Similar to last year’s Galaxy Z Fold 2, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is one of my favourite Android devices I’ve ever used. The smartphone-tablet hybrid is beautifully designed, feels great, works incredibly smoothly, and even functions with the ever-beloved S-Pen.
While the Z Fold 3 is around $500 cheaper than last year’s model at launch, the $2,270 price tag means it’s still a far cry from being an affordable smartphone.
That said, I’m the type of smartphone user that typically wants the best of the best — so if I had to purchase a new device today, it’d be the Z Fold 3, in all its magnificence. However, if you’re not the type of person who wants to carry around a literal tablet in your pocket, the Z Flip 3 or the S21 Ultra might be a better choice, as far as Samsung devices are concerned.
While the Z Fold 3 isn’t a significant leap over the Z Fold 2 (like the monumental jump in specs the Fold 2 had over the original Fold), the fact that it’s more affordable, feels higher quality, and is somehow actually IPX8 water-resistant makes it one of the first foldable smartphones with nearly no compromises.
The Z Fold 3 is definitely not for everyone, because it’s quite large — especially when it’s in a case. This year’s model weighs 271g compared to the Z Fold 2’s 282g. Even though it’s only a bit lighter on paper, the difference is pretty noticeable when you’re actually holding the Galaxy Z Fold 3. As a result, I no longer dread lugging around the Fold 3, like I did with the Fold 2.
Dimension-wise, the Z Fold 3 is only slightly shorter than its predecessor, despite being noticeably thinner. However, it’s still a very large phone that might be too big for some people’s pockets. For example, I was recently wearing denim shorts and noticed that the device was even too large for them. If you tend to shop in the “women’s section” at clothing stores, you’ll probably experience a similar issue.
“Just like the Z Fold 2 and Z Flip 3, the crease is still noticeable and I don’t think it will ever go away.”
Despite its size, I still really liked holding the Z Fold 3. Samsung kept the premium-feeling matte finish on the foldable device’s rear, unlike the Z Flip 3. This made it easier to avoid leaving fingerprints on the phone’s back glass, but you can still smudge it with greasy hands.
With the help of Samsung’s ‘Armor Aluminum’ frame, Z Fold 3’s body feels high-quality and very sturdy, especially when compared to the Fold 2. The South Korean company says that this new frame makes the foldable device 10 percent more durable than last year’s model.
The Z Fold 3 doesn’t include a headphone jack, like most modern smartphones. Other features worth noting include dual speakers at the top and the bottom of the device, a USB-C port, a SIM tray, and a trio of cameras on the rear.
Finally, this device is waterproof, so if you like to text while you’re showering, take a lot of boat rides, or often watch content while you’re in the kitchen cooking, you can finally do so safely with the Z Fold 3. Personally, I don’t tend to bring my phone near any liquid, but I did pour water on it to test out the water resistance and to take pictures of it wet. This is something you definitely couldn’t do with past foldable handsets.
Two screens are better than one
The Z Fold 3 includes two displays, a 6.2-inch ‘Cover display’ with an 832 x 2268 pixel resolution, and a larger 7.6-inch foldable display with a 1768 x 2208 pixel resolution. Both screens offer a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, which is an improvement over last year’s model; only the larger screen on the Z Fold 2 featured this higher refresh rate.
The Z Fold 3’s ‘Cover display’ is useful for quick tasks like shuffling music, scrolling through Instagram, swiping on Tinder, replying to texts, and reading an article or two. The screen isn’t any larger, and it offers the same awkward 25:9 aspect ratio as the Fold 2’s, but I found that I really didn’t mind using the smaller display — and I think that had to do with the higher refresh rate.
What’s far more impressive this time around is the Z Fold 3’s larger screen. Samsung Display says that the Z Fold 3 uses new Eco 2 OLED screen technology, which ditches the plastic polarizing layer that was on the Z Fold 2. Without that extra layer on top of Samsung’s Ultra-Thin Glass technology and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) screen protector, the phone’s display really feels like glass now. Still, around the crease, however, the illusion falls apart a bit. This area of the display feels a bit plasticky, but it’s not that bad.
What’s even more exciting than the glassier screen is the pretty cool Under Display Camera (UDC). Samsung hid the front-facing camera cutout by placing display pixels over the camera lens. When your screen is displaying a white background, the pixels on top of the lens are very noticeable and look weird, which is something I noted in my hands-on. However, the UDC shines when you’re consuming media. While the pixels are still there if you look for them, they’re a lot easier to ignore compared to a hole-punch camera.
Speaking of that, even without a super high pixel resolution, I really enjoyed the viewing experience offered by the Z Fold 3. I watched several episodes of Good Girls on Netflix, videos on YouTube, and play games of Wild Rift. Colour accuracy was good, the display got as bright as I needed even on sunny days, and everything was pleasing to the eye.
The crease is here to stay
Just like the Z Fold 2 and Z Flip 3, the crease is still noticeable and I don’t think it will ever go away, as the screen needs to fold. Given this is the 3rd-gen Fold, if you’re purchasing a phone with a foldable display, you should expect it to include a crease. Just like last year, I forgot it was even there for the most part, especially when consuming media.
Besides, this phone is so much more than its crease.
It just makes sense
Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3 runs One UI 3.1.1 on top of Android 11 and offers an incredibly smooth user interface experience.
