The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G Review

Folding power on your hands

Introduction

Samsung has been an innovative company over the years, trying to experiment and releasing different kinds of phone with different form factors, even during the days of feature phones that we know and love. 

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G is the third iteration/generation of the Fold Series lineup, and honestly the Z Fold2 is already an innovation when it comes to the durability that comes with specifications that still holds till this day. As a starter, the ZFold 3 comes with just one SOC variant at the moment of this review, which is the Snapdragon 888 SOC, no known other SOC variant so far and I think it’s just great to just stick to one variant instead of splitting it differently according to region.

Design

The Galaxy Z Fold3 5G is built with a solid metal from back to its surrounding sides. The front of the device is the whole AMOLED screen and opening the phone reveals its huge AMOLED display also. Holding between the hinge is steady just like opening a hardcover book with very minimal crease between the middle of the screen. It’s not distracting at all, especially when reading or browsing over social media. Overall material is matte therefore no worries on the fingerprint stains or fingerprint magnet. On the camera side, Samsung continues to give it a similar design to its flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S21 series. The Galaxy Z Fold3 5G comes in three colors, Phantom Black, Phantom Gold and Phantom Silver. The one that we got for the review is the Phantom Black

Continuing over to the top of the phone, there is 3 microphone and a speaker, while on the bottom there is a speaker, one USB C port and one microphone. Towards the right side is the SIM card slot, Volume rocker and the power button, which also combo as a fingerprint scanner. No headphone jack, but it’s easy these days to get an USB C headphone, Bluetooth headset or just get a USB C to 3.5mm audio jack.

Display

Over the display portion, the Galaxy Z Fold3 5G is powered by a 6.2 Inch 120Hz screen on the cover display with Gorilla Glass Victus that supports HDR10+. On the unfolded screen, it hosts a 7.6 inch display with the same features mentioned above. Display is vibrant, clear, colors were displayed at a fairly accurate level. It has adaptive refresh rate display which means when the screen is sitting idle, it will run at 60FPS, once you start your browsing and work, it will automatically adjust up to 120FPS. Such performance does take a toll on the battery life, but not by much, depending on your daily usage and just a handful of games does support 120FPS gameplay. The beauty is the unfolded 7.6 inch which really produces very minimal crease lines in the middle and on top of the display there is a small 4MP camera hidden under display which makes it not noticeable when operating on such large display

Camera

The Galaxy ZFold3 5G has a lot of cameras, let’s start from the back of the phone, which has 3 cameras, all of which run at 12MP, each of the lenses handle one for wide, telephoto and ultrawide. Over to the selfie side, on the cover display there is a 10MP wide camera while unfolded, there is a 4MP under display camera for selfie. Pictures taken on the rear camera are nice, and color accuracy is well present on every shot taken, however based on the comparison, it is not meant for the ones that love to take very detailed shots as certain pictures will still have noise and contrast differences. Video wise, the rear camera is capable of taking up to 4K at 60FPS with very minor stutters present, if you switch over to 1080P/60FPS, it’s as smooth as butter. Over to the cover display selfie and tablet mode selfie camera, both of them can snap pictures at an acceptable level while switching over to video mode, it does what you can expect during video conference tests, which I would say from colour and performance wise, it is very well optimized for the purpose. A few of the sample pictures were taken from various scenes and images are attached here. 

Performance

Specifications wise, under the hood, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888, 256GB or 512GB of internal storage and 12GB RAM. Call quality is excellent over VOLTE, WoWIFI option is available as well when enabled, delivering crystal clear voice quality. 5G is getting near and will be launching soon within the Asia regions, so this device is ready for it when your Carrier launches it within your area. The ZFold3 5G also has WIFI 6e connectivity, which will give superb experience when connected to a WIFI 6e compatible router, delivering blazing speed connectivity for all your productivity and streaming needs. 

Over to the gaming side, this phone will just play from simple to the much graphical intensive games, from your favorite candy crush to Genshin Impact, it can play well and very stable, at a solid 60FPS on low medium settings. Another advantage is you can play over the cover display and carry on over when unfolded to the 7.6 inch tablet mode without much of a hassle as most applications and games can be adapted to it. Apart from gaming, the Z Fold3 5G can support up to 3 applications display and actively running at the same time.

Benchmarks

Benchmark wise, the performance speaks quite loud and clear, delivering impressive numbers as shown above. It’s a Snapdragon 888 flagship SOC that ensures it gets all of your multitasking running. While it is just a synthetic score, if you are currently using an older Snapdragon or coming from an older generation phone, or someone that needed a tablet and a phone, this is a worthy upgrade.

Battery performance wise, you will get around 10 hours of it, a mix of calls, surfing, email, streaming, and a few Mobile Legends matches. Turning on the battery saving mode under 20% will get you around extra 2 hours of conservative usage. While it is known that the Z Fold3 5G does not come with a charger, you can always get any third party compatible PD charger. A 67w charger will charge up the phone in slightly less than 2 hours from empty to 100%.

Specifications

Conclusion 

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G is definitely a great device for those who look for an all in one device that meet both a phone and a tablet needs in one, or for those who wanted to upgrade from the previous older device. Another advantage is this device comes with 5G, therefore its a good investment with future proof readiness and of course, its WiFi 6e capability. Other than that this phone comes with Samsung DeX which acts as a desktop on your larger display, or just mirror it on your existing PC/Laptop/Mac and continue the work and productivity at your office or home. At RM6699, its higher tier pricing is reasonable if you consider this device is a combination of a phone and a tablet that is powerful, and fits in your pocket. This device will ensure you to have continuous support of Android updates for at least 3 years.

Pros

• 120Hz Refresh Rate Display
• Has reverse charging
• Excellent performance

Cons

• No MicroSD Card Slot
• Heavy