Samsung’s latest foldable phone is quite the head-turner, and deservedly so. It’s sleek, powerful, and far more functionally versatile than an average slab-style phone. But if you’re plonking close to two thousand dollars on theGalaxy Z Fold 7, you must dig into all the bells and whistles that this phone has to offer.
I’ve been driving the device for a few weeks now, and have rounded up a few tricks and tips that elevated the foldable experience for me. If you already have the phone in your hands, or eyeing it for the Holiday season, dig right in.
A beast for selfies and vlogging
One of the biggest upgrades on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is the switch to a massive 200-megapixel camera sensor, a dramatic lift over the 50-megapixel sensor on its predecessor. The boost in quality of the pictures and videos clicked by the new camera is pretty evident. But thanks to the dual-screen folding design, you’re able to actually use the same camera for selfies, too.
When you unfold the phone such that the cover screen and rear side are facing you, instead of you looking at the inner foldable display, you can enable the selfie orientation in the camera app. In this mode, the cover screen acts as the viewfinder while the 200-megapixel selfie camera performs its imaging duties.
There are multi-fold benefits to this approach. First, the 12MP and 50MP pixel-binned selfies captured by this camera are noticeably better than those delivered by the 10-megapixel front cameras. For the highest level of visual details, you can even click full-resolution 200MP selfies, which is an unprecedented perk.
But there’s more. In the selfie mode, you’re able to switch to the ultrawide sensor and capture a wider scene around you in the pictures. This one’s a godsend for big group pictures. And in case you want to go in without losing details, you can switch to the telephoto camera and get 3x closer to your face (or a portion of the background) without optical detail loss.
For video content creation and vlogging, you get an even wider batch of benefits. In addition to the higher visual quality and diversity from the triple sensor array, you can also go all the way up to 8K resolution, pick the optimal refresh rate, get the best out of optical image stabilization, illuminate your face using the LED flash, and do a lot more.
Do not sleep on the gem that is DeX
I recently dipped my toes into the world of video content creation, but wanted to keep it as mobile-friendly as possible. That means sticking withapps such as Instagram Editsto quickly capture, edit, and post videos online. The biggest hurdle? The constrained screen size made it a frustrating chore to deal with a crowded timeline, feature multiple effects with fingertips.
This is whereDeX proved to be a savior. All I had to do was plug the Galaxy Z Fold 7 via a USB-C cable, and I had access to a large 32-inch screen in a fully mobile environment, complete with keyboard and mouse support in tow. Another underrated benefit of a phone-driven DeX setup is that I no longer have to go through the ordeal of moving pictures and videos from my phone to a connected PC for editing.
DeX is massively underrated.
Everything stays mobile within the Android ecosystem, but pans out like a full-fledged desktop. And thanks to the firepower of Qualcomm’s mobile processor, you won’t be left yearning for more processing might when it comes to handling short videos and other social media content.
These benefits carry over to other tasks, as well. As you may see in the images above, DeX can double as a full-fledged workstation for web-based and app-driven tasks. And for moments when you need to blow off some steam, just launch any Android title installed on your phone, or from a cloud-based game streaming service, and enjoy games on a connected large screen with full peripheral and controller support.
Make the best of the large screen
One of the biggest reasons behind investing in a phone — especially one that costs nearly two thousand dollars — is that you want more screen real estate. It would seem pretty obvious that on a square-ish 8-inch screen, you’d be able to run two apps side-by-side. But not many users know that you can actually run three apps simultaneously – one in full portrait view, and the other two in vertical split-view format, like any average Android device.
You can, of course, also enable floating view for apps, which lets you move and resize the app window depending on your needs. The nicest part about split-screen multitasking is the versatility. Aside from the usual multi-tasker view where you tap on the app’s icon to open the controls, you can also directly enter split-view by dragging an app icon from the taskbar at the bottom of the screen, or pick one from the sidebar menu alongside the vertical edge of the screen.
And while at it, I highly recommend that you also enable the Flex Mode system. It essentially turns the Galaxy Z Fold 7 into a laptop-like view. Depending on the app you are using, apps can open in a custom view (where most controls are pushed to the bottom half of the screen), or you can enable touchpad mode for the base, with support for tap, hold, and swipe gestures with up to four fingers. For watching videos and reading, Flex Mode is pretty awesome.
To enable these features, head over to the Settings app installed on the phone, open Advanced Features, and dig into the dedicated Multi window and Flex mode panel settings. And for apps that don’t natively support multi-windowing and pop-up view facility, head over to the Labs section on the same page and enable the “Multi window for all apps” toggle.
Good Lock is your best friend
This is the app where every Samsung Galaxy power user heads to, and for good reasons. Depending on your unique needs, you can pick between 20 tools, each governing a certain aspect of your phone, and sprinkled with additional granular controls. There are dedicated modules that let you handle theming, lock screen tools, navigation controls, quick panel controls, screen capture behavior, camera settings, routines, and more.
One UI 8 already offers a decent depth of app window controls, but if you want even deeper flexibility with their launch behavior (such as zoom view or background activity), or even forcing high resolution in DeX mode on an external display. The last one really comes in handy if you are driving a hi-res monitor and engaged in video games or media editing.
The Camera Assistant module offers a few useful tricks, like upscaling pictures when you go into the digital zoom territory, a snappier shutter button, simultaneous video recording in photo mode, audio monitoring, and saving videos to an external storage device. If you intend to capture a lot of videos and photos on the Galaxy Z Fold, this one will certainly come in handy.
My personal favorite is the Game Booster, primarily because I play a lot of emulated games on the phone. This one lets you map controllers and save multiple profiles, enable aim assist (don’t tell your game buddies, of course), change performance profiles, and enable the built-in frame booster. The in-game dashboard also lets you control app pop-up behavior and offers quick access to a handful of utilities such as screen capture, lock brightness, and more.
Customize the side button, ASAP!
For years, the power button on the left or right edge of smartphones has predominantly been used in two ways. A single click locks/unlocks the device, while a long press opens the power menu to shut down or restart the device. In the past few years, as virtual assistants such as Google Assistant (nowGemini) are increasingly becoming a core part of the software experience, the side button now usually defaults to the digital assistant.
The situation is not too different on the Galaxy Z Fold 7. And like me, if muscle memory is troubling you, it’s time to customize the button behavior. By default, a long-press gesture is set to summon Gemini. On following this path —Settings > Advanced features > Side button— you can change its behavior so that long-pressing it opens the power menu.
But if quick access to Gemini is also important, you may depute it to a double-press gesture. Out of the box, it is configured to launch the camera app. However, you can tweak the gesture to open any app of your choice, including Gemini. For quick access to other core tools such as the camera and flashlight, you can put them as dedicated on-screen buttons in the lower corners of the lock screen.
Alternatively, you’re able to replace these tools with any two apps of your choice that you seek to launch directly from the lock screen. Overall, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is one of the most rewarding smartphone experiences out there, and the more you dig in, the more you’ll love it.
