Unboxing the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G | Mashable By Mashable

Hey everyone, it's Brenda, stroller, washables, tech reporter, and today we are unboxing, something that I am actually genuinely excited about, and that is the Samsung Galaxy z fold, 2 5g. I think I said that correctly. These names keep getting longer and longer and far more difficult to remember, but before we actually open this bad boy up, there are a few things we should probably address about the history of the fold, particularly the show that was the launch of the first fold. Samsung launched its first foldable back in February of last year at mobile world congress, and everyone was super excited until the event happened, and the phone was announced, and we all realized that this phone was kept and going to be kept behind a glass display. So that meant that no one could touch it literally. We could just stare at it, which is fine.

I mean it wasn't clearly ready, but it obviously raised some red flags because it's like what are you trying to hide and then things started to get a little weirder when the review units were only being shipped out to certain tech, reporters and certain tech. Reviewers- and that was red flag number two, then it all started to make sense, because those same tech, reporters and tech reviewers were writing articles and posting on social media that their galaxy folds were breaking, whether it was the screen was peeling off or the display just stopped working all together. It was obvious that this thing was just not durable. Samsung basically took that and went back to the drawing board and added a layer of metal underneath the glass display to obviously make sure that this didn't happen again and to make sure that it was more durable and not so easy to break. Then Samsung released the Galaxy Z flip and that definitely had a far more successful launch, particularly because of two things: the ultra-thin glass and the freestanding hinge.

So Samsung decided to take those elements and incorporate it into the z fold too. So the ultra-thin glass is basically glass with a layer of plastic over it and having used the z foot myself, it definitely feels durable um, even though I only spent a short time with the z flip, I didn't feel like. I had to be super careful with it. Um and the glass just felt really nice and weirdly practical, as if I had been using a foldable display all along and then the freestanding hinge, just added more use cases for it. With the freestanding hinge, it makes it a lot easier to either video chat or even just prop the phone up and watch Netflix um.

It also makes watching YouTube videos easier because you can watch the video up top and also comment on the bottom. Selfies are also really fun, so the hinge just adds a lot more things that you can do with it, and so what Samsung did is they took these very successful traits from the z-flip, and they injected it into the z-fold too, which makes sense they simply just took what works and placed it into the z-fold too. Of course, all of these remains to be seen. I still have to actually spend some time with the device and review it and test all of its features, including durability. So hopefully this thing doesn't break on me, but with all of that being said, let's dive into the actual specs.

Let's open it up: okay, let's start unboxing this, so it's got that nice, mystic bronze, color, even on the box. How do we okay? So let's start with this, because I think it might be the entropy care instructions, perhaps of nope. It is just the sim card. Oh yes, here they are not press the screen or the front camera lens, with a harder object like a pen or a when folding the device make sure there are no objects such as cards coins or keys placed in between the screens, because that'll cause damage, uh, don't remove the screen protector film and do not install other films or stickers as doing so may cause product damage and your device contains magnets, keep a safe distance between your device and objects that may be affected by magnets okay. So basically it's telling you to not mess with the screen um.

This comes with a screen protector, um pre-installed. So oh my gosh, I'm like actually terrified. So here it is. I'm like actually really scared to take myself right now. Oh my gosh, okay.

So it's kind of heavy! It's not gonna lie okay. Durability. Test number! One, oh my gosh. This is like oh wow. It just keeps going and going wow, oh my gosh, so you have the 7.6 inch AMOLED display as the main screen, which is bigger than the 7.3 inches on the original fold. And then here you have the 6.2 inch super AMOLED display, which is bigger than the 4.6 inch cover display on the original. So here we have that hinge um.

This feels like really, really nice wow. I mean it's its thick for sure. Just like folding it open and closed. I wow I mean I've always loved. The freestanding hinge on the Galaxy Z flip um, so I pretty much knew what to expect, but wow I mean even just holding it one-handed that feels really nice.

So you have the glass on the front and feels matte. So it's got a very similar look actually as well, but I'm going to say, look and feel to the note 20 ultra. Obviously, the camera bump is pretty thick on this one um we'll get into the cameras in a bit. But overall, this thing feels really, really nice super premium and I don't feel like. I need to be fragile with it.

I mean this is definitely like a form factor that I'm certainly not used to, but it already feels like I've had it for a while. Furthermore, I can just imagine you know, checking my notifications here or even just scrolling through stuff here and then opening it up and using it before we power it on um. Let's just talk about that freestanding hinge, so basically um you'll obviously be able to see it better when I turn the phone on, but you can angle it this way to either video chat um, but it also just feels a lot more durable I'd, say um, otherwise, you're just literally flipping it open and folding it closed, but this gives it just. I don't know like a cushion, oh, like a cushion, almost uh, that just makes opening it and closing it a lot better. In my opinion, oh one thing I do want to mention again is that ultra-thin glass that it uses uh, which I'll talk about as I power it on this again- is basically glass with a layer of plastic over it.

Um. Of course, you have the screen protector, so you should be good with this one. I again there are care instructions, so you shouldn't be peeling that baby off okay, it is turned on. I did go through the setup process already so magic okay. So let's start with the cover display, so you obviously have your notifications and also use the cover display, as you would the phone normally, so you can go through all of your apps.

