The Galaxy Z Flip 8 is at its best when there’s friction

What do you want from a flip telephone erstwhile it’s closed? A elemental interface, possibly notifications and a widget aliases two, for handling the basics? Or a afloat fledged Android acquisition shrunk down for the Flip shape factor? For years, Samsung has insisted connected the former, moreover arsenic immoderate fans — and Razr rival Motorola — person pushed for the latter. With the Galaxy Z Flip 8, Samsung has fixed in.

Although the Z Flip 8’s hardware is almost unchanged year-on-year, Samsung has fundamentally rethought really this telephone is meant to beryllium utilized erstwhile shut. The screen surface feels much for illustration a regular Android phone, pinch easier entree to the afloat versions of each azygous app, letting you browse societal media, watch movies, and play games without ever opening the phone. Not each app useful good connected a mini quadrate surface pinch 2 cameras successful the mediate of it, but moreover erstwhile they don’t, that clash betwixt maine and the distractions of my telephone still feels arsenic overmuch a characteristic arsenic a bug.

Everything breathtaking astir the Z Flip 8 lies successful its 4-inch screen screen, which is now much versatile than ever acknowledgment to a homescreen redesign. Swiping down from the apical near now brings up your notifications, while swiping from the apical correct alternatively shows a cover-screen-optimized type of the Quick Settings panel. Immediately, this feels much for illustration a phone.

More breathtaking is what happens erstwhile you swipe up from the bottom: you get an app drawer. By default, this is populated pinch a action of Samsung’s ain apps that are optimized for the quadrate screen, positive a “Labs” conception pinch third-party options including Netflix and WhatsApp. But correct beneath that, Samsung has included an easy punctual to instal MultiStar, the Good Lock module that lets you tally immoderate app you’d for illustration connected the outer screen.

Samsung utilized to hide the action heavy successful the phone’s settings, only to beryllium recovered by those who knew to look for it. The bottommost of the app drawer isn’t rather beforehand and center, but it’s overmuch much salient than it utilized to be.

You tin still tally apps successful 3 forms: full-screen, pinch the cameras blocking portion of the software; a quadrate show that stops conscionable supra the level of the cameras; aliases a bladed portrait-aspect ratio that letterboxes the sides. A mini virtual fastener astatine the bottommost of the surface lets you rhythm done them.

Good capacity isn’t guaranteed. Some apps, for illustration Withings’ wellness locator companion app, are almost intolerable to usage connected the screen screen, pinch nary configuration that leaves capable abstraction for its graphs to fit. Google Maps is only a spot amended — I emotion the thought of quickly checking my stepping way without opening the phone, but location are truthful galore floating interface elements that it’s unwieldy astatine best. Others activity smoothly, but consciousness pointless: I can watercourse HBO Max connected the mini outer display, but I’d ne'er want to.

But for different apps, the caller screen surface options consciousness genuinely freeing. I tin unfastened Todoist and tick disconnected a task, dip into WhatsApp to nonstop a message, aliases unfastened MyFitnessPal to log the snack I conscionable ate. They’re speedy actions that activity good capable connected the mini screen, and because other apps — *cough* Instagram *cough* — don’t, I tin dive into them without the consequence of getting dragged into doomscrolling. That small spot of clash is conscionable capable to prevention maine from wasting 20 minutes I’ll ne'er get back.

As for the hardware, small has changed. The Z Flip 8 is 0.6mm thinner and 8g lighter than its predecessor. This is the thickest of Samsung’s 3 existent foldables, but it’s much compact than Motorola’s Razrs, its only existent rivals.

Samsung didn’t upgrade the Z Flip 8 pinch the thinner, tougher titanium show stack recovered successful the 2 caller Z Fold 8 phones, which besides intends this has conscionable arsenic visible a crease arsenic ever. It seldom bothers me, and is difficult to spot head-on, but you whitethorn consciousness differently. The IP48 standing is simply a much nonsubjective issue, and intends that while this telephone is mostly safe from water, it’s still susceptible to dust.

On the inside, you’ll find the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 if you’re successful the US, though my UK exemplary runs Samsung’s Exynos 2600. Exynos chips get a bad rep, but capacity has been soft truthful far, and I person nary existent complaints.

As pinch the Z Fold 8 phones, Samsung switched to much energy-dense silicon-carbon batteries for the Z Flip 8. Unlike those phones, it didn’t really summation the artillery capacity, but alternatively utilized smaller cells pinch the aforesaid 4,300mAh capacity — the cardinal to shrinking the telephone itself. Still, artillery life is solid, reliably lasting the afloat time pinch artillery to spare. The charging — 25W wired, 15W wireless — is comparatively unimpressive, and the only measurement to get Qi2 charging is still by utilizing a compatible magnetic case.

Storage and RAM stay the aforesaid arsenic connected the Z Flip 7; the screens do excessively isolated from mini bumps to highest brightness, and the cameras are besides identical to past year’s. The 50-megapixel main camera is impressive, and particularly adjuvant since the shape facet intends you tin usage it for selfies too. The 12-megapixel ultrawide and 10-megapixel soul camera aren’t remarkable, but they get the occupation done. A slab telephone astatine this value would person amended cameras, and astir apt a telephoto lens, but the lenses present are bully enough.

The mobility is whether it’s each bully capable for the price, fixed Samsung has bumped the Z Flip 8 up to $1,199.99, a $100 increase. Z Flip 7 owners surely shouldn’t upgrade, and anyone other should see buying that telephone instead, since the quality betwixt the 2 is slight.

After all, the large upgrades are software, and improbable to stay exclusive. Last year’s Z Flip 7 hasn’t yet been updated to One UI 9, but since its outer surface is almost identical, it seems apt to get the upgraded software, giving 1 little logic to opt for the caller model. The Z Flip 6 and earlier, pinch their smaller screen screens, look much apt to miss out. I’ve asked Samsung astir its upgrade plans, but haven’t yet heard back.

Most of the different package upgrades aren’t moreover Flip-specific. Customizable, AI-powered cards person been added to the regular Now Brief; My FanCam lets you harvest video to attraction connected a circumstantial subject; and Audio Eraser tin now dim inheritance sound and item speech successful apps for illustration YouTube and Netflix. You’ll find those features crossed each of Samsung’s caller foldables, positive the caller Galaxy S26 FE.

Modest arsenic the Z Flip 8’s hardware upgrades are, it feels for illustration a turning constituent for Samsung, which is mostly done trying to limit the ways group usage the screen screen. Given the speculation that the short, wide Z Fold 8 could switch the Flip shape facet arsenic Samsung’s “small telephone that unfolds to a large phone,” it makes consciousness to adjacent the spread betwixt them.

The Z Fold 8 is simply a much tin telephone than the Z Flip 8 erstwhile closed, its squat surface much usable than the Flip’s mini one, contempt Samsung’s package upgrades. But I person a existent soft spot for the Flip shape factor, which is mini and pocketable erstwhile closed and a normal, almost compromise-free flagship telephone erstwhile unfastened — and endlessly satisfying to flip shut.

More than that, I bask its frictions. I invited Samsung’s move to make it easier to usage afloat apps connected the screen screen, but I besides invited that it will ne'er beryllium wholly successful. Some apps simply don’t activity connected a surface this size, and the Z Flip 8 is each the amended for it.

Photography by Dominic Preston / The Verge