Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 Review: Battery Life, Camera Quality, and Cover Screen Limits

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 battery life and charging

Although the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip8 is a capable foldable phone, its battery life is only average, and the compact design limits battery capacity. Samsung includes a 4,300-mAh silicon-carbon battery, which is sufficient for casual use. However, frequent phone users may need to carry a portable battery.

Charging speeds are disappointing, with support for up to 25 watts wired charging and 15 watts wireless charging. Samsung’s decision not to add Qi2 magnetic charging is also frustrating, especially for users who rely on magnetic accessories.

Galaxy Z Flip8 camera performance

If photography is a priority, several Android smartphones offer more versatile camera systems for the same price or less. Still, the Galaxy Z Flip8’s 50-megapixel main camera performs well in many situations, and most users should be satisfied with the photos it captures. Images can appear dark and show some noise, particularly in challenging conditions.

The 12-megapixel ultrawide camera is useful for fitting more into the frame, including group selfies, although image quality is lower than the main camera’s. The phone does not include a telephoto lens, but cropping can emulate a 2X zoom without significant detail loss. With good lighting, the results remain decent at up to 10X.

Selfie camera, Horizon Lock, and Samsung AI features

The 10-megapixel punch-hole selfie camera is best suited to video calls. Because of the phone’s foldable design, you can flip it around to use the cover screen as a preview while taking selfies with the main camera. This is one of the Galaxy Z Flip8’s biggest camera advantages.

Samsung’s Horizon Lock feature is also useful for video. It keeps footage on a stable horizontal plane, regardless of how you rotate or move the phone.

Another new AI feature is My FanCam. It lets you select a subject in a group video and automatically reframe the footage as if that person were the main focus. It could be useful for recording school plays and soccer games, provided you remember to turn it on. My FanCam can also be applied to older videos.

Samsung’s AI tools also include Now Brief, which displays information such as calendar events, reminders, and local weather. Now Nudge suggests actions such as adding dates to your calendar, sharing locations and photos, and autofilling forms from Messages.

Galaxy Z Flip8 cover screen: More apps, too much setup

The cover screen, which Samsung calls FlexWindow, remains a weak point of the Galaxy Z Flip series. The Galaxy Z Flip8 expands the number of apps that can run on the cover screen, including Samsung apps such as Health, Calendar, and Browser, along with YouTube, Netflix, Google Maps, Messages, and more.

However, using additional third-party apps requires installing Good Lock, adding the MultiStar plugin, and manually selecting the apps. This setup is unnecessarily complicated, especially because Samsung preinstalls many of its own apps and includes third-party apps such as Facebook, Spotify, and Instagram.

The limited cover-screen experience is a significant drawback, particularly on an expensive foldable phone. Samsung should make broader app support available without requiring users to install extra software and configure it themselves.