The first trailer for Clickbait has been released. The new 8-episode Netflix thriller stars Entourage’s Adrian Grenier and it releases on August 25.
Grenier plays Nick Brewer, an apparently normal husband and dad who suddenly disappears. Soon after, Nick resurfaces online, in a disturbing video in which he has been beaten, holding a sign that reads, “I abuse women. At 5 million views, I die.” A hunt for Nick ensues, but as more videos appear, his family starts to suspect that Nick might not be everything he seemed to be. This fast-paced trailer suggests a glossy thriller that combines elements of Search Party, Gone Girl, and the Saw movies–check it below:
Netflix describes the show as “a compelling, high stakes thriller that explores the ways in which our most dangerous and uncontrolled impulses are fueled in the age of social media, revealing the ever-widening fractures we find between our virtual and real-life personas.”
Clickbait also stars Zoe Kazan (The Big Sick, The Plot Against America), Betty Gabriel (The Twilight Zone, Upgrade), and Jessie Collins (Zero Dark Thirty). It’s an Australian/US co-production that was shot in Melbourne, with Brad Anderson (The Sinner, Titans, The Machinist) as the show’s main director.
Between the ridiculously smooth 360Hz esports displays and super-sharp 4K monitors lies a sweet spot we think appeals to most gamers: 1440p at 144Hz for the best of both worlds. The Dell S3422DWG is a 34-inch ultrawide gaming monitor that hits this sweet spot beautifully, but at $719.99, is it worth the price increase over less expensive models from competitors? We tested the latest from Dell to find out.
Dell S3422DWG – Design and Features
The S3422DWG, like many of Dell’s other gaming monitors, is unassuming: apart from the octagonal stand, it looks similar to Dells’ office ultrawides, with a frameless bezel, a simple Dell logo along the bottom, and no RGB extras (though it does have a small blue light that shines down from the middle of the display onto the stand). The 1800R curve is a bit deeper than some competing monitors like the Gigabyte G34WQC, but otherwise it’s very similar: it uses a VA panel (for deeper blacks at the cost of motion performance), sports a 3440×1440 QHD resolution, and is HDR400 certified, so you can play compatible games in HDR (albeit a very toned-down version of it). FreeSync Premium ensures you can play your games with less tearing and stuttering, especially as your game jumps around within the monitor’s smooth 144Hz refresh rate.
The S3422DWG’s stand allows for a large range of height adjustment so you can get the display right at eye level, though it doesn’t swivel and only offers a small amount of tilt adjustment. The monitor’s rear IO offers two HDMI 2.0 ports but only one DisplayPort jack, which is less than some competitors but shouldn’t impact most people who are only using the monitor with one PC. You also get USB pass-through for two ports on the rear and two ports on the underside of the bezel, along with an easy-access headphone jack – a nice touch, and not something too many monitors offer in such a convenient location.
Like other gaming displays at this price, the Dell uses a joystick-style button along the back for control of the on-screen display settings, though it also has a few more traditional buttons alongside it – which makes navigating the OSD a bit confusing at times. The menu contains the regular brightness and contrast settings, as well as more color settings than most monitors offer, but there’s no gamma setting, which is annoying. It also doesn’t have quite as many game-specific settings as some other monitors, but you do get a robust Overdrive setting with a backlight strobing feature available, a Dark Stabilizer setting for raising the black levels, and an option to turn FreeSync on or off. There are also multiple HDR settings, which can be confusing, but offers more in the way of HDR configuration than some other displays that lock you to their preferred HDR configuration every time.
Dell S3422DWG – Testing
To test the panel in this monitor, I used an X-Rite i1Display Pro to measure a series of patterns in CalMAN Ultimate, alongside some by-eye tests with patterns from Lagom and Blur Busters.
