For a company that primarily specializes (in addition to cloud computing solutions) in software, Microsoft is remarkably terrible at committing to its software.

Since I fell in love with technology, I’ve stubbornly convinced myself that I love Microsoft’s software products, but years of disappointments and the arrival of a new smartphone (the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 we reviewed) have broken the spell — I’m tired of fighting Microsoft to use its products.

I’m taking this opportunity to partially divorce myself from my Microsoft dependency, because I genuinely can’t trust this company to actually care about anything that doesn’t translate to short-term profit. All that matters to the current Microsoft is its bottom line, and that apparently isn’t Windows, Office, Xbox, or any of the other products I’ve relied on for so long.

My love/hate relationship with Microsoft

I was always a nerd, but my journey as a tech nerd began somewhere around 2013-2024. I no longer consider myself a “baby” in the industry, but I still started a lot later than many of my coworkers and editors.

Back then, I was mostly falling in love with the ambitious rise of the flexible and unapologetically chaotic Android on mobile devices, the stable and admittedly boring domination of Windows on laptops and desktops, and the intricacies of high-end audio equipment (at the time far out of reach for my teenage budget).

When I knew I’d be getting my very first smartphone, my wishlist included devices like the Motorola Moto X and Nokia Lumia 1520. What I got? The entry-level Nokia Lumia 520 — and I adored that tiny phone and its square tiles.

My family had an original Xbox growing up, and my grandparents impulsively bought my siblings and I an Xbox 360 S. The combination of these factors converted me into a hardcore Microsoft fan, and the more I dived into the company’s consumer offerings, the deeper I fell.

I changed my angsty Gmail for Outlook, paid for a Microsoft 365 subscription, and wholeheartedly committed to Windows, including buying the Microsoft Lumia 950 XL, a Surface Pro 4, and an Xbox One S across the span of a few years. It’s cliché to say, but I feel it in my heart — those were the golden days for me.

I eventually had to give up my beloved Windows phone for Android (we all know why), my job drew me away from Surface to companies like Lenovo and HP, and I became disillusioned with many of Microsoft’s other products… even the steadfast Xbox brand that held a tight grip on my heart has shaken my faith. So what happened?

Like people avoiding therapy, Microsoft hates commitment

Microsoft is so massive, it regularly deals with numbers too vast for any human to properly visualize. Microsoft is on track to become worth $4 trillion, highlighting the immense success the company continues to see with Azure and the cloud.

Because of the sheer size of this corporate entity, Microsoft has put a lot of eggs into a lot of baskets. There aren't many areas in technology Microsoft hasn't dabbled in, but there are just as many abandoned experiments, dying projects, and forgotten initiatives.

Microsoft has the resources and expertise to pursue the latest trend or attempt to create new ones, but it's also famously terrible at actually following through on anything that isn't an immediate success.

There are literally multiple websites dedicated to tracking the Microsoft Graveyard, with everything that Microsoft has killed (and it's not even fully up to date). Windows phones, Windows Mixed Reality, Skype, Surface Duo, Cortana, Kinect, Zune — I could go on forever, and I've not even mentioned all the canceled video games and shuttered studios.

Despite being one of the largest and most successful companies, Microsoft is seemingly incapable of creating lasting consumer-facing products.

Half-baked first attempts, obvious lack of continued investment, constant backtracking and overhauling, unnecessary cannibalization from overlapping Microsoft projects, inconsistent and unreliable communication, shameless trend-chasing — Microsoft suffers from it all and never learns from its mistakes, leading to a lot of shattered potential (and a whole lot of lost jobs).

Microsoft is allergic to commitment, unless you're an enterprise, the cloud, or artificial intelligence. Yes, we can't forget Microsoft's messy charge into AI — much of which no one even asked for, but that hasn't stopped Microsoft from pushing its employees to rely on its AI tools.

We recently put together a list of 5 good products that it feels like Microsoft has forgotten about, and not even 24 hours later, it was announced that Microsoft shut down its Movies & TV service completely. You can't make this stuff up.

Like my colleague Jez Corden said, Microsoft has made it impossible to be a fan of Surface, Xbox, and Windows itself.

It's time to make some space — hello, new phone!

Don't get me wrong, I understand that failures, shutdowns, and pivots are inevitable in the tech industry, and companies have to make difficult decisions to survive. Google has its own graveyard that's just as depressingly impressive as Microsoft's.

The difference is that Google's ecosystem feels stable for consumers, while Microsoft has drifted from disappointment to disappointment, oftentimes forgetting to even tell us that it abandoned yet another product.

Microsoft is still going to play a massive role in my life, but I'm honestly tired of fighting this company to be a fan. It feels like Microsoft doesn't actually want to be a consumer-facing business, and it certainly hasn't earned an iota of trust from consumers in recent memory.

This company feels fickle and directionless, driven only by the greed of its higher-ups and shareholders. When Microsoft fails, though, it's the consumers and regular employees who suffer, because the executive paychecks certainly don't.

So, now that I'm getting a shiny Samsung Galaxy Z Fold7 to replace my trusty Fold5, I'm going to cut a bit of Microsoft out. I'll still use Xbox, Microsoft Edge, Outlook, OneDrive, Phone Link, and Microsoft Authenticator, but everything else is out.

No more fighting with Microsoft Launcher not working properly or playing nice with foldables. No more waiting for the SwiftKey keyboard to get a meaningful update that isn't some random AI injection. No more wading through the bloated OneNote app that doesn't even have my Sticky Notes.

I'm dropping To Do, I'm certainly never using Microsoft Teams (it's just bad), and Microsoft has done nothing to actually convince me to care about Copilot or any of its other AI things. There are lots of other random Microsoft experiments that I'm no longer paying attention to, as well.

I'll be relying more on Samsung, Google, and other third-party solutions for my software needs moving forward, and I don't have much faith in Microsoft to regain my trust in the future.

When it comes to smartphones, there have been companies that play it safe (Apple) and then take some big leaps like LG, Nokia, and, on occasion, Samsung.

I’ve had the new Galaxy Z Fold 7 for a week now and, for the most part, this is the foldable phone people have envisioned. Sure, the S Pen is gone (more on that below), but when folded, this finally feels like a normal phone — it just happens to be able to unfold into an 8-inch display.

Of course, anyone following this site knows its origins were smartphones, specifically Windows Mobile/Phone. That story crashed and burned, but Microsoft tried a second time with its Surface Duo and Surface Duo 2 phones. Because they were market bombs, Microsoft never made it to a third iteration, which is a shame, as Surface Duo 2 was a considerable improvement over the first.

