The Galaxy Z Flip is the first foldable phone to have a glass screen and a hinge that can stand up on its own.
Juan Garzon / CNET
Today is my third day with the Galaxy Z Flip Samsung’s flip phone with a foldable screen. I’m starting to feel less like I’ve been submerged in a mud bath (strong immediate thoughts, but I know the sensation is going to take a little while to get used to). Now, the Z Flip is beginning to normalize. That’s because using a foldable phone is a totally different experience than what most of us are used to today. Living with a phone that you have to open to use calls for a readjustment, no matter how much nostalgia you might have for flip phones of old.
Some immediate pros and cons have jumped to the surface right away, and I’ll share them here, but Samsung’s incredibly exciting and innovative features need time to do them justice. Two features stand out: the foldable glass screen — a world first — and a hinge that keeps the Z Flip’s 6.7-inch screen standing upright at a wide variety of angles so you can do all sorts of things hands-free, like eat soup while reading an article, which I did at lunch yesterday.
Some questions I hope to answer over the coming week: How does the Z Flip compare to the competition, and does it make a successful case for taking foldable phones into the mainstream — or at least to the next generation. Does it effectively expand your phone’s screen (and perhaps also protect it) while keeping the device small enough to carry around without busting through your pocket?
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Galaxy Z Flip is the first phone with foldable glass
7:17
The most obvious competition is between the Galaxy Z Flip ($1,380 and £1,300, no Australian pricing yet) and Motorola Razr ($1,499), but Samsung’s latest also contends with the tablet-sized Galaxy Fold and even larger Huawei Mate X.
So what is the Z Flip really like use? Here’s exactly how I feel about it — and how my view changes the more time I spend with the device. Keep coming back over the ensuing days as this ongoing assessment evolves into a final rated review.
Look at it shimmer in purple. Can’t. Tear. Our. Eyes. Away.
Andrew Hoyle/CNET
Quick thoughts
Using the Z Flip one-handed works, but takes some muscle to flip open this way. The unlock/power button is on the top half of the phone, which isn’t ideal for one-handed use. At least not with my hands.
The inner and outer screens are huge fingerprint magnets. Because of Samsung’s care warning, I’m a little concerned about my ability to keep the inner screen clean with a microfiber cloth. Pressing too hard could cause damage to the glass and components below.
I watched several hours of video on the Galaxy Z Flip (mostly Netflix and YouTube). Playing in default mode, you get thick black bars on either side (in landscape), though this also gives you a place to put your hand without messing with the screen. You can pinch to zoom, but you’ll crop off the top of peoples’ heads.
I don’t mind the thin plastic case that comes in the box. It’s good enough and gives me peace of mind if/when I drop the phone. So far, so good.
The Z Flip has felt comfortable and secure in any pocket I’ve put it in, unlike the unwieldy Galaxy Note 10 Plus and even the folded-up Fold, both of which have toppled out. Of course, it all depends on the size of your pockets.
Typing on the smaller screen has been fine for me. My fingers are also on the smaller side. I prefer Google’s Gboard keyboard over the default.
I successfully jogged and hiked with the Z Flip by cupping the hinge end in my palm. I didn’t feel I was going to drop it.
New: Selfie camera is good, but taking selfies isn’t always
I’ve gotten pretty good selfies from the Galaxy Z Flip so far, especially when opening the device so it sits up on its own and using the timer so I don’t have that awkward “selfie arm” that shows up in the typical handheld shot.
What isn’t so good is trying to take a selfie when the Z Flip is closed. You can double-press the power button to launch the front-facing camera when the phone is closed. You know it’s ready for you when you see yourself on the tiny 1.1-inch cover display. Swipe the area to switch to a wide-angle selfie, then press the volume-down key to take the shot.
All that is well and good, but the diminutive cover screen makes for a short, pill-shaped viewfinder that isn’t actually useful for positioning yourself in the larger context of the image. It’s also so small that you can’t really see yourself.
If you’re taking a picture of another person, you can press an on-screen camera control to turn that cover screen into a viewfinder for them, but now they’re so far from the camera, that it doesn’t do much good.
New: The outer screen needs help
The selfie viewfinder situation is the most obvious symptom of the Z Flip’s comically small display, but I’m at a bit of a loss with the rest of its features.
