Assessment: The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 foldable is sort of an excessive amount of enjoyable

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip7 is a narrative of one thing outdated, one thing new, one thing borrowed, and one thing blue. The blue half is straightforward — my overview pattern, offered by Samsung, is the Blue Shadow colorway. The spotlight of the cellphone is certainly the “one thing new.” Samsung massively up to date its pocket-sized foldable cellphone with an enormous cowl display. At 4.1 inches, it is the biggest exterior show on a flip-style cellphone to this point.

“One thing borrowed” comes within the type of the Exynos processor that lives contained in the cellphone. Previous variations of Galaxy Z Flips in worldwide markets have been powered by Exynos silicon up to now, however U.S. telephones have usually had Snapdragon {hardware} from Qualcomm, which we strongly choose. The “borrowed label” is my hope that Samsung will return to Snapdragon {hardware} sooner or later — extra on that later.

Lastly, “One thing outdated” — certainly one of my largest frustrations with the cellphone, which is just a little bit higher this 12 months (however truthfully not that a lot better than the Galaxy Z Flip6). It has to do with the best way apps seem on the exterior show (what Samsung calls the Cowl Display) and Samsung’s refusal to deal with that lovely canvas like a correct display. It is just a little maddening, although it did not cease me from having enjoyable with the cellphone.

Shortly after Samsung unveiled the Z Flip 7 (and its extremely skinny older sibling, the wonderful Galaxy Z Fold 7) this July, I hit the street to sunny (and devastatingly scorching) St. Louis, house of the Gateway Arch, Six Flags, and Meremec caverns. Over the course of 5 days, I put this “AI Flip Telephone” by the ringer for my Galaxy Z Flip 7 overview.

The Galaxy Z Flip 7 is the Flex you suppose it’s

Earlier than I dive into the {hardware}, I want to debate the spotlight. Samsung — lastly — responded to market strain within the U.S. (and overseas) by bringing a big Cowl Display show to its flip cellphone, and thank goodness. The earlier two generations additionally had bigger screens, however they’d odd notches in them to accommodate the digicam modules, whereas everybody else was simply reducing the show across the cameras.

One of many first issues you need to do if you get this cellphone is allow apps to run on this show. The issue is, it takes 13 steps to do it, and except you are a geek (which, admittedly, when you’re studying this overview, you could be), most individuals will not hassle. That is honest, however you will be going into this combat with one hand tied behind your again.

The 4.1-inch AMOLED display is massive, beautiful, and may completely be used to the fullest. Like the principle show, it has 2,600 nits of peak brightness and a 120 Hz refresh fee. Not all apps can deal with the Cowl Display (confusingly, Samsung additionally refers to this display because the Flex show and/or FlexWindow), however a lot of them will. The excellent news: when you do these 13 steps, you are executed fidgeting with settings. You may merely add the apps that you really want. The dangerous information: Samsung does not actually need you to do it in any respect. You could be questioning what I imply by that.

A hobbled expertise

If Samsung wished you to run apps on your property display, it would not require you to enter the Labs part of your settings and set up a separate app from the Galaxy retailer to do it. It would not power you to make use of the Samsung keyboard on the Flex show, with its lack of voice typing, no matter which keyboard is your default keyboard (Gboard FTW). Plus, if I needed to see “open your cellphone to proceed” yet another time, I used to be able to throw the cellphone out the window whereas driving in a automotive by central Illinois.

The whole lot from including apps to the launcher to organising widgets, to reordering widgets, all must be executed with the cellphone open, for some motive. It makes me unhappy.

As soon as you’re employed round these picadillos and get right down to enterprise, the duvet display itself is beautiful. Most apps work effectively on there, together with Gemini and Gemini Dwell, which is a enjoyable approach to work with Google’s AI. The show additionally goes proper as much as the sting of the cellphone.

The remainder of the {hardware}

Samsung constructed a extremely stable cellphone right here, and it is nice to make use of. The casing is armor aluminum, and the hinge has been redesigned this 12 months, slimming down the cellphone only a bit. The {hardware} is extra squared off than Motorola’s Razr, which might make one-handed opening just a little more durable. But it surely’s tight and practical. Whenever you shut the cellphone, you’ll accomplish that with some of the satisfying “Thwaps” you have ever heard. Talking of which, it makes hanging up on individuals far more satisfying than it already was. 

