After 24 Hours With Samsung's Flip 7, One Big Thing Stands Out

6 days ago

The Galaxy Z Flip lineup has been nan astir celebrated of Samsung's foldable devices, and its entreaty is clear -- who can't use from a instrumentality pinch each nan functionalities of a regular smartphone that tin besides shape-shift into a smaller telephone for mundane ease?

Also: My first 24 hours pinch nan Galaxy Z Fold 7 near maine wholly mesmerized

With its latest summation to nan lineup, nan Galaxy Z Flip 7, Samsung leaned into nan phone's astir charismatic feature, making it moreover much portable pinch a slimmer design, while besides much capable, pinch nan intent to amended personification acquisition for powerfulness users and mundane users astatine nan aforesaid time.

However, astatine $1,099, nan Z Flip 7 is still successful nan higher value scope of phones. To find whether it is worthy nan finance of your money, I spent 24 hours pinch nan phone. Let's dive correct in.

Highly anticipated FlexWindow refresh

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 vs Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6

At a glance, nan astir visible alteration is nan FlexWindow (the outer screen). The surface is now larger, spanning from 1 area of nan telephone to nan other, pinch nan bezels hardly visible -- a large upgrade from its predecessor, arsenic seen successful nan photograph above. Not only is it astir artistic to look at, but it is besides much practical, resembling nan look of nan Moto Razr 60 Ultra.

The 4.1-inch FlexWindow is besides brighter, pinch 2,600 nits of highest brightness and a smoother 120Hz refresh rate. It besides has VisionBooster, a characteristic that enhances outdoor visibility, making it nan brightest and highest-functioning FlexWindow yet. When utilizing nan Flip 7 astatine a parkland connected a sunny NYC day, I was capable to look astatine nan surface without problem.

Also: I changed 10 Samsung telephone settings to importantly amended nan personification experience

So, why does this make it a win? To get much than conscionable nostalgia retired of nan clamshell design, you request to beryllium capable to usage nan outer surface for basal tasks, and nan larger surface makes this much possible.

I recovered myself utilizing it to do basal tasks specified arsenic taking photos, viewing notifications, and moreover looking up accusation much than pinch nan past models, apt because connected nan older models nan constricted surface size wasn't really enticing for maine to forgo opening nan phone. I besides recovered that it was a awesome conveyance for accessing nan latest AI features--which leads maine to nan adjacent section.

Easier AI access

If you attraction astir AI connected your mobile device, this screen surface makes it easier to get nan contiguous assistance you want without moreover opening your phone. Gemini Live is now accessible connected nan screen screen, whether done a agelong property of nan broadside fastener aliases done nan app. It tin reply questions quickly for you connected nan spell aliases entree apps that return action for you, specified arsenic creating a statement aliases adding a almanac event.

Also: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE hands-on: The 'cheaper' foldable telephone sewage maine very confused

If you often usage multimodal AI assistance, for illustration I do, you will beryllium happy to study that you tin now stock nan camera correct from your FlexWindow -- meaning you prop your telephone up and usage nan camera to get multimodal Gemini assistance from Gemini Live. Now, alternatively of having to prop my iPhone 16 Pro, which is my regular driver, connected a h2o vessel aliases different point to return afloat advantage of nan multimodal assistance, I americium capable to conscionable unfastened nan telephone and group it connected nan nearest aboveground to inquire a question.

You tin besides entree a Personalized Now Bar and Now Brief from nan screen screen, a characteristic antecedently constricted to nan Galaxy S25 Ultra. This makes it easy to get a speedy rundown of personalized insights specified arsenic weather, arena summaries, and news. Beyond these, One UI 8 brings different adjuvant features specified arsenic improved photograph and audio editing.

Additionally, acquisition of nan Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 will besides travel pinch six months of Google AI Pro, which retails for $19.99 a month. The scheme gives you entree to immoderate of Google's astir precocious AI offerings, including much entree to Google's astir tin model, Gemini 2.5 Pro; Flow, Google's AI filmmaking instrumentality built pinch Veo 3 Fast, which makes hyper-realistic videos; and more. So if you are large into AI, aliases person been wanting to springiness it a try, nan Z Flip 7 makes it easier to dive into nan precocious features.

More powerfulness successful a slimmer package

The Flip 7 is thinner, coming successful astatine 13.7mm thick, compared to past year's 14.9 mm. This makes it much comfortable to gaffe into your pocket, minimizing nan uncomfortable emotion of having 2 mini phones stacked connected apical of each other.

Even though it is slimmer, Samsung didn't discuss connected cardinal components, including a larger soul show of 6.9 inches, compared to nan 6.7-inch surface connected nan Galaxy Z Flip 6, and a larger 4,300mAh artillery (up from 4,000mAh) that tin grip up to 31 hours of video playback time, according to Samsung.

One time of accordant usage is not astir capable clip to judge a battery's performance, truthful I will supply an update successful my afloat review. However, I haven't seen immoderate signs of different artillery decline, and nan artillery has lasted maine done nan afloat time without an issue.

Instead of nan expected Snapdragon 8 Elite, nan Z Flip 7 is powered by nan Exynos 2500, nan first 3nm in-house processor, released conscionable past week. The capacity differences betwixt some chipsets shouldn't beryllium noticeable, different than nan in-house processor enabling caller experiences specified arsenic DeX support connected nan Z Flip for nan first time, allowing users to plug their telephone into show and usage it for illustration a desktop computer.

It has nan aforesaid camera specs arsenic past year, pinch a 50MP wide perspective and a 12MP ultrawide sensor. In past year's Flip 6, this camera strategy was a awesome boost from nan Flip 5, and ZDNET's reappraisal recovered that while it didn't connection flagship-tier performance, it was still a tin system, excelling successful well-lit conditions and producing vibrant, elaborate photos.

Samsung besides claims to person made upgrades to nan image processing, including Enhanced Nightography and 10-bit HDR for much elaborate videos, which should upgrade and differentiate nan camera's value from nan preceding model. Below are immoderate photos I took successful different ray conditions.

Photos taken connected Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7

Overall, successful nan past 24 hours, I person genuinely enjoyed my acquisition pinch nan Flip 7. The biggest standout successful nan constricted clip was nan larger screen screen, which made it easy for maine to forgo opening nan phone. Overall, Samsung upgraded nan Galaxy Z Flip 7 specs successful almost each way, but enactment tuned to ZDNET for a deeper dive into nan Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7.

I will beryllium specifically looking for longer-range performance, specified arsenic artillery and camera performance. If willing successful purchasing it, you tin preorder yours for a starting value of $1,099, pinch respective promotions and offers already active. The colors see Coralred, Jetblack, Blue Shadow, and nan online-exclusive Mint, and retention sizes are 256GB to 512GB.