It’s good for seeing the time and battery percentage (though I’m going to poke around for an always-on setting). It’s not as good at other things. You can tap for Wi-Fit networks and to see missed calls and alerts. For example, I scrolled to see a Slack notification, tapped it, and saw my co-worker’s Slack message roll across the screen like a ticker. You can open the phone to open the app.
Motorola is on the right track giving the Razr the ability to send canned smart replies and voice messages, which gives that phone more it can do from the outer screen without having to open it up.
Star feature: A phone that can stand on its own
I’m enamored with the Z Flip’s ability to hold itself upright. While watching video, reading a news story, taking selfies, and even running tests, propping the Z Flip’s screen up or turning the whole thing on its side meant I didn’t have to hold it. It made my selfies better (when using a timer). It’s remarkable how many angles the hinge will support before snapping fully opened or closed (yes, there are magnets at all four corners).
That rigidity means you’ll need to exact a bit more pressure to close the phone and snap it or pull it open, but I haven’t felt like I’m straining against the phone. ), yet the result is that you can prop the Z Flip on its base and tilt the screen at any number of angles to take a selfie photo with a friend — or a portrait shot — watch a video, or do any number of things.
The same goes for slightly bending the phone in half while watching a video so it can become its own stand. When you bend it, some apps dynamically shift into a split-screen mode so you see the action on the “top” and the controls, or comments on the “bottom.” Not enough apps take advantage of the feature straight out the gate, but it’s one I hope to see Google and others embrace for the sheer convenience factor.
Is the Z Flip’s glass screen really all that?
Let me just say for the record that under 24 hours into a review period, I’m reluctant to make any sweeping or definite statements. These things need time to cook. A good review takes about a week of live-in time, and even that sometimes feels fast, but necessary.
So to answer the question as best as I can right now, I think so! Glass so thin it can bend is amazing. Foldable phones up until now have used a plastic material to cover the delicate electronic display beneath. Press on it too hard, or expose it to rough substances, and it’ll fail, leaving you without a usable phone.
The Z Flip’s glass screen is meant to shield the display from the more raucous elements, while also providing a smoother surface that more convincingly conceals that telltale crease where the screen bends in half. The Z Flip is subject to Samsung’s one-year warranty in the event of damage, as well as Samsung’s premier concierge help for foldable phones.
The Galaxy Fold’s first design caused some pretty public embarrassment to Samsung when dust and crumbs easily worked their way into the hinge and under the screen. Those early reports on reviewers’ phones caused Samsung to delay the Fold’s launch by about four months and completely redesign it. The good news is that those learnings have been carried into the Z Flip.
The hinge is protected by elements like interior vinyl fibers — which sound a lot like nostril hairs — to keep dust out of the mechanism. There are also plastic caps bordering the inside of the phone at the hinge, which also help rebuff the elements. I run my fingernails around the thick plastic bezel and note how sealed it feels. On the Galaxy Fold and Motorola Razr, I felt I could pry my fingernail under the screen without much effort.
The protection of these interior fibers only go so far. Samsung clearly notes on the phone’s overwrap care instructions that it’s susceptible to dust and water damage, so be alert. There’s the typical one-year warranty, and a concierge service for 24/7 customer care.
The purple shade in particular is alluring, but so far all colors are prone to terrible smudging.
Andrew Hoyle/CNET
Using the cameras
On paper, the Galaxy Z Flip challenges the Motorola Razr with two exterior cameras and one internal sensor.
Z Flip: Dual 12-megapixel sensors (wide-angle, ultrawide-angle) and a 10-megapixel internal camera
Razr: 16-megapixel exterior sensor, 5-megapixel interior camera (e.g. for initiating video calls)
My colleague Patrick Holland reviewed the Motorola Razr and declared the camera system to be “just OK.” Meanwhile, I’ve taken some photos with the Z Flip that I’m pretty excited about. I also took shots side by side on the Razr, but got some unexpected results, like selfie shots with drastically different white balance. I’m going to have to look into that.
The Z Flip has a new photo mode that it shares with the Galaxy S20 trio of phones. Called Single Take, it captures up to 10 different still photos and four different videos. I was initially worried that I’d spend a lot of time deleting photos I don’t like or don’t care about, and in the initial testing process, I was right.
