I’ve written this review once already.  No, seriously.  I wrote most of what I planned to be my review of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 and it was almost 4000 words without even talking about the software experience.  I wanted to talk about the Z Fold 3 as I normally would talk about a smartphone, but also talk about the things that make the Z Fold 3 different and special.  4000 words later and I had something that was too much to publish.  The reality is that it is impossible to talk about the phone like a normal phone, since it isn’t a normal phone, so it is time for a bit of a different approach.  Instead of talking about all the bells and whistles, all the specs, and every feature of the phone, I’m going to focus on the things that do make this phone different.  Because this phone is unlike any piece of technology I’ve ever used.  But it is also very expensive.  The retail price of the Z Fold 3 starts at $2270.  That alone means this isn’t a device for everyone.  But Samsung’s goal is to show that it *can* be for everyone, and to show what the future of our mobile devices could be.  Let’s dive in.

It has been a very long time since I’ve been this excited for a new piece of technology.  Sure, new phones are always fun, and as a gamer getting my hands on the new Xbox Series X last year was a great day.  But the Z Fold 3 represents something truly new and different.  The last time I was this excited for a new device was probably the Palm Pre, all the way back in 2009.  It isn’t often we see devices that are truly trying something new.  The Z Fold 3 isn’t just a phone.  Sure, it looks like a phone, albeit it a very tall and narrow one.  But it is a phone that can be unfolded, revealing a small tablet with a screen nearly as large as that of an iPad Mini.  Yes, that leads to a few compromises. It’s thick when being used as a normal phone.  It is heavier than any phone I’ve used in a long time.  Typing on the outside screen is cramped, and almost too spread out on the inside screen.  The battery life can be mediocre, depending on usage.  But even with those compromises being taken into account.  This is a tablet that can fold in half. There really isn’t anything like it.

Unboxing and Hardware

I’m going to keep this brief.  At $2300, the Z Fold 3 should be a high end phone and it is.  It has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor, 256GB or 512GB of storage, 12GB of RAM, and a 4400mAH battery.  It has 5G, Wifi 6e, Blutooth 5.2 wireless charging, NFC, and a partridge in a pear tree.  What it doesn’t have is a charger in the box.  At $2300, there really should be a charger in the box.  There are stereo speakers and a USB-C port, and no headphone jack.  When unfolded the Z Fold 3 is as thin or thinner than any phone or tablet you’ll find.  But when folded, it feels a bit like a brick.  This is a heavy phone, and without a case is quite slippery.  It feels very high quality but is heavier than most people are used to with today’s phones.

The phone feels as good as it gets.  All of the glass on the outside of the phone is Gorilla Glass Victus, the strongest glass currently used for phones.  The back features a matte finish that is slippery, but keeps fringerprints off, not that it matters since this phone should be in a case.  It has an aluminum frame which Samsung says is a custom alloy it developed and patented that is stronger than normal aluminum.  The hinge feels sturdy.  This feels like a solid device.  Contributing to how solid it is is the IPX8 rating for water resistance.  While the Z Fold 3 is not rated for dust resistance, the phone can handle some water.  I’m not brave enough to dunk it in a pitcher of water, but you can.  More practically, it means the Z Fold 3 can be used in the rain where the previous version, the Z Fold 2, could not.

Inner Display

The star of the show, and the entire reason to own the Fold 3 is the inner display.  It is a 7.6 inch panel at a resolution of 1768x2208 featuring a 120hz refresh rate.  It’s nearly the same size as an iPad Mini’s screen, just at a different aspect ratio, and really is big enough to be useful as a tablet.  I’ve found myself just… using the Fold 3 more than I would previous phones.  In situations where I would normally put the phone down to grab a device with a bigger screen like an iPad, I’m still using the Z Fold 3, since the screen is big enough.

