Samsung has launched their 2nd generation Galaxy Fold, making this their third foldable device, but what has changed and are foldable ready to go mainstream?
External Display
-
Fold2 -
Fold
Samsung received some criticism for the external display of the original Samsung Galaxy Fold, especially when the Huawei Mate X looked so impressive against it.
So the new much larger display is perhaps the best improvement the new Fold 2 has. This has a 60Hz 6.2-inch Dynamic AMOLED panel with a resolution of 2,260 by 816 pixels(25:9).
The previous model has 4.6-inch Super AMOLED, 1680 x 720 pixels (21:9)
Internal Display
-
Fold2 -
Fold
The internal display has had a small improvement going from a 7.3-inch display running at 2152×1536 to 7.6-inches running at 2208×1768 and the new display also runs at 120hz vs 60hz.
The notch has also been completely removed from the internal display, instead of using an infinity O design, this gives the internal display a much-improved appearance.
Does the internal display still have a screen crease?
Yes. It is hard to work out the severity of it from the current videos. In a lot of shots, the crease is not visible, but when a camera catches it at an angle, there is clearly a crease. In my opinion, I don’t think it is something that would bother me too much, I don’t think you would see it too much when in use.
Chipset
The original Fold launched with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855, which is still an excellent chipset, this has now been upgraded to the just-launched Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ which offers the absolute best performance possible.
Does the Galaxy Z Fold2 us the Samsung Exynos 990 in the UK?
Thankfully there is no Exynos 990 versions, there is only one variant, and this uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865+ globally.
Camera
The camera spec has remained similar with a triple camera. Initially, it looks like the Fold2 has had a downgrade switching from a 16MP ultrawide to 12MP, but it looks like the sensor size has increased with the Fold2 ultra-wide having a larger pixel size of 1.12µm.
Similarly, even though the main camera remains the same resolution, the sensor has been upgraded to 1/1.76 giving a pixel size of 1.8µm vs 1.4µm
Battery
The new phone has had a small bump in battery going from 4380 mAh to 4500 mAh, the charging performance has also been increased from 15W to 25W
Is the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 waterproof?
Nope. Neither phones are, and not other foldable phone is. The practicalities of a foldable phone appear to make this difficult for the time being.
Price and Availability
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 is still painfully expensive, launching for about the same price as the original at £1,799.00.
However, to some extent, that price feels less ridiculous nowadays, this year we have seen several phones launch at well over £1k including the Galaxy S20 Ultra (£1200), the Note20 Ultra (£1179) and the Huawei P40 Pro+ (£1300).
So if I was willing to spend £1200 on the phone, I think I could be swayed to spend £600 extra on a foldable phone.
The phone is now available to pre-order from Samsung with a shipping date of the 14th of September 2020.
It is also available via EE for £101 per month with £100 upfront, and for that, you only get 40GB of data! If you want unlimited data, then that is £115 PCM with one smart benefit though you only have to lay out £50 upfront.
On Vodafone for unlimited everything you will have to pay £69 PCM, but the upfront cost is £769!
Alternative Options
Samsung is dominating the foldable market at the moment with this being their 3rd foldable and probably the best choice on the market right now.
This is aided by the political issues Huawei is facing. You can buy the Huawei Mate Xs for £1999 which is arguably more impressive than the Samsung with its outward folding display and superior camera specification. However, it uses the older Kirin 990 chipset is lacks Google Apps.
The Microsoft Surface Duo just launched which is not available in the UK, not really classed as a phone, uses the older SD855 chipset found on last years Galaxy Fold
