10 things you need to know about Samsung's new products in the second half of 2023

As in the last few years, information about the new Samsung Unpacked did not keep the intrigue to the last and the first information about the new products began to appear several months before the event. It is quite clear that we could expect a new generation of foldable smartphones - Fold and Flip series models, as well as a new Galaxy Watch. In general, Samsung this year managed to overcome the main problem of the smartphone industry, which has been going on for the entire decade of the 20s: explaining how the models differ from the previous ones in a way that is easy to understand. And to create demand for its new products. Surprisingly enough, the main good news for gg 's editorial team was not smartphones, but the new Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra tablet, which can not only boast a 14.6-inch diagonal but literally create a new segment at the intersection of laptops and tablets, where it begins to compete with Windows devices, but will not have the corresponding birth trauma associated with this operating system. The following is a very brief summary of the main things you need to know about the new Galaxy Fold5 and Flip5 smartphones, Galaxy Watch6 and Watch6 Classic watches, and three tablets - Galaxy Tab S9, S9+, and S9 Ultra.

Contents.

1. Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy
2. New Flex Hinge hinge
3. 3.4" external screen in Flip5
4. Improved interface for Galaxy Fold5 tablet mode
5. Good Notes app on Galaxy Fold5
6. Metal body of Galaxy Tab S9 tablets and IP68 protection
7. Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra with 14.6" screen: a laptop replacement
8. Google Wallet support in Galaxy Watch6
9. Blood pressure and ECG measurement in Galaxy Watch6
10. Enhanced sleep features in Galaxy Watch6

1. Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor for Galaxy

The feature that unites the new Galaxy Fold5 and Flip5 is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy processor, which was announced on 1 February at the last Samsung Unpacked and is used in the Galaxy S23 series of smartphones. As with any new Snapdragon, this processor offers enhanced performance for gaming and streaming. And (who would have doubted it) extended battery life. Of course, the processor "delivers cinema-quality graphics, powerful sound, and seamless gameplay," but we hear that about every new processor. What are the real differences from the previous version of the processor? What exactly is behind the words about increased performance?

• 25% higher performance of Kryo cores and 40% higher energy efficiency (that is, the battery is also true) and the processor frequency has been increased to 3.36 GHz
• 4.35 times faster work with neural networks (and artificial intelligence is now in any software, for example, a camera)
• For the first time, micro tiles architecture is used to run complex neural networks
  
  • semantic segmentation in real-time for taking photos and videos (recognises and optimises every aspect of the frame)
  • Always-Sensing camera with artificial intelligence for fast and easy face recognition and increased privacy
  • Bokeh Engine 2, which delivers professional-grade sharpness, colour and depth
  • Pro Sight Video Capture, which provides 5 times the video file size for better video quality and professional editing capabilities
• Up to 25% faster rendering speed(although Samsung says 32%, which may be due to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 optimisation for Galaxy) and 40% more energy efficient Adreno GPU, including hardware-accelerated ray tracing, which should satisfy gamers
• This is the first Snapdragon mobile platform to feature
  • Game Post Processing Accelerator, which adds effects such as blur, depth of field, motion blur, and more - with up to 75% performance improvement
  • support for the Vulkan 1.3 API to improve Vulkan performance by up to 30%
  • support for the Unreal Engine 5 MetaHumans framework for realistic human characters
• FastConnect 7800 mobile connectivity system, which is the first to boast support for Wi-Fi 7, more than doubling the speed of Wi-Fi 6 from 3.6 to 5.8 Gbps. (In general, Galaxy Fold5 and Flip5 support Wi-Fi 6E, but there is a good chance that Wi-Fi 7 will eventually appear after a firmware update).
• Improved Face Unlock security system that can detect a static or live face

And all this is further optimised for use in Samsung Galaxy smartphones.

2. New Flex Hinge

This step has been long-awaited since the first Samsung smartphone with a foldable display. Finally, the company's engineers were able to offer a solution that avoids the trapezoidal folding of Galaxy Fold5 and Flip5 smartphones. The new Flex Hinge has become a real joy for aesthetes and perfectionists. Now the flexible screen has a teardrop-shaped fold, which reduces the display's "hollowing out" and allows you to finally make both parts of the smartphone look parallel to each other when closed.

In the photo (from top to bottom), Flip3, Flip4 and Flip5 smartphones:

3. External screen of 3.4" in Flip5

Predictably, the size of the external screen of Flip5 has been increased. This time, it's to the maximum - the screen occupies the entire panel, leaving only a couple of holes for the dual camera lenses. Of course, this opens up more opportunities for using the smartphone when it is closed. Now it has larger widgets (for example, there are 6 icons from the address book instead of 3). The main advantage is the ability to use a full QWERTY keyboard. And even if the owner of the smartphone does not use the software on the external screen, this is a noticeable advantage for taking pictures with the camera, because the screen area has become larger. Therefore, either the photographer taking a selfie or the people he or she is taking pictures of will see more of the image (of course, for this to happen, the external screen must be additionally enabled in the camera interface, as in previous versions of the smartphone). That is, enlarging the external screen automatically turns Galaxy Flip5 into the best smartphone for selfies. Especially if you add to it the convenient Flex mode, which allows you to bend the smartphone and use the bottom part instead of the tripod as a stand. And the ability to activate the camera by double-clicking the power button without opening the smartphone.

