Reviews
Everything You Need To Know A bout The New Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3
Samsung’s idea for a successor to the Samsung Galaxy Z flip 3 is the Samsung Galaxy Z flip 3 5G. It comes with a larger outside display, IPX8 water resistance, a more powerful display, and other improvements.
Design and Durability
With the Galaxy Z Flip 3, Samsung prioritized durability. Thanks to a new film, the screen is now 80 per cent more durable than the one found on the Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy Z Flip 5G. The 1.9-inch outside display is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus, while the phone’s frame is made of Samsung’s Armor Aluminum technology. All of this contributes to greater scratch resistance, particularly on the cover display.
The Flip 3 is also water-resistant to IPX8 standards.
The cover display is the most noticeable alteration to the Galaxy Z Flip 3’s design. That’s four times larger than the 1.1-inch outside strip on the Galaxy Z Flip, so you’ll be able to see a lot more information than before.
Cream, Green, Lavender, and Phantom Black are the four colours available for the Galaxy Z Flip 3. In our hands-on, the lavender really stood out, striking the eye and exemplifying the Flip 3’s focus on elegance. Gray, Pink, and White hues will be available exclusively on Samsung’s website.
Given how slippery the original Galaxy Z Flip was, the smooth finish is also very appealing.
Another major change on the Galaxy Z Flip 3 is the phone’s dual speakers, which were so loud during the hands-on session that we had to turn them down to avoid drowning out adjacent conversations.
The Galaxy Z Flip 3’s key selling point, other than its lower price, is how small and portable it is when folded. The phone is only 3.4 x 2.8 x 0.63-0.67 inches when closed, thus it can fit into practically any pocket.
The phone measures 6.5 x 2.8 x 0.27 inches when opened, but it still fits comfortably in the hand. The Galaxy Z Flip 3 is also easy to carry about, weighing only 6.5 ounces (just like its predecessor).
In general, Samsung trimmed down the Flip 3 just a smidgeon. When open, the original Flip was 6.6 x 2.9 x 0.28 inches, and when closed, it was 3.4 x 2.9 x 0.61-0.68 inches. The new phone is the same weight as the old one, but it is slightly thinner and taller. When you add in the improved durability, the Galaxy Z Flip 3 is a modern engineering marvel
Display
The Galaxy Z Flip 3 has a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED display when it’s fully opened. The combination of the 2640 x 1080 resolution and the 120Hz refresh rate created a genuinely stunning viewing experience. The Flip 3’s scrolling was silky smooth, demonstrating Samsung’s genuine display power.
The 1.9-inch touchscreen can be used to play music, monitor the weather, and even take selfies when closed. (The touchscreen can be used as a viewfinder as well.) Simply double-click the power button to start the camera, and you’re good to go. This is a significant improvement over the Flip 3’s tiny exterior display, making it more useable while closed (and thus saving battery life, theoretically).
The seam across the centre of the internal display, though, is a holdover from the original Flip. Even though you don’t see it all the time, it’s still obvious when you scroll over it. In direct sunlight or in apps that use light mode, the image distortion is very noticeable. The apparent crease isn’t a deal-breaker, but you might be disappointed if you were looking for something more discreet this time.
The inner screens of the Galaxy Z Flip 3 reproduced 102 per cent of the sRGB colour spectrum and 76.4 per cent of the DCI-P3 colour range. The iPhone 12 Pro’s 115.6 per cent sRGB rendering is actually less saturated. The Galaxy Z Flip 3, on the other hand, has inferior colour accuracy, with a Delta-E score of 0.32 vs 0.28 for the iPhone 12 Pro. In this test, 0 is perfect.)
Camera
In terms of the camera, they’re identical to the original Flip. A 12MP (f/1.8) wide-angle camera and a 12MP (f/2.2) ultrawide camera are mounted on the back. The selfie camera has a 10MP sensor with an aperture of f/2.4. And, unlike comparable $999 phones like the iPhone 12 Pro — which I used for the subsequent photo comparisons — the Galaxy Z Flip 3 still lacks a telephoto lens.
