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Companies like Samsung are pushing foldable phones as the next big thing, and one of the main marketing points for something like the Galaxy Z Fold3 is productivity. But just because the marketing says something will make you more productive doesn’t mean it will, so I decided to put the Fold3 to the test.
I’ve already written about using the Fold3 in less common circumstances, but today we’ll be keeping things grounded. Most of the use cases I look at today work on most Android phones and almost all Samsung devices. Multi-window, for example, has been around for years now. But just because a feature is old doesn’t mean it won’t work better on this unique form factor.
1. Booking appointments
Multi-window is going to feature prominently in this article, but for good reason. In addition to having three apps open in split-screen at once, you can have an additional five apps open in pop-up view as well. That’s a maximum of seven apps on the screen at once, and while I can’t say I’ve ever needed that many, it does mean there’s plenty of flexibility.
Since getting the Fold3, I’ve had to book several appointments to have some furniture repaired. Having the phone, calendar, and Gmail open at once made this task easier than using a conventional phone. I could easily navigate hold menus, check my policy number, and look for a date and time that fit my schedule. My iPad Pro can’t keep up with the Fold3, which has a much larger display.
I like to keep YouTube open in the background when I’m working doing things in my free time, and the Fold excels at that too. Picture-in-picture is great, especially now that we can resize them in Android 12, but having the YouTube app open beside whatever else I’m doing is better. Whether you’re taking notes while watching an event like Google I/O or writing an email while watching a toy review, the Fold3 makes doing two things at once dead easy.
3. Dragging and dropping text
Dragging and dropping text was added to Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but it’s always been finicky to use on anything other than a tablet. The large screen on the Fold3 rectifies this, and I find myself using it all the time.
I’ve always loved going to the cinema, and now that my car insurance policy lets me buy the tickets for 45% off, I find myself going to the movies more than ever before. I have to copy and paste a voucher code from my email to the cinema’s website to use my discount. All I have to do is open both apps, highlight the code, and drag it over. This task is made even easier with the S Pen. It’ll start highlighting if you hold the button on the pen down while dragging the pen over text.
4. Using the S Pen
The S Pen has been a staple of the Samsung experience since it debuted with the original Galaxy Note, and it’s just as good as you’d expect here. I’ve been using one with my S21 Ultra since January, and — you’ll notice a running theme here — the larger display of the Fold3 makes it even better.
On the productivity side, you can annotate whatever is on your screen. All you have to do is summon Air Command with the button on the S Pen and choose screen write. The phone will then take a screenshot for you to write on and quickly share. In this example, I’m trying to organize a week away with my wife, and I used screen write to circle the weekend I had in mind.
If you use Samsung Calendar, you can use the S Pen to write (and doodle) on it like you would with a physical calendar on your fridge. I always use this to ensure important dates are unmissable, even if I have plenty of events scheduled.
I also use the S Pen and my Fold3 to censor images before putting them in articles like this to ensure no personal data is visible. That might be a niche use case, but it works just as well for signing documents and editing PDFs.
I know drawing isn’t exactly productive, but the S Pen and Fold3 are so good for this task that I felt the need to mention it. I’m not the best at drawing, but I do it enough to recognize how well this device handles the task. In my opinion, the S Pen Pro is just as easy to use as the 2nd generation Apple Pencil, and I prefer the extra resistance the S Pen’s tip provides.
Buy S Pen Pro
5. Flex mode
Flex mode is a unique feature found on foldables, and it’s something I’ve come to use daily since I got my Fold3, especially in media apps. With the hinge opened halfway, some apps will automatically adjust to work with this form factor. YouTube, for example, will fit the video into the top half of the screen and leave the rest of the UI in the bottom half.
You can even make it work with apps that don’t natively support it, like Amazon Prime Video. All you have to do is navigate to the Labs menu under Advanced options, select Flex mode panel, and enable it for the desired apps. With that done, the phone will put the video in the top half of the screen as it does with supported apps and add a small control panel on the bottom with options for brightness, volume, play/pause, and skipping forward and back.
As I said earlier, I like to keep something playing as background noise while I work, and I’ve taken to using Flex mode to watch Mythbusters while I write on my laptop. If I used my iPad or S21 Ultra for this, I’d need a cumbersome stand, but with the Fold3, I can just partially unfold it and put it on my desk.
So, do foldable phones make you more productive? Depending on what you do, I’d say the answer is a resounding yes. I’ve never used a mobile device that can multitask like this one, with the phone constantly challenging you to find new ways to push it to its limits.
Buy Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3
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