My Year With The Foldables That Brought Flip Phones Back By MrMobile [Michael Fisher]

When I kicked off this channel in 2016 with a foursome of videos, including a review of a Star Trek communicator. I could never have predicted that by the end of the decade, the flip top future tech. I covered it as a kid would warp from novelty into fully usable smartphones. Since I bought the first Samsung Galaxy fold in January 2020, I have exclusively carried foldable as my personal phones today. My daily carry includes a galaxy fold 2 for weekdays, stepping down to the smaller z-flip and Motorola razor on weekends and over time I've noticed a funny thing. While I can get more work done on phones like the fold, I find the flips so convenient so fun that even during the week I sometimes slip one of these into my side pocket instead of the fold.

So as we approach a second summer of folds and flips, I want to share some of my experiences over the past year of actually using flip phones in our modern era, from nostalgic whimsy to screen splitting heartbreak. I'm Michael fisher- and this is your long-term review of the Samsung Galaxy z, flip and the Motorola racer 5g. First, I want to say that for the clamshell skeptics out there I get it. I really do I mean for the kind of money you're going to be spending on any foldable in 2021. I understand the argument that the galaxy fold gives you more utility.

This phone really has changed the way I use smartphones in a way. No other device has in a decade, but as with most things in life, folding phones are not a zero-sum game. Book type foldable and their shippable cousins can each be great at what they do. I've said before how clamshells fit more easily into a greater variety of pockets, especially in the summer, how much easier it is to slide them from a sleeve or chest pocket than fish them from a front one. I've argued that these are the modern solution for those who want a compact phone, but I haven't talked a lot about a point.

My friend David ml, raised when he reviewed the first Galaxy Z flip, it's just more fun. I love this thing, even if it's for all the wrong reasons, there's a lot to appreciate about a phone, that's a mostly conventional size and shape when you're using it that turns into a small pocket square when you're not now, the racer is binary in that way, it's either open or closed, while Samsung's z-flip adds a third operating posture in between over the past year. I've found this useful, most often as a built-in tripod. When I don't want to carry my selfie stick around for work, it's great for snapping lifestyle, shots of other phones and for play. It's great for impromptu group selfies at the bars I've been happy to welcome back from stasis and for once in a lifetime.

Photo ops like visiting the birthplace of modern aviation in North Carolina with my brother and when I've got a few minutes to read a couple chapters in a novel, and I don't mind looking like a total weirdo, it's a pretty cool kindle in a pinch too, while I'm lucky to be able to say, I haven't often been mad enough to do the thing everyone says they miss from flip phones. Hanging up on someone in a huff, I have come to appreciate the satisfying finality of closing the phone after I'm done with every other task. In fact, that impulse has become so strong that I sometimes accidentally do it, even when carrying a slab phone, which I don't recommend and to finish up the fun factor. With a little admission, I like strangers, asking me about my phone again: it's not a flex, it's just a geeky joy at carrying a phone that makes people excited, or at least curious again, every time it happens. It's a little mini journey back to the days when yes, phones were fun all right, so I've established- or I guess, re-established the reasons clamshell phones shouldn't be dismissed.

Now, let's talk about how these particular phones have aged, keep in mind that although I've been using these phones since they were released, the fold 2 has dominated my work days, and I've also had to sub in other review devices. So my usage is lighter than someone for whom one of these would be a true daily driver. Let's take the racer 5g first, this long-term review sample from Motorola bears the scuffs and scratches you'd expect from carrying it without a case for eight months, but it's intact with software. That seems just as performant as it did when I reviewed it in September. That's particularly important because anytime, an expensive phone launches with anything but the highest end.

Silicon there's concern that it will age more poorly as a result, and that doesn't seem to be the case here. Battery life is also on par with my September experience not great, not terrible, and that goes for both of these- that's not to say, everything's hunky-dory, you don't just fight battles when everything is hunky-dory, even as android 12 gets ready to launch in the fall and android 11 updates hit Motorola's in other markets, I'm still running android 10 on both my unlocked razors, the z flip, is in the better boat having been turned up to 11 at the very end of 2020, until foldable push further into the mainstream, though they're, just not as likely to be at the forefront of updates, and you know these things need software updates. The racer is the worst offender. It has these issues where it won't always wake up reliably and the camera doesn't always launch on the first attempt and the z-flip has one big. I guess I should say one tiny oversight.