In its out-of-the-box Standard mode, the S3422DWG hit a maximum brightness of 376 nits when turned all the way up, which should be enough for most rooms. HDR brightness, as expected, was around 476 nits – enough to give a boost to highlights over SDR mode, but it’s still low by HDR standards, and the lack of local dimming means it won’t give a particularly great HDR experience since it’ll also raise those black levels. It’s fine, but nothing to write home about, and not exactly a selling point for this display.
Contrast ratio came in at 3290:1, which is typical for a VA panel – better than its IPS brethren, but it’s not going to compete with a modern TV that has local dimming. Gamma was weirdly low at 1.78, making everything look a little washed out compared to the desired 2.2. While the display was able to cover 87.2% of the wide DCI-P3 color space – great for vibrant colors, especially in HDR – color accuracy was just okay. When measuring color accuracy, a deltaE value describes how far away the displayed color is from the target the monitor was attempting to show, with a value of 3 or lower being good and a value of 1 or lower being ideal. In CalMAN’s ColorChecker test, the S3422DWG achieved an average deltaE of 3.5, with a maximum of 6.7 – though note that colors will actually be a bit less accurate than even that in most programs, due to the way Windows handles color management on wide gamut displays. Sadly, there’s no sRGB mode to counteract this issue, so all your colors may look a bit oversaturated in programs and games, unless you’re playing in HDR where those colors will be mapped properly (at least, on games that implement HDR well).
The S3422DWG does offer a Custom picture mode, and I was able to get colors more accurate by dialing the Blue down for a slightly warmer picture. But the gamma was still low, making the picture look washed out, and I couldn’t find any gamma setting in the OSD to adjust this – a strange omission, especially given the monitor’s distance from the typical 2.2 target. I did find, however, that the Sports mode offered a darker gamma of around 2.15, not to mention slightly more accurate colors than Standard mode. Sports mode was the best balance of darker gamma with not-terrible colors, so it’s what I stuck with for the remainder of my usage.
While VA panels do offer deeper blacks than their IPS counterparts – great for gaming in a dark room – they tend to offer slower response times, which denote how quickly a monitor transitions from one shade to another. Slower response times result in more ghosting, or a moving trail behind objects, and the S3422DWG did show some minor ghosting in Blur Busters’ UFO test, though it was less pronounced than other VA monitors I’ve used in the past. It also has a wealth of overdrive settings to help mitigate the ghosting – I found the Super Fast option to be the best for high-refresh gaming, with the lowest Fast setting more ideal for games running at 60fps or so. Higher options produced too many overshoot artifacts, and the MPRT strobing feature – while it reduced motion blur further – was incompatible with FreeSync, so I didn’t use it in my day-to-day gaming.
Speaking of FreeSync, the S3422DWG offers FreeSync premium but is not certified to work with G-Sync on Nvidia cards. Many of the monitors I’ve reviewed work with G-Sync anyway when forced on in the Nvidia control panel, and for the most part, Dell’s offering worked with my Nvidia card – albeit with some quirks. At the native resolution of 3440×1440, for example, Nvidia’s Pendulum Demo worked decently well – but if I dropped down to a different resolution, I would notice a fair amount of stuttering and tearing, even though G-Sync was enabled. I haven’t experienced this on other monitors, so it’s worth noting, since it could be indicative of less-than-perfect compatibility, and you may notice some quirks in certain games depending on your settings. FreeSync worked beautifully when connected to my AMD card, however.
Dell S3422DWG – Gaming
If you haven’t made the jump to ultrawide gaming yet, you owe it to yourself to try it out. Switching from 16:9 to 21:9 is truly awesome, with the extra real estate on your periphery really giving you a more immersive, wraparound window into the game world. It’s rare I find a game that doesn’t support it – though some games will feature 16:9 cutscenes with black bars – and some that don’t are hackable to support the ultrawide resolutions.