But there are some usable shots I got too, and it didn’t take a lot of time or obsessive focusing to get them, which is also good. Let’s consider the jury still out here.
Now playing: Watch this:
Unboxing Samsung’s $1,380 Galaxy Z Flip
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But what about the crease?!
Look, every foldable phone I’ve seen has a crease. When the light shines directly on it, you see it. When you run your finger down the seam, you feel it. When an exciting thriller or documentary movie plays, or when you’re sucked into an engaging article or game, you hardly notice it at all.
I do feel the Z Flip’s glass cover material helps minimize the hated crease. So does the fact that the width of the bend is actually pretty minimal — just shy of three inches — compared to the Galaxy Fold’s 6.34-inch vertical seam.
Battery life so far
For my final review (which again, this is not), I’m going to judge battery life by two main criteria. The first — and most important in my mind — is real-world testing. The second is a lab test that runs down the battery using specific media.
I’ve been using the Galaxy Note 10 Plus every day for months, and I know exactly how much battery life I need to get through a typical day of tethering the phone for two hours during a working commute, and then all-day needs, including streaming video on Netflix. I usually use the Note 10 Plus from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. at least (18 hours), and often have 30% left when I’m done, which I know will last me hours more hard use.
So far, the Z Flip’s battery story phone confuses me. Power reserves have drained quicker than I’d like when doing things that normally tax a battery: live maps navigation and streaming video. Standby mode has sipped power, leaving me with plenty of reserves hours after I stopped actively using the device. I’m keeping a close eye on the situation, but this one needs time.
Everything that comes in the Z Flip box.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The Z Flip has a 3,300-mAh battery, which is fine, but it’s split into two, which does lift my eyebrows in inquiry. Dual batteries are known by experts to be less efficient than a single large battery cell, which makes me wonder how well this battery will hold up.
On my first day of testing, the Z Flip’s battery was fully charged at 11:18 a.m. At 10:18 p.m. (11 hours later), it tallied in at 33%, and that’s after a day of hard use and about an hour and a half of streaming video. By 8:30am PT it had drained to 15% overnight. On my second day, I started at 100% at around 9am. Now at 5:50, it’s at 39%. That’s enough to last through the night, but I’ll need to recharge again before I go out for the day. The Z Flip comes with a 15-watt charger.
What’s next in the Galaxy Z Flip review:
Camera, camera, camera
More hinge assessments
Additional battery testing, including lab results
Design: Sexy or actually frumpy?
Using mobile payments
Quick app shortcuts bar
This story will be updated with more findings throughout the coming days.
Although no one likes a know-it-all, they dominate the Internet.
The Internet began as a vast repository of information. It quickly became a breeding ground for self-proclaimed experts seeking what most people desire: recognition and money.
Today, anyone with an Internet connection and some typing skills can position themselves, regardless of their education or experience, as a subject matter expert (SME). From relationship advice, career coaching, and health and nutrition tips to citizen journalists practicing pseudo-journalism, the Internet is awash with individuals—Internet talking heads—sharing their “insights,” which are, in large part, essentially educated guesses without the education or experience.
The Internet has become a 24/7/365 sitcom where armchair experts think they’re the star.
Not long ago, years, sometimes decades, of dedicated work and acquiring education in one’s field was once required to be recognized as an expert. The knowledge and opinions of doctors, scientists, historians, et al. were respected due to their education and experience. Today, a social media account and a knack for hyperbole are all it takes to present oneself as an “expert” to achieve Internet fame that can be monetized.
On the Internet, nearly every piece of content is self-serving in some way.
The line between actual expertise and self-professed knowledge has become blurry as an out-of-focus selfie. Inadvertently, social media platforms have created an informal degree program where likes and shares are equivalent to degrees. After reading selective articles, they’ve found via and watching some TikTok videos, a person can post a video claiming they’re an herbal medicine expert. Their new “knowledge,” which their followers will absorb, claims that Panda dung tea—one of the most expensive teas in the world and isn’t what its name implies—cures everything from hypertension to existential crisis. Meanwhile, registered dietitians are shaking their heads, wondering how to compete against all the misinformation their clients are exposed to.
