PC Pro - UK 2021-12)

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astmonthwesaw thefirst

foldablephonethatmadesense:

theGalaxy Z Fold3 5G (seeissue

325 ,p 46 ).Butthatcosts£1,599,and

noteveryoneisconvincedby itslarge,

squareformfactor.WiththeFlip3,we

havea “normal” phonethatjust

happensto foldinhalf.

Whileitisn’tcheap,it’swithinthe

realmofnormalflagshipphoneswith

a price of £ 949 for the128GBmodel;

that’s£350lessthan lastyear’s

version.Admittedly,the 2020 Flip

,

optiononly costs£999.

Forflip’ssake

ThedesignphilosophyoftheFlip35G

remains thesameas itspredecessors.

Folded,it’shalfthesizeofa normal

phone,andyouonlygetaccesstothe

internalscreenwhenyouflipitopen.

Thebigchangethistimearoundis

IPX8-ratedwaterproofing.Thismeans

itshouldsurvive being submerged

inwaterforupto 30 minutesata

depthof1.5m;there’sstillnorated

protectionagainstdustparticles,

however,and thesetupwarningleaves

youinnodoubtaboutthis,stating

a protectivefilmappliedtotheinner

screenthat,accordingto Samsung,

makesit 80%morescratch-resistant

thanlastyear’sversion.Thecover

screenisstrongeraswell,protected

bya layerofGorillaGlassVictus.

Themetalframeandhingeonboth

ofSamsung’snewestfoldablesare

builtwith a newmaterial,too,called

“ArmourAluminium”. Accordingto

themarketingpuff,thisboosts

durabilityby10%overtheprevious

model.Finally,theFlip35Gcomesin

a dizzying array of colouroptions:

phantomblack,green,lavender,

cream,white,pinkandgrey,with

terthreemodelsavailable

excluivelyonSamsung’swebsite.

I’vtestedbothofSamsung’s

newet foldables,andI’mmuchmore

convicedby theFlip3’smore

pocketableformfactor.Whenfolded

inhal, thephonetakesona square

aspecratiothatfitsneatly into small

pocketsorhandbags,anda bijou

“covescreen”onthe outsidemeans

youcn glanceatnotifications

withot having to openit.

Depitetheunusuallong-tall22: 9

aspecratio,theZ Flip3functionsjust

aswell as anyregularsmartphone

whenunfolded.It’sslim– measuring

only 6 .9mm–anditfitsnicely in one

hand.However,despitethedurability

improvements, theinner screen still

feelssoftunderthefinger,andit

mightnotlookaspristinea few

monthsdownthelineaftera few

accidentalfingernailscrapes.

TheGalaxy Z Flip35G’sside-

mountedpowerbutton,whichalso

doublesasa fingerprintsensor,iseasy

toreach,andI particularlylikethe

floatingdockonthesideofthescreen,

whichcanbeusedtoquicklyaccessa

listofpre-selected apps.

Thebestpartofthefolding

mechanism,however,isthatyou

canaggressivelyhanguponphone

callssimplybyclosingit,justlikein

thegoodolddays.

Dualdisplays

TheFlip3’sinner screen

isthe samesizeand

resolution as lastyear’s

model,giveortakethe

oddpixel: it’s a 6.7in

FHD+(2,640 x 1,080) displayandhas

a pixel densityof426ppi.Thisyear,

however,Samsungis callingit

“DynamicAMOLED 2 X”,which

referstoitsnewabilitytosupport

refreshratesofupto120Hz.

That’snotthe only display

upgrade,either.Thefrontcover

AMOLEDscreenhasbeenbeefedup,

increasing in sizefrom1.1into1.9in

onthe GalaxyZ Flip3.Itcandisplay

uptofournotifications at once,

withan optiontoscrolldownfor

more.Itpromptsyoutousethe

fingerprintreaderwhen payingvia

TheGalaxyZ

isa“normal”

phonethatjust

happenstofoldinhalf

128GB, (£949inc from

samsung.com/uk

LEFTAt6.9mmthick,

theGalaxyZFlip3

fitscomfortablyin

thehand

Samsung

Galaxy

ZFlip 35 G

Afoldingflagshipforthemassesatlonglast:

theGalaxyZFlip 35 Giswellworththemoney

“Despitetheunusual

aspectratio,theZFlip 3

functionsjustaswellas

anyregularsmartphone

whenunfolded”