Samsung Galaxy Z Fold6 and Galaxy Z Flip6 Review: Sleek foldables

The Fold6 has a slightly larger battery cell at 4,400mAh, but the screen consumes a lot more power, so my battery experience is about the same. With average use (maybe a bit more) or more intensive use (like watching a lot of Instagram Reels), you’re likely to need to charge it by the evening, especially if you use the 7.6-inch screen a lot. I got it through two days with minimal use, and it’s nice to have the option to expand the screen real estate on a whim.

I’ve been enjoying the larger screen while multitasking with split-screen apps and apps that take advantage of the larger screen, and although there’s still a crease down the middle, it hasn’t been too much of an issue. do It bothers me that I have to rotate my phone to landscape orientation to get the better two-pane view in Gmail (email list on the left, email content on the right). I know this isn’t Samsung’s fault, but there’s a lot of collaboration between the two companies and I hope it’s been resolved by now.

Any other complaints? I’m no longer a fan of the side-mounted fingerprint sensors on these phones. I’m so used to having in-display sensors that are accessible with whichever hand I’m holding the phone with, but the side-mounted capacitive sensor often forces me to change my grip or use my other hand to unlock it. (It’s a small thing, but it’s been 6 years!)

The camera is closer to what’s on the Galaxy S24 series and is quite good. I was rarely disappointed with the photos I took, but I would have liked a longer telephoto zoom camera, like the 5x optical zoom on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. That said, do For example, the Flip 6 now has a video camera mode: fire up the camera, switch to video mode, flip the folded section to landscape orientation at a 90-degree angle, and hold it in your hand as if you were holding a video camera. This makes it easier to film and access the on-screen controls with one hand for steady footage.

The best part is the camera, which remains the same as before. Both phones let you see a preview on the external screen, so you can take your own travel photos hands-free in front of your subject without handing the phone to a stranger. As I was setting up the Flip6 to take a photo in front of the Eiffel Tower, my fellow tourist asked if she could take a photo with me. I replied, “No thanks.” She looked at the Flip6 pointed at me and said, “Wow, is that a flip phone? That’s very smart.” It certainly is.

It’s a great travel companion, and now it’s even more useful with Samsung’s new updated Interpreter Mode. With this mode on, when you fold the screen down, your words are translated and displayed as text on the external screen for the other person to see. The other person can tap a button on the external display to start a conversation, and the translated words will appear on the internal screen. In optimal noise conditions and when people speak relatively clearly, it works well enough, but you first need to get past the awkwardness of gesturing to figure out how the whole process works.

AI Tax

Many of the new features on the Fold6 and Flip6 are Galaxy AI, a suite of artificial intelligence features that Samsung first introduced with the Galaxy S24 series. While I rarely found the need to use most of them, there are some handy features, like a Voice Recorder app that does a good job of transcribing voice recordings (though it’s not as instantaneous as Google Recorder on Pixel phones). Even better, you can translate your notes into different languages.