Following up its new Galaxy Z Fold4 and Z Flip4 foldable phones, Samsung announced new top of the line earbuds at the UnPacked 2022 event in New York. The Galaxy Buds2 Pros feature high-fidelity sound, a more compact design and stylish colour options.
Audiophiles will be thrilled with the Buds2 Pro’s 24-bit Hi-Fi audio support. This brings the ability to play higher-resolution music files, such as tracks using Samsung’s seamless codec (SSC HiFi). The net result is more dynamic, detailed playback and a greater range of sound.
Also new is spatial surround sound support along with Dolby 360-degree audio tracking for a theatre like experience.
Next, the Buds2 Pro get a more powerful Active Noise Cancelling system, to help eliminate outside noise. We’ll test out how this works in our upcoming GadgetGuy review.
The Buds2’s canal-type design has new aerodynamic features, including a vent hole, nozzle grill and mic array to help improve airflow. The wind shield is now 2 times larger than the previous Galaxy Buds Pros to cut down on wind noise.
The earbuds are smaller too, dropping 15 percent of their volume compared to the previous ones. The Buds2’s new shape also prevents rotation in your ear and should be more comfortable to wear for long periods.
A new Auto Switch feature provides a seamless transition from your music, game or movie back to your phone to answer a call. And thanks to Easy Pair, for the first time ever the Buds2 Pro will seamlessly connect to compatible Samsung TVs.
There are three colours to choose from including Samsung’s signature Bora Purple, along with White and Graphite.
The Galaxy Buds2 Pro costs $A349. Pre-orders begin on 11th August, with on-sale kicking off 2nd September.
Check out our video for more:
Samsung Galaxy Buds2 Pro – Specifications
Colours
Graphite, Bora Purple, White
ANC
-33 dB
Ambient
Ambient – Latency 0.2ms
Amplify – Up to +25 dB
Sound
360 Audio 24bit Hi-Fi
Intelligence
Voice Detect
Battery
Capacity – 61/500mAh Play time – 5/18Hr (ANC On) (Buds/total) – 8/29Hr (ANC Off) Talk time – 3.5/14Hr (ANC On) (Buds/Toal)- 4/15Hr (ANC Off)
With a more durable design and enhanced health features, Samsung’s new Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch5 Pro smartwatches are aimed at fitness fans who tend to get off the beaten track.
Unveiled overnight at the Samsung Unpacked event in New York, the Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch5 Pro are Samsung’s first to feature a Sapphire Crystal display, which offers a 60 per cent harder outer layer than the Galaxy Watch 4.
The Watch5 Pro adds a durable titanium casing which protects the display with a protruded bezel design – although this year’s watches forgo the rotating bezel found on some previous models. The Watch5 Pro also features a 60 per cent larger battery than the Watch4.
Both new smartwatches are equipped with Samsung’s BioActive sensor, first introduced on the Galaxy Watch4 series, which uses a single chip that combines three health sensors – Optical Heart Rate, Electrical Heart Signal and Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis. This allows the sensor to provide extensive readings which include heart rate, blood oxygen level and stress level. In addition, users can monitor the health of their heart by tracking blood pressure and ECG.
Galaxy Watch5 Pro in two colours and titanium case
An increased surface area, offering more direct skin contact, increases the accuracy of monitoring compared to previous models.
When it’s time to rest, the Galaxy Watch5 series provides users with recovery data, including post-cardio heart rate after an intense workout, and customised recommendations on water consumption based on sweat loss. At night, sleep monitoring includes snore detection and blood oxygen levels, while advanced Sleep Coaching provides a tailored month-long guided program for improving sleep habits.
Galaxy Watch5 looks sleek and sophisticated
Samsung’s Galaxy Watch5 and Galaxy Watch5 Pro are available for pre-order on August 11, with retail availability beginning September 2.
The Watch5 is available in two sizes: the large 44 mm body comes in a choice of Graphite, Sapphire and Silver, while the small 40 mm option is available in Graphite, Pink Gold and Silver. The 45 mm Watch5 Pro is available in Black Titanium and Gray Titanium, starting at $799 for the Bluetooth version and $849 for the LTE version.
Check out our video with all the latest Unpacked announcements:
Samsung took the wraps off its hot new foldable phone innovations in New York city at its UnPacked 2022 event. This marks the first major ‘in person’ launch for the South Korean electronics giant since the pandemic, and a fitting showcase for its eagerly awaited Galaxy Z Flip4 and Galaxy Z Fold4 smartphones. While more of an incremental update, both products come with key improvements to form factor, battery life, camera quality and usability.
Galaxy Z Flip4
The Galaxy Z Flip4, which has a traditional clamshell design, is aimed at content creators and those looking to express their unique style. The new Flip has gained a slightly wider screen thanks to thinner bezels and is 1.2mm thinner thanks to a compact hinge mechanism.
