Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 - A Coming of Age

If ever there was an example of the tech industry presenting us with a product nobody asked for, it's the folding phone.

A flip phone? Sure. That made sense. Having the ability to essentially bundle your phone up to make it half its size was great. Much more pocketable. And you could protect the screen inside. And it made you look a bit like Captain Kirk using his communicator.

But a phone that folded out to be twice as big?

I'm a pretty big sci-fi fan and I can't think of any portrayal of the future where our phones were bigger, not smaller.

And yet...

Because they could, they did. They told us this was the phone that doubles as a tablet and amazingly, some people actually bought them and some of those people even used them that way.

Despite the massive crease in the middle. Despite the terrible battery life. Despite the mediocre (and sometimes even plain bad) cameras. And despite the fact when you folded it up it was like having two phones in your pocket instead of one.

This was what I like to call an Emperor's New Clothes moment; the folding phone was silly but everyone was too afraid to admit it.

Well I'm here to tell you, things have changed. Now the only silly thing about it is the price.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 is available in four colours; Blue Shadow, Silver Shadow, Jetblack and Mint. It comes in 256GB, 512GB and 1TB options and has an RRP ranging from NZ$3,249.00 to NZ$4,099.00 - although whether anyone will ever end up paying over $4k for a phone is unclear as pre-orders of the 1TB variant are currently being discounted by $300 on the SamsungNZ site and there are some incredible bonus bundles out there too.

Still, a lot of money - as the Galaxy Fold always has been. However, this year, finally, you might almost be getting what you pay for.

Let's start with the size; The Z Fold7 is both bigger and considerably smaller - in all the right ways.

The main display (unfolded) is now a full 8-inches - last year's was only 7.6. Because of that, the cover display has also expanded out to 6.5-inches but more importantly, it has a more familiar aspect ratio, no longer unnaturally tall and skinny in the hand.

The even bigger headline is how slim Samsung has managed to make this thing; just 4.2mm when unfolded. It's lighter too; only 215 grams which means it amazingly now weighs slightly less than its S25 Ultra stablemate - and not much thicker, even when closed.

Despite this incredible new slimness, there's a new feel of durability about the device - not only are the displays protected by some of the latest developments from Corning Gorilla Glass, Samsung has made the Armor Aluminium frame even tougher and has completely redesigned the all-important hinge mechanism, now rebranded as the Armor FlexHinge.

This, in turn, has led to the least-visible crease on a Samsung folding display yet. In fact, the folding technology is now so good, I honestly don't even notice it. If I want a bigger screen, I just open the phone. It seems much more natural than ever before.

Another significant, tangible upgrade is the camera configuration, both inside and out. I've been highly critical of the cameras on Samsung's folding phones from the very beginning. I just couldn't understand why you'd hamstring your most expensive phone with average photo performance. Then, to add insult to injury, they made the camera on the Fold3's main (internal) screen even worse. The under-display sensor was covered up (sort of) by larger pixels, rendering it (sort of) invisible - but at the cost of terrible quality photos and videos.

Thankfully, at last Samsung has seen the error of its ways and reverted back to a decent 10MP punch-hole sensor, just like we're used to on any other handset. Now, if they could just move it to somewhere more practical, like the centre of one of the edges so we can actually look people in the eye when we're on a video chat.

To be honest, I seldom use that internal camera for anything other than unlocking via facial recognition, not when now, finally, the primary camera array outside is so good.

It's only taken seven generations but now we have a 200MP wide camera, a 12MP ultra-wide and a 10MP telephoto module that really stands out - both figuratively and literally. This is a classic illustration of the reality check Samsung has given itself; Yes, you can have one of the thinnest phones ever - but if you want great photos and videos, you'll have to put up with a big camera module. That's just physics. And I'm pretty sure Fold fans will be fine with that compromise.

The 200MP main camera doesn't just mean incredible detail, it also does some cool stuff with light - as demonstrated by this twilight shadow shot...

Meanwhile, the ultra-wide also performs like a flagship camera should...

While the ability to zoom in on these crazy cloud formations above Mauao worked a treat.

As an Android device, Gemini AI is pretty baked in. Sporting the Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy processor, the Z Fold7 is more than capable of supporting AI functions like Google Gemini, not to mention all its native Galaxy AI tricks too.

Do I know the difference between Galaxy AI and Gemini AI? Nope. Does it matter? Nope. Do things like multi-screen translation, Circle-to-Search and Object Eraser work better than ever? Of course. So who cares what it's called? Rest assured, there's plenty of NPU power to turn my dog into a 3D cartoon and more than enough graphics ability to play the latest and greatest mobile games on either the cover screen or primary display.

A bit like how I said I no longer really notice the crease, the Galaxy Z Fold7's OneUI operating system has now evolved to a point where the transition from using an app like Outlook on the cover screen to the much more user-friendly wider version inside happens so smoothly and instantaneously, I don't even think about it.

And that's the ultimate test of great tech; when things work so well, you don't notice them.

I was shooting a video yesterday for a forthcoming review of a cooking appliance. I had an expert explaining how to use it and part of that was through the associated app. At which point, quite organically, I simply opened the Z Fold7 to see the recipe suggestions in their full, wide-screen glory. It wasn't until my guest commented on how cool that was I was reminded that yes, indeed, that really is pretty cool.

Which it would have to be - remember, this phone is more expensive than most people's computers. Hell, it's more expensive than a lot of people's cars. In saying that, with the latest and greatest mobile chip, up to 1TB of storage and up to 16GB of RAM, this device could put a lot of other computers to shame.

