This is our new section, where we will pick up a few gadgets and live with it for at least a month or longer, the first one in our “Exhibit Lab” is the Samsung Z fold2. It indeed is a fascinating smartphone and usually gets all the attention, even from Apple fanboys who all have loved the “Screen Presence” and the touch and feel of the device, and then they shrug it off, with an “oh, Android” sigh. Initial few days will take some time to carry the weight around, but once you get used to it and if you are on the go, there isn’t a better device. I did not touch my iPad at all. Right from my morning newspaper to Kindle reading before I hit the bed in the night. Ok even Netflix binging is very immersive on the screen with a near bezel-less, and the screen gets wholly optimized with an end-to-end viewing experience.
It did fall off from my desk a few times, but the “shock absorbers” built-in absorbed it and ensured that the screen did not get any crack. The Aluminium frame and the Corning Gorilla glass do act as shields for these accidental drop-offs. My work requires me to check designs, compose long emails, and you can do that easily with both finger typing and folding out. Yes, for WhatsApp texting, the screen from the outside does feel at times a shade smaller. Battery life is decent to live by. Speakers are quite loud; loud enough to get your hotel room or suite noisy and a small party can continue. The camera is not the best, and S21 and S20 Ultra will do a better job than the Apple iPhone12, but Z Fold2 never thumped its chest on the camera front.
The only worry was always to take it for a run. If you are the sort who would usually hold it in your palm and run, you are sorted. You can’t tuck it in your tracks and shorts and expect to complete a marathon, nor can you take it for biking.
All in all, fold2 is a great phone to live with and live by. On the downside, missed having a stylus, missed a larger battery life and I would strongly recommend Samsung that in its next iteration they should think of a sleeker and squarer phone with a wider outer screen. The device’s length is perfect, and when it folds out at 7.6 inches, it looks dapper. But if you ask me, an ideal fold3 should fold out to an 8.2-inch screen and weigh less than 225gm. The fold2 currently weighs 282 gm and puts things in perspective, the Samsung S21 ultra weighs 169 gm.
PRICE: ₹ 149,998
Specs:
DIMENSIONS
Unfolded: 159.2 x 128.2 x 6.9 mm
Folded: 159.2 x 68 x 16.8 mm
Weight 282 g
DISPLAY TYPE Foldable Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+
Size: 7.6 inches
Resolution: 1768 x 2208 pixels
Cover display: 6.23″, Super AMOLED, 816 x 2260 pixels (25:9), Corning Gorilla Glass Victus
PLATFORM
OS: Android 10, upgradable to Android 11, One UI 3.0
Chipset: Qualcomm SM8250 Snapdragon 865+ (7 nm+)
CPU: Octa-core
GPU: Adreno 650