The Fold: A Game-Changer in Mobile Devices?

I'll never forget the day I finally warmed up to the idea of a tablet. It's convenient that my phone is always within arm's reach, especially when my computer is not readily available. However, some might think that tablets would be right up my alley in more ways than one. They're like phones just scaled up, a minute endpoint between phones and computers.

Though I and a lot of people rarely use them at the full potential that Apple and Samsung claim is possible. Unfortunately, tablets don't work better or well enough to justify me lugging one around instead of taking out my smartphone or packing a small laptop in my bag which of course has the functionality of a proper desktop OS. As a result, tablets are often destined to be overglorified Netflix machines or just flat out forgotten about probably collecting dust in your kitchen drawer.

But for me, that perception changed when I started daily driving the fold because it's my phone, and the better. The key here is access having more screen real estate at an instant if I need to juggle around multiple apps simultaneously makes all the difference in the world. You can have a news article for research on one side and Notion for note-taking on the other, or maybe you're playing Cod Mobile on the bottom and have Discord to talk with your friends up top.

And of course, it can be that overglorified Netflix machine if you're stuck on a plane for a few hours and need to pass the time. A huge reason for me warming up to this phone-tablet hybrid is Samsung's One UI which has the best Windows support you'll find among Android tablets, and I personally like it more than iPad OS for most things.

All this to say that for a device that appears to be sold as a phone first and tablet second, credit where credit's due, the fold 5 convinced me that tablets have a place in my life in ways that I didn't expect. Okay, so I love the full five a lot, but there are a handful of limiting factors that prevent people from wanting to buy one.

First, we already mentioned price - $1800 is expensive for a phone in any context and doesn't make it any more accessible for people that might even be on the fence. At least the fold historically sees discounts throughout the year and if you're willing to wait a generation, you can get it for under $1000.

That said, I still wish that the MSRP was a few hundred dollars lower to sell people on the dream. Then there's the screen on the front, which is a common complaint for this device - people think it's a bit restrictive with its narrow aspect ratio. But personally, I'm kind of that weirdo who digs it because it's easy to use with one hand.

It kind of feels like a TV remote in some ways, and it's adequate for scrolling through Twitter or reading stuff on the web, but even still, I do have some qualms with it - typos on the keyboard happen more often than I'd like to admit. Instead, standard 16x9 videos suffer from hilariously bad letterboxing, though watching stuff in Ted mode is actually pretty nice.

Seeing how other companies like Google and Oppo are able to dish out foldables with wider, more usable screens hopefully we can see Samsung do the same in the future. And lastly, I have to talk about durability - I'll say it a million times over: these things can take a beating as someone who's used to folding 3 and folding 4 for extended periods of time.

I've actually dropped them numerous times and subjected them to normal wear and tear, I think that the fold 5 is gonna hold up well if not a bit better than the fold 4 because they finally closed the gap - particles are less likely to seep in and ruin the display though it'll never be enough for some people until Samsung gets a proper dust rating on top of that IPX8 water resistance.

It already has other features, but that's not enough. It really needs to improve in these areas if it wants to compete with other flagship devices. I think Samsung has the bones of an excellent top-of-the-line flagship and believe it or not, people are about it more than ever.

However, if Samsung really wants to sell more people on the Z-fold and Z-flip, I think we really need to see a big generational leap that'll make them want to shell out their hard-earned money stress-free and with no regrets. Stress-free is key here, because right now, there's just too much uncertainty surrounding these devices.

