The Pixel Fold Shows How Far Ahead Samsungs Folding Phones Are
- Phone reviews
The Google Pixel Fold is Samsung's true rival in the US foldable phone market. But that doesn't make up for Samsung's long-standing leadership.
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Finally , there is competition in the US foldable phone market. The long-awaited Google Pixel Fold is here to compete in the pocket tablet market, where Samsung has dominated for four years.
The Pixel Fold is great, with some real breakthroughs for foldable phones. But surprisingly it lags behind Samsung in many areas. A four-year leap makes a difference.
My colleague Alison Johnson has a comprehensive review and I recommend reading it for the details. Over the past week, I've been testing the Pixel Fold with Alison using a slightly different approach. As someone who has owned three generations of Samsung Galaxy Z Fold devices and still uses the Z Fold 4 regularly, my goal was to see how well Google's efforts measure up. Fraud. right now i prefer samsung.
Tools and design
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While the Pixel Fold and Z Fold 4 share the same general idea (a phone-sized device in a small tablet), they achieve it in different ways. The most notable difference is that the Z Fold 4 has a portrait orientation; the default display mode when unlocking the phone is portrait. The Pixel Fold rotates 90 degrees, so when you open it, the screen inside is in landscape orientation.
This difference greatly affects the perception of each device and determines the size and shape of the external display. The Pixel Fold orientation allows for a shorter, wider and more usable screen protector. His famous volume is simply "right feeling". Apps work as expected and are easy to write. Samsung has a long, narrow screen protector that feels incredibly narrow, and some apps struggle to fit inside.
But when the Pixel Fold is open, that horizontal orientation often becomes a hindrance. It's not a problem for apps optimized for it (especially from Google) and is perfect for watching videos or playing games. Splitting two apps at once works well here as well. But don't expect a phone screen that runs tons of third-party apps in the Pixel Fold's window columns. Rotating the phone 90 degrees usually solves the problem, so most apps can fill the entire screen. But that means I spend a lot of time flipping the Pixel Fold on its side for everyday tasks, which is tiring.
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Samsung doesn't have this problem. Applications launched in the default orientation work normally. The Z Fold needs a 90-degree rotation to better watch videos or split the screen between two apps, but I don't really care. I spend most of my time on my phone with single apps scrolling vertically and horizontally, so I prefer the default mode, which works best for most apps.
The Pixel Fold's horizontal orientation allows it to work best when partially folded as a laptop. It's nice to support the phone while watching videos, but I personally don't use this feature very often on either phone, so the Pixel Fold edge is off.
For me, the point of buying a phone like this is to get that internal screen, rather than spending most of my time on the external screen. The Z Fold 4's external display isn't quite as user-friendly as the Pixel Fold's, but it worked well in the short time I spent with it. However, the internal screen is much better for most Android apps, making it more fun to use.
The two phones trade off in other hardware areas as well. Despite the same internal screen size, the Z Fold 4 is smaller and lighter than the Pixel Fold. Every time I use the Pixel Fold, I notice this difference. it weighs only 20 grams, but its heft and weight feel great. Z Fold is more convenient to hold.
Despite the different processors, I didn't notice a huge difference in performance between the two devices, but I did notice that the Samsung's displays are slightly better than the Pixel's. That's not to say the pixels are bad, but the Z Fold 4 displays are even brighter, which is immediately noticeable when using the phones outdoors. The Pixel Fold seems to be using screens from a generation or two ago, and I think that's because Samsung increased the brightness of the screens for the Z Fold 4.
The Z Fold 4 also has more predictable and reliable battery life than the ubiquitous Pixel Fold in the week I've been using it. Sometimes I can use it five or six hours before bed; Other times dinner should be added in the afternoon. The Pixel's standby time seems pretty bad, which we saw on many test devices. The Z Fold has louder and better-sounding speakers than the Pixel Fold, and both are located in the "middle" of the phone, where you're most likely to find it, rather than split down the middle like the Pixel. Stuck while holding the phone. One of the most common uses for these phones is watching a lot of videos, and these two things are important.