But Samsung proves the point that patience is a virtue. Seven versions and six years later, Samsung figured out the winning recipe. Had Microsoft stuck with Surface Duo (even if shifted to a foldable design), it too could have achieved this, like how Surface Pro 4 and Surface Pro 11 were game changers for that form factor.

This review was made possible thanks to a loaner review sample provided by Samsung. Samsung had no input or saw the contents of this review prior to publication.

Build quality and features

The Fold 7 is now the fourth Fold I’ve had, although I returned the Z Fold 4 due to it being a brick, so I’m quite familiar with its evolution.

To say the Fold 7is a big leap even from Fold 6 would be an understatement, as it’s a bit unreal how thin it is compared to last year’s model. Everyone I show it to widens their eyes and usually utters a ‘wow,’ which even I did despite knowing everything about it ahead of time.

At 8.9mm folded and 4.2mm unfolded, it comes as a standard 6.5-inch modern smartphone. New this year is the slightly wider cover display with a more typical 21:9 aspect (versus 22.1:9 on the Fold 6). That means typing on it now is also more normal than earlier versions, and it lets you use the Fold 7 folded most of the time.

But when you want that bigger experience, you can open to a gorgeous 8-inch (up from 7.6-inch) QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED (2184x1968) 120Hz refresh display that lets you peep your photos or read more comfortably.

Also new this year is that 200MP shooter instead of the older 50MP sensor. That was always a trade-off with these super-expensive foldable phones: Worse cameras. But that seems mostly solved now. While it's behind the Galaxy S25 Ultra in terms of lens options, the wide, ultra-wide, and telephoto get the job done for most people. As someone who’s been loving the S25 Ultra, this finally makes it easy to transition since they have, as far as I can tell, the same primary camera.

I also say the new “blue shadow” colorway is excellent.

As far as the display crease, it’s still technically there, but it is much less pronounced compared to Fold 6 when you drag your finger across.

Can I also mention how much I prefer OneUI these days? OneUI 8 is just a minor update to OneUI 7, but Samsung’s software and in-box apps are some of my favorites. The weather, fitness, Now Brief, optimize app, and even Samsung News are all my default choices because I like them so much (Samsung Wallet has yet to convince me, though). Add Samsung’s Good Lock app for next-level customization, and I’m very satisfied.

Overall, Samsung always nails hardware, and what you see in the commercials is what you get. They’ve figured out this form factor, give or take a few niggles (I’ll share those below).

The S Pen controversy

What about the missing S Pen? It's only by removing its digitizer for the S Pen that Samsung was able to reduce the thickness, hence why Pixel 9 Pro, OnePlus Open Find N2 Flip, etc., were always thinner than the Samsung Fold series.

Indeed, none of Samsung’s current competitors in the foldable space utilize a pen.

Do I care it’s no longer here? Not in the least. I’m one of those in love with the idea of the S Pen (which really is excellent), but who barely used it on previous Folds and Ultra phones (and Surface Duo 2). And Samsung knows that this was true for most Fold users, too (it didn’t help that you had to buy the S Pen separately or use a bulky case to carry it around).

But Samsung made a bet: More people would appreciate the thinness than would be mad at the missing S Pen. I think they’re right.

That said, I do hope the S Pen (without the need for a digitizer) does return as it's niche, but it has a dedicated audience.

Other gripes

One small thing that bugs me is that you must clumsily pry open the Fold 7, which was the issue I had with the Fold 4 (and was seemingly fixed with Fold 5 and Fold 6). Samsung could benefit from a little notch or something to grip. Putting a case on helps, but some may rightly reject such an option as it “ruins” the experience for them.

There is also the case of the missing under-display camera, which was undoubtedly a nifty trick to give you a seamless tablet-like experience, but frankly, it was also terrible. With the Fold 7, Samsung has gone back to a simple hole-punch camera, and as my colleagues at Tom’s Guide noted, it’s much better for it. I think this is more of a win than a gripe, though personally I’d be OK with Samsung just removing that camera entirely.

Everyone is also up in arms that Samsung is using a standard 4,400mAh lithium-ion battery instead of the new-fangled silicon-carbon type found in Chinese brands, which can pack more juice into a smaller space. Considering Samsung’s past with “exploding” phones, I can see why it would be hesitant to adopt new battery technology, which is not always perfect (silicon-carbon batteries are also supposed to age quicker and hold less charge over time faster than lithium-ion, and there are also potential issues with mass production and scalability).

There is also the slower charger at just 25 watts (and 15 for wireless), which does feel old in 2025.

And finally, price. People used to laugh at Microsoft’s $1,399 Surface Duo even though it was $400 cheaper than Samsung's Fold. Indeed, the thought was that Samsung would lower the price over time. Yet, at least in the U.S., Samsung has raised the price two times, making it now $1,999. That’s a tough pill for most people to swallow!

How is the battery?

Battery life on Fold 7, so far, for me has been on par with Fold 6, which is not trivial. The phone is substantially thinner yet shares the same-sized battery. Battery drain might be higher, though, due to the new larger displays, but the (ahem) “Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Mobile Platform for Galaxy” is efficient enough to negate this.

Moreover, despite lacking a vapor chamber this year, the Fold 7 reportedly runs cooler than the Fold 6 (that same video shows Fold 7 slightly beating Fold 6 in battery matchup).

All in all, the Fold 7 is an all-day phone for me, with around 20 to 30% by the time I plug it in at night. It’s not amazing, but it has been good enough. My S25 Ultra, by comparison, often finishes the day between 40 and 50 %.

Samsung Z Fold 7 vs. Galaxy S25 Ultra

I’ve been mostly using the S25 Ultra since it came out, putting aside the Fold 6 despite how much I liked it. Reasons include the S25 Ultra’s gorgeous anti-reflective screen, which is literally like a middle child between the Fold’s cover and inner displays in terms of size, but just better quality.

The S25 Ultra, in short, is the best phone for most people. In fact, I can confidently say the S25 Ultra is the best phone I’ve ever used. Camera, battery life, display, S Pen, and its (what I consider) perfect design are stellar. I don’t want to see them ever change the layout, just upgrade the hardware, but unfortunately, that’s not how tech works, where change for the sake of change drives these yearly updates (no thanks to Apple for starting this trend, by the way).

Being able to find the S25 Ultra on sale now for $1,099 means that $900 savings over the Fold 7 can go a long way. Of course, if you really want that pocket-tablet experience with almost all the S25 Ultra’s features, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is simply awesome, so it’s really about what you prefer and what you can afford.

