Samsung unveiled its next-generation Galaxy Z Flip foldable phone in its ‘Unpacked’ event held on the 11th of February. The company comes with a vast improvement in folding screen technology, used in Galaxy Fold released last year.
The Z Flip phone folds much like a Motorola Razr 2020 but Samsung’s Z Flip has a revolutionary bendable glass screen that Razr lacks.
Bending Glass Display
The new foldable designed phone has a beautiful high-quality foldable Dynamic AMOLED display, which turns to show the mini display (probably an inch) on the outside when folded.
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On the inside, Z Flip uses a glass that has strong resistance against scratches and is durable, plus giving a premium look to the phone. The Ultra-thin Glass (UTG for short, or Samsung UTG) gives the phone “a sleek, premium look and feels that it has never been seen with a foldable device before”, the company says. Other folding phones like Motorola Razr have the folding screens of flexible OLED plastic which are less durable and the impression fades off.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip ‘Flex Mode’
The new Galaxy Z Flip, when unfolded, has a 6.7-inch capacitive display that can automatically split into two displays of 4 inches each, which Samsung calls “Flex Mode”. The company has consulted Google to design this flex mode and a UI for Android, specifically for video calling, selfies and watching videos. The phone can be locked at 90 degrees.
Flex Mode also supports Mulitple Active Windows providing drag and drop options to the display when splitting into two, enabling the phone to multitask more comfortably.
However, Samsung claims that certain applications may not support Flex Mode and Multiple Active Window feature.
Camera
Samsung Z Flip has two rear cameras and one front camera.
- On the front, it comes up with a 10MP Selfie Camera with 1.22μm pixel size, supporting live focus for videos and photos and 80 degrees FOV (Field of view).
- Users can enjoy the dual rear cameras, one is 12MP Ultra Wide Camera with 1.12μm pixels and 123 degrees FOV, and the other one is 12MP Wide-angle Camera with 1.4μm pixels and 78 degrees FOV.
The rear camera supports OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) and users can zoom up to 8x digital zoom. It allows HDR10+ and 4K UHD with up to 60fps recording with tracking AF (Auto Focus).
Samsung’s new foldable phone has different modes in the Camera app like food, panorama, pro, live focus, photo, video, slow-mo, and hyper-lapse.
Storage, Processor, Fingerprint, Battery
The new Samsung’s folding phone has 8GB RAM and 256GB of storage. It does not support MicroSD storage. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip runs on the Qualcomm SM8150 Snapdragon 855+ SoC as the phone is lined up with a 7nm octa-core processing chips.
Z Flip has a fingerprint sensor on the side to unlock the phone, with the functionality of double-tap on the fingerprint sensing power button to turn on the selfie camera. Same as the Galaxy S20 series, Galaxy Z Flip supports wireless charging. The phone has a 3300 mAh non-removable battery with 15W Qi fast charging capacity.
Samsung did not talk about either Samsung Galaxy Z Fold supports 5G or not, during the Unpacked event. The official website states connectivity support of “up to 1.0Gbps LTE keeps you downloading and streaming with little lag.”
Galaxy Z Flip Colors, Pricing, and Availability
The Samsung company brings its new foldable Z Flip phone in three colors as Mirror Purple, Mirror Black, and Mirror Gold. The colors may vary from country to country and depend on which carrier you choose. The new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip folding phone will be available for sales from the 14th of February. The price starts at $1,380.
Hello, Moto Razr
Galaxy Z Flip came in competition with Motorola Razr which has a single rear 16MP camera 16MP and 5MP front camera. The Razr has 6GB RAM, 128GB storage capacity and Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 processor. With such specs lower than Z Flip, Razor is priced at $1,500. However, Z Flip has a more charming design and a bigger display on the outside, and a nostalgic feeling. Which one foldable phone will make its mark in 2020? Share your views below in the comments!
Here is the official introduction video of Samsung Galaxy Z Flip:
Images: Samsung
