The year was 2014 and I bet you forgot that the idea of a phone that could turn into a tablet is actually not new. Taiwanese phone-maker ASUS came up with the bold solution of a tablet that could be powered by your phone when docked, but then the story goes on. If you went back to 2009 you’d see how the Celio RedFly tried to do something similar with Windows Mobile, which by the way, is actually a 2007 idea that Palm invented with the Foleo. And sure, knock yourself out, I’m sure someone else did it first.

The point is that this idea that your phone not being enough is pretty old. Those initial products might have failed because the technology was ahead of its time, but not because they were a solution in search of a problem. I love small tablets with stylus input, and sure, I also love my phone if its size doesn’t get out of hand, but I hate carrying both. I hate having to keep files on one and then transfer them to another, or to depend on slow internet to sync them up.

All I want is one device that can do multiple things, and it’s crazy to think that a different version of the past came to solve the problem. Phones were folding more than 25 years ago because the shape of a handset only made sense half the time.

On that same premise, sometimes my phone is not enough, and sometimes my tablet is too much, but to not have to choose what to bring makes all the difference in the world.

Video

I’ll start by explaining that my needs for the gadgets I always have with me is pretty peculiar. 20 years ago I carried a phone to communicate and a Pocket PC for productivity since neither could do the same things, but we know things today have evolved. As a result, I’ve drifted more to have one smaller device as my communicator and a larger one as my work horse. For years the Galaxy Note supplied that secondary demand, but for the past two, a foldable has done a far better job.

I really liked the Z Fold 3, but love wasn’t an adequate way to describe it. It was a great tablet and finally supported its own version of the S Pen, but still wasn’t a good phone. Sure the outer screen was better than before, but still a bit too tall, and with cameras that were just not good enough for the price point.

Design

By contrast this Z Fold 4 might look similar, but it’s not. Samsung has shortened the footprint everywhere in a way to make that outer screen feel more like a regular phone, and it’s slowly become one of my favorite features. The added width over its predecessor is still not enough to be conventional, but I find myself liking this narrow approach more for one-handed use when on the go, and also easier to grip when I’m on a call. That said, it’s not a light phone to hold by any means, but the new hinge design did help it shed enough of last-year’s weight to be closer now to an iPhone 14 Pro Max. At a very tall 6.2-inches diagonal and 120Hz refresh rate, this has proven to be quite useful in getting all my phone stuff done, without the need to go tablet mode. Five months later and this Gorilla Glass Victus+ still looks just as new and scratch free as the armor aluminum, though I’ll admit I haven’t dropped once, and don’t intend to.

Display

I’ll naturally drift to unfolding it more in a calm setting like sitting at a coffee shop or during a long commute, and it does a great job at reminding me why I love small tablets. At 7.6-inches diagonal, it’s now wider than before, making it even more practical in my opinion than the newer iPad Mini. Its AMOLED 2X is also far more advanced in color reproduction, refresh rate up to 120hz and peak brightness up to 1,200 nits.

Sure the crease won’t be a fan favorite for most, but it’s a small price I’m willing to pay for the convenience it provides. Samsung’s attention to detail in shrinking the bezels, covering the selfie camera even more, and making this Ultra-Thin glass stronger doesn’t go unnoticed. Match this with a very loud pair of dual firing speakers and content consumption is king.

As a result, this has quickly become the small tablet I pair with my 15-year-old iGo Stowaway keyboard to catch-up on my emails or write this script. I’m no artist to use this for sketches, but its S Pen support then allows me to highlight my scripts and jot my notes over them on Microsoft OneNote, as I would before on an iPad.

It’s the larger screen that makes watching YouTube a joy while I’m on the go. A funny thing is I've found myself liking the weird proportions of the new S Pen cover since its extended lip gives the phone an extra grip for prolonged use, and even serves as a small prop while on a table. And listen, it might not have the endurance of a Kindle for books, but then does a far better job at handling the optional Audible Narration.

It’s when you multitask that you realize that the outer aspect ratio is genius because you pretty much have two of those phone screens stacked next to each other. Heck you can even add a third on one side, though with a bit more constraint than I’d like in real-world use. You can then store these combos on the edge menu, and you’ll love that even when switching between other apps, these pairs remain on the menu for future reference. Samsung even went to the extent of creating an optional dock that you can keep accessible at all times to call on other apps, or a separate app launcher, or which you can long press to hide. These are the moments where regardless of how much you might love stock Android, you have to give it to One UI for doing this form factor more justice.

