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I don't like to admit it, but I was wrong. Back in the summer at Galaxy Unpacked was the first time that I'd seen and got my hands on the Z Fold 8. And I remember at the time thinking, "Yeah, it's cool. It's small, but I don't get it." I actually thought to myself at the time, "Who's going to want a $1,800 phone that's worse than the Ultra?" And actually, it turns out everybody, including me. I'm filming this on the Z Fold 8 now. I'm Paul, and I can admit that I am obsessed with this phone. Just a little bit. This video is sponsored by Memocket. Ever since I gave this almost square wide fold a real chance, I have barely used any other phone. Is this the best phone that I've used this year? No, not by a long shot. Have I been frustrated
with it? Yes, so many times. But, this is still possibly one of my favorite phones that I've used in a long time. And maybe it's still the quirkiness of it. But, this is one of those phones where I remember I've had a few people stop me when I've been out and ask me exactly what this phone is. And I think that just shows that these phones people want phones to be interesting now. As much as I have loved using this phone, initially, I definitely had some problems with this. I would say the biggest problem was getting used to that small square cover display. I never used a phone that was this small and this compact before. And that was the biggest thing that I had to get used to. I still
stand by the fact that this is probably a little bit too pointy. Xiaomi with the 18 Fold and Apple with the Duo, they have it right. Rounding off those corners, it does just make it a little easier to use with one hand. One-handing this phone is hard. Like, it is not easy. And I think that's where in the first few weeks I was going wrong. I was using this phone and I was trying to do everything with just one hand. Because, look at the display. It's small. It's square. It makes you think that you could actually use it with one hand. But, you can't do it, or at least I can't do it. Maybe my hands are too small, but like I just can only barely get to the other side of the phone. So,
typing on this was very hard, and once I realized, okay, this is a two-handed phone. I need two hands for this. That is when I started to really fall in love with it. Holding this phone with one hand and typing with the other, that is exactly how I think you're meant to use this cover display. Away from that cover display, I think one of the only other problems that I had was battery, because actually it's not great. It's just kind of fine. After a few months of using it, I would say that this can last you all day in normal use, but traveling and using it on 5G and maps, I mean, that will run it very close to dead very quickly. I'm also aware that fine, for
an $1,800 phone, is not exactly what you might want to hear, but I do think that Samsung adding that little bit of silicon has helped this battery. So, it means that most of the time I don't really need to think about it. Before we carry on, let me talk about today's video sponsor, Memokit. When I'm working on videos, there's always something that I need to remember, whether it's an idea that I've had or something that's come up in a conversation, and that's where the Memokit Gem comes in very handy. It's a tiny AI wearable weighing just 11 g, which you can wear on your wrist or clip to your clothing. And rather than pulling out your phone, finding an app, and hitting record, it's just one tap on your wrist. Memokit then uses AI to transcribe conversations,
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below, and in it is an exclusive code that will bring this down to $179. One thing that I did think about a lot though on this phone was cameras. I was disappointed when I first saw that there was only two cameras on this phone, a main and an ultra-wide. I mean, I really wanted a telephoto instead of an ultra-wide, and I'm sure next year we'll get three cameras. That seems like the next obvious upgrade. And usually at this point in any of the reviews, I will show you a ton of photo samples that I've actually taken with the phone. However, with the Z Fold 8, it's been a little bit different because actually, I have found myself not taking that many photos when I'm using this phone. I was
expecting to go into the gallery and find a few thousand photo samples to pick from for this review. And this is hard to explain, but I realized that I'm actually just remembering the moment a little bit more when using this phone. I'll show you a few of the samples that I have. And the cameras, they are fine. I don't think they're anything too special. They grab a moment if you're having one. But I think subconsciously, not having a telephoto camera has made me not care about the camera quality on the Z Fold 8. The ultra-wide camera is one that I so rarely use. So to me, it's like having a phone with a single camera. And I only take the phone out to grab a photo when I need it. This phone
has made me care less about getting the best quality photo that I can. And as long as it can capture what I need, then it's fine. I mean, you can take raw photos, you can take log when you're going into video, but I just haven't found myself using any of that this time around when daily-ing this phone. I'm curious if anyone else has felt this same way, but I'm actually just less inclined to have my phone out when I'm using the Z Fold 8. It's a very strange one to admit, but I kind of like it. There is one part of this phone though that I just have not got bored with, and it is that wide fold. I mean, look at that. It's kind of perfect.
