- Hey everyone it's Brenda Stolyar,
Mashable's tech reporter,
and today we are unboxing Samsung's new Galaxy Z Fold 3.
All right, so let's unbox it.
Okay.
It's already unfolded.
Ooh, we got a SIM card.
A T-Mobile SIM card.
Going to just put that one aside.
All righty.
We got the Phantom Black version.
It also comes in Phantom Silver
and Phantom Green.
So let's start with what you get in the box.
If you couldn't already tell,
this is a very flat box.
There is a charging cable.
There's no charging brick.
Then you obviously have some paperwork here
and the SIM card ejector tool.
So that's all that you get in the box,
the phone, the charging cable,
SIM card tool,
and some paperwork with some words on it.
So we're going to put that away,
'cause it's not very exciting.
The more exciting part
is the Fold 3.
So,
here we go.
Oh, this is not going as smoothly as I thought.
All right, all right, all right.
And we did it.
Okay.
So let's fold it for the first time.
I think this thing can withstand,
Samsung says it can withstand like 200,000 folds.
This is probably the longest
I've held the Fold 3 at this point.
I did see it at the demo,
but that was a blur,
and we only got to really interact
with them for a little while.
So first thoughts,
it really doesn't feel that different
from the Z Fold 2.
I think it's a little bit lighter,
but you can't really tell.
It does feel thinner though.
I do also like that Samsung switched up
the camera set up on the back.
So instead of like a square setup,
it's now just this thin,
more subtle oval-like shape.
Also limits the camera bump too,
so it doesn't wobble as much,
which is nice.
But while we're on the topic of cameras,
I am kind of sad that Samsung stuck
with the same sensors as last year.
So you get the 12 megapixel wide angle,
12 megapixel ultra wide angle,
and then the 12 megapixel telephoto lens.
So nothing new with the cameras.
There is an under display camera sensor
on the main display though.
But we'll get to that in a second.
A little bit more about the hardware.
The Fold 3 is more durable this time around,
the display and the outside included.
I'm sure we all remember when the first Fold
just broke and peeled and wasn't very ideal.
Now it has an IPX8 rating,
so that means it can be submerged in
1.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes.
So that's good.
And you can also just not have to worry about
pulling your phone out in the rain.
There's also Corning's Gorilla Glass Victus,
so that's their strongest yet.
So Samsung really emphasized durability on this one.
You know, it makes sense,
because this is an $1,800 phone,
and nobody wants to have to worry
that it's going to break.
The other thing that Samsung improved on
as far as hardware is the hinge.
They made it thinner this time around.
Okay, we're all powered up.
It does feel a little bit smoother
and like, I'd say elevated
than the Fold 2.
The Fold, swiping on the glass of the Fold 2,
the glass was softer, I'd say.
So when I would swipe through
it kind of felt like I could feel my finger
like indenting on the screen just a little bit.
It wasn't an issue.
I didn't have any problems with like,
the glass, you know, breaking or anything.
It feels like you could definitely tell
Samsung refined it, which is nice.
'Cause again, this phone costs...a lot.
I'd say it's still pricey.
The biggest thing about this phone this year
is that Samsung optimized a lot of the apps
this time around to fit this screen
and also the cover display,
so that it doesn't look as janky I'd say,
because a lot of the apps,
you would open up
and they just didn't fit the screen.
So when you go into your settings,
there is...
let me find it.
Okay, so you're going to go into advanced features.
Let's try it, okay.
So under labs it says,
multi window for all apps.
So allow all apps to open
in pop-up view or split-screen.
Include apps that haven't been designed
for all these layouts.
Let's try YouTube.
Okay, so here it has 4:3, 16:9,
or full screen.
So let's just for fun,
let's try 4:3.
Okay.
So, where is YouTube?
Let's go to YouTube.
So obviously you have these black bars
on the sides and then you open it up
and you've got the black bars.
So if we go back into settings,
let's see what happens.
So now let's try it again.
Let's go to customize.
Let's go down to YouTube.
Let's do full screen,
and then let's open it up.
There you go, it looks a lot nicer.
You don't have the black bars on the sides.
This will obviously be a lot more useful
for third party apps
that aren't native to the device
and aren't optimized yet.
For example, Instagram,
let's alter that aspect ratio,
because this is not fun.
No one wants to scroll through their Instagram feed
with these giant black bars on the sides.
We go into customize aspect ratios
and we find Instagram,
we hit full screen.
You go back, find Instagram,
and that looks so much nicer,
and it's just a lot more convenient.
And it's easy for really anyone to do.
Even if, you know,
you're not all that familiar
with the Fold and the format,
they make it pretty simple.
Another thing I want to talk about
is the under display camera,
because again,
I didn't really get to play around with it
as much as I wanted to.
Basically Samsung wanted to create this like,
more immersive display.
So that's why they put the sensor underneath the display.
So it didn't interrupt, you know,
what you were looking at,
and it just felt more streamlined.
But what actually happens when you open apps,
you see this like little hexagon at the top,
or maybe it's an octagon.
You still see the outline of the sensor.
It's really only hidden
if the background is darker I'd say,
so right now, there's like the black at the top.
So you can't see it.
But I'm noticing that when I do open,
say Chrome or...
really any other app,
you can still see it,
and it's a little bit distracting.
I'll have to see if I get used to that.
The other thing is the sensor is downgraded.
So I'm going to take a selfie.
The sensor used to be a 10 megapixel sensor,
Samsung downgraded it to a 4 megapixel sensor.
They said it's still supposed to provide quality images.
It'll rely a lot on AI image processing,
but from what I've seen on social media photo samples,
it doesn't look that great.
Okay, let's take a selfie.
Yeah, that looks like I took it on a potato, so.
You can still use the front and the rear cameras.
Right now, this just doesn't look very promising.
Okay, as far as my first impressions go,
it really doesn't feel all that different hardware wise.
I'd say the biggest difference
that you'll notice is within the software,
because it's just going to be a lot easier to use
with a bunch of your probably most used apps,
but it is still expensive.
It starts at $1,800.
That is for the base model.
So obviously if you increase in storage,
you're going to have to pay more.
So be sure to check back for my full review
of the Z Fold 3 over at Mashable.