The screen itself is different than any screen you may have seen before, since, you know, it folds in half.  Instead of a strong, scratch proof glass display, there is a multi layered panel with the digitizer for the S Pen, the flexible OLED screen, a layer of what Samsung calls ultra thin glass, and lastly a Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) layer on top.  That PET layer is plastic, but it feels as good as any high quality screen protector I’ve used, and feels durable enough to withstand day to day use.  Time will tell.

This big screen enables a number of things in software to take advantage of that screen.  Samsung has multi-tasking that feels very similar to how multi-tasking works on an iPad.  It’s possible to use multiple apps at the same time, and while more than two seems like a stretch on what is still a sub 8 inch screen, there is utility to using two apps on the display.

Another feature enabled by the folding display is flex mode.  The hinge is strong enough to be held at any angle, allowing certain apps to adapt if the screen if partially folded.  The camera app, for example, will adapt by showing the viewfinder on half the screen, and photo controls on the other half.  This lets the Z Fold 3 function as its own tripod.  Playing a YouTube Video in flex mode will have the video playing on one half of the screen instead of getting cut off.  I wish more apps would support flex mode natively, but with how niche the Z Fold 3 is, it is understandable that there are only a handful. 

The most controversial part of the inner display comes from the under screen camera.  Instead of a notch or a hole punch cutout for a front facing camera, the Fold 3 features a camera under the display… sort of.  The display does go over the camera, but there is a series of transparent lines to go along with actual screen pixels.  The result is a grid like look that actually looks a lot like a screen door, especially when over a white background.  When over a colourful background it is barely noticeable, and doesn’t draw attention.  But if there is anything white, it looks very distracting, and not very good.  This is clearly first generation technology, and Samsung would have done well to wait until the tech was a bit better before putting it in a phone that costs this much.

But overall, using the inner screen is a joy.  There are still long term questions about the durability of the folding screen, and that’s not something we won’t know for several months.  But so far, the Z Fold 3 feels solid.

Cover Display

The outer display of the Z Fold 3 is a  6.2 inch panel with a resolution of 832x2260 and a 120hz refresh rate.  This display is as good as it can be working in the dimensions of the phone, but has some compromises.  It is very tall and narrow.  It is still perfectly usable, and with how thick the phone is when folded the narrow display actually makes the phone easier to hold and use with one hand.  But the compromise comes with the typing experience.  The on screen keyboard is narrow, and I find I make significantly more typos on this cover display than I normally would.  But otherwise the most remarkable thing about the cover display is how unremarkable it is.  It doesn’t feel like a huge compromise using the outer display, which helps when unfolding the phone, which is absolutely a two handed operation, isn’t practical.

Cameras

There are a total of 5 cameras on the Fold 3.  There are the previously mentioned 10 megapixel camera on the cover display, 4 megapixel camera under the inner display, and 3 “main” cameras.  The under display camera is not good, and should only really be used for video calls on the large screen. The quality of photos out of this camera are not good, thanks to the display grid above it.  The Fold 3 runs software processing to attempt to make those photos look as good as possible, but they aren’t good.  The 10 megapixel camera on the outer display is actually quite good, and is a very useful selfie shooter.

The three main cameras on the device are a trio of 12 megapixel sensors.  There is a standard wide angle camera, a 2x zoom camera, and an ultrawide camera.  With all 3 cameras being identical, they all produce similar quality images, which isn’t always the case on multi camera setups.

Overall, I am extremely impressed with these cameras.  On a recent trip that included hiking on a very hot day and a visit to a museum, I had good opportunity to put the cameras through their paces, and I was not disappointed.  Photos are very good quality in all lighting scenarios, and I am especially impressed with low light photos.  The night/low light photos from the Z Fold 3 can produce some excellent results, significantly better than my previous phone, the Galaxy Note 10+.  You can see some photos from that trip and some others from around the house below.

Now, phone cameras are still not perfect.  Even the best phone cameras are not great at fast moving subjects, or any subjects moving in low light.  And while things are improving, that is still a place where a dedicated camera will win out.  I had a tough time getting a few images of subjects in motion, to where I missed a couple shots because of it.  This is not specifically a problem with the Fold 3, but rather a limitation of most phones today.

