Transcription
I've been using the Samsung Galaxy ZFold 7 for almost a full year now. And even though I'm constantly switching devices because that's kind of what I do, this is probably the phone that I switch back to the most, other than my OnePlus 15. To put it simply, this is still one of my favorite phones I have ever used, but it's still certainly not perfect. And after 1 year, there are some things that truly frustrate me about this device that I would love for Samsung to figure out, hopefully for the 8 series.
Starting with the design, Samsung absolutely nailed it. This is one of the best looking phones ever made, period. It reminds me a bit of when Samsung released the Galaxy S8 series that was released in 2017, and it was just so far ahead of the competition. I mean, look at this thing. It still looks freaking amazing. If you look at foldables on the market, there is not a single one that looks just as good as a ZFold 7 in my opinion. It looks like a phone two generations ahead of the entire industry. And even though it is very close to feeling like a normal slab phone after a year, it still feels a little bit too narrow to me. That might be a good thing to you, that might be a bad thing, but it is better compared to previous generations, but I would love to see it just a tad wider for the ZFold 8.
But man, is this phone thin. I can't tell you how many people were blown away when I would unfold it in public. They never expected it to be a foldable simply because of how thin it is. And that's part of the reason I keep coming back to this phone. It just feels insanely comfortable to pocket and I love using it one-handed. I also love where the fingerprint sensor is located because as a left-handed person myself, it is way easier to use when compared to my Pixel 10 Pro Fold and my OnePlus open. Also, this phone is the perfect weight for me, coming in at only 215 g compared to my super heavy, massive Pixel Foldable that weighs 258 g. On a side note, Google, please put this phone on a diet for the 11 series.
But even though it's light, that camera module gained all of the weight because the camera wobble is miserable on this device. Even with the case, unless you are rocking a super thick one, you are going to get wobble on flat surfaces all the time. But overall, the durability, surprisingly, because of how thin it is, has been terrific. The only damage I have on mine is when you open the display, I have these random tiny divots on the screen. I don't know how else to describe it. And I'm not the only one with these because judging by what I found online, other people are experiencing this as well. Possibly dust or debris that was on the screen when I folded it, but who knows? Still, it functions perfectly, but it's something that you should note. Also, my blue coating, which by the way, I love the color on this phone on the corner here is rubbing off. It's not noticeable unless you're looking for it, but it's definitely something you should be concerned about if using this device longterm without a case. If I were to get a case, I would just pick up a thin aramid fiber one like this one that I have from Thinborn, but that's just my style.
And getting on to the main event, the reason you crazy people like myself are buying these $2,000 phones, the [music] display. Both displays are excellent. The cover display is bright, smooth, fluid, and reliable outdoors. And I live in Florida, so if a screen is bad outside, I'm going to notice it immediately. I've had no real issues using this phone in direct sunlight. And the cover display, unlike my Pixel foldable, is an actual LTPO 120 Hz, which means that it can adaptively refresh between 1 and 120 Hz when using your display. And then you unfold it, and that is where the phone just never gets old. The inner display is massive, beautiful, and 99% perfect. It's not quite 100% because I still hate that whole punch. If you're going to have it, Samsung, at least put it in the corner or something. I hate looking at it when I'm watching full screen in YouTube.
With that said, YouTube is still incredible to watch. Reading, multitasking, editing photos, using maps, going through the lyrics, and pretending like you're good at singing. Gaming. Gosh, gaming is so freaking amazing on this phone. Everything just feels better on the inner screen. I still open it for things that I could technically do on the cover display just because it's a better experience on the bigger display. YouTube is better. Web browsing is better. Split screen multitasking is way better. Game streaming and emulation are much, much better. It's literally a mini tablet in your pocket. And after almost a year, I still haven't had that feeling wear off. It just feels like a freaking cool phone to use and to have in my pocket on a daily basis.
And for a topic that I've not been very kind about with this device, let's talk about the battery. [music] First of all, it is not bad for a foldable. I usually get around 5 to 7 hours of screen on time depending on how I'm using it. You know, folded, unfolded, also depending on my Wi-Fi to data usage. If I stay on the cover display more, it normally pushes toward the 7 hours and decreases to the 5 hours of screen on time when I'm using it more unfolded. For a normal slab phone, especially after using my OnePlus 15 and the OPPO FX9 Ultra, it's just not good. For a foldable, it's fine. But here is the thing. For the price, I want it to do a better job. Guys, especially my Samsung fans out there. I love Samsung. But let's not forget that this is a $2,000 phone before tax. And no, Samsung did not send this to me. I bought it with my own freaking money. And yes, it was expensive. At this price, I do not want battery life that is just okay for a foldable. I want to be able to travel with this phone and not immediately start calculating when I need to charge it. I want to use the big display without feeling like I'm being punished for using the main feature.
And unfortunately, the charging speed doesn't help this either. The ZFold 7 still has 25 watts of wired charging and that is just not enough anymore. I know some people are already typing the comments down below, but I just charge it overnight and that's fine. But the problem is is when you have 20 minutes before leaving your house or you're at an airport or you're just out for the day and need a quick topup, you're not going to get it. With this phone, you have to be intentional. You have to plan ahead. You cannot just plug it in for a few minutes and feel like you got a huge chunk of battery back. With all that said, I would not call the battery a deal breaker. I have lived with it for almost a year and it's totally usable. But for the ZFold 8, the most important thing for me personally would be to see better battery life and a larger battery capacity.
