Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Review: Peeping the Flex Window

This year, Samsung spent a lot of time talking about the Galaxy Z Flip 5 during Unpacked. In fact, Samsung spent 13 minutes of the keynote on the Galaxy Z Flip 5, versus 9 on the Galaxy Z Fold 5. And even less time on the Galaxy Watch 6 and Galaxy Tab S9 series. So it’s clear that Samsung thinks the Galaxy Z Flip 5 is going to be the bigger seller this year. And it’s not hard to see why. Samsung outfitted the Galaxy Z Flip 5 with a much larger display this year, it has a new hinge that allows it to fold flat, and storage has doubled, while remaining at the same $999 MSRP.

The flip-style foldable is such a good option, especially for those that tend to have smaller pockets (like a lot of women) but still want a fairly large phone. It’s also the more affordable option for foldables, at least for now. It’s the same price as any other flagship phone these days.

But the real question here is, whether that is enough to make it worth upgrading to this year. Let’s find out in our full review here.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Review: Hardware & Design

Even though the two biggest changes with the Galaxy Z Flip 5 this year, are design changes, the design of the phone hasn’t changed a lot compared to the Flip 4 from last year. Let’s first talk about that new hinge. This hinge is smaller, and has fewer moving parts. So it is less likely to break, but it being smaller means that it can now fold completely flat. Previously, Samsung had a gap for the hinge, so it looked more like a V when it was folded.

The new hinge also is easier to open, and can stay in more positions, more easily. It’s a lot easier to open and close compared to something like the Pixel Fold. Now, unlike the Galaxy Z Fold 5, this new hinge does not allow the Galaxy Z Flip 5 to shed some weight. Which isn’t a problem, as it is lighter than the Galaxy S23+ which is about the same size. So weight isn’t as much of a problem here as it is on the Fold 5.

The other big change is the Flex Window, no longer is Samsung calling it the Cover Screen. It’s now a 3.4-inch display on the front, that kinda looks like an upside-down folder. Samsung did not include the cameras in the Flex Window, and when I asked Samsung reps about this in Korea, they told me that it looks more unique to them. Basically, this is to help their phone stand out versus others like the Motorola Razr+ which does have punch holes for the cameras in its front-display.

The Flex Window is a really nice change here, as it does allow you to get things done without opening the phone. With the Flip 4 last year, that was a big complaint of mine. In order to really do anything, I had to open the phone every single time, which got pretty annoying after a few weeks. But now, I can really deal with notifications on the Flex Window, I can check the weather, control Spotify and even look at my calendar without opening the phone.

Flex Window does allow apps to work. However, by default, only a handful of apps are compatible. That includes Google Maps, Messages, YouTube and Netflix. But with Good Lock, there is a setting that allows all apps to be compatible. I’d recommend keeping it to Samsung’s default options however. Since this is not set up the same way as Motorola’s Razr+. So some apps really don’t work well on the Flex Window. Samsung will be adding more, however.

As for the rest of the design, it’s basically what you’d expect. The sides are a bit more flat this year, compared to the Flip 4, but the volume rocker and power button are still on the upper left side of the phone. The power button is recessed because it is also a fingerprint reader. The front of the phone is all black, even with the screen off, and then the sides and back are the color you’ve chosen. With my review unit here, it’s all in mint.

Shallower crease, but it’s still there

So, with the new hinge, it allows the Galaxy Z Flip 5 to have a shallower crease. But it’s still very noticeable, unfortunately. And I want to saw it’s even more noticeable now than it was on previous models. It’s hard not to see it, and even harder not to feel it. Especially since it’s across the middle on the Flip 5. On the Galaxy Z Fold 5, it’s down the center, so your finger doesn’t scroll across it as much.

If you look closely at the image above, you can see the light hitting the area around the crease and see how big and noticeable it really is.

While Samsung says that you can take the screen protector off on the Galaxy Z Flip 5, it’s basically impossible to do so. So I’d recommend not doing so. Even though it will get fairly ugly after a few months of use.

