Samsung’s back with a fresh round of foldables, the Galaxy Z Flip 3 and Galaxy Z Fold 3. According to Samsung, these devices have been improved a whole lot, with all-new water resistance, lighter and more durable bodies, as well as more software features for One UI. If that wasn’t enough for you, they’re now cheaper than ever, so I don’t want to hear any complaints.
I’ve been using the Galaxy Z Flip 3 for the past week, flipping it open and closed, stuffing this little square in my pants and taking it out on the town. I’d like to share my experiences with you now.
This is our Galaxy Z Flip 3 review!
What I Like
Hardware
Having used the original Galaxy Z Flip, I feel that this Flip 3 has improved quite well in the hardware department. Samsung says their latest round of foldables are more durable and lighter, and yeah, I believe them. Flipping the phone open and closed is very satisfying, but more importantly, it feels completely solid with no wiggles or looseness. The hardware is good and should surely withstand the test of time, though, these devices haven’t been around long enough to say just how long that is. Technically, Samsung tests the display for 200,000 folds, but you can assume it’ll go further than that. If we take the latest stat for Americans, which claims we check our phone an average of 262 times a day, that’s a lifespan of 763 days. Interestingly, it hasn’t even been 763 days since the launch of the original Galaxy Z Flip (Feb. 14, 2020), so I’m genuinely curious if any Flip owner has reached or surpassed that 200,000 number. Sorry for the tangent there.
Helping create a sense of strength against the elements is Samsung’s inclusion of an IPX8 rating. Thanks to that, the Galaxy Z Flip 3 is rated to withstand splashes and limited fresh water submergence. Can you believe that? It was only a year ago that you wouldn’t dare get a Samsung foldable near water, but oh, how times have changed. I can elaborate a bit more on this in the next section, but the main takeaway for me from both the Z Flip 3 and Fold 3 is that Samsung has improved the hardware considerably, while also making them less expensive. It’s impressive.
Specs, Displays & Additions
For specs, the Z Flip 3 features a main 6.7-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED Infinity Flex display (2640 x 1080) with 120Hz refresh rate, 1.9-inch Super AMOLED cover display (260 x 512), Snapdragon 888 5G processor, 8GB RAM, up to 256GB internal storage, dual 12-megapixel cameras (1x wide angle, 1x ultra wide angle), 10-megapixel selfie camera, 3,300mAh battery that supports charging speeds of up to 15W, fingerprint sensor, stereo speakers, and Android 11 with One UI 3.1.1 on top. Full spec sheet can be viewed here.
Like I mentioned, the IP rating is new for these foldables, which to me, is a major addition. Previously, I had a hard time bringing myself to take my other Samsung foldables anywhere near the kitchen or bathroom, but now that I can treat them like any other device, with exception to keeping them away from excess dust and dirt, it’s a real relief.
Looking Through Sunglasses
The main AMOLED display with its 120Hz refresh rate is certainly nice, especially coming from a Pixel 5. It gets plenty bright, but I did come across a pretty major issue. When wearing sunglasses, the display becomes oddly reflective and I can’t quite see what it is I’m doing on the phone. It’s actually somewhat of a dealbreaker issue for me, as I sorta need my glasses to see. If you’ve ever seen the move Annihilation, it somewhat reminds me of what the Shimmer looks like from the outside. It’s a colorful reflection-like effect. It sucks. I tried two pairs of prescription sunglasses I have and the problem is present when I wear both. When wearing normal glasses, it’s totally fine, but I tend to wear sunglasses a lot (because I’m cool) and it’s something that has bugged me considerably over the past week.
As for the cover display, it’s obviously larger, but still not what I’d label as usable for anything besides checking notifications. Maybe a future Flip will have a larger cover display, but it’s a flip phone, so just assume that everything you need to do on it will require you to open it. That presumption comes with the flip phone territory.
Software
The Galaxy Z Flip 3 ships with Android 11 running One UI 3.1.1 on top. I’ll be honest, there isn’t much software-related stuff to talk about, though, I can at least say that the software has been smooth and very typical Samsung. If you’ve used Samsung software in the past or have seen one of our past Samsung device reviews, it’s the same story here. One UI 3.1.1 itself brings a couple of unique features for foldables, though, the rest of 3.1.1 is now trickling out to the other Galaxy devices. Unfortunately, all of the aforementioned 3.1.1 goodies are designed to take advantage of the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and not the Flip 3.
