Live photos
Content
- Contents of delivery
- TECH SPECS
- Positioning
- Design, dimensions, controls
- Display – external and internal
- Battery
- Communication capabilities
- Memory, chipset, performance
- Камеры
- Z Fold 2 software features
- Short conclusions
Contents of delivery
- Smartphone
- Charger (fast charge 25 W)
- USB Type C to USB Type C cable
- Wired stereo headset AKG (Type C)
- Clip for SIM tray
- Instructions
- VIP guarantee
| TECH SPECS | |
| Dimensions and weight | 159.2 × 128.2 × 6 mm (6.9 mm at the camera unit) – open 159.2 × 68 × 13.8 mm (16.8 mm at the sash) – closed 282 grams |
| Body materials | Stainless steel, Corning Gorilla Glass 7 |
| Display | External screen 6.2 inches, HD + 2260 × 816 pixels (25: 9), Super AMOLED, automatic brightness control, protective glass Corning Gorilla Glass 7, AlwaysOn Display
7.6 inches, 2208×816 pixels (22.5: 18), 317 ppi, Dynamic AMOLED 2X, automatic brightness control, AlwaysOn Display, HDR10 +, refresh rate 120 Hz, adaptive mode |
| Operating system | Google Android 10.0, OneUI 2.5 (including Responsive UI for dual screen operation) |
| Platform | Snapdragon 865+ for all markets |
| Memory | 12/256 GB (224 GB available to the user), UFS 3.1 No memory cards RAM LPDDR5 |
| Wireless Interfaces | Wi-Fi a / b / g / n / ac / ax, dual band (WiFi 6), Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, ANT + 5G: NSA, 5G sub-6 LTE: Enhanced 4×4 MIMO, Up to 7CA, LAA, LTE Cat.20, download speeds up to 2.0 Gb / s, downloads up to 150 Mb / s LTE Bands: B1 (2100), B2 (1900), B3 (1800), B4 (AWS), B5 (850), B7 (2600), B8 (900), B12 (700), B13 (700), B17 ( 700), B18 (800), B19 (800), B20 (800), B25 (1900), B26 (850), B28 (700), B32 (1500), B66 (AWS-3) B38(2600), B39(1900), B40(2300), B41(2500) 5G Bands: N1 (2100), N3 (1800), N5 (850), N7 (2600), N8 (900), N28 (700) |
| Сеть | nanoSIM (one physical card) eSIM |
| Navigation | GPS / Beidou / Galileo – Dual Band GPS |
| Sensors and connectors | USB Type C (USB 3.2), USB OTG Accelerometer, Proximity Sensor, Light Sensor, Gyroscope, Geomagnetic Sensor, Hall Sensor Fingerprint sensor built into the side face Face unlock |
| Main camera | Main: camera with three modules – Primary: 12 MP, 1.8 μm, F1.8, PDAF, OIS, Super Speed Dual Pixel AF – Ultra wide angle: 12 MP, 1.12 μm, F2.2, OIS – Telephoto: 12 MP, 1.0 μm, F2.4, OIS, PDAF, optical zoom x2, x10 hybrid |
| Front-camera | 10 MP (f / 2.2), 2PD, 1 / 3.4 inches, 1.22 μm bokeh effect, various additional effects, autofocus |
| Battery | Li-Ion 4500 mAh Fast charging 25 watts included, 100% in 65 minutes; Fast wireless charging (15 watts), reversible wireless charging (up to 9 watts) PD 3.0; |
| Degree of protection | no |
| Colours | black, bronze (Mystic Bronze, Mystic Black) |
| Sound | Dolby Atmos, two premium speakers |
| Payment System | Google Pay, Samsung Pay |
Positioning
Smartphones with flexible screens have been shown at various exhibitions for many years, only one thing stopped their production – the cost of such screens is prohibitively high. At the time when prototypes of smartphones with flexible screens first appeared, the flagship’s retail price was about $ 700, and the estimated cost of a smartphone with a flexible screen could be $ 2500-3000. But the main thing is that there was simply no software for such smartphones. It was possible to release a piece of hardware at an exorbitant price, but it is impossible to offer real use cases for it. And most of the partners, operators and distributors from all over the world who saw these curiosities in the secret rooms agreed that they needed a platform that would transform smartphones with flexible screens into something new. I needed software.