Let’s talk about that plastic screen in direct sunlight however. That was a big issue with the Google Pixel Fold, but on the Galaxy Z Flip 5, it’s less of a problem. Why? Because it gets super bright. Much like the Galaxy Z Fold 5, the Flip 5 also hits 1750 nits peak brightness. That’s the same brightness as the Galaxy S23 Ultra. I used the Galaxy Z Flip 5 in direct sunlight quite often, and never had an issue seeing the display, unless it was in dark mode. But that’s an easy flip of a toggle.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Review: Performance

If I’m being honest here, performance was not a surprise on the Galaxy Z Flip 5. It basically performs the same as the Galaxy S23+ and Galaxy S23 Ultra that I reviewed earlier in the year. And that’s because it does run the same processor – Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy. This is a slightly overclocked processor, compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in other phones like the OnePlus 11. So you’re getting an even faster phone here.

During day-to-day tasks, I really did not notice any issues with it getting warm or slowing down. Now when playing games like Genshin Impact, it would start to get warm, but not overheating. Which is definitely great to see. This would also happen when using the camera a lot, get warm, but not overheat.

If you’re worried about performance on the Galaxy Z Flip 5, don’t. It performs quite well with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy, the 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage inside.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Review: Battery life & Charging

Let’s start with the bad news first. The Galaxy Z Flip 5’s charging is still pretty shameful. It’s 25W wired charging and 15W wireless charging. Even the Galaxy S23+ charges faster. However, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 does have a 3700mAh capacity battery, so it’s not quite as bad as it might sound. Samsung does claim that it can charge about 50% in 30 minutes. And we’ve seen it fully charge in a little over an hour. So it’s really not as bad as the 25W on the spec sheet sounds.

Now, let’s talk about battery life. It’s good. Not great, but good. Keep in mind that this is a 3700mAh capacity battery. Likely the smallest capacity battery you would see on a 6.7-inch phone. But thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy being so efficient, it’s actually pretty decent.

On the Galaxy Z Flip 5, I was able to get to 7 hours of screen on time, a couple of times. Of course, your mileage may vary, as people use their phones differently. Some like to stream music from it all day, I don’t. Which is why I did not during this review. So do keep that in mind here. You can see my battery life in the screenshots below.

Now, is this the best battery life on a phone? No, far from it. The best was the Galaxy S23 Ultra, OnePlus 11 or Zenfone 10. All of which surpassed 10 hours of screen on time for me. But will it get you through a full day of usage? Yes. And that’s what we really want, right? Samsung does also offer some different modes for your battery, so you can conserve more battery if you really need to stretch it until you get home. So battery life is not an issue on the Galaxy Z Flip 5, but if you are a heavy user and aren’t near an outlet very often, you may still want to carry a nice battery pack in your bag or purse. As it doesn’t have the battery endurance of some other phones.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Review: Software

A lot of the software changes this year, come from the Flex Window on the Galaxy Z Flip 5. Which is a really nice addition. While I didn’t use it quite as much as I did on the Razr+, it was still used a lot more than on the Galaxy Z Flip 4 last year. And that’s due to it being a whole lot larger this year.

While you can play YouTube on the Flex Window, it’s not something you’d probably do all that often. Primarily because it is so tiny. But it is possible. Now the app that I did use a lot on the Flex Window? Google Maps. Being able to see where you’re going, when you’re in an unfamiliar city or area, without opening the entire phone, is a big deal. The other app would be Google Messages, though I rarely get text messages these days, so it’s not something I’d personally use all that often.

The Flex Window also comes with some customization. If you go to Settings > Cover Screen, you’ll see some options for the main cover screen, as well as the widgets. There are a bunch of pre-made designs for the Cover Screen, and you can also throw in your own background image. The one that you see throughout this review, is my favorite, and that’s because it gives you some nice info without doing any swiping. It allows you to see the time, date, battery percentage, notifications and even a camera shortcut.

It’s worth mentioning that the notifications doesn’t update all that often there. Often times, it’d say I had three notifications, then I swipe over to see them, and there was only one. I’m guessing that’s to conserve battery life. Hopefully, Samsung figures out a way to make this more accurate over time, however.

You can also choose from a number of full-page widgets for the Galaxy Z Flip 5 cover screen. These include the Calendar, Weather, Recent Calls, Direct Dial, Alarm, Stopwatch, Timer, Steps, SmartThings Scenes, Apps, Finance Watchlist, Daily activity, launcher and game. Samsung does allow you to re-order these by hitting the button at the top of the page. And there doesn’t seem to be a limit to how many you can enable. You can enable all of them, if you wish. On the Flex Window, you can pinch in to see them all and jump to a specific page quicker, if you want.

