Category
🤖
TechnologieTranscription
00:00Hey what's up, MKBHD here, and this, actually I should, oh, and this is the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3.
00:30So, the Z Fold 3 is basically a better built version of the Fold 2, and it's 1,800 bucks now.
00:43So it's still an expensive specialty phone, but with serious ambition.
00:49And that's what I want to talk about in this review, is the ambition of this phone, which I believe is the second best folding phone out right now.
00:57See, Samsung dropped two folding phones on us this month, the Fold 3 that you're seeing here, but also the Flip 3, the vertical clamshell.
01:04And I fully believe the Flip 3, at this point, is the best folding phone option out there for most people.
01:11The most reasonable to actually recommend today.
01:14But, as great as it is, the Flip 3 has less ambition than the Fold.
01:20So like, here, I already sort of explained this on the Waveform podcast, so sorry if you've already heard this before, but also if you haven't been subscribed over there, you should do that.
01:29But, what I'm saying is, the Flip 3 has one goal, which is to give you as close to a normal smartphone as possible experience, and then just fold up.
01:38And get in your pocket, and be smaller than normal. Done.
01:41The Fold wants to be as close to a normal smartphone as possible, but then also give you a huge sort of mini tablet-sized screen and all the experiences that are great about that.
01:54That is a much bigger goal and ambition for this phone.
02:00So I actually think that because the phone's ambition is so high, this phone, the Fold 3, is actually worse at some normal phone things, on its way to doing some things that literally no other phone can do.
02:15So the most obvious place this shows up is when you try to use this as a normal phone without unfolding it.
02:20Like, this is what one of those boring normal phones usually looks like.
02:24This is what we're used to for typing and scrolling and watching videos, etc.
02:28The cover screen on the Fold 3, it is better than ever. It's way better than the first Fold.
02:33It's corner-to-corner now. It's 120Hz now. Plenty bright.
02:37And you can use it as a normal phone for quick stuff when you don't really feel like opening the whole thing up.
02:42But, it's pretty narrow. It's a very tall aspect ratio that makes the top pretty difficult to reach.
02:48Watching videos on it isn't great. Again, because it's so narrow.
02:52And even though I've used the phone for over a week, the keyboard on the cover screen is still a little cramped.
02:58It's very easy to make a lot of typos trying to hit those tiny buttons.
03:01So, it's just not the shape of a normal phone.
03:04And there's also the Z-axis, which doesn't bother me as much, but you'll notice it's also way thicker than a normal phone.
03:10Plus, there's a camera bump on the corner here, which makes it rock pretty hard without a case.
03:14But, it's better than the last version.
03:16The Fold 3 is 2mm thinner and trims a little bit of weight.
03:20And I can actually see and feel that difference.
03:23But, overall, it is objectively an awkward size and shape to use on a regular basis.
03:30It's also worse than normal phones in car mounts, because it's so narrow and heavy.
03:34It usually just falls right out of most car mounts.
03:36And, it's also an absolute unit in your pocket.
03:39Like, obviously, there's lots of other big phones.
03:41But, this one is such a unique object in shape and size that, yeah, it's just an awkwardly big, clunky thing to have in your pocket.
03:50Now, Samsung is doing the folding hardware better than ever.
03:54The hinge protrudes even less out the side, and it's just a little more firm and solid even than last year's hinge.
04:00It feels good.
04:01And, believe it or not, the whole phone, including this hinge, is IPX8 water-resistant.
04:06Not because the hinge is water-tight, but because they've actually coated the components inside the hinge and then sealed each half of the phone off.
04:13But, as I've mentioned, IPX8 does not include dust resistance.
04:18So, it's got ingress protection against liquids, and that's all great.
04:21You can splash it. You can walk outside in the rain.
04:24But, do not take this anywhere near a beach or a woodworking shop or anything like that.
04:30Because any solids or grit or dirt that gets in there, that'll still kill a phone like this.
04:36Now, I don't know about you, but I really do like the overall design here of the Fold 3.
04:40They're still doing the satin on almost everything for the Fold.
04:43So, satin black aluminum side rails and satin black back with this new camera bump design.
04:48And, this is the same set of cameras that were back here on the Fold 2 from last year.
04:52Which is to say, not quite highest-end flagship caliber, but still very good.
04:57Like in daylight with tons of light, these are great, very capable cameras.
05:01But, just not quite on the same level as the flagships from Google and Apple.
05:05And, even Samsung with their own S21 line when it comes to sharpness.
05:08And, especially edge sharpness and low-light performance and video, etc.
05:13So, these are all 12 megapixel sensors for the primary, ultra-wide, and telephoto.
05:19I'd rate these as like B-plus cameras.
05:21So, that's really not bad at all.
05:23But, you know what is? You know what's really been the biggest sacrifice on Fold 3?