(For what it’s worth, Samsung.com offers great trade-ins, like Apple. Once you’re “in” on Samsung’s phones, trading in yearly significantly reduces the price. For example, my Fold 6 gets $1,000 off for the Fold 7. Many of the Windows Central staff now use Samsung for this reason and because they work best with Windows 11’s Phone Link, thanks to exclusive features.)

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7: Yay or nay?

As an early “hater” of the Fold series, I applaud Samsung’s commitment to making this form factor work. It’s not for everyone, that’s for sure, but it took big risks to get to this seventh version and a strong commitment. By comparison, Microsoft famously tapped out on Surface Duo after version 2 despite making substantial progress. Imagine what Surface Duo 4 would have been like had it kept at it.

So, my TL;DR is that the Samsung Fold 7 is a remarkable accomplishment and the first folding phone everyone should consider if they want that form factor. Too bad about the price, but aside from that, I’ll be using it for a long time.

I own the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4. I bought it day one, actually, because Samsung made an offer I just couldn't resist. It has been a great phone for me, other than a frustrating experience trying to get it fixed after a hinge malfunction killed the display (foldable pains, unfortunately). I haven't really felt any desire to upgrade it leading up to the launch of its successor — every leak pointed to a boring, iterative upgrade.

Now, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5 is official! Yeah, it's a boring upgrade. Still, I find myself hovering over the "checkout" button on Samsung's website yet again, solely because the company's pre-order deals and discounts are just that good. Sure, I don't need a new phone, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't enjoy getting one. Here's what you can expect from the Z Fold5, and why it's so tempting to preorder it.

A heap of discounts and pre-order bonuses

Let's get the important stuff out of the way first. After all, that's why you're here — to learn why it's so tempting to pay for such an iterative upgrade. Samsung is offering a huge assortment of various pre-order discounts, bonuses, and bundling options with the launch of its latest lineup, which includes the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5, Z Flip5, Watch6 and Watch6 Classic, and Tab S9 series.

To begin, you can get up to $1,000 off immediately by trading in your old device. Have the Z Fold4 already? That's $1,000 off the Z Fold5, immediately bringing the device down to just $799.99. Considering I paid a grand total of under $1,500 for my unlocked 512GB Z Fold4, Watch5 Pro, and Buds2 Pro a year ago, that's a fantastic starting point. Samsung is also upgrading the base 256GB of storage to 512GB completely for free, and offering another $150 off if you need a whopping 1TB of storage.

It doesn't stop there, though. Need a new tablet? You can save up to 30% off the brand-new Galaxy Tab S9+ or Tab S9 Ultra by bundling it with your phone. If you desire the glorious rotating bezel of the Watch6 Classic, Samsung is taking a substantial $240 off its price tag when you bundle. Heck, grab a pair of wireless earbuds with the excellent Buds2 Pro (which I personally use and love) for just $49.99 when you bundle.

Even after that, you can still save up to 30% on a wide assortment of bundled accessories, including wireless charging pads, fast chargers, phone cases, and the newly redesigned Z Fold5 S-Pen. Samsung will also throw in some software freebies like 4 months of YouTube Premium and 6 months of Microsoft 365 Basic, and give you a discount on two years of Samsung Care+ if you want to insure your new phone against any damage or breakdowns. Combine that with (optional) 24-month interest-free financing through Samsung, and you can see why it's so tempting to pull the trigger.

Those who expressed their interest in the new Samsung devices ahead of launch by reserving with an email can score an extra $50 off their order, and this discount can be applied to devices now, not just accessories. You can even take advantage of Samsung's Offer programs (for students and teachers, military and first responders, and more) for an extra 10-15% off absolutely everything.

Pretty much everything Samsung announced today benefits from a diverse range of pre-order bonuses, including the Z Flip5. If you already own the Z Flip4, you can upgrade and get a far superior cover screen and a more powerful processor for just $100 by trading in. You can also get sweet discounts on bundled accessories and products, and take advantage of any other eligible offers. At the very least, it's worth clicking the links above and below and exploring Samsung's site to see what kind of deals you can get.

Comparing the Z Fold5 to the Z Fold4

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 is my daily driver, which means I use it every day. I pair it with Microsoft Launcher, the SwiftKey keyboard, Outlook and other mobile Microsoft apps, and Phone Link for an ultra-productive, premium experience that also communicates seamlessly with my Windows PC. My Fold4 is effective for work and play, and helps me keep in touch with the Windows Central team while also enjoying a spot of Solitaire, TikTok, or YouTube.

So how is the Fold5 better? Well, it features a more powerful and efficient processor with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2... As it should. The display also gets a bit brighter, which is nice. The headlining feature, though, is also unbelievably small — The hinge has been redesigned to feature fewer parts and allow the Fold5 to close completely flat, sans the annoying gap with the wedge-shaped Fold4. This will (hopefully) improve long-term durability for the hinge and screen, but the greatest benefit to me is to stop lint and dust from getting onto the inner screen every time I put my phone into my pocket.

If you think this is a dreadfully boring year-over-year upgrade, though, you'd be absolutely right. There's very little exciting about the ZFold5 over the Fold4, and it normally wouldn't be worth upgrading to it. Samsung's pre-order bonuses and savings sweeten the pot significantly, though, especially when you consider that the Galaxy Z Fold6 will likely feature just as lucrative pre-order deals next year.

Considering the possibilities

I'm looking at my cart on the Samsung website right now. After tax, the final cost comes down to a decent chunk under $1,700. That's a pretty penny and within $150 of the full cost of an undiscounted Galaxy ZFold 5, but I'm getting a whole lot more than that. I'm replacing my Fold4 with a slightly better Fold5 (with a more interesting color), but I'm also finally getting my rotating bezel back with the beautiful Watch6 Classic. I even included two years of Samsung Care+ for the Fold5, just in case.

What's properly enticing me, though, is the inclusion of the Galaxy Tab S9+ in my cart. I've never owned an Android tablet or iPad, and I'm endlessly curious how Samsung's premium large-screen devices compare to my trusty Surface Pro X or the newer Surface Pro 9 for productivity, entertainment, and even playing some of the best Xbox games with Xbox Cloud Gaming. Normally, I'd never consider paying the cost necessary to obtain a properly premium tablet from Apple or Samsung, but my collection of deals and discounts pulls the brand-new, barely-announced Tab S9+ to just under $600 from its usual $1,000 pricing.

If any Samsung product announced today interests you, I highly suggest checking out the links below and exploring Samsung's pre-order offers. The Z Fold5, Watch6 Classic, and Tab S9+ in my cart would be discounted by nearly $2,000 for the entire bundle, which is unheard of for brand-new products. Even if I didn't trade-in my Fold4 (which I wouldn't need any more with the Fold5, obviously), I'd still be saving over $900. Considering Samsung's great working relationship with Microsoft, it seems like the perfect fit for me.

