**A Three-Month Review of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip**

I have to say, holding this phone on a call is an absolute delight. It's so thin and light that I can almost forget it's even there, let alone that I'm holding onto it at an angle. And yes, I'll admit it, making fun of myself or anyone else in the conversation is always a bonus. But enough about that, let's get to the real reason for my review: how has this phone held up over time.

One of the biggest concerns when the Galaxy Z Flip launched was its durability. The first thing that comes to mind is the use of foldable glass. Now, I know what you're thinking - "Isn't glass always fragile?" Well, not necessarily. In this case, the glass is ridiculously thin and covered in a plastic polymer. So, how has it held up over the past three months? When I look at my screen, I don't see a single scratch or nick in it aside from the crease that's still there. And on the outside of the phone, I've only seen one tiny scuff - barely visible, to be honest.

But here's the thing: this phone has a bit of a problem. It's always dropping itself. Yes, you read that right - it's like the phone is trying to jump off things or something. I'll leave it on a table or counter and walk away, and next thing I know, it's on the ground. It's really annoying, but thankfully, it doesn't seem to have affected the durability of the glass and polymer. With all those drops, I'm impressed that there are no scratches.

Another concern was the gap between the two halves of the phone when it's closed. The idea behind this design was that anything that could get into the gap would scratch the screen or ruin the hinge. But in reality, nothing like that has happened. However, when I open the phone up, I often see dust and hair accumulating in that little air gap. It can be a bit of a problem to clean off, especially if you're not careful.

Despite these issues, I've been really happy with the performance of the Galaxy Z Flip over the past three months. In terms of specs, it's essentially on par with the Samsung Galaxy S 10 or maybe even the S 10 D, thanks to its fingerprint reader on the side. If you're willing to pay $1380 for this phone, you could get a more powerful device like the Galaxy S 20 Ultra for $20 more.

But let's talk about performance in day-to-day use. I've been using the phone nonstop, and I can honestly say that it's performed flawlessly. Apps open quickly, animations are smooth, gaming is fine, and editing photos is a breeze. There isn't really anything to complain about when it comes to performance.

However, there is one thing that does concern me: software support. Samsung typically supports their flagship phones for around two years, but how long will the Galaxy Z Flip be supported? Will Samsung prioritize this phone with updates and security patches? Only time will tell.

Finally, let's talk about the camera. The camera system on the Galaxy Z Flip is essentially the same one found on the S 10, which means it's a solid B+ at best. It's not the best camera system out there, but I've been happy with the results I've gotten from this phone. In particular, I love having an ultra-wide-angle camera on board - it's a game-changer for landscape shots and more.

**The Verdict: Is the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip Worth $1380?**

So, after three months of using the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, I have to say that it's definitely worth the price tag. Yes, it's an expensive phone, but if you're looking to get in on the latest and greatest in mobile technology, this is a great option. It's a phone that can do things no other phone can - like fold up into itself, with a display that spans the entire surface of the phone.

If you're not sure whether or not the Galaxy Z Flip is for you, I'd say it's worth checking out my full review on CNET.com. But overall, I think this phone is a winner, and if you want to be one of the early adopters of foldable technology, it's definitely worth considering.

