One of my fondest teenage memories was my BlackBerry. I had several models, finishing with a white BlackBerry Bold before I switched to the HTC One when it launched in 2013. BlackBerrys were great though. Not just for BBM (which was way before its time and a stroke of genius for keeping people with BlackBerry), but for their clicky keyboards and their shape.
It’s the shape in particular that’s important here. Their blocky wide stance was key to why I loved them so much (even if I didn’t necessarily realise that at the time). It wasn’t until I picked up Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Fold 8 with its new format and was taken right back to 20-year-old me that I realised how much I missed a wider phone.
IMAGE CREDIT: THE DISCONNEKT
What makes the Galaxy Z Fold 8 special this year?
Samsung has been making folding phones for eight years, which in itself seems crazy, given I remember the first Galaxy Fold. The company has significantly refined the Galaxy Z Fold in that time with the Galaxy Z Fold 7 being lovely and slim and a pleasure to use. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra (new name for this year but same shape as previous Z Fold models) refines things further with a silicon-carbon battery, a slimmer body and a slight redesign on the edge to make it easier to open. But for all those nips and tucks over the years, none of the Galaxy Z Fold models hit quite the same way as picking up the Galaxy Z Fold 8.
It’s a gorgeous little phone. The colours are lovely – in particular the purple and green, the pocketable format is an absolute delight and I really hope that if the rumours of Apple announcing a folding phone this year are true, the Cupertino company is taking notes. I haven’t been sold on folding phones up until this point, even if I’ve always had a lot of love for Samsung’s Z Flip devices, but the Z Fold 8 is making me look at my iPhone 17 Pro Max and wishing it was wider and foldable.
IMAGE CREDIT: THE DISCONNEKT
Like the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 has a silicon-carbon battery – these are the first Samsung devices to offer this technology – despite the likes of OnePlus and Honor using it for a while. For this middle phone, it’s a 4,800mAh battery that will charge to 63 per cent in 30 minutes. It has a 7.6-inch main display when open, so a little smaller than the iPad mini, but it’s 4:3 aspect ratio is the same. For reading content, whether a website or book, it has plenty of potential whether vertical or horizontal.
It runs on Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy processor and it will come in 256GB, 512GB and 1TB storage options. There’s a dual 50-megapixel camera system on the rear, it’s the lightest Galaxy Fold Samsung has made (which is evident when you pick it up) and it has an anti-reflective screen. It’s not the kind of matte screen you’ll find on the likes of the MacBook Pro and iPad Pro but it did appear to help minimise some of the bright lights during my first look at this phone.
Of course, I might spend more time with the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and decide folding phones still aren’t for me but for the first time since they first became mainstream back in 2019, I’m excited about them. If we could just add a coloured light at the top and a physical keyboard, I’ll be sold.