With the future of the Surface Duo line of dual-screen smartphones in question, Samsung's polished and feature-packed foldable phones are more enticing than ever. I already moved on from the Surface Duo after rumors that the Surface Duo 3 would mistakenly attempt to compete directly with Samsung's Z Fold series, and that's before considering the allure of Samsung's excellent pre-order deals on new devices. Samsung is offering me $1,000 to trade-in my Fold4 for a new phone — Why would I ever leave Samsung behind now?

If I do pull the trigger, at least expect some more content on these devices from me here at Windows Central.

Since last year, I’ve used Microsoft’s Surface Duo 2 as my primary phone with no regrets. And as an advocate for the form factor, there hasn’t been much to woo me away from it. I’m so over boring single-screen slab phones and can’t go back to them.

But one phone has intrigued me: Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4. Sure, it’s a modest upgrade from the Z Fold 3, but I’ve never owned any Samsung Fold (just the Z Flips). For me, and I suspect others, the 4th iteration seems even less beta-y, partially because it ships with A­­ndroid 12L. 

The reviews have also been very positive.

So, as a hardcore Surface Duo user, how am I adjusting to the Z Fold 4? As you can probably tell by the title, it’s a bit mixed.

Here are five reasons why I love it and five why I don’t.

5 Things I love about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4

There’s a lot to love about Samsung’s new foldable phone. It’s powerful, packed with excellent hardware, has robust software, and is one of the most popular foldable phones on the market (for a good reason).

Thanks to early delivery, I’ve been using the Z Fold 4 for the last four days, and a lot is going on with it.

Here’s why I bought it and what I’m enjoying about it so far.

1. Sick trade-in deal

Samsung has taken a page from Apple by prioritizing trade-ins, especially for Samsung devices, as an incentive to side grade or even upgrade to its latest hardware.

I’ve documented on Twitter that Samsung offered me $900 for my Galaxy Z Flip 3 as a trade-in. The phone cost $999 when it was released, and I traded in my original Z Flip for the Z Flip 3, meaning I paid less than $200 for it last year.

Heck, had I gone with the new Z Flip 4, it would have only cost me $99. 

Samsung also upgraded everyone to 512GB of storage for free and threw in the new Galaxy Z Fold4 Standing Cover with S Pen at no extra charge.

Even $1,000 (after taxes) for a new phone is a lot, but it sure beats ~$1,900 (after taxes). What can I say? Samsung’s plan worked.

It’s too bad these deals are region-specific, with the U.S. seemingly getting the best offers.

2. The hardware is immaculate

Like Apple, Samsung knows how to do premium. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 feels like a $1,700 device with lots of glass, metal, and some heft.

The internal 7.6” QXGA+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X (2176 x 1812) display with 120Hz dynamic refresh and HDR10+ is glorious. The cameras are great (for this form factor), and the audio is immersive and loud. And the way the device snaps when it closes is .

Indeed, one reason I went for the Fold 4 is the new 2.8mm-wider Cover Display, which is wide enough not to look (or feel) completely ridiculous. I can type on it without issue; it feels like a skinny but normal-ish phone.

Even the improved under-display camera (UDC) is fascinating. It’s not a great selfie camera (yet), but it is the future.

The new beige colorway with a slight gold effect is pristine, and the whole package is awe-inspiring.

Samsung’s S Pen is also fantastic, and it is easier to write across one folding single-screen instead of two separate ones.

Finally, Fold 4 is tough. The phone slipped out of my pocket with no case while sitting in a chair on a very hard floor. There are no scratches, dents, or damage to the screens or cameras. I don’t want to repeat that experience, but the hardware is resilient.

3. Decent battery life?

This one is a surprise, but the battery life on the Fold 4 is better than expected.

That’s not to say it’s great by single-screen phone standards, far from it, but it seems to last longer than my Surface Duo 2, and it has excellent standby times.

After a 15-hour day, I still had 42% battery left with just over 2.5 hours of screen-on-time. That’s still during the “honeymoon phase,” where I’m constantly setting up apps, installing old ones, and diving deep into Samsung’s increasingly complex Settings.

There’s no doubt that battery life is still a weak spot for foldables, but it’s also clear that each generation is getting slightly better.

4. Robust software from Samsung

There were lots of niggles bothering me about the experience of using Fold 4 for the first 48 hours, but Samsung has packed in so much software that I was able to configure my way out of it.

Switching to gestures instead of on-screen controls was one such move. Now, Fold 4 feels much more like Surface Duo 2 with its side and bottom swipes. Same with the power/fingerprint reader. By default, you must press it down, and then it reads your print. But there’s a setting matching Surface Duo 2 that leaves the sensor on all the time, so you can touch it with your finger to power it on and log into the phone.

Samsung even lets you customize notification vibration patterns, giving you 23 options for how you want Fold 4 to vibrate, which is insane.

I also like how you can set specific apps on the main, folded display to continue to the cover screen when you close the Fold 4. It’s great if you’re reading an email or a news story and you have to suddenly close up the phone and head out so that you won’t lose your spot.

Samsung put tons of such tweaks into Fold 4 and made using it that much better.

5. It’s excellent one-handed and as a phone

While I have no significant issues with Surface Duo 2 for actual phone calls, rare as they are for me, there is no doubt that Fold 4 is simply a better experience. After all, it is much narrower at 67mm versus Surface Duo 2 at 92mm. Fold 4 is still a brick (more on that below), but it works much better for taking one of those Chinese spam calls we all seem to be getting in 2022.

That thinness (at least in the side-to-side dimension) makes Fold 4 excellent for one-handed use, something impossible on Surface Duo 2. You can reverse-flip Duo 2 to use it one-handed, but it’s still more of a process than just pulling Fold 4 out of your pocket.

With that slightly wider cover display, it’s not a compromise, e.g., Flip 4.

5 Things I HATE about the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4

Nothing is perfect, but Fold 4 has some particularly annoying design choices that make it hard for me to love it enough to surrender my Surface Duo 2 instantly.

1. The form factor and multitasking

Because of my exposure to Surface Duo 2’s wider displays, I want to not only use Fold 4 in landscape mode all the time but also fold it that way. The truth is, I find Fold 4 just too narrow for multitasking — it works, but it’s not remarkable.

The Oppo Find N, unavailable in most Western markets, gets the aspect ratio right. But it’s also too small and doesn’t support inking. But that design has more promise.

