IF THE SAMSUNG Z FLIP 5 SURVIVES… I'll Switch.

I have been using this Samsung Galaxy Note 10 for the last 4 years and it has done an excellent job. No complains. My dbrand grip case has kept it completely safe... except for the time my phone accidentally fell face down on a granite threshold and broke the curve of the glass. But that's more Samsung's fault for making a curved screen in the first place. However, that drop left my screen completely inoperable, meaning I was completely off the grid, away from home on a business trip. However, if you had this phone, the Flip 5, the outer screen could have been broken and the inner screen would still be fully functional since there are two of them.

It would have been very convenient. Today we are doing the durability test of the Samsung Z-Flip 5. And if it

survives

, it could be my next daily driver. Let us begin. As usual, and as with any foldable phone, the first time we turn it on it gives us a huge list of things we can't do... like not pressing the screen too much, not folding the phone. phone with stuff in it and sand can cause damage... all of which sound like really fun activities. Comparing the Flip 5 with the Motorola Razr Plus, we see that the form factors are almost identical.

The Flip 5 is a little shorter, but the thickness and width are basically the same, with only some slight differences in the shape of the front screen. The red Motorola has a little more pixel space, but they are both very attractive phones. And I'm a big fan of the form factor. However, looks don't matter much if it doesn't last in my pocket for the next 4 years since I keep my phones for a long time. The biggest changes Samsung has made are obviously that larger front screen and a redesigned hinge that allows the phone to fold completely. So let's start with the front screen.

This is the surface that will most often rub against the inside of a pocket or bag. That's why it's good to know how scratch-resistant glass is. Plastic scratches at a level 2 or 3, sapphire at a level 8 or 9, and fortunately, as we see here on the Flip 5, we're starting to see scratches at level 6 with deeper grooves at level 7. Samsung is using Gorilla Glass Victus 2. I thought about writing a new number strip for the interior display, but we all know that would be a waste of paper since the flexible interior display historically doesn't go above a 3. You can see the point of my plastic The tool Mohs ruins the surface at level 2 and leaves deeper grooves on this $1,000 smartphone at level 3.

Fingernails leaving marks are still a big problem with the Flip 5 flexible display, and Samsung is quite right to warn everyone about pressing too hard on the surface. You can see a pre-installed screen protector near the 10-megapixel front selfie camera. Remember that this is the one that we should not eliminate. The plastic screen protector is also applied over another layer of plastic, so even if it were to disappear, the screen would still be scratched at levels 2 and 3. However, Samsung offers a one-time free replacement of the screen protector, which unfortunately must be done. by them at their repair facilities.

The front bumper that prevents the soft layers of the screen from touching while closed is made of plastic. I may regret this comment in 50 years, but I don't think we'll ever see a foldable smartphone with a screen made of anything harder than a 2. Aluminum armor can scratch. The power button doubles as a fingerprint scanner and is located right where it should be. The metal volume control is removable. Kind of fun. The top of the Flip 5 has more anodized aluminum armor, along with the entire left side. Interestingly, the SIM card tray is slightly wrinkled and off-center towards the edge of the frame...probably to make room for expandable storage.

It's a joke. It's just a single SIM card. There is a rubber ring to protect it from water, but it's a big shame that the memory can't be upgraded, especially when I plan to use the phone for years to come. I feel like this move is intentional on Samsung's part to prevent people from using their phones while I do. I'm not a fan. The bottom of the phone has our microphone, a 25-watt USB-C charging port, and the bottom stereo speaker. The back panel is made from another slab of Gorilla Glass Victus, so no art class with Jerry today.

The newly designed flexible hinge spine is made of aluminum. We move on to the rear cameras, which can both be classified as selfie cameras since we have another screen on this side. There's a 12-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens and a 12-megapixel regular camera, both protected by glass, along with a single-tone LED flash. I posted a video last week about my studio setup,   so if you want to see a little behind the scenes, I'll leave a link at the end of this video. Now, with foldable phones I usually do a fun little dirt test, since dirt can really grind some gears, literally and figuratively.

But since Samsung so kindly requested that there be no dust when we turned on the phone, I decided that we should skip the dirt test and keep the phone clean. It's a joke. Playing in the dirt makes me happy and it makes Flip 5 happy too, as we can all see very clearly. The 8 on this phone's IPX8 water resistance rating means it would probably stay just fine, about 1.5 meters deep in fresh water for 30 minutes. But the "X" in the IPX8 rating probably means that the X marks the spot, so we should throw it in a hole and bury it like a pirate.

We have Flip 5 chewing rocks like a Graveler Goron or an unsupervised 2 year old. And even then, the 5 is still able to prevent dirt inside the hinge. I feel a little more resistance and hear more noise than usual, but nothing that has turned off the phone yet. I think Samsung is definitely right in suggesting not letting it get dirty, but at the same time this test shows that you don't need a clean, sterile room either, which is good news for me. The internal display on my Flip 5 is a 6.7-inch 1080p 2X 120 Hertz flexible AMOLED display that lasts about 15 seconds before the outer plastic layer starts to bubble and melt.

This   test is relevant because... oh look! We have another screen to set on fire. The front display is an oddly shaped 3.4-inch 720p super AMOLED panel, which also lasts about 10 seconds before the pixels start to dim, go dead, and barely recover. Speaking of not recovering, we already scratched the power button that doubles as a fingerprint reader, and with that minimal damage we were able to scan and configure my fingerprint relatively normally. But   after adding additional scratches, the capacitive sensor completely lost all functionality and no longer allows me to enter the phone. Some scanners survive additional abuse, so that's something to keep in mind.

It's not a deal breaker, but what would be a deal breaker is if the phone actually broke. If you remember last year with the Flip 4 durability test, we heard some strange noises during reverse bending. If we try the same again this year with the Flip 5... so far so good. Even with all the scratches, burns, dust, and now flexing, the Flip 5's new hinge and rear glass slabs prevent the phone from bending too far back, avoiding the absolute catastrophes we saw on the Pixel Fold. The Samsung Z Flip 5

survives

. I'm sad to lose the SD card slot, but if the Flip 5 has battery pull tabs inside like the Fold 5, it looks like I might have found my new phone.

We will know for sure during disassembly. Luckily, even though this foldable phone is incredibly complex, the clever people at dbrand were still able to send me a pre-production case, which means that not only will my exterior screen now be protected from drops, bumps and abuse, but it also means I can continue using my own Teardown design. Teardown is exposing the inside of the externals now on over 100 different devices. I'll leave a link in the description if you want to get a Teardown for your own phone or tablet. True happiness lies within. And you can buy that inner happiness in the description.

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