There’s a lot of excitement around the Z Fold8’s form factor that unfolds into an actual 4:3 aspect ratio. The idea is that watching those 16:9 videos will feel more natural, and it’s also a nice shape for reading manga. Plus, it’s great for doomscrolling IG Reels because most of the icons that are usually on top of the video are now at the sides outside the video’s area. But I do have mixed feelings about this form factor, and we’re going to look at its performance in different areas like its camera, gaming, and sound from its speakers. So buckle up!
Design
The first reason why I’ve got mixed feelings about this new design is because using it one-handed is a little tricky. Even with huge, masculine hands like mine, I need to stretch my thumb just a little more to reach some icons. It’s got a great hinge, but if I do want to set it down on the table and angle the screen towards me, maybe to watch a video, the hinge doesn’t catch the angle and it just springs flat.
Another issue I’m having with this design is actually the speakers, specifically, the placement of the top and bottom speakers. They are both on the same side of the phone, so when it’s unfolded and you’re watching a video, or gaming, in landscape mode, because that’s better for widescreen videos right? The sound is coming from one side only, so no stereo, and no spaciousness.
To get proper stereo, the screen has to be held upright which isn’t as ideal for videos. And some of the games I tried, like COD mobile and Among Us, cannot rotate into that aspect ratio, so the sound is locked to one side only. This means if you’re gaming, best to use earbuds or headphones.
Performance
One of you asked what it’s like for gaming. Well, aside from the sound,, I’d say not bad overall. It’s powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and this is the 256GB model so it’s got 12GB of RAM. (Note: the 1TB model comes with 16GB of RAM) I couldn’t run any benchmarking apps on it because right now as I’m testing it, Samsung has blocked all benchmarking apps.
But games like COD Mobile run smoothly on max graphical settings. As for thermals, it gets rather warm mostly around the camera bump area but not too hot to hold, thankfully. It does get really warm though, and when it does, there is throttling, and you might see some stuttering especially with apps that require more rendering power, like VRChat (it’s a game where you can meet people in chatrooms, I use it a lot for learning Japanese - I still suck at Japanese by the way)
To be honest, I’m not surprised about the heat because, number 1, it’s really thin, so it might not be possible to fit a large vapor chamber in there. And number 2, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, being a powerful chip, generates a lot heat so it might have been optimized to run on an ultra-thin device like the Z Fold8.
Speakers Sound Quality
About their sound quality from the speakers, it’s within expectations. Not much bass in there, but everything else sounds crisp with a heavier emphasis on mids. It’s definitely good enough for casual media consumption. Like I said, within expectations.
👉🏻 Have a listen to the sound quality samples
With the Dolby Atmos setting, there’s a bit more spaciousness and diffusion but not a whole lot different without Atmos. It’s not very loud, though. I’m always at 70% volume, and in noisy places, the volume has to be maxed out.
👉🏻 Have a listen to the sound quality samples with Dolby Atmos
Camera Quality
It doesn’t have the best camera setup of the series, because unlike the Ultra with its 200MP main camera, it has 50MP main cameras, both Ultrawide and Wide, with the wide having 2x Optical quality zoom, and digital zoom maxing out at 10x. And as I’m using the camera, it performs within expectations. For example, shooting 12MP photos of these colored pencils, it has good sharpness and detail without looking too oversharpened, and the color leans a little warmer by default.
When I’m zoomed in, though, it seems to exaggerate the little details by sharpening and adding contrast. On 50MP you only have wide and Ultrawide, but it does allow you to crop into the picture even more without losing detail. Overall picture quality looks similar to 12MP.
For videos, I shot in log, and after color grading, it’s got that soft, cinematic texture to videos. Not too sharp and brittle, definitely vlog-worthy quality. However, it is still a small sensor so even with top notch stabilization, it does pick up some jitter when you’re walking, like what I’m doing in these samples. And this has an impact on sharpness. For the best quality, shoot from a stationary position.
👉🏻 Have a look at the video quality samples
Conclusion
Overall, I think Samsung is on to something. Big props to them for doing something so different with the Z Fold8 that it’s stealing a bit of the limelight from the Ultra. It does have its compromises, and in some ways the execution can be better.
But in spite of all its quirks, this form factor is growing on me. As for whether it justifies its very high retail price? Maybe. If I’m paying that much, I want something that’s tried and proven, and not potentially just a one time experiment. If you want to check its latest price in case it’s on promo.
Check latest price:
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 - https://amzn.to/45ncaKn
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