Galaxy Flip7 - review of Samsung's foldable smartphone

This year, the line of Samsung foldable smartphones has changed somewhat: the traditional Samsung Galaxy Fold7 and Flip7 have been joined by a more affordable clamshell model, the Samsung Galaxy Flip7 FE, which is interesting in its own way. But today we will focus on the updated flagship model Samsung Galaxy Flip7. Compared to the Flip6, the thickness in the unfolded position has been reduced by 0.4 mm, and the diagonal of the external FlexWindow screen has increased by 0.7 inches. The internal one has also increased slightly and has more familiar proportions. Instead of a Qualcomm processor, Samsung's Exynos is used. Now we will tell you in more detail how successful Samsung's updated flagship clamshell turned out to be.

Features of Samsung Galaxy Flip7

Package contents

The Samsung Galaxy Flip7 comes in a thin black box typical of Samsung flagships with a schematic image of the smartphone.

Inside, everything is standard, without surprises: the smartphone itself, a cable with Type-C connectors, a tool for removing the tray, and documentation. The power supply is not a problem, everyone has one. But a protective case will not be superfluous. Samsung has interesting branded models.

Design and ergonomics

The Samsung Galaxy Flip7 has slightly changed the design compared to the Galaxy Flip6. The most noticeable update is a larger outer screen, which has minimal bezels, occupies almost the entire surface of the panel and has only cutouts for two cameras and a flash. In the previous generation, the cutout was common and "eaten up" a noticeable part of the effective area in addition to the rather wide bezels around the screen. The diagonal has increased from 3.4 to 4.1 inches.

The smartphone has become thinner: 6.4 mm versus 6.9 mm when open. The difference is even more noticeable when closed. The new Armor FlexHinge hinge is used. According to Samsung, it is the thinnest and strongest in the line. But the width is more noticeable: 75.2 mm versus 71.9 mm in the previous model. At the same time, the height has increased by only 1.6 mm.

Such changes are due to the increase in both screens. The diagonal of the internal one is now 6.9 inches instead of 6.7. And, importantly, its proportions have changed. It has become less elongated, the aspect ratio is 21:9. Unfortunately, the editorial office does not have the previous model for comparison. But, subjectively, the frame around the perimeter of the screen has become a little narrower, and the sides are lower, which has a positive effect on convenience. The crease on the screen is still present, but it has become less noticeable and is almost not felt by fingers.

When folded, the Samsung Galaxy Flip7 is a small square block that fits perfectly into almost any pocket. When unfolded, it is almost a typical modern Android smartphone.

The smartphone frame is metal, made of the so-called Armor Aluminum. It has a flat shape and a matte finish. The volume and power buttons with a built-in fingerprint scanner are located on the right side of the smartphone. The location is slightly higher than in conventional smartphones due to the peculiarities of the folding design. But the height of the location is quite comfortable, you don’t have to stretch your finger. One of the additional microphones is located between them.

There is a tray on the left side of the Samsung Galaxy Flip7. Depending on the region, you can install one or two physical SIM cards in it. The review included an option for one. There is eSIM support.

There are two additional microphones on top. At the bottom is the main external speaker in a wide, narrow hole, a Type-C connector, and two more microphones.

The hinge cover is also matte, with an engraving of the Samsung logo. There are no other inscriptions or logos on the body, which makes the smartphone look very neat.

The outer panels of the Samsung Galaxy Flip7 are made of Gorilla Glass Victus 2, the bottom with a matte finish, which does not actively collect fingerprints. For lovers of the classics, there is a black version. In addition to it, there is a coral, as well as a rich blue color, as in the review. The color looks really interesting and quite original, because usually blue options have more "calm" shades.

Like the previous model, the Samsung Galaxy Flip7 has IP48 protection. The smartphone is not afraid of immersion in water to a depth of 1.5 m for up to 30 minutes, and is also protected against solid particles larger than 1 mm.

Features of use and external display

Clamshells have been around for years, and the main features, advantages, and disadvantages of this design have long been known. The small size of clamshell smartphones when folded is really convenient: they take up less space, and for basic tasks like checking notifications or making contactless payments, you don't need to unfold the smartphone. But one of the small features of such models is also inherent in the Samsung Galaxy Flip7: it is almost impossible to open such a smartphone with one hand, which is not very convenient when the other hand is busy with something.

Returning to the advantages of this design, it is worth mentioning that in the half-bent state, the smartphone does not need to be held for certain operations: during video calls, or taking photos and videos. The smartphone does not require a tripod for such tasks. The camera has a function of automatically zooming in on the required object and automatically selecting the shooting angle for collective selfies.

Samsung Galaxy Flip7, like other foldable smartphones of the company, has a so-called folding panel. In the half-folded state, in some applications, the upper part is responsible for displaying content, and the lower part is used for controls or a touchpad. You can also open another application in the lower part. For example, you need a text document or spreadsheet, while the upper part displays a video conference.

