Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 Review: “Fixing” The Most Popular Foldable”.
This video is sponsored by surf shark. My first impression, when I put the new Galaxy flip 4 alongside last year’s Flip 3, was okay. Well now, when are you gon na show me the new ones, but when you’re Samsung, whose folding phones constitute nearly 88 of the worldwide foldable Market? Well, maybe the thinking goes. You don’t need to change all that much. In fact, the Galaxy Flip 3 got so much right last year that it went on to become the world’s most popular foldable one that, after a year of use, I only found particularly lacking in its battery life and Camera.
Did Samsung improve enough on those weaknesses to make this similar respect identically priced flip phone, the new clamshell cream of the crop, I’m Michael Fisher and I’ve spent a week finding out the change of Samsung did make to the hardware here are all welcome. I’M not talking about the dimensional differences, they don’t really matter, it’s just barely smaller and even slightly heavier than last year, but there’s more polish. Now I mean that literally these flat shiny side rails catch the eye better than last year, while the satin finish on the casing means the flip. 4 doesn’t dive for the floor at the first sign of a wobbly table like the slippery Flip 3 did, and you know I’m not especially worried. Even if it does fall. The flip 3 is water resistance and armor aluminum made sure my abuse didn’t hurt that phone and both have come over to the flip 4, alongside gorilla, glass, victus plus for the casing material, and what about that display protector peeling problem, I discussed in my flip 3 Long term review well Samsung says it’s using a new adhesive on flip 4 that should prevent that top layer from lifting at the edges, and it also says the display has a new layer structure and stronger ultra thin glass, both of which should make it better able To handle shock damage, the screen is still plenty bright at 900 nits and while the crease is still there and frankly still annoying given the competition’s progress in this area, you also still stop noticing it. Shortly after you move into the phone, as I’ve said many times, the flip is a quirky fun-sized phone. That in many ways, is the opposite of practical, so the new features Samsung has added to the flip 4 are also more playful than pragmatic. First remember when I covered that wonderful weirdo called the LG Wing. Well, it’s trackpad mode was one of the things I loved about it and Samsung provides pretty much the exact same thing. On the flip 4.
bend the phone into an L, tap the flex mode panel button and now you’ve got yourself a little touch pad and pointer combo to realize your tiny PC dreams complete with two finger scrolling. Does this work particularly well? No, is it particularly useful? No, I mean it’s cool that apps don’t have to be optimized for this, that the phone can force Flex mode panel with pretty much anything, but in my week with the flip 4. I only used this feature when my review notes reminded me to do it. There was never a situation that actually called for it in my testing. It’S much more useful when an app is built to include Flex mode optimizations like video calling on Google meet or more recently Instagram, with this viewfinder on the top controls on the bottom layout, but making useful features like that requires developers to do a lot of work Case in point, as of this review, Samsung was still waiting on Instagram to enable a feature to let you live stream using the main camera and the cover screen and speaking of that, cover screen.
Samsung added only the bare minimum of features to be able to say it did something new on the outer display this year. The existing sound and brightness settings got new companions in the form of Wi-Fi Bluetooth, airplane mode and flashlight toggles cool thanks, but there’s still no do not disturb button, no mobile hotspot shortcut and still no option for a signal meter. The disappointments continue if you want to do any message management out here. Basically, all that’s new is that you now get the option to send canned replies in some messaging apps. You still can’t dictate replies in most apps, nor can you type out your own and if you’re saying, but Mr mobile who’d want to type on a 1.9 inch screen. Well, you can already do this on a much smaller screen on the Galaxy watch. 5.. It’S just nice to have the option. Yeah, I’m glad. I brought up smart watches because when it comes to Notifications, Samsung still treats the cover screen more like a wearable than a proper display.
I mean why do I have to settle for this enigmatic orange dot when there’s plenty of room here to do a proper, always on display like we get on the main screen, and while it’s great to be able to make calls with the phone closed now? Why am I limited to three favorite contacts? I should be able to call anyone. I want you know where I’m going with this. I’Ve talked a lot about how I wish Samsung had more us foldable competition, and this is maybe the clearest illustration of why Motorola has been doing much more with its flip phone cover screens since 2019. But it hasn’t offered a new Razer since 2020, and its latest model isn’t even coming to the US that we know of with no meaningful competition.
