Samsung has been pushing the foldable space for many, many years with other brands trying to catch-up, but this year, it has once again put some serious distance between its line-up and other brands, particularly with the Z Flip 5. I’ve seen more than a few Z Folds in the wild over the years, but I’ve seen far more Z Flips, particularly with people I know that aren’t necessarily super into tech, but either want that hit of nostalgia, are more fashion inclined, or just maybe want a reason to be using their phone less.
Prior to the Z Flip 5, the Z Flip 4 could be described as a quite regular smart phone, when open, and a shell (with a face cover) that was great for notifications and not a lot else, but that’s all changed now.
On the outside, the Z Flip 5 features a 3.4-inch, 720p/60HZ AMOLED display which Samsung has dubbed the Flex Window. Not only is this just purely glorious to look at, and got a lot of excitement as I paraded it around the office and other public places, it makes the outer screen incredibly useable for everyday tasks.
I’d liken it to a smart watch in the sense that Samsung has cleverly placed a number of widgets including your media player, weather, calendar, activity, smart home controls and a number of other redesigned apps that are supposed to provide a quick glance or for you to action something, rather than getting sucked into other apps.
For me, it did exactly that. It allowed me to quickly look at a notification and reply to it with my keyboard, without getting sucked into the likes of TikTok and totally distracted from the task that I was performing.
If you are more inclined to use this outer screen as a fully fledged phone, you can also install any app using through the Good Lock app and MultStar and it does work really well. Whether you’re scrolling Twitter or Instagram or even pulling up a YouTube video, it does work. You can even play games such as Mario Kart Tour and other tailored games on the outer display.
Customisation is also really well designed, with there being a set number of wallpapers and clocks that you’re then able to customise further based on a photo you may want to use or a certain colour combo that you fancy. It allows for a lot of customisation, but is really simple to use and flick between.
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Another huge design change is the new Flex Hinge which allows the device to close fully, which means that less dust and other particles will be able to get in between the two screens and also makes for a more premium finish.
The actual hinge is stronger too which makes for being able to prop the Flip on a table and use the bottom portion as a Flex Mode Panel, which I found really helpful when scrolling TikToks or YouTube videos with the phone sitting on a table or desk in front of me.
The main display hasn’t changed much. It’s still a 6.7-inch, 120Hz AMOLED display that is super vibrant and great to use. The crease is still very much there as well when you look at it without the screen turned on but apart from that, it was honestly a non-issue for me. Obviously, I can’t speak to longevity due to a limited time with the device, but I believe Samsung has improved this a lot since the first and second generations.
The cameras in the Z Flip 5 are probably my favourite thing about the device, but also the area that deserves the most criticism. The best part about the Z Flip 5’s camera experience is that you can use the outer cameras to take the photos, and it’s a much better experience than ever thanks to that gorgeous new Flex Window on the outside of the device.
You’re able to take advantage of this by holding the phone, whilst closed and using the front screen (or side button) to tap to take the photo. You can also place it on a table with the aforementioned stronger hinge and use gestures to take the photo using the back cameras.
Here’s where the pickle comes in, and where I’m quite torn on where this falls. The Z Flip 5 features a 10MP selfie cam (inside display) as well as a 12MP ultra-wide and 12MP wide angle lens on the front (or back). As far as using the back cameras as selfie cameras, as I’ve already mentioned is a big win, particularly if you take a lot of selfies.
However, if you’re using it for traditional back camera photos, it’s not a flagship experience like the Z Fold 5 for instance which has a 50MP wide angle lens as well as a 10MP telephoto lens as well. The telephoto in particular is a real shame not to have, if you’re coming from almost any $1,000+ phone on the market.
On the processor side, the Z Flip 5 has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and despite a lot going on and the phone having the move apps from the Flex Window to the main screen consistently, I never noticed any form of slowdown or glitches. Even when playing games, it handled absolutely everything with ease.
Battery life was decent, but not the best available. It would see me get through about 10-12 hours comfortable, but I was having to recharge it by the night time, granted I was probably using it a lot more heavily during the review period than I normally would on a normal day, and I think I could see sticking to the cover screen saving a lot of battery in the long run.
Really though, plain and simply, if you’ve liked the idea of a flip phone, there has never been a better time to jump in. Samsung has really nailed it with the Z Flip 5, and this feels like their vision coming to life. It’s an absolutely fantastic experience, and feels like the true beginning of a new generation of phones.