The buttons on the facet of the cellphone aren’t raised by a lot, which might make it laborious to find them with out wanting. I typically missed the fingerprint sensor within the energy button as a result of I had hassle discovering it. However the remainder of the {hardware} is completely stable. The 6.9-inch AMOLED most important display can also be bigger than earlier generations at 6.9 inches. The display has the identical teardrop form closing that minimizes the crease, which you’ll be able to see however will not care about.

The cellphone is powered by a 4,300 mAh battery that is simply 100 mAh smaller than its bigger sibling, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7. As such, it could simply final all day, particularly when you carry out most duties on the duvet display. I seen the cellphone tended to run scorching, however solely after I was already outdoors baking in a water park or on the St. Louis Zoo, so I think the climate was simply as possible at fault because the cellphone itself.

The software program on the within

Having talked concerning the software program on the duvet display, the software program when open is… mainly the identical as another Samsung cellphone. OneUI 8.0 is constructed onto Android 16, making these telephones the primary to ship with Android’s newest working system. That is no shock — Google and Samsung have been joined on the hip for some time now. OneUI 7 was a divisive working system as a result of loads of Samsung customers preferred how their telephones labored earlier than it rolled out (my spouse amongst them).

Personally, I beloved OneUI 7.0 as a result of it introduced again the vertical scrolling app drawer and the Capsule, which apes Apple’s Dynamic Island in loads of nice methods. OneUI 8 provides all these advantages and takes issues a step additional, bringing 90:10 multitasking to the telephones. What meaning is you may run two apps, one on prime and one beneath, however you may transfer the separator so that you solely see 10 p.c of one of many apps. Faucet that 10 p.c and the app pops as much as turn into the 90 p.c, and vice versa. It really works higher on the Galaxy Z Fold 7, however it’s additionally fairly good on the Flip 7. 

Whenever you half-fold the Flip, you activate Flex Mode, which helps you to profit from the foldable design. In Flex Mode, the app lives within the prime half of the display, and the underside half turns into a form of management panel in supported apps. In YouTube, for instance, the underside half will get a play bar and play controls, which is fairly neat.

I additionally love that Dex is accessible on the Flip7. Samsung Dex mainly turns your cellphone right into a CPU if you join a monitor, mouse, and keyboard to it. It provides you a home windows interface much like Home windows. I spent a while with Dex on my journey to St Louis, however more often than not I am utilizing Dex is on long-haul flights, getting some work executed with a set of Xreal One glasses. Now that could be a rollicking good time and I am pleased Samsung’s smaller foldable has that functionality.

We’ve got to speak concerning the AI

The Flip 7 has loads of the identical AI methods as different Samsung telephones, together with digicam methods and AI picture modifying, resembling shifting topics round or utilizing generative AI to fill within the background. Two notable enhancements embrace Gemini on the Flex display, together with Gemini Dwell. That is a pleasant bonus. Gemini Dwell additionally works with the exterior digicam (when the cellphone is open, to be clear) to turn into multimodal. On the St. Louis Zoo, I might level the digicam at an animal and ask what I used to be taking a look at, and in each case, it was appropriate, which was shocking, to be completely trustworthy.

What was just a little annoying was how chatty Gemini Dwell would get. “That is an Asian Elephant! You may inform by the dimensions of the ears. Would you wish to know extra concerning the Asian elephant? Do you could have any questions on it? Please for the love of all issues holy speak to me!” That is not an actual quote, however you get the purpose.

The opposite AI options, like Samsung’s Now bar, additionally seem on the Flex display, even when the Now Temporary remains to be lower than good. It nonetheless returns information tales that are not related to me. It stored me updated with the climate at the same time as I traveled, so that was good, however I nonetheless haven’t got a lot use for it.

Battery life and efficiency

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 comes with an Exynos 2500 processor constructed on a 3nm course of, much like flagship processors from Qualcomm and Mediatek. That is Samsung’s homegrown silicon. What’s odd this 12 months is that every one Flip 7s will likely be sporting the Exynos processor. Up to now, Z Flip telephones bought abroad had Exynos whereas the U.S. variations had Snapdragon processors. Due to this, we all know that Snapdragon often outperforms Exynos. This 12 months, we will not make that comparability, however it’s honest to say historical past just isn’t on Samsung’s facet.

Geekbench is a benchmark instrument you need to use to get an thought of how a processor performs. Geekbench returns scores of two,354/7,340 single/multi-core scores on the Flip 7. For context, the Snapdragon 8 Elite within the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 returns a 2,430/8,823 rating, so it does not precisely blow it out of the water. Everyday, the one actual stutters I famous have been within the digicam software program often, and typically when working a number of home windows in Dex. They have been minor hiccups, however nonetheless noteworthy.