You check your calls. You can even send texts. So that's really nice. You don't always have to open the phone up each time when you want to you know fully use it. You also have the edge panel available, so you can access your apps as well, and it'll even launch two of them, so you have that split screen display um, so that is on the outside, and then you open it up.

So you have the 120 hertz refresh rate with this particular phone uh, which is really nice because it just makes scrolling through a lot smoother uh when you're on scrolling through Twitter or Instagram uh, even through your emails. So it just feels a lot nicer, and it's basically becoming the standard for flagship phones. At this point here you have the edge panel, where you can access all of your apps um that you so choose to add in here. Obviously I just turned the phone on, so these were the standard ones that were already there for me. But let me show you an example, so basically it launches them simultaneously.

You can choose which ones you want to use that you typically pair together. If that's like, I don't know, Spotify and twitter or Gmail and text messages. You can also adjust how exactly how much you want of the app to take up the display with each um, and then this allows you, like the original fold, to go up to three apps at a time. So let's try that okay, and then you have the multi window app. So let me open up.

Google and then you can also open up what else do we want to open? You can open up maps, so you just drop it here and then let's see, I guess we can also do YouTube, so you can drop it here. So now you have up to three apps on there at the same time, if that's the amount of multitasking that you're looking for so now, let's get into the cameras. So on the back, you have a triple camera: module with 12 megapixel sensors down the line, so you have the ultra-wide and the wide angle and then the telephoto lens, so they're, obviously not as intense as what you would find on the s20 ultra, which had the 108 megapixel sensor, but then also the standard s20 and the s20 plus had 64 megapixels. And then it's also not what you're going to find on the note 20, which have the same exact lineup uh. So they definitely played it a little safe with these cameras and um, it's also a bit of a downgrade from the original, because that one had a 16, megapixel and so yeah you're kind of sacrificing an in terms of cameras with this one and then there's the 10 megapixel cover display camera and then also a 10 megapixel camera on the inside, with the front facing so what's cool is that they did add some camera features, though, to maybe make up for the fact that these sensors are not as intense um.

One cool thing that I'm actually excited to try is the ability to use the rear cameras for selfies um. So let's actually try it out. So, basically, you're going to be able to see yourself here on the cover display um. So a that's really useful when someone else is taking a photo of you um and you want to see exactly what they're getting, so it's not a surprise after the fact, and also your selfies are just going to be a bit more high quality since you're, using the 12 megapixels instead of the 10 megapixels. I mean it's not that huge of a difference, but you know so: you're going to go here: you're gonna, open up the camera app and then in the corner.

There's this little toggle, and then you flip it, and can see my head is the camera um. But obviously I will have a more in-depth um example of that later, on, as I continue to review it, but um. It's super useful because that way again like when someone's taking a photo of you, or you're just taking a selfie, you can see yourself, which is nice. As far as additional specs go like the processor and battery. This has a snapdragon 865 plus processor, with 5g, and it supports both sub 6 and millimeter wave capabilities and then, as far as the configurations go, it does only come in one.

So you're going to get the 12 gigabytes of ram with 256 gigabytes of internal storage and as far as battery goes, it actually has a slightly bigger battery than the original fold. So it has a 4 500 William hour as opposed to a 4 380 William hour battery on the first fold. As far as first impressions go, this again feels really nice. I think that for two thousand dollars this is what the first fold probably should have felt like another thing, that's worth pointing out is, I have very small hands, although they probably look big on this camera, but um even just one-handed, I mean. Obviously, this thing is not meant to be used one-handed when open um, but it also isn't too bad um.

I don't feel like it's completely unwieldy, especially when, like snapping a photo, I think I should be pretty okay, but then I also, of course, obviously just really love how small it gets when it folds. Okay, let's see what else we get in the box, because I was too excited to open the phone, and so you also get a charging, brick fast charge capabilities, and then you also get the USB charging cable. The original fold did come with Galaxy Buds in the box, which makes sense, because I mean you're, paying some money to get a product, and so they threw those in there, but this time around, unfortunately, all you get is a charging brick and a cable. We have officially unboxed it in all of its foldable glory, um and just again, based on first impressions. I'm going to say that Samsung is rightfully confident about this phone.

I know I'm getting ahead of myself, I'm sure I will find something to critique it about. Of course, that's just a given with any phone, but I mean the minute I took this thing out of the box. I felt like I had been using this phone for a while uh. It doesn't feel like. I need to be super careful with it.

Of course, I know that I do, but the display feels super smooth and super durable. The hardware just feels very expensive, which should for a 2 000 phone um, and again I can't make any final judgment calls or decisions. So I'm just going to say that, based on this unboxing, I'm hopeful um. As far as availability goes, the z-fold 2 will be available for pre-order starting September 2nd and will officially go on sale September 18th. So in the meantime, I'm gonna start using this as my primary device, and I will definitely keep you guys posted on any first impressions and initial thoughts, but be sure to check back soon for my full review on Mashable.

You.

Source : Mashable