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Fantastic foldable tablet, but is it a good smartphone?

With five cameras, two screens, one foldy hinge and some of the best multitasking in a pocketable device, the Galaxy Fold 4 is no ordinary smartphone. The design (and price) means it’s not for everyone, but it’s the holy grail for gadget lovers and marks Samsung’s best attempt yet at making a foldable handset for the masses.

For this new model, the hinge is smaller, the handset is lighter, the main camera is better and the processor is faster. The feeling of opening and closing the thin-glass display – transforming it into a tablet that’s about the same size as an Amazon Kindle Oasis – is just as satisfying on its 100th go as the first.

Throw in a two-day battery, a refresh rate of up to 120Hz and silky-smooth software and suddenly the eye-wateringly high price may start to seem tempting. After a week with the device, here’s our takeaway: it’s all about perspective. Look at it as a folding tablet and you’ll love it. As a phone, though, you may be left frustrated.

The cool factor is undeniable, but it’s vital to understand what you’re buying. Folding phones are no longer a novel futuristic concept, but they still turn heads in public and you’ll have to be comfortable with that if you’re travelling or commuting. You probably won’t be in a rush to take it to the gym, and it’s thicker and heavier than one-screen alternatives that you’re used to, like the Google Pixel 6 or Apple iPhone 14.

• Screen size: 6.2-inches front, 7.6-inches open • Resolution: 2176 x 1812 pixels • Operating system: Android 12L • Processor: Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 • Cameras: 12MP ultra wide, 50MP wide-angle and 10MP telephoto rear, 4MP under display at the front, 10MP selfie camera (when closed) • Battery life: Up to two days • Storage: 512GB, 256GB, 1TB • RAM: 12GB • Weight: 263g (iPhone 14 Pro 206g, Pixel 6 Pro 210g) • Water resistance: IPX8 • Micro SD card slot: No

Like its predecessors, the Fold 4 opens and closes like a book using a special hinge mechanism that runs down the middle of the device. At a glance it looks the same as the Fold 3, but get closer and there are changes that make the new model the most refined version yet. The hinge is neater, and a lip that used to run along one side of the main screen is now totally gone. The phone is slightly lighter, too, and we could feel a subtle difference when holding both devices in our hands.

The hinge is smooth to open and close and we never felt like it was too vulnerable to breakages as the build quality is strong on the frame and display – although we did find the edges of the screen are fairly dust-prone. Let’s get it out of the way up front: yes, you can see a crease when it’s in tablet mode, especially when viewed from an angle, but the more we turned up the brightness, the less this was an issue.

The Fold 4’s foldable design demands attention – for better and worse. We almost always preferred using it with the screen open, and it was perfect for relaxing on the sofa with YouTube, scrolling Instagram and reading text-heavy websites like Reddit. But like all tablets, we didn’t like using it on a busy train during the morning commute as you lose any chance of privacy when texting or looking at social media.

Using the front display works, but is never that fun. When folded, the body is chunky and the typing experience feels snug – and while we did appreciate that you can use it one-handed, we were constantly making typos texting this way. We also didn’t like taking it to the gym, as we never felt truly comfortable taking our eyes off it. The front screen is fine for checking notifications at a glance (and we’d miss it if it wasn’t there) but after a few days we found that having to constantly open the device to properly view our apps wasn’t always a step we wanted to take, but an inconvenience.

The Fold 4 has five cameras dotted around its bendy body, and most perform really well. On the back, the main shooter is a 50MP wide angle lens, alongside a 12MP ultra wide and a 10MP telephoto, with up to 30x zoom. The setup is similar to that of Samsung’s recent Galaxy S22 and S22+ flagship phones, and if you have used either you know what to expect: fast, crisp images, with punchy colours.

We tested the rear camera setup in the centre of London on a bright day, and found the results to be sharp and vibrant. The blue sky at Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square popped, with shadows nicely sweeping across the stone buildings. We found the zoom – tested on a building across from our office – also retains an impressive amount of quality, even if the results aren't good enough to share online.

It’s a great point-and-shoot camera, taking speedy shots that are more than suitable for instantly sharing to your socials without editing. A portrait mode offers a nice bokeh effect that quickly blurs the background of your subject, and there’s a solid Pro mode that lets you manually change the ISO, shutter speed and focus levels.

Close the device, and you get a reliable 10MP front-facing camera that works just as expected. The last lens, a 4MP, is hidden under the display when the Fold 4 is open – but results are underwhelming when used for selfies and you’ll probably only use it for face unlocking, which we found to be consistent in good lighting conditions.

Here are examples of the types of photos you can expect from the Fold 4’s camera lenses. These are taken straight from the camera, with no re-touching or edits.

Multitasking on the Fold 4 is brilliant. It uses Android 12L – a version specifically made to make the operating system work better on larger screens – and we found it to be genuinely helpful when the handset is open. It’s the best multitasking we’ve seen on a pocketable device – especially one that’s technically a phone.

Launch an app, and a taskbar opens on the bottom of the screen that’s split into two sections. On the right, you’ll find the last two apps you’ve used, and on the left you’ll see six apps that you've pinned to the home screen. These are laid out like tabs on a computer’s web browser, and tapping on an app icon instantly opens the app. On the far left of the taskbar there’s a button that shows every app on the device – meaning you’re only ever two presses away from any app – it’s very impressive.

