Similar to the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 from the previous year, the Galaxy Z Flip 4 is still the best at what it is designed to be: a foldable flip phone and a lifestyle accessory. It’s a joy to use and a pleasure to carry around this phone. It will transport you to a bygone period while remaining useful in today’s world.
But for the money, it’s hardly the finest smartphone you can buy. Over the past 15 years, conventional form factor devices have improved, and if you spend the same amount of money, a classic smartphone will still have a better camera and perform better overall. That is simply how things are and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.
Undoubtedly one of the top folding smartphones available in 2022 is the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4. In contrast to its predecessor, it’s also one of the most dull. It’s intriguing that the foldable niche already exists there. Foldable have transformed from a ground-breaking specialty to “just another” smartphone choice in only three years. Particularly Samsung has mastered the folding formula to the point that it no longer has to create it from scratch every year. Simply continue doing what was successful last year.
Design
Samsung has made a few minor design adjustments to the Galaxy Z Flip 4. Most of the variations are difficult to see without a trained eye since they are so little. The smartphone’s aluminum frame has fewer rounded edges, flatter sides, and sharper corners now. This phone is less slick than the Z Flip 3 since the frame is now polished rather than matte. The glass panels now feature a gentle matte surface that effectively repels fingerprints.
When closed or opened, the Galaxy Z Flip 4 seems to be exactly the same thickness as its predecessor, but the metal frame that surrounds the hinge on the back panels has dramatically shrunk, giving it a more upscale appearance. The cover display’s size and the glass that covers it are both unchanged from before. The phone cannot rest flat on a table due to the cameras’ apparent little elevation from the surface.
Display
The Galaxy Z Flip 4’s internal display is a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED with 1080p resolution and an adjustable refresh rate of 1-120Hz. It’s heavily saturated right out of the box, as Samsung is wont to show off its AMOLED color capabilities. The screen on the cover is also a Super AMOLED and is 1.9 inches in size. If you have a picture for your background on this tiny panel, this is fantastic.
In terms of brightness, the Galaxy Z Flip 4 is behind both the Galaxy S22 Plus and the iPhone 13 Pro. While 772 nits is a very respectable level of brightness and is certainly visible outdoors, once you get used to the brightness of the S22 Plus and iPhone displays, it’s hard to go back. But the Flip 4 performed wonderfully in our colour benchmarks, even outperforming the iPhone 13 Pro in terms of colour accuracy.
Software
The Galaxy Z Flip 4 runs Android 12 out of the box, which is strangely missing from the phone’s web specs. With One UI 4.1.1 on top, the phone continues to seem more like a Samsung product and less like a member of the Pixel 6 series. Samsung keeps its launcher tightly focused, offering plenty of tools and ways to customize it without bombarding me with all of its features.
We especially like that the quick settings menu doesn’t follow the new Pixel 6 design, which displays less and requires more time and effort to complete tasks, and instead displays more and more options and information at once. In addition, the phone offers a unique split-screen mode that can be used when it’s folded in half.
However, all I’ve seen so far is that it offers a small space below the active window for a button for the notification bar, screenshots, brightness and volume settings, and a button to activate a touchpad zone that puts a mouse pointer on the screen what for? we could only speculate. It bears an unfunny resemblance to using the world’s smallest laptop.
Hardware and Performance
Depending on where in the world you are, several of Samsung’s flagships, including the Galaxy S series, operate on either Snapdragon or Exynos CPUs. As a result, there might be significant differences between the two models in terms of performance and camera behavior, mainly favoring the Snapdragon. While the Flip 4 prioritizes mobility above work, the newest Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chip from Qualcomm powers it, so performance isn’t compromised.
The newest Zenfone 9 from Asus and the ROG Phone 6 from the Taiwanese manufacturer both use the chipset, as do the most recent Android flagships. In this case, 8GB of RAM is paired with the Snapdragon. In isolation, that’s more than plenty, but when compared to the 12GB of the Galaxy Z Fold 4, it stands out as being slightly more modest.
The latest variant comes pre-loaded with 128GB of non-expandable (but quick) UFS 3.1 storage, just as the Flip 3. However, Samsung has increased the maximum storage capacity with a new, previously unreleased 512GB variant. Given that the Flip 3 previously provided solid performance, the Z Flip 4 ought to prove sufficiently future-proof for the requirements of the majority of customers.
Camera
The Z Flip 4’s cameras than a phone’s cameras this year. Although it isn’t the finest camera phone in terms of absolute quality (not even close), it provides so many cutting-edge shooting options that I find it difficult to put it down. The phone’s photographic capabilities are mostly driven by Samsung’s inventive use of the foldable display. The phone may be folded open halfway and placed on a flat surface to resemble a tripod.
This is a great approach to take group shots that turn out well. To shoot steady video, you may also hold the phone like a traditional camcorder. These have significantly improved my smartphone camera usage, thus they are much more than simply gimmicks. The photos are standard Samsung stuff. They don’t compare favorably to the S22 Ultra, but they do a fair job of holding their own against the S22 and Galaxy S22 Plus when it’s bright out and don’t lag too far behind when it’s dark.
The setup isn’t quite as sophisticated as the other phones in Samsung’s lineup because there is not a separate zoom camera. A pair of 12-megapixel sensors are located on the phone’s lid. The primary wide sensor is one, and the ultra-wide sensor is great for taking pictures of the outdoors. Another 12MP sensor of poorer quality is also present.
Battery Life
Compared to the Flip 3, the Galaxy Z Flip 4’s battery life is noticeably greater. Is it terrible news? Still, it’s just adequate for use for a whole day. We had a good day with the Flip 4 when we finished the day at 10:53 PM with 23% battery remaining. That came after 14 hours of total usage time, with 3 hours and 42 minutes spent staring at the screen. During that time, we watched almost an hour of YouTube, spent over 30 minutes on Twitter, scrolled around Reddit for 16 minutes, played 10 minutes of Duolingo, and more.
With 15% battery life left after another day, the phone’s usage time has increased to 14 hours and 52 minutes. That was after spending 2 hours and 23 minutes in front of the screen, which included a Teams video conference that lasted over 30 minutes, 30 minutes on Twitter, calling and tracking a Lyft service, and frequent usage of the Delta app while boarding a few planes.
Price and Availability
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 builds on the strengths of its predecessor while addressing the majority of its drawbacks. WE evaluated a review sample provided by Samsung for more over two weeks. Even while you liked every improvement, big or small, Samsung still has room to improve, particularly in terms of battery life and camera quality. You would also want to see the cover display have additional features.
However, unless the Galaxy Z Flip can consistently last all day on a single charge, it won’t be considered genuinely ready for the general public. The Flip 4 is getting there, but it’s not quite there yet. It’s also important to note that, despite the phone’s $1,000 price tag, Samsung and wireless carriers have been generously subsidizing it. As a result, people who really want one may now afford one.
Final Words
We hope you like our article on Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 review. Similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 4, the Galaxy Z Flip 4 doesn’t have a significant number of upgrades. Samsung concentrated on small upgrades this year, such the redesigned hinge design and slightly bigger battery. The upgraded CPU makes this one strong small phone, and the flatter edges enhance the appearance. The market’s friendliest foldable phone is the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4.
With a starting price that places it next to the S22 Plus and considerably below the Z Fold 4, even if it is still expensive, it is still within reach. Although there have been little improvements over the previous iteration, the larger battery and somewhat improved camera do make the device more well-rounded overall. The Z Flip 4 is one of the more entertaining phones we have tested this year because to the enhancements to the software, particularly those in the camera.
