In the early days of foldable smartphones, many felt uncertain about cutting-edge devices adopting the retro flip design of dumbphones that was a fad in the mid-2000s. But it’s been four years since the original Samsung Galaxy Fold launched, and it’s still going strong.
While the Z Flip 4 converted me to a believer in foldable devices, it was the Flip 5 that cemented it with a more polished experience.
It all starts with the expansive 3.4in cover screen of the Flip 5, a significant enhancement over the previous version that was only 1.9in, which goes a long way in making the outer display more usable. The extra room is great for widgets like the calendar, making them more readable and easier to navigate with precise taps.
This Flip 5 also features three new widgets, namely a finance watchlist for tracking investments, a stopwatch, and one for showing recent calls. It’s worth noting that the media controls are now integrated, no longer requiring a widget to view what’s playing.
The squarish screen is also a nice fit for displaying cover art when playing music on, say, Spotify. This also applies to YouTube videos if you have the Premium subscription for playing music in the background. It’s also possible to scrub through a song or video on the cover screen.
What distinguishes the Flip 5 from other clamshell foldables is Samsung’s commendable effort to allow practically any app to run on the outer display. Everything, including typing messages in WhatsApp, watching YouTube videos, taking notes in Google Keep, checking emails, and even some light ebook reading, was great. This was an uncompromised experience, with the apps functioning just like normal, although on a smaller scale.
The hinge on the Flip 5 now closes more flat with a smaller gap in the inner display. However, to run the apps, users are required to first install MultiStar, an official Samsung app available via the Good Lock suite on the Galaxy Store. I find this strange, as this should have been done by default. Not only can games be resized on the cover screen, but in theory, one could solely utilise the device without ever needing to unfold it.
As for shooting photos, the camera preview feature works better with the Flip 5, as images are not cropped due to the larger cover display. This works especially well with the Flex mode for hands-free picture taking, shooting selfies using the main shooter, and capturing group photos. The cover screen can now preview the entire frame without needing a crop. One minor gripe is that the cover screen preview does not include grid lines. Hopefully, Samsung can add the feature in a future update so that it’s easier to line up shots.
For the main camera setup, the Flip 5 has two 12-megapixel shooters – one 123° ultra-wide camera and one wide-angle camera – that are complemented by a 10-megapixel selfie camera. The phone is powered by the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, and the inner display has a 120Hz refresh rate, making for a snappy and responsive user experience, though the 60Hz outer screen is no slouch either, looking vibrant and crisp.
Battery life seems improved over the Flip 4, as the Flip 5 lasted throughout the day with some juice to spare, though my test did not involve gaming, just navigation with Waze, YouTube watching, and general tasks. Samsung claims that it takes 30 minutes for a 50% recharge with a 25-watt charger, which was about right in my experience.
While it was a bit disappointing that Samsung chose not to include an option for a “bespoke” version of the device like in the previous iteration, my hands-on experience with the device blew my doubts away. The Flip 5 has a clean look with a sleek glossy glass back that has an especially premium feel to it, a departure from its more satin-feeling matte predecessor.
The Z Flip 5 features a 6.7in inner display and a large 3.4in outer cover screen. The immaculate aesthetic is accentuated with eight colour options, namely, Mint, Graphite, Cream, Lavender, Gray, Blue, Green, and Yellow, though the last four are Samsung.com exclusives.
Cases have become something of a must-have on most phones these days (if my drawer of devices with shattered screens is anything to go by), which is something that Samsung has thought of. It offers a FlipSuit case (currently discounted from RM199 to RM50), which comes with NFC plates with varying designs. The cover screen will automatically switch animation to match the design on the plate, which can also be synced to a Galaxy Watch 6.
All in all, the Flip 5 has maintained much of the same tools and features as the last generation but has dramatically refined them. With last year’s model already being an outstanding foldable, all the neat updates included with this generation serve to make it an even more compelling choice.
Z Flip 5 has eight colours: Gray, Blue, Green, Yellow (Samsung.com exclusive) and Mint, Graphite, Cream, Lavender. Pricing for the Z Flip 5 starts at RM4,499, with the device coming with up to 512GB of storage and 8GB RAM.
PROS: Versatile cover screen; flagship performance; large screen; minimal gap when folded; premium chassis
CONS: Fingerprint magnet; lack of a 1TB option; no dust resistance rating
SAMSUNG GALAXY Z FLIP 5 Android 13 smartphone
NETWORK: Up to 5G
DISPLAY: 6.7in FHD+ (1,080 x 2,640 pixels) and 3.4in cover screen (720 x 748 pixels)
CAMERA: Dual main cameras (12-megapixel wide + 12-megapixel ultra-wide), 10-megapixel front camera
CONNECTIVITY: USB Type-C, Bluetooth 5.3, WiFi 6E
PROCESSOR: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
BATTERY: 3,700mAh
OTHER FEATURES: Face Unlock, fingerprint sensor on power button, fast charge, 120Hz screen, NFC, eSIM, full apps on cover screen
DIMENSIONS (W x D x H): 71.9 x 6.9 x 165.1mm
WEIGHT: 187g
PRICE: RM4,499 (256GB storage, 8GB RAM); RM4,999 (512GB storage, 8GB RAM)
RATING: 4 out of 5 stars
Review unit courtesy of Samsung Malaysia Electronics, 1-800-88-9999
Credit: The Star : Tech Feed
