Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 | Exam

Is it mobile? Or a tablet? No, it’s not Superman either, just Samsung’s foldable flip phone.

Samsung has two different concepts when it comes to foldable phones:

• Faces It’s a relatively normal-sized phone that can be folded in half its length and twice its thickness.
• folds It’s a phone that you can open like a book to get a bigger screen than a tablet.

We’re completely sold on the latest Flip, but the Fold still managed to totally impress us.

slimmer

The recently launched Galaxy Z Fold 5 doesn’t bring much in the way compared to its predecessor, but there are some improvements.

Perhaps the most anticipated new hinge is the one that allows the phone to fold completely flat. After all, this is a pretty thick phone, so the smaller the space, the better. This also contributes to the fact that the phone becomes even slimmer when folded – down from 15.8 to 13.4 mm. It helps especially when held in one hand.

Expensive price

Even though they’ve been around for a few years, foldable cell phones are still meant for users with special interests. No models top the sales charts here in Norway. But Fold is perhaps the narrowest target group. The price alone will be a deterrent to many.

The Fold 5 starts at NOK 20,990 for the model with 256GB of storage. For 512 GB you will have to pay 22,490 NOK, and for a full terabyte it will cost you 25,490 NOK. There are “sign out on company” rates.

Here, of course, you get both a mobile phone and a tablet for the same price. Such a small tablet, but it’s quite filling.

Test: You should choose this

Great screens

The front screen measures 6.2 inches diagonally and is completely rectangular, in a 23.1:9 format. We’re not entirely comfortable with this, not least because the keyboard is quite small.

The internal screen measures 7.6 inches diagonally. Aspect 21.6:18, which is not too far from square. But here too, we don’t think many of the apps we use daily are working optimally. On Netflix and YouTube, a large portion of the screen is not used. Facebook hasn’t made any edits, so there will be a lot of scrolling to read posts.

Samsung has definitely done a good job when it comes to multitasking on the big screen. You can split the screen in two, so you can run two apps side by side. More apps also appear in tablet mode. As before, games run perfectly on the big screen, with the vast majority completely filling it in, so you have plenty of room for your fingers to play around.

good camera

Galaxy Z Fold 5 has a total of five cameras, a triple camera on the back, a selfie camera on the front and behind the screen glass inside.

The triple rear camera should be almost the same as the one on the Galaxy S23+. In other words, you get relatively good cameras that deliver good exposures and pleasant colors. Here you also get an optical zoom, in contrast to the younger brother Flip, which only has a digital zoom (because the older brother has a third telephoto camera).

Of the two front cameras, the external one is the best. The interior is almost only suitable for video calls. However, you can get the best selfies with the main cameras on the back by folding them – then you can also see the viewfinder image on the small screen.

The nice thing about the fold is also that you can place it flat on the surface and make a dent in the screen as a kind of compact camera stand, suitable for long shutter speeds or just taking a group photo with yourself.

The Test: Mobile Best Buy of the Year

highest performance

As for the inside, the Fold 5 is equipped with Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. There isn’t much to say about performance, but it should only be missing with a phone priced over NOK 20,000.

Battery life is good, and we mostly get through a full day without issues. Considering you’re getting two screens and a smaller battery than, say, the Galaxy S23 Ultra (4,400mAh on the Fold versus 5,000mAh on the Ultra), there’s probably nothing else to expect.

Other than that, we also think the sound quality from the internal speakers is very good on this phone, with stereo sound.

Conclusion

Samsung is leading the way when it comes to foldable phones, but we think it’s a bit difficult to recommend the Galaxy Z Fold 5 outright, even though it’s probably best in class right now.

The Fold 5 is undoubtedly a unique phone – it folds into a tablet. It’s thinner and lighter, the screens are great to look at and the performance is top notch. Fold 5 also has many smart functions for running apps side by side. You can also use it with the S Pen, although it must be purchased separately (it should be included at this price).

But there is simply no escaping the fact that this phone is so expensive. It is also more vulnerable as a collapsible bar when it comes to exposure to dust or other rough handling. You must be reasonably sure that this concept is something for you before you take the full step.