I was feeling a need to upgrade my gadgets. The last couple of months went into making the arrangements without disturbing my present investments.
The smartphone wasn't a planned upgrade though. I just wanted to change my laptop.
I upgraded my smartphone last Feb, from a two and a half years old oneplus 6T to IPhone 11. And I planned on sucking it for next 2 years. But then, this happened.
First of all, IPhone 11 is a fantastic device for its price point. Its the cheapest IPhone in the market with a large display and plenty of juice to drag you a little less than a day on an average use.
Based on 7nm architecture, A13 bionic is no slouch and can handle anything you'd throw at it. For at least a couple of more years to come, provided you pocket at least a 128GB variant.
If you want to upgrade to IOS on a budget. It is a featured packed most value for money choice currently in the market.
But Then Why The Change?
Well, my hands are big.
Not like an alien. Lol. But they just are.
Though they don't look unusual, but they are longer & larger than usual.
And I am already a snail when it comes to typing over virtual keyboards.
With my long fingers cramped in a little space, the combination was uncomfortable and inefficient.
Like they were being sent to solitary confinement. And then forced to summersault.
So I was wanting to shift to a lager and wider screen.
Speaking of wider, for Apple smartphones, you are looking at Pro Maxes. Which would also set you back by $1500 or more.
And I wasn't in any mood to shed such an amount. But then, may be somethings are meant to be. 😅
The Reason For Choosing Z Fold 3
Some things grab your attention and you're unable to look away.
I thought of buying the Z Fold 2 last year. But if you will withdraw, carry cash and try to spend, you'll realize how much $2000 actually are.
To provide you some perspective, $2k investment can make you $30-$40 every month without much risk and headache. And buying a depreciating asset worth that amount should go through certain level of delayed gratification.
That's just me. But if you have piles of dollars lying around in your basin. You can buy tens and set them ablaze.
Like this year while hunting for smartphones, I couldn't miss the Fold 3.
It is more refined and durable than the previous folds. And can be said as the first actual execution of foldable form factor along with being $200 cheaper (on paper). Since Samsung excluded the charging brick and earplugs in the box.
Moreover, I felt it to be the panacea of my unproductivity. And also, I made this choice in an attempt to better equip myself. Or this argument is the justification for the $2k drain, lol, you can say.
But any soldier can only be as strong as his arsenal. And this has indeed turned out be destructive. Fortunately.
One Month Into - Experience & Review
I have this since the start of December, and I incline more towards the heavy user of smartphone. At days, most of my work involves operating a phone for 8+ hours.
I don't feel there is a need to run over the specs. This beauty has got topnotch hardware. 12 GB of RAM coupled with top of the line snapdragon 888 chipset makes it a processing powerhouse.
It showed no lags even with the heaviest of games and multitasking. And you can be rest assured that it won't gasp irrespective of the kind of task you would throw at it.
The 120 Hz displays are worth mentioning. And if it would be your first time using a display above 60 Hz, you will feel the difference in responsiveness. It would take a couple of days before the experience internalizes and withers away.
But lightning fast refreshing rates and overkill memory sizes are nothing new. Lets grab the bull by the horns. And find out if you are made for each other. Or if it can remain your forever blocked ex.
What I liked - The Reasons To Have It
THE FEEL
An Emotional Justification for a logical decision. Lol. Yeah, I know. But it is what it is. No exaggeration there.
The hold, is you would fall in love with. It indeed feels like you are holding something premium in your hands. And yes it radiates luxury when placed on table. Attracts the eyes. You can not miss it.
MORE SCREEN REAL ESTATE - NO BRAINER
Better multimedia experience and multitasking. Better online shopping experience and content creation. And better everything else.
A FOLDABLE HINGE THAT CAN LOCK AT ANY DEGREES
This turns your fold into a mini laptop within seconds. With a base to place at any flat surface. You can consume media while handling your hamburger in both hands. You can attend a zoom meeting with Z fold on a table without needing to hold it in hands, or placing it along an external support.
It becomes your perfect pal for clicking pictures while travelling solo. You can place it away and use a gesture to take a snap. Usually I just show my palm and it does the magic. I'm lovin it.
And that's all you would be getting. it's just the ability to carry a flagship smartphone and a flagship tablet in a single pocketable package, with a screen that can fold and lock anywhere between 0° to 180°. And that's what you are paying for.
Reasons Not To Have It
HEAVY
When you'll use it for a day, you might feel some discomfort as the device weights 250 gms. Though it doesn't feel unusually heavier in pockets but definitely in hands. And if you have tiny, delicate, kissable hands, they are going to get tired relatively easily. Especially while laying down and using it.
