Last year, we reviewed the Galaxy Fold. I absolutely loved that device. It shattered all the prejudice that I had against foldable devices. It’s surprisingly sturdy, looks amazing – and most importantly, it works as advertised. It’s a phone that unfolds to become a tablet.
But of course, it has its “first-gen flaws” and at the end of our Galaxy Fold’s review, we said that we’re looking forward to what’s next for the Galaxy Fold. Fast forward to now, the name has changed to the Galaxy Z Fold2. Yes, with that exact stylization.
Here’s a quick summary of what you need to know about the brand new Galaxy Z Fold2.
I have to say – the Galaxy Z Fold2 is absolutely gorgeous. It is highly reminiscent of the Note20 Ultra’s design as it also comes in both Mystic Bronze in matte finish, and also in Mystic Black which presumably is in a glossy finish.
The dimensions are very similar to last year’s Galaxy Fold but Samsung has done some improvements to make the display better.
Firstly, I know we all complained about the main display of the Galaxy Fold being too small. And Samsung fixed this complaint by maximizing the cover display to a big and beautiful 6.2-inch Super AMOLED screen with a rather weird 2260×816 resolution.
Unfolding the device reveals that the main display also got a size increment as well. It now packs a 7.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X screen with 2208×1768 resolution. Yes, it is also capable of running up to 120Hz refresh rate or as low as 11Hz since it has a variable refresh rate. Presumably, this is done with its LTPO backplane.
The main display’s notch has also reduced into a single dot only, unlike last year’s Fold. And the Galaxy Z Fold2 is also using the Ultra Thin Glass, also known as UTG, just like the Galaxy Z Flip. I’m amazed by this because the production factory can still create UTG at such a big size while maintaining the thinness.
Next up – the hinge. It got an upgrade too. The hinge is now similar to the Z Flip and can lock at a certain range of angles. But since the Galaxy Z Fold2 is a bigger device in comparison, Samsung packed in double the amount of CAM and spring mechanisms – totaling up to 8 of them in the Galaxy Z Fold2 now.
And now, Samsung said that there are more than 60 parts moving in unison as the hinge opens and closes.
To protect all of those components, the Hideaway Hinge cover is now customizable what color you want it to be if you make your purchase of the Galaxy Z Fold2 at Samsung’s website. But this feature is only available in 22 select markets – and Malaysia is not one of them, unfortunately.
Seriously though – that metallic blue looks absolutely amazing. That Metallic Blue hinge cover with the Galaxy Z Fold2 in Mystic Bronze gives me the vibes like the Note9’s blue phone with a yellow pen type of vibe.
The Sweeper technology from the Z Flip has also been ported and improved further. The ingress gap between the hinge is now smaller, and the Sweeper bristles will keep the junk out.
In terms of software, there is a lot of QoL improvement for apps and multitasking. One major breakthrough is the ability to drag-and-drop between apps! Now, not all apps are supported – but supported apps allow texts and/or pics to be dragged and dropped between apps while in “multi-active window”.
And now, taking a screenshot while in multi-active window allows us to select which window to be screenshot and leave the other windows out. Then, you can also drag and drop that particular window’s screenshot to another window. It’s complicated to explain – but I assure you, it’s mindblowing.
And since the Galaxy Z Fold2 has the CAM mechanism now, it also has Flex Mode just like the Z Flip. There are two different ways for the Galaxy Z Fold2 to “stand”:
- Flex Mode and view on the cover screen
- Flex Mode and view on the main screen
Also, there are new ways to take pictures while in Flex Mode too. You can have the live viewfinder on one screen while taking pictures on the secondary display. All pictures taken will also immediately show up on the secondary display.
There’s also a new autoframing feature in the camera app so you can self-vlog without holding the phone. Not sure how much crop will be introduced, though. You can also take selfies using the rear cameras now, but it looks awkward.
One thing that I don’t particularly know why is the size of that rear camera bump on the Galaxy Z Fold2. Why is it so big? The Galaxy Z Fold2 has a larger footprint, so it should be able to squeeze inside the main body of the phone, no?
Perhaps there’s some magic within that camera module – we’ll have to try it out to know more.
By the way, all the features that we showed in the Galaxy Note20 series (as per our review here) is also present on the Galaxy Z Fold2. Speaking of which, using the Wireless DeX feature on the Z Fold2 is definitely going to be a “multitask while multitasking” situation. 
We have no idea about the price of the Galaxy Z Fold2 yet, but damn – Samsung showed us the Galaxy Fold last year and how it can fit into our lives and into our pockets – and now they’re making it even better. I can’t wait to get my hands on the Galaxy Z Fold2, honestly.
The question now becomes – has flat smartphones peaked? Is foldable smartphones the future? Samsung has proven to us that foldables are durable – and I honestly don’t mind switching to a foldable device right now.
This article first appeared on Nasi Lemak Tech – This is the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2. I might have fallen in love with it already.