Samsung tends to offer a ton of options, and things that you might never actually use. They seemed to get away from that in recent releases. But as you can see with the Flex Window, there’s still plenty of options to really make the Galaxy Z Flip 5 your own. Despite not allowing every single Android app run on the Cover Screen.

Spectacular software support

If you’re thinking about buying this phone and are worried about software support, don’t. Samsung has really stepped up in recent years with software support, and with the Galaxy Z Flip 5, they are promising four Android OS upgrades. That means it will get Android 14, 15, 16 and 17. It is also getting five years of security updates. So you’ll be good for quite some time.

Samsung has also been very fast at rolling out these updates in recent years. Sometimes rolling out the updates ahead of Google themselves. So software support is not really an issue when it comes to Samsung, these days.

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 Review: Cameras

When it comes to the cameras on the Galaxy Z Flip 5, it’s really more of the same. Samsung is still using dual 12-megapixel sensors on the outside of the phone. That’s a 12-megapixel wide and a 12-megapixel ultrawide. It’s a pretty mediocre camera setup for a phone that costs $999. But it will get the job done.

The cameras have a lot of the same issues that you’d expect to see on a Samsung phone, primarily over-saturation. This is especially noticeable outdoors when taking photos of plants or grass. And you’ll see that the grass is a whole lot greener than it is in real life. Some people love this, while others want their photos to look more true to life. But that’s something to keep in mind.

Portrait mode on this camera, however, is actually quite good. I took quite a few portrait mode shots with this camera over the last couple of weeks and almost all of them were really impressive. Samsung has gotten a lot better about cutting out my glasses and not blurring the edge of them into the background, like many other phones tend to do.

Here are some portrait mode shots with the Galaxy Z Flip 5:

But what the camera is really missing is, a macro mode. On Samsung’s foldables, they tend to do this on the telephoto sensor, which is great. Except for the fact that the Galaxy Z Flip 5 does not have a telephoto lens. Which means, no macro. And if you get to close to an object, you can really see that there’s no macro mode. As it will either be blurry, or really noisey. I really wish Samsung would ditch the ultrawide and go with a telephoto here. I’d use a telephoto a lot more than ultrawide. And obviously, adding a third camera lens would make that Flex Window a lot smaller, so they likely don’t want to do a triple camera setup here.

The camera does also have a few other nifty tricks on the Galaxy Z Flip 5. This includes the ability to use it while it’s closed. From the Flex window, you can easily open the camera app and take a selfie with the better cameras, and even with an ultrawide camera. Additionally, you can turn on the viewfinder on the front display, so those that you are taking a photo of, can see the shot while you take it.

Finally, the last trick that’s really cool is if you put the Galaxy Z Flip 5 in a 90-degree angle, you can use it like an old school camcorder. Which might be easier to use for vlogging and such. But again, the cameras aren’t the best here, so you might not want to do that.

With good lighting and some editing, you can get some stunning photos with this phone. But if you’re not great with editing, then you might want to look elsewhere for a good camera.

Should you buy the Galaxy Z Flip 5?

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 is a really great foldable smartphone, and really the only reason why it did not get a full 5-star rating on this review, is because of the cameras. If you can get away with not having the best or even really good cameras on your phone, then the Galaxy Z Flip 5 is a really great phone to pick up. Particularly if you have smaller pockets. There’s been quite a few times where I didn’t even realize it was in my pocket, even though it is a 6.7-inch smartphone. But folded in half, I sometimes don’t notice it’s there.

So it’s a good phone, but it’s ultimately up to you whether you should buy it or not.

You should buy the Galaxy Z Flip 5 if:

– You have a Galaxy Z Flip 3 or older.

– You don’t have a foldable, and want to jump on the foldable bandwagon.

– You want a phone with a smaller footprint in your pocket.

You should not buy the Galaxy Z Flip 5 if:

– You have a Galaxy Z Flip 4 or any foldable from last year or this year.

– You want/need better cameras

– You need better battery life than what the Galaxy Z Flip 5 provides.