nan physics of nan surface feels much snappy and assertive, astatine nan costs of less angles you tin position 1 half of nan surface to.

Also: Your Samsung telephone has concealed Wi-Fi settings that you should usage ASAP - really to entree them

Samsung besides made immoderate alternatively arguable decisions on nan way to slimness, specified arsenic removing nan surface coating that allows nan Z Fold 7 to registry S Pen inputs for illustration its predecessors. According to nan company, this trade-off stems from personification investigation and business creation needs. That shouldn't travel arsenic overmuch of a astonishment aft nan institution nerfed nan S25 Ultra's S Pen earlier this year.

This year's handset is powered by 12GB of RAM and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset, a processor that has proven to reliably grip multi-app workflows, intensive gaming sessions, and AI tasks. I was satisfied pinch nan chipset's capacity connected nan S25 Ultra and S25 Edge, and person felt mostly nan aforesaid pinch nan Z Fold 7 truthful far.

I'm a large instrumentality of OneUI 8's caller multi-window mode, which reminds maine a batch of OnePlus' Open Canvas. It's constricted to 2 apps astatine a clip but allows you to quickly move from 1 to different by tapping connected nan broadside aliases bottom-tucked model that's inactive.

In New York, wherever an Uber way that's estimated to beryllium 15 minutes tin return anyplace from 10 minutes to 30 minutes, I appreciated being capable to swiftly grow and shrink nan Uber app while I was answering Slack messages and emails.

Also: I changed 10 Samsung telephone settings for an instant capacity boost

I've taken astir 100 photos pinch nan Z Fold 7 today, and nan results person been what I expected from nan improved 200MP main sensor (with 2x optical zoom). I'm talking punchy and sharp-looking imagery pinch a reasonably balanced colour somesthesia and wide move range, whether it's a seagull hanging connected nan Staten Island ferry aliases an agency selfie pinch Google's Sameer Samat.

If I had to nitpick, I'm still seeing immoderate sound and nonaccomplishment of item successful low-light shots, particularly erstwhile pinching into subjects for illustration nutrient and thoroughfare signs. Night mode besides kicks successful alternatively inconsistently, pinch divided moments that would either punctual an vulnerability timer aliases nary astatine all. Fortunately, astir of this tin beryllium fixed via software.

Also: How to clear your Android telephone cache (and why you should do it earlier installing Android 16)

Besides camera performance, a time of usage is ne'er capable clip to gauge nan endurance imaginable of immoderate phone, but I've been mostly contented pinch nan Z Fold 7's artillery life. My first 24 hours consisted of plentifulness of web browsing, scrolling done Reddit feeds, navigating connected Google Maps and Uber, and taking photos astir town.

I'm finishing my time 1 pinch astir 12% artillery near -- conscionable capable for winding down, but decidedly not for a nighttime out.

Bottom statement (for now)

At $2,000, nan Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 remains an ever-so-niche merchandise for a very dedicated personification base. But for those who person longed for a much competitory foldable by Samsung, 1 that's fitted to compete with Asia's best, that clip has yet come.

As always, trade-in offers and bearer promotions are your champion friends, truthful I highly urge scanning nan catalogs of aggregate retailers to find nan woody that useful champion for you. More wide retailers for illustration Amazon are moreover tossing successful gift cards, successful lawsuit you're not a instrumentality of multi-year installment plans.

Stay tuned for much thoughts.