I think that I am so done with the classic tall style folds at this point because this, it just feels right. I will open this as humanly possible to do anything. So typing scripts, looking back at old photos, trying to find hotels, but watching YouTube or movies, this it kind of feels like a whole different experience. [snorts] I know you still get the black bars here and they're the same as a slab-style phone, but actually, I don't care. I mean, this feels a little bit more immersive and those black bars, they honestly, they don't bother me in any way. Just being able to have a wide fold to watch any sort of content on, I think that this is the way it should be done.
I find it a dream for planes. It's basically replaced any tablet that I would take with me. Mostly because it's light and it's thin and being able to use this in tent mode to watch things on a tray table, that is exactly what I need. I will say though that after using the Duo for a couple of days now, I do wish that Samsung had done a little bit more with the anti-reflectiveness on this display. I mean, it's fine, but it's not even in the same league as the iPhone Duo. And I also wish that they just kept that under-display camera on that selfie big kind of inner screen here. I feel like you dropped the ball a little bit, Samsung, on this one.
I feel like this is a good time to touch on the crease a little bit as well here because I actually had totally forgot that it's even there. Whatever Samsung have done with this and the titanium plate underneath it, it has worked in absolute wonder. It's definitely more visible than it was when I took it out of the box, but I mean, it's a folding phone. What do you expect? There are things I could pick out and complain about when it comes to the Z Fold 8, but I really don't have too much that is negative to say about this phone. I definitely want a better IP rating. There are now phones from Honor, Apple, and Google that have IP68. So, I feel like Samsung needs to buck up their ideas a bit with this one. And Qi2
magnets, you know I'm going to mention it. I think that this is an absolute must and it would make using the Fold so much better. I'm also still a bit salty about Samsung taking away Flex Mode and saving that for the Ultra Fold. Like, I still don't get why you did this or why you haven't added it in with a software update. I think it's kind of snide. The Z Fold 8, I feel like it gets a lot right, despite it being much less of a phone for $1,800 than actual flagships. But, I am so on board with it. And I'm also going to give Samsung some credit here for how this phone has actually held up because I feel like everyone is worried about durability still when it comes to folds. I have
treated this so much like a normal phone. It's been dropped. It's been thrown into my bag with keys. And there is not a single scratch on this. And just have a look at my Z Fold 7 for how battered a phone in my hands can actually get. And this one is doing a good job. It's fighting back. I'm happy to admit I thought wide folds were a fad, and I definitely didn't understand why everyone was hyping them up so much. When I started to enjoy this, I actually thought it was a honeymoon phase. But, sometimes this is why a review after a week or a month is just not enough time with a phone. But, 3 months later, I feel like I've lived with this. Samsung made this easy to love. One UI makes the whole thing feel great. I think for a
folding phone, Samsung does its absolute best. And since using the Duo, I feel like we need to give Samsung a little bit more credit for how seamless and how uniform One UI is across fold and slab-style phones. I have given Samsung a bit of stick in the last few years on this channel because I just don't think they have innovated that well. But, the Z Fold 8, this is Samsung at its absolute best. It gave something new to a category that was a little stagnant. I know we now have Xiaomi and Apple joining the party, and I'm sure others are going to join as well. But, right now, the Z Fold 8 has been the most fun and my favorite phone to use in a long time. And maybe I'm a little blinded by the fact that this is a
review unit. But, I have seen a lot of people buy this phone and feel the exact same way. And if Samsung emailed me tomorrow and asked for this phone back, firstly, I would beg them to not take this phone back. Samsung, please don't do that. But, the thing that I would do after that is probably go and pick one of these up myself because I am in absolute love with the Z Fold 8. And I am very curious to hear what you think of this phone, especially if you've picked one up. And how it kind of like I feel like you need to have one of these phones to really understand why it is so good. So please, let me know in the comments below and we'll have a chat about this. And if you can subscribe
before you head off, I would massively appreciate it. Thank you very much. And if you do that, then I'll see you in the next one. See you later. What a phone.