05:28Battery life.
05:30As you can imagine, going from a 60 to 120 hertz cover display and also trimming the battery slightly.
05:37When you got thinner, it went from 4500 to 4400 milliamp hours.
05:41And, still powering a huge, bright, 120 hertz, 7.6 inch display.
05:46You do lose a bit of battery and it showed here.
05:50I knew it would be worse, but I forgot how quickly you can actually kill the Fold.
05:54Because, you don't really feel like you can conserve battery by using the cover screen anymore.
05:59That's a 6.2 inch, bright, 120 hertz display now.
06:03So, no matter how I use this phone, which, let's be real, I'm typically going to have the power user tendencies.
06:09I was at low battery or near dead before the end of the day.
06:13Here's a normal day of use with three and a half hours of screen on time.
06:16And, it's got me down to 15%.
06:18I could top out at four to four and a half hours.
06:21Which isn't great, but that's where I was at.
06:23But, look, all the sacrifices you're making, all of the hinges and keeping it away from sand and not being able to mount it in a car.
06:31And, dealing with the small outside keyboard.
06:33All of those sacrifices are for this.
06:36For unfolding it to use that big, corner to corner, uninterrupted, 7.6 inch inside display.
06:45And that is something that no other pocketable device can really offer right now.
06:50That's what we're really here for.
06:52And, they've improved this display even over last year with some really thoughtful things.
06:56So, first change.
06:57The top protective layer over this folding glass is 30% harder.
07:03Which, maybe that's a little deceiving.
07:06Like, it sounds pretty nice on paper.
07:08But, fundamentally, it's still very soft.
07:10It still has to fold in half.
07:12So, it absolutely will still take permanent damage from accidental fingernails.
07:17And anything harder than a normal finger screen press.
07:20This is not a normal screen still.
07:22And, by the way, you can absolutely still see the crease.
07:25As you've probably noticed by now, just as easily as before.
07:28Now, I'm obviously used to it at this point.
07:31And, I do think it has the advantage of being vertical through the middle.
07:35So, your finger isn't really running over it as much as it might on the Z Flip.
07:39Where you touch it a lot while scrolling.
07:41But, yeah, it's still a bleeding edge, very new display technology.
07:45But, what all this does allow, now, is S Pen support.
07:49So, it's here.
07:50They've finally done it.
07:51The biggest screen on any phone now supports the accessory that so many of us love from that Note series.
07:57And, now, it will let us do all the great stuff on this even bigger canvas with the high refresh rate.
08:02And, all the great stuff about the Note.
08:04It's time to kill the Note, right?
08:07It's what I would say if there wasn't a giant asterisk over this S Pen.
08:13Which is that it is an optional accessory.
08:15A very optional accessory.
08:18So, Samsung made a special fold edition of the S Pen, actually.
08:22It's $50.
08:23And, it's got a special retracting softer tip so that it won't damage this new folding glass and cover material.
08:30And, you do get pretty much all the benefits.
08:32Once you start using it, all the note taking, the high refresh rate, the ultra responsiveness, the different pressure sensitivities, the air commands.
08:39You know, I'm not a huge artist, but the ability to sketch things and annotate things and sign things.
08:44It's all here.
08:46But, when you're done, where do you put it?
08:49I mean, there's no magnets or anything to attach it to the phone.
08:52And, you definitely don't want it just loose in your pocket.
08:55So, that's another $80 or so for a case to keep it attached to the phone for ready access.
09:01And, that case adds a flip cover to the front whether you like it or not.
09:05And, it's just a lot of extra work just to do the S Pen dance on a screen that's not even an inch bigger than the Note 20 Ultra.
09:12So, you know, I'm glad they added it.
09:14I think it's great that this compatibility exists now.
09:16And, I think a lot of people will actually spend that money and will use the S Pen on this Fold 3.
09:22But, the best S Pen experience, if you're dead set on an S Pen, is definitely still with the Galaxy Note.
09:29Where you just pop it inside the phone and it lives there.
09:31So, I guess what I'm trying to say is this is great, but this shouldn't be the reason for the death of the Note line.
09:38The Note line should stay around, Samsung, if you're watching this.
09:41But, anyway, the second big change is the selfie camera is behind the display here.
09:47You can't even see it, can you?
09:49But, it's back there.
09:50So, it is a 4 megapixel sensor behind the glass and the display panel hidden by a pixelated array.
09:56And, it's decently hidden in most cases where you're not really looking for it.
10:00Better than a notch, anyway.
10:02But, the image quality, as we've seen with this first generation of selfie cameras, is not great.
10:08So, it uses this dehazing algorithm that successfully brings a lot of the contrast and sharpness back.
10:14And, even though it looks super processed, it's definitely usable for just a normal selfie.
