Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 overview: the sensible flip cellphone | Digital Noch

Look, enjoyable is enjoyable and all, however typically boring is healthier.

A flip cellphone dripping with nostalgia that is available in daring colours and allows you to run apps all willy-nilly on the duvet display screen? With inviting wallpapers and playful UI touches? That’s enjoyable. It’s additionally not the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6. However whereas I totally loved utilizing the Motorola Razr Plus — the enjoyable flip cellphone — reliability wins out in the long run. 

Samsung’s latest clamshell-style foldable is a light-weight replace on final yr’s mannequin. It prices $1,099, which is 100 {dollars} greater than final yr but in addition simply what flagship telephones price as of late. The internal and outer screens get a bit of brighter in direct daylight, there’s a barely greater battery, and there’s an upgraded important digital camera, plus the most recent Qualcomm chipset, naturally.

That paragraph might describe any variety of new Android telephones this yr. And within the case of the Z Flip 6, that’s really an excellent indication of how far Samsung’s flip cellphone has come. Final yr’s replace from a small cowl display screen to the present 3.4-inch OLED took the Flip collection from “eh, it’s kinda cool” to “okay that is one thing.” It’s a far cry from Samsung’s earliest makes an attempt.

However the Z Flip 6 hasn’t completely reached parity with slab telephones; it’s definitely not probably the most enjoyable flip cellphone. Positive, it’s the most effective Samsung flip cellphone — I simply want it might borrow just a few concepts from among the competitors. 

If I’d by no means picked up the Motorola Razr Plus, I’d assume the Z Flip 6’s outer display screen was fairly darn good. However the Razr’s greater, higher-res display screen wraps all the way in which across the punchouts for the lenses and flash. It makes the Flip 6’s cowl display screen, which retains nicely away from that complete space, look stodgy and cramped by comparability.

And to not get too caught up about wallpapers, however Samsung’s greatest concept about new wallpapers for the outer display screen is… a donut that bounces round when your cellphone strikes? There’s a lot extra enjoyable stuff you can do with this! Moto’s wallpapers are colourful and alluring, there’s an lovable turntable that spins while you’re enjoying audio, and I swear one of many background choices is blurple. The Z Flip 6 comes with a correct always-on show this time round, nevertheless it lacks the sense of enjoyable that I’d anticipate from a flip cellphone. Motorola has a mode that turns the entire cellphone right into a retro flip cellphone, for Pete’s sake. Let’s reside a bit of.

The Flip 6’s cowl display screen is a bit more customizable than final yr’s, which restricted you to swiping by a bunch of full-screen widgets. Now, it’s extra like a standard house display screen. You may nonetheless go for a full-screen widget or add a number of smaller widgets to the identical panel. The consequence feels far more streamlined; I don’t should dedicate an entire panel to a timer; I can simply add it as a smaller widget on a display screen with climate data and my calendar.

And as a lot as I cherished the playfulness of Motorola’s cowl display screen remedy, Samsung’s widgets are extra dependable. Particularly, the Spotify panel on the Razr Plus cowl display screen typically must refresh earlier than it’ll really work. The Spotify controls on the Z Flip 6 work flawlessly. Enjoyable solely goes up to now.

Nonetheless, Motorola’s technique for approving apps to run on the duvet display screen is a lot better than Samsung’s. Out of the field, Samsung will solely can help you run a handful of full apps on the small display screen. So as to add any others, you could undergo a convoluted course of: downloading Good Lock and one other module from the Galaxy Retailer after which including a launcher as a canopy display screen widget. Motorola doesn’t require any of that futzing about.

That is value complaining about as a result of I nonetheless assume that with the ability to run a full app on the outer display screen is among the greatest issues a few folding cellphone. Is it an excellent expertise opening Strava on a tiny sq.? No! However I can faucet, like, two issues to start out recording a motorcycle trip with out having to come back face-to-face with all the things else on my cellphone. It’s superb.