The external display has increased from 3.4 to 4.1 inches, it has an almost square shape. The resolution is 1048x948, pixel density 342 PPI . A Super AMOLED matrix is used. The maximum refresh rate has increased to 120 Hz. But, unlike the internal LTPO Dynamic AMOLED, it supports an adaptive frequency not from 1, but from 10 Hz. The declared peak brightness is 2600 cd/m². The screen is really bright, there are no problems in the sun.

The significantly enlarged external screen of the Samsung Galaxy Flip7 has significantly improved its usability. But overall, the functionality has remained unchanged. You can quickly switch music, read notifications thanks to the so-called Now Bar. The external screen allows you to quickly take pictures or videos without having to open the smartphone. The interface of the external screen has a somewhat simplified logic: there is a home screen with all the basic information, which you can choose from ready-made ones or customize for yourself. And the widgets that are placed on the following screens. Their set is somewhat limited.

There are ready-made widgets for weather, calendar, Samsung Health, etc. There is also support for maps, YouTube, messaging and calling apps. The top curtain has all the basic switches, but you can't customize it.

To expand the functionality, there is the Good Lock application with an additional Multistar module. A corresponding widget is added to the external display, to which the necessary applications are added: messengers, mail, browser, etc. Although some will not be very convenient to work with on such a screen. For example, in messengers, when typing a message, the keyboard closes the communication window. And, regardless of the selected main keyboard, only the native Samsung keyboard is used.

For more convenient work with some applications, there is a possibility to control the image. There are three options: full screen, with the image cropped from the bottom or sides. In the latter case, the image has rectangular proportions and can be moved to the left or right edge of the screen.

Main display

The Samsung Galaxy Flip7 has a main Foldable Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X display with a diagonal of 6.9 inches and a resolution of 2520x1080 pixels, a pixel density of about 397 ppi, and an aspect ratio of 21:9. So it has less elongated proportions than the Flip6. Flexible screens, as before, are easier to damage than classic ones, so you shouldn't poke them with nails or sharp objects. Although, testing this is far from the first smartphone with a flexible display, I have never had any damage. The crease is still there, but you quickly get used to it. And it is only visible at certain viewing angles.

As in the previous model, the claimed peak brightness is 2600 cd/m² in automatic mode, there is support for HDR10 and HDR10+, Dolby Vision is not supported. An LTPO matrix is used, and therefore an adaptive refresh rate from 1 to 120 Hz is supported. There is a lot in the settings: dark and light display themes with the ability to automatically switch, selection of refresh rate, adaptive color temperature function depending on ambient lighting, scaling of the interface, fonts, display modes (saturated with color temperature adjustment and natural), Always on Display, etc.

The main screen demonstrates maximum viewing angles and an excellent picture with saturated colors. The brightness is enough to prevent the screen from fading in the summer sun. The maximum brightness turned out to be only slightly lower than that of its predecessor. In the "Saturated" mode, it is 739.78 cd/m² versus 763.449 cd/m² in the Flip6. The color reproduction is quite accurate, the color temperature is between the reference value of 6500K and 7000K. The color gamut significantly exceeds sRGB.

In the "Natural" mode, the maximum brightness is 735.591 cd/m², but the color accuracy is slightly lower. At the same time, the color coverage is close to sRGB:

Security

There are two standard ways to unlock the Samsung Galaxy Flip7. Face recognition by cameras works quickly in good lighting. And it is worth mentioning that it works with both the internal front camera and the main one. The last option is for unlocking in the closed position. There are additional functions to prevent face recognition with closed eyes, as well as increasing the brightness of the display for backlighting in poor lighting conditions.

There is also a classic capacitive fingerprint scanner in the power button. It works very quickly and accurately. It is a more secure and reliable option for locking the smartphone. It is worth mentioning that for contactless payment you do not need to open the smartphone. Just unlock it in the closed position.

Productivity and software

Previously, all Samsung foldable smartphones were supplied exclusively with flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon processors. This year, the company decided to release the Fold7 with the top Snapdragon, and the Samsung Galaxy Flip7 received a new in-house Exynos 2500 processor. Like the previous Exynos 2400, this is a 10-core processor, but the configuration and manufacturing process are different. The Exynos 2500 is manufactured using a 3-nm process and contains 1 ARM Cortex-X5 core with a frequency of 3.3 GHz, 2 Cortex-A725 cores at 2.75 GHz, 5 Cortex-A725 cores at 2.36 GHz and 2 Cortex-A520 at 1.8 GHz. Graphics accelerator Xclipse 950.

RAM is 12 GB, and the built-in storage can be 256 or 512 GB UFS 4.0. Samsung has finally abandoned the 128 GB options. Samsung Galaxy Flip7 is equipped with almost all modern wireless interfaces: tri-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e/7, Bluetooth 5.4 with support for AAC, aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, LDAC codecs, as well as NFC. Global positioning systems GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS and QZSS are supported. And there is eSIM support, which we already mentioned earlier.