And something just as important is the overall software and the features. Here's the truth. I've always been a Pixel fan at heart, and I still am. But 1 UI on the Fold 7 is just excellent. [music] One UI is polished, stable, smooth, fluid, and packed with customization. On a foldable, that matters way more because it gives you a ton of freedom to do whatever you want with your device [music] without being forced to install a third party launcher. And honestly, Samsung software is the reason I would still choose their phones over a lot of the competition. For example, you get things like Good Lock. I could not use my phone the same way without home up and one hand operation plus. And multitasking is also an absolute beast on the Fold 7. You can do three apps, split screen, popup windows, app pairs, floating windows, drag and drop, and using the taskbar to make it all way easier. Because if multitasking is a huge part of your daily use, foldables are already better than satones. But Samsung still does [music] it best and it's easily one of the best phones on the market for multitasking. I personally think it's the foldable that you should buy.
I also still love Samsung's object and people removal tools. I think they're the best in the business, and using those on a giant 8-in display makes editing easier and more enjoyable. I also use article webpage summaries more than I expected. And because I am bilingual, Carnales, I have friends and family who only speak Spanish. Being able to translate those summaries into Spanish is still something I greatly appreciate. Gracias, Samsung. And there's a ton more features that would take a whole video to go through, but just know that if you buy the ZFold 7, I promise you that one of your favorite parts of [music] this phone will be the software. It is such a pleasure to use in the foldable, it is near perfection. You also get 7 years of major Android updates, which is reassuring when spending this kind of money. And the sidemounted fingerprint reader is super fast and works every single time.
And for performance, the Fold 7 is still an absolute beast. You get the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy and it is still fast, smooth, fluid, and more enough for anything that I want to do on my phone. Apps open quickly. Multitasking feels smooth. Gaming is great. More than great. It's terrific. I have never felt like this phone is aging badly. With the Snapdragon chip and this display, it is a match made in freaking heaven for gaming. Even when my SIM isn't in this device, because like I mentioned before, I'm constantly switching phones, it has become my go-to for emulation and game streaming.
Now, the only performance related issue that I've noticed is heat, but it's still not that big of a deal in my opinion. The phone can get warm, especially if I am gaming, recording a lot of video, using it outdoors, or pushing it hard on the inner display, but it has never caused major overheating messages or crashes for me. But this phone is so thin that when it gets warm, well, I mean, you're going to feel it. It's not so hot that it's a total dealbreaker, but it is something to consider if you game a lot. Still, performance is just not something that I worry about longterm because between the chip, Samsung's optimization, and the 7 years of software and security support, I feel confident that this phone is going to stay fast for a very long time. I love that it can have a foldable and not really sacrifice performance in real world use.
And for the camera, there's a lot of good to talk about here, but it's not perfect. The ZFold 7 camera system is easily the best Samsung has put on a foldable. The 200 megapixel main sensor was a huge upgrade this year, and I'm happy the Fold finally has a main camera that feels like a proper flagship, and it is genuinely very good. [music] In good lighting, photos are sharp, vibrant, and detailed. And it has that Samsung look that I personally still enjoy. And for everyday pictures, I've been very happy with it. Whether I'm indoors or outdoors, I generally get great photos every single time. No, it's not going to be as good as the Pixel 10 Pro Fold in my opinion, but it's much better than I expected. And because this is a foldable, the cover screen selfie trick is still one of the best camera features ever if you can actually hold the phone cuz it's quite big. If I want a selfie, I just don't have to use the inner camera, which is okay quality at best. I can just use the main camera and the results are way better. The ultrawide is pretty good here, too. It's not my favorite ultrawide ever, but it does the job, and the colors are consistent enough with the main camera that I'm not constantly annoyed when switching lenses. Plus, I can use it to take some decent macro shots. [music]
But it is not all great. The three times telephoto is where the Fold 7 starts to feel less like a $2,000 phone. In daylight, it can be fine. Sometimes it takes a really nice shot here and there, but in lower light, it falls apart faster than I would like. The detail drops, the image gets soft, and you start to remember that Samsung still not give its fold its absolute best camera hardware. And that is the problem. This phone costs more than the S26 Ultra, but it still does not fully match the S26 Ultra's camera experience. I understand the physical limitations, but as a customer, at some point, I do not want to keep grading on a curve. Good for affordable is not always enough when the price is this high. Remember, this starts at $2,000 before tax. And that is especially true if the price is going to increase like we're hearing from the rumors.
Video is similar. The main camera can be really good, especially during the day, and I mostly shoot 4K 60. And for regular home videos, like taking videos of your dogs, family moments, or travel clips, I have been very happy with it. I just want Samsung to stop treating their foldables like they can't have the best cameras.
And as always, let's finish this review off with a haptic feedback and sound [music] test. And actually, let's compare it to the Pixel 10 Pro Fold.
>> [laughter] [laughter] >> This is Phoenix. You've been knocked down and got up again. Your surrounding defenders. You hit your fury. [music] Captain [music] like a you burst in a fire burning the thirst and desire [music] you [music] fire [music and singing] you for you spread your wings Rise from the ashes. >> This is Phoenix. >> You've been knocked down and got up again. The corner. You're surrounded. No defenders. You hit [music] your fury and kept it in. But the sign of you [music] ignite and turn to embers like a phoenix. You burst in a fire. Burn the thirst and [music] desire. You transform it in a spread from the burn. You [music] burst fire and desire. transform. [music] You spread your wings to rise from the ashes. >>
So, after almost a full year of use, do I recommend the Galaxy ZFold 7? Yes, but not blindly. It is still my favorite foldable in the US because the design, the inner display, software performance, and overall experience still feels very special in a way most phones just do not. But at $2,000, Samsung needs to do better with battery life, charging speeds, and improve a little bit on the camera setup. Let me know what you think in the comment section down below. And hit that like button if this video helped you out. Subscribe for more if you like what I do. And also give this video some hype down below as well. And I will see all of you next time.