When the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 arrives, doubtless this July, it could possibly be a fairly first rate improve over the Z Flip 5 I personal. It’ll reportedly have a slightly bigger battery than the Flip 6, which had a barely greater one than the Flip 5, plus a a lot greater outer display screen.
Sadly, I can’t wait a number of extra months. After a 12 months and a half with a Flip, I’ve reached my breaking level.
To be clear, my cellphone by no means cracked. My folding Flip by no means even sprouted a green line of doom alongside its crease. The manufacturing unit display screen protector did start to peel, however $30 and a visit to uBreakiFix made that downside go away.
No, the tip got here for my Flip when it stopped lasting the day and began waking me up at evening. The battery is consistently dying quicker than it ought to, and ever because the final huge software program replace, the sleep and do-not-disturb modes now not block notification sounds. I can’t determine both one, and the Flip’s distinctive advantages now not really feel ok for me to take care of them anymore.
On battery: I’ve seen this cellphone attain the 80 p.c mark by 9 within the morning, and threaten to die by 9PM. I virtually don’t even use the cellphone once I’m at work, and but now I really feel prefer it at all times must be plugged in.
I at all times knew I’d be making sacrifices to get a cellphone that folds right into a pocket sq.. The Flip 5’s twin batteries have a complete rated capability of 13.92 watt-hours, lower than even the smallest Galaxy S23 cellphone (14.68Wh) that shipped that very same 12 months. However utilizing it wasn’t at all times this unhealthy.
At first, my Flip at all times made it to my bedside charger every evening. Later, I might simply get it there by merely utilizing it rather less within the day, turning off AR in Pokémon Go, or turning on battery saver mode within the evenings.
However after a 12 months, even deleting Pokémon Go fully wasn’t sufficient. After I flew to CES this January, I spotted I couldn’t afford to hold this cellphone at a tradeshow. I needed to transfer all my accounts to a borrowed cellphone simply to do my job. I can’t swear to it, however I actually really feel like I can hint decreased battery life to Samsung’s One UI 6.1 software program replace that arrived final April, and I wouldn’t be the only one.
It might simply be the battery prematurely ageing, I suppose, however I did a number of cursory checks: Samsung’s inner diagnostics say the battery is “Good.”
I’ve had telephones with weak battery earlier than. There was a time I carried round spare battery packs for my Motorola Droid 2, swapping mid-day, each day, till I moved on. But phones with battery doors made that easy; these batteries had been additionally low-cost. And whereas I might most likely manage to permanently replace my Z Flip 5’s batteries with a bit of work, I’d be risking a fragile cellphone that feels poor in different methods, too.
I’m not speaking concerning the crease, which I acquired used to fairly shortly, or the side-mounted fingerprint sensor that misses for me nearly as typically because it hits. Nor am I speaking concerning the digicam, although sure, you do sacrifice within the digicam division with Samsung’s folding telephones. I knew that out of the gate.
Principally, I’m speaking about how Samsung actually has but to embrace the potential of the Flip, and the way pointless its exterior display screen can really feel after the novelty wears.
When folks ask me what I truly choose concerning the Z Flip, I’ve wound up saying it’s actually about the way it matches in my pocket, and the way superior it feels to fold. It’s a sq. when closed, so it stays put in my pocket and doesn’t jut out.
However it’s not truly a small cellphone, and it’s not a very good one-handed cellphone as a result of there’s no one-handed solution to open it. I principally stopped making an attempt after the tenth time I fumbled it to the bottom.
And I do discover myself opening it nearly each time I exploit it, as a result of it’s nearly by no means value bothering with the Flip’s cowl display screen. Whereas it’s truly bigger than the screens on early Android handsets, Samsung merely gained’t allow you to use the outer display screen like a correct Android cellphone.
Earlier than you ask: sure, I downloaded Samsung’s Good Lock app and used its MultiStar sub-app to painstakingly load every of my most used Android apps onto that display screen, separately, but it surely’s nearly at all times extra environment friendly to easily open up the cellphone as a result of they’re tougher to make use of and tougher to launch. Most apps don’t scale correctly, and it takes an additional swipe to start out them; multiple if I swipe the improper course first.
With the quilt display screen, Samsung inexplicably makes you swipe left as an alternative of up for apps, and proper as an alternative of down for notifications. Though the bar on the backside appears to be like like my app drawer deal with, it’s truly a Samsung Pay shortcut as an alternative, and it nonetheless journeys me as much as today.
For a lot of months, I compelled myself to make use of the quilt display screen to signal my children out of faculty, to tug up my 2FA authenticator codes, to observe for my Uber driver, to remotely open my storage door. However the one factor I can truly do higher there’s selfies, which allow you to level the nice lens in direction of your self when you body your shot with the quilt display screen. Even so, I feel I’ve gotten extra use out of this Game Boy Advance party trick than all the quilt apps I’ve used mixed.
So, after CES in January, I began trying to find my subsequent. I hoped possibly I might discover a small cellphone once more, however no luck. On Reddit, nevertheless, I noticed a pattern: many Galaxy Z Flip homeowners had been discussing whether or not they need to abandon folding telephones, now that Samsung was all of the sudden providing $500 in trade-in credit in direction of a Galaxy S25 as an alternative.
After confirming that the vanilla Galaxy S25 is certainly the smallest high-end Android cellphone you should buy immediately, I used to be intrigued. After listening to good issues concerning the battery life with this 12 months’s mannequin and its 15.16Wh pack, I made a decision to leap on the deal.
The S25 doesn’t really feel like a small cellphone in my pocket, I’m afraid. It feels a bit boring in comparison with my Flip, and possibly I’ll be complaining about Samsung’s newest software program replace a 12 months from immediately! However I wanted a brand new cellphone.
To date, the digicam’s a lot better, and the battery life appears nice. As I write these phrases, it’s 5:40PM, and my evenly used cellphone is at 80 p.c. There’s lots left within the tank.
Pictures by Sean Hollister / The Verge