If the Flip 3 is going to compete with one of the greatest camera phones available, it will have its work cut out for it. Also, don’t forget that the Galaxy S21 has a telephoto lens, and Samsung does some amazing things with those lenses. The camera upgrades on the Galaxy Z Flip 3 are software-based, with improvements to portrait mode and indoor shooting.
Video
The Galaxy Z Flip 3 can record video at a resolution of up to 4K at 60 frames per second. The finished product is sharp and smooth, and it looks fantastic. I used both phones to record a quick walk to test stabilization, microphone quality, and overall visual fidelity. The iPhone 12 Pro can also record up to 4K 60 fps, so I used both phones to record a little walk to test stabilization, microphone quality, and overall visual fidelity.
The video quality of the Flip 3 is comparable to that of the iPhone 12 Pro, which is one of the better options for filming video. The colours in the Flip 3-shot footage were accurate and colourful, with outstanding daylight correction. The Flip 3’s stabilization was excellent, but the iPhone’s mic quality and background noise isolation were superior. The Galaxy Z Flip 3’s video capturing capabilities, on the other hand, will not disappoint.
Performance
The Galaxy Z Flip 3 is a powerhouse with a Snapdragon 888 processor and 8GB of RAM. As I went through apps in Flex mode, it didn’t stutter once. In summary, the Flip 3 operates in the same way as any other Snapdragon 888-powered smartphone.
On Flip 3, intense games like Genhin Impact and Asphalt 9 shine.
In Geekbench 5, the Galaxy Z Flip 3 achieved a multi-core score of 2,984. That’s not far off from the 3,669 on the iPhone 12 Pro. Geekbench isn’t always 100% accurate in predicting real-world performance, but it can give you a sense of what a system-on-chip like the Snapdragon 888 can do.
Read Also: Revealed: Everything Samsung Announced At today’s Galaxy Unpacked Event
The Flip 3 averaged 27.3 frames per second in the 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited graphics benchmark. In comparison, the iPhone 12 Pro averages 51 frames per second.
Finally, the Galaxy Z Flip 3 completed the Adobe Premiere Rush video test in 53 seconds, which required the phone to transcode a 4K film to 1080p. That’s impressive, but the iPhone 12 Pro completed the task in just 27 seconds.
Battery
The Galaxy Z Flip 3’s battery capacity is 3,300 mAh, which is the same as the original Flip’s. This is concerning, considering the Flip’s battery life was not particularly spectacular. The 3,300 mAh battery is also less than that of other Samsung phones, such as the standard Galaxy S21, which has a 4,000 mAh battery.
Galaxy Z Flip 3’s battery was put to the test in both refresh rate options, and neither produced a satisfactory result. The Flip 3 only lasted 5 hours and 43 minutes in adaptive mode. It lasted significantly longer in 60Hz mode, at 6 hours.
The battery life on the first Flip was a disappointing 8 hours and 16 minutes. The Galaxy Z Flip 3 doesn’t have much room for a large battery, but it does have a larger outer display and a 120Hz refresh rate on the inner one, both of which consume more power than before.
Another flaw with the Galaxy Z Flip 3 is the maximum wired charging power of 15W. We predict charging your Flip to be slow in comparison to the Galaxy Z Fold 3, which supports up to 25W. The wireless charging speed for the Galaxy Z Flip 3 is considerably slower, at 10W.
The Galaxy Z Flip 3 recharged from 0 to 22 per cent in 15 minutes and 44 per cent in 30 minutes in our tests. That’s not horrible in and of itself, but the battery is also smaller than that of many modern Android phones.
