Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Z Flip 6: My First Impressions

I'm here in Paris, checking out Samsung's new foldable phones, the Galaxy Z fold six and the Galaxy Z flip six. So the big theme with the Z fold six and the Z flip six this year is that Samsung is really trying to bridge the gap between its foldable phones and its non foldable phones like the Galaxy S 24 S 24 plus and S 24 ultra. And I mean, by bridge, the gap is that usually with foldable phones, we've seen some trade offs, some compromises that you have to make in order to have a screen that folds in half for one. These devices, especially the fold can be bigger and clunkier than a regular smartphone. Sometimes they're not as durable. Sometimes the camera also isn't as good as what you get from a premium non folding phone. But with these two devices, Samsung is really trying to change that. Both phones are up for preorder on July 10th and the Z Fold six starts at 1899 while the Z flip six starts at 1099 and both of those prices are higher than last year's foldable phones. Let's start with the design. So this is the galaxy Z fold six. This is the Google pixel fold. I have to say this definitely feels a lot lighter, less cumbersome, probably easier to use. In one hand, when I reviewed the pixel fold, I really liked how wide this cover screen was. Um But I didn't like the inner screen as much as Samsung's and I feel like that's going to continue to be the case, especially since Samsung made the screen bigger. On the Z fold. Sixth generation, the bezels are a bit slimmer. You can notice it's a bit larger and they also extended the size of the cover screen a bit. So this, you know, again, like we don't really know until we spent a lot of time with the phone, but just my first impressions, this feels like a better middle ground between a device that feels like a regular phone and one that also feels like a tablet when you open it up, the cover screen isn't as skinny as it used to be. So it doesn't feel as cramped. So I think that can go a long way in making this device usable because I don't know about you guys if you've ever used a foldable phone. But when I use a Galaxy Z fold, I find myself using the cover a lot more than the internal screen. So that's really important. And the Z fault six also has kind of a more squared off edge kind of look kind of resembling the galaxy S 24 ultra, which I also like and then switching over to the, the Z flip six. There's also some design improvements here. You'll notice the camera has this nice, like little accent kind of rim around it that matches the color of the device. The screen on the inside is still nice and big. And what I really love about this that immediately stood out to me is that you can barely notice the crease on this device. In fact, I didn't even think about it when I picked up the phone. It was kind of an afterthought. I was like, oh, wait a minute, there's still a crease on this phone isn't there and you don't really see it as much. Like I, I doubt you could even see it from here. I don't really feel it as I'm scrolling. So I feel like that is another kind of big step forward design wise for these foldables. Samsung is also doing more with the Z flip six cover screen this time around, you can now add multiple widgets to the cover screen at once. That way you can kind of make it look a little bit more like your regular home screen where there's not just one thing on screen, you kind of have multiple things that you might want to look at at a glance. So I'm interested to see how useful that is in everyday practice and how that kind of adds to the value of the cover screen. There's a lot more that's new about these phones other than the design, both of them run on Qualcomm's new Snapdragon eight Gen three processor optimized for the Galaxy series is just like the Galaxy S 24 lineup and there's also some camera improvements as well. So the Z flip six is getting a new 50 megapixel main camera and that's important because resolution wise, it should be a big step up from the 12 megapixel main camera on the Galaxy Z flip five. And that kind of brings it closer to like I said earlier to the S 24 series again, kind of trying to close that gap and make these devices feel more like a regular flagship phone that happens to fold in half. And both of the devices are also getting a new 12 megapixel ultra wide camera that should be better at um shooting in in dark scenarios as well. So of course, hardware is only one side of the equation. There's also software. And if you've been paying attention to Samsung at all this year, you know that they have not stopped talking about Galaxy A I, which is the suite of A I features on their latest Galaxy phones and some of their older IXY phones too. So what we're really seeing here on the new Foldable series is a couple of new features, but a lot of optimizations to old features. So one of these new features lets you change the style of a photo and there are a few different styles to choose from. So I'm gonna take a selfie on the Galaxy Z flip six and then I'm gonna turn that selfie into a different style like a sketch or a watercolor image of myself or a comic book image of myself. And we're going to see how it comes out. So this is the picture I'm gonna tap this button, hit this portrait studio button and let's start with comic and see how that comes out. Ok. Well, that does not look like me at all. Ok. I think what I'm just OK, that's kind of my hairstyle, but this doesn't really look like me and I'm kind of disappointed I didn't get the hair color, right? Let's try 3D cartoon instead and see if that's any better. Um OK, once again, you know that the hairstyle is kind of on point but the, the colors and let's, let's try generating one more time. I have faith in Samsung. I think we'll get this. Hm. It's kind of the same, this one's OK, but it doesn't look like me. I definitely don't have blue eyes and a lot of these, oh, see that one has brown eyes. This is probably the closest one if I had to um pick one that I think is the most accurate. And another feature lets you draw a sketch on top of an image and let the generative A I actually make it part of the image and work it in seamlessly. So these features are a lot of fun to play around with. I won't really know how useful they are and and how accurate they are until I've had more time with these phones. But it, it's definitely uh a fun edition so far. And just like in the past language translation is also a big area of focus for Samsung's software updates this time around. So one of these features lets you use these foldable phones to have a two way conversation with someone in a different language. So if I was speaking with someone that speaks French, for example, since we're in Paris and I don't speak French, I can open up the device like this, I can say what I'm going to say and then the uh other language would come. So French in this case would show up on the outside so that the person that I'm speaking to can see it while I would be able to see what they're saying in response on my end. So it's really interesting, it's very, very similar to something that Google has launched on the pixel fold in the past. But again, I do enjoy seeing companies like Samsung kind of think about how you can use these like foldable designs in interesting ways. So overall, I do think the galaxy Z fold six and Galaxy Z flip six are steps forward. I really love the design changes more than I expected, but I am a little bit disappointed about the price hike. I think foldables in general are already pretty expensive. I think raising the price um makes that sell even harder. Of course, there's always trading deals usually when new phones come out. But it's, it's still a pretty hefty price and a big commitment. I was also hoping to see a bit more from the new A I features that Samsung announced. I think these features are interesting and kind of fun to play around with. But I think it's gonna take some time before we really get what I'm looking for, which is like truly unique features that really think about what you can do with a phone that has two screens instead of one. So once again, we're here in Paris, checking out Samsung's new foldable phones. Don't forget to check out cnet for more details. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.