It's not like a software update could have fixed the z-flips pinky nail sized cover display, but Samsung could have made it a lot easier to use it still times out too quickly. When you try to read a text, you still can't customize anything about it, and you still need to open the phone for most things even stuff. The racer lets you do without opening it like pay for your coffee, Motorola's decision to go with a huge external panel at the expense of battery size was the right call here. Something Samsung seems to have all but admitted, given all the z, flip, 3 leaks, which show a substantially larger screen, but honestly, I've gotten so used to flipping the phone open for every interaction that I don't use. The outer display as much as I thought on either of these to some people.

That's a big reason not to buy these things, and I totally get it if you've used nothing but slab phones, all your life, adding the step of opening the phone for every interaction definitely seems cumbersome, but for me, whose first, seven or eight phones were flip phones, it not only feels natural. It feels like coming home after a long time away once again, that nostalgia factor plays a big part in my affinity for these things, if you're not wearing the same shade of rose-tinted glasses, hey, these may not be as compelling to you. Finally, we come to the best reason to do a long-term review on a mobile phone. The durability question I'll have all the gory details right after this cheap, simple, reliable. Usually you have to pick two, but my sponsor surf shark has consistently been ranked all three by sites like Tom's guide.

Surf shark is a virtual private network or VPN that gives you private access to the open internet. What does that mean? Well for one thing: it can prevent your internet service provider from giving special treatment to certain types of content like throttling your video streaming speeds. Speaking of video ever try to watch a show, but it's not available in your region. Well surf shark can help there too, and if your travels take you to a country with internet censorship, laws surf shark can help. Keep you connected, whether you're on your smartphone tablet or laptop get the VPN that eats other deals alive, hit up surf shark at the link below and pay as little as 2.49 a month when you sign up for two years, using the code below thanks to surf shark for sponsoring this video, okay, folding flip phone durability, my liquid mercury razor lasted just 40 days after I bought it before some clumsy YouTuber accidentally smashed it in front of a Brooklyn coffee shop. Hint it was me I was the tuber for the full snuff film.

You can watch episode 6 of this series, but the key takeaway is that it's very difficult to find someone to fix foldable in general and razors in particular. No repair shop would take it and Motorola wanted almost a thousand bucks to replace it. So mine had to go all the way to Australia to get facial reconstruction surgery by phone repair. Wizard Hugh Jeffries, even then, he had to go to some effort to source all the components needed. Samsung has an edge here in that it offers many more options for repair and replacement both within and beyond.

Warranty and its z. Premiere program also includes weird perks like fancy chocolates they'll send you on occasion at first glance, you might also think Samsung wins in the screen durability department, because the z-flip has remained mostly smooth, while my racer displays have definitely gotten bumpier over time, but take a quick surf through Reddit or eBay, and you'll see that Samsung has a real problem with its ultra-thin glass. It tends to crack as a result of what seems like fatigue. That hasn't happened to my z-flip, but it did happen to my fold too. My experience with Samsung premiere service was excellent.

They replaced my phone in seven days at no cost, and no, they didn't know that I was a tech YouTuber, but that doesn't change the fact that I was without my phone for a week due to a problem that really shouldn't be as common as it seems to be a problem. The racer doesn't seem to have. I can forgive the fact that these displays are soft enough to get gouged by something as light as a fingernail. If I can be confident that closing the phone will protect that display and right now, I just can't be confident that that's the case with Samsung phones, the company will definitely need to make sure it addresses this issue on its next foldable, or it runs the risk of a major loss of consumer confidence. If it all sounds like too much compromise to you, you probably don't need to hear that the displays also don't get bright enough compared to most phones, that these tend to run hotter than most phones, that the cameras are still just okay compared to most phones, and yet I love them all the same, because I'm someone who's never wanted to carry most phones again.

These aren't offering the practical benefits of a book style, foldable, they're selling you a dash of contrarian charm and a soup song of pocketable convenience, alongside a heaping helping of nostalgia. For me, that cocktail is irresistible, but it will take a lot of refinement from Samsung and Motorola in order to turn these from niche curiosities into mainstream hits until then I'll continue to carry them every day, and I'll continue to tell you how well, or poorly they're aging. This episode of Mr mobile's into the fold was produced after eight to 12 months of mixed usage with Galaxy Z, flip 5g, Motorola, racer, 5g and Galaxy Z, fold 2 devices, all the Samsung units were purchased by my publisher. We have a Mr mobile production budget for that and I bought one of the racer 5gs myself, the other being a review sample on loan from Motorola. Neither Samsung nor Motorola paid a fee for inclusion in this video, nor did it either receive any editorial input or early preview of same they're, seeing it for the first time right alongside you.

Please subscribe to the Mr mobile on YouTube. If that's the kind of video you'd like to see more of until next time, thanks for watching and stay mobile, my friends, you.

Source : MrMobile [Michael Fisher]