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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 Review

Charles TYK

Samsung announced the Galaxy Z Flip5 last month, you can check our first look at the phone here. If you watch the keynote of the official launch, you’ll realize that Samsung spends most of the time talking about the Flex Window, previously known as the cover screen. I’ve been using the phone for a couple of weeks, and here’s the full review.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 Specs

Flex Window

The main selling point of the Galaxy Z Flip5 is now the bigger cover screen, Samsung is now calling it the Flex Window. It is a 3.4-inch (720×748) Super AMOLED 60Hz screen that is 3.78x larger than the Z Flip4 and it offers a wide range of existing and new capabilities. The default homescreen shows the time and date, just like a smartwatch.

Swiping up the screen from the bottom will bring up Samsung Wallet, which lets you make payments instantly without flipping open the phone. If you are a Citibank user, you now won’t be able to add your card to Samsung Wallet since it has been moved under the UOB account. Swiping down lets you check notifications and access Quick Settings for Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

You still get to see all your notifications when you swipe right and all your widgets when you swipe left. You can now pinch out to see all the widget pages and instantly jump to each page. Unfortunately, Samsung doesn’t allow you to rearrange the pages, you can only do it in Settings.

By default, Samsung only allows five apps to run on the Flex Window — Maps, Messages, Netflix, WhatsApp, and YouTube. That also means you get to reply to texts on the Flex Window with a full QWERTY keyboard and visibility of chat history. Unfortunately, only limited apps are available at the moment since this is still a Labs feature.

Thankfully, you can run whatever apps you want on the Flex Window with Samsung’s GoodLock app. You’ll need to download the MultiStar applet and enable “Launcher” in the Flex Window settings. Then just pick whatever apps you want to run on the Flex Window.

Oh, you can still double-press the power button to use the Flex Window as the camera viewfinder. Overall, I would say the Flex Window works pretty much the same as the cover screen from its predecessor, just that the bigger screen now allows you to do more, which is a welcome feature for many of us.

Design

Apart from the Flex Window, the Galaxy Z Flip5 looks pretty much the same as its predecessor, but Samsung has made some changes internally. It now has the new Flex Hinge, which is a new, durable, dual rail design for its foldable hinges. The new hinge now allows the phone to close flat without leaving any gap in between.

To be honest, there’s still a tiny gap in between, I guess Samsung has to leave a tolerance space to avoid damaging the screen. Once you slap a case on it, there will be no visible gap in between.

As I mentioned before, the back of the Galaxy Z Flip5 has a glossy finish instead of a matte finish like the Z Flip4. It is still a pretty durable device thanks to the IPX8 rating, Armor Aluminum frame, and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 applied to both the Flex Window and back cover.

Display

Flipping open the phone is still the same 6.7-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X Infinity Flex Display (1Hz-120Hz). It still has the crease in the middle of the screen, but the overall screen quality is still as good as ever. One thing to keep in mind when using this phone, I recommend you not to leave the screen flipped open and then put it in your handbag, as it will damage the inner screen.

Performance

Powering the Galaxy Z Flip5 is the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor for Galaxy with 8GB RAM and two storage options — 256GB and 512GB. Yes, the base model now has 256GB of internal storage. Even though it has the same chipset as the S23 series and Z Fold5, the Galaxy Z Flip5 can’t really perform as well as the S23 series and Z Fold5 because of thermals. It is a pretty compact phone and the heat can’t dissipate that much, to cool down it has to thermal throttle.

Software

The Galaxy Z Flip5 runs on One UI 5.1.1 based on Android 13 and the overall experience is pretty much the same. It still doesn’t support Samsung DeX, but Flex Mode is still here with more controls at your fingertips. Hide or expand the panel with the touch of a button. You can even whip out a touchpad and curser. And an enhanced playback control panel makes navigating through music and media easier and more precise than ever.

Camera

The Galaxy Z Flip5 still has the same dual-camera setup as the Z Flip4 — 12MP ultra-wide + 12MP main with Dual Pixel AF and OIS. As for taking selfies, it has a 10MP front-facing camera. Samsung didn’t upgrade the camera sensors, but the images should look better thanks to the new chipset with a better ISP (image signal processor).

Battery Life

The Galaxy Z Flip5 packs the same 3,700mAh battery as the Z Flip4 and it still supports 25W wired charging. The battery life is slightly better than its predecessor because it now has a more efficient chipset. It also supports the battery bypass feature to preserve the battery lifespan.

Final Words

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 is available in Mint, Graphite, Cream, Lavender, and four Samsung.com Exclusive colors — Gray, Blue, Green, and Yellow.

The previous Z Flip4 was already a great phone, but Samsung has addressed two of the biggest demands with the latest iteration flip phone — the cover screen and hinge. The 3.4-inch Flex Window really changes the way how I use a flip phone and the new Flex Hinge now finally lets the phone close flat. This is the best flip phone you can get right now in the universe!

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