I vividly remember my feeling of excitement the day Samsung announced its first foldable phone. One and a half years after The dramatic reveal of Galaxy Fold and subsequent fall from graceI was surprised that I felt the same sense of anticipation when Samsung unveiled its third foldable phone, the Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G, during a virtual start hosted online to showcase the new Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra.
I'd been following the leaks for months, but when all the pieces on the screen came together, something clicked, officially for the first time. There's the larger 6.2-inch outside screen, the 7.6-inch inside display without a notch like the first time, and just a pinprick of a front-facing camera instead. There's the mystical shade of bronze (to match plain black) and a heady mount of cameras on the back that are sure to turn heads when using a foldable phone doesn't do it first.
There's also the ultra-thin sheet of glass on the inner screen, which debuted with the Galaxy Z Flip and - hopefully unlike the Fold's first rodeo - won't be an essential screen component peels off and makes the device unusable.
All of this is nice and good, maybe even great for the next iteration of a futuristic device out of the reach of mortals. But the only feature most likely to be a game changer is the hinge. Or rather, the fact that the hinge is sturdy enough to hold upright like a corset, so that you can bend it at any number of angles before its magnetic corners click into place or the hinge pops open.
Nothing sold me the promise of a foldable phone quite like this freestanding hinge first seen in the Z Flip. Every day I used it, of course, I partially propped it up to read the news while I was eating (yes, I splattered it with soup), take a selfie or steady the phone and as a viewfinder for a typical one Act Photo. The partially open phone was also great for becoming a stand of its own for video calls. Samsung calls this flex mode.
Just one problem: the Z Flip is a clamshell shape and has a tall, narrow 6.7-inch screen that feels small when folded in half. The Galaxy Z Fold 2 (and mind you, there never was a Z Fold 1) could change that perception of smallness. Not only does the 7.6-inch full-size internal display resemble a tablet, but you can also use flex mode in landscape and portrait orientation, and at angles sufficient to partially bend it enough for it to stand upright when reading can stand news or scroll through your social media feeds to act as your own booth during your Zoom meeting in the park.
I admit this is a mere guess at the moment. Samsung trickled out enough information to stir the buzz, but not enough to stir criticism before the device has a chance to breathe. The company says it will share more information, including Price and pre-order details of the Z Fold 2Until then, we will know a little more about the Galaxy Z Fold 2.
Galaxy Z Fold 2 screen, camera, more
For me (though I haven't seen it in the flesh yet), the Z Fold 2 got off to a stronger start and uses the same ultra-thin glass as the Galaxy Z Flip, a sufficiently large cover screen that you can tap and tap on Apps is more practical than on the cramped Galaxy Z Fold and two Infinity-O displays, which make the eyesore of the original fold a shudder from the past. It also has a thinner body than last year's model fewer gapswhat to expect.
The Galaxy Z Fold 2 appears to have the same camera setup as the Note 20 Ultra, which has a main camera capable of taking 108 megapixel photos, 5x optical zoom (and 50x room zoom), and 12x Megapixel sensors for ultra wide angle and telephoto photos. It also has two front-facing cameras, one on the inner screen and one on the cover display, each of which should be 10 megapixels, just like the Galaxy Note 20 phones.
You will find the fingerprint reader on the right back so that when the phone is folded it is at the bottom of the screen.
Although you can now reserve the Galaxy Z Fold 2 on Samsung.com, the Samsung website doesn't tell you how much it costs. For reference, the first Galaxy Fold was $ 1,980.
Think of this announcement as a big joke.