More disturbing are individuals obsessed with evangelizing their beliefs or conspiracy theories. These people write in-depth blog posts, such as Elvis Is Alive and the Moon Landings Were Staged, with links to obscure YouTube videos, websites, social media accounts, and blogs. Regardless of your beliefs, someone or a group on the Internet shares them, thus confirming your beliefs.
Misinformation is the Internet’s currency used to get likes, shares, and engagement; thus, it often spreads like a cosmic joke. Consider the prevalence of clickbait headlines:
You Won’t Believe What Taylor Swift Says About Climate Change!
This Bedtime Drink Melts Belly Fat While You Sleep!
In One Week, I Turned $10 Into $1 Million!
Titles that make outrageous claims are how the content creator gets reads and views, which generates revenue via affiliate marketing, product placement, and pay-per-click (PPC) ads. Clickbait headlines are how you end up watching a TikTok video by a purported nutrition expert adamantly asserting you can lose belly fat while you sleep by drinking, for 14 consecutive days, a concoction of raw eggs, cinnamon, and apple cider vinegar 15 minutes before going to bed.
Our constant search for answers that’ll explain our convoluted world and our desire for shortcuts to success is how Internet talking heads achieve influencer status. Because we tend to seek low-hanging fruits, we listen to those with little experience or knowledge of the topics they discuss yet are astute enough to know what most people want to hear.
There’s a trend, more disturbing than spreading misinformation, that needs to be called out: individuals who’ve never achieved significant wealth or traded stocks giving how-to-make-easy-money advice, the appeal of which is undeniable. Several people I know have lost substantial money by following the “advice” of Internet talking heads.
Anyone on social media claiming to have a foolproof money-making strategy is lying. They wouldn’t be peddling their money-making strategy if they could make easy money.
Successful people tend to be secretive.
Social media companies design their respective algorithms to serve their advertisers—their source of revenue—interest; hence, content from Internet talking heads appears most prominent in your feeds. When a video of a self-professed expert goes viral, likely because it pressed an emotional button, the more people see it, the more engagement it receives, such as likes, shares and comments, creating a cycle akin to a tornado.
Imagine scrolling through your TikTok feed and stumbling upon a “scientist” who claims they can predict the weather using only aluminum foil, copper wire, sea salt and baking soda. You chuckle, but you notice his video got over 7,000 likes, has been shared over 600 times and received over 400 comments. You think to yourself, “Maybe this guy is onto something.” What started as a quest to achieve Internet fame evolved into an Internet-wide belief that weather forecasting can be as easy as DIY crafts.
Since anyone can call themselves “an expert,” you must cultivate critical thinking skills to distinguish genuine expertise from self-professed experts’ self-promoting nonsense. While the absurdity of the Internet can be entertaining, misinformation has serious consequences. The next time you read a headline that sounds too good to be true, it’s probably an Internet talking head making an educated guess; without the education seeking Internet fame, they can monetize.
TORONTO – A new survey says a majority of software engineers and developers feel tight project deadlines can put safety at risk.
Seventy-five per cent of the 1,000 global workers who responded to the survey released Tuesday say pressure to deliver projects on time and on budget could be compromising critical aspects like safety.
The concern is even higher among engineers and developers in North America, with 77 per cent of those surveyed on the continent reporting the urgency of projects could be straining safety.
The study was conducted between July and September by research agency Coleman Parkes and commissioned by BlackBerry Ltd.’s QNX division, which builds connected-car technology.
The results reflect a timeless tug of war engineers and developers grapple with as they balance the need to meet project deadlines with regulations and safety checks that can slow down the process.
Finding that balance is an issue that developers of even the simplest appliances face because of advancements in technology, said John Wall, a senior vice-president at BlackBerry and head of QNX.
“The software is getting more complicated and there is more software whether it’s in a vehicle, robotics, a toaster, you name it… so being able to patch vulnerabilities, to prevent bad actors from doing malicious acts is becoming more and more important,” he said.
The medical, industrial and automotive industries have standardized safety measures and anything they produce undergoes rigorous testing, but that work doesn’t happen overnight. It has to be carried out from the start and then at every step of the development process.
“What makes safety and security difficult is it’s an ongoing thing,” Wall said. “It’s not something where you’ve done it, and you are finished.”
