New Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 with Under-display camera, S Pen support & Water resistant

Recently, Samsung announced the series of their new products that includes Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, Galaxy Z Flip 3, Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Buds 2.

Let’s talk about Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G, this is Samsung’s flagship product. It’s their Flagship foldable and in their high-end premium lineup in the whole Galaxy series. And let us tell you that this Z fold 3 is nice. It got an updated look and has a modern vibe to it. It has got cleaner line. Furthermore, it’s a little thinner, lighter. When you pick it up, the difference in weight is not super noticeable, but the difference in thickness compare to the foldable 2 is quite obvious.

Now, inside this Galaxy Z fold 3, we are looking at 3 relatively big changes this year. And they are as follows;

1. The presence of under-display camera. This is a camera system that can become somewhat invisible.
2. The presence of S pen support
3. And Z fold 3 is now IPS 8 water resistant certified

Under-display Camera in new Samsung Galaxy Z fold 3

Let’s start with the Under-display Camera in new Galaxy Z fold 3, because that’s the coolest thing for us in this model.

This Under-display camera is the tech that we have seen before, this isn’t the first phone with it. But this is the first time we see it on a Galaxy device, and also the first time we have seen it done in this type of form factor(foldable).

Samsung Galaxy Z fold 3 is basically hiding the camera underneath the screen, so that it is invisible as much as possible for any kind of media consumption or any kind of use of that front big display.

Now the way Samsung do it, if you are unfamiliar with this tech, is that there is a just bunch of pixels above the camera and lenses, and they can be turned on and off to hide the camera tech that is underneath.

The thing is that it’s imperfect. Now last year when the Axon 20 came out, that was the first commercially available phone that had the under-display camera tech built into it. And you could see, if you looked for it, that there was a kind of like visual artificing at the top of the display where that camera was hidden.

Now in Z Fold 3 there’s still a visual artifact in that area. If you know what you’re looking for, and you are looking in the right spot, you will see it’s fairly obvious. It is more noticeable in very bright background like if it’s a white background than it’s more obvious. But if it’s a darker shade or a darker scene, it’s hard to see the camera.

But if you are looking for it, you will see it. Now, we were little surprised to see that there wasn’t much of an improvement in this particular implementation compare to this one from the past under-display-camera devices.

The other thing to keep in mind is that in order to pull this off, they had to compromise with the camera quality in general. Samsung reduced the quality of the front facing camera on that screen to have an under display-camera system. Ok, we get it, like they were going for a look, but it’s just surprising to us that, that’s what they have to do to achieve the goal of implementation of under-display camera.

Crease in the middle of the screen of Samsung Galaxy Z fold 3

Another thing about this new Samsung Galaxy Z fold 3 phones is the crease in the middle of the large screen. Ever since the original Galaxy fold launched, the crease right down the middle was something that people were concerned about. How obvious the crease is and how annoying it would be for the user experience?

Personally, the crease doesn’t matter to us. We never once thought that the visual experience of the Galaxy Z fold phone was ruined by the presence of a crease in the middle. The crease is quite obvious; it is right in front of the face, but it just exists.

That being said, it is very surprising for us that on a 3^rd generation of foldable tech, it still has such an obvious crease in the middle of the display. It seems like it has the same degree of crease as the first one. But maybe that’s just the tech. Right?

S Pen support in new Samsung Galaxy Z fold 3

OK now, in terms of S pen, this to us is really a nice addition. You can’t use every S pen that Samsung offers. They have S Pen pro which is compatible with this one, but they also have the dedicated or new S Pen built specifically for the fold devices.

Now Samsung also have the case that you can get that has a detachable kind of pen clip holder which is kind of neat.

Samsung Galaxy Z fold 3 is now IPS 8 water resistant certified

Beside all the cool under-display Camera and S Pen support, the more importantly Galaxy Z fold 3 is now water resistant, which to us is an incredible feat of technology.

If you think about what is happening when you open and close, Z fold 3. The hinge has so many moving parts.

Last year on Galaxy Z fold 2, the company implemented some brushes to improve the dust resistant but to make it water resistant to any degree that’s crazy to us. And it’s cool because anyone who’s ever considered buying a foldable device and even in the future if you ever look at this stuff its durability comes into your mind. Right?

Like how durable the hinge is? There are so moving parts for that hinge to function, and just having water resistant is really nice to see, which certainly improves the durability & reliability of the Samsung Galaxy Z fold 3

The Fold 3 also comes with Gorilla glass victus. It has a matte finish. It’s got a stronger aluminum body like the metal that they’ve used a little stronger than the previous generation and the whole device is thinner and lighter, but the camera system remains relatively unchanged.

Maybe the software’s been tweaked, but in terms of camera hardware from what we’ve seen it’s identical to the previous generations. So, if camera image quality is hugely important to you, then you’re going to be disappointed. But for people that want the bleeding edge and Galaxy tech with folding screens and under display-camera, this Z fold 3 is going to fit the ticket quite nicely.

Now the pricing is little lower than previous generation. It’s now $1799 for the base model, which is $200 cheaper than last generation. We mean don’t get us wrong, it’s still super expensive, but it’s more accessible than it was last year.