Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5’s pursuit of refinement drubs Motorola’s Razr 40 Ultra

Conventional wisdom dictates any considerations to buy a foldable screen phone, lined with a willingness to gingerly accept this adoption, must find a flip form factor as a logical starting point. There are more choices too than 12 months ago. Motorola fired the first salvo with the Razr 40 Ultra and a decidedly more restrained Razr 40. Yet, for all the noise and effort, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 is the easiest recommendation among all Android flip phones.

One of the reasons for that is continuity. At first glance, you may struggle to identify visible differences between the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5, and its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4. The focus is on refinement, headlined by a flat folding hinge that’s good news for longevity.

First the important discussion of the price, before we delve deeper into the specs and value proposition that’s thus generated. Samsung has priced the Galaxy Z Flip 5 at ₹99,999 for the 8GB RAM and 256GB storage option. For 512GB storage, the sticker price is ₹1,09,999. The logical choice is the latter. As is the case with Samsung’s phones, the price tag only tells half the tale. There are significant discounts on various payment methods, including cashbacks and exchange offer valuations.

Also read:Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 is all about polish, a new hinge and benchmark refresh

Motorola’s latest generation Razr family is meeker in terms of these cashbacks and exchange bonus offers. Therefore, while the final cart price of your Galaxy Z Flip 5 can tumble significantly, there’s limited scope to go much lower than the ₹89,999 price of the Razr 40 Ultra or the ₹59,999 valuation plastered on the comparatively moderately spec-ed Razr 40.

Also, there are some online-exclusive special edition colours on Samsung’s online store. Motorola doesn’t have those many options.

Samsung’s added an IPX8 layer for dust intrusion protection and water resistance up to 1.5mts of depth for a duration of 30 minutes. For a foldable phone, it either could mean the difference between being usable a few years down the line, or simply mimicking a paperweight. Motorola’s phones don’t carry any claims for dust, water or splash resistance ratings.

The Galaxy Z Flip 5, much like its larger sibling Galaxy Z Fold 5, folds flat. That’s because of the new hinge, and it eliminates the gap between the folded sides of the screen. Irrespective of the larger footprint of its sibling or the flip form factor in this case, closing that gap when the phone’s folded, goes a long way in protecting the screen from objects that may either slide through it or ones such as coins or keys that may get lodged (worse still, extricate themselves too, forcefully).

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Samsung has kept the primary foldable screen size the same as in the previous generations. It is a bright, vivid 6.7-inch Foldable Dynamic AMOLED screen. Illumination top-line is now rated at 1750 nits, up from 1200 nits of the predecessor.

The big change is with the second screen, that’s the cover screen. That real estate is up from 1.9-inches to 3.4-inches. Motorola’s Razr 40 series has also taken a similar trajectory. From the outset, this is a utility focused screen, for widgets you’d be able to quickly glance at, or assimilate and contemplate replying to text messages. Samsung’s widgets are more flexible (read, more choice of the info you see, and how you see it) than Motorola’s.

That’s before Samsung deploys its party trick – an indicator of the work done on the software.

In Settings > Labs (this isn’t immediately apparent; it could’ve done with better placement), you can choose to enable an option that can even run some full-fledged apps on this cover screen. That is, for quite a few use cases, quite a game-changer. You may not find this relevant for running Netflix, but how about Google Maps on the cover screen? Or Android’s Messages app. Or WhatsApp? Negates a need to un-flip, and you hold something quite compact in your hand. Suddenly, a second screen which was perhaps limited to some widgets and cool wallpapers, as a companion for your personality, has adopted deeper meaning. And utility.

Longevity will also likely be defined by the power these phones have. The more, the merrier for a scenario a few years down the line. Samsung’s got custom-made chips from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, with specific boost for graphics performance. Both Motorola phones run older chips – the Razr 40 Ultra is powered by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 while the Razr 40 has the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 (now you know why we referenced this as moderately spec-ed).

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The 3,700mAh battery just about gets through a day of moderate use, but use this extensively for navigation or photography, and there may be some anxiety as the late evening sunshine graces the view from your room’s window. The next generation of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip should also get faster charging – here and now, 25-watt on wired and 15-watt on wireless just don’t seem enough. Mind you, Motorola’s flip phones make do with 30-watt wired charging and a miserable 5-watt wireless charging.

Samsung’s foldables don’t, and that’s the trend – get the latest camera hardware that the Galaxy S flagship phones do. You’ll still have to make do with a 12-megapixel wide camera and a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera, although there seem to be very clear improvements with the image processing algorithms which allow for better detailing to come through. That is, in good lighting scenarios.

You’ll miss a telephoto lens, and digital zoom’s utility is quite limited if details and clarity are what you wish for in resulting photos. For low-light photos too, it takes some effort to get the sort of detailing you’d expect from a flagship-esque priced phone. That may always not be the case.

If there is a part of you which would like to make the switch from a traditional slab-design smartphone to a flip form factor, your choices don’t get much better than the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5. It is incredibly usable even in the un-flipped state, since the 6.7-inch screen size (albeit with a narrow-er aspect ratio) retains a similar footprint. The cover screen is significantly improved now, with software smarts adding genuine utility.

For specific use cases too, the 90-degree positioning makes sense. Video calls being one, where you can keep the phone on the table and not have to hold it up. Or use the lower part of the screen for specific app functionality, such as controls for music streaming apps.

Unlike its bigger sibling, the Galaxy Z Fold 5’s pricing is less of a contemplation for the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5. Even more so, if you’re able to use the payment and exchange offers to the fullest.