There is a new foldable phone in town and it’s called Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5. The company has been an early mover in the category, which has helped get loyal customers globally. Fold5 obviously means there have been four versions before the new arrival. What has Samsung done differently this time? It has listened to customers and made changes that matter; changes that elevate the foldable experience. Here are our first impressions of the phone.

The big updates

The biggest updates come in the form of some important design changes. If you look back at what most people complained about with the Galaxy Z Fold4, it had to do with the gap in the hinge. That no longer exists. Now the phone folds perfectly flat with the new hinge design.

Second, there is a slimmer S Pen (needs to be bought separately) for the Fold. Last year, the S Pen functioned very well but it was slightly big, it was bulky when attached to the back of the phone. There’s now a slimmer S Pen… 40 per cent slimmer. It fits in the case with a pop-out tab. Also, there is zero flex to the stylus even though it’s slimmer. Plus, the phone is backwards compatible, that is, you can still use the older S Pen for the Fold.

The third thing Samsung did was make it a slightly boxier design to match the rest of the lineup, that is, the Galaxy S23 lineup. The S23 Ultra has a somewhat boxy look that feels modern and personally, I like it. Same here.

Brighter display and sturdier hinge

There are some meaningful improvements on the display front. It still has a 7.6-inch, 120Hz, AMOLED 2x inner display. Both the cover (6.2 inches) and inside displays are high-resolution. What matters is the brighter inner display; at 1,750 nits, it’s the brightest foldable from Samsung yet. That will help a lot if you sitting outside. In the past, there was a slight glare but a brighter screen makes that glare less of a problem.

Here’s another big upgrade: The hinge; it’s thinner when folded because the phone folds flat. It’s only 0.53 inches thick. The old hinge was 0.62 inches and the old design was such that it would taper down, so one side of the phone was thicker than the other when closed. Now, there is only one thickness because the phone closes flat and it is around four per cent lighter. From what I gather, the redesigned hinge will last longer because there are fewer moving parts and the chances of dust entering have been reduced a great deal.

You would like to know about the crease. There is a slight crease but it is less visible than before. Overall, it doesn’t bother me after a few minutes of usage.

Software experience

In Flex mode you can use it as a tripod

There are some experiential improvements with the phone. For example, we have GoodNotes which is compatible with the S Pen. You also have some cool features like the ability to drag and drop by tapping and holding on a file or a photo and then using the other hand to open another app and then drop it in there. It may sound complicated but it’s very easy to do and it is a helpful feature to have if you, for example, have a photo in your gallery that you would like to send to GoodNotes.

The taskbar has also been enhanced to now include four recent apps. You can do many different things with the folding display. Taking photos, of course, and using it as a tripod. The Flex mode will help when you have to take astro photos. You won’t need a separate tripod and you can see the timer to check how long it will take to complete taking a photo.

The split screen experience too has been improved. First, app windows can be adjusted to your liking, in any ratio. You can split the screen granularly. You can also easily swap the orientation, so not just left-right but top-bottom works. And what I am enjoying a lot is the search bar in the app drawer. If you have one app open and you want to open another one, you tap on a little grid on the bottom and it shows all the apps you can search.

The phone is running a newer processor. It’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy. It’s a powerful processor that helps with photography and battery life. Speaking of cameras, there is a 4MP under-display snapper, 10MP selfie camera, 12MP ultra-wide, 50MP main and 10MP telephoto 3x optical lens. It’s a great configuration and we will talk about the camera in our full review.

Now, these are big improvements and what I feel is that the foldable phone is now ready to go mainstream. By next year, you will find more people using the Galaxy Fold5, be it during commutes or at the office. The days of carrying multiple gadgets are coming to an end, thanks to this powerhouse device.

Mathures Paul

You can pre-book the device

Pre-booking for Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 and Galaxy Z Fold5 is on across all leading online and offline retail stores. Consumers can also pre-book on Samsung Live. Galaxy Fold5 is priced upwards of Rs 154,999 but if you pre-book, there are benefits worth Rs 23,000.