Samsung Galaxy Z Flip Review: A Folding Phone That’s a Dud

A cell phone you can't place next to keys or change? Since I always put my phone in my pants pocket quickly without thinking, there is no way this would work for me.

Reviews like this one only reinforces my preference for a land line.

Apple takes a restrained approach to new technologies, they are often not the first to offer a new feature or specification, because they wait to get it right. Samsung and other android vendors throw a lot of stuff against the wall and see what might stick. In doing so they sully their brands and erode customer trust. Samsung rolled out fingerprint scanner that worked so poorly most did not even use it. So we are now in the second year of various foldable smart phone attempts, and we can see that we are far from nailing the practical aspects of this possible innovation. Samsung is perhaps wise to limit reviewers to a day, hoping that the unit won't break or malfunction before they get the review written. Kudos to the author for giving readers this context. I'll stick with Apple for the long-run, they actually seem to care about their customers in most cases.

Samsung, the 2000s are calling. They want their (overpriced) RAZR back.

The gargantuan Samsung Galaxy Note “Phablet” debuted to much derision and scorn – much of it directed at how “unusable” and impractical it was (holding a book to your head jokes). The snarky reviews and put downs of Samsung were quite entertaining at the time and the first Note did have it’s flaws. Today the Phablet is the norm and we can thank the now “small” quaint Samsung Note for our ability to forego our reading glasses use our smartphones. Yes, the Z flip is flawed and feels like a rushed prototype but IMHO it will establish a standard as will the Fold. I personally cannot believe that Samsung didn’t install a larger usable screen on the outside of the Z flip but instead chose that absurdly miniscule display. That was a huge oversight and I wonder what kind of corporate bean counting group think allowed that Aztek/Edsel design flaw – I suspect more than a few Samsung engineers were livid about that decision. The review makes excellent points about the ease of use. The Z flip will evolve and and I expect the folding smartphone will become a standard product. I certainly would love to get rid of my nerd belt clip smartphone holster.

I'm quite happy with the size and form factor of my Galaxy 10+ and don't need a folding replacement. The area where I struggle most is the same with any smartphone these days: lack of a physical keyboard, and for which I still miss my old Blackberry!

Can we all stop pretending that slab phones were a thing of choice? We had no choice. We got the slab because we needed bigger screens. We needed bigger screens because of touch screens.; you couldn't have touch screen on early 2000s flip phones, way too small. Not to mention, all the stuff we do on our phones today, i.e. gaming, videos, etc (the screens got even bigger to improve experience). How the heck would you accomplish all of this on a screen the size of a Nokia flip phone? So the slab was made. Hence, why we have so many broken and scratched screens today. Samsung made a foldable phone with a big screen and less risk of being damaged, possible. We can also not pretend certain brands don't have foldables and critics are fans just like everyone else. When these other phone brands do get their version, it'll be all of a sudden "the best" even though Samsung will be like on i'ts 4th iteration.

Sadly, Samsung is good at "benchmarking", not innovating.

If Samsung only gave you 24 hours to review the phone, then you should have not reviewed it. There is just not enough time to give the phone a fair look over and as you said yourself, not enough time for a stress test. There are so many new cell phones and gadgets out that need someone to talk about. Next time, don’t waste yours and our time.

"...benefit of this design: It takes up less room in your pocket..." Nope, it has the exact same volume folded or unfolded.

Great review of a crummy phone! Now I can chuckle at any sucker who buys one.

That is $1400? It looks like a $40 feature phone lol but you know Apple fans being mindless sheep

Is there a folding phone that isn't a dud (or won't be a dud after being opened several thousand times in the first few months)?

I love my 5.7" Moto(rola) G6, which is a $175 phone now. Very good photos and all the Android apps work fine, and even the speakers are good--noticeably better (i.e., more bass) than Amazon's 10" tablet. Perhaps expensive phones are for people who don't have a laptop or a tablet.

I had to go converse with my grandparents before replying. No. The Motorola Razr was not cool or fashionable. The phone was unwieldy and extremely fragile. Inevitably the person with the Razr was asking to borrow someone else's phone. They were popular because apparently the phone was affordable for parents and they come in different colors. It was an early flip phone burner. If you want the real flip phone progenitor, you need to go all the way back to Startec. They even had a pull out antenna. How quaint. Of course batteries were so big no one ever dreamed of placing a phone in a pocket. That's why you had the goofy clip things. People will say the same thing about smartphone wallets in the very near future. Technological spoof in the making. The dumb thing about folding smart phones. Most people who would buy a folding smart phone aren't concerned with a fully functional smart phone. You don't need it to compete with a an iphone 11. The customer just wants a smaller phone. You could probably streamline the entire device, eliminate the folding screen entirely, and provide a very small but efficient half touch screen. Directions, phone, text, email and occasionally websites. That's it. If you want something else, you buy a smart phone.

The Verizon version is also "just 4G whereas the new Samsung phones are 5G.

Let's face it! Civilization peaked with the pager. I pity those who missed the golden years of communication.

I would suggest that a rolled screen would be a possible next step. A phone in the approximate shape of a cigart might be tolerable. LG is already selling a roll-up/roll-down 65" OLED screen, so we need to wait a micro-generation until that technology evolves to a real thin skin that can be unrolled and stays flat and strong. Not like me...

Excellent review. Respect for buying one to give an accurate review based on two week use. The phone is a dud!

Samsung is clearly aggressively into innovations in phone technology... to differentiate in the market. But as we can all see... innovation is a risky bet for consumers, and the prices for these innovative phones exceeds the cost of todays PCs, and even top end kitchen appliances. This is nuts. Consumers beware... and by the way... avoid at all costs being an early adopter.. because you are funding marketing experiments and development costs of flawed products.

Anything that can be folded, can and does wear out or break faster than something that is fixed and stationary. Simple laws of physics at play here.

As portable phones are growing in size and price, suggest we bring back the "brick" phone to aid those who do not have time go to the gym. At night, it can be used as a door stop. When its life as a phone is finished it will transform instantly into an anchor for a small boat. For environmental reasons please remove the battery before using as an anchor.

I think possibly a better form factor for a flexible display would be a pen. You could then pull out the larger screen like you would a scroll when you needed a bigger screen. Of course that then presents the problem of having to figure out how to keep the screen rigid enough to then scroll and type. But at least the it would fit in you pocket just find and you wouldn't have to worry about the screen creasing. Put a camera with a telescoping lens on the end of the smart pen you may have winning product on your hands.

The fundamental concept of splitting a smartphone in half this way is a very good idea, because it can reside in a man's forward pants pocket. The mistake Samsung made is that it does not need the fragile folding screen. I have two monitors on my desktop. An upper and lower screen on the phone would be just fine. In fact, the ads for this phone show it as a two part screen when it is on a surface supporting it for camera shots. The reviewer does not say if he flaunted the half open configuration when the phone failed to generate attention from his peers. The stability provides the option of long exposures, say in a hip SF bar, without flash. I say that unique capability competes well with blue hair.