How does one start the review for the most interesting and most expensive device of 2020? There’s no need to really talk about how many phones come across the desk on a monthly basis, or why the Z Fold 2 is a device that nobody should really buy. No, I don’t think that’s the basis for starting a review for something like the Z Fold 2 at all. When you have played around with, reviewed, or owned so many phones over the past few years, it’s easy to look at the sea of devices and see the same thing. There are very few smartphones that stand out from the crowd, regardless of whether you’re looking at the $1,300 Note 20 Ultra, or the $150 Poco M3. These are just all slabs of glass with varying features, but at the end of the day, the design is just kind of boring across the board. And THAT is what drew me to the Galaxy Z Fold 2. This was not provided by Samsung or another company for review, but instead is a device that I’ve paid for with my own hard-earned dollar bills. And truth be told, I couldn’t have been happier except for maybe when I finally built my first PC all the way back in January. A minor gripe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSsIQm0Hfss Back when we posted our first impressions of the Z Fold 2, I was still in the „honeymoon“ phase of my ownership. There was nothing that could possibly be wrong with this gorgeous device that FOLDS IN HALF. And to be honest, that’s pretty much where I still am with it. Are there things that we wish Samsung would have improved upon, considering the price? Absolutely. The Z Fold 2 should feature the same (or extremely close to) camera system from the Note 20 Ultra. Pictures come out just fine, but if you’re spending this much cash, it has to have the best of the best. But that’s a compromise I was willing to make going into this adventure. The rant Before getting into the fun stuff, the biggest gripe that I have with the Z Fold 2 has nothing to do with the device itself. Nope. It’s Samsung. The company charges $2,000 for a foldable smartphone that is supposed to initiate a wave of future handsets, and could even replace the Galaxy Note lineup for good. But instead of just taking my or your hard-earned cash and leaving us alone, we continue to deal with intrusions of ads in the software. https://twitter.com/MaxWinebach/status/1274735955732291584?s=19 There’s a reason why, until the Galaxy S20 earlier this year, I refused to even want to try using a Samsung device for an extended period of time. Yes, we are a far cry from the TouchWiz days, but the software experience has always been an enormous frustration. And while OneUI has fixed all of the TW problems, under no circumstances should I be seeing ads appear out of thin air. The worst part about this is the fact that most of the ads that have appeared on my personal Z Fold 2 have been in regards to purchasing THIS PHONE. Not the Note 20 or S20, but the Z Fold 2 that I’m already using. Keep your damn ads to yourself and off my phone. And if I use an app with ads, that’s fine, because I installed it and (for the most part) know what I’m getting into. It ******* FOLDS Now that I’ve gotten my rant out of the way, let’s get back to the fun stuff. This phone folds in half. Not since the days of my trust Moto RAZR have I used a phone that folds in half.