10:19But, in most instances, you're going to want to close it up and use a hole-punch selfie camera for a much better quality.
10:25Or, if you really want a better quality shot, you can actually just use the main cameras.
10:29And, that's going to be way better.
10:30Now, obviously, there's still going to be times where you just conveniently got to use the inside selfie camera.
10:34Maybe there's a video call or they're doing something on the big screen, you just want to take a quick selfie.
10:39Then, you're going to have to deal with the RGB haloing.
10:43And, you can kind of see the pixels the camera is looking through, especially in bright environments and with any highlights.
10:49But, yeah, it's fine.
10:51It's a little gimmicky, but it does give you that nearly bezel-less edge-to-edge display.
10:56But then, of course, the whole reason we want this huge display like this in the first place is all this real estate and all the software that they've built to take advantage of it.
11:04And, it's really good.
11:05I love using this phone.
11:07I feel more productive with my phone that opens up to a tablet size.
11:12Most of the time, if I get an email that I need to respond to with more than one sentence, I don't use my phone anymore.
11:18I just go to a computer.
11:20But with this, I'm like, I might as well type stuff out.
11:22So, there's all the flex modes in apps like the camera and YouTube.
11:26I watch a lot of like mealtime YouTube videos.
11:29And, this phone's ability to just fold up makes it a little bit easier to just watch stuff as it's sitting on the table next to you.
11:35No other phone can do that without some sort of case.
11:38And, the app panels over here on the right can also be pinned there after you enable it in Labs.
11:44So, this is also super useful and there's still badges for notifications and cycling in recently used apps and everything.
11:51It's kind of just like a full on desktop OS dock.
11:54Very cool.
11:55And, there's a couple of cool apps that show columns in landscape view like Gmail.
12:00But, you still can't have an email open while replying to it.
12:03That would have been really cool.
12:05I do like Spotify apps columns though.
12:07It's neat.
12:08But, you know what?
12:09There's also some downsides to this software too.
12:11Mainly, unoptimized apps.
12:13And, one of the big ones is I think Linus has pointed this out a bunch of times.
12:17The YouTube app on the fold is straight up missing features.
12:21Like you can't post to community or post YouTube stories on this phone's YouTube app.
12:26It's kind of annoying.
12:27And, there's also some apps that clearly still aren't designed to work in the square aspect ratio like Instagram.
12:32And, if you use them as they're built, they'll put your wallpaper blurred out behind it.
12:36So, it kind of feels like a floating window.
12:38But, now there's a new labs feature that actually lets you adjust the aspect ratio of any app and sort of force it into this aspect ratio to fill the screen.
12:48And, it works really well.
12:49I was impressed.
12:50And, now Instagram looks like it was built for the fold.
12:52But, overall, I can't lie.
12:53I've really just been enjoying using the fold because it's so different from a normal phone.
12:58And, it kind of forces you to start developing this habit of every time you take the fold out of your pocket, you have a moment to think,
13:05okay, do I want to use this closed or am I about to open this up right now?
13:09Like lots of the early morning stuff for me, like checking notifications, catching up on Twitter maybe, some emails, some quick replies.
13:16I'll just stick to the outside screen.
13:18But, as I move on with the day, I suddenly start to want to consume more.
13:23Maybe I want to watch a bigger video or I start to type more than one sentence.
13:26Then, I have to decide to open it up and really get into it.
13:30But, that brings me back to my original focus here, which is the ambition of a phone like this.
13:36Like I love using the Fold 3, but I also loved using Fold 1 and 2.
13:42But, I was fully willing to deal with a lot of the shortcomings I've talked about in order to be on the bleeding edge and to have those couple things that no other phone could have.
13:50And, I think if you weren't that guy willing to do that for Fold 1 and 2, Fold 3 is not going to be the one to change your mind.
13:58Like at the end of the day, think about it.
13:59If I'm someone who is willing to spend a ton of money on a phone, I've got $1,800 to spend.
14:05I probably want the best possible phone in as many areas as possible, right?
14:10So, I want the best possible specs and this phone does that.
14:14Snapdragon 888, tons of RAM, but that's the easy part.
14:17Lots of phones do that.
14:19I'm also going to want the best cameras and the best battery life and the best usage experience and ergonomics.
14:27And, this phone straight up doesn't have those things.
14:30I mean, even in Samsung's own lineup, you can get a phone that does more of these things.
14:34So, that's kind of where we're at with folding phones right now.
14:38The trade-off is you do still just get one thing that no other phone has.
14:45Maybe you really want that.
14:47So, Fold 3 gets the closest to that particularly high ambition and I love that about it.
14:54But, it's already got me excited about the next one.
14:58Either way, that's been it.
15:00Thanks for watching.
15:01Catch you guys in the next one.
15:03Peace.