Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G MORE PICTURES

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G

User opinions and reviews

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  • M
  • Miltspoon
  • IcT
  • 28 Aug 2021

I have had my unlocked Z Fold 3 for 3 days Model Number SM-F926U1. I traded a S21 Ultra for it. I really like this phone so far. All screens are very crisp. It is a fast phone and gave me no trouble switching from old to new. The Sound is very good. it also paired quickly with my Auto GPS System. Be prepared to show it to many people if you use it in public. All I did yesterday was show my phone to people when would take it out to use it. The only Negative things I have to say about the phone, not a deal breaker, I do not like the fingerprint sensor very much. And it is just a tad to narrow when using as a regular phone. This is a heavy phone so be prepared and I like it because it is heavy. I am very glad I bought it. And with the Samsung trade in program you can't go wrong.

    WhiteDragem, 28 Aug 2021I do not see an issue with the Note series not being out th... moreThese used to make sense to me focusing only Samsung as my OEM of choice, I had the worse battery life with the Note 8 and a dead screen without any fall, then I bought the Mate 20X - and had my first reality check.
    I got the Fold 2 to get my communicator feel and use again, but the battery life was like the Note 8, and simply impractical in a lot of ways. Also the promised esim functionality never happened TILL DATE.
    I then got the Mi Mix Fold by Xiaomi from 28mobile, with a 5050mah, the difference was night and day (the batteries are split on both half's of the phone. It also has a better cooling system which you would feel on everyday use. The outer and inner screens give a better and satisfactory phone - tablet combo unlike my 2 in which case the outer is too impractical to be a phone and the inner is too small to be a tablet. The desktop OS on the inner screen is enhances productivity on so many levels and entirely eliminates the limitations of the Fold 2, in terms of multitasking.
    Very vital also is the inclusion of a dual nano (physical) Sim card capability - something Samsung couldn't and still can't achieve.
    I think one has to wake up to the reality of spending so much for crap.
    My only limitation at the moment with the Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold is that I want to do away with Google all together and have the Harmony OS as my alternate OS to Apple.
    My Mate 20X will be getting the Harmony OS 2, and I sincerely hope that the Mi Mix Fold (being a Chinese company) will adopt the Harmony OS.
    My alternate when upgrading would be the Mate X2 4G. It comes with the Harmony OS 2 out of the box.
    Samsung can keep their fragile and flashy rip-off policies.

      I do not see an issue with the Note series not being out this year (as an buyer of a note 10 & 20), as phones do not become ‘out of date’ simply due to a new CPU or GPU being used.

      As long as the old Note devices are not put to pasture by Samsung quickly (which is pretty common thing they do to force new product sale; ie release an update for last seasons phone that breaks the camera focus or some such (yes, wipe cache etc to fix doesn’t)), and as long as the Note 10/20 still get security updates...

      of course ideally security updates should be seperate to OS updates (I don’t like how apple has transitioned to security with iOS updates, and hence FORCES everyone to run latest iOS- a fairly recent practice/change of practice).. and should continue for awhile.
      The Note 7 is getting pretty ‘end of life’ regarding security updates, so there is a natural decay with these modern products that relegates them to alarm clocks and media players eventually...

      The s-pen being external isn’t an issue when the case can hold it.
      Would rather have the ingress protection.. (yes I know IP68 has been achieved on previous Notes WITH the S-pen included), and the extra battery life is no doubt better...
      Lifting a pen from a Case is no doubt better for many anyway, and with two different Stylus’ available, the notion of an external holder isn’t TOO bad...

