Why Pixel 11 Pro Fold BEATS Samsung Z Fold8 Ultra 🤔
Don’t get me wrong, I love the Z Fold8 Ultra because it’s so thin and light it’s like a regular phone, and very powerful as we’re about to see. But, the Pixel 11 Pro Fold beats the Z Fold8 Ultra in ways that are less to do with specs, but more about design, about how I want folding phones to be. And I’m not talking about the new HiLight feature.
Having a distinctive light at the back for notifications flashing different colors is borderline interesting, but as of now it’s still a pretty limited feature. For example, as of this video I could only get it to work for Google Gemini and not for my contacts list yet. So I can’t decide whether it’s useful or not yet.
Nonetheless, these are the reasons why this Pixel makes much more sense to me as a folding phone than the Samsung. And to balance things out in case someone says I’m biased, I’m also going to highlight the ways the Z Fold8 Ultra beats the Pixel. So buckle up!
Why I prefer Pixel 11 Pro Fold ( Reason 1)
I’m going to tell you why the Pixel is designed better. When it’s folded, and I’m using it on a flat surface, it does not wobble! The camera bump is designed not to cause any wobble, whereas the Samsung wobbles like crazy unless you get a cover for it which flattens out the back.
Why I prefer Pixel 11 Pro Fold ( Reason 2)
The second reason is the hinge. While the Samsung’s hinge is awesome, when I try to angle it so I can watch videos, it doesn’t grip 45 degree angles that well. I didn’t face that issue with the Pixel, I could easily angle it 45 degrees, or a bit lower than that.
Why I prefer Pixel 11 Pro Fold ( Reason 3)
Third, when the screen’s unfolded it’s so comfortable to hold because the curved bezels, whereas after holding the Samsung for a while, it starts to dig into my palms which isn’t as comfortable.
Why I prefer Pixel 11 Pro Fold ( Reason 4)
Fourth, its speakers are on both sides of the device. We’ve got one speaker on the top part of one half, the other speaker’s on the bottom of the other half. This way, no matter which orientation the phone is in, you will get stereo separation. Whereas the Samsung only has the top and bottom speakers on one side, so if you want stereo sound, you must rotate the phone 90 degrees, otherwise the sound’s only going to come from one side.
And as for the sound quality of the speakers, I do think it’s better. It sounds cleaner, better separated, and its mids are fuller. Like the Samsung you won’t be getting much bass from it, but it is a smoother sound.
👉🏻 Listen to the sound quality samples
Why I prefer Pixel 11 Pro Fold ( Reason 5)
And lastly, the Pixel has better thermals than the Samsung. It’s not a graphics powerhouse because it runs on Tensor G6 not the mighty Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, so even in benchmarks like the 3DMark’s 20-minute Wildlife Extreme test, its average framerate is much lower.
But it takes a very long time under sustained loads to heat up, whereas the Samsung heats up very quickly. Within the first few minutes it’s already like 40 degrees, whereas it takes the Pixel about 10-15 minutes to get that hot. It could be the vapor chamber, but it also could be that Tensor G6 is more heat-efficient.
Camera performance (Photos)
But what about cameras? Well, although its main cameras don’t have as many megapixels as the Samsung’s and I do think Samsung’s photos look a bit sharper and more detailed, I think pictures shot on the Pixel look nicer. The colours look more natural, nicely capturing the golden hues of sunset whereas the highlights look a bit blown on the Samsung.
And the Pixel’s zoom is nicer because it does have an actual 5x telephoto, whereas the Samsung starts cropping in after 3x. The Pixel’s Super Res zoom algorithm also does a nicer job of patching crop zooms so it looks smoother, less noisy than the Samsung.
Camera performance (Videos)
That same natural color also applies to videos, from the contrast to saturation, it looks much closer to what I’m seeing in real life, whereas the Samsung looks more exposed in the highlights, and color contrast looks a bit more boosted. The Pixel also has better sharpness, and the Pixel also zooms in a bit further shooting videos compared to the Samsung.
That being said, videos shot on the Samsung also looks pretty nice. It’s got a softer focus, and on their default settings the Samsung has better stabilization, which is even more obvious when shooting videos zoomed in. You can see that there’s a lot more wobble on the Pixel.
👉🏻 Look at the video quality samples
Reasons why the Z Fold8 Ultra is better
Pixel 11 Pro Fold (Left), Z Fold8 Ultra (Right)
So the Z Fold8 Ultra has better camera stabilization, but it’s also better in other ways. We all know it’s a thinner, more powerful device with better graphics processing for games. Screen’s also a little brighter, and I like the way I can customize the lock screen on OneUI. But I also like that it’s a much better multitasking machine.
I could organize the different apps into split screens or windows, up to 7 can be on the screen at the same time and it wouldn’t break a sweat. The Pixel does multitasking differently. It allows up to 2 apps split screen, and up to 5 apps in ‘bubble’ mode which has to be dismissed if you want to use the existing split screen apps. This is probably to optimize for limited screen space, but I would have liked it better if I could easily convert bubble apps into a split screen window.
Not as much flexibility as the Samsung’s multitasking. The Samsung is also more customizable sound-wise because it’s got a graphic EQ, and a global Dolby Atmos setting for more spacious audio using its speakers or earbuds. From an audio perspective, this gives the Samsung a slight edge, even though the Pixel’s speakers sound better.
So those are the reasons why the Z Fold8 Ultra is better, but as we saw, there are compelling reasons to go for the Pixel 11 Pro Fold in spite of its less impressive power and fatter size. Comment down below which one you would pick!
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