The Dell S3422DWG’s sweet spot of 1440p resolution and 144Hz worked beautifully to create sharp details that were clearly visible through the smooth motion of the display, provided your graphics card can pump enough frames to make use of the higher refresh rate. Lower-fidelity esports titles like Overwatch are easy to max out in this regard, and create a butter-smooth experience that’s a clear step up over the 60Hz monitors of old. Fast-paced games like Doom Eternal are a treat on high refresh displays too, with the extra smooth motion making you feel like a fast-moving precision killing machine.
On higher-fidelity or more poorly-optimized games, you’ll probably find yourself hitting a more modest framerate, but that’s where FreeSync support comes in handy, adapting the display to meet your framerate during any given scene. So when you’re driving around Night City in Cyberpunk 2077, those dips under 60 won’t bother quite as much, and the 80+ frames per second give you a bit of extra smoothness in indoor areas. There is some minor smearing in dark areas, but it’s better than many VA panels I’ve tested recently, including my own Gigabyte G34WQC, so it really does feel like the best of both worlds – deep blacks for a punchy picture and smooth motion without much blur.
That said, I did notice a bit of in-game flickering when using my Nvidia card, which is not uncommon among G-Sync compatible FreeSync displays – though since the Dell isn’t certified G-Sync compatible, I’m not surprised the flickering was more noticeable than on my Gigabyte. (Though to be fair, the Gigabyte is also not certified, and its G-Sync isn’t perfect – though it was more consistently reliable in all my tests.) Ultimately, they’re more similar than they are different, with the Dell having an edge for slightly better motion in dark scenes.
And that’s my biggest issue with the S3422DWG – it performs slightly better than the G34WQC in the motion department, and even disregarding its minor quirks, it costs $300 more than Gigabyte’s offering (not to mention IPS alternatives like the Acer Nitro XV340CK). That’s a huge jump in price for the minor benefits it provides, and I’m not sure I’d recommend paying the extra cash unless you want a VA panel but are also a serious stickler about motion – and as someone in that category, it’s still a tough sell.
A collection of “core” staff from Typhoon Studios, one of the in-house game developers Google shut down earlier this year, are reforming under a new name.
Announced in a company press release, the new Montreal-based studio, which will go by the name Raccoon Logic, will pick up where Typhoon Studios left off. The new developer has also reclaimed the rights to its predecessor’s acclaimed IP, Journey to the Savage Planet.
Raccoon Logic has managed to retain many of the core talents that made up Typhoon Studios. The newly-forged studio founders boast an impressive resume of experience, with members of the team having previously held positions at Ubisoft, Electronic Arts, and WB Games Montreal amongst other developers.
Alex Hutchinson was previously Creative Director for Ubisoft’s Far Cry 4 and Assassin’s Creed 3. Reid Schneider was previously a Co-Founder of WB Games Montreal and Executive Producer on Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Arkham Knight.
Hutchinson and Schneider are joined by Yannick Simard (Watch Dogs 1 and 2), Erick Bilodeau (Batman: Arkham Origins), and Marc-Antoine Lussier (Assassin’s Creed 1-3 and Assassin’s Creed Unity).
In order to reform the studio has secured a large initial investment from the Chinese technology company, Tencent. “The early investment from Tencent is a huge boost, meaning we can do significant work on our own before we start talking to publishers,” says Hutchinson, Raccoon Logic’s Creative Director.
Little is known about Raccoon Logic’s unannounced debut project, but Hutchinson did offer some insight into what the team might be working on: “We love systemic games, games with a sense of humor and a big heart, and games with strong flavors that get reactions from players. We’re going to keep pushing on those ideas and we’ll have something to show soon!”
Elsewhere in the press release, Hutchinson confirmed that Raccoon Logic would be looking to build upon the Journey to the Savage Planet franchise in the future and said that it’s something the studio is really excited about. Journey to the Savage Planet was originally released in January 2020 for PC, Xbox One and PS4. The game was then further released on Google Stadia on February 1 of this year – the same day that Google shut down Typhoon Studios and a number of in-house developers. Be sure to check out our Journey to the Savage Planet review.
Jared Moore is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.