Typing out messages on the small display screen’s keyboard remains to be a bit of ridiculous, nevertheless it’s one other function I respect a few flip cellphone even whether it is an objectively worse consumer expertise. It’s excellent for after I’m in the course of one thing and wish to ship a brief response to a textual content. As an alternative choice to tapping on these tiny keys, Samsung makes use of AI to recommend some responses based mostly on earlier messages in your thread. Like a number of generative AI, the responses appear nearly regular however are by no means fairly proper.

That is the a part of the overview the place I’d usually inform you about a number of different stuff, like efficiency and show high quality, however you recognize what? It’s all fantastic. It’s 2024, and it’s onerous to purchase a nasty cellphone on the flagship stage. The internal display screen? High quality. The crease remains to be there, however you don’t actually see it while you’re wanting on the cellphone straight-on, and it by no means bothered me a lot. Processing velocity? Connectivity? Mouthfeel? Kidding about that final one. However they’re all fantastic. 

Even battery life is ok, which is an achievement in comparison with the flip telephones of just some years in the past. The Z Flip 6 will handle a full day of heavy use, however you’ll be cruising right down to the only digits by bedtime. There are many different $1,000 telephones with higher battery life, beginning with Samsung’s personal Galaxy S24 Plus. If top-notch battery life is a precedence, then a flip cellphone will not be for you.

Getting sand in your crease will actually wreck your day — and the identical goes for a folding cellphone. The Flip 6 comes with an IP48 score, which means it’s absolutely water-proof however lord make it easier to if that hinge sucks up a grain of sand. That “4” seems loads higher than the Razr Plus’ nonexistent mud score, nevertheless it simply means the cellphone is protected in opposition to overseas objects greater than 1mm. That stated, I’ve been fairly tough with my Z Flip 6 overview unit over the previous week. It’s survived being thrown into the underside of some dusty baggage, however I can’t say how nicely it might stand as much as years of that form of abuse.

Flip cellphone cameras are nonetheless catching as much as slab telephones, too. This yr, Samsung has addressed that by upgrading the Z Flip 6 to a 50-megapixel important digital camera sensor. Picture high quality seems about nearly as good as any flagship cellphone, although there’s no telephoto lens if you wish to get nearer to your topic — simply digital zoom and a secondary ultrawide digital camera. Motorola went the wrong way with the Razr Plus, buying and selling its ultrawide for a 2x tele lens. That’s a pleasant transfer in idea when you like taking pictures portraits greater than sweeping landscapes, however Motorola’s general picture processing isn’t nearly as good as Samsung’s. Samsung telephones actually do take the most effective portrait images, and the Z Flip 6 isn’t any exception.

Samsung is working onerous to promote the concept flip telephones work simply in addition to every other cellphone, and didn’t you see these Olympians taking footage with one? Don’t you need that, too? However whereas there are issues I like concerning the Z Flip 6, it’s nonetheless not a cellphone I might suggest to simply anybody. Day-to-day sturdiness is ok, however the way it holds up in opposition to mud in the long term remains to be unclear. There’s a 12-month guarantee on the Z Flip 6 while you purchase it from Samsung within the US, however that doesn’t cowl injury attributable to mud publicity.

The Galaxy Z Flip 6 is sensible when you actually need the advantages of the duvet display screen — much less so when you simply discover the novelty interesting. You may simply discover higher battery life and cameras from a garden-variety slab cellphone. The Moto Razr Plus is extra enjoyable. However in case you are offered on the thought of the flip cellphone, Samsung’s sluggish and regular strategy is your greatest wager.

I discover that outer display screen extremely helpful, and whereas Samsung’s tackle the UI lacks a bit of creativeness, it really works persistently, in contrast to Moto’s. Likewise, Samsung’s monitor file for software program assist is superb: flagship telephones get well timed updates, and the Z Flip 6 will hold getting OS upgrades for seven years. Motorola makes an enthralling flip cellphone, nevertheless it comes with simply 4 years of software program assist, and new OS updates will be sluggish to reach. 

Software program updates, reliability, and digital camera processing: not probably the most enjoyable stuff. However on this case, boring may simply be higher.

Images by Allison Johnson / The Verge