The phone comes with two 10MP cameras at the front and three 12MP cameras at the back, which provide wide-angle as well as a limited zoom lens. There are two screens: the 6.2-inch cover one has an HD+ super AMOLED display and, when opened, the ultra-thin inside screen provides a 7.6-inch QXGA+ dynamic AMOLED 2X display.

The screen displays are crisp and sharp, but they are a bit hard to protect and raise more than a little paranoia about scratches. The inside screen is better protected, but I found it a magnet for fingerprints because there is really nowhere for you to hold the phone except on the screen itself.

STYLE decided to put its Mystic Bronze review phone through its paces simply by living our normal lifestyle with it. Here’s what we discovered.

Samsung Galaxy Note 20: great specs but seriously pricey

Social media

Because the Z Fold2 is a very niche product, plenty of app developers are still playing catch-up and will probably not feel the need to optimise their apps for the larger screen measurements. The Facebook experience on the Z Fold2 is similar to normal phones and the big screen makes for a better visual experience. Unfortunately, Instagram has not adjusted its display for the full-screen experience, leaving black strips on either side of the app. Having said that, the screen is still much wider than normal phones.

The camera

The camera is probably one of the most important considerations when buying a mobile phone these days, but this is where Samsung has held back a bit. Or perhaps it is just impossible to include the best of everything in a sleek package like this. Although the phone boasts five cameras, a 2x optical and 10x digital zoom are really nothing to write home about. The cameras are not bad, just not the best that Samsung has produced. In comparison, the Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G has a 5x optical and 50x digital zoom.

This slight drawback is evident when it comes to macro photography. Pitting the Z Fold2 against the iPhone 11 Pro Max and Huawei P40 Pro with a close-up of some flowers, it was clear that the Samsung lost the most detail with the zoom. The iPhone fared the best of the three. With night mode activated, however, the Z Fold2 offered the brightest adjustment.

Not everyone is a fan of Samsung’s vivid display. While the sharp colours can brighten up the dullest days, they sometimes make photographs look Photoshopped and fake. Nevertheless, the inbuilt filters are perfect for selfies if you don’t look like a beauty queen.

Travel photography tips from Keira Mason: how to capture the perfect moment

So while the cameras may not be the best in Samsung’s stable, the five options can hold their own for amateur everyday use.

Entertainment centre

I installed Blade & Soul Revolution on both my iPhone and the Galaxy Z Fold2, and while I never found much to complain about when it came to the resolution of my iPhone screen, it became immediately apparent how the vivid display and the larger screen of the Z Fold2 elevated the gaming experience.

Holding the phone sideways allowed for a firmer grip, and although the action buttons were a little lower than was ideal, the larger screen allowed for a lot more detail – useful for role-playing games (RPG) as it’s always helpful to see what you’ve been maniacally slashing at. With games such as Words with Friends and Candy Crush, the larger screen is nice to have even though the gameplay is mostly the same.

The new flex mode viewing allows you to continue playing on the outer screen when you flip the phone closed, although no one would opt for a long and shallow screen when you have the choice of a 7.6-inch one. The flex mode is useful, however, when you are watching K-dramas or the occasional YouTube video because of the default ratios. The adaptive 120Hz refresh rate offers more fluidity to gameplay or watching movies compared with the 60Hz screen on last year’s Fold.

One of the leisure functions I found most useful in the Z Fold2 was my Kindle. The screen is about the same size as my Kindle Oasis and – in the age of having to stuff hand sanitisers, masks and other disinfectants in our bags – that means I can leave my 188 gram Kindle at home for longer bouts of reading. To minimise eye strain from the backlight, I kept the use of the Z Fold2 for shorter reading sessions on commutes or coffee breaks.

Mobile office

I do a lot of my work using my iPhone 11 Pro Max at the moment, and while the screen is big, it’s not great if you need a larger, horizontal view. When open, the Galaxy Z Fold2 is about as close to perfect as possible when it comes to reading documents, excel sheets or PDFs. The large centre screen essentially provides you with the equivalent of a small tablet and is an absolute delight to have when you need to peruse office documents.

Every Tokyo 2020 Olympics medal will be made from old mobile phones

While they have made it easier for two-thumb typing by separating the keyboard into two, trying to hold the slippery phone steady and type at the same time is made worse by the predictive text function that sometimes results in gibberish. The outer screen offers no improvement either, as the narrow form is not conducive to two-hand typing, so your best bet would be to lay the phone down on a flat surface if you need to do a large amount of typing. But at least your PDFs will be in vivid display!

Is it worth the price?

We come to the most important question: is the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G worth its hefty price tag? At the prohibitive price of US$2,190, it isn’t immediately clear at whom Samsung is aiming this phone and whether anyone can really make full use of the spectrum of cutting-edge tech. As a tool for out-of-office work, the inclusion of a pen would have been useful.

But then how many of us really buy a phone for all its functions? It is a good showcase of what Samsung engineers can do and a peek into the future of mobile phones. There’s also a version in collaboration with designer Thom Browne going for a whopping US$3,510.

If you are a phone buff yearning for a fold phone and have some spare cash jangling around in your pocket, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold2 5G is certainly the top choice compared to similar phones by brands such as Huawei and Motorola. You’d definitely look cool carrying it around if nothing else!

Want more stories like this? Sign up here. Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter .