Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 Review | A Treat for Businessmen

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 is the third generation of Foldable phones from Samsung. This year they have significantly improved this device to a point many people are considering replacing it as their daily driver. With fancy colors such as the Phantom Silver and new materials such as the Armored Aluminum, this is arguably the best Folding phone in the market.

Specs.

• • Gorilla Glass Victus Front and Back.

• • Aluminum Frame.

• • IPX8 Certified water resistant.

• • 7.6 inch 120 Hz HDR 10+ panel with 1200 nits peak brightness.

• • 6.2 inches cover display.

• • Android 11

• • One UI 3.5

• • Qualcomm Snapdragon 888

• • 256 GB/ 512GB Storage 12GB RAM

• • 12 MP wide camera

• • 12MP Ultra wide camera

• • 12 MP telephoto camera

• • 16 MP under display selfie Camera

• • 10 MP selfie cover camera

• • Bluetooth 5.2

• • 25W fast Wired charging

• • 11W fast wireless charging

• • 4.5W reverse wireless charging

• • Color choice Phantom Black, Phantom Silver, Phantom Green.

• • Side Mounted fingerprint sensor.

Design language.

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 is striking at first glance. It’s Folding prowess makes it an eye catcher. This year they have used Armored Aluminum on the back. Samsung claims that it is the strongest material on any phone in the market.

Samsung has also managed to fit Gorilla Glass Victus on both the inner and outer screen making it stronger and more resistant to scratches than the previous Gorilla Glass 6. There is an interesting trick that Samsung managed to pull out on the inner screen.

This is the ‘invisible’ selfie camera in the inner screen. The camera is not entirely invisible because if you look for it you will find it. It mostly blends in with darker backgrounds but in most white backgrounds it appears pixelated.

The quality is obviously not that great as compared with the rest of the cameras but you can be sure it will get through a zoom meeting well. The Galaxy Z Fold 3 comes in three color variants. The Phantom black, the Phantom Green and the Phantom Silver.

Software and performance.

Like other high-end devices, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip. There are only two storage options offered; 256GB AND 512GB. The RAM comes in at 12GB in all models and it is the only option offered.

This device also features the latest One UI 3.5 from Samsung which is one of the best android skins out there. Although, there is no charging brick in the packaging, it is capable of 25W wired fast charging which is quite decent. It also supports 11 watts of wireless charging. This is a bit low especially when compared to the Iphone 12 series which support 15 Watts wireless charging. Reverse wireless charging of up to 4.5 watts is also supported. This can come in handy when charging your wireless earbuds.

Since this is more of a ’business’ phone, you can expect monthly security updates as well as Android updates. Samsung guarantees at least Five years of software support which is awesome. Samsung is well aware that the Folding phones are relatively new to the market. Instead of controlling every aspect of the phone, Samsung has a special feature known as Samsung Gallery Labs.

Since not all apps are optimized for this aspect ratio, you can go and mess around with the Lab’s settings to configure apps to your own taste. Samsung Gallery Labs contains some set of features which have not yet been officially released but are at your disposal if your wish to change or modify something.

New Features.

S pen support.

Samsung has also released two S pens. There is the S pen Pro which is more expensive than its counterpart, the Galaxy S pen Fold edition. A few years back there was only one S pen which was the Note S pen. But now with the addition of these two S pens there are now Five S pens.

The Note S pen, the Galaxy S21 Ultra S pen, the Galaxy Tab S pen, the S pen Pro and the Galaxy S pen Fold edition. It is also worth noting that the Z Fold 3 will only work either with the S pen Pro or the Galaxy S pen Fold edition. This is mostly due to its sensitive screen. The S pen Pro and the Galaxy S pen Fold edition both feature retractable tips which prevent damaging your expensive phone. Below are some key differences between the two S pens.

Water Resistance.

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 is now IPX8 certified. This was obviously not easy to pull off because of the moving parts. For those who don’t know what these ratings mean let me explain briefly below. If you know you can continue reading the article. IP stands for Ingression Protection which in simple terms means how well your device is good at repelling materials from getting into its internals.

The first digit represents its ability to keep away small solids such as sand and dust while the second digit represents its ability to withstand liquids especially water. The highest water-resistant rating is 8 while the highest in dust rating is 6.

In high end phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, its rating is IP68 which means that it can repel small solid materials well and it can withstand being submerged in water which is 1 meter deep at a maximum of thirty minutes. It is also worth noting that the rating only covers fresh water as salty water can mess with certain electronic components.

120 Hz Refresh rate for the outer screen.

In the previous Galaxy Z Fold 2, the inner screen had a 120 Hz refresh rate while the outer one had a 60 Hz refresh rate. This year with the Galaxy Z Fold 3, they managed to up the refresh rate of the outer screen from 60 Hz to 120 Hz. Just a quick reminder on refresh rate. Refresh rate is number of times per second your display is able to draw in an image. Higher is always better which means lower lag.

Final thoughts.

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 is definitely a beautifully crafted piece of device and it checks most boxes, but the real question is who should really buy it? First, I would recommend it to an enthusiast if money is no object. Secondly, I would recommend to a business type of person. With the introduction of the S pen, it is more powerful and versatile than ever. Note taking is even better and multitasking has been greatly improved.

The third group of people that I would recommend it to, is a person who wants to be more productive. These three categories of people should definitely consider shortlisting it. This device is by no means perfect but if compared to the first-generation Galaxy Fold, it has come a long way. What are your thoughts on this?