The form factor of the Z Fold 3 also allows some innovation in the camera experience.  I’ve already talked about how the camera app adapts to flex mode, and that it can be used as its own tripod.  But with the cover display, it is easy to use the main cameras for selfies as well.  The phone is a bit unwieldy to hold unfolded and backwards with one hand, but being able to use the best cameras on the phone for selfies means I might actually take a selfie or two.  Maybe.

Battery life and Charging

Battery life has been extremely hard to measure because I use the Fold 3 very differently than I did my previous phones.  With the ability to use the Fold 3 like an iPad Mini sized tablet, I simply use it more than older devices.  In cases where I might reach for an iPad or laptop for the bigger screen, I can just use the inner display on the Fold 3.  Because of that, the battery life doesn’t feel great.  But it is really dependent on usage.

On my trip, during the day it was used closer to how I would use my Note 10+.  I used it for Google Maps and navigation, some Pokemon Go while walking, and pictures. Lots of pictures.  I had one day where I took 400 photos with the Fole 3.  With that usage, the Fold 3 would not last from morning until bed time, but neither would my Note 10+, so battery life was about what I would expect from a “normal” phone under those conditions.

I think where I’ve landed at on battery life is that when using it as I would a regular phone the battery life is no better or worse than my experience with the Note 10+.  But the difference is that instead of putting it down to use another device I’m just using the Fold 3 more, which influences battery life negatively.  Perhaps over time this will normalize a bit, but in some ways, the dual nature of the device hurts the battery life, just because of how it gets used.

The battery life might be easier to deal with if Samsung had faster charging.  But at 25W the Fold 3 charges much slower than other high end Android phones.  This is not just a Fold 3 problem, as Samsung has been inexplicably behind on charging technology.  The company actually offered 45W charging on the Galaxy S20 Ultra and Note 10+, but now caps out at just 25W on the S21 series and the Fold 3.  With other Android manufacturers offering up to 60W charging in some cases, 25W seems slow.  And to make matters worse, it will only charge that fast with the screen off.  With the device in active use when plugged in charging speed drops dramatically.  This means the device will take literally 2-3 hours to charge from near dead to full if it is in use.  Dead to full with the screen off takes almost an hour and a half, with about 55 minutes to get to 80%.  That’s too long, especially for a phone that costs this much.

Price and value

At nearly $2300, the Fold 3 is not something I can recommend to most people.  It is more money than I’ve ever spent on a laptop, never mind a phone.  But as I’ve said, my phone is my most used, and most important device.  I’ve decided that cost is worth it to me.  That’s a calculation that everyone should make, and I think for most people, this device doesn’t make sense.  Even for me, I took advantage of some generous Samsung pre-order bonuses to help the cost.  Samsung gave one year of their Samsung Care+ warranty service for free, normally a $265 value, as well as $260 in Samsung store credit that I used to purchase A Galaxy SmartTag+, the S Pen case and two other cases for the device.  With those deals being over, even for people who want this phone, it may be worth waiting to see if there are good sales or deals around holiday time, be it Black Friday or Boxing Day.

I’m going to be writing a lot about this phone in the future.  I got the S Pen and case late, so I am not including my thoughts on that experience here, look for that in a few weeks.  And I’ll be documenting my experiences using this device over the long term.  Samsung is really pushing foldables this year, especially the Z Flip series, believing they are durable enough to become phones that most people would feel comfortable owning.  The Z Fold 3 is going to be my main phone, and probably main tablet going forward, so I’m going to have a lot to share.  If Samsung really thinks folding displays are the future, I want to find out what the future is like to use.  If you’re not ready to jump on that train yet, that’s perfectly understandable.  But for me, I’m all in in a way I haven’t been since that Palm Pre in 2009.  Let’s see where this goes.