Last year, if you told me about all the things that would happen in 2020, I’d shake my head with disbelief.
This includes the fact that I’d like the Galaxy Z Flip foldable phone. When it launched in February I was skeptical because just a year before, Galaxy Fold reviewer units had a number of issues. Then there was the Motorola Razr. It launched before the Flip and even though it was more expensive and had less impressive specs, I found its approach to foldable design more appealing.
Fast forward to now though, and the Galaxy Z Flip has won me over. I use it just like a regular phone, which seems silly to say but one of my biggest knocks against foldable phones so far is how they don’t quite hold up to real-world use. Initially, I was protective about the phone; now I’m less cautious and it’s still holding up.
Most of all, the Galaxy Z Flip is fun and that’s something I don’t say about many phones. Folding and unfolding it is as enjoyable as it was the first time I did it. Closing the phone shut to end a call brings me a level of satisfaction that I don’t get from an iPhone 11 Pro or Pixel 4. And opening it with a whip-like flip of my wrist makes me feel like a badass.
I know the Galaxy Z Flip isn’t the perfect phone or the most powerful. It doesn’t have the best cameras or battery life. It is laughably expensive. And yet I can’t stop using it. After three months, is the Galaxy Z Flip worth $1,380? Yes. The high price reflects that it is a phone that can physically fold in half. Should you pay $1,380 for this phone? No. But for those of you who want to flirt with the Wild West of mobile phone design, the Z Flip offers much to enjoy.
The Z Flip’s beautiful but cursed display
I love and hate this display. When it’s clean, the tall narrow screen is amazing and vibrant. Videos look outstanding. The 21.9:9 aspect ratio is also really wide, so there are black bars on the sides of most videos. I watched widescreen films like The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, though, and they fit the display incredibly well.
But once in a while, the plastic polymer coating got in the way of the screen’s beauty, especially when there were fingerprints on the screen which the coating seems to attract endlessly. When I wipe smudges clean with my shirt sleeve, they don’t come off as easy as a phone without plastic polymer on it.
Then there’s the crease. Ah, the crease. One thing I noticed after three months of using it is that I physically feel the crease constantly with my fingers. The Z Flip’s crease cuts across the middle of the screen and if I scroll through apps like Instagram or Twitter, my finger goes over it like a car rolling over a seam in a concrete driveway.
But this doesn’t particularly bug me and because it’s a horizontal crease instead of the vertical one on the Galaxy Fold, I actually see it less. To me, the crease is like background music at a restaurant. I notice it but forget about it after awhile. Just like how I got used to notches on phones, I am now used to the crease. More
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Galaxy Z Flip Thom Browne Edition$2,500.00 -
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip$1,380.00 -
Samsung Galaxy Fold$1,980.00