Gather ’round, deal hunters. Here’s a story about how, just a few years ago, you could get 20% off pretty much all video game preorders from Amazon, Best Buy, and more retailers. These were sunny days of bounty and joy. Then, one by one, retailers stopped offering preorder discounts. And that’s where we are now. Almost.
Some retailers, most notably Best Buy, are still giving away free stuff for preordering select games. In many cases, you get a $10 gift card. In others, you get $10 in reward certificates if you’re a My Best Buy member (sign up for free here). In others still, you get a Funko Pop, steelbook case, or pin set.
These bonuses may not be as good as an up-front discount off of all preordered games, but they’re definitely better than nothing. Here’s a rundown on the games currently offering preorder bonuses.
Preorder Bonuses
These preorder bonuses are good for everyone, regardless of your My Best Buy membership status.
$10 Reward with My Best Buy
To get the $10 in reward certificates from these games, you’ll first need to sign up for My Best Buy (it’s free). Once you do that, you’ll get the reward when the game comes out.
If you’re into digital extras, you can get various add-ons for preordering games from any retailer. Check out our lineup of preorder guides for upcoming games to see what digital goodies you can get from preordering games you’re interested in picking up.
Preorder Guides
Chris Reed is a deals expert and commerce editor for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @_chrislreed.
There’s just over a month to go until Venom 2 arrives in theaters, and star Tom Hardy currently has two plans for what’s next for the franchise: A third Venom movie, if the sequel proves to be successful, and figuring out just how he can get Disney to agree to let him go a few rounds with Tom Holland’s Spider-man.
“I wouldn’t be doing the job if I wasn’t awake and open to any opportunity or eventuality or be excited by that,” Hardy said to Collider about the possibility of a Venom leaping into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Obviously, that’s a large canyon to leap, to be bridged by one person alone, and it would take a much higher level of diplomacy and intelligence, sitting down and talking, to take on an arena such as that. Should both sides be willing, and it be beneficial to both sides, I don’t see why it couldn’t be. I hope and strongly, with both hands, push, eagerly, towards that potential, and would do anything to make that happen, within what’s right in business.”
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For Venom 2, Hardy’s protagonist Eddie Brock will be facing off against serial killer Cletus Kassady, who has bonded with a symbiote of his own to become Carnage, sacrificing his wonderfully silly wig in the process. The first film was a huge hit that grossed over $856 million worldwide, and should the second film do well, Venom 3 is all but guaranteed according to Hardy.
These are challenging times for the movie industry though, as even The Suicide Squad couldn’t crack the $30 million mark at the US box office last weekend, with factors such as a resurgence in coronavirus infections and streaming options on HBO Max also playing a large part in that film’s performance.
Getting Disney to make Venom a part of the MCU would be a major hurdle, although with the formation of the multiverse recently, it’s still narratively possible to have a Spider-Man vs Venom film that doesn’t star Tobey Maguire beating up Eric Forman from That ’70’s Show.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage releases on September 24 and also stars Michelle Williams, Reid Scott, and Stephen Graham. It’s directed by Andy Serkis, the actor who is best known for playing Gollum in the Lord of the Rings and other motion-capture acting jobs.
AirPods are no small investment for Apple users, costing as much as $249 if you’re looking at the AirPods Pro. Right now, though, Apple’s second-gen AirPods are back down to their lowest price ever, hovering around $130. Though we’ve regularly seen this particular pair around $160, the extra $30 savings makes them even more tempting today.
AirPods connect seamlessly with all of your Apple devices and provide quick access to Siri on the go. You don’t have to fumble around with them to connect each time–after a one-tap setup, they can detect when they’re in your ears and will automatically pause when you take them out. They provide up to five hours of listening on one charge, and more than 24 hours with the included charging case. While they don’t feature the customizable fit and active noise cancellation available with the AirPods Pro, the latter might not be a bad thing if you’re someone who still likes to hear a bit of outside noise as you walk around. If great sound at an affordable price is your key concern, the second-gen AirPods are worth grabbing for $130.