I think it'll happen but when it will remains to be seen.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI'm not gonna beat around the bush the Galaxy Z fold 5 is a tough device to talk about let alone recommend to people most already know how they feel about this thing without having touched or even the scene one they hate the crease they say foldables are too expensive and they break super easily I've heard it all before while there are certainly trade-offs to be had compared to a traditional rectangular smartphone I think there's more to the fold than what people are giving it credit for they're certainly charm with a tablet phone thing but I think the Practical benefits are surprisingly powerful we'll get to the existential crisis a little later in the video but first what even changed with the z-fold five it's hardly the most exciting update Samsung has made to a phone especially if we're comparing it to the last generation so the review portion of this video will be a walk in the park there's the obligatory yearly processor upgrade to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy which yields a significant performance bump from last year games like gentian impact of course run absolutely well on it but you also see the improvements in other areas battery life for example is terrific easily getting me through a normal work day and even well into the evening which is better than my experience on the fold 4 long term additionally while the cameras haven't seen a change in Hardware this year's new SOC helps yield better image processing on the software side don't expect it to outclass the s23 ultra by any means but I'll take any Improvement as a plus also the physical design doesn't visually look that different but with a finer eye there are changes some of which you can absolutely feel in the hands compared to the fold four and that's because the fold 5 has a new hinge mechanism making the overall profile Slimmer by two millimeters and finally closing that dreaded Gap this is an ergonomic Improvement you'll especially notice using the device closed with one hand as you open the phone the hinge feels better than ever as well offering linear resistance and strength to stay open at any angle and of course there is the main event the large 7.6 inch 120 hertz AMOLED display the key upgrade this year is that it Peaks at 1750 nits just like the Galaxy s23 which means it looks particularly good outdoors in harsh sunlight now of course there's no getting around the fact that there's a big old crease running down the middle of the display which hasn't gotten any better or worse chair to the full four but I think it's a decent trade-off for having a tablet that you can use anywhere you want and that's really the point I want to discuss because Samsung pushes the fold 5 as the ultimate smartphone for power users but just how useful is its biggest gimmick and is it enough to actually give it purpose though before we answer that question I'd like to take a moment to Spotlight the sponsor of today's video in cogni protecting our privacy and preventing identity theft has become harder than ever there are hundreds of commercial databases and people search websites that aggregate all kinds of personal information right under our noses things like spending habits IP addresses Social Security numbers home addresses and online history are all available for purchase by anyone marketing companies can use this data to tailor ads to you landlords or potential employers can use this for background searches but most of all this sensitive information can end up in the hands of Bad actors with malicious intent not bad actors like uh now luckily you have the right to request data Brokers to delete your info from these databases but with plenty of them out there it'll take you literally years to do it manually on your own and you'll have to repeat the process over and over again as they continue to collect your data and create new records but that's where Incognito comes in once you create an account and Grant them the right to work on your behalf incogni Works behind the scenes to scrub your personal data off these databases repeat the removal process regularly to keep your identity safe and we'll keep you updated on what they're doing every step of the way if you'd like to secure your privacy and help support the content we do here on denki Act Fast the first 100 people to use the promo code denki using the link in the description below will get a cool 60 off their subscription huge thanks to incogni for sponsoring today's video and now back to my existential crisis at an eye-watering eighteen hundred dollars here in the U.S it's easy to write off the fold five as an overpriced hunk of junk that shouldn't exist it's an exorbitant price tag for any phone period making the barf entry pretty high for most people to even give it a shot but in my opinion the z-fold 5 is a very good Flagship smartphone and an excellent tablet that people don't give enough credit for you see I do a lot of work on my smartphone throughout the day I'll use it to reply to emails post on socials also like checking out Tech blogs frequently to scope out content ideas and might even type out portions of my YouTube scripts in notion whether I need to communicate quickly or ride a sudden wave of inspiration for work it's convenient that my phone is always within Arm's Reach especially when my computer is not that being said some might think that tablets would be right up my alley in more ways than one they're like phones just scaled up a minute endpoint between phones and computers though I and a lot of people rarely use them at the full potential that Apple and Samsung claim is possible unfortunately tablets don't work better or well enough to justify me lugging one around instead of taking out my smartphone or packing a small laptop in my bag which of course has the functionality of a proper desktop OS as a result tablets are often destined to be over glorified Netflix machines or just flat out forgotten about probably collecting dust in your kitchen drawer but for me that perception changed when I started daily driving the fold because it's my phone the better the key here is access having more screen real estate at an instant if I