My favourite example of this is that Samsung’s new Labs setting — which allows users to try experimental features — lets you customize the aspect ratio of an app. An issue I had with the original Z Fold 2 is that a lot of apps aren’t designed for such a large display. The main culprit for me was the Instagram app: it only took up the middle of the display, which caused issues when trying to watch stories. Now, you can force the app to utilize the Fold 3’s whole display, making the experience much better.
Another new feature I loved was the ability to pin all of your apps to the side of your screen. This feature turns your ‘Edge Panel’ into a taskbar and lets users quickly access their apps without having to pull on the edge of the display. Further, it also gives you access to all your apps with a new icon. Tapping that icon brings up all of your apps in a pop-up window, so you don’t have to stop what you’re doing and quickly switch to another app. This makes multi-tasking with the Z Fold 3 an absolute breeze. Additionally, you can now force every single app on your device to go split-screen. I found this especially useful for browsing the internet or Instagram while watching Netflix.
Another annoyance I experienced with the Z Fold 2 was that with most apps, you can’t fold the device and only watch content on the top half of the display. Again, with the new Labs setting, I’m able to change that. Now, I can force an app, like Netflix, to show the play/pause controls on the bottom half of the screen and the content on the top half. I really enjoyed doing this, as it allowed me to watch videos during my stretching routine and when lying down in bed without needing to hold the device.
It’s also worth noting that with the most recent update, many of these features are now available on the Z Fold 2.
Mini laptop in your pocket
The Z Fold 3 features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor and 12GB of RAM, which ensures the phone runs incredibly smoothly with no delays.
I was able to run about 10 apps in the background, which doesn’t seem like a lot considering the amount of RAM, but it was barely noticeable. For example, apps open and load so quickly that I thought they were already running in the background. The only slowdown I experienced is when I was on the Cover screen and wanted to switch over to the main display while keeping the app open. Apps would typically need to close and re-open.
Additionally, I was able to play League of Legends: Wild Rift at its highest settings at 120fps and it ran beautifully with no hiccups. I played several matches, and I didn’t notice the smartphone warm up at all.
I ran a benchmarking test with GeekBench and the Z Fold 3 had a single-core score of 1,109 and a multi-core score of 3,185. To put this in perspective, the Z Fold 2 offered a single-core score of 937 and a multi-core score of 3,051; whereas, the S21 Ultra offered a multi-core score of 3,411 and a single-core score of 1,108. I don’t put much weight into benchmarks, but these are pretty favourable for an Android device.
“Though the Z Fold 3’s outside 10-megapixel is passable for selfies, the resulting images also aren’t detailed and it makes my skin a bit too bright.”
Unfortunately, the Z Fold 3’s battery life is a bit below average. I was able to squeeze four and a half to five hours of screen-on time, and the device would last the whole day, typically until about 11am the following day. It’s definitely not the best battery available, but it was more dependable than the Z Flip 3 and I wasn’t worried about bringing my charger with me when I went out.
Maybe the UDC isn’t needed?
Samsung’s cameras this time around aren’t that different from previous devices. There are five different options to choose from: a trio of 12-megapixel shooters on the back, the Cover screen’s hole-punch camera, and the UDC on the main screen.
While the UDC is cool, it’s pretty unnecessary when there are so many other options. It’s more of a webcam for video conferencing and not a great one at that. While pictures taken with it are too bright and lack detail, you can just ignore it and take selfies with the Z Fold 3’s several other cameras.
Though the Z Fold 3’s outside 10-megapixel is passable for selfies, the resulting images also aren’t detailed and it makes my skin a bit too bright — but it’s still better than the UDC. And again, thankfully, there’s the trio of cameras on the Z Fold 3’s rear that work together with the Cover display, so you can still take pretty good selfies.
With these cameras, pictures are sharp, bright and vivid. The overall look of the images is pretty similar to the company’s other devices, and at this point, you either like the look of Samsung’s style of photos or hate it. I don’t mind it because I like the vibrancy of the pictures, but they aren’t as true-to-life as the images a smartphone like the iPhone 12 Pro shoots. Selfies with these shooters are far better; you can better make out hair follicles on my beard and the colour accuracy is far more on point. The images aren’t perfect, but they’re way better than a lot of other high-end smartphones.
With that in mind, it’s pretty laughable that the Z Fold 3 only has a 2X zoom for a phone that costs $2,269. For example, even 2020’s S20 Ultra featured a 4x zoom. If you want a Samsung phone with way more zoom, you should consider the S21 Ultra.
S Pen accessory
Like the S21 Ultra, you can use Samsung’s S Pen stylus with the Z Fold 3. However, you’ll need to purchase it and a case holder separately. I’m not a fan of the case because it covers the Cover display, but it also offers the phone a bit more protection.
I used the S Pen Fold edition, which has a 1.5mm tip and low latency. This S Pen lacks ‘Air Actions’ — you’ll need the S Pen Pro to get those features, which I didn’t get to try out. The overall experience is smooth and feels like using a stylus on a tablet, but the latency doesn’t compare to the Note 20 Ultra. That said, it doesn’t lag that much and is still very usable.
However, oddly enough, the S Pen doesn’t work on the Cover screen.
If you want the S Pen Fold edition, you’ll need to spend $59.99, and Samsung Canada isn’t offering the case that doubles as a holder yet.
The S Pen Pro with Bluetooth costs $129.99 and will work with other Samsung devices, including tablets, and allows for Air actions.
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.