Stock may be running low for this deal, as the Amazon listing currently says “in stock soon.” However, you can still place your order and will receive an email when they are ready to ship.
Following in the steps of Nintendo’s series of bite-sized battle royale games, Ubisoft has launched Ubisoft All-Star Blast, a Bomberman-style game featuring all sorts of characters from its various franchises.
Available for free, the game tasks you with taking control of a character like Ezio or Sam Fisher and battling against 99 other players. Gameplay is straightforward, and clearly Bomberman-inspired: You navigate through a map laid out like a maze, dropping bombs to blow up obstacles or other players. There are a variety of power-ups and special weapons besides bombs, too. And, like other battle royale games, the map steadily shrinks to force players to confront one another.
You currently don’t have to pay money for anything in All-Star Blast. It’s structured around an ad-supported model, meaning that you can buy all cosmetics with coins earned through gameplay or, in certain cases, by choosing to watch advertisements. In addition, the game has a decent amount of multiplayer features, including the ability to create parties with friends and leaderboards for both your friends list and the world.
All-Star Blast is available via Ubisoft Nano, the company’s platform for small-scale, free-to-play multiplayer projects. In addition to All-Star Blast, the platform also hosts an Assassin’s Creed endless runner, a couple of Rabbids games, and a Trackmania title.
Samsung announced last month that its next Unpacked event would unveil the latest products of its ever-growing product lineup. In total, the event unveiled four new products from the tech giant: two foldable smartphones, a new smartwatch, and the next generation of Galaxy Buds.
In case you missed the virtual event, here’s everything that was announced today.
Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G
While no new Note phones are coming out in 2021, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G is the latest flagship in Samsung’s smartphone lineup. Most notably, the Z Fold 3 5G includes stylus support for the S Pen, a feature commonly found on the Note series and making it the first Samsung foldable device to support it.
The Z Fold 3 5G features a 7.6-inch Flex display with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. It features 12GB of RAM with two storage configuration options: 256GB and 512GB.
The front of the camera includes a 10MP selfie camera, a 4MP under-display camera, and the rear features a triple camera setup, with a 12MP ultra-wide camera, a 12MP wide-angle, and a 12MP telephoto camera.
To improve on durability, Samsung says the Z Fold 3 5G has IPX8 water resistance. Unfortunately, it does not include dust resistance.
The Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G’s pricing begins at $1,799.99 and is available in three colors: Phantom Black, Phantom Green, and Phantom Silver. Preorders begin today, with a retail release slated for August 27.
Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G
Like the Fold 3 5G, Samsung also announced that another phone from its other foldable lineup, the Galaxy Z Flip 3, includes a 6.7-inch display with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and an IPX8 water resistance rating.
The Z Flip 3 5G includes 8GB of RAM with no option to increase memory capacity, with the storage options coming in 128GB and 256GB. As far as cameras go, on the front, you have a 10MP selfie camera, with a dual-camera setup on the back: a 12MP ultra-wide and a 12MP wide-angle camera.
Thee Z Flip 3 5G also includes a new Flex Mode Panel, which should make apps running on the foldable better and a lot more seamless to use. The panel is designed to offer more convenient ways for users to use the foldable when it is partially folded, such as using the top half of the screen to display video while the bottom half houses control, allowing you to adjust things such as brightness or volume.
The Z Flip 3 5G has seven color variants in total. Cream, Green, Lavander, and Phantom Black as more common options to choose from, but if you are purchasing on Samsung’s direct website, you have the option to buy the foldable flip phone in Gray, Pink, or White.
Preorders for the Z Flip 3 5G starting at $999 begin today, and the retail release will be on August 27.
Galaxy Watch 4 and the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic
Samsung unveiled not one but two new smartwatches during Wednesday’s event: Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch 4 Classic. Both wearables include WearOS — Google’s wearable operating system with some slight tweaks by Samsung. In addition to its 3-in-1 BioActive sensor, which uses a single chip to run three health sensors — Optical Heart Rate, which allows you to keep track of your blood pressure; Electrical Heart, which allows you to detect an irregular heartbeat, and Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis, which allows you to calculate your body composition.