4. Improved interface for Galaxy Fold tablet mode5

The Galaxy Fold series models are deservedly considered the best smartphones for geeks thanks to the ability to turn into small tablets. That's why their owners, in addition to the flagship smartphone, also get a small tablet that can fit in their pockets. Every year, Samsung announces improvements to the interface and new features for the tablet mode. It's hardly a secret that these smartphones were the catalyst for the emergence of a special version of Android 12L, adapted specifically for smartphones with a fold-out display. This year, the interface has been improved in the direction of the taskbar, which, by the way, brings Android devices closer to Windows laptops in terms of usability. Not to mention the much better energy efficiency of mobile ARM processors, which seem to have reached the power of x64 processors. Now Galaxy Fold5 owners will find it easier to switch between applications thanks to the fact that the taskbar will show icons of those applications that are used more often.

5. Good Notes application on Galaxy Fold5

Everyone remembers the revolution in the perception of smartphones and their capabilities created by the Galaxy Notes series of devices thanks to the use of the S-Pen. Now Galaxy Fold5 can also use the S-Pen, which is much more interesting and useful thanks to the enlarged screen when it is unfolded. Over the years, Samsung has created separate software to unlock the pen's potential. However, the smart startup Good Notes has gone even further and created a tablet app that allows you to use more than 50 templates for all occasions and create images, sketches, notes, and more. Samsung tablets and the Galaxy Fold5 smartphone are the first Android devices to be supported by Good Notes. And this is another advantage for Galaxy Fold5 that will appeal to anyone who knows how to draw or regularly takes notes with a pen. Now they have the opportunity to bring their skills to the digital age. And improve them significantly.

6. Metal body of Galaxy Tab S9 and IP68 protection

We're all used to the fact that not much is happening on the tablet market. It has already stopped growing, and its volumes have been somewhere in the range of 170-180 million units per year in recent years. The reasons are simple: firstly, humanity does not need tablets as much as smartphones. Secondly, the lifespan of a tablet is much longer than that of a smartphone. But it cannot be said that the tablet market is shrinking - tablets are bought both as a new device and as a replacement for the previous one (they are lost or damaged and become obsolete). And if you look at the top Android tablets with the highest specs, you will see that there is no alternative to the Galaxy Tab. Samsung is currently the world's largest manufacturer of Android tablets, and each new generation of Galaxy Tab confirms the company's leadership in this segment. The new Galaxy Tab S9 tablets not only feature the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processors for Galaxy and 8 to 16 gigabytes of storage. But they also have a metal body and IP68 protection, which allows them to withstand immersion in fresh water for up to 30 minutes at a depth of 1.5 metres. And this is the main thing you need to know about these tablets.

7. Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra with 14.6" screen: a laptop replacement

The most interesting of the three new Galaxy Tab S9 tablets is the S9 Ultra, which for the first time has a 14.6-inch display. Together with the optional keyboard (which, by the way, will be available for free to the first buyers in Ukraine by exchanging it for a certificate), this makes it an interesting laptop replacement for certain use cases. If a consumer uses a laptop most of the time to view documents, spreadsheets, news, and watch videos. And they do little writing, this can be a very convenient alternative to a business-class laptop. Where else can you find a similar laptop with an ultra-thin metal body, up to a terabyte of internal storage, a 5G modem, IP68 protection and an ARM processor that outperforms similarly performing modern mobile processors with x64 architecture? Most of us (if we don't take into account any special software) have long been using cloud services and cross-platform applications available on Android in our daily work. The gg editorial team has an intuitive feeling that the user experience of the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra with its large 14.6-inch screen and S-Pen will be better than the vast majority of modern laptops in 2023. At least because most of the time, such a tablet will be used without a keyboard. And it's easy to connect it when needed (to write an email longer than an "okay" response or to create a document). In addition, the S-Pen also does not require a keyboard, which provides additional features.

8. Google Wallet support in Galaxy Watch6

Although technically the new Galaxy Watch6 is not much different from the previous generation Galaxy Watch6, there are differences. This is an updated hardware platform Exynos W930 instead of Exynos W920. And the return of the Galaxy Watch6 Classic model's bezel. Galaxy Watch6 has an aluminium case with a diameter of 40 and 44 mm. And Galaxy Watch6 Classic has a steel case with a diameter of 43 and 47 mm. The user experience of the new products has the same advantages as the previous generation. And the most technological feature is Google Wallet support, which allows for contactless payments. That is, if at first we refused to use bank cards and used our smartphones for payment. Now, we can take our smartphones out of our pockets or bags and simply bring our watches to the cash register terminal.

9. Blood pressure and ECG measurement in Galaxy Watch6

If in the previous generation, measuring body temperature, electrocardiogram and blood pressure was a new feature that required some certification and did not work immediately, then all this will work out of the box in Galaxy Watch6. It is worth noting that smartwatches are most often used around the world for healthcare and exercise. And for the elderly, who, according to statistics, are more prone to health problems and constantly face the need for regular measurements of their condition (for example, blood pressure), such a device is generally very convenient and necessary. And all this is an advantage that cheap smartwatches from other manufacturers cannot provide.

10. Enhanced sleep features in Galaxy Watch6

Sleep and