Let’s get straight to brass tacks: using the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 as a daily driver feels great. The product exudes a premium feel although at times, can even be a tad overkill.

But when we say “overkill”, it is in a good sense. Like choosing to drive your continental supercar to the grocery store when driving the bog-standard Proton Wira would have served the same purpose. Sure, you don’t have to, but why hold back if you have the opportunity to do so, right? You only live once. Also, this is purely from the angle of owning and driving a supercar. We would walk to the shop instead.

Make no qualms about it; the Fold 5 wasn’t designed to just be a run-of-the-mill smartphone. It’s designed to stand out and lead the pack.

And lead it did.

Ahead Of The Fold

Most of the major talking points for Samsung’s latest top-tier folding device were addressed in our first impression article. Keeping in line with Samsung’s barebones presentation for their devices out of the box, there isn’t much to shout about within the Z Fold 5 unboxing experience.

We were almost tempted to run a quick unboxing video but ultimately, it would be waste of your time and ours. There’s nothing much to show from the box apart from the device itself, the charging cable, SIM card removal tool, and instruction manuals.

For something this pricey, we expected more but as mentioned in the first impressions article, this would be, to many including us, the sole downside of purchasing this magnificent device. No complementary window tint, floormats and a carwash in this ‘luxury car’ purchase.

Work commitments sent us to various corners of the globe this past few weeks and what a perfect time for us to fully utilize a device that used the word ‘multitasking’ in its marketing materials as often as Stewie using “mama” in that one Family Guy skit.

If you are the sort who lugs around an extra tablet in your bag for ‘just in case’ media consumption, or plainly for additional screen real estate for work-related stuff, you, my good friend, are Samsung’s target audience. The 2-in-1 schtick of the Z Fold 5 makes it a better device than your average smartphone because of its ability to scale up, screen-wise. The same 2-in-1 schtick also makes it much better than ALL tablets in the market purely for its ability to scale down screen-wise as well, making it easier to carry about.

This is exemplified when we tried to keep ourselves entertained during a six-hour flight to Incheon, Seoul. Instead of carrying a behemoth of a phone in the S23 Ultra which would have filled up our pockets, the compact feel of the Z Fold 5 in closed form made our travels somewhat more pleasant. We can quickly navigate through the phone with the cover screen with one hand, and when we feel like it, open up the phone to enjoy whatever movie we downloaded on Netflix. We found using the Z Fold 5 like a standard candybar phone feels so natural due to its small-hands-friendly dimensions.

Travel-Friendly Too!

Road warriors who want to optimize their travel kit would instantly find a home in the Z Fold 5. Like all Android devices, the phone uses a Type-C charging port which means you don’t need to carry several sets of different wires. Those who fully commit to the Samsung ecosystem with their pretty snazzy earbuds and watches would gain a boost thanks to the synchronization across all devices as well. The value of the Z Fold 5 is increased tenfold for those who double up their tablets as laptops.

Moving from the S23 Ultra which was our daily driver prior to this, the phone is as expected, is equally snappy and a joy to use. However, the narrower cover screen does have its downside. It’s terrible to type on which saw us on more than one occasion, unfolding said device. So if you are the sort who type a ton on their phones, be ready to use the device in its unfolded form or have a USB or Bluetooth keyboard handy. Still, it’s more compact than having to carry around a standard laptop.

Those who are keeping up with tech, or at least, what’s new hitting the market surely cannot help but wonder: should they get the Z Fold 5 over the S23 Ultra? The safe answer would be ‘it depends on your specific needs’. And we agree with it 100%. While the Z Fold 5 technically comes with more screen real estate, the cover screen which is made of Gorilla Glass Victus 2 is the only one equivalent build-wise with the S23 Ultra. The inner screen is still made of folding glass which, if not treated carefully, will suffer from visible grooves.

The fact is, there is no way to fully eliminate the creases on folding phones. While companies can try to make them less prominent, they are there to stay. Reason being, physics. The Z Fold 5 comes with a newly designed hinge that allows the phone to clasp with an almost nonexistent gap between the glasses. This severely reduces the amount of pocket lint and dust trapped in between.