**Your Thoughts?**

Do you have a Galaxy Z Flip, or are you thinking about getting one? Do you love it, hate it, or have mixed feelings about it? Let us know in the comments below!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey this is the Samsung Galaxy Z flip I really like it it's uh it's fun but you probably shouldn't buy one I've been using it for three months and here's everything you need to know if you had told me last year everything that would happen in 2020 I would be pretty skeptical especially the part where Samsung made a really amazing clamshell style flip phone with a foldable screen when the Galaxy Z flip was first announced I rather know I didn't know what to expect on paper I thought the Motorola RAZR phone looked a lot more compelling yeah it's more expensive and didn't have all the specs but the design there was just something more personal about it perhaps not in the execution it's fast for today and well I just can't stop while doing this I love doing this even three months later and this if I'm on a call and also this to open it there's nothing like it and by the way this phone gets a lot of attention during the day the galaxy Z flips it's in this position next to my computer it's kinda like it's a little laptop over the past three months I think probably the biggest surprises was the fact of how much I use this for vertical video and video chats more on both of these later but this isn't the perfect phone it's not the most powerful it doesn't have the best specs the battery life is okay the cameras are good but not the best and this phone is ridiculously expensive but I am absolutely addicted to it and here let me get into the specifics of what it's been like using the galaxy Z flip for the past three months first I love and hate this display when it's clean it looks amazing and kind of unreal because apps and the Internet are just right there at the tips of my fingers now this is hard to show on camera but you just have to experience it the screen this vibrant videos look outstanding even though it has a twenty one point nine by nine aspect ratio it's really wide uh-huh and so if you're watching youtube videos and most of them are gonna have black bars on either side however widescreen movies are absolute treat to watch on this display but once in a while the plastic polymer coating starts to get in the way and this goes from feeling like a cool high-tech phone to more if I got a movie prop and it's really apparent when there's fingerprints on the screen which happens a lot then there's the crease ah the crease yeah it's there and it bugs me about as much as a display knotch dozen old phones or current Apple and Google phones meaning I don't really notice it much anymore or here's a better way of putting it I just don't care yeah there's a crease in fact because it has a horizontal crease versus a vertical one like the Galaxy fold you see it a lot less but oh do you feel it especially in apps where you're scrolling like Instagram or Twitter or whatever your favorite endless scrolling app is you're gonna notice this crease and does it bother me not particularly I mean I've kind of gotten used to it and I don't really baby this phone I tap on it I push on I swipe on it just as hard as I would a regular phone but that crease is kind of like this subtle background music that is just a little reminder that this phone has this then there's the outside display which looks cool and minimalist with its pill shape but yeah it's kind of useless I mean yeah it's nice to see the time it's nice to see how much battery life I have left and yeah it's nice to like skip tracks on Spotify but for reading notifications it's pretty much useless because the screen turns off too fast and yet it gets really kind of cool to see that little selfie camera pop up because you're actually not using the selfie camera using the rear cameras which are better quality but the framing you see in that little display is not indicative of what you're gonna get in the final photo a part of me likes that the little display can't do much and I'm reminded of that fact every time I see the message open phone for details because I'm like yeah no duh because the little screens not going to tell you these details but if ELISA say Samsung wants to continue on with this little display if they just left it on longer so you can actually read your notifications that would be a step in the right direction or they could go their route and Motorola did and just make it a little bit bigger and give it a little bit more functionality so let's get to the name of this phone the flip aspect and that's really what defines the phone you could flip it from a phone about the size of the galaxy s 20 ultra at least the height of it and fold it down to something that fits into almost any pocket now obviously women's pants pockets your mileage may vary but I found it extremely portable and I always grab this phone when I'm going someplace which these days is isn't my company honest but let's talk about using the flip when I first got it I was kind of enjoying the fact that had to be a little more selective about what I was doing like yet it's not that hard to flip the phone open but it definitely just do I want to go in and scroll mindlessly on Instagram I don't know maybe not so there's a little more purposeful maybe this that's the word things I was doing however over time that purposefulness became tedious especially when it comes to messaging because I would close the phone and then get a reply than open the phone and then unlock it and then have to type in their reply and they'd closed the phone I do the whole process over and it started driving me a little nuts and that's where I wished that little that little front screen well I just wish you had the ability to reply to messages even if it was voiced to text or just a voice recording that would be amazing so because of that when I wasn't using the phone as opposed to leaving it in the closed position often left it and I caught laptop mode but Sampson calls it flex mode and that brings me to a discovery or something that I didn't think that I would be using on this phone much if at all and that is the video because when you have a phone that could stand on its own like this and I can move the cameras any which way all of a sudden it's kind of having a built-in tripod and I don't know if any other phone right now that can do that so especially if you're into filming vertical video this thing is amazing in fact sometimes when I'm filming a video on a regular camera I'll put it into Flex mode and sorry Samsung gap tape it to the top of the other camera so I'm filming vertical video with this so with Flex mode Samsung has a couple apps that actually take advantage of the screen at that 90 degree position but there's not many and the ones that do that argue they could be better for example in the gallery app when you're in that Flex mode position the photos on the top half and you can use the bottom to see like the dates and stuff or information and swipe back and forth however as soon as you go into edit mode the photo goes right to the mo the screen it's so weird why does it do that why doesn't stay at the top and then you'd have the bottom for all the settings and adjustments you want to do to the photo like that seems like a big miss also there's not a lot of apps that take advantage of that mode now because the galaxy Z flip runs Android 10 you could actually split screen apps so for example I would often use the zoom app on the top half for a zoom call and then have my emails on the bottom so people are referring to something I could look at that pretty quickly but again there's not a lot of instances where that's going to work and I don't know I just feel like Samson could really push this flex mode more both with the camera stuff that I mentioned earlier but also with the software because it feels like this is a unique feature you don't see on other phones at least not yet and so more of these foldable phones come out it's a flex mode is it a gimmick not really I think there's some true opportunities there but I just don't think it's fully fleshed out however the one thing I really do like about Flex mode is this is on a phone call being able to hold the phone at an angle it's so delightful and you can make fun of me all you want it's almost as fun as ending the phone call by closing the phone all right but let's get to the big cloud that hangs over these foldable phones and that is durability and when this phone launched there was a lot of questions about its durability because it was the first foldable phone to use foldable glass now it turns out that glass is ridiculously thin and it's covered in a plastic polymer but it's glass nonetheless so how has this phone handled the past three months well when I look at my screen I mean I don't see a single scratch or nick in it aside from the crease that's still there but yeah I don't see anything and when I look on the outside of the phone there are like there's like one little tiny scuff it's barely visible and that's because the phone has this horrible habit of sliding off things and dropping to the ground by itself fact I have never dropped this phone this phone drops itself I will leave it on a table or a counter and walk away and next thing I know it's on the ground so I don't like that feature of this but with all those drops it's still going with the glass and the polymer no scratches so the other concern it launched was the gap when the phone is closed there's a visible gap and the idea maybe was that things could get in the gap that they could scratch the screen or ruin the hinge kind of like what happened with the Galaxy fold when it first launched to my delight nothing like that has happened however it is often when I open the phone i I see it covered and just dust and hair so between wiping the dust and hair off of it from that little air gap and the smudge is on it the screen is constantly being clean so after three months the screen tailed up really great the hinges fine the outside is pretty good to slip things annoying but the most important thing is I'm able to use this expensive foldable phone like a phone I'm not babying it I'm throwing it in my pockets I'm putting it in my bag I'm leaving it out it's exposed to dust and hair and all the other stuff that your phones are regularly dealing and yet it still works just like a phone hey in terms of performance this is essentially a galaxy s 10 or maybe more accurately a galaxy s 10 d because it has the fingerprint reader on the side and I know some people wanted this to be aspects like crazy machine and it's just not that but if you're willing to pay 1380 for this you could get that specs machine for $20 more in the form of the galaxy s 20 ultra now in day-to-day use it was fine apps open fine animations never stuttered gaming was fine editing photos fine yeah I can't I can't slight anything that is tight performance it does make me wonder how how long the software on this will be supported by Samsung they'll think you for paying $1,380 or phone that is as important as the Flex infolding of that screen but that's just me the other thing is the battery the battery is okay sometimes I got a full day charge out of it but often I'm finding myself recharging this phone around late afternoon or dinnertime so there's that I guess you know there's a compromise if you want to have a small thin folding thing to fit in your pocket probably has 2 thin batteries - in terms of cameras it's essentially the same camera system on this phone that's found on the galaxy s 10 and they're good it's a good camera system it's not the best one you're gonna get it's a solid B may be compared to the A+ of a pixel 4 or iPhone 11 Pro but I well I've not been disappointed by the photos I've taken or the videos I captured in fact I love that has the ultra wide-angle camera on here I love using that feature and it even has night mode on a foldable phone that's pretty cool so to wrap up after three months is the Samsung Galaxy Z flip worth one thousand three hundred eighty dollars yes I think it really is and that's because it's a phone that can do this should you pay one thousand three hundred eighty dollars for this phone for most people I would say no but for those of you out there who want to flirt with the wild west of mobile phone technology and design yeah you're gonna have a lot of fun with this if you want to learn more about my three months with the Samsung Galaxy Z flip check out my article on cnet.com but I want to hear