Transcription
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 comes packing all of Samsung's latest AI wizardry. But predictably for most people, some features are going to be a lot more useful than others. So, in this video, I'm going to break down all of the Z Fold 7's AI features, from the gimmicky to the most useful and everything in between. And obviously, the usefulness of these features will be somewhat subjective. So, if you disagree with any of my thoughts or opinions, please feel free to gently plead your case down in the comments. Let's keep it clean.
One other thing worth mentioning is there was some concern about Samsung locking some of these features behind a paywall in 2026. But it looks like Samsung has abandoned this idea, at least for now.
Thanks for makeup.
Fun fact, if you go into the Z Fold 7 settings and scroll down to tips and user guide, you can see a list of all of the Fold 7's AI offerings. So, we are just going to work our way down that list.
And first on the list is Google Gemini. Now, in my opinion, there is little doubt as to Gemini's usefulness. Whether I'm setting reminders or alarms, generating thumbnail ideas, researching video ideas, or figuring out what I'm looking at with Gemini Live, I use Gemini several times a day every day. And for my money, I think it's the best of the onboard digital assistants. However, obviously, Gemini is not exclusive to Samsung devices. After all, it's Google Gemini, so that means it's available on most, if not all, modern Android devices. Yes, there are some Samsung exclusive features such as its integration with Samsung Notes and Sammy's calendar app, but I don't think that's enough to give it any kind of major advantage. Heck, it's even available on Apple devices, even if it doesn't have the same system-level integration.
Next on the list, we have a similar feature with a similar issue. Circle to search is an amazing tool, and similar to Gemini Live, by simply holding down your home button or navigation bar, you can research anything that appears on your phone screen. But once again, like Gemini, this feature is not exclusive to Samsung phones. So, I'm not really sure it's fair to call it a Galaxy AI feature.
Next up is the audio eraser, which lets you remove distracting sounds from the background of your videos. And while this feature isn't perfect, it does work pretty well, especially with things like steady white noise. Like a vent fan, like a vent fan.
Next up, we have Portrait Studio, which lets you add some artistic flare to pictures of you, your friends, and your pets. And while the results are usually pretty decent, I think the novelty will wear off for most people after the first few transformations.
Next, we have webpage summaries, which as the name implies, can break down the highlights from online articles, and you can have these highlights read aloud and translated into other languages. Pretty cool. Just know this feature will only work with Samsung's own internet browser. And while Sammy's browser is actually pretty good, it may not be worth switching browsers just to make use of this feature.
Next up, we have writing assist, which you can use to check spelling and grammar, adjust your writing style, summarize your main points, and create bullet points and tables. You even get a composer feature, which can help you write a message from scratch just with a main idea. And it usually works pretty well. Just know the feature won't work with most third-party apps. So, to make use of it, you will either have to use Samsung's own keyboard or select the text you want to edit with the AI select tool, which has some of its own limitations we will talk about later. Can't wait.
Next on the list is Now Brief, which is not to be confused with the Now Bar. The Now Bar is a widget similar to the iPhone's dynamic island and lets you control some of your running apps, and I find it to be quite useful. The Now Brief is the AI tool that works with the Now Bar and is supposed to offer up useful information at certain times throughout the day. But I have found this information to be pretty generic and not very useful, especially when most of the information it provides can easily be accessed through other means when I actually need it. So, as I did with the S25 Ultra before it, I just turned it off.
Next, as promised, we're going to come back around to AI select. And for me, this is definitely one of Samsung's most useful AI tools. The feature lets you select anything on your phone's screen and then gives you some options based on what was selected. So, for example, if you select a picture, you can share it, copy it, edit it, download it, or even turn it into a GIF. Not a GIF. Fight me. While selecting text will let you copy, share, or as mentioned earlier, offer up some access to the writing assist feature. The main limitation of this tool, similar to circle to search, is you can only select what is currently on your screen. You can't select entire web pages, emails, or documents.
One other limitation I find slightly annoying is on the Fold. I had to set up access to AI select through the edge panel. Where on my S25 Ultra, because it still has an S Pen, I can access it by simply pressing the button on the pen. That is better.
Next, we have sketch to image, which lets you draw things directly into your images and photos. And similar to AI select, this feature is definitely more useful when you have access to an S Pen. Still, the technology is impressive and it does work well enough even when using a generic stylus or finger. And while I don't use this tool on the daily, it has been very useful in certain situations, like when my wife and I were renovating our kitchen or trying to figure out what a new piece of artwork would look like above our staircase.