The Z Fold 5 comes with a “paltry” 4,400mAh battery but don’t let the numbers fool you. Due to its dual nature, you may end up using the cover screen more often and based on our experience, prolongs the battery life significantly as a result. The phone feels very efficient in switching ‘modes’ between serious business and time to play and we like it.

It is our duty to remind you that you may want to consciously add RM399 to your budget for whichever Z Fold 5 variant you are getting. The phone is S-pen compatible but does not come shipped with one. As mentioned in our first impression article, Samsung should have shipped the Z Fold 5 with the S-Pen-included case as standard. While the phone starts at RM6,799 (256GB/ 12GB), surely a few hundred extra which in turn unleashes the full potential of the phone right out of the box won’t be an issue to many. The S-Pen is only compatible with the inner screen and can be used to navigate through the device including switching between apps and even act as a remote shutter button.

That said, during our travels, we found ourselves using the S23 Ultra more when snapping photos while on the go. Not to say the cameras on the Z Fold 5 are bad. They are far from it. In fact, they would easily occupy the upper echelons of best phone cameras in the market right now. However, due to the narrow 6.2 inch screen, we found ourselves snapping photos on the S23 Ultra for clarity, while later appreciating what we took on the unfolded Z Fold 5 thanks to Google Photos.

The strong hinge on the Z Fold 5 is more than just a stand for content consumption; it can be used to prop up the phone as a makeshift camera stand, allowing impressive angles and enabling hyper-lapse shots such as these.

Perfect Fold

All in all, the Z Fold 5 is a marvel of engineering. Samsung finally hit the sweet spot and has created its best folding smartphone device to date. However, if you own a Z Fold 4, we would recommend that you stick to it for a while longer as the improvements on the Z Fold 5 feel more incremental than monumental. Otherwise, if money is no factor and you have to own the most cutting-edge smartphone in the market right now, be our guest.

Those porting from Z Fold 3 would definitely find a larger leap in performance and experience making it a worthwhile acquisition. As for those who currently use the S23 Ultra, we compared our own unit with the Z Fold 5 over three weeks and we have reverted back to the Ultra.

We put more emphasis on the camera and typing over media consumption, that’s all. But who knows? For the next assignment overseas, we won’t hesitate to transfer our sim into the Z Fold 5 for those sweet, sweet hyper-lapse videos.

Pros:

• Engineering-wise, the most advanced consumer-grade smart device you can own right now.
• Slimmer than previous iterations = easier one-handed operation.
• Respectable battery life.
• Optimized software for folded screens.

Cons:

• Bare-bones straight out of the box.
• Narrow screen might cause texting issues.

FINAL SCORE: 80/100

Platform: Android 13, One UI 5.1.1
Body: 154.9 x 129.9 x 6.1 mm (unfolded); 154.9 x 67.1 x 13.4 mm (folded) ~253g
Frame: Glass front (Gorilla Glass Victus 2) (folded), plastic front (unfolded), glass back (Gorilla Glass Victus 2), aluminum frame with IPX8 water resistant
Chipset: Qualcomm SM8550-AC Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (4 nm)
CPU: Octa-core (1×3.36 GHz Cortex-X3 & 2×2.8 GHz Cortex-A715 & 2×2.8 GHz Cortex-A710 & 3×2.0 GHz Cortex-A510)
GPU: Adreno 740
Display: Foldable Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, HDR10+; Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120Hz, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 (cover screen)
Memory (Internal): 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM, 1TB 12GB RAM; UFS 4.0
Main Camera: 50 MP, f/1.8, 23mm (wide); 10 MP, f/2.4, (telephoto); 12 MP, f/2.2, 123?, 12mm (ultrawide)
Video: 8K@30fps, 4K@60fps, 1080p@60/240fps (gyro-EIS), 720p@960fps (gyro-EIS), HDR10+
Sound: Stereo speakers, no jacks given
Battery: Li-Ion 4,400 mAh, non-removable
Price: Starts from RM 6,799 (256GB, 12GB RAM)

The Z Fold 5 Ultra hits Malaysian markets  August 2023. Review unit of the Samsung Z Fold 5 was provided by Samsung Malaysia. You can purchase your own unit of the Z Fold 5 along with special deals from their official website here.