Performance

Five months later, the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 has proven to be better than expected. It’s powerful and far more power efficient than expected, and my choice for 512GB of storage has allowed this to be the device that carries all the data I need while mobile. It’s got all the latest forms of connectivity, wireless charging, and a pretty decent power pack.

But anyway, end of the love story. Regardless of how good this Z Fold 4 is, it’s not perfect, and a lot has to do with my experience using it.

What we’re mixed about

When it comes to hardware, everything still looks new, but it seems the crackling noise on the hinge is a subtle thing to get used to. Also, yeah the gap when you close the phone does make it home for lots of lint, but I’ll forgive it for how well this screen protector has held up over time.

As for software, well, as much as Samsung has tried to promote foldables, Android still seems to be the enabler that holds it back. Apps like Instagram now work fine on the outer screen, but stories are still hit or miss when open. Anything other than the Samsung keyboard just won’t know how to adapt to a different screen, which is unfortunate for us multilingual. The whole multitasking approach is also hit or sometimes miss with how buttons and menus are no longer there if you try to punch three apps at once. Then there’s the whole transition between screens which sometimes requires you to close the app for it to conform. These are all things I’ll mostly blame Android for, given how unpopular its tablets have been, because if you were to stick to only Samsung apps, those work fine.

I have heard some complain about its endurance, but that actually hasn’t been my case. This phone has been an all-day champ, which could be because I spend most of my time in the outer screen. Phone and data over AT&T’s 5G network have been pretty good. Seriously when it comes to most essentials, this phone does the trick just fine.

Cameras

I think the topic of the cameras is interesting though. You'd think I'd be mixed, but I'm not. See, it’s understandable that this form factor won’t have enough space to house the best sensors and optics, and I also understand any of you being skeptical of anything that's non-ultra for its price.

In its defense though, This might not be Samsung’s greatest, but I'd easily give it and easy second best. Think of this as a base Galaxy S22, with no extremes, but flagship results regardless. Good color, saturation and detail during the day, and enough of a kick within all focal lengths for this to be a product I can trust.

When switching to night photos, this phone also does admirably, with better results from all cameras than a lot of the best phones in the industry.

Obviously what those phones can’t do is help you use your primary cameras for selfies, or have the phone prop on a table for them. So long as you use all outer cameras for this endeavor all results are great, cause yeah that inner one is just for video calls. I’ll admit I haven’t been much to prop this phone anywhere over my fear of dropping it, but the option is there.

Sadly it’s no iPhone for video when it comes to the quality of the codec, but neither is the S22 Ultra given a bit more grain and warping than I’d like as I walk. That said, if you want 8K from the primary or 4K at 60 from all other cameras, the options are here, and they’d still earn my pick for third best, as I feel Apple and Google are currently owning that spectrum better than anyone.

Conclusion

To conclude, I think it’s important for me to quote Denzel Washington when he says “Dreams without goals.” The biggest problem with the Asus PadFone, Celio Redfly or the Palm Foleo was not that the ideas were bad or even ahead of their time. It’s that none of these companies persisted. Each succumbed to the pressure of conforming, and if we’re honest, it’s not like if any succeeded in someone else’s ideal.

You got to hand it to Samsung for roughing it out. You got to admire how much this company wants to re-invent the phone. Even with its shortcomings, in my opinion this is a better device than others, because it's better than just a phone or just a tablet. Yes, the price for entry is steep, but Samsung’s trade-in deals are still the best in the industry. Just like in the case of the Z Flip 4 where I started with one phone and finished with another, I also bought this Gray-Green unit. That pre-order $200 credit, with double the storage, and a free case made trading in my old phones too irresistible to not support this ideal.

And listen, if what you want is a conventional phone, good for you. If you want to carry multiple devices, go for it. There’s a sea of those in the market today, but none of the great ones are cheap. If I’m to go over the thousand dollar bracket, I want my phone to be the coolest thing that anyone has ever seen, and so far this is it. I said it once before, if I'm to pay for an SUV, I want All-wheel drive and not just a larger sedan. I know these foldables had a rocky start, but generation 4 is so great that I have no problem in recommending it.