      -=battery life=-
      a lot of people here are angry about a manufacturer dropping 100mAH of battery capacity from a product.
      As someone who has sold a lot of digital cameras, including some cheap ones that are driven purely by AA batteries; not all quoted capacities are the same..
      some hgh quality german batteries that quote half the rated power of ‘consumer mainstream stuff’ (with big numbers advertised on the pack) often vastly outperform them.
      As a motor home user who geared up for off grid living (solar and battery storage for power), a lot of battery cell research I have done shows that there is a lot more to cell structure and battery build than ‘just the numbers’.
      I’d rather manufacturers give GOOD/GREAT batteries that last (especially in a world with 25Watt fastcharging being ‘a thing’(a feature I would NEVER use due to battery care practice!)), and not all batteries are created equally.
      I bought a Sony XZ Premium and LOVED the battery techs that were employed; most manufacturers couldn’t care about whether our products keep working beyond warranty period and buy battery components to suit...
      anyhow- a battery that claims a certain mAH number might have nothing in common with another battery quoting the same mAH rating...
      IF we as consumers keep kicking up a fuss over a mere couple of hundred miiliamp hours of storage, manufacturers will certainly start to only use shitty batteries that quote the biggest numbers... (rather than well built/designed to last units that might have larger cells with ‘less capacity’)..

      Of more interest is the notion that the 5G antenna is system on a chip now (rather than an external unit, as many ‘new technology’ parts get initially)..
      It was why I kept my HTC Velocity 4G for so long- it was a first product for the 4G network, and therefor had a proper antenna design..
      as manufacturers reduce costs, the antenna modules are usually made smaller, generally require more power to operate to equal performance, and therefor raise SAR output and reduce battery life.

      The Fold3 has the now reduced size 5G module, which will likely equate to more battery steal and a higher SAR,... of course we shouldn’t be using glass over the antennas, and I like the layout of the Fold2 as the antennas are somewhat well placed.
      Samsung are one of the only manufacturers i know who shoot the signal out from the back of the phone only (every one else cooks your head without thought), and is why I advocate most family to buy their kids a Samsung Note..
      The Note 8 has one of the best (lowest) SAR ratings and was my second hand search when looking for a replacement for my childs’ recently broken Note 2..

      In fact I bought the Note10+ rather than the Note20 due to the much lower SAR.
      I am not inclined to put a SIM chip in the FOLD(2) due to the higher SAR rates, and would rather use Samsungs’ ‘make calls on other devices feature’ to keep things ‘untoasty’.
      The Fold 3 SAR ratings I have seen so far seem to confirm that the smaller antenna chip has raised power to the antenna circuit..

      Not sure about whether all Folds have the Glass back, but I was understanding that the Fold2 didn’t and the Fold3 now uses a glass back (bad for reception vs plastic)...
      When i look at the model for the Fold3 in the stores, it looks the same back panel as the Fold2 which I assumed was some form of metalised plastic..; the internals of the Fold2 certainly have the antennas well placed so might be apart of the significant run time differences between the devices- where we would assume that dropping from a CPU fabbed at 7+nm to one done on a 5nanometre process should give MORE battery life.. the screen didn’t get larger, although the front one can now run at 120hz- I can only guess the added brightness would rush through the power, but I was under the impression that endurance tests set to a specific NIT brightness and should therefore be equal...
      My takeaway is that a cheaper antenna module is ultimately giving the product the reduced runtime (more than the few percent difference in the battery capacity).

      TL:DR
      nothing wrong with Samsung reducing their lineup to be sans Note for a year (our present phones are not magically broken yet)

      battery capacity varying by small amounts SHOULDN’T be of concern to end users; who should educate themselves to care about HIGHER QUALITY battery products (like the one in the Sony XZ PREMIUM)

      Antenna modules/location and implementation is of utmost importance for a PHONE

        • G
        • Guest Free
        • RJ7
        • 27 Aug 2021

        I'm very disappointed this year Samsung didn't launch Note Series, they launch Z Fold series for replace Note Series on this year.
        After I watch and read of the Z Fold 3 design & Specs. I feel very disappointed, 1st don't have SD Slot, 2nd the S-Pen can't keep on the Phone like Note Series Design.

