Galaxy Z Flip 4 Reminded Me How Satisfying It¡¯s To Hang Up Calls On A Flip Phone

Today, all phones look alike -- the giant slabs of glass and metal, with a large screen at the front to interact with.

And while this combo has worked for several years now, it has started to get pretty monotonous, despite the performance and the features the phones are able to pack with them.

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This is why when Samsung asked me if I¡¯d like to try their Galaxy Z Flip 4, I said yes without hesitating for a second. The smartphone with its folding screen definitely made me reminisce about my time with the classic Moto Razr decades from decades ago.

However, when I actually started to use it, my experience was nowhere close to what I thought it would be like.

The flip design

The Flip 4 is a very compact device when snapped shut and easily fits the palm of my hand. I got the black colourway and with it came the shiny blacked-out edges that shouted premium. The tiny display was covered by a glass strip which houses the surprisingly low-profile camera bump.

Flipping it open however was a very different experience, however, it didn¡¯t snap open, and I had to use both of my hands to flip it open, which honestly was an issue, especially when I had my other hand occupied.

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Using two hands the flip action was smooth, but for someone who has thumb-flicked their flip phones to prop them open in the past, this didn¡¯t budge well in that motion. I had to either take some support off my belly or some other surface to leverage it to open.

Even for shutting, I had to make sure I pushed both the flaps till the very end to close and it didn't snap shut for me. That for me was pretty anticlimactic and in a day or two of use burst the nostalgia bubble for me.

What did feel fun was hanging up phone calls by snapping the phone shut. Especially those annoying telecallers!

The display(s)

Perks of having a flip phone is that you get two screens -- one inside the flip and one on the outside. Inside the Flip 4, however, is a folding 6.7-inch AMOLED display that¡¯s pretty tall, sporting a resolution of 1080 by 2640 pixels.

The internal flexible screen gets a layer of protection, although it's nowhere close to the Gorilla Glass counterparts, so best to maintain extreme caution with it.

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The panel is vibrant and bright, just like the display on the S22 series, and also gets a 120Hz refresh rate that keeps moving across menus or scrolling through news feeds, a butter-smooth experience. Although every time you scroll from up to down or vice versa, you tend to feel the crease around the hinge, which, for me, was still pretty weird even after using it for a few weeks.

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On the outside, you get a 1.9 inch super AMOLED panel with a resolution of 260 by 512 pixels which was large enough to interact with and bright enough to be visible during daylight.

Performance

Powering the Z Flip 4 is Qualcomm¡¯s latest and greatest Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, paired with 8GB of RAM. The device further gets 128GB/256GB/512GB storage variants.

The Flip 4, with its powerful hardware, was able to get through a busy day without breaking a sweat, performing like a true flagship.

This level of performance was also seen while gaming, where the Adreno 730 GPU made sure it ran butter smooth even during demanding titles such as Genshin Impact, PUBG: New State and COD Mobile, on the highest settings.

The phone did get pretty warm while pushing the performance to its limits, which definitely made the experience a little uncomfortable, but it also cooled down pretty quickly once the app was shut.

Overall, it's a great phone if you¡¯re looking for seamless, uninterrupted productivity, however, long-duration gaming isn¡¯t really its strong suit.

Camera

Unlike the Z Fold 4, the Z Flip 4 only gets a dual-camera setup at the back -- a 12-megapixel f/1.8 primary shooter with Dual-Pixel PDAF as well as a secondary 12-megapixel ultrawide shooter with f/2.2 aperture and a 123-degree field of view.

The lack of a telephoto lens can be a bummer for many, but the two cameras that are on the device are pretty impressive with their results.

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Both the ultrawide and the standard shooter mix the perfect blend of optical goodness and computational sorcery to produce impressive shots, whether in well-lit or low-light conditions.

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The selfie camera on the inside, a 10-megapixel f/2.4 shooter is also surprisingly good and unlike the Z Fold 4, isn¡¯t hidden away, which means it can deliver some crispy, beautiful shots.

Moreover, you can use the rear cameras for capturing selfies too, by making the secondary display your mini viewfinder, which also works well in a pinch.

Overall, in terms of photography, the Z Flip 4 offers impressive and reliable results overall.

Battery performance

Powering the Z Flip 4 is a 3,700 mAh lithium-polymer battery, with support for fast wired charging at 25W (charges halfway in around 30 minutes) and fast wireless charging at 15W.

The device was able to survive a whole day of busy use with extreme ease, and during my tests, it ended the day with an average of 35 to 40 percent battery left.

The 25W charging however was rather disappointing, especially considering other Android players are charging the entire phone in less than 30 minutes, whereas the Z Flip 4 was able to barely reach 50 percent charge in that time.

If you¡¯re someone who is coming from a OnePlus or an Oppo device, you¡¯re going to have to set up new charging habits to make sure your device is charged before you start your day.

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Should you buy the Galaxy Z Flip 4?

Samsung¡¯s Galaxy Z Flip 4 is the most refined iteration of its folding phone that strikes a good balance between features and price, especially for individuals who wish to upgrade to a flagship and want to have new experiences.

Sure, folding phones are still a long way from being the most durable, but today they're pretty usable and with some TLC, the phones can last long too.

At a price tag of Rs 89,999, I¡¯d recommend the Z Flip 4 to those who (like me) are bored of the monotonous glass-slab devices and want a refreshing user experience that¡¯s worth the amount they're investing.

It does come with some trade-offs -- charging speed, durability and a scratch-prone screen, but its formfactor offers sort-of an excitement for exploring a newly-bought phone that¡¯s otherwise lost in today¡¯s monotonous smartphone design.

And sure, the flipping experience is nowhere close to what it used to be, there¡¯s still some charm in hanging up a phone by snapping the phone shut (even with both hands), that standard phones can never offer.

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