Next on the list is drawing assist. And unlike sketch to image, which is used for adding things to existing images, drawing assist is meant to help you create images from scratch. And this is yet another feature that has been nerfed on the Fold 7 due to the absence of an S Pen, but once again can still work pretty well with a good capacitive stylus or an educated finger. The easiest way to access drawing assist on the Fold 7 that I have found is through the Samsung Notes app. Simply draw what you want, access the AI menu, select the drawing in the style you want, and boom, done. I might actually be the world's worst artist. So, the fact that this thing can normally even figure out what I'm trying to draw is a feat in itself. And if you are someone who actually likes to draw, I think there is some fun to be had with this.
Next up is Samsung's full suite of translation tools, which includes real-time translation and voice calling apps like Google Meet, WhatsApp, and Samsung's own phone app, and chat assist, which lets you translate your chats in certain apps. And as with some other AI text features, this will probably be easiest to access through Samsung's own keyboard. You can also translate live in-person conversations. This would be a lot better test if I actually spoke Spanish. And this feature works particularly well with the Fold's dual screen setup. And while I have not used these features extensively myself, according to some other users, their accuracy can be a bit hit and miss, particularly real-time voice translation and not all languages are supported. Still, if you are someone who travels out of the country a lot or has overseas contacts, I could see these features being quite useful in the right situations.
Coming up next, we have call transcriptions and summaries, which lets you convert your phone conversations into a text script. And as the name implies, those transcripts can also be summarized. A useful tool if you are someone who takes a lot of business calls and has a sus memory like mine.
Have you ever wanted your phone's wallpaper to change with the weather? If so, then boy, do I have some good news for you because Samsung's ambient wallpaper feature lets you do just that. As mentioned in the instructions, this feature works best with outdoor photos taken during the day and in good light. And while it can be debated how useful or life-changing this feature is, I can tell you it does work.
Next, we have another feature that isn't exactly life-changing, but unlike the ambient wallpaper feature, it doesn't always work quite so well. The live effect feature is supposed to transform your photos into stunning 3D images by adding a cinematic pan. In reality, it just does this weird zoom thing. And as you can see by the doorknob sticking out of my head, it doesn't even always do the weird zoom thing particularly well.
Next on deck is more AI wizardry through the Samsung Notes app. I already mentioned it's the easiest way to access the drawing assist feature, but you can also use the notes app to format, summarize, spell check, and translate text. And it also gives you full access to the writing assist features. And notes can also be used as a workaround with other apps that don't support all of these features by simply pasting the text you want to manipulate into notes and then copying and pasting out of notes when finished. Personally, I love Samsung Notes. It's my favorite Samsung first-party app and I think it's the best note-taking app I have ever used and I've tried a bunch. Wow.
Next up is the AI feature-heavy voice recorder app which lets you convert your voice recordings into text. You can also summarize your recordings or translate them. And in my testing, all of these features actually work really well, particularly the summarize feature, which was able to take a 1-hour recording and break it down into concise and easy-to-understand bulleted lists. Pretty slick stuff.
And finally, rounding out the list is one of the Fold's most useful AI tools and one of its most frivolous. Starting with the frivolous, we have the ability to create your own wallpaper. And while the feature is easy to use and does what it says it does, it is also a bit limited, especially for an app that only does one very specific thing.
So that leaves us with what might be the Fold's best AI features for last, its vast suite of photo editing tools. We already mentioned Portrait Studio and Sketch to Image, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. You can move people and objects or simply erase them entirely. You can quickly remove backgrounds. You can adjust the angle of your shot and use generative fill to fill in the gaps or paste in other pictures from your gallery. And Best Face lets you fix all the chronic blinkers in your photos, which is particularly useful in group photos where getting the perfect shot of everyone can be the most challenging. And while other photo editing apps also offer a lot of these features, I don't think any of them work as well or as consistently as Samsung's. And as I mentioned before, I used these tools extensively when my wife and I were getting ready to renovate our kitchen, and they really did come in clutch. Most impressive.
Well, that's all the information I have for one day, but if you wind up picking up the Fold 7, as I mentioned before, please feel free to share your thoughts about these features down in the comments. That way, we can all continue to learn from each other and make more informed buying decisions. As always, I hope you found this video useful. Thank you for watching. And until next time, this is Rando Tech Info signing out.