Samsung will not provide a charger in the box, as it did with the Galaxy S21 series.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G Key Specs & Features |
|
| Body | |
| Dimensions | Unfolded: 166 x 72.2 x 6.9 mm Folded: 86.4 x 72.2 x 15.9-17.1 mm |
| Weight | 183 g (6.46 oz) |
| Colours | Phantom Black, Green Lavender, Cream, White, Pink, Gray |
| Body Material | Plastic front, glass back (Gorilla Glass Victus), aluminium frame |
| SIMs | Nano-SIM, eSIM |
| Water & Dust | IPX8 water-resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 mins) |
| Display | |
| Size | 6.7 inches |
| Type | Foldable Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+, 1200 nits (peak) |
| Resolutions | 1080 x 2640 pixels Cover display: Super AMOLED, 1.9 inches, 260 x 512 pixels |
| PPI | 426 ppi density |
| Multi touch | Yes |
| Networks | |
| 2G | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 CDMA 800 / 1900 |
| 3G | HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100 HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 CDMA2000 1xEV-DO |
| 4G | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 30, 38, 39, 40, 41, 46, 48, 66, 71 |
| 5G | 2, 5, 25, 41, 66, 71, 260, 261 SA/NSA/Sub6/mmWave |
| Speed | HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps, LTE-A (6CA) Cat20 2000/200 Mbps, 5G |
| GPRS | Yes |
| EDGE | Yes |
| Camera | |
| Rear Dual | 12 MP, f/1.7, 27mm (wide), 1/2.55″, 1.4µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS 12 MP, f/2.2, 123? (ultrawide), 1.12µm |
| Features | LED flash, panorama, HDR |
| Videos | 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@60/240fps, 720p@960fps, HDR10+ |
| Front | 10 MP, f/2.4, 26mm (wide), 1.22µm HDR 4K@30fps |
| Hardware | |
| OS | Android 11, One UI 3.5 |
| Chipset | Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888 5G (5 nm) |
| CPU | Octa-core (1×2.84 GHz Kryo 680 & 3×2.42 GHz Kryo 680 & 4×1.80 GHz Kryo 680) |
| GPU | Adreno 660 |
| RAM | 8GB |
| Storage | 256GB |
| Card Slot | No |
| Battery | |
| Type | Li-Po |
| Capacity | 3300 mAh |
| Removable | Non-Removable |
| Talk Time | N/A |
| Stand By | N/A |
| Fast Charging | Fast charging 25W |
| Wireless charging | Fast wireless charging 11W Reverse wireless charging 4.5W |
| Common | |
| Sound | Yes, with stereo speakers |
| Sensors | Fingerprint (side-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer Samsung Pay (Visa, MasterCard certified) |
| Bluetooth | 5.1, A2DP, LE |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS |
| USB | USB Type-C 3.1, USB On-The-Go |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot |
| NFC | Yes |
Software and Flex Mode
The Galaxy Z Flip 3 comes pre-installed with Android 11 and One UI 3.1, with an Android 12 update on the way. The Flip 3 will receive three years of platform upgrades and four years of security patches, just like other Samsung phones. Samsung’s update policy has paved the way for stronger Android phone support, particularly in the United States, where the company has a big presence.
Samsung has slapped on software upgrades to make the Galaxy Z Flip 3 feel useful. Flex mode is one of the most important of them, as it dramatically improves the app’s user experience where it is available.
You can split UI items between the two monitors in Flex mode. One of the greatest locations to try this is in the Camera app, where the viewfinder is on the top display and the shutter controls are on the button. Similarly, you can video call while sitting on a table with your phone folded at an angle, which should reduce arm fatigue during long video talks.
One issue with the Galaxy Z Flip’s Flex mode was that there weren’t many apps that took advantage of it. YouTube was an outlier, allowing you to watch a video on the top screen while scrolling through comments on the bottom. Samsung, on the other hand, has stated that there will be a lot more apps supported this time around. That’s good because Flex mode is one of the foldable Galaxy phone’s primary selling points.
Price and Availability of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G starts at around $999.99 for the base 8GB / 128GB model from prominent online stores. This is equivalent to 411,896 Naira in Nigeria, 109,499 KSH in Kenya, and 6,026 GHC in Ghana, and is currently available for purchase at authorized retail outlets.