It’s had a style makeover too, with a glossy metal frame, contrasting hazed black glass and four new colour choices including Samsung’s signature Bora Purple, Pink Gold, Graphite and Blue. And for those who want to express their own style, Samsung’s Bespoke Edition opens up 75 colour combinations. This is also the first time that pre-ordered Bespoke Edition models will be ready at the same time the Flip4 goes on sale.
Galaxy Z Flip4 – Choose from new colours (left) or go Bespoke and make your own style (right)
For capturing hands-free selfies and full group shots at various angles, the Flip4’s cover can be partially opened (between 75 and 115 degrees), sort of like a tripod, using its FlexCam mode. Thanks to a partnership with Meta, FlexCam can be enabled from within Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook. The updated QuickShot feature now lets you to take high-quality selfies using the main camera while the cover is closed. You can also start recording a video in QuickShot mode with the cover closed and then open the cover without stopping the capture.
In terms of camera quality, the Flip4 has seen a 65% improvement in light sensitivity, meaning you can now enjoy Samsung’s “Nightography”, or low light shooting, including night portrait selfies. Image stabilisation is also better for both images and video. This is thanks to an improved camera sensor, and image post-processing from the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 mobile chip.
The new Galaxy Z Series range is the generation of foldables that will see the category become mainstream.
Garry McGregor, Vice President, Mobile Experience Division, Samsung Electronics Australia
The Fold4’s cover screen gains new wallpapers, and Galaxy Themes can be applied to both the main and cover screen. You can also record and play videos up to 15 seconds on the cover screen too, along with new shortcuts. This opens up the ability to view the weather, update your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth settings, direct-dial contacts, tap-and-pay via the Samsung Pay wallet and even control your smart home devices without opening the front cover.
The front cover screen (left) gets more useful and the Flip4 in Flex mode (right)
One area needing improvement with the Fold3 was battery life. As a result, the Flip4 gets a 12% larger battery, along with a quick charge capability that tops up levels to 50% in 30 minutes. You will need a 25 Watt charger for fast charging, and the battery can store 3700mAh, versus the Flip3’s 3300mAh.
The Flip4 will debut in Australia priced from $1,499 with 128GB of memory, or $1,649 with 256GB.
Galaxy Z Fold4
Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold4 is aimed at power users who want high-end productivity and multitasking capabilities. The Fold4 is the most powerful version ever, with the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 mobile chip, including 5G network connectivity. The Fold4 has also upped the ante for photos and gains the same camera mechanism as Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S22. This includes a 50 megapixel wide camera, 12 megapixel ultra-wide and 3x zoom telephoto, with 30x Space Zoom. The sensor’s pixels are larger than the Fold3, meaning a bump in sensitivity by 23 percent for brighter and clearer low-light photos and videos.
There are also some camera app tweaks to make better use of the Fold4’s 7.6inch display, including a larger zoom map in Capture View mode, Dual Preview, and Rear Cam Selfie.
Lots of configurations for the Galaxy Z Fold4
The Fold4’s main screen is also improved with higher brightness and an ultra-smooth 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. This changes depending on the apps used and can range between 120 and 1 refresh per second (Hz). The main screen’s under-display camera is now harder to see thanks to a new scatter type sub-pixel arrangement.
Also improved, and very important in a foldable phone, is durability. The Fold4 now sports an Armor Aluminium frame and hinge cover, a more shock resistant layer structure, as well as Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus+ on cover and rear glass. This new hardened glass is also featured on the Flip4 and both models share IPX8 water resistance.
The Fold4 has optimisations to make better use of its large, bending display and is the first device to use Android 12L, which is optimised for larger screens. Facebook and other social media apps now use more of the screen, and streaming services like Netflix and Disney Plus can operate in Flex Mode. There’s also a new Flex Mode Touchpad, where the lower half of the screen acts like a laptop touchpad to control the upper half.
For launching and switching between apps, there’s a new taskbar, which is similar to the riband of apps found at the bottom of PC desktops. Google apps, such as Chrome and Gmail now support drag-and-drop, and Microsoft’s full Office Suite takes advantage of the foldable display, with more content shown on screen.
The Fold comes in three colours including Greygreen, Beige and Phantom Black. There’s also a new 1 Terabyte option, which comes in Burgundy, available exclusively from Samsung.com’s online store.
Prices for the Galaxy Z Fold4 start at $2,499 for 256GB of memory, $2,699 for 512GB and $2,999 for 1TB.
Both the Galaxy Z Flip4 and Galaxy Z Fold4 begin pre-orders on August 11 and go on sale in Australia September 2.
As someone who personally owns both a Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3, it’s easy to see why foldables are the future of smartphones. Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3 is a pocketable 6.2-inch smartphone that can be opened up like a book and turned into a big screen 7.6-inch tablet. The Z Flip 3 is a big screen smartphone that can be folded in half into a clamshell form factor that harkens back to the flip phones of yesteryear. For me, these devices have been an absolute game changer that makes it very difficult to go back to a regular smartphone.
But the current devices aren’t perfect, and since Samsung is hoping to take the Fold mainstream with the debut of a fourth version of both the Z Fold and Z Flip on August 11, here are the improvements that I’m hoping to see.
