Phones used to come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, then everything got pretty samey and
pretty boring for a while.
Now we have the folding phone and things are pretty exciting again.
A folding phone does exactly what it says on the tin.
It has a folding screen which lets you open it up into a tablet.
One of the best models you can get right now is the Samsung Galaxy Fold 2. Let's dive in and see
what it's all about.
Firstly, this phone really does fold in half.
In folded mode, a second display takes up the back of the phone.
It's quite tall and narrow, but definitely an improvement on last year's model.
The folded display is great for emails in sites like Reddit, but you probably wouldn't want to
edit work documents on it.
Another downside is that it's a lot thicker than a normal phone when folded.
It will still fit in your pocket, but it's a bit like having two phones squashed together.
It comes in either mystic black or mystic bronze, which is a fancy way of saying black or rose gold.
You can also choose one of four different hinge colours if you order on Samsung's website.
Once you open the galaxy Z fold 2 things get a lot more interesting.
You're now in tablet mode, which is the point of buying a foldable phone in the first place.
The primary display is a dynamic mo OLED display with a 120 hertz refresh rate, which is in line
with Samsung's other premium 2020 phones.
The external display is glass and should be fairly durable. But the inner display comes with a raft
of warnings.
It's not dustproof, for example, which means you need to handle it with a lot of care. There's also
a noticeable crease in the centre of the display.
You can't really see it when looking directly at the screen, but it's definitely noticeable from
other angles.
The Fold 2 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor with 12 gigabytes of RAM, and 256
gigabytes of storage.
As with the original galaxy fold, there's no storage expansion slot, which is pretty annoying.
However, all up this is a very powerful android phone that also happens to double as a tablet.
The larger internal display does allow for much more app multitasking, and even some data sharing
between apps that you don't get on other phones.
It's not quite a laptop replacement, but it's handy having a browser and social media feed going
at the same time.
The phone runs on a 4500 milliamp sealed battery, which can be charged by our wired and wireless
options.
We ran it through our standard battery tests streaming a full HD YouTube video for an hour of
maximum brightness and moderate volume.
Based on our tests, it will likely struggle to make it for a full day's usage.
On the flip side, you're getting a much larger screen so watch your movies on during normal day
to day usage, you can expect the phone to fare better, it should easily last a full day provided
you're not constantly watching videos on it.
It charges via USB C or wireless charging, although it's unusual shape can make it tricky to
use with some wireless chargers.
If you're keen on the camera features you might be a little disappointed in the photo performance as
it doesn't quite measure up to the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. You're getting much less telephoto
functionality, smaller image sensors and it's just a bit of a tricky shape to shoot on.
Don't get me wrong, it is still a great camera, but for this price, we're expecting the best that
you can possibly receive.
The camera has all the same features as Samsung's other 2020 flagship phones, including low focus
and single take mode.
The The Z Fold 2 uses the same basic lens arrangement as the S20. However, each lens is only
12 megapixels.
There's also 2 10 megapixel selfie cameras, one on the front and one inside.
Unlike Samsung's other phones, this one is not water resistant at all.
Frankly, I'll even be a bit scared to take it out in light rain. The screen has a super thin glass
layer underneath the plastic but it doesn't look particularly tough.
This is a phone you're going to have to be super careful with so should you buy the Samsung Galaxy
Z Fold 2.
Foldables are still a little unusual and really should be considered a luxury buy.
can you get bit of value overall out of a cheaper Samsung phone? For sure.!
And for most people, that's going to be the smarter option.
With that said opening the phone does feel like the future.
It's great having a much bigger screen and we're excited to see what kind of apps a folding screen
could inspire.
If you like the idea of a folding phone, the Galaxy Z Fold 2 is your best option right now.