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Fold5 has arrived (updated)

ironass

ironass

Extreme Android User
The Eagle has landed!

My pre-ordered black international Fold5, F946B, has been delivered here, in the sunny Cotswolds of the U.K. by DPD.

Let the fun begin!

(Can't fault Samsung and DPD for their prompt delivery at the date and time promised. Worth every penny of the £5 I slipped the chairman of Samsung ;) )
 
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First impressions

The SIM card tray is a bloomer to load with 2 SIM cards. Very fiddly to get them to sit correctly.

The hinge on the Fold5 is a big improvement on the Fold4. Very smooth opening and closing with a positive feel to it.

Side-by-side it is very difficult to tell the Fold4, (on the left), from the Fold5. The only difference is the gap when closed on the Fold4 and the positioning of the flash next to the top camera on the Fold5.

HPOxNrhl.jpg
 
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One question is about the, "crease", on the Fold5 vs Fold4.

I will go with the Fold5 having less of a crease than the Fold4.

With possibly the world's worst photo, see the image below with the Fold4 (on the left) vs Fold5 Sorry about the quality of my photography!

FOLD4 VS FOLD4 CREASE 20230804_190448.jpg
 
Second impressions

Been on the Fold5 for a week now and I can say I am impressed with it. Whilst there are no new killer features or major redesign from the Fold4, it is proving its worth.

The redesigned hinge is probably the most noticeable thing. There is no gap and it opens and closes very smoothly. Of course, only time will tell on how it holds up but for now I am saying that Samsung seem to have a winner with it.

The battery life is a bit better although this has been difficult to judge as the built-in battery app was reading, "Learning battery usage", for the first 4 days.

The screen is another winner for me as placing the Fold4 and Fold5 together, outdoors in sunlight, the Fold5 was more legible. Also, playing videos side-by-side, the Fold5 just had the edge on the Fold4.

Whilst I lay no claims to being a photographer I did find that the shutter on the Fold5 is much faster than on my Fold4. Near instantaneous.

One thing I noticed was that the Fold5 ran cooler and there was less heat generated when charging.

So far, after spending a week with the Fold5, I am quite pleased with the way it has performed so far and maybe Samsung's decision to improve on their Fold phone rather than going for some new gimmicky feature, has paid off.
 
Third impressions

Nearly a month ago, when I first received my new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 phone, I struggled on my, "First impressions", post to come up with any differences or features that warranted spending £1,750 (US$2,225), to replace my perfectly usable Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4.

Sure, the hinge both looked and felt better but that seemed to be about it.

How wrong I was!

Never has the phrase, "The whole is greater than the sum of its parts", been more true.

I believe that Samsung have listened to the feedback from the previous 4 Fold models and with that knowledge have set about re-engineering and improving the Fold from the ground up. The hinge, the screens, the adhesive that holds the screens, the camera software, etc; etc; etc; have all been changed and tweaked to make a Fold phone to be proud of and on which they can build future releases.

Since I own both the Fold4 and Fold5, I have used them in tandem at the outset but more and more the Fold5 has become my daily driver as the Fold4, still in pristine condition, is consigned to my backup drawer.

That is not to say that the Fold4 is bad but rather, the Fold5 is better.

This video highlights just some of the reasons that I think that the Fold5 is worth upgrading to or, if you have never owned a Fold phone before, worth changing to.


How could Samsung improve on the Fold5?

Well, for me, it would be to introduce the shorter, wider, front screen that the Google Pixel Fold uses... but that is just me!
 
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