Samsung just officially announced the Galaxy Z Fold 2, and we now have one in hand. We’ve been using it for a couple of hours now, so it’s time to jot down some thoughts on the Galaxy Z Fold 2 in our hands on review.
This is not a full review. This is just thoughts on the device after using it for a few hours. Our full review will come in about two weeks, so stay tuned.
A refined foldable
The Galaxy Z Fold 2 feels very much like a refined Galaxy Fold. And it should.
The Galaxy Fold was a first-generation foldable from Samsung, and you could immediately tell that when you picked it up. But when you pick up the Galaxy Z Fold 2 and the Galaxy Fold, you can tell there is a huge difference.
With the Galaxy Z Fold 2, Samsung has given us a larger Cover Display, so it is actually usable now. It has also ditched the notches. As well as sharpened the edges and the corners. It almost looks like a mashup of a Galaxy Note and a Galaxy S device, to be quite honest.
The hinge also feels a lot sturdier. Though, that could also be just because the phone is still brand new, while the Galaxy Fold that I have in my hands is very much not brand new. However, the hinge also has more stops for Flex Mode. So it does need to be sturdier.
The crease is still there
One of the first thing that haters of foldables point out, is the crease in the middle of the display.
It was very apparent on the Galaxy Fold last year. It was less so on the Galaxy Z Flip earlier this year. Now with the Galaxy Fold, it is very subtle. You can see it, but you don’t really feel it.
Now again, this might be because the Galaxy Z Fold 2 has only been folded a handful of times (probably 10 or so), so the crease hasn’t really been created just yet. We’ll have to follow up in the full review in a couple of weeks and see how it has held up.
Better fingerprint sensor than the Note 20 Ultra
Samsung has been using side-mounted fingerprint sensors on their foldables, and it’s pretty easy to see why. With these foldable screens, you can’t press down hard like you would need to for an in-display fingerprint sensor.
It makes sense, but this is a route the Samsung should go down on all of its smartphones. Putting the fingerprint sensor in the power button is the best position for it. It’s fast, and you have to press the power button anyways, so why not?
Now, Samsung did make a change there from the original Galaxy Fold. With the original model, you just needed to touch it to get it to unlock. With the Galaxy Z Fold 2, you need to press the button with your finger to wake up the screen and unlock it. I actually prefer this method, as you aren’t accidentally unlocking the phone when you go to put it in your pocket and such.
It reminds me a lot of the LG fingerprint sensors from a few years ago, when they had the power button on the back of the phone and integrated into the fingerprint sensor. As always, LG was early with this, and now other companies are jumping on board.
Let’s talk about those displays
The Galaxy Z Fold 2 has two displays. There’s the 6.2-inch Cover Display and the 7.6-inch main display.
The biggest change I wanted with the Galaxy Z Fold 2 was a larger Cover Display. And Samsung gave us that. The Cover Display is actually useful now. As you can actually type on it. Now, I would prefer it to be a bit wider, which would make typing a little easier on this phone. But I can still use it to send quick messages, search for something real quick, instead of opening up the phone.
On both displays, there are hole-punches for the front-facing cameras. Which gives it a much cleaner look. Instead of that huge notch on the original Galaxy Fold.
The main display is the star of the show though. This is a 120Hz display from Samsung. It has a pretty weird resolution but it does do 120Hz at its full resolution, which is nice to see.
Still the biggest selling point to me is the fact that you can go from having a smartphone sized screen, to a tablet sized screen all in one phone. That fits in your pocket. That is huge. And will be very useful if we ever get to travel again.
The Galaxy Z Fold 2 has given me some really great first impressions. While it doesn’t look like a huge upgrade on paper, there are a lot of things in this phone that make it a huge upgrade over the Galaxy Fold from last year.