The Waterloo, Ont.-based business found 90 per cent of its survey respondents reported that organizations are prioritizing safety.
However, when asked about why safety may not be a priority for their organization, 46 per cent of those surveyed answered cost pressures and 35 per cent said a lack of resources.
That doesn’t surprise Wall. Delays have become rampant in the development of tech, and in some cases, stand to push back the launch of vehicle lines by two years, he said.
“We have to make sure that people don’t compromise on safety and security to be able to get products out quicker,” he said.
“What we don’t want to see is people cutting corners and creating unsafe situations.”
The survey also took a peek at security breaches, which have hit major companies like London Drugs, Indigo Books & Music, Giant Tiger and Ticketmaster in recent years.
About 40 per cent of the survey’s respondents said they have encountered a security breach in their employer’s operating system. Those breaches resulted in major impacts for 27 per cent of respondents, moderate impacts for 42 per cent and minor impacts for 27 per cent.
“There are vulnerabilities all the time and this is what makes the job very difficult because when you ship the software, presumably the software has no security vulnerabilities, but things get discovered after the fact,” Wall said.
Security issues, he added, have really come to the forefront of the problems developers face, so “really without security, you have no safety.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.
As online shoppers hunt for bargains offered by Amazon during its annual fall sale this week, cybersecurity researchers are warning Canadians to beware of an influx of scammers posing as the tech giant.
In the 30 days leading up to Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days, taking place Tuesday and Wednesday, there were more than 1,000 newly registered Amazon-related web domains, according to Check Point Software Technologies, a company that offers cybersecurity solutions.
The company said it deemed 88 per cent of those domains malicious or suspicious, suggesting they could have been set up by scammers to prey on vulnerable consumers. One in every 54 newly created Amazon-related domain included the phrase “Amazon Prime.”
“They’re almost indiscernible from the real Amazon domain,” said Robert Falzon, head of engineering at Check Point in Canada.
“With all these domains registered that look so similar, it’s tricking a lot of people. And that’s the whole intent here.”
Falzon said Check Point Research sees an uptick in attempted scams around big online shopping days throughout the year, including Prime Days.
Scams often come in the form of phishing emails, which are deceptive messages that appear to be from a reputable source in attempt to steal sensitive information.
In this case, he said scammers posing as Amazon commonly offer “outrageous” deals that appear to be associated with Prime Days, in order to trick recipients into clicking on a malicious link.
The cybersecurity firm said it has identified and blocked 100 unique Amazon Prime-themed scam emails targeting organizations and consumers over the past two weeks.
Scammers also target Prime members with unsolicited calls, claiming urgent account issues and requesting payment information.
“It’s like Christmas for them,” said Falzon.
“People expect there to be significant savings on Prime Day, so they’re not shocked that they see something of significant value. Usually, the old adage applies: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
Amazon’s website lists a number of red flags that it recommends customers watch for to identify a potential impersonation scam.
Those include false urgency, requests for personal information, or indications that the sender prefers to complete the purchase outside of the Amazon website or mobile app.
Scammers may also request that customers exclusively pay with gift cards, a claim code or PIN. Any notifications about an order or delivery for an unexpected item should also raise alarm bells, the company says.
“During busy shopping moments, we tend to see a rise in impersonation scams reported by customers,” said Amazon spokeswoman Octavia Roufogalis in a statement.
“We will continue to invest in protecting consumers and educating the public on scam avoidance. We encourage consumers to report suspected scams to us so that we can protect their accounts and refer bad actors to law enforcement to help keep consumers safe.”
Falzon added that these scams are more successful than people might think.
As of June 30, the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre said there had been $284 million lost to fraud so far this year, affecting 15,941 victims.
But Falzon said many incidents go unreported, as some Canadians who are targeted do not know how or where to flag a scam, or may choose not to out of embarrassment.
Check Point recommends Amazon customers take precautions while shopping on Prime Days, including by checking URLs carefully, creating strong passwords on their accounts, and avoiding personal information being shared such as their birthday or social security number.
The cybersecurity company said consumers should also look for “https” at the beginning of a website URL, which indicates a secure connection, and use credit cards rather than debit cards for online shopping, which offer better protection and less liability if stolen.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.