Also you might find it a bit weird to operate at first. But after experimenting and finding comfortable holding positions. It is manageable. And fun.
CAMERA
Cameras are not something to complain about. You are getting a refined and feature packed but widely overused camera setup - three 12MP shooters.
These can take brilliant pictures in certain conditions. And are blessed with shooting RAW and a manual mode. But it's still not the best out of the Samsung's bag.
All in all, it is not a camera centric device. Even at this price point it doesn't have the best cameras available in the market.
NEEDS TO BE HANDLED WITH CARE
It has passed most of my pre destined durability tests. Lol. Its sturdy, and it doesn't feel like it will fall apart anytime soon.
It can easily bear the normal wear and tear and occasional sudden drops.
But you need to handle it with care while unfolded. As internal screen doesn't have a gorilla glass or any other protection of that sort.
Though Samsung claims that its 80% more sturdy than fold 2. But its still plastic.
So if it would fall with the larger display faced down, you can expect some floral designs. And a fucked up day.
PRICY
Not the most affordable and best value for money.
Fear Debunked - The Battery
Having two 120 Hz displays and one being significantly larger than the other. The fold 3 still packs a mere 4400 mah battery.
Lesser than the prevailing standard capacity available in most devices now-a-days.
This bugged me the most before making a purchase as there were mixed reviews. But Samsung deserves a round of applause for optimizing the battery life in Z Fold 3.
Both the screens drop down to 60 Hz refresh rate as soon as you'll leave them idle. And there are a number of other settings to tune the battery performance further.
I keep the power saver mode always on. And I run all my apps in the dark mode complemented with a black background over rest of the device's interface.
That's how you take the advantage of the power efficient AMOLED's. These displays switch off their pixels to render 'Black' color. Contrary to LCD's they don't have to use power to render 'Black'.
With these little tweaks, I am able to extract a decent battery backup. But not without any compromises you can say.
It doesn't have a battery to boast about. I agree. But it's not pathetic either. And if you are not ready to fill your virtual world with darkness, its average.
But I found it not to be as big a problem. Today's devices can charge themselves fast enough and you can get plenty of standby in 10–15 mins as and if it becomes the need of the hour.
Things To Consider
NOT FOR AN AVERAGE USER
Yes, you heard it right. This is one of the first few implementations of foldable. And if you are just a normal user, this is probably gonna be overkill for you.
You would end up using it folded most of the time. The only difference it would make is while consuming multimedia and online shopping.
If you rely on your laptop for most of the tasks as such, it's only going to pull your pants down.
BEST FOR CONTENT CREATORS
It has improved my productivity for sure. And I am able to create content more efficiently, without always craving to open my laptop.
In fact I wrote this whole article at the Z Fold 3. And the larger screen is the life saver when it comes to writing, designing, editing and reading. It has significantly improved the experience and functionality to create content for me.
Is It Worth Buying?
If it can save your hamburger turning into a mess, it's worth it.
May be not, lol.
This is controversial, subjective and hard to answer.
If you are particularly looking for a foldable, there aren't many options and Z fold 3 is your overall best bet.
Rest boils down to what you are looking for in a device and to what extent you can stretch your pockets.
Expanding the screen size with a flip can be helpful in multiple scenarios. Like analyzing the spreadsheets, replying to piles of emails, speed reading some documents and much more.
Moreover, the Z Fold 3 packs the punch that Fold 2 was missing on. The IPX 68 water resistance makes it reliable during heavy rains and around the water bodies. It is also thinner, sleeker, sturdier and powerful than its counterpart. And did I mention it also supports the S-pen.
Though there is still scope for a lot of improvement. Which is only going to happen with the progressive generations. So you can either wait until it is more refined.
But if the foldables fascinate you and you don't mind paying a premium for adopting early. You can't go wrong with picking up this masterpiece.
Are Foldables The Future?
Without a doubt.
Z fold 3 is the first actual attempt to make the foldables mainstream. Oppo has also launched its first foldable device. Apple is in the works of introducing a foldable IPhone, but expect it to cost more than a liver transplant.
So yes, foldables are the future. And it wouldn't be surprising to see them in the hands of most people 5 years down the line.
It will be foolish to undermine the power of larger, portable displays. You can accomplish a lot more before you feel a need to fire up your laptop. And you wouldn't probably even need to carry it everywhere you go.
Along with this, it would push the saturated software market for the tablet sized devices. And I can already foresee a lot of web applications and software being optimized specifically for the tablet sized screens.
Foldables are here to stay irrespective of if you love or cringe at the cost of owning them
What do you think?
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