If you've been an early-adopting Fold fan from the start, it's probably more because you saw the potential of the device rather than being super satisfied with the reality of those first few iterations. Now all of that potential has been realised, so it might be time to upgrade and start living the dream.

    

    

Click here for more information and pricing on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7.

Oppo A5 Pro - The Phone You Don't Have to Take Care Of

When it comes to choosing a phone for your kid, or maybe your staff, if they've got a bit of a reputation for drowning, scratching or breaking them, you might be reluctant to spend too much on a replacement.

That said, you still want a phone that works. It needs good battery life, decent cameras and enough storage and power to do the job - whatever the job happens to be.

So it's tricky... Features like water resistance and toughened screens don't come cheap.

Unless they become the priority, of course.

The Oppo A5 Pro 5G might just be the answer to your problems - and right now it retails for just NZ$499.00. In fact, there are several phones in the new A5 range and they start even cheaper - from as low NZ$229.00 - each one designed to be more rugged than your average phone.

Even without the multiple durability features I'll get to shortly, the A5 Pro seems to offer plenty for its sub-$500 price-tag. For example, it comes with 256GB of internal storage - that's comparable with many premium flagships and it should be plenty for most users.

The 8GB of RAM is also quite generous in this price range - especially given the A5 Pro uses RAM Expansion to reallocate unused physical storage to boost processing performance.

Unsurprisingly, the MediaTek Dimensity 6300 Mobile Platform chip is not the fastest or most powerful processor out there but it gets the job done. I certainly haven't encountered any stutters or crashes although admittedly, some websites take a little longer to load and some apps are slightly slower to launch. However, this chip is also very efficient, which helps conserve battery life.

Importantly for me, the A5 Pro is eSIM compatible, which makes this a great travel option too.

I thought I'd find the LCD screen a bit lacklustre after some of the other "more high-end" handsets I've been using lately but I needn't have worried. Its peak brightness under sunlight is rated at 1000nits - anything into four digits is welcome and I can assure you, not every phone display looks this good in outdoor lighting conditions. I was also pleasantly surprised to discover the 6.67-inch display was capable of a 120Hz refresh rate. Interestingly, it's set at for a variable refresh rate as default and initially I found scrolling around some apps a little bit jerky. But once I set the refresh rate to 120Hz all the time, everything smoothed out nicely.

When you change that setting, the A5 Pro's user interface, ColorOS warns you it might impact battery life. If it did, I certainly didn't notice, the battery in this thing is a massive 5800mAh - most other phones are typically 5000mAh at best. This means I can easily burn through two whole days between charges. Another above-average feature is the A5 Pro supports 45W SuperVOOC fast charging - although there's no power brick included in the box, just a cable. No wireless charging here either - mind you, Oppo has never been massively into wireless charging, preferring to spruik the merits of fast charging instead. And I have to admit, with such a big battery, at this price that's a compromise I can definitely live with.

So that's already a lot of phone for the money. Now let's talk about how tough it is.

For starters, this is not one of those shiny, slippery, glass-backed handsets that runs the risk of you cracking it on both sides. The A5 Pro comes in Mocha Brown and Olive Green and the rear panel is a grippy, leather-feel material that I love because it's comfortable to hold and doesn't show greasy marks or fingerprints.

The display is covered by Corning Gorilla Glass 7i Xensation - a variation of Gorilla Glass I haven't heard of before and Oppo claims it makes the screen 160% more shatter-resistant than the previous model. You'll see from my video below it certainly stands up to quite a bit of careless treatment.

In fact, the entire phone is internally reinforced against drops and knocks - the motherboard is covered in "robust aluminium" and something Oppo calls "bionic cushioning" has been deployed to keep the A5 Pro's most sensitive components protected. As a result, it's earned the MIL-STD-810H badge for passing fourteen different military-grade tests.

This is also one of the most water-tight and dust-proof handsets around. I've reviewed many devices with the IP68 rating that means they'll survive half-an-hour in shallow water. The A5 Pro also carries both IP66 and IP69 ratings which means it'll shrug off high-pressure water jets and high-temperature water too - up to 80°. So not only can you spill your cup of tea on this phone, you can actually throw your teacup at it as hard as you can!

It's not invincible - again, if you watch my video below you'll see I managed to ding the bottom edge by bashing it against my metal mic boom a few too many times but try as I might, those minor blemishes seemed to be the only damage I could do.

Now, I haven't said much about the camera performance, which is unusual for an Oppo phone because they're normally all about the cameras. I have to admit, if your passion is photos, this is not the phone for you. Yes, there's a decent 50MP primary shooter, but it's teamed with a mere 2MP monochrome sensor Oppo refers to as a "bokeh lens" which basically means, the rear-facing camera takes good portraits.

This effect is shown in this picture of last weekend's cocktails...

The drinks are the main focus while the menu and the rest of the bar are progressively less distinct. Unfortunately, under-par low light performance means you can barely make out my artfully placed spectacles in the foreground.

I had better results outside in the daylight the next day...

It was an overcast but bright morning - glarey conditions and while the colours here don't exactly pop, I was happy with the level of detail. I did miss the option for Ultra-Wide or zoom shots though.

As for the selfie cam, it performs well enough, given it's only an 8MP sensor and as far as video goes, you can shoot in 1080p from either camera and there's even the option to use them together for a dual-view video - but only in 720p.

So it's clear where the compromise has been made to get this phone down under the $500 mark - and while the photos aren't gallery-ready, they're not terrible. On the other hand, this is unquestionably one of the toughest phones I've come across, so if you're a tradie, a teen or just hard on your handsets, it could be an excellent option.

     

Click here for more information and pricing on the Oppo A5 Pro 5G.