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Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 Review

Charles TYK

Introduction

This is Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3, the company’s third-generation foldable device that was announced in August alongside the Z Flip3. Last year’s Z Fold2 was a huge breakthrough from the first generation product, making foldable devices no longer in the development stage anymore. This year, Samsung has introduced an even better version and I’ve been using it for a few weeks. Without further ado, this is the full review of the Galaxy Z Fold3!

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 Specs

Design

We’ll just skip the unboxing part since we have already covered it in the first impressions post. You can click here to view the article before you continue.

In terms of design, Samsung didn’t really change much from the Z Fold2, it is now slightly thinner though. Everything from the volume rocker, power button, to the USB-C ports and stereo speakers are still located at the same position.

The phone also features the same Hideaway Hinger, now protected by an Armor Aluminum frame, which lets you unfold the device at any angle. I actually find it harder to unfold the phone when I want to use the main screen, requiring to use more force, and sometimes my fingernail will accidentally brush through the cover screen protector.

Once unfolded, you’ll see the 7.6-inch main display and there’s no longer a hole-punch selfie camera. The Galaxy Z Fold3 is the first Samsung device to have an under-display camera. I’m actually quite shocked with this decision as under-display camera tech is still not mature enough and there is room for improvements. No idea why Samsung decided to include such an experimental feature.

For the first time, the Galaxy Z Fold3 comes with an IPX8 rating for water resistance. Not a feature that I’d expect since it’s extremely hard to do that on a foldable device. As for dust resistance, the Z Fold3 hasn’t made the cut, but Samsung has put nylon bristles inside the hinge to sweep the dust away.

Yup, the phone looks pretty much like the Z Fold2, but the back is a different story. The back of the Z Fold3 now looks more polished. The camera bump has been redesigned to make it narrower, making the phone looks more rounded.

Cover Screen

Just like its predecessor, the Galaxy Z Fold3 comes with two screens — cover screen and main screen. The cover screen is still the same 6.2-inch HD+ AMOLED display, but it now comes with an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate. Everything just feels smoother now and the overall screen quality is still the same good one from last year. I still find myself using the cover screen most of the time for texting messages and performing certain quick actions, everything can perform with one hand.

Main Screen

The main screen is pretty much the same as last year’s Z Fold2, but Samsung has improved it. Just like the Z Flip3, the screen is made of Samsung Ultra Thin Glass together with the addition of a panel layer and protective film. It is now 80% more durable than before and really feels like glass. After using it for more than a couple of weeks, no scratches and marks on the screen.

There’s still the crease in the middle of the main screen, but you’ll get used to it after using it for a long time. The Z Fold3 also supports S Pen, but you are advised to use either the S Pen Fold Edition or S Pen Pro as both feature a specially engineered retractable Pro tip with force limit technology to protect Z Fold3’s main screen. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to test it since I don’t have an S Pen specially designed for the Z Fold3.

Under Display Camera

As for the under-display camera, a.k.a UDC, it looks like a hole-punch selfie camera when you are viewing something black. When you start looking at bright content, you’ll notice the octagonal shape, this is because there are lesser pixels to cover the UDC. It’s quite noticeable if you look close enough, but it’s actually well-hidden when you are viewing from a normal distance.

The UDC takes decent enough selfies, thanks to the post-processing, which basically dehaze your photos since everything looks hazy when you are viewing in the viewfinder preview. If you want a better selfie quality, just use the front camera on the cover screen or the main camera.

Performance

Powering the Galaxy Z Fold3 is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor, which is the latest high-end chipset Qualcomm offers. Yup, you don’t get the Exynos variant like the S21 lineup, and Samsung has reintroduced the 512GB storage option back. The phone performs pretty well, definitely top of the class, you get to multitask as well, thanks to the 12GB RAM.

Software

Speaking of multitasking, the Galaxy Z Fold3 runs on One UI 3.1 based on Android 11, and Samsung has further improved some features. The App Continuity feature still works the same and it might not work on certain third-party apps.

You can switch between Standard View or Multi View for the screen layout. When checking emails, if you want to view them just like a standard smartphone, just choose Standard View. Multi View lets you see your inbox and an email at the same time on the large screen.

And then there are many features you can enable from Labs. App Split View lets you easily track multiple conversations on apps like WhatsApp without the annoying back-and-forth.

With a new Taskbar, you can easily switch between apps without returning to the home screen. If you want to watch a video while looking at photos, send emails while browsing the news, simply drag and drop the apps from the Taskbar to the screen. Three apps can be used at once and you can tailor each to the size you want!

Remember back then when we complained about certain apps like Instagram don’t look great on the main screen? Now you can customize app aspect ratios, so you can fully Fully immerse yourself in social media photos and videos in a screen ratio of your choice — full screen, 4:3, or 16:9.

Samsung has also further improved the Flex Mode feature by adding Flex Mode Panel, which lets you enjoy Enjoy easier control of apps like Netflix. When in Flex mode, position the Movie to the top half of the screen and controls to the bottom half with Flex Mode Panel.

I’m glad that Samsung actually utilizes the main screen now, so now when you unfold the phone, it no longer just everything goes bigger, but making you be more productive!

Camera

Perhaps the camera is the disappointing part, the Galaxy Z Fold3 comes with the same triple-camera setup as the Z Fold2 on the back — 12MP ultra-wide + 12MP main with OIS + 12MP 2x telephoto lens with OIS. It’s the same old camera setup from two years ago, I was expecting more after seeing how Samsung improved the S21 Ultra from the Note20 Ultra this year.

Ultra-Wide

12MP Main

2x Optical Zoom

Ultra-Wide Night Mode

12MP Main Night Mode

2x Optical Zoom Night Mode

Image quality generally is the same story as last year, not the best Samsung camera but good enough for your social media usage. Click here to view all the camera samples.

Battery Life

The Galaxy Z Fold3 packs a 4,400mAh dual battery with fast charging on wired (25W) and wireless (10W). Yup, still no sight of 45W wired fast charging on the company’s most premium smartphone. If you are the kind of person that charges your device overnight, that’s not really an issue. Oh, remember to turn off the fast charging function in Settings to prolong your battery lifespan. Battery life is actually better than last year’s model, I was able to get through a day easily with more than 5 hours of screen-on-time.

Final Words

Retailing at RM6,699 (256GB) and RM7,099 (512GB), the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 is still available for pre-order at the moment as it is currently out of stock. Can’t really blame Samsung Malaysia for that since the device is selling like hotcakes. The lower launch prices could be one of the factors, the Z Fold2 (256GB) was selling at RM7,999 when it launched.

When I first got the Galaxy Z Fold3, I thought that this would be just a minor upgrade from the last year’s model, but I was wrong! After using it for a few weeks, I realized Samsung has improved the overall experience drastically, especially with those features utilizing the main screen. And when everything comes together with the lower price tag, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 could really be the Fold you should get. After all, it’s a phone that can transform into a tablet.

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