Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 long-term review – Foldable Living

We’ve now been using Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 as our daily driver for long enough to have the novelty wear off. Long enough that the realities of a foldable life have come to the surface. And after this time, we can say the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 probably gets better once that reality and routine sets in. In short, to know Z Flip5 is to love it.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 is a remarkably refined design and offers a mature user experience. One that milks the irreplicable features of a flip design in ways that infiltrate your daily life and smartphone habits. And one that does not offer any compromise over the conventional non-foldable smartphones out there.

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The clamshell Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 is available now in Ireland with prices starting at €1,239. Z Flip5 is available in the US SIM-free from Samsung from $999.

Robust and Mature Foldable Tech

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 still feels sturdy after months of use. I have gotten used to the security of tucking the display away and firing the device in a pocket or bag. The form factor when folded also makes it easier to pocket or tuck away, and I found it very easy to carry around.

This feeling of carefree robustness is aided by hinge mechanism presents no gap when closed. There are also no gaps either side of the display at the fold. There is sometimes some pocket lint invading the inner crease but it’s easy to waft or brush away.

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Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 opens easily with two hands but the hinge keeps open fairly stiff at any angle. Except for almost fully closed or almost fully open when they gently click to their nearest end point. This little consideration helps when opening or closing the device.

This ensures the device has closed fully as you quickly ram it into a pocket or toss it into a bag. And again, this offers peace of mind.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 feels exactly like a slim non-foldable at 6.9mm thick when the device is, and that’s impressive. Z FLip 5 doesn’t wobble or wave if you move it around while holding the bottom half only. The rear of the device is flat when unfolded aside from the tiny protrusions of the dual lenses.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 featuring IP8 water resistance. The device can survive a dunk in water up to 1.5 metres for up to 30 minutes. This, again, is more peace of mind and evidence of the careful design that went into the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5.

Delicate Design

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 is stunning to behold in our review unit’s Mint colourway. The lower half when unfolded is the titular pale blue-green while the upper half’s Cover Screen disappears to near black.

This high-contrast two-tone match is bounded by a polished aluminium frame which offers fine and chunky lines in different areas and from different angles. When folded the chromed detailing expands at the hinge and presents the solitary ‘Samsung’ logo.

For something that had to built around a hardware feature, like a hinge, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 looks elegant; striking but muted. The materials, high-tech form and contrast do much to offer an innate visual intrigue, and Samsung’s designers seemed to have known this.

Flip Display

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 features 6.7-inch 1,080 x 2,640 pixel inner display. This Dynamic AMOLED 2X panel has a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz and is compatible with HDR10+.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 has that premium smoothness thanks to the variable refresh rate coupled with a maximum rate of 120Hz. Z Flip5 supports up to 32-bit/384kHz audio, something that we loved and were not expecting.

Cover Screen

The Cover Screen has also been a transformative part of my Z Flip5 experience. While there could always be more things to do on the outer screen to keep the device closed all the more, what is there right now does plenty in this regard.

Stuff like checking messages, appointment, setting alarms or timers helped reduce screen time and helped me stop fidgeting with my phone. While on the street, being able to change songs on Spotify or check messages quickly has been very useful.

There is more to it and you may find some of these equally as useful. Z Flip5’s Cover Screen alone also lets you make calls, reply to certain types of message, unlock the car and even control the SmartThings Scene widget.

Additionally, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5’s outer 3.4-inch AMOLED display has several Always-On elements to choose from. These range from useful stuff like clocks and widgets to personalisation touches like GIFs and animations.

Facial recognition from the Cover Screen can be patchy. Glancing at your device from a pocket or bag doesn’t often seem to capture the face adequately and I found myself inputting my PIN on the Cover Screen about as often as Face Unlock worked.

Disappearing Crease

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5’s inner display features a crease that is almost invisible on a white screen when looking at it from straight on and in the centre. This sweet spot is where you’ll spend most of your time and the crease all but disappears after a while.

There is little compromise at other viewing angles. Tilting the phones chin forward or back will cause the upper or lower screen to dim slightly. Looking at angles to the left or right of face on will show the crease more readily.

The aluminium frame doesn’t create a large bezel and neither do the hinges each side. When open it looks like a premium non-foldable most of the time.

Hands-Free Camera

Another obvious benefit to the form factor of Z Flip5 is that it allows for hands-free video or photography without a tripod or stand. Partially folding Z Flip5 with the camera will activate the FlexCam mode.

Z Flip5 also has a Quick Shot applet right from the Cover Screen and this has allowed for quicker snaps than I could have mustered with a conventional smartphone, locked and in a pocket. This ‘from the pocket’ speed is matched by the camera’s habit of getting the shot right first time.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5’s Quick Shot also lets you begin video recording in Portrait Mode then seamlessly switch to Flex mode. All of this can be done while recording hands-free without stopping the video.

Mostly Main Camera

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 allows users to take advantage of the main lenses to shoot selfies and groufies where a regular phone would not. The flip form with Cover Screen also allows selfie video or video calls with Z Flip5’s superior main lenses.

This main 12MP lenses fall short of the best main cams in the business but in daylight, and well-lit environments, Samsung Z Flip5 delivers excellent images. Photos from Z Flip5 have a certain ‘pop’ to them with vibrant colour and high contrast.

Highlights in darkness also have high visual impact. The dark blues of the night sky seem to explode into vivid colour by street lights, fireworks, or the moon.

Some of Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5’s best capture features will definitely appeal to active social media users and influencers.

Similarly, the video suite of the device focuses on wow factor. Samsung Z Flip5 can capture video at up to 960 frames per second for super slow motion video at 720p. Z Flip 5’s main cams can shoot 1080p at 240 frames per second as well as 4K@60.

It’s worth mentioning that there’s no optical zoom on Z Flip5. And with just two 12MP sensors to play with the digital zoom tops out at 10x is a little noisy at the upper end of the zoom.

Galaxy Z Flip5 Stamina and Charging

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 seems to do longer days than my usual daily driver, a non-foldable of the same size. This is despite a smaller-than-average 3,700mAh battery inside Z Flip5. The fact that I spent so much time on the smaller screen rather probably saved some juice.

This left me with around 20-30% battery left in Z Flip5 in the evenings around bed time. For my moderate work and play, this is competitive, and, more importantly, convenient.

The device can charge up to 25W using Samsung Superfast chargers or 15W using the USB-PD standard. 25W is not particularly fast for a device but the smaller 3,700mAh battery can be blasted from 0-50% in around 30 minutes.

A full 0-100% wired charge using a Samsung Superfast 25W charger takes about 75 minutes. Wireless charging at 15W is acceptable and quick enough to be truly useful.

Impressively, the device offers reverse wireless charging and can charge devices up to 4.5W to get your friend’s phone back to life or give you some music on your compatible wireless ear buds.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 Specifications

Foldable for Life

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 does everything your traditional smartphone does while fully open and does it just as well. More importantly, Z Flip5 also maximises the benefits of the folding form.

The device is eminently pocketable and captures that clamshell security of old. The implementation of the hinge and the design of the device allow a user peace of mind. The slender design and compact shape only help slip Z Flip5 away conveniently.

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Flex mode and Cover Screen photography are valuable tools for the budding social media starlet and they just aren’t possible on conventional smartphones. An increasing number of apps can also avail of the split screen mode to offer a greater number of control options.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 Price and Availability

Z Flip5 is available now in Ireland in Mint, Graphite, Cream and Lavender with prices starting SIM-free at €1,239.