Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Is the Best Phone I Ever Hated
What I liked, what I didn't, and whether or not I'm keeping it in place of my Z Fold 7
I hated the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 when it arrived. Its size and shape felt so foreign, especially for a "big phone" guy like myself. I hardly used it for the first 24 hours because I already decided shortly after unboxing it that it wasn't for me. The bigger Fold 7 and Fold 8 Ultra were the superior devices. Case closed.
But I didn't return it quite yet. It was too soon. How could I condemn a device I barely used? I went through the trouble of preordering it. Didn't my shiny new gadget deserve a fair shake? To save face, I told myself I'd test it out over the weekend and make a final decision on Monday, and I'm glad I did.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is a weird phone, no doubt. The outer screen is still too small for my taste, and I don't use it much. In fact, there's a solid case to be made for Samsung removing the outer screen entirely, but I won't get into that here. The inner screen, though, is stunning. Landscape mode is great for watching videos and playing games, as expected. Portrait mode, however, is the unexpected star of the experience. When opened up like a traditional phone, it provides a canvas that's just as tall as a flagship, yet much wider, offering a broader view of content than you can get from any Ultra or Max slab from the top brands. For big phone lovers, this kind of experience is unrivaled.
Zooming out, the Fold 8 is the best of two very different worlds. It's a tiny phone built for the shallowest of pockets, making it very easy to carry. To compare, the iPhone 5 from 2012 is shorter by only 0.1mm. It's also a big phone that's larger than any flagship I've held. Significantly.
Where else can you get those two extremes in a single device?
The choice was obvious. In two days, I fell in love. I finally understood what made this phone appealing to so many folks singing it's praises online this very moment, and now I guess I'm one of them.
The Galaxy Fold 8 is something special, and if you're a big phone nomad testing the waters to see if Samsung's latest foldable is for you, it's worth enduring the awkward phase you'll undoubtedly encounter for the first couple days. My best advice if you find yourself not loving your new Fold 8: Give yourself a weekend to think it over. At the end, you just might walk away with one of your favorite phones of all time.