In 2018, the stars came together so that Samsung’s partnership with Google allowed the company to develop new software that focused on flexible screens, the first step towards creating an entire category of devices. The second important point was that the cost of conventional smartphones rose sharply, flagships broke through the $ 1000 mark and continued to grow. Why this happened can be read in our materials.
It took Samsung about ten years to develop flexible screen technology, to bring to mind not only the quality of the matrices themselves, but also their cost. Until now, flexible screens remain prohibitively expensive, such a matrix in the cost price is about $ 500. For third-party manufacturers looking to buy screens like this, there is no market to do so. The same BOE provides small quantities that can be called ridiculous. And the prices for matrices are even higher than those of Samsung, and they are worse in a number of parameters. It is impossible to create commercial devices without access to the main component of a flexible smartphone. Therefore, today we see that this is a very narrow market, where there is one player occupying at least 90% of sales. The closest competitor is Huawei with the Mate X, which is only sold in China. According to Chinese media reports, domestic sales of this model have totaled 200 thousand units since November last year (the price is $ 2400, for comparison, the Fold costs $ 1980). Unfortunately, it is not very clear where the number of 200 thousand pieces is taken from, if BOE supplies 10 thousand dies per month, the production volume is very limited. In addition to Huawei, these matrices are acquired by a number of other companies, they are trying to create their own devices. The sales data for the Mate X can be seen as a successful PR that shows Huawei’s success in the domestic market. But these numbers are hard to believe.
The first Galaxy Fold was an experiment, the high cost of the model did not suggest that the model would be popular. It was reconnaissance by force in every sense. Therefore, the model was released with the Z index, which always stood for experimental devices inside Samsung. But the perception of the $ 2000 smartphone was such that the company quickly sold out the first batches in major markets. Feedback from the real owners of the Galaxy Fold was positive, the device was successful. In fact, this forced to reconsider the very approach to the category, it turned from an experiment into a commercial story for many years, the internal Z index became the external name for the entire family of smartphones with flexible screens. The next model after the Fold was the Z Flip clamshell, which came out in large circulation, since its cost was lower, it was aimed at a female audience.
And that explains why the second generation Fold is named Z Fold2. The letter Z stands for a category of smartphones with flexible screens. And now it’s time to tell about the positioning of this device.
This is an innovative model for a wealthy public who is ready to spend about $ 2000 on a smartphone (in our reality, plus / minus the same). Consider the Galaxy Fold as a status device, plus a model that has no de facto analogues. This unit plays in its own league. Sometime in the future, other companies will be able to offer their counterparts for this line, but today there are practically none. The sales of such devices are far from isolated, only in Russia there are several tens of thousands of units. There are millions of devices sold worldwide. But because of the cost, they are not available to a wide mass of buyers, and there is no such task to make them massive.
Compared to the first Fold, the new model has changed a lot of things – screens, case mechanics, software. The model has matured and evolved, so if the first Galaxy Fold offered a large screen and obvious use cases, then the second one has unique features that will delight its users. And this device focuses on both men and women, although the first Fold turned out to be a purely masculine smartphone. Let’s talk in detail about each aspect of the model.
Design, dimensions, controls
The Fold form factor has not changed, the dimensions of the device have remained almost the same. The second Fold is tighter, the dimensions are 159.2 x 68 x 16.8 mm and 159.2 x 128.2 x 6.9 mm when unfolded (the first Fold has a size of 160.9 x 62.9 x 15.5 mm, when unfolded it is 160.9 x 117.9 x 6.9 mm).
The camera block protrudes from the body, so you will need a cover on the rear panel (it’s difficult to call such a cover a cover). The bronze color of the case is similar to that of the Note20 Ultra, the glass is satin-finished, so it is wearable, there are no marks from hands.
The device is available in two colors – black and bronze (Mystic Black, Mystic Bronze). When buying a smartphone in a Samsung brand store in 22 countries of the world, including Russia, you can also choose your own color for the swivel module. This is a very nice customization feature.
The thickness of the device in the expanded form has not changed in any way, as well as the height has remained approximately the same. But at the same time a little thicker when closed, a little wider. As for me, this will not be a problem, in theory it will fit better in the hand.
It is better to open the device with two hands, but you can slam shut with one.
The external screen has become almost the entire front surface, the edges are minimal.
The hinge has been redesigned, it has become simpler and more reliable, but the self-cleaning mechanism remains. The apparatus is opened differently, the movement has become clearer, since the mechanism, on the one hand, has been strengthened, on the other hand, made smoother.
Note how you can close the device with one hand.
You can also now fix the device in a half-open state, for example, from 75 to 115 degrees (within these limits, the interface turns on, which divides the application into two zones – upper and lower screens).
The apparatus lying on the table can be opened with two hands, but movement has also become easier.
The fingerprint sensor was placed exactly in the same place, on the right side surface. But it is more convenient to unlock the device with your face, and you can do it by looking at it when it is closed and then opening it, or opening it and looking, then it is more convenient for someone. It works this way and that.
Not only microphones, but also speakers are located on both ends. They were reworked, they became louder and the sound quality is very, very good. Samsung claims that these are the best speakers in the entire Galaxy lineup, and you can easily believe that they sound so good.
At the bottom there is a USB Type C connector, there are no surprises here. The smartphone has several microphones, which do an excellent job with a noisy environment to give you a good call quality (more precisely, to your interlocutor).
Display – external and internal
The external screen is 6.23 inches, with an unusual geometry – 25 by 9. The larger physical size makes it more convenient for quick answers, typing when you don’t want to open the phone on the go. The resolution is 816×2260 pixels, it remains narrow, and this is still a compromise. As before, this is a SuperAMOLED screen.
The internal screen has grown in size – 7.6 inches (7.3 inches before), there is no camera block, the front camera is hidden under the screen. The resolution is actually the same – 1768×2208 pixels (317 ppi), the geometry has also remained almost the same, which will be unusual for beginners. But you will not get any noticeable shortcomings. The screen supports 120Hz and it is 2X Dynamic AMOLED, which is the latest generation of technology from Samsung. There is only an adaptive mode, in which the refresh rate changes from 1 to 120 Hz. For example, in a reading program it can be 1 Hz, in games 120 Hz. The device adjusts itself to content and applications.
The screen brightness has changed slightly compared to the first Fold: in manual mode – up to 450 nits (up to 420 nits), increased brightness – up to 700 nits (there were 600 nits), peak brightness – up to 900 nits (was 800 nits). This suggests that the Z Fold2’s internal display will be more readable in bright sunlight.
Now comes the fun part. In Z Flip, the screen has a coating, which makes it somewhat similar to glass. Feelings are not the same as in ordinary smartphones, but the screen is not plastic under the finger as in the Fold. The technology has been tested in the Z Flip and now comes in the second Fold. There are many changes here, this is the next generation of Corning UTG (ulta-thin glass), first of all, the stake is made on tactile perception (the differences from the first Fold are noticeable, but it’s still not glass like in ordinary smartphones).
Samsung tested the glass of the screen and the mechanism so that they worked for at least five years, taking 100 opening / closing of the mechanism per day as a starting point. That is, it turns out that the device is designed for 200 thousand open / close. That’s an impressive number, almost double the specs for the first Fold. But almost a year of using the first Fold showed that there were no problems with the mechanism, it works like a clock. The improved Z Fold2 mechanism therefore raises no questions.
The quality of both external and internal screens is excellent. These are some of the best screens of any device, a strong point for any Samsung smartphone. We’ll talk about the new features of the interface in the corresponding section. But looking ahead, I will say that a setting has appeared that allows you to change the display of content on the screen. It can be a standard display (like in smartphones, but the elements are larger – 480 dpi, by default), there are also 420 and 540 dpi. That is, more content like a smartphone, but also a tablet version. For the first time, you can choose the settings that are more interesting and important to you. This is one of the key changes in the new model. It merges two classes of devices – smartphones and tablets, and allows you to choose the type of work that is interesting to you.
Battery
The battery capacity has changed – 4500 mAh (4380 mAh in the first one), it also consists of two cells. Most importantly, there is USB PD support, which guarantees fast charging from any supported charger. This is a big story, as the first Fold in this area lagged behind (having 45 watts or 25 watts of charging everywhere, you had to charge the Fold with wireless charging, it was faster!).
The battery can be charged to 65% in 100 minutes (charging time depends on ambient temperature). In half an hour, you get 62% of the charge. A 25W charger is included, which is enough for most behind-the-eyes use scenarios.
There is no point in buying a 45 W charger, since the charge speed increases by the first 50%, but the total time remains the same plus or minus. The company does not strive to create the fastest smartphones in terms of charging time, as Chinese manufacturers do. It’s a balance of speed, battery life and included charging cost. The charger in this device is sufficient for most cases.
Wireless charging supports up to 15W of power, which allows you to charge your smartphone in 100 minutes. It’s also very fast and extremely comfortable. For several years I have forgotten what charging at night is, I always charge my devices on the go, in between. And I never have problems with the fact that they were discharged at some inopportune moment. It takes 10 minutes to get a charge for several hours of non-stop operation. And this convenience, which is difficult to overestimate.
Reverse reverse charging allows you to recharge accessories or another smartphone, power up to 9W.
One working day on this machine is easily achievable. I will say this, the Note20 Ultra has a similar battery, and the devices are very similar in terms of filling, the screens differ. The operating time of the Z Fold2 adjusted for a larger screen is about 15% lower. But, of course, a lot depends on your settings.
Communication capabilities
There is support for Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), as well as maximum aggregation of LTE frequencies. Of course, this is a 5G device with maximum support for all frequencies. It is worth turning off 5G in the settings if you do not plan to use this technology.
Support for payment systems Samsung Pay, Google Pay, the work does not raise any questions. There’s full-fledged NFC for everything imaginable.
Bluetooth version 5.0, there is support for sending an audio stream to multiple devices. A proprietary QuickShare feature has appeared, which allows you to quickly send large files to other devices from Samsung (a sort of combed Wi-Fi Direct).
Memory, chipset, performance
The model comes in a variant with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal memory, but memory cards are not provided. In some countries, a model with a large amount of built-in memory may appear later, but so far these are only plans that may not be realized.
The Snapdaron 865+ chipset, performance is not questionable in any aspect, everything is very fast and even faster than one might expect. When they talk about some mythical brakes, I always wonder what you need to do with the device to achieve this. My Galaxy Fold works just like it did on the first day.
Камеры
There is a selfie camera both on the outside of the device and inside. These are the same 10MP modules you saw in the latest generation of Note20. A good camera and you can’t say anything special about it.
But the main unit of three cameras is somewhat similar to what was in the first Fold. All cameras with a resolution of 12 MP (there are three of them – wide angle, main and x2 zoom). At the same time, the modules have changed, they have been improved in a number of characteristics. This is the second branch of development in relation to devices named Ultra, and here the algorithms for image processing are interesting, and the result is frankly good.
Sample photos of Z Fold2:
However, I’m not complaining about the first Fold either, the pictures are excellent.
Sample photos Fold:
Z Fold 2 software features
I decided to collect in one place the features of the new Fold so that you can see the volume of changes that have been made to it. The model is built on OneUI 2.5, but in addition to this interface there are several add-ons, they are associated with its unique design and are developed separately from the main interface. The first thing to note is App Continuity, the ability for apps to run on both the external and internal screen, automatically adjusting their content. Initially, all built-in programs from Samsung are able to work this way, but it is also a complete package of standard applications from Google (everything that is included in the GMS) and pre-installed Microsoft applications, including office.
