Galaxy Z Fold4 Impressions/Review

[Rydah]

Hey hey everyone, I hope you are doing great! 

After having the brand new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 for over a week, I wanted to share my experience and thoughts on the latest foldable, which is my first of it's kind. For those that have read my previous reviews on the Buds2 Pro and the Watch5 Pro may know, I was fortunate enough to attend Samsung's Unpacked event live in NYC and got first hands on with this new device.

*Please note, I paid for this device myself and my review is my honest thoughts and opinion on the device.

Galaxy Z Fold4 - MORE SCREEN, MORE DOING

To start, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 is now on sale and can be purchased directly from Samsung here: https://howl.me/chQkoHHyWFO. The price of the Fold4 is a bit high at $1799.99 but can be purchased as low as $899.99 with eligible trade-in.

Some noteworthy specs of the Galaxy Z Fold4:

• 4,400 mAh battery
• 7.6” QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X Infinity Flex Display 120Hz Adaptive Refresh Rate
  6.2” HD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X Infinity-O Display 120Hz Adaptive Refresh Rate
• Comes with Android 12L/OneUI 4.1.1 (Optimized for Tablets/Foldables)
• New Taskbar dock for easy app switching/multi tasking (thanks to Android 12L)
• The only IPX8 water-resistant foldable series

Originally, I hadn't planned to purchase the Fold4 as the price was a bit out of my comfort zone. Not only that, I also own an S22 Ultra so I didn't feel right making that purchase. I ended up going to my local Best Buy on launch day and found that they were offering enhanced trade-in values for phones and I happened to have some spare's so I went for it. On top of that, I had a few Best Buy gift cards so it worked out.

Right as I unboxed my new Fold4 (I got the 256GB Graygreen model for those that are curious), I knew I was in for a premium experience. As many already know, in the box you're greeted with the device itself. Other than that, all you get is the setup guides, sim eject tool and the charging cable. Setting up the device was exciting, especially because this is my first Fold. Once I got it configured to my liking, I really put it up to the test. Battery life in general so far has been great. At the end of the day, I still have about 30% charge left and with mid to heavy usage, I think that's great considering I spend most of my time on the inside screen.

My favorite part of the device is the app continuity. Having dual displays, being able to unfold to a bigger screen to continue where I left off is a game changer. While the outside display looks and works great at 6.2", jumping into the 7.6" inside display is a sorcery of itself.

Next for me was the camera. I began by taking photos, not only on auto mode but also in RAW format using Expert RAW. I was especially blown away with how great the camera works in dark environments. Speaking of camera's, the Fold4 comes equip with a total of 5 of them. While they all shine, I really got to say, they made major improvements with the UDC (Under Display Camera) as there are many times I am watching videos on YouTube or playing games and forget that there is even a camera there! My favorite thing to do is take a family photo using flex mode.

When it comes to the software, Samsung's partnership with Google really took off for the best. Together, they were able to implement Google's Android 12L onto the new Fold and Flip, improving the entire experience. New to Android 12L is the Taskbar for large foldables and tablets. The new taskbar helps with switching between apps and makes multitasking even faster and better than before.

In my opinion, Samsung did a great job with the Galaxy Z Fold4. They truly have brought the world innovations unlike no other and shape the future of technology. I would recommend this device to people such as myself who are tech enthusiasts, run businesses or who enjoy gaming and watching videos. That aside, in all honesty, if you're coming from an S22 Ultra or a Galaxy Z Fold3, I'd have to say to hold off on your purchase as those two devices are already great enough, for now unless you get yourself a great deal.

Thank you for reading and please let me know what you think or if you have any questions for me.

Take care.

[SMSimon]

I wanted a foldable phone the minute I first saw Hauwei and Samsung were going to get into them, but with all new devices I always knew to hold off a few generations until they mastered the design.
Well, when the Fold 4 was announced with the redesigned hinge, shell and IPX8 capabilities, I knew I couldn't wait any longer and had to have one!
I luckily was at the end of my Note10+ contract (on Fold 4 preorder launch day) and took full advantage of the $1000 preorder with 512GB storage upgrades and got $400 trade-in with free S Pen Standing case, from AT&T, for my Note10+.
Needless to say, I'm truly in love with the beast of a device and don't know how I could ever go back to a non-foldable. It's just so innovative and truly groundbreaking for the cellular phone market.
I also got my preorder earlier than expected (8/22) and was fortunate enough to get to take it on vacation with me to St. Louis, for the Braves / Cardinals series that weekend.
I totally put the battery to the test, took a ton of 50MP photos and only had to charge it Saturday evening. And that is even with AT&T's large crowded area tower issues, where their network will constantly struggle to pull signal and bounce between frequencies nonstop.
On a funny side note, at 2 of the 3 games that weekend, I had 2 different people that had just got the Flip 4. Both told me they regretted not going with the Fold 4. One of them even planned to go back and exchange for it! 😄