Yes, the new Taskbar helps with splitting apps, and there are a handful of ways to do it, but none are apparent, intuitive, or as simple as Surface Duo. I kind of hate it, and I had to watch a YouTube video to learn how to multitask/split apps, which is not an ideal user experience.

Samsung could solve this by offering an option, even under its experimental Labs section, always to split the screen down the middle with software so that apps open side by side. If you think that’s weird, that is what Surface Duo does since Android, technically, does not see two screens, just one.

Want an app always to expand full screen? Make an allow list just like Surface Duo.

Going by some of the Labs features for split screen, I think Samsung may even go down this route, albeit slowly. I see a lot of similarities between Microsoft and Samsung’s software; they just approach it from different starting points.

Running apps full screen by default on Fold 4 is not always great, and many apps are blown up too big with odd aspects and layouts. True, the point of Android 12L is to start to fix that, but right now, it’s lame.  

Surface Duo 2 has an odd aspect ratio, but apps scale better on a single screen as the default experience. And while not all apps span well across Duo 2’s two displays, that experience is the exception as the user must force it. Fold 4 does this all backward.

I’m not saying Samsung is wrong; it’s just different. Or maybe I'm wrong for Fold 4.

There is no argument here: Surface Duo 2 is better than Fold 4 for multitasking. But this is an easy fix for Samsung if it wants to, so let’s see if it does.

2. It’s a slippery brick

Remember I said the Fold 4 seems resilient in build quality after it slipped out of my pocket? That’s because it’s a narrow, slick, dense slab. Imagine carrying a gold brick in your pocket. That’s what it feels like, and even adding the S Pen case doesn’t help.

I’ve ordered two new cases (one from Samsung, the other is a third party) to help solve my grippy problem. And that’s another minor gripe. Fold 4 cases can be expensive, often around $50 and higher. Spigen, a brand I enjoy tremendously, has one for $99. Yikes.

Surface Duo 2 is wide but never slipped out of my pocket because it is so thin at 11mm folded versus nearly 16mm for Fold 4.

Whereas Fold 4 feels heavy, Surface Duo 2 spreads its weight evenly over a larger surface area (pardon the pun). It’s deceptive because while Fold 4 feels weightier, it is 21 grams lighter than Duo 2.

3. You have to pry it open

To open Fold 4’s immaculate 7.6-inch display, you must stick your thumbs between the edges and pry — hard. It’s incredibly stiff and could cause you to fumble the device while opening it, and it’s happened a few times to me already.

Seriously, Samsung, why make the closed hinge so rigid? And no, adding a case doesn’t seem to help.

The hinge for Surface Duo 2 is utterly consistent from closed to open to being reversed. And because it is a broader device, I have more grip.

4. It’s also terrible one-handed

Everyone hates wide bezels, and one common complaint with Surface Duo 2 is that the top and bottom ones are too chunky for a phone in 2022. But defenders will point to a pragmatic reason: It is easier to hold the phone because you have a ledge for your thumb that doesn’t interfere with the touch display.

Conversely, Fold 4 has skinny bezels and looks gorgeous. But try holding it in the center with an index finger and thumb pinch — it’s nearly impossible without launching an app or hitting the home gesture tab.

So far, I’ve found no way to comfortably hold the Fold 4 in full-screen mode for long durations with one hand, like when reading Kindle, and it’s a bit of a bummer.

5. It can be overly complicated

Like many things Samsung, the Fold 4 is a complex device, more so than Surface Duo 2. Samsung packs it with tons of Samsung apps, services, themes, and more, some of which double all the Google software installed.  

It’s all a bloated mess with the device, reminding you it was MADE BY SAMSUNG all that time.

While Samsung gives you many options under Settings, it is overwhelming. You can spend hours tinkering around, turning on new things, and adjusting every setting on the device. In the hours I spent writing and revising this, I discovered you could use the fingerprint and power button as a notification drawer deployer. Awesome!

But that option was buried under Settings > Advanced Features > Motions and gestures > Finger sensor gestures — you need to dig to find all this cool stuff.

Many would argue that is the virtue of Android (and Samsung), but it is a bit much. And I say this as someone who just recently requested Samsung add even more options!

It’s a complicated problem to keep everyone happy.

Microsoft gets criticized for removing many features and options from Microsoft Launcher on Surface Duo 2, but the result is a straightforward, clean, and minimalist device — Fold 4 is anything but. I don’t think Microsoft gets enough credit for keeping Surface Duo 2’s software simple.

Will I keep the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4?

So, you may be wondering where I stand with Fold 4.

I dropped my primary SIM in it to embrace it as my daily phone — no shortcuts here. The quality of the hardware, better cameras, excellent performance, and compelling display are alluring and hard to resist.

But I still feel Surface Duo 2 is not only simpler to operate physically but is more conducive to my habits, which include often running two apps side by side.

Also, I didn't mention the Fold 4's high price (no discounts), the folded gap, the plastic-y screen, or the crease as negatives. I acknowledge those are cons against this phone, but they're also old hat, low-hanging fruit for criticism. I wanted to talk about unique things I didn't like, not what is universally agreed upon (boring). 

I’ll give the Fold 4 a week or two to see if it grows on me. Right now, it’s about 50/50, but I also acknowledge that I appreciate what Samsung has done a bit more each day I use it, so you never know.

Heck, maybe I'll just turn it into a Windows Phone.

Honestly, the Surface Duo isn't much of a contender for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3. The Duo is an older phone at the time of this comparison, making it a bit unfair in many respects. The Galaxy Z Fold 3 has the Duo beat, obviously, in almost every spec category, with better chips, displays, cameras, alongside a more polished operating system. The Fold 3 also has mountains of sought-after features missing on the Duo, like wireless charging and 5G.

However, we're going to focus on the implementation of the folding display. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 also costs a truly enormous $1800, while the Surface Duo has come down heavily in price, resting at around $700 as of writing, which is far more respectable for its spec sheet.

Surface Duo vs. Galaxy Z Fold 3: Spec showdown

Here are the specs for reference, but to be fair to the Surface Duo, it's a far older handset than the Galaxy Z Fold 3. We'll have a much better, more up-to-date picture of how these approaches to foldables stack up with the Surface Duo 2 is revealed.

With all the details in order, let's see how these folds match up.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 vs. Surface Duo: What the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 does better

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3, as its name suggests, is the third entry in Samsung's foray into folding phone tech. Where it differs massively from the Surface Duo is how it has implemented its fold, using "Ultra Thin" flexible glass. The Duo, for comparison, has two separate displays connected with an innovative hinge mechanism, which comes with advantages and some downsides.

