My 3 Month Review of the Galaxy Z Fold2

[Mnky313]

Ok, for some context I've rooted my phones since the Galaxy S6 and after that upgraded to a LG G6 and 2 Note9s all which are Bootloader Unlocked. This is the first device I've purchased that I currently don't plan on rooting, mainly because most of the features I got from rooting (in depth app permissions, force denying app permissions, system wide adblock, customization) can all be done without rooting now. There's still some stuff that just can't be done without rooting (proper backups, changing certain system things like CSCs and LTE/5G bands) but I don't really need these features so I was willing to give it a try.

Now on to the Phone:

Let's start with the obvious, Price. I would not pay $2000 for this phone. Period. I understand there is a early adopter tax because foldable tech is very new but that doesn't change the fact that phone prices are INSANE imo. especially for traditional style devices, a Note20 Ultra should NOT be $1500+. That's ridiculous. I paid ~$650 for my Z Fold2 and have made money from flipping some other Z Fold2s. That's all I'm going to say about price, I think pricing is crazy but that's me.

On to the positives:

Obviously, the screen. It's great, if you multitask on your phone it is amazing. Multitasking on normal bar style phones is doable but the biggest problem I have is it's nearly impossible to type anything because the keyboard covers ~30-40% of the screen, shifting the app your typing in up and blocking the other app. On the Zfold the keyboard takes up even more space however it still leaves basically an entire phone is landscape mode to split-screen apps & that's without detaching the keyboard and using the smaller floating style one. Using it to reply to texts/discord while browsing reddit or to copy and paste text back and forth from a webpage and notes is so much easier on the Z fold2. One little note on the screen, the ppi is noticeably lower than other flagship devices (7.6" @ 2208 x 1768 ~ 372 PPI) (Note20 Ultra is 6.9" @ 3088 x 1440 ~ 493 PPI) but It's not that noticeable to me. If you're playing games with sharp angles you can sometimes see individual pixels but 99+% of the time it's not noticeable. What is noticeable is the 120Hz refresh rate which is awesome, sadly ONLY the inner display is 120Hz, the outer one is 60Hz. This isn't as jarring as you would first think but I do notice the difference after using the inner display for a bit and then switching to the outer one.

The fingerprint sensor, some people prefer face unlock (which is an option on the Z Fold2 but is NOT as secure as something like FaceID and I can't comment on it's reliability as I don't use it). I strongly prefer a fingerprint sensor, it's extremely convenient and secure enough that it's fine for me. It's also basically instant and works most of the time, I've only had problems with wet or dirty fingers but this isn't really a problem with this device specifically. It's more just the nature of fingerprint sensors. The placement on the side is great because it's where I rest my finger anyway so picking up the phone and unlocking it is one smooth motion and it's unlocked by the time I'm ready to start using it. I also noticed if I add my fingerprint at different angles it works great in a stand or car mount (well, it's in my car's cupholder but eh).

Another thing I'll mention is the speakers. They are loud and great. I don't really blast music or anything on my phone but I have used them with the phone stood up to watch YouTube and they are great, especially the stereo because of speakers on each side of the phone. If you like to play music from your phone speakers this device is also great at that.

Battery Life?
I'm not much of a battery user but since my work recently moved back to the office maybe that'll change. It always get me through a full day (though again, it's usually on a wireless charger on my desk so it's never really a full day). I do have a lot of battery drain while using a hotspot but this seems par for the course, I don't think it's something unique to the Z Fold2. Though I will admit my screen on time is really low for the battery drain, my Note9 could get 8 hours SOT on battery if you didn't have the hotspot or something intensive running. By contrast the Z fold2 I have a measurement of ~15-20% battery drop in a 1 hour period with 45m of SOT and it's really bad with the the hotspot on. Today for example I've had the hotspot on for ~3 hours and a SOT of only 20 minutes but am down to 75%.... yikes.

Now the negatives.

Samsung... Where is my headphone jack... Yes, i'm still mad about it's removal. You can't tell me you couldn't make space in this massive phone for a headphone jack or even a second USB C port. I know it's not coming back, just still salty it's gone.

And similarly, why no SD card slot? yeah, 256GB is plenty for me. The most I've probably ever use is ~100GB (and 60+GB of that is synced music flacs from our server) but I still prefer 2 storage devices, just incase something goes terribly wrong and the data on the phone is wiped or unreadable. (though again, this is mostly just how I do things. I still prefer a small C: drive and larger secondary drive to store everything on with my PCs as well.)

Also S-Pen support would be nice, it's rumoured for the Z Fold3 but I just know they will do the same dumb shit with the S21 where the pen doesn't store inside the phone which honestly ruins a LOT of the usefulness of the pen for me if I have to carry a tiny, fragile pen with me.

These are all compromises I shouldn't have to deal with on a $2000 phone but again, early adopter tax. except all of these features appear to being phased out by Samsung which why samsung, WHY.

Other Notes:

If you have a Z Fold2, install Good lock and enable continue on cover screen for all apps (expect launcher apps)

And you can use 2 separate launchers via Tasker, do it. It's great.

Also, there are TONS of customizations in settings and GoodLock (also Hex_ (Hex installer) is AWESOME for theming a bunch of apps and the system itself.).

Linus shat on the Flex mode and with good reason however, I will say using it like a ^tiny laptop is actually great for keeping score in games or excel spreadsheets. Also having the ability to prop up the camera does come with it's uses

One thing I do wish it could do (and I know you probably jerry-rig something with magnets) is I want to be able to the set the open phone down on it's screen on a table to wirelessly charge something while still using the outer screen.

Durability has been fine for me, mine came without the screen protector on the inner screen and it genuinely feels like glass, it's not and I do actually have a tiny dent in a part of the screen that I don't remember what could have caused it but I don't think durability is as awful as some people make it seem. I will definitely update this review if something changes but I don't understand how people beat the hell out of their phones, especially the inner screen which is protected most of the time, like do people walk around with the phone open and drop it face down onto a corner? No Idea.