from you do you have a Z flip or do you like it do you love it do you hate it throw your thoughts in the commentshey this is the Samsung Galaxy Z flip I really like it it's uh it's fun but you probably shouldn't buy one I've been using it for three months and here's everything you need to know if you had told me last year everything that would happen in 2020 I would be pretty skeptical especially the part where Samsung made a really amazing clamshell style flip phone with a foldable screen when the Galaxy Z flip was first announced I rather know I didn't know what to expect on paper I thought the Motorola RAZR phone looked a lot more compelling yeah it's more expensive and didn't have all the specs but the design there was just something more personal about it perhaps not in the execution it's fast for today and well I just can't stop while doing this I love doing this even three months later and this if I'm on a call and also this to open it there's nothing like it and by the way this phone gets a lot of attention during the day the galaxy Z flips it's in this position next to my computer it's kinda like it's a little laptop over the past three months I think probably the biggest surprises was the fact of how much I use this for vertical video and video chats more on both of these later but this isn't the perfect phone it's not the most powerful it doesn't have the best specs the battery life is okay the cameras are good but not the best and this phone is ridiculously expensive but I am absolutely addicted to it and here let me get into the specifics of what it's been like using the galaxy Z flip for the past three months first I love and hate this display when it's clean it looks amazing and kind of unreal because apps and the Internet are just right there at the tips of my fingers now this is hard to show on camera but you just have to experience it the screen this vibrant videos look outstanding even though it has a twenty one point nine by nine aspect ratio it's really wide uh-huh and so if you're watching youtube videos and most of them are gonna have black bars on either side however widescreen movies are absolute treat to watch on this display but once in a while the plastic polymer coating starts to get in the way and this goes from feeling like a cool high-tech phone to more if I got a movie prop and it's really apparent when there's fingerprints on the screen which happens a lot then there's the crease ah the crease yeah it's there and it bugs me about as much as a display knotch dozen old phones or current Apple and Google phones meaning I don't really notice it much anymore or here's a better way of putting it I just don't care yeah there's a crease in fact because it has a horizontal crease versus a vertical one like the Galaxy fold you see it a lot less but oh do you feel it especially in apps where you're scrolling like Instagram or Twitter or whatever your favorite endless scrolling app is you're gonna notice this crease and does it bother me not particularly I mean I've kind of gotten used to it and I don't really baby this phone I tap on it I push on I swipe on it just as hard as I would a regular phone but that crease is kind of like this subtle background music that is just a little reminder that this phone has this then there's the outside display which looks cool and minimalist with its pill shape but yeah it's kind of useless I mean yeah it's nice to see the time it's nice to see how much battery life I have left and yeah it's nice to like skip tracks on Spotify but for reading notifications it's pretty much useless because the screen turns off too fast and yet it gets really kind of cool to see that little selfie camera pop up because you're actually not using the selfie camera using the rear cameras which are better quality but the framing you see in that little display is not indicative of what you're gonna get in the final photo a part of me likes that the little display can't do much and I'm reminded of that fact every time I see the message open phone for details because I'm like yeah no duh because the little screens not going to tell you these details but if ELISA say Samsung wants to continue on with this little display if they just left it on longer so you can actually read your notifications that would be a step in the right direction or they could go their route and Motorola did and just make it a little bit bigger and give it a little bit more functionality so let's get to the name of this phone the flip aspect and that's really what defines the phone you could flip it from a phone about the size of the galaxy s 20 ultra at least the height of it and fold it down to something that fits into almost any pocket now obviously women's pants pockets your mileage may vary but I found it extremely portable and I always grab this phone when I'm going someplace which these days is isn't my company honest but let's talk about using the flip when I first got it I was kind of enjoying the fact that had to be a little more selective about what I was doing like yet it's not that hard to flip the phone open but it definitely just do I want to go in and scroll mindlessly on Instagram I don't know maybe not so there's a little more purposeful maybe this that's the word things I was doing however over time that purposefulness became tedious especially when it comes to messaging because I would close the phone and then get a reply than open the phone and then unlock it and then have to type in their reply and they'd closed the phone I do the whole process over and it started driving me a little nuts and that's where I wished that little that little front screen well I just wish you had the ability to reply to messages even if it was voiced to text or just a voice recording that would be amazing so because of that when I wasn't using the phone as opposed to leaving it in the closed position often left it and I caught laptop mode but Sampson calls it flex mode and that brings me to a discovery or something that I didn't think that I would be using on this phone much if at all and that is the video because when you have a phone that could stand on its own like this and I can move the cameras any which way all of a sudden it's kind of having a built-in tripod and I don't know if any other phone right now