First, I'll address the elephant in the room. Yes, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 has better specs across the board. It's faster, the cameras are better, and the screens are brighter. It has 5G, while the Duo does not. It has wireless charging, too. It supports 120hz (although your battery life won't thank you for turning it on), and it has an impressive under-screen selfie camera, which disappears when it's in your peripheral vision. The Duo only has a single camera, which can be reversed backward and used either as a normal camera, or a selfie camera, depending on how you orient the displays. The trade-off is massive bezels which give it a very dated-looking body to screen ratio that I just can't get over. You do have to pay a premium for what Samsung is offering here, though, given that it's roughly $1800~ depending on where you buy it from.

Indeed, this comparison is less about specs, given that the Surface Duo 2 is just around the corner, and the Duo is quite old at this point. This is more about how the folding form factor is implemented. Honestly, both styles have pros and cons, but here's what the Galaxy Z Fold 3 does better.

Obviously, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 provides you with a true tablet experience. While there is a crease (which I found myself getting used to incredibly quickly), you get a large continuous display. It's a true tablet-like experience that you can fit firmly in your pocket. I've always been a fan of the smaller tablets since they balance media consumption with portability. I hate playing games on a small phone screen. Plus, you lose so much detail watching shows and movies on a phone unless you're holding it right up to your face. The Galaxy Z Fold 3 gives you the best of both worlds, and it works wonderfully.

I will admit that I wasn't sure if I liked it at first. Moving from a standard Samsung One UI device to the Galaxy Fold 3 took some getting used to. It was the first time I actually bothered to use the Tips app on a device like this to get a better handle on how multi-tasking actually works. To get the most out of the Fold 3, you need to use the edge display taskbar. From here, you can drag and drop apps, snapping them into place much like you can with apps on Windows by dragging an application to the edge of your display. It works intuitively, and a quick tap on the space between apps lets you switch them around, rotate them horizontally or vertically, and even set them to float in a window-like way.

For games and movies, having the full span of the screen in landscape is an obvious boon. Unlike the Surface Duo, you don't get a massive split down the middle of your video or game, obscuring details and even UI elements. The practicality comes with downsides, though, giving the Surface Duo a few advantages.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 vs. Surface Duo: What the Surface Duo does better

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 is a tablet on the inside, and a phone on the outside, giving you the best of both worlds in a costly package. The Surface Duo thinks of foldable tech a little bit differently, though.

Unlike the Fold 3, the Surface Duo falls back on more conventional display technology, dropping flexible glass in favor of a standard display setup consisting of dual screens. The Surface Duo has an incredible hinge mechanism to allow the screens to communicate, which is an oft-overlooked and underrated feat of engineering. This configuration lets the Duo rotate 360 degrees creating various positional modalities, which are a bit clunky on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 by comparison. There's a subtle, underrated elegance about the Surface Duo, which feels far more at ease being folded into different shapes than its more expensive counterpart.

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 is "aware" of different folding states, but apps generally expect to either be running in a tablet size mode or a phone size mode. Most apps don't know what to do if the screen is folded upwards at a 90-degree angle. Furthermore, the Fold 3's aspect ratio doesn't exactly lend itself well to folded scenarios. Folded down the middle, you're creating a very narrow 25:9 aspect ratio, which crushes 16:9 apps into near-uselessness. Generally, you'll want the Galaxy Z Fold 3 folded out completely flat for its more tablet-like experience, but the Duo has some interesting, unique use cases as a dual-screen phone.

For example, the Surface Duo's Xbox Cloud Gaming implementation is truly great, displaying the touch controls on the lower portion of the screen. This removes touch elements from the display, giving you a better, fuller view of the game you're playing. Apps like Outlook span intelligently across displays and don't need to be dragged and dropped like on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 to take advantage of their multi-tasking capabilities. For productivity, the Duo feels invariably more intuitive as a result. I don't need to configure my screen for specific scenarios or adjust my keyboard for folded modalities. The Duo more often just knows what I'm trying to do, based on how I've oriented the screens, which is a productivity win.

While the Galaxy Z Fold 3 does offer a much larger screen for gaming, of course, your touch controls overlay all over the screen, which can be problematic in some games. There are a few games designed to work natively on the Galaxy Z Fold 3, however, like Genshin Impact, that take advantage of the full-screen space offered — and they look amazing.

For me personally, though, the vast majority of my mobile gaming is going to be on games that force a 16:9 aspect ratio, complete with forced on-screen controls. The Surface Duo has potential as a dual-screen device, letting you split controls across screens or other UI elements, but the vast majority of games and apps probably won't take advantage of the setup. The Galaxy Z Fold 3 just behaves like an Android tablet and will most likely enjoy better support in that area as a result.

Despite all of this, there remains a big elephant in the room. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't overly concerned about the Galaxy Z Fold 3's "Ultra Thin" display glass. The tech used in the screen is identical to last year's Fold 2, despite improvements to the body itself. Yes, it should be safer from drop collisions, but colleagues like Mr. Mobile over on YouTube have reported that the Fold 2's crease eventually starts to split for no real reason, based on regular usage alone. That's not the kind of risk you want in an $1800 phone.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 vs. Surface Duo: Which should you buy, if any?

The Surface Duo is a truly remarkable piece of tech, with award-worthy engineering wrapped in an uncompromising and sleek body. Impossibly thin, light, and versatile, the Surface Duo was betrayed only by its middling specs, inflated launch price, and poor OS, which sadly still suffers many of the annoyances and quirks today as it did when it launched. All too often have I had the UI get stuck as I shifted between modalities. Although the experience has gotten better over time, it simply can't compete with Samsung's mature One UI, with its rich array of features and customization capabilities. The big thing that killed the Surface Duo, for me, was the very weak Bluetooth antenna, which effectively stopped me from being able to use it for music.

The Surface Duo's dual-screen implementation does have some advantages, potentially, if they can get it right. It's more intuitive for side-by-side productivity scenarios, with a larger landscape folding capability for pseudo-laptop word processing and handheld gaming. The folded screens on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 are incredibly narrow by comparison, meaning that you'll generally want to use it in its flat tablet state the vast majority of the time.

Indeed, while the Duo offers some potential with its modal plurality, it will rely on app developers to really realize its full potential. Samsung's solution effectively makes it a regular single-screen tablet, which offers big benefits for media consumption that the Duo simply can't compete with unless it can shrink those bezels down in the future.

Source: Windows Central

Ultimately, it boils down to price, like anything else. You get a whole heap of phone for $1800 with the Galaxy Z Fold 3, with standard modern features and updated performance. The Surface Duo, while more elegant in some ways, still feels like a prototype. It relies on stock Google Android features for telephony and lacks many basic features you'd expect of a modern smartphone.