The Galaxy Watch 4 comes in two sizes: 40mm and 44mm, with the prices starting at $249.99, which gives you access to Bluetooth, with LTE versions beginning at $299.99. The colors vary depending on which size you get, both sizes include Black and Silver as a color variant, but the 40mm has a size-exclusive Pink Gold option, while the 44mm includes a Green color choice.
As the name implies, the Galaxy Watch 4 Classic offers a more traditional watch shape, but alongside a more “classic look,” this is the only watch in the current Watch 4 series is that the Classic model includes a rotating bezel, a notable feature for Samsung wearables. The Galaxy Watch 4 Classic will come in 42mm and 46mm sizes with two colors available: Black and Silver. Pricing begins at $349.99 for the Bluetooth versions and $399.99 for the LTE models.
Both smartwatches are available for preorder starting today and will release on August 27.
Galaxy Buds 2
The next pair of truly wireless earbuds from Samsung is the Galaxy Buds 2. Wild not wildly different from its predecessor if we are going off of the design alone, the Galaxy Buds 2 does include some changes that make it stand out.
The Galaxy Buds 2 are 15% smaller and 20% lighter than the Galaxy Buds Plus, which Samsung claims are its smallest and lightest earbuds yet, with the company touting it as a pair of earbuds that are built for all-day comfort.
The Galaxy Buds 2 offers three flexible ear tips. In an effort to make sure the earbuds fit, Samsung created an Earbud fit test,” which you can access on the Galaxy Wearable app.
The earbuds also feature dynamic two-way speakers, which the company claims will offer “crisp, clear high notes, and a deeper bass.” Active noise cancellation is also featured in the earbuds, though you can adjust the Ambient Sound Levels if you need to hear background noise.
Four colors are available for the Galaxy Buds 2 — Graphite, White, Olive, and Lavender, and the earbuds retail for $150. Like the other products mentioned above, preordering begins today with an August 27 release date.
Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
The Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G aims to be the every person’s foldable smartphone. It comes at a $999 price and it’s probably a far more understandable concept than its bigger Fold 3 5G brother, as it’s just a regular-shaped phone that can fold in half rather than a thin handset that unfolds into a tablet.
It’s actually startling how normal the Flip 3 5G looks when unfolded. You almost couldn’t tell it wasn’t a regular smartphone unless you spotted the crease or wondered why the back of the phone was bisected in the middle.
The Flip 3 5G offers a big, bright, and colorful 6.7-inch FHD+ display resolving a 2640 x 1080 resolution. That’s a little low by today’s standards on flagship phones, but amazingly this foldable display has an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate. Last year’s foldable displays were limited to just 60Hz, and this new handset just feels so much more smooth while scrolling and playing games.
The biggest improvement to the Flip 3 5G interface is the new Flex Mode Panel, which is essentially the slide-out multi-tasking menu taken from Samsung’s other flagship phones. Previously the Flip’s multi-tasking abilities were limited to fold the display halfway to look or take photos, but now you can split a greater number of apps
Additionally, the cover screen on the front of the phone has been enlarged to 1.9-inches from the original Flip’s 1.1-inch outer display. The new display can show up to four lines of notifications and it makes it just a little easier to check yourself out while shooting selfies or when someone else is taking a photo for you.
Speaking of cameras, the Flip 3 5G has a new 12MP ultrawide camera in addition to its main wide-angle 12MP camera and 10MP selfie camera. This compact folding phone also offers just as much power as its little brother with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor. But it’s limited to just 8GB of RAM and your storage options are 128GB and 256GB.
The most enticing about the Flip 3 5G is its $999 price, which effectively makes it the most affordable foldable phone yet. A grand is still a lot to ask and out of reach for many, but right now this seems like the most accessible device you can buy if you want to give foldable phones a shot.
