The Galaxy Z Flip5’s Flex Window Secondary Screen: A Formidable Contender

Samsung’s latest release, the Galaxy Z Flip5 (Hands-On), has made significant improvements in both performance and features. However, it’s the Flex Window secondary screen design that truly stands out as the most noteworthy upgrade.

The Galaxy Z Flip5 boasts the largest 3.4-inch secondary screen ever seen in a “FLIP” phone available in the US market. Despite its impressive size, this secondary screen serves as a convenient tool for users, compactly providing essential features. But what exactly can this Flex Window do, and what are its limitations? In this article, we will explore and share our experiences with the capabilities of the Flex Window.

Flex Window specifications

Compared to its predecessors, the Flex Window secondary screen on the Galaxy Z Flip5 is notably larger, making it one of the most prominent folding phones with an extensive secondary screen today. In the earlier Galaxy Z Flip series, the secondary screen measured just 1.1 inches. Subsequent models, the Z Flip3 and Z Flip4 (Hands-On) saw the screen size increase to 1.9 inches, which was still quite limited.

For the Flip5 Galaxy version, Samsung took a bold step and equipped it with a generous 3.4-inch screen, allowing users to perform more tasks efficiently. This secondary screen features a Super AMOLED panel, 720 x 748 pixels (Gorilla Glass Victus 2), and 306 ppi, resulting in smoother operations and vibrant images. This size is only surpassed in the market by Motorola’s Razr 40 Ultra model, which sports a 3.6-inch secondary screen. The reasoning behind Galaxy Z Flip5’s choice is quite clear – Samsung prioritized a unique camera design, while Motorola’s folding phone opted for a secondary screen that covers the upper back of the device, creating a distinctive selling point.

Exploring the Versatility of Flex Window on the Galaxy Z Flip5

The Flex Window, a familiar widget featured in the previous Galaxy Z Flip series, takes center stage once again with the launch of the Galaxy Z Flip5. However, this time, Samsung has given it a larger screen, allowing it to showcase even more information than its predecessors. Alongside the fundamental widgets, such as date, time, and weather, the Z Flip5 introduces exciting additions like a calendar, stock price chart, and music player.

One remarkable aspect of the Flex Window is its capability to handle calls and text messages with ease, thanks to its full-size keyboard. Though compact, the texting experience on the Galaxy Z Flip5’s secondary screen is surprisingly pleasant. Within a few minutes of getting used to it, one can effortlessly type away. However, when folded, the comfort of holding the device while messaging is not as optimal as when it’s fully opened. Nevertheless, the secondary screen brings a nostalgic charm reminiscent of 8x or 9x pagers.

Moreover, for enhanced convenience, the folding phone allows users to swipe from the top to reveal the Quick Control interface. This practical feature provides quick access to essential functions and displays the remaining battery capacity. We find this aspect particularly appealing as it eliminates the need to open the device to connect to WiFi or Bluetooth, which was necessary in the Z Flip4 model – a significant improvement for user convenience.

Samsung has taken full advantage of the ample screen size of the Galaxy Z Flip5 by incorporating five popular applications directly onto the secondary screen. Google Maps, Netflix, Messages, and Youtube are among the added apps that users can easily access on this convenient display. What’s even more exciting is that, during the product launch, Samsung revealed that users can utilize 3rd party applications alongside the pre-installed ones on this secondary screen.

However, it did take me some time to figure out how to add other applications to the Flex Window. We discovered that downloading an application called Good Lock was the key to unlocking this feature. With Good Lock, we could effortlessly add apps like Spotify, Telegram, and games to the secondary screen.

Moving frequently used applications from the main screen to the secondary screen is a breeze with just a few simple steps. Compared to other folding phones we’ve experienced, the Galaxy Z Flip5 offers a much-improved aesthetic and operational experience, thanks to its spacious secondary screen. The only minor drawback is that the applications added by Good Lock are placed in a separate tab, rather than being combined with the tab of pre-installed applications.

When it comes to light games, the 3.4-inch Flex Window screen performs quite well, providing smooth operations and a fast response speed thanks to the powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip. However, for more demanding games like PUBG and Genshin Impact, the experience on this secondary screen may not be as optimal. Nonetheless, if you seek to challenge yourself with harder gameplay, the Flex Window is still a great option.

In addition to games, other applications are also perfectly optimized for this Flex Window screen. We can edit pictures quickly on the Adobe Lightroom Mobile application with full features arranged logically.

Even popular apps like TikTok are well-optimized for this secondary screen, particularly for videos with a landscape format. Samsung has devoted significant effort to developing software for the Galaxy Z Flip5 that optimizes the efficiency of using this secondary screen. However, one area that could use improvement is the way the video description covers the content, causing some images to not display seamlessly. We hope that future updates from the manufacturer will address this issue and further enhance the software’s performance.

While you can read newspapers and watch news on the web through the Flex Window screen, it’s important to note that the display space is limited. For a more comfortable browsing experience, it’s recommended to use the main screen instead.

The Galaxy Z Flip5’s multitasking capabilities are truly remarkable, thanks to the abundance of Widgets and applications available. To access active applications faster, simply pinch with two fingers to zoom out and see all the open apps on this secondary screen. This feature sets the Galaxy Z Flip5 apart from its competitors and elevates the clamshell folding phone to new levels of perfection.

Among the impressive features, one that stands out is the ability to take selfies with the rear camera. While most smartphones prioritize the quality of the rear camera, resulting in slightly inferior front camera images, the Galaxy Z Flip5’s rear camera makes capturing selfies simpler and ensures better overall quality.

The Galaxy Z Flip5’s sizeable secondary screen provides an excellent live-view experience, allowing you to capture the perfect shot with clarity and precision. Taking photos is now simpler and more convenient, as you can easily press the volume button to snap a picture. Notably, compared to previous generations, the Galaxy Z Flip5 offers a significant upgrade that enables you to adjust various parameters directly from the Flex Window screen. This includes aspect ratio, beautification settings, timers, and even switching between different cameras. This improvement over the Galaxy Z Flip4’s secondary screen, which only allowed navigation from the main internal screen to view live images, makes the Galaxy Z Flip5 a truly worthwhile upgrade for photography enthusiasts.

Final line

Galaxy Z Flip5 showcases significant improvements compared to its predecessors, boasting enhancements in both hardware and software. The most notable upgrade is the larger Flex Window secondary screen, which offers a plethora of interesting features, enhancing the overall user experience. Samsung’s success in developing One UI for folding phone devices is commendable, as it represents a dedication to innovation beyond traditional smartphones.

Galaxy ZFlip5 release date and price

The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip5 is available for pre-order on Amazon.com, with deliveries starting on August 11th. As part of the pre-order promotion, the 512GB model is priced at $999.99, while the model with 256GB of memory costs the same. The 512GB model is priced at $1,119 outside of this campaign.

Alternatively, when pre-ordering on Amazon.co.uk, you can instantly receive a discount of £100 in your shopping cart.