In benchmarks, the Samsung Galaxy Flip7 shows good, although far from flagship, performance. They are very close to the previous model on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Only in some tests is the new Samsung processor slightly ahead:

Folding smartphones have a problem with cooling. And, unfortunately, the Samsung Galaxy Flip7 did not escape it. Under prolonged loads, the processor overheats and can drop performance by up to 42%. The metal frame also heats up very noticeably:

In everyday use, there are no performance problems. All applications and the shell work quickly and stably. You can also play heavy games on the smartphone. But the smartphone overheats quite quickly and after 15-20 minutes, small but noticeable frame rate drops begin.

Samsung Galaxy Flip7 runs on Android 16 with the proprietary One UI 8 shell. Samsung's new foldable smartphones were among the first on the new version of Android and the first with the One UI 8 shell. The company promises 7 OS updates in the future. The shell is already familiar and not much different from the previous One UI 7, although there are some cosmetic differences. Overall, the One UI shell is one of the best for those who do not like pure Android.

The shell is convenient and functional. There are desktops, a separate menu with applications (although there is an option with only desktops), widgets, a customizable split-screen mode, launching applications in a window, a sidebar with quick access to applications or tools, two "curtain" options (classic with switches and notifications and separate, separately for notifications and switches), grouping of notifications by applications, customization of appearance, etc.

Samsung continues to develop its Galaxy AI platform. There are many possibilities: real-time translation of phone conversations, Chat Assist text writing assistance, automatic text formatting, generating short summaries from large texts with main points, generating wallpapers, images based on sketches, improvements when working with the camera, the ability to search for objects on the screen in Google, etc.

There is a possibility of processing exclusively on a smartphone. Unfortunately, so far almost all functions related to voice and text do not support the Ukrainian language. While Gemini, which is also available on a smartphone, has long supported it.

It is worth noting that the Samsung Galaxy Flip7 is the first smartphone in the Flip line to support the Dex desktop mode. The smartphone can be connected via a cable (if available) or via Miracast. The screen can be used as a touchpad, or a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse can be connected. Unfortunately, during testing, neither the cable nor a TV with Miracast was available, so it was not possible to test.

Sounding

The Samsung Galaxy Flip7 uses a standard stereo sound scheme: the main and speaker speakers. They are loud and sound quite balanced. The quality is really very good and there is a certain, albeit small amount of low frequencies. But at maximum volume, the high frequencies start to cut into the ears a little.

The smartphone supports Dolby Atmos virtual surround sound with separate presets for music, games or movies. There is an equalizer with ready-made and manual settings, as well as the Adapt Sound function. It is designed to adjust the volume based on the age of the listener.

Cameras

From a technical point of view, the Samsung Galaxy Flip7 cameras have not changed compared to the previous generation. As before, there is no telephoto camera, and the ultra-wide-angle camera does not have autofocus. So the difference in quality and color reproduction depends only on the processing algorithms. All three cameras support video recording in 4K 60 FPS with HDR.

The camera set includes:

• main module with a resolution of 50 MP, f/1.8 aperture, 23 mm, 1.0 µm pixel size, phase detection autofocus, optical stabilization;
• ultra-wide-angle module: 12 MP, f/2.2 aperture, 123˚ viewing angle;
• front camera: 10 MP, f/2.2, 1.22µm.

The camera app has a fairly familiar interface. The viewfinder screen has all the basic settings, including flash, aspect ratio, timer, resolution, frame rate, etc. Additional settings are available in a drop-down menu. Shooting modes are switched by horizontal swipes. Additional controls include a button to activate the preview on the external screen.

The Samsung Galaxy Flip7's cameras perform well in most situations. Photos from the main camera have high detail, wide dynamic range, and close to natural color reproduction in good lighting. In night mode, detail remains at a good level, but color reproduction is not perfect. Certain areas can be overexposed and sometimes yellowish tones appear.

The zoom is only digital, as there is no telephoto camera. Photos with 2x digital zoom are mostly of good quality, although in low light the detail drops somewhat:

The ultra-wide-angle camera generally takes clear photos that have color reproduction close to the main camera during the day. At night, detail decreases slightly, especially around the perimeter, which is quite typical for ultra-wide-angle modules.

Samsung Galaxy Flip7 shoots video well in 4K 60 FPS, the stabilizer works effectively. Below are examples of videos on the main, ultra-wide-angle, and 2x cameras:

Battery life

Samsung Galaxy Flip7 is equipped with a 4300 mAh battery. The battery has increased by 300 mAh compared to Flip6. The difference is not radical, but there is a certain increase in autonomy. With a not very high load, the smartphone lasts a little more than a day. This is everyday use with messengers, mail, browser, social networks, YouTube and quite a bit of camera and music in Bluetooth headphones. If you use the camera more actively and add games, then you will have to charge in the evening.

The smartphone supports 25W wired charging and 15W wireless charging. There is also support for reverse charging of 4.5W. A full charge can be obtained in 1.5 hours. So, unfortunately, nothing has changed in this regard from the previous generation. Overall, the battery life is quite adequate.