We already had a pretty good idea that Samsung’s next foldable smartphone would be a modern take on the classic flip phone. Now a short hands-on video leaked by Ben Geskin gives us a better look at the the folding mechanism of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Z Flip.
As expected, when the screen is open, the device looks a lot like other recent smartphones, thanks to a 6.7 inch AMOLED display with a 22:9 aspect ratio.
But there’s a hinge in the middle that lets you fold the phone in half to make it more pocketable. You can hear the phone snap into place when it’s folded. And in order to unfold, you just slide a finger between the two sections and lift.
Also confirmed is the small secondary display next to the camera. This 1.06 inch screen isn’t big enough to use as a camera viewfinder like the 2.7 inch display on the Motorola Razr foldable smartphone. But it will let you see notifications at a glance without unfolding the phone, which could be a handy way to get information you need quickly without getting drawn into the siren song of social media or other distractions.
The phone appears to have dual rear cameras, as expected, and a single front-facing camera in a punch hole in the top center section of the display.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip – First Hands On Video pic.twitter.com/4b8Uzt5kRB
— Ben Geskin (@BenGeskin) February 2, 2020
Unconfirmed, but rumored features include a thin glass cover for the display rather than the plastic found on most other foldables so far, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855+ processor, 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and a 3,300 mAh battery.
Unlike the Samsung Galaxy Fold, the upcoming Galaxy Z Flip isn’t a tablet that becomes a phone-sized device when folded. It’s a phone that becomes smaller when folded. There’s something satisfying about the idea of a mobile device that’s not trying to do too much — but the with an expected price tag of $1600 or more, the phone still seems like an expensive tech demonstration rather than a product with widespread consumer appeal.
Maybe Samsung will surprise us with a lower-than-expected price or special features that haven’t already been leaked. we should know more soon — the company us holding an event on February 11th, where Samsung is expected to announce the Galaxy Z Flip as well as other upcoming flagship phones.
via SamMobile
I read another article this will be around $1400-$1500 but NO 5 G. LOL – who plans these products? Premium prices for Yesterday’s technology???
PLEASE Samsung or whoever- repeat after me: Best Bandwidth, Storage Space , Battery, Screen size and Price (please do the most possible on items 1-4 at a lowest price possible – ideally under 1k USD). You do all of those 5g+1TB ufs 3 and micro sd+15k MAH – think all 3 z fold segments have a 5k MAH battery+ 9 inch “tri fold” screen. My phone is 2013 tech, My tablet 2015 tech, and I keep holding out for something that could and would replace both.
i will wait till apple makes one for $ 8,999.pp
ill wait till its 199..
Id rather get a Razor at that price. The way this violently snaps will lead to dropped phones.
I’m a little unsure if I need a phone thats twice as thick in my pocket. My pockets hold my smartphone just fine. I’m also not sure we need to introduce moving parts to a device that currently does just fine with zero moving parts.
I think consumer products get a bad case of featureitis. When you sell a thing by spec sheets, you also implicitly value only specified things. So a home which is comfortable to live in will be sold at a lower price than “3 BDRM 2 BATH MSTR ST” which has a living room crammed next to the kitchen with large double-doors where the washer & dryer are crammed in, occupying the space and spraying lint across cooking, couches, and TV.
So now that we’ve maxed out megapixels, screen size, improbably brittle ream-ium (Premium whose repairs reams your, uh, wallet) coverings, all that’s left is… new features. Infrared-reads your palm veins for ID!!! or SLIGHTLY SMALLER NON-SCREEN SURFACES. FOLDS TO BE TWICE AS THICK!!
It’s mostly just annoying that innovation currently seems to be solving issues that nobody is asking to be solved.
Smartphones are at a stage where my needs are met by most midrange phones. Manufacturers are scraping the bottom of the barrel for features. This is unfortunate because when semi-interesting niche features attract interest, they get bundled into $1300 phones because they need an excuse to wring every penny from you. Id like a Note 10, but just for the Stylus. Im not interested in any other aspect of it. I really regret that Google’s modular phone concept got scrapped, now more than ever.
I genuinely like that this doesn’t have the lip that the Razr does. I get that it adds nostalgia value (I had a Razr v3 as well!), but I think for actual day-to-day usage I’d prefer this form factor. I dunno — it looks clean. But the Razr does have that small screen on the front which looks *perfect* for quick stuff (music controls, reading notifications, activating flashlight).
I’m curious to see how the usage of this screen technology… unfolds.
🙂
At least the front is mirrornated, so that you can take selfies using the Main Camera. But yeah, not a fan of this phone or any of the current foldables.
Maybe after 2 years?
So 2022 might produce something worthy…
hope to be getting something like this but specifically “z fold” in a year or 2.
Higher specs, but same price as the Razor and without all of the style
It’s larger (both folded and unfolded) than I had thought. I guess the 6.7″ screen didn’t feel large until I actually saw it next to a hand for reference. Oh well, I’m not paying $1,600+ USD for a phone anyway. Maybe one day, these become mainstream, more robust, cheaper and unfold into “regular” sized (to me at least) phones.