To buy the Galaxy Z Fold 3, you ultimately have to expect this to be your daily driver, and for a long time, most likely. It's for heavy phone users, heavy media consumers, and people who ultimately enjoy living on the cutting edge of tech. I traded in my Galaxy Note 20 Ultra for the Fold 3, and thus far, I have absolutely no regrets whatsoever, despite the huge hole I just blew in my savings account. The Galaxy Z Fold 3 is the ultimate Jez phone, although I can totally envision a future where the Duo 2 or Duo 3 could supplant Samsung for me someday.

I think the Surface Duo could offer some value at its $700 price point as a Surface enthusiast's device for those who don't see themselves spending more for a phone. The Surface Duo is about to be replaced by the Duo 2, but Microsoft is still supposedly planning to support the first Duo with updates for the foreseeable. I don't think it's good enough, or capable enough, to be a full daily driver for most, however, with a camera that lacks versatility, Bluetooth that doesn't work, and microphones that sound like they came from the 90s.

Either way, I hope that future Surface Duo iterations can bring the heat to Samsung in the future because there is just something magical about the Surface team's engineering. But today, the clear winner — despite the price tag — is the Galaxy Z Fold 3.

I am admittedly a phoneaholic. During the Windows Phone days, every upgrade felt significant and palpable. Moving from the HTC 8X to the Lumia 920 to the Lumia 1020 to the Lumia 1520 to the Lumia 950 XL, it was a fun ride. I never really cared much about phones or tech in general until I got on board with Microsoft's Windows 8 vision — a platform where all of your content would move seamlessly between devices, with a single unified design language. Alas, as we all know, 'twas not meant to be.

Like many Windows Phone refugees, I sought the embrace of Android, owing to its increased customizability and its (at least theoretically) more open platform. The ability to customize the hell out of my Samsung devices has kept me locked to their platform ever since, and the deal has only gotten sweeter in recent times, owing to beefy support from Microsoft. The "Your Phone" Windows 10 connection performs incredibly well on the Samsung Galaxy line, thanks to full OS integration. It's easier to swap all the defaults on Android to Microsoft services too, ditching Samsung's launcher for the cleaner Microsoft Launcher, alongside Microsoft Swiftkey, OneDrive for cloud storage, Outlook for email, and so on. Samsung even dabbles with inking support, something I've always enjoyed on Surface.

I've been using Samsung's Galaxy Note line for the past few years, as I found it most closely mimicked my all-time favorite phone, the Lumia 1520. Huge screens, beefy battery life, and powerful cameras, complete with heavy integration with Microsoft's services. I have, however, recently discovered a new love, that will change my phone habits maybe forever.

I dabbled with the Surface Duo this past summer, and I enjoyed my time with it. But it wasn't until I picked up the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 that I truly fell in love with foldables.

Why I love the fold

I am in some ways still pining for that "One Windows" vision that Microsoft has sought after to mixed success over the years. It's somewhat ironic then that since dropping Windows Phone, we're arguably closer to that vision than ever before. We can play Xbox games on Android using Xbox Game Pass' cloud gaming platform. We have phone calls, SMS, and app streaming on PC thanks to Your Phone. We have the near full-blown Office on mobile devices, too.

Where some of this vision falls apart historically is in the form factor. Microsoft tried to solve this with Continuum, which let you connect a Windows 10 Mobile device to an HDMI monitor, producing a Windows desktop-like environment. Using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or typing up a Word document on a phone is an absolute pain, but if you have the screen real estate for it and the right accessories, it was at least passable. The problem has always been that there simply wasn't a device — until now — that could truly provide this two-in-one experience. I'm not the kind of guy who would carry an external HDMI display around with him simply for Continuum or Samsung DeX's similar desktop-like experience. But thanks to the Galaxy Z Fold 3, I don't need to.

When folded outwards, the Galaxy Fold 3 is an enormous 7.6 inches across. Held in landscape, it truly is like a small laptop display. Disregarding its impressive brightness, colors, and 120Hz refresh rate, it's the size that I love above everything else. Playing games designed for TVs on Xbox Game Pass often sucked on my comparatively small Note 20 Ultra. The UI would be squished, alongside font sizes, making some games simply unplayable. The tablet-like size on the Galaxy Fold 3 eliminates this issue completely, giving you something closer to a Nintendo Switch-style experience, albeit with a far, far superior display.

As a chronic multitasker, I have been floored by the usability of Samsung's One UI on the Galaxy Fold 3 as well. It's a simple case of dragging and dropping apps where you want them, snapping into place with Windows 8-like intuitiveness. You can run up to three apps side by side on this thing, without any discernible degradation in performance. Although you may find that watching a YouTube video while streaming Xbox Game Pass alongside a web browser may chew through the battery if used with impunity, if I'm traveling for any particularly large length of time I'll most likely grab a power bank anyway. That's not to say the battery life is poor, though — it's anything but.

Samsung used new techniques to increase the brightness without impacting power consumption on its Fold 3 devices, and the difference is very noticeable compared to my Note 20 Ultra. I generally use this phone near to the lowest brightness setting while indoors, giving me anywhere up to 10 hours of non-stop screen time, albeit with 120Hz disabled. I found that an average day of use would net me anywhere up to 18+ hours on a single charge, which approaches Lumia 1520 power satisfaction.

Is the Galaxy Fold 3 for everybody, though? Probably not.

The concerns and shortcomings

The Galaxy Fold 3 is not cheap by any stretch. If you'd have told my younger self someday we'd be paying over a thousand dollars for a phone I'd have laughed, let alone $1,500 dollars. Luckily, Samsung offers a pretty generous trade-in program, allowing me to shave a sizeable chunk off the asking price. Even with that discount, though, my wallet wept a bit.

I am the type of person who is glued to their phone almost all the time. I use my phone when I wake up, when I'm relaxing in the evening, and before I go to bed. I use it while traveling. I use it even when I'm at my laptop as a second screen, using apps like spacedesk combined with a desk mount to get some more screen space. Slapping Reddit next to Twitter, or Xbox Game Pass next to a messaging app has been incredibly fun to do, and has ultimately changed the way I consume content. That being said, it's quite apparent that this screen-addicted lifestyle isn't for everyone.

You really, really have to love your mobile life to justify the price tag attached to this thing. You're effectively buying a phone and a tablet in a single package, given the external and internal displays. I suspect for most people, needing a device that can do both at once isn't really necessary. Even beyond that, I have reservations about the longevity of this product.

The Fold 1 and even the Fold 2 were notorious for split screens and cracks, even through regular use. The first Fold was particularly hard hit, with screens cracking even before the review embargos had lifted. The Fold 2 and Fold 3 use the same Samsung flexible glass composite, even though Samsung claims the phone is sturdier overall, with new materials across the back and frame.

Considering the most ideal type of user for this type of phone is a power user, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't concerned that my screen will eventually flex itself broken. I found myself wondering things like, "Should I take this to the beach?" on the off chance a grain of sand while on vacation might get into the screen protector and ruin the delicate display. I'm generally quite careful with my phones regardless, and have never actually cracked a screen in my life — but that's not to say I never dropped my Lumia devices and Galaxy Notes. Quite the opposite. Despite having a case on the Fold 3, I feel as though I'll handle this one with even more care than my previous devices.

Indeed, in some ways, the form factor on its closest direct competitor, the Surface Duo, makes more sense.

What about the Surface Duo?

I do have a Surface Duo in my possession and couldn't bring myself to make it my daily driver. I very almost did, but the Bluetooth reliability on the Duo ultimately prevented me from doing so. Indeed, as a "power user" of Android, every shortcoming on the Duo, from software glitches to poor antennae betrayed its "power user" form factor and price. I went to the Surface Duo for the innovation, but it's Samsung Galaxy that has executed and produced a product I can actually use.

Still, the question of that flexible glass display really does raise concerns. The Surface Duo has a more conventional glass display and is essentially two separate screens connected together, with an incredibly complex hinge mechanism. The hinge eliminates the need for a reverse display as seen on the Galaxy Fold, since you can rotate the Duo 360 degrees. There's a sublime elegance that the Duo enjoys that the Fold simply does not. But I need my phone to be more than just pretty. The Duo cameras, microphones, software, and other features simply aren't up to par, but that may change with the Surface Duo 2.

One thing is certain: The only types of phones I'm interested in now are foldables. Right now, it's the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 that holds the crown in this arena, but I can easily foresee a future where Surface ends up coming out on top if they can solve those screen-wasting bezels and pervasive software glitches that detract from the design intent.

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 is a power-user's dream, for both work and play. And crucially for Microsoft, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is the device the Surface Duo team should ultimately aspire to beat.

Samsung showed off its upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 2 at its Unpacked Part2 livestream today. During the stream, Samsung showed off the foldable phone that features several improvements over the original Galaxy Fold, including a much larger cover display than its predecessor and greatly reduced bezels. It also packs the spec sheet with a 120Hz display, multiple cameras, 5G support, and a Snapdragon 865+ processor.

The Galaxy Z Fold 2 comes with a hefty price tag of $2,000. While that is significantly higher than the $1,400 price of the Surface Duo, we couldn't help but ask if the Galaxy Z Fold 2 will steal some of the Surface Duo's thunder. While the two devices take different approaches to providing people more screen real estate, there are enough similarities to warrant a comparison.

The Surface Duo has a hinge that remains at any angle, allowing you to freely use the device in different modes. Samsung aimed to deliver the same thing, focusing on improving the hinge and allowing it to stop throughout its rotation.

The Surface Duo is optimized for multitasking, featuring smooth transitions when folding and unfolding the phone. Again, Samsung has aimed to deliver a similar feel. During its livestream, Samsung showed how the Galaxy Z Fold 2 can seamlessly continue videos and app content on its outer cover when closing the device.

The Galaxy Z Fold 2 can also rotate into landscape mode and span multiple apps across two halves of its display separated by the fold. The Surface Duo also focuses on being able to work in portrait or landscape mode and spans apps across both of its displays.

The most obvious difference is that the Galaxy Z Fold 2 has a large display that folds and an outer display while the Surface Duo has two displays that can flip around for a single screen experience. Samsung and Microsoft have taken two different approaches to multitasking on the go.

Which device do you prefer? Do you still want a Surface Duo after getting a closer look at the Galaxy Z Fold 2? Let us know in the comments below and by voting in our poll.

Foldables and other dual-display extra-large phone screens are already a thing. The Galaxy Fold may not have sold millions and millions of units, but after some changes were made to the initial design, the people invested in it love the thing. Motorola is slated to release one very soon. LG has something very similar with the LG G8X. And Microsoft made the internet gasp when it showed off the Surface Duo.

Android has support for foldable screen devices built-in, but it's not very comprehensive. That's why Samsung's apps look and act better on the Fold than most apps from the Play Store do. It all hearkens back to the tablet support thing, where support means it will work, but might not work great. This is because most apps have been designed for a 5-inch or so display and there are things in an app that need to stay in the same place no matter how big you scale it up.

Google did a fine job making sure everything would work. But Microsoft is going a step further for the Surface Duo. And it's a step in the right direction.

When your building apps that stretch across one giant screen or two giant screens with a small bezel in the middle, there's a right way and a wrong way. Stretching out a "regular" app might work, but then again it might not work. When you have that much real estate to work with, you should take advantage of it. It's easy to see what I'm talking about if you've ever used a proper tablet app like Google Play Books or Gmail on a proper tablet.

Columns and rows matter. Where media is placed on the layout matters. Where controls, buttons and gadgets are matters. When your device will be two separate displays like Microsoft's will, it really matters.

That's why Microsoft has already released a preview of the SDK for the Duo, complete with an emulator preview where developers can test how things can be done to take the most advantage of all that screen space. And as a bonus, it is doing the same thing for dual-display Windows 10 devices soon, too.

This is important for Microsoft, who wants apps to look and feel the same on every product with its name on the case. Whether it's Office 365 or Angry Birds, the experience you have on all your devices should feel constant and fluid. And this is coming from a company that hasn't yet released a dual-screen anything. It's great to see ways for developers to get prepared.

Of course, it's easier for Microsoft to do this for its own products. Google can hardly make an SDK that covers every folding or two screen clamshell that will ever run Android because each can and will be very different. The Galaxy Fold is one display that acts very differently that LG's clamshell solution. Motorola's vertical flip is different from either. The next phone will be different from all of those.

What we do know is that Microsoft is offering support — including hands-on developer days — for it's upcoming foldable Android device well in advance of its launch. There is an incentive for Google and its partners to start doing the same if we ever want a Galaxy Fold to run apps well, then switch for a Motorola RAZR Flip and have the same apps "feel" the same.

Things might be different because of how many Android OEMs there are and each does its own thing — which is exactly what Microsoft is doing, to prove my point — but doing difficult and different things is how great things happen. I want to see Microsoft's strategy copied and refined in a way where every foldable device gets a first-class experience that makes us love it.