PC Pro - UK 2021-12)

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“Afterafewstumblesalong

theway,we’refinallyina

positionwherebuyinga

foldingphoneisn’tadaft,

money-wastingdecision”

Flippinggood

Afterafewtoomanystumblesalong

theway,we’refinallyinaposition

wherebuyingafoldingphoneisn’ta

daft,money-wastingdecision.The

GalaxyZ Flip35Gispreciselywhat

we’vebeenwaitingfor,ever sincewe

firstcaughta glimpseofSamsung’s

flexibledisplaysallthoseyearsago.

It’sa top-endfoldableflagshipwith

veryfewcompromises anda price

that’sattainableinstead

ofunreachable.

Indeed,theiPhone 12

Procosts thesame,and

whilethatcomeswithits

ownlistofpositives,it

seemstolackinspiration

nexttotheexciting,

forward-lookingGalaxyZ Flip35G.

Thefoldingfuturemightstillbe

takingitsfirststeps,butthisisone

phonethatwill take some beating on

theroadahead.NATHANSPENDELOW

SPECIFICATIONS

8-core2.84GHz/2.42GHz/1.8GHzQualcomm

Snapdragon 888 12GBRAMAdreno 660

graphics6.7infoldable120HzAMOLED

screen,1,080x 2,640resolution1.9in

AMOLEDcoverscreen, 512 x 2 60 resolution

128GB/256GBstoragedual12MPrear

cameras10MPfrontcameraWi-Fi6e

Bluetooth5.2USB-Cconnector3,300mAh

batteryAndroid11,OneUI3.5folded, 72 x

17.1x 86mm(WDH)unfolded, 72 x 6.9x

166mm(WDH)183g1yrwarranty

LEFTThepairof12MP

camerastakedecent

photosdespitethe

middlingspecs

HIGHER

IS

BETTER

AppleiPhone 12 Pro

SamsungGalaxyZFold3

SamsungGalaxyZFlip3

SamsungGalaxyS21+

SamsungGalaxyZFlip

MicrosoftSurfaceDuo

4 , 028

3 , 584

3 , 582

3 , 559

2 , 604

2 , 477

GEEKBENCH 5 (MULTICORE)

HIGHER

IS

BETTER

AppleiPhone 12 Pro

SamsungGalaxyS21+

SamsungGalaxyZFold3

SamsungGalaxyZFlip3

SamsungGalaxyZFlip

MicrosoftSurfaceDuo

186

178

134

127

100

96

HIGHER

IS B

ETTER

SamsungGalaxyS21+

SamsungGalaxyZFold3

AppleiPhone 12 Pro

MicrosoftSurfaceDuo

SamsungGalaxyZFlip3

SamsungGalaxyZFlip

21 hrs 9 mins

21 hrs 9 mins

18 hrs 1 min

17 hrs 49 mins

15 hrs 54 mins

Nottested

amsungPay,
ndyoucanalso
inkerwithquick
ccesssettingssuch
s screenbrightness.
Youcandisplay widgetson
thecover screen,too, including
information,stepcountandmusic
playback buttonsviaSpotifyand
SamsungMusic.And,ifyou weara
GalaxyWatch4 or Watch4 Classic
(seep 58 ),theFlip3’scoverscreencan
becustomised to matchyourchosen
watchface.
Openitupand theZ Flip3’sinner
screenis pretty good,although
colouraccuracyisa littlewayward.
Brightness reachesa highof 567cd/m^2
inday-to-dayusewiththeauto
settingengaged,andpeaksata
dazzling998cd/m^2 whenplaying back
HDRmaterial.Contrastiseffectively
perfect, ofcourse.
Theonlyslightsmudgeon theZ
Flip3’sotherwisesparklinglyclean
billofhealthis thatcolouraccuracy
isn’tquiteupwiththebest.Testing
theNaturalprofile,whichI foundto
bethemostcolouraccurate,the
averageDeltaE hit2.37;thebest
smartphonedisplaysapproacha
scoreof1 or below.

Nippyandlonglasting
Qualcomm’s newSnapdragon 888
processorpowersthephone,
accompaniedby8GBofRAM.As
expected,it’srapid.Notonlydoesthe
Geekbench 5 graph above showthat
theFlip35G’sspeedsareamongthe
bestinthebusinessbut,ineveryday
use,everythingfrom openingapps
tonavigatingmenus
issuper-fluidand
blisteringlyresponsive,
withthehigh-refresh
120Hzdisplayadding
extragloss.
Thesamecanbesaid
abouttheFlip3’sgaming
capabilities.Itscoredan
averageframerateof
105fpsinthe GFXBench
Manhattan3 onscreen
test– no easy feat–
andusingittoplaya
varietyofgames,from
CallofDuty:Mobileto
GenshinImpactand
Arlo’sAdventure,
theyalllookedand
playedsmoothly.

Unlike itsbiggerbrother,

thZ Flip3failedtohitthe

ighnoteswhenit

cametobatterylife.

Withdual1,650mAh

atteriesgivingita total

capcityof 3,300mAh,the

phonlasted15hrs 54 mins

inourideo-rundowntest,

two-and-a-halfhoursless

thanitsrother.

Sna attack

Therearn’tanychangesat

allwhenitco estotheZFlip3’s

cameraoffering.Itstillincorporates

apairof12MPcamerasonthefront

cover,withonebeinganultrawide

unitwitha123°fieldofview.Unfold

theFlipandtheselfiecameraisa

simple10MPaffair,embeddedina

centralhole-punchnotch.

That’sahumdrum-lookingsetof

specifications,buttheZFlip35G’s

camerasturnouttobenotbadatall.

TheshotsI’vetakenwiththemain

camerahavebeengreat,forthe

mostpart,withanabundance of

detail,subduedsaturationanda

goodamount ofcontrastin both

reasonablelightandbad.Iteven

managestobeattheiPhone 12 Pro

insomecases,particularlywhen

itcomes to landscapescapturedas

thesunissetting.

Theultrawidecamerais less

impressive,withanoticeable drop

indetailanda touchofpeskylens

flareinsomeinstances.I would

havemuchpreferreda 2x telephoto

camerainstead,since wide-angle

camerasaretoonicheformytastes,

especiallywhentheresultsdon’t

lookanywherenearasgoodasifyou

usedthe main camerainstead.

Thephone’s selfiecameraisfine

butfacialfeatureslook soft,even

whenthebeautificationeffectsslider

issettoitslowestpoint.You’llget

betterportraitsifyoujustusethe

main12MPrearcamerainstead.All

you’vegottodoispoptheZ Flip3ona

table(orjustholdit),fold

itata rightangle,andyou

canthenenablea live

previewonthecover

screen:raiseyour hand

andthe phonewilltakea

pictureaftera three-

seconddelay.Easy.

Asforvideo,youhave

theoption to recordin

4Kat60fpsfully

stabilised,withregular

1080pand30fpsshooting

modesavailable.The

footagelookedniceand

smoothin my tests,

therewas plentyof

detail,andobjectswere

broughtintofocusin

theblinkofaneye.

ABOVELEFTWhen

folded,theFlip35Gisa

perfectlypocketable

squareshape

GFXBENCHMANHATTAN 3 (OFF-SCREEN,FPS)

BATTERYLIFE(VIDEO-RUNDOWNTEST)