Battery life and charging speeds
Battery life is one of the most important aspects of any smartphone and it’s an area that Samsung’s foldables have continuously struggled with. My Z Fold 3 regularly sinks below 20% by the evening and that’s with just average use (five hours of screen on time). The battery life is simply too short for most people let alone the power user that Samsung is going after with the Z Fold series. Meanwhile my Z Flip 3 can barely get through a day with just moderate use.
What’s worse is that both phones take quite a while to charge with the Fold 3 topping out at 25W while the Z Flip 3 charges at a paltry 15W. Both handsets take more than 80 minutes to fully charge.
At the very least Samsung needs to bring the Fold 4 to parity with its single screen flagship, the S22 Ultra, which sports both a larger capacity 5,000mAh battery as well as 45W charging speeds.
Slow charging speeds and average battery life have been the Achilles heel of both the Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3
Camera that’s on par with other flagships
Camera quality is right up there with battery life when it comes to what matters most in a phone. The trio of 12MP cameras on the Z Fold 3 can take some decent quality shots and video but it’s a noticeable downgrade when compared to the current crop of flagship smartphones such as Samsung’s own S22 Ultra. It’s particularly easy to see the camera’s imperfections when viewing the captured shots on the Z Fold 3’s tablet sized inner display.
Meanwhile the dual camera setup on the Z Flip 3 is equivalent to what you would find on a mid-range smartphone with a sluggish autofocus and very average low light performance resulting in blurry shots more often than not.
For the price, I’d like to see the camera quality on both the Z Fold and Z Flip 4 at least match Samsung’s best non-folding phones.
No more screen protector
Samsung have been using a screen protector on top of the main display of their foldables to help protect against unintended scratches. The problem is that over time with numerous fold and unfold actions, sizable air gaps or bubbles start to form. This is something that I experienced within the first few months of owning the Z Fold 2 and then about 6 months into the life of the Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3.
I’m hopeful that Samsung can make the inner glass strong enough so that it can finally do away with the screen protector altogether.
Dedicated S-Pen slot
The Z Fold 3 added S-Pen support and it quickly became one of my favourite features about the handset as the device’s 7.6-inch inner display made for just about the perfect canvas size for note taking and drawing. Unfortunately, I had to stop using the S Pen altogether since the lack of an integrated slot meant I couldn’t really take it with me unless I used one of Samsung’s bulky cases.
While I understand that Samsung might not want to increase the Z Fold’s thickness to accommodate a stylus storage slot, it could at least enable the ability to attach the S-Pen magnetically to the hinge of the phone.
S Pen was a gamechanger for the Z Fold 3 but the lack of an integrated slot meant that you had to use a bulky case to carry both
Larger storage options
For a smartphone that’s designed to serve double duty as a tablet replacement, it seems bizarre that Samsung never offered more than 512GB of internal storage for the Z Fold series or at least a way to expand the storage with a microSD card slot. Samsung offers a 1TB variant of the S22 Ultra and it should look to do the same for the Z Fold 4.
Widen the front display
One of the things that throws people off about the Z Fold 3 is the narrow 6.2-inch outer display, which makes the onscreen keyboard a bit too cramped for text messaging and emails. Certain apps such as YouTube and LinkedIn don’t often render correctly within the narrower aspect ratio either. Making the outer display a little wider would make it more practical to use as a phone, especially in those instances where you don’t have two hands free to unfold the device and use the larger inner display.
Leaked images of the Z Fold 4 show a thinner hinge and a slightly wider front display
Less bulkier design
With each iteration Samsung has worked towards making their foldables a little lighter and slimmer but they are still bulky phones when closed. The Z Fold 3 for instance is almost 16mm thick when closed which – to put that in context – is the equivalent of two flat screen smartphones sandwiched together. Putting on a case only further accentuates the problem.
Increasing the battery capacity, putting in more powerful cameras and potentially having an integrated holster to stow away the S-Pen in doesn’t leave much room for shaving millimetres off the frame. A thinner hinge and narrower bezels could be areas where Samsung might target for the next iteration of their foldables and if the company does pull that off, it should make them much more pocketable.
While security cameras are a great way of monitoring your home, they can also reveal the secret lives of our pets. Whether it’s finding out who really scratched the floorboards or which back yard visitor eats all the birdseed, security cameras can capture the culprits. Leading indoor and outdoor security camera manufacturer Arlo is celebrating our quirky pets bringing you the chance to win 50 family in-season passes to watch DC’s League of Super Pets.
Set to premiere in Australia on September 15th, Warner Brothers Picture’s latest animated film features the voices of Kevin Hart, Dwayne Johnson and Keanu Reeves. The plot centres around a ragtag group of animals who are on a mission to master their own newfound powers and fight crime.
To enter, simply visit Arlo’s Facebook page @ArloSmartHomeANZ and share how an Arlo camera helps you keep an eye on your own “super pets”. There’s also the chance for one lucky winner to have their very own exclusive screening to the film.