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Google has an absolute advantage with the Z Fold 4. The Pixel Fold can be fully folded, just like Samsung's, with no visible gap between the halves. It's also slim when closed, making it easy to fit in a pocket. This is how I wish my Z Fold 4 was better. But all reports say that Samsung has a Z Fold 5 to launch in a month.
The Pixel Fold has a better camera system than the Z Fold 4, which is no surprise. I will state my bias here. I'm pretty sick of phone cameras now, and the difference between most is only subtle or noticeable in extreme cases, so this advantage for the Pixel is irrelevant. for me If so, I recommend reading Allison's Pixel Fold review, which has many camera samples and specifications. I like the longer 5x telephoto lens on the Google Phone, but otherwise they both do the same thing.
Software and Features
While the Pixel Fold has some advantages over the Z Fold in terms of design and layout, the Z Fold rules the ball when it comes to software and its many features and functionality. This speaks of different approaches of each company. Samsung will drive you crazy, while Google offers a more unified experience.
Pixel Fold has a very simple multi-functional system. you can run two apps side by side on the inner screen. Launching apps in these settings is easy, and you can drag and drop content between them and adjust how much of the screen each app takes up.
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The Z Fold, on the other hand, lets you split the screen into three apps so you can open another app in a floating window. It's often difficult to do everything at once (I like to call it "Full Samsung"), but there is an option if you want to do it. Pixel Fold doesn't let you go beyond the traditional split screen.
I really miss the floating window option when using the Pixel Fold. On the Z Fold, I often open the calculator or grab a code from two apps while viewing my banking app in the background, then switch to another app without going back to the home screen or launching the original app. This happens a lot when you put two apps side by side on the Pixel.
The Z Fold 4 also supports the Samsung S Pen, which I often use to take notes or sign documents. The Pixel Fold doesn't support a stylus at all.
I can connect the Z Fold 4 to an external display, pair a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and enjoy overlapping windows and desktop environments with full efficiency and ease. I wrote, edited and published this article on Dix Mod's ZFold 4. The Pixel Fold doesn't have that, it doesn't even support simple USB-C screen mirroring.
There are other software features that Samsung has developed over the years to make foldable devices that make your life easier. You can have different layouts of widgets and app shortcuts on the Z Fold's cover screen versus the inner screen, which makes sense since I used them for different tasks. The Pixel Fold mirrors the layout of the two screens. Also, on the Samsung I can always easily install a pair that work together in split mode; There is no such option on the Pixel.
The software differences are enough that using the Pixel Fold feels like I'm using a larger phone. With the Z Fold, I feel like I have an entire computer in my pocket.
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Surprisingly, Samsung is ahead of Google in many of these areas; it released its first foldable phone in 2019 and has been improving and improving ever since. And while it's Google's first attempt, it's off to a much better start than the first Z Fold launched.
Most of the differences between experiences are in the software, and Google is catching up fast. The Pixel Fold will ship with Android 13, but Android 14 is just around the corner and should bring several desktop apps and shortcuts.
But the differences in hardware design and features can't be fixed quickly, and we'll have to wait and see if future generations of the Pixel Fold bring any changes. Desktop mode isn't very useful if you can't connect an external display to your phone.
Samsung, ever the explorer, could tweak the hardware to look like the Pixel Fold, depending on the response to Google's device. I think it's a shame, but I wouldn't be surprised to see the Galaxy Z Fold 6 in a year with a shorter, wider screen and a bigger screen inside. Most of the positive reviews of the Pixel Fold ahead of its launch were due to its more comfortable external display, although in my experience there are trade-offs with that.
I'm glad Samsung is finally getting some competition in the US foldable phone market. Although progress has been made with each generation of the Z Fold, it's been slow, and the Z Fold 5 isn't all that different from the Z Fold 4 (which itself was very similar to the Z Fold 3. Differences in the Z Fold. 2). Another player, charging foldable phone buyers around $2,000, wanted to break Samsung's composure.
But for now, I think Samsung is better at pursuing the idea of a foldable PC that you can take anywhere than Google. I'm excited to see where we go from there.