that can do that so especially if you're into filming vertical video this thing is amazing in fact sometimes when I'm filming a video on a regular camera I'll put it into Flex mode and sorry Samsung gap tape it to the top of the other camera so I'm filming vertical video with this so with Flex mode Samsung has a couple apps that actually take advantage of the screen at that 90 degree position but there's not many and the ones that do that argue they could be better for example in the gallery app when you're in that Flex mode position the photos on the top half and you can use the bottom to see like the dates and stuff or information and swipe back and forth however as soon as you go into edit mode the photo goes right to the mo the screen it's so weird why does it do that why doesn't stay at the top and then you'd have the bottom for all the settings and adjustments you want to do to the photo like that seems like a big miss also there's not a lot of apps that take advantage of that mode now because the galaxy Z flip runs Android 10 you could actually split screen apps so for example I would often use the zoom app on the top half for a zoom call and then have my emails on the bottom so people are referring to something I could look at that pretty quickly but again there's not a lot of instances where that's going to work and I don't know I just feel like Samson could really push this flex mode more both with the camera stuff that I mentioned earlier but also with the software because it feels like this is a unique feature you don't see on other phones at least not yet and so more of these foldable phones come out it's a flex mode is it a gimmick not really I think there's some true opportunities there but I just don't think it's fully fleshed out however the one thing I really do like about Flex mode is this is on a phone call being able to hold the phone at an angle it's so delightful and you can make fun of me all you want it's almost as fun as ending the phone call by closing the phone all right but let's get to the big cloud that hangs over these foldable phones and that is durability and when this phone launched there was a lot of questions about its durability because it was the first foldable phone to use foldable glass now it turns out that glass is ridiculously thin and it's covered in a plastic polymer but it's glass nonetheless so how has this phone handled the past three months well when I look at my screen I mean I don't see a single scratch or nick in it aside from the crease that's still there but yeah I don't see anything and when I look on the outside of the phone there are like there's like one little tiny scuff it's barely visible and that's because the phone has this horrible habit of sliding off things and dropping to the ground by itself fact I have never dropped this phone this phone drops itself I will leave it on a table or a counter and walk away and next thing I know it's on the ground so I don't like that feature of this but with all those drops it's still going with the glass and the polymer no scratches so the other concern it launched was the gap when the phone is closed there's a visible gap and the idea maybe was that things could get in the gap that they could scratch the screen or ruin the hinge kind of like what happened with the Galaxy fold when it first launched to my delight nothing like that has happened however it is often when I open the phone i I see it covered and just dust and hair so between wiping the dust and hair off of it from that little air gap and the smudge is on it the screen is constantly being clean so after three months the screen tailed up really great the hinges fine the outside is pretty good to slip things annoying but the most important thing is I'm able to use this expensive foldable phone like a phone I'm not babying it I'm throwing it in my pockets I'm putting it in my bag I'm leaving it out it's exposed to dust and hair and all the other stuff that your phones are regularly dealing and yet it still works just like a phone hey in terms of performance this is essentially a galaxy s 10 or maybe more accurately a galaxy s 10 d because it has the fingerprint reader on the side and I know some people wanted this to be aspects like crazy machine and it's just not that but if you're willing to pay 1380 for this you could get that specs machine for $20 more in the form of the galaxy s 20 ultra now in day-to-day use it was fine apps open fine animations never stuttered gaming was fine editing photos fine yeah I can't I can't slight anything that is tight performance it does make me wonder how how long the software on this will be supported by Samsung they'll think you for paying $1,380 or phone that is as important as the Flex infolding of that screen but that's just me the other thing is the battery the battery is okay sometimes I got a full day charge out of it but often I'm finding myself recharging this phone around late afternoon or dinnertime so there's that I guess you know there's a compromise if you want to have a small thin folding thing to fit in your pocket probably has 2 thin batteries - in terms of cameras it's essentially the same camera system on this phone that's found on the galaxy s 10 and they're good it's a good camera system it's not the best one you're gonna get it's a solid B may be compared to the A+ of a pixel 4 or iPhone 11 Pro but I well I've not been disappointed by the photos I've taken or the videos I captured in fact I love that has the ultra wide-angle camera on here I love using that feature and it even has night mode on a foldable phone that's pretty cool so to wrap up after three months is the Samsung Galaxy Z flip worth one thousand three hundred eighty dollars yes I think it really is and that's because it's a phone that can do this should you pay one thousand three hundred eighty dollars for this phone for most people I would say no but for those of you out there who want to flirt with the wild west of mobile phone technology and design yeah you're gonna have a lot of fun with this if you want to learn more about my three months with the Samsung Galaxy Z flip check out my article on cnet.com but I want to hear from you do you have a Z flip or do you like it do you love it do you hate it throw your thoughts in the comments\n"