Can Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 compete with Motorola’s Razr+?

I recently had the opportunity to go hands-on with Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 and the Galaxy Z Fold 5 ahead of their official reveal. If you want to learn more about the Galaxy Z Fold 5, check out my hands-on.

This year, the Galaxy Z Flip 5 steals the show.

Unlike the Z Fold 5, the Z Flip 5 features several noticeable differences compared to its predecessor, making it a more worthwhile upgrade. In the Canadian market, the Z Fold 5 has no foldable competition. On the other hand, the Z Flip 5 now competes directly with Motorola’s Razr+, a foldable with the same form factor and similar pricing.

Samsung has refined and improved the Z Flip 5, but with stiff competition from Motorola, it’s unclear if it still holds the clamshell crown in Canada.

This year, Samsung added a 3.4-inch Cover Screen with a 720 x 748 pixel resolution and a 60Hz refresh rate. The Cover Screen is undeniably cool-looking and far more useful than the small display on the Z Flip 4. This bigger screen allows you to use apps and widgets and even take selfies. However, unlike the Razr+, you can’t run any app on the front display unless you use Samsung’s ‘Good Lock’ app.

The app is a software suite that unlocks the full customization of your Galaxy phone. The problem is the apps readily available on your Cover Screen (Netflix, YouTube, Google Maps, Google and Samsung Messages) are optimized for the display, but if you use ‘Good Lock’ to add apps to your Cover Screen, those apps aren’t optimized and often don’t work well. On the other hand, no apps are optimized for the Razr+’s front screen, but any app that works in a landscape format runs well on the cover.

I’ll need to test Good Lock more when I get my hands on a review device to get a clearer picture of how it compares to the Razr+’s front screen.

This year, the Z Flip 5’s body is more refined and features a better-constructed hinge design that leaves it gapless when closed. While the device now closes nearly entirely flat, I didn’t have much of an issue with its predecessor’s small gap. Still, this is a welcome touch. The body feels strong and premium with its Gorilla Glass Victus 2 back and Armor Aluminum frame.

The handset is launching in ‘Mint,’ ‘Lilac,’ ‘White,’ and ‘Black’ colours.

I’ll need to spend more time with the handset to compare it with the Razr+’s design, but based on my short time with the Z Flip 5, I’m impressed.

The Galaxy Z Flip 5 features a 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2x Adaptive 120Hz refresh rate. The screen looks fine and similar to its predecessor, but it’s not a notable improvement over last year’s display. The screen looked great during my time with the device, but I didn’t get the chance to look at photos or stream movies or TV shows.

“Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 is an undeniably premium foldable smartphone, but I hope I can do more with its front cover display than what I’ve experienced so far.”

The smartphone also features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, 8GB of RAM, and up to 512GB of storage. I don’t expect a notable upgrade here, and the device should perform similarly to last year’s model, but with a better processor. However, I didn’t put the handset through its paces yet, and more testing is required. Battery capacity remains the same as last year at 3,700mAh. I’m interested to see if the bigger front display results in worse battery life this year.

In my full review of Flip 5, I’ll put these two handsets head to head to determine which device is the best clamshell foldable in Canada. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 is an undeniably premium foldable smartphone, but I hope I can do more with its front cover display than what I’ve experienced so far.

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 5 starts at $1,299. The foldable is available to pre-order now and releases on August 11th.

For all of our content from Samsung’s foldable-focused Unpacked event, follow this link.

Photography by Bradley Bennett.