It’S hard to avoid the conclusion that Samsung is content to Coast on the cover screen this year and that’s unfortunate. Fortunately, the news is a little bit better on those two main complaints from last year: camera and battery life. After this you know, my favorite sponsors are companies whose products I would use, even if they weren’t sponsors and I’ve been using surfshark for nearly as long as Mr mobile has existed. Surfshark is an award-winning VPN that I used to use to protect my privacy on Open Wi-Fi networks in hotels or coffee shops, and I still do that. But more and more I find myself using it to just make the internet better. Those pop-ups you get on every website these days well surf shark blocks them.
Your favorite shows are only streaming in a specific region, surf shark unblocks, those and while I don’t keep its ad blocker turned on because after all, I rely on ads like this one to survive. Well, some websites just take it way too far with ads that are actually malware or phishing schemes in disguise. Surf shark drops the blockhammer on those too, so make your internet better, get surfshark at the link in the description and use code. Mr mobile for 83 percent off and three extra months, free thanks to surfshark for sponsoring this video Samsung really didn’t have to try hard to outdo the endurance of the Galaxy Flip, 3 and well. It didn’t appear to try hard on the flip 4.. The company seems to be leaning on the more efficient Snapdragon 8 plus gen 1 processor, to do most of the work of preserving power since Samsung added only about 12 percent to the battery capacity. The flip 4 does last longer by comparison on a moderate day with some YouTube watching lots of camera usage and lots of texting. I made it from 10 AM to 2 am, but on my heaviest day, with a lot of full brightness YouTube watching out in the Summer, sun, lots of photos and video and a ton of email, texting and telegram.
Well, I was only able to get from 9am to a little after 8 pm. Now it’s an improvement from The Flip 3, which I routinely had to recharge before the sunset, and it does run cooler than the older phone too. But it’s still a long way from the true 18-hour endurance of a lot of conventional phones and that same not great, not terrible verdict holds up for the camera setup as well. Only one of these cameras is truly new, since the selfie shooter and the ultrawide appear to be the same exact sensors as last year.
The main camera, though, features a sensor with larger pixels and a lens with a wider field of view and no matter which camera you use. Samsung is processing the resulting images differently. Witness the boosted saturation and dynamic range in these photos from the flip 4 compared with the flip 3, which is evident even when we punch out to the ultra wide camera in brighter easier settings. Photos are quite similar across generations, with maybe slightly more detail in the highlights of this classic car that new camera sensor really gets a chance to shine in low light.
As you can see in this shot of my dimly lit childhood cuckoo clock and this near pitch black test featuring a photo of an even more childhood visit to Kennedy Space Center, but different settings offer different challenges. The flip 3 actually preserved detail and Highlights better in some examples. So, yes, the camera is improved, but those improvements are marginal and the real benefit continues to be the flex mode self tripod and its cover screen preview, which will probably prove to be even more popular with the rise and grind influencer crowd this year. Because now you can change aspect ratios and use portrait mode while the phone is closed and while I don’t have much use for holding the phone like a 90s era camcorder, as suggested by some of the press material, the videos I shot came out pretty much as I expected really solid in brightly lit situations with great stabilization with quality diminishing along with the light at night, as always, I’ve labeled my sample videos throughout this video, where relevant.
My buddy shirlin Lowe, though noted an autofocus issue during testing for her review at Engadget. I will link that below so yeah, exceptionally iterative upgrades from the previous generation. If you already own a flip 3, you shouldn’t feel any pressure to get the flip 4..
But if you live in the U.S, you might want to consider it anyway. That’S because Samsung’s trade-in offers are just insane for the flip and fold. This year I traded in my old Flip 3 and got 900 credit, meaning my new flip 4, with a free case and a bunch of promotional memberships to everything from Spotify to YouTube Premium cost me under a hundred and twenty dollars after tax. Like I say, it’s insanity and, I’m sorry to say, those rates aren’t as appealing in every country but well by conclusion. Here Echoes the conclusion from my flip 3 review.
If you’ve been on the fence about foldables and you’ve got a decent conditioned phone to trade in once again, it hasn’t ever been a better time. The flip 4 will be available in conventional and bespoke colorways, starting at 9.99 and 10.99 respectively from August 26th. This review was produced following one week with a Galaxy Z, flip 3 review sample provided by Samsung, but, as always, I gave the manufacturer no copy approval or editorial input rights of any kind, and I accepted no compensation for the production of this review. The loan sponsor is surfshark I’ll, be covering the flip 4.
Much as I did my flip 3 with extended long-term testing over the next year in my series into the fold and speaking of folds, yes, the Galaxy fold for review will be coming soon as well. Until next time, from Michael Fisher, thanks for watching and stay mobile, my friends .