When you close or open the device, you will see exactly the same window in which you worked, but it will change to match the aspect ratio of the screen and its capabilities. Is it convenient? Definitely. As before, you can prevent applications from switching from one window to another, limit their capabilities. For example, when viewing a gallery on a large screen, you obviously don’t want to look at it externally, so this transition is closed by default. Samsung has created an API for developers to create their own dual-screen applications. In the future, this direction will clearly develop, and we will see very interesting solutions, only the first steps have been taken so far. The interface settings with App Continuity were named Responsive UI (responsive interface if translated in the forehead).
But in addition to working with two screens, Responsive UI includes Flex Mode, this is a flexible screen split mode. Just like in Z Flip, you can not open the smartphone completely and put it on the table. In this case, when expanded to an angle of 75 to 115 degrees, the screen will be split in two in many applications.
I will briefly list the applications that are available today – Camera, Gallery, Player, Video, Video calls, Internet (video playback), YouTube. Controls are displayed at the bottom of the screen, while the top of the screen acts as a normal screen. This is a convenient way to watch videos without holding the device on weight, while the screen size will be the same as that of a regular flagship. For me, this is an interesting mode for some situations.
Flex Mode also allows you to use an external screen, you can open it and watch a video or do something else.
Multitasking is similar to what we see on the S7 / S7 + tablets, that is, you can run up to three applications at the same time. Interestingly, I note that a browser window can be simultaneously opened in two parts of your display, that is, you can simultaneously view content in one browser, but in different windows.
Multitasking has taken a lot to the next level. For example, you can take a screenshot of the screen and select the window that is important to you (not the entire screen, but the active part of the window!). And then send it to someone. You can drag files from one window to another, we have improved this feature. The smartphone looks more and more like a miniature computer. Those who constantly work in MS Office, drag and drop Excel spreadsheets into presentations or a text editor will definitely come to the court.
The camera has several new features, the first is Auto Framing, when you open the device partially and put it on the table, it will automatically adjust the picture to what it sees (up to three people in the frame). That is, it is automatic cropping when recording video.
Another feature, no less interesting, is the ability to take a selfie with the main camera. You open the device and the picture is shown on the external screen. Or, when you take a photo of someone, the picture is also shown, and the person (the girl of course!) Can see what happens in the end. Or even gesture to start shooting yourself. This feature will definitely be in demand by many, it is called Dual Preview.
Short conclusions
Samsung has come up with many scenarios that change the perception of the Galaxy Z Fold2 compared to its predecessor, many of these scenarios are not far-fetched, but real (selfies on the main camera are convenient and the quality is clearly higher). But besides this, the screens themselves have changed, they have become larger and, as a result, more convenient. Ergonomics have also changed due to a new opening mechanism, it is more interesting and allows you to open the device to a certain angle, and the software has added a lot of chips for this.
In order to make the cost more affordable, Samsung removed wireless headphones from the package, in fact, this led to a decrease in price, which is just under $ 200. The first Fold in the US cost $ 1980, the second comes out at $ 1799 (in Europe, the same price, but in Euro). The Russian price is 179990, that is, exactly the same cost as the first Fold in official retail. Expensive? Yes. In the gray market, these devices will cost 20% less, but the premium service will probably not work for them. From September 1, you can pre-order the device, you can also choose the sash color that is closer to you.
As the owner of the first Fold, I can say that the second version turned out to be very interesting. In all senses, the device is perceived much better, and many basic things have remained the same, which, on the contrary, pleases. They did not spoil the strengths, but added a lot of little things that make the device more interesting.
Will this model become popular? Depending on what counts as such, it will not sell in the millions every month. But there is no doubt that this is a smartphone from the future, and a smartphone that can be bought in the present. There are no alternatives and are not foreseen, key technologies are created inside Samsung, and the company does not plan to share them yet. Now we can say for sure that the Fold family will receive updates every year, and the devices themselves are becoming very, very attractive in all aspects except for cost. This often provokes a reaction from the general public, as the price makes the Fold out of reach for most. But as a status product, Fold has already taken place.
PS Tomorrow this text will be updated, our photos and videos will appear. So don’t forget to stop by and see the full text at a glance. So far, only official images, but the most detailed description of what you can find in this device.
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