Foldable phones really feel like they’ve matured at this point with the introduction of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G. Samsung’s latest foldable smartphone builds upon bigger screens the Galaxy Z Fold 2 introduced while adding welcome improvements like 120Hz adaptive displays, an under-display camera, and improved durability. Meanwhile, added S-Pen support also basically makes this phone a replacement for Samsung’s Note series, much to the chagrin of phablet fans.
Year over year, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G looks strikingly similar to last year’s model. In fact, the only thing that’s changed externally with the latest version is a slight camera bump. Opening the phone reveals the new under-display selfie camera that helps cover up the glaring hole punch in the screen from last year. The pixels over the camera aren’t exactly perfect, though, as they’re clearly transparent, and they don’t display the same hue and brightness as the rest of the screen.
Another thing that’s clear about the Galaxy Z Fold 3 is it’s noticeably lighter when you pick it up. I described the Galaxy Z Fold 2 overstuffed ice cream sandwich or candy bar when it weighed 9.95-ounces. The Fold 3 5G is less than half an ounce lighter at 9.56 ounces, but it doesn’t feel nearly as dense or heavy.
You still have the same 6.2-inch and 7.6-inch screens as last year’s model on the outside and inside. Both displays are still at the same resolution of 2268 x 832 for the cover screen and 2208 x 1768 on the inner display. What is different is both displays now offer a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate, making them just as quick as Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S21 Ultra and the latest OnePlus 9 Pro handsets. The Fold 2’s all-screen tablet display seemed amazing except for the fact that it was limited to just 60Hz, and now this upgrade makes scrolling and gaming on the Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G feel that much smoother.
Samsung has also implemented a new Eco display technology that increases brightness by 29% without increasing power consumption. While I didn’t have Samsung’s older foldable with me to compare, the increased screen brightness helped overpower any glare from the sun and studio lights in Samsung’s hands-on space. We’ll have to test Samsung’s power savings claims in our full review and they might ultimately be offset by the Fold 3’s smaller 4,400mAh dual batteries that offer 100mAh less capacity than the Fold 2.
One less visible upgrade on the Fold 3 5G is it’s actually IPX8 waterproof now. That’s a big step up in durability when just a few years ago, Samsung’s first foldable phone was recalled due to dust getting under the screens and peeling screen protectors. Speaking of which, the inner tablet display now features Gorilla Glass Victus, the toughest glass for smartphones yet.
The inner display on Samsung’s previous foldable phones always felt a little plasticky, and sometimes it was even easy to leave marks and indents on the screen protector. But this new screen feels like it’s actually made of hard glass, and it comes at a perfect time as the Fold 3 5G is the first Samsung foldable to support S-Pen.
Typically, Samsung leaves stylus support to its Note series and other flagships but writing on a bigger tablet-shaped display feels even better. There’s just more room to doodle and make bigger notes, and thankfully the Fold 3 5G doesn’t buckle even when I’m drawing a line straight down the crease in the middle of the display.
In terms of specs, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G comes fully loaded with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor, 12GB of RAM, and the option of either 256GB or 512GB of storage. For cameras, you get three 12MP cameras on the back covering the usual ultrawide, wide-angle, and telephoto focal lengths. There are also two selfie cameras with a 10MP sensor on the cover display and a 4MP sensor under the display.
Clearly, there had to be some compromises with the under-display camera, which also led to compromises with the quality of the display over the camera itself. Personally, I can’t see myself doing a video call with the device in tablet mode, so I would have just skipped it altogether and had an uninterrupted inner screen.
Overall, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G seems like a great step forward for Samsung’s foldable flagship. It even comes at a substantially lower $1,799 starting price compared to the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 that started retailing for $1,999 last year. Preorders begin on August 11 and ordering on Samsung’s website includes a $200 Samsung store credit plus a free year of Samsung Care if you agree to a three-year subscription to the service.