          • R
          • Robbie
          • nRE
          • 26 Aug 2021

          I am so, so, so tempted.
          Could I live with 512GB?....maybe, although an SD card slot would have made it closer to perfect and more useful for everyday purposes.
          I might wait and try to pick one up from ebay in a few months time for about £1000.
          We'll see.

            • P
            • PiCosm
            • 39y
            • 26 Aug 2021

            See the Fold 5 or 6 in Westworld - made in 2016. Amazing tri fold device that’s very realistically bought to life in the series.

              • L
              • Luxor
              • KZK
              • 26 Aug 2021

              WhiteDragem, 23 Aug 2021Long time GSMArena’er here (since the start); has been awhi... moreOk

                Does the unlocked version have all the radios to use on any US carrier? Or does one have to get the carrier specific one?

                  • V
                  • VFA
                  • FMY
                  • 25 Aug 2021

                  Shocked, 25 Aug 2021A 12mp camera???? Or have I read this wrong?You read it right. :(

                    AshkanArabim, 23 Aug 2021While this may be true, you have to consider that the phone... moreIt can be fitted with two batteries 🔋 one each fold instead of one. Each to be 4,400 mA. The weight should be a non issue considering the many screens. Xiaomi have experimented on this! It's called dual battery.

                      • S
                      • Shocked
                      • pJF
                      • 25 Aug 2021

                      A 12mp camera???? Or have I read this wrong?

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • Twq
                        • 25 Aug 2021

                        Isn't it awesome how you can't even install a different OS after Samsung stops support, if you want functioning cameras? This will be an expensive paperweight in a couple of years, unless you stick with the stock OS after support ends. Such a shame.

                          Hello

                          No words regarding antenna type installed? is it 4xMiMO, millimeter, array antennas which configuration is impemented for 5G ? Who has the best signal reception ? Why always NO words regarding how 5G radio is implemented in testing phone ?
                          best regards

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • 8kP
                            • 25 Aug 2021

                            with this battery life the device belongs in the trash, a big disappointment.

                              • C
                              • Campos
                              • LTc
                              • 24 Aug 2021

                              The plz bring back the note series and stop thing about your self the world needs notes not this flip phones.

                                • B
                                • Battery Guru
                                • 7Xn
                                • 24 Aug 2021

                                A phone that thick only have 4k mAh battery?

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • pee
                                  • 24 Aug 2021

                                  Snapdragon 888 or 888+? And LPDDR5 5500 or 6400?

                                    • g
                                    • gica
                                    • 0Ua
                                    • 23 Aug 2021

                                    Wifi6 has only HE80 bandwidth not HE160, sadly.

                                      • A
                                      • Ali
                                      • XWm
                                      • 23 Aug 2021

                                      It reminds me of the Nokia E90 communicator! What a phone it was, simply generations ahead of its time. The only phone i ever had that ppl would actually notice and compliment it....

                                      Good old Nokia days...

                                        WhiteDragem, 23 Aug 2021Long time GSMArena’er here (since the start); has been awhi... moreYou've made some valid points here, and yes, the Knox complication is a real nightmare - for some reason the regional thing makes a mess of both buying the phones and using all the functionalities.

                                        As someone who used the 9210 and the 9210i, I sincerely hoped I could get my communicator feel and use back with Fold 2, sadly it fell short on so many levels that even though I still used it for a while as my main ANDROID business tool, it was more of a YouTube phone for me. Then I got the Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold and I found my COMMUNICATOR - The feel in hand, ease of holding it, inner screen can go for me as a tablet, the aspect ratio is good enough, the outer screen holds more than my Z fold 2 and most importantly the dual nano SIM functionality.

                                        Samsung tricked us into believing the esim functionality would come up after the said update BUT it never did. With the Xiaomi, I've been awakened to value for money - something I've ignored I've the years with Samsung, even with my Mega 2, Note 5 and Note 8 screens going black on me without any impact or fall and cost about 70% the price of the phone to fix.

                                        Like I said, what I'm waiting for is the Flip from Xiaomi to continue the fold experience. I'm done with Samsung.

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