need to juggle around multiple apps simultaneously makes all the difference in the world you can have a news article for research on one side and notion for note-taking on the other or maybe you're playing Cod Mobile on the bottom and have Discord to talk with your friends up top and of course it can be that over glorified Netflix machine if you're stuck on a plane for a few hours and need to pass the time a huge reason for me warming up to this phone tablet hybrid is Samsung's one UI which has the best Windows support you'll find among Android tablets and I personally like it more than iPad OS for most things all this to say that for a device that appears to be sold as a phone first and tablet second credit where credit's due the fold 5 convinced me that tablets have a place in my life in ways that I didn't expect okay so I love the full five a lot but there are a handful of limiting factors that prevent people from wanting to buy one I think you all should consider first we already mentioned price 1800 bucks is expensive for a phone in any context and it doesn't make it any more accessible for people that might even be on the fence at least the fold historically sees discounts throughout the year and if you're willing to wait a generation you can get it for under a grant that said I still wish that the MSRP was a few hundos lower to sell people on the dream then there's the screen on the front which a common complaint for this is that people think it's a bit restrictive with its narrow aspect ratio but personally I'm kind of that weirdo that digs it because it's easy to use with one hand kind of feels like a TV remote in some ways it's adequate for scrolling X rip Twitter or reading stuff on the web but even still I do have some qualms with it typos on the keyboard happen more often than I'd like to admit instead standard 16x9 videos suffer from hilariously bad letterboxing though watching stuff in Ted mode is actually pretty nice seeing how other companies like Google and Oppo are able to dish out foldables with wider more usable screens hopefully we can see Samsung do the same in the future and lastly I can't talk about foldables without mentioning durability I'll say it a million times over I'll take it to my grave these things can take a beating as someone that's used to fold 3 and fold 4 for extended periods of time I've actually dropped them numerous times and subjected them to normal wear and tear I think that the fold 5 is gonna hold up well if not a bit better than the fold 4 because they finally closed the Gap I'd like to think particles are less likely to seep in and ruin the display though it'll never be enough for some people until Samsung gets a proper dust rating on top of that ipx8 water resistance it already has other than that that I think Samsung has the bones of an excellent top of the line Flagship and believe it or not people are about it more than ever however if Samsung really wants to sell more people on the z-fold and Z flip I think we really need to see a big generational lead that'll make them want to Shell out their hard-earned money stress-free and with no regrets I think it'll happen but when it will remains to be seenI'm not gonna beat around the bush the Galaxy Z fold 5 is a tough device to talk about let alone recommend to people most already know how they feel about this thing without having touched or even the scene one they hate the crease they say foldables are too expensive and they break super easily I've heard it all before while there are certainly trade-offs to be had compared to a traditional rectangular smartphone I think there's more to the fold than what people are giving it credit for they're certainly charm with a tablet phone thing but I think the Practical benefits are surprisingly powerful we'll get to the existential crisis a little later in the video but first what even changed with the z-fold five it's hardly the most exciting update Samsung has made to a phone especially if we're comparing it to the last generation so the review portion of this video will be a walk in the park there's the obligatory yearly processor upgrade to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy which yields a significant performance bump from last year games like gentian impact of course run absolutely well on it but you also see the improvements in other areas battery life for example is terrific easily getting me through a normal work day and even well into the evening which is better than my experience on the fold 4 long term additionally while the cameras haven't seen a change in Hardware this year's new SOC helps yield better image processing on the software side don't expect it to outclass the s23 ultra by any means but I'll take any Improvement as a plus also the physical design doesn't visually look that different but with a finer eye there are changes some of which you can absolutely feel in the hands compared to the fold four and that's because the fold 5 has a new hinge mechanism making the overall profile Slimmer by two millimeters and finally closing that dreaded Gap this is an ergonomic Improvement you'll especially notice using the device closed with one hand as you open the phone the hinge feels better than ever as well offering linear resistance and strength to stay open at any angle and of course there is the main event the large 7.6 inch 120 hertz AMOLED display the key upgrade this year is that it Peaks at 1750 nits just like the Galaxy s23 which means it looks particularly good outdoors in harsh sunlight now of course there's no getting around the fact that there's a big old crease running down the middle of the display which hasn't gotten any better or worse chair to the full four but I think it's a decent trade-off for having a tablet that you can use anywhere you want and that's really the point I want to discuss because Samsung pushes the fold 5 as the ultimate smartphone for power users but just how useful is its biggest gimmick and is it enough to actually give it purpose though before we answer that question I'd like to take a moment to Spotlight the sponsor of today's video in cogni protecting our privacy and preventing identity theft has become harder than ever there are hundreds of commercial databases and people search