[Cindernana]

I got the 4 for as an upgrade to my fold 2. I absolutely loved my fold 2 and it was in great condition when I traded it in so I got a great deal. Having had the four for about a week now there are a few things that bother me. The first thing I noticed is sometimes when I have my phone open like you're looking at it normal and I go to look at to say my message app or anything that happens to need to rotate so I'll rotate my phone and then when I rotate it back some of them will not rotate including the home screen. The other thing so far is I've noticed many of my apps are not compatible yet when I try to load them they just kind of flash black and white on the screen black and white on the screen.. so I'll give them a little time to work out some of the kinks but I hope it doesn't let me down because I loved the two..

[IzzyPixie]

Congratulations on your purchase! I went from Iphone X to the very first Samsung Fold in 2019. Then upgraded to Fold 2, then currently Fold 3. I don't think I will upgrade to a Fold 4 this time as there was no major difference. I love my Fold 3 and wouldn't go back to Apple anytime soon.

[Tuanming]

I got the Fold 4 1TB and it's fast and smooth. I noticed an overall system performance difference coming from the S21 Ultra 512GB. The upgraded Snap Dragon 8+ Gen 1 was much appreciated and I got a performance boost from the latest UFS 3.1. It felt like I was on the next gen UFS 4.0 to be honest.

[Al_P]

🙂 Why is this pinned to the top of my feed and how do I unpin it.

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[ZeusDMAG]

It would be an awesome device if they supported it. I would have stayed with my fold 3, had i known there wouldn't be timely software updates. Some of us want to use these professionally, and cannot, simply because they're not keeping up with security updates! Truly, truly sad..

[Cindernana]

I'm still waiting for some fixes I'm starting to regret trading in my fold 2 I had issues... With 4 my sound sucks, notifications and connection suck too. I wonder if it has anything to do with my 2 was on Verizon network and this time I opted for the special edition unlocked version...

[JRbowling1997]

Did it get fixed? Did you trade it in for a different one?

[tmitch205]

I appreciate the effort you put into this review. I have now had my Fold 4 for a week. I will preface this with the fact that every cell phone I have owned has been a Samsung, with my first being the Samsung Uproar after I retired my bag phone.

When I go from one Samsung phone to a newer one, I fully expect to only gain features without losing others. Aside from a few early exceptions, this has been true for me over the last 23 years. However, when I went from the S21 Ultra to the Z Fold 4, a couple of things got under my skin once I got it home.

The first was the realization that my current S-Pen, which I bought from Samsung less than two years ago, was incompatible with the Z Fold 4. I couldn't understand this, but I went ahead and ordered the S Pen Fold Edition. Upon receipt of the new pen, aside from having a bit more girth than the one I used on my S21 Ultra, there is only one difference. There is a tiny bit more surface area to the tips on the Fold Edition, and that is it. The phone knows when you try to use the prior version of the S Pen because it will throw up a message on the screen. I feel this was intentionally generating revenue through purchasing a new peripheral since the screen comes with a preinstalled protector. If you are pressing hard enough to damage the screen of a phone, then it doesn't matter what pen you are using.

The second was that the S Pen is only functional when the phone is open. It is useless on the front screen. The retail on the Z Fold 4 is $600 more than the retail of the S21 Ultra at its release. Had I known these things before spending 33% more for the Z Fold 4, my purchase decision would have been different.

[EatApplesRockDroids]

I've got both S22U and ZF3. Cameras are mediocre at best on ZF3, S22U worth everything with what upgrade from last 4 generations of S and N series. ZF3 cameras are shamefully budget sensors S9 or 10 series. A series are better!! Waiting on burgundy ZF4 512gb to match S22U.