For the folding display, Samsung bakes in a few things for specific apps, but I’m not about to sit here and say they’re useful. In the Camera app, the viewfinder is pinned to the top while the controls are on the bottom. In the Gallery, photos and videos are pinned to the top while a touchpad is placed on the bottom. Ok, cool, I guess. In Calendar, the calendar view is pinned to the top and you get a “Sticker” button on the bottom half of the display. It’s not helpful at all. For me, I don’t use the phone is this Flex mode whatsoever.
Samsung has all of its usual advanced settings onboard, plus many gesture controls and slick tap shortcuts. As we always do, we have a lengthy Tips & Tricks video available which goes over the software in detail. It’s embedded below.
What Could Be Better
Camera
Z Flip 3 comes with dual 12-megapixel shooters, one wide angle and one ultra wide angle. They have all of the usual features, such as OIS (optical image stabilization), UHD video recording at 60fps, and Dual Pixel AF. For software, it’s the same as any other Samsung device. There are plenty of modes (Pro, Panorama, Food, Portrait, Super Slo-Mo, Hyperlapse, Director’s View, Single Take, and more), as well as a settings menu for tweaking anything and everything.
Before I go any further, let me say these cameras are perfectly suitable in many cases. However, all I’m saying is that they could be better, specifically in shots with high amounts of light. In many of my cases, when shooting outdoors or anywhere the sun could reach, photos would become overexposed when using the automatic settings. I’d have to adjust the level of exposure brightness sometimes, but if I’m being honest, that’s not exactly something I want to do every time I want to take a photo in 2021. I expect better from a Samsung device.
Beyond an issue with the exposure settings, which Samsung could maybe squash in an update, the cameras are fine. I took the phone on a lovely hike through the woods and got some great shots, all of which can be seen below. I also took photos in a few more different scenarios. At the end of the day, I haven’t been overly impressed with these cameras. I think the exposure issue is disappointing, especially for a $1K phone, but we do have to remember that what you’re paying for is a phone with other premium specs that can fold in half. If the phone carried the last-gen price of $1380, that’d be another story, but I’m almost willing to let it slide at $999. That’s probably some Psych 101 stuff, but those are my feelings on it. For a lot of situations, the phone does a great job, so don’t let my own exposure issue taint your judgement. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.
Regular vs. Night Mode w/ auto 3 sec. exposure
Battery
At 3,300mAh, I wasn’t expecting anything special for battery life and the Galaxy Z Flip 3 met expectations. On average, I was able to get through my usual day of 7AM-ish to 11PM-ish with a little bit of juice left. Don’t expect to go a full 2 days if you’re a power user, and on top of that, I’d stress a little bit if I was into mobile gaming or use apps that are known for draining batteries. 3,300mAh simply isn’t very large, so be aware of that when using the device. Additionally, while it charges relatively quickly — again, because of the smaller battery — the phone charges at a top speed of 15W. That’s not very quick compared to other devices on the market, so you may be waiting a few extra minutes to get that battery level to where you want it. The phone is also capable of 10W wireless charging, plus 4.5W reverse wireless charging.
Other Notes
- Wife Impressions: “I like it. The open and close motion feels nice. Is this [cover] display bigger? It looks good. It’s a tall phone, hard to use with one hand. It’s weird that we’d want to go back to having to flip a phone open to do anything. Doesn’t make sense to me.”
Price and Availability
The Galaxy Z Flip 3 starts at $999, a nearly $400 decrease in price over the original. If that didn’t “wow” a few people, I don’t know what will. Additionally, you can pick the Galaxy Z Flip 3 from all sorts of retailers, including Google Fi.
Buy Galaxy Z Flip 3
Videos
Unboxing
Tips & Tricks
Gallery
The Verdict
I said this same thing on the DL Show — If you’re in the market for a foldable, as you want to see what all of the clamoring is about, there hasn’t been a better time. Samsung has lowered the prices and these are easily the best foldables that have hit the market. In every way they’re an upgrade, and while they aren’t perfect, they’re still pretty damn good.