As for battery life, regardless of spending all day, most days out and about, away from Wi-Fi and in scorching temperatures apart from, the cellphone by no means died earlier than bedtime. I would not name this a multi-day cellphone, however it’s very not dangerous, and you will get much more mileage out of it when you use the duvet display as typically as attainable.

Cameras are pretty much as good as your lighting

There are three cameras on this cellphone, however you will solely actually ever want to make use of two of them.

To be trustworthy, I did not discover a lot use for the 10MP selfie digicam.

One of many key advantages to utilizing a flip-style foldable cellphone is the flexibility to show the Cowl Display right into a preview window for taking selfies. The hinge may be very inflexible, so you may even use the cellphone as its personal tripod and use gesture controls to take photographs and movies. I took a bunch of enjoyable selfies on the St. Louis Arch, Meremec caverns, and all factors in between utilizing that flex hinge, and I acquired some nice photographs. You too can maintain the digicam half open at a 90-degree angle for a camcorder grip when you’re nostalgic (a function you will additionally discover within the Motorola Razr Extremely). 

The outcomes you get will likely be extremely dependent in your lighting circumstances. For instance, at Six Flags through the day, my photographs have been sensible. Meremec Caverns and the St. Louis aquarium have been each a bit hit and miss. I’d suggest that when you’re in low-light circumstances, take loads of photographs (to extend your odds of getting a great one) and ensure your topics are as nonetheless as attainable. Pictures of stalactites are going to be excellent. Pictures of the individuals standing in entrance of them, not a lot.

The digicam software program provides photographs of as much as 10x, however you’ll by no means need to go that top. In my expertise, the 4x zoom is usable; at 10x you lose all depth and texture. The photographs could be OK for social media, however typically, you will need to keep away from these. As typically as not, they are not good.

I additionally noticed a shocking quantity of grain in loads of my lower-light photographs. Samsung is often fairly good at cleansing these issues up in low gentle, however even among the daytime photographs, notably ultrawide and macroshots, ended up grainy in darker areas.

Taking pictures video is far the identical, although much less forgiving. Low-light video just isn’t horrible with the principle digicam, however do not transfer or stroll whereas taking pictures. The judder will get fairly dangerous if you begin strolling. Good photographs are attainable in the dead of night, however that is extra the exception than the rule.

Total, it is a fairly good digicam setup that does very effectively within the day, and even when the solar is beginning to go down. End up in a cave — as one does — and your outcomes will fall into the vary of “combined bag” right down to “dumpster fireplace.”

So, is the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 price it?

Flip telephones are actually enjoyable. I really like utilizing them, particularly when taking selfies with the principle digicam. You are able to do that with the Fold 7, however holding that cellphone open is awkward. Holding a tiny little pocket sq. in your hand is a lot simpler and a a lot better expertise. For $1,099, I believe you’ll like this cellphone, too. Plus, it is cheaper than its major competitors, the Motorola Razr Extremely, which has a comparable digicam and a better price ticket.

There are some corners reduce right here. The Exynos processor just isn’t dangerous (Motorola’s flagship foldable has a Snapdragon processor), however not the very best you should purchase. I am unable to hate on Samsung’s cowl display software program an excessive amount of as a result of it is a curated expertise that Samsung desires you to have, and it actually solely makes me unhappy as a result of I am a nerd. The cameras are excellent for this class, although it would not damage Samsung to take some notes from abroad opponents.

So, do you have to purchase the Z Flip 7? Once more, when you’re a fan of the shape issue, that is essentially the most compelling foldable on supply right here in the USA. In case you’re already taking a look at one thing just like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus, this one folds in half for less than $100 extra. I like what Samsung has lastly executed right here, catching as much as its contemporaries and restarting a contest conflict by which the patron will in the end win.

The place to purchase the Galaxy Z Flip 7

You should buy the Z Flip 7 at Samsung, Amazon, and Finest Purchase (or simply about anywhere that sells telephones) for $1,099.99. The bottom model solely comes with 256GB of storage, however when you decide up this cellphone at Amazon, you may get a $200 reward card at no additional price, which is difficult to argue with.

At Samsung Galaxy Unpacked, Samsung additionally debuted a mid-range model of the F Flip 7, following Motorola’s lead. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE provides many of the identical options for $899.99.