You can take advantage of the big display by having a couple of apps on the screen at once – such as your Gmail inbox on the left and your Spotify on the right, perhaps with a smaller corner set aside for your Twitter account. You can launch three at a time, and they are responsive so can be resized on the fly. It works very smoothly and is easy to do, but we admit that it was never really our favourite way to use the smartphone.

Some apps, like Instagram, don’t play nicely with larger screens by default. But we really appreciated that the Fold 4 lets you change the aspect ratio of any app that’s installed via the settings. You can also choose 16:9 and 4:3. A welcome touch.

Battery life on the Fold 4 is excellent, far exceeding expectations for such a powerful device. You get a 4400 mAh (non-removable) battery under the case, with the 25W fast-charging (adapter not included) powering it up to around 50% in half an hour. In our tests, the Fold 4 lasted two days, often a bit more, from a full charge.

At 6pm on one Sunday the phone was 100% full, and by 10:30pm the following day it still had 20% in the tank. It didn’t turn off until around noon on Tuesday – after a day of moderate-to-high use: watching videos, reading apps and listening to Spotify. With a 25W wall adapter, it reached full power in under one and a half hours, and we did like that a last-minute 10-15 minute charge quickly added a few hours of power. The Fold 4 uses USB-C and supports any Qi wireless chargers of up to 10W, too.

Folding glass, who’d have thought? Samsung claims the screen is the “toughest yet” on a Galaxy bendable device – and nothing we’ve seen contradicts that. For the first day, we admit to being a bit hesitant when opening and closing the display but it quickly became clear it was sturdy, bright (1000 nits) and responsive to touch.

The resolution is fantastic on both displays (7.6-inches on the main and 6.2-inches on the cover) and streaming shows, websites and books all look crisp and clear. The apps feel smooth to use thanks to the refresh rate of up to 120Hz, and we didn’t encounter lag or stuttering on the display during our testing.

We imagine it will be a great companion for anyone who wants a device for drawing or sketching on the go, and it’s a shame that you don’t get Samsung’s S-Pen in the box, unlike the recently-released S22 Ultra phone. The stylus is sold separately for £44.99 (RRP), and some cases have a slot for storage when it’s not in use.

Like prior Folds, you can see a crease running along the middle of the device, but it becomes much less visible with the brightness turned up, and isn’t too much of an issue when looking directly down at the display. Looking from the side is a different matter, and you can also feel the mark if you slide your finger across the screen. It didn’t bother us during use, but we get that some people will dislike it.

Typing on the displays is unfortunately a mixed bag. When opened into tablet mode, the keyboard splits into two sections so you can reach each letter when holding the device in two hands. It takes getting used to but generally works well. The same can’t always be said for the front screen. We enjoy that it’s slim enough to be used with one hand, but the typing experience is still much too snug for our liking.

Like battery life and multitasking, we found the Fold 4’s Snapdragon 8+ processor to be great. Apps download and open fast, perform without any lag, and navigating the menus is silky smooth. We tested performance using PUBG Mobile – a fairly power-intensive game – and had zero issues. This is a portable device you can game on, and it’s a much nicer experience than playing on smaller phone screens.

The face-unlocking is responsive and is mostly consistent, and it’s nice to know the expensive device isn’t at risk if you get caught in the rain thanks to its IPX8 water resistance (it can withstand being submerged up to 1.5m for around 30 mins). Unlike the iPhone 14, the Fold 4 isn’t protected from dust, so don’t bring it to the beach.

We tested the 256GB model of the Fold 4 and with most of our usual apps installed had only used around 20% of the internal storage, but if you do need more space it’s also available with 512GB and 1TB of built-in space. Any power users may want to invest in a quality portable USB-C hard drive if going for a lower storage option.

As a phone, it’s bigger and heavier than you’re probably accustomed to carrying and using day-to-day. It weighs 263g, and you feel the heft when doing simple tasks like texting your friends, setting a morning alarm or making a call – especially when it’s folded because you're grasping a chunky body around a centimetre thick.

For comparison, the iPhone 14 Pro weighs 206g and the Pixel 6 Pro is 210g. Still the Fold 4 is lighter than the similarly-sized iPad Mini, which is 293g. So the Fold is a middle ground, but you’ll feel the difference compared to traditional flagships.

The elephant in the room is the price – the 256GB model is £1649 at Currys. It’s not a drawback of the phone itself (foldable tech is always going to be expensive until it becomes more common and affordable to make) but definitely a factor to consider. For the same price, you can buy a Galaxy Tab S8 and an S22 Plus separately.

The Galaxy Fold 4 isn’t for everyone. It’s made for the gadget lovers, the people who want the latest tech and, let's face it, a unique device that stands out from the phones in the pockets of their friends, colleagues and family. It’s a conversation starter, and perhaps a status symbol for those that can afford it.

We found the tablet experience to be fantastic in the right setting, and it shines when used for reading websites, watching videos, and gaming. It expertly bridges the gap between smartphone and tablet, and the form factor is perfect for travellers. Flipping open the Galaxy Fold 4 never loses its cool, but it can become annoying.

As a day-to-day phone, it never quite clicked. We found the body thick when closed, the front display snug for typing and the price too expensive for us to willingly take to places that risk damage, such as the gym. The Fold 4 is undeniably impressive, and we loved it as a foldable pocket tablet. As a daily smartphone? Not so much.