websites that aggregate all kinds of personal information right under our noses things like spending habits IP addresses Social Security numbers home addresses and online history are all available for purchase by anyone marketing companies can use this data to tailor ads to you landlords or potential employers can use this for background searches but most of all this sensitive information can end up in the hands of Bad actors with malicious intent not bad actors like uh now luckily you have the right to request data Brokers to delete your info from these databases but with plenty of them out there it'll take you literally years to do it manually on your own and you'll have to repeat the process over and over again as they continue to collect your data and create new records but that's where Incognito comes in once you create an account and Grant them the right to work on your behalf incogni Works behind the scenes to scrub your personal data off these databases repeat the removal process regularly to keep your identity safe and we'll keep you updated on what they're doing every step of the way if you'd like to secure your privacy and help support the content we do here on denki Act Fast the first 100 people to use the promo code denki using the link in the description below will get a cool 60 off their subscription huge thanks to incogni for sponsoring today's video and now back to my existential crisis at an eye-watering eighteen hundred dollars here in the U.S it's easy to write off the fold five as an overpriced hunk of junk that shouldn't exist it's an exorbitant price tag for any phone period making the barf entry pretty high for most people to even give it a shot but in my opinion the z-fold 5 is a very good Flagship smartphone and an excellent tablet that people don't give enough credit for you see I do a lot of work on my smartphone throughout the day I'll use it to reply to emails post on socials also like checking out Tech blogs frequently to scope out content ideas and might even type out portions of my YouTube scripts in notion whether I need to communicate quickly or ride a sudden wave of inspiration for work it's convenient that my phone is always within Arm's Reach especially when my computer is not that being said some might think that tablets would be right up my alley in more ways than one they're like phones just scaled up a minute endpoint between phones and computers though I and a lot of people rarely use them at the full potential that Apple and Samsung claim is possible unfortunately tablets don't work better or well enough to justify me lugging one around instead of taking out my smartphone or packing a small laptop in my bag which of course has the functionality of a proper desktop OS as a result tablets are often destined to be over glorified Netflix machines or just flat out forgotten about probably collecting dust in your kitchen drawer but for me that perception changed when I started daily driving the fold because it's my phone the better the key here is access having more screen real estate at an instant if I need to juggle around multiple apps simultaneously makes all the difference in the world you can have a news article for research on one side and notion for note-taking on the other or maybe you're playing Cod Mobile on the bottom and have Discord to talk with your friends up top and of course it can be that over glorified Netflix machine if you're stuck on a plane for a few hours and need to pass the time a huge reason for me warming up to this phone tablet hybrid is Samsung's one UI which has the best Windows support you'll find among Android tablets and I personally like it more than iPad OS for most things all this to say that for a device that appears to be sold as a phone first and tablet second credit where credit's due the fold 5 convinced me that tablets have a place in my life in ways that I didn't expect okay so I love the full five a lot but there are a handful of limiting factors that prevent people from wanting to buy one I think you all should consider first we already mentioned price 1800 bucks is expensive for a phone in any context and it doesn't make it any more accessible for people that might even be on the fence at least the fold historically sees discounts throughout the year and if you're willing to wait a generation you can get it for under a grant that said I still wish that the MSRP was a few hundos lower to sell people on the dream then there's the screen on the front which a common complaint for this is that people think it's a bit restrictive with its narrow aspect ratio but personally I'm kind of that weirdo that digs it because it's easy to use with one hand kind of feels like a TV remote in some ways it's adequate for scrolling X rip Twitter or reading stuff on the web but even still I do have some qualms with it typos on the keyboard happen more often than I'd like to admit instead standard 16x9 videos suffer from hilariously bad letterboxing though watching stuff in Ted mode is actually pretty nice seeing how other companies like Google and Oppo are able to dish out foldables with wider more usable screens hopefully we can see Samsung do the same in the future and lastly I can't talk about foldables without mentioning durability I'll say it a million times over I'll take it to my grave these things can take a beating as someone that's used to fold 3 and fold 4 for extended periods of time I've actually dropped them numerous times and subjected them to normal wear and tear I think that the fold 5 is gonna hold up well if not a bit better than the fold 4 because they finally closed the Gap I'd like to think particles are less likely to seep in and ruin the display though it'll never be enough for some people until Samsung gets a proper dust rating on top of that ipx8 water resistance it already has other than that that I think Samsung has the bones of an excellent top of the line Flagship and believe it or not people are about it more than ever however if Samsung really wants to sell more people on the z-fold and Z flip I think we really need to see a big generational lead that'll make them want to Shell out their hard-earned money stress-free and with no regrets I think it'll happen but when it will remains to be seen