People ask me if now is the time for the mainstream market to get into foldables. With the addition of an IP rating, plus the lowered entry cost, I don’t see why not. Plus, if you’re into flexing on people, you won’t find better devices than the Galaxy Z lineup. People love seeing screens get folded in half.
Whether this phone is your cup of tea or not, we can at least give Samsung props for what they’ve done here. It’s a really good phone.
While I still think this phone is highly appealing, I was kind of bummed out to see the bezels don’t sit quite right with the outer edges of the display making for a not quite uniform look:
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b8aa2ddccd5138ec664832374bcc448045880c9b3d7840554a59f9a32ad5d393.png
I never noticed it before until I saw MKBHD’s review, but it has become one of those “can’t unsee” things that triggers my OCD. Maybe it’s just a QC thing, but oof…
I do find the flip to be the more approachable device between the flip and fold, however I don’t really agree with many reviewers saying it’s just like any other regular phone unfolded just with the extra benefit that it folds to become more compact. It’s *close* to being that but you really are giving up many others things for the folding…other similarly priced normal bar phones have better cameras, better battery life, faster charging and a better aspect ratio. But other than those items, sure, it’s on par.
With that said though I do love having it, nice and compact when not using it and *mostly* a full screen when using it. The biggest issue for me is they paired mediocre battery life with slow charging, that’s annoying.
Neither the flip nor the fold gave me the confidence in their capabilities, design etc to ditch my s21u entirely, both lack in camera quality and versatility, both lack in battery life, the fold is worse for carrying around while the flip is better, but that aside they are awesome phones *for what they are*.
As much as I love them both, I wouldn’t pick either of them as an every day DD if I were a one phone only person….but I regularly switch things up and just toss my sim in whatever I want to use whenever I want, so good additions to that usage.
Dude, that sounds like too much work. Or we’ll see you at the next circus event as the “amazing phone juggler”.
My #1 “What could be better”, the front screen. I don’t understand it. There’s no reason to limit us on what we can do on it. They give all of that functionality to the Fold3 users, so why make us still have to open the damn phone to do things like respond to a text? They limit messages by only giving us Bixby to respond when even the Watch4, with a much smaller screen, has like 5 ways to respond to a text (T9, voice, draw, emojis and even some apps have a full keyboard with swipe). You’re paying so much for the phone but yet we’re being cut off at the knees. Forced to use the front screen only how they feel we should need to use it, all just so they can come out with a model next year with a full front screen bragging about how “inventive” they are. But hey, at least they can say it’s different than Moto’s Razr still…. So even though the Flip3’s front screen is bigger, it’s still laughable at what you can use it for. Ok, end or rant haha.
Things to note from other reviews:
* The IP rating isn’t from hydrophobic coatings like originally speculated, they actually sealed all of the ingress points on both halves of the phones, just like a normal Samsung device.
* The screen protector is removable without a lot of effort, but it actually does a very good job of protecting the display so keeping it on is a good idea unless you are replacing it with something else. Unlike previous models, this is a PETG protector so it feels more like the actual display and less like a soft rubber coating.
* The flex mode isn’t overly useful (unlike the z Fold 3), but can make for a great makeshift tripod, especially for those long exposure night shots. Used in conjunction with pro mode, it can produce some cool light tracing results without having to carry around a tripod.
It’s a gimmick phone. Fold it and send it back
This is probably the fewest amounts of comments on a phone review I have seen in a long time.
Thanks for the review Tim: I agree on a ok phone. Big screen when open and compact when closed. However I find myself leaving the flip in my pocket, because I have an app that reads everything through my single earbud. So basically it stay closed unless I choose to answer. Another habit when it comes to just reading news and some social media the flip stays in my pocket and Iam back using the S10E on WIFI sitting on my table. Still will be my daily driver when I leave the house and I love to Flip it. I also dont take a lot of pics except for grandkids and the dog so the cameras are ok for me. I will say the size is almost perfect both closed and open. The front screen works ok when my app isn’t reading it to me. Fits in my pocket is the #1 reason I have it and will keep it, because thats how I roll.
Very nice! I’m happy you’re liking it! Have you taken any sweet chiweenie photos? 🙂
Yes indeed, just received my small belt holster and it feels like an old pager on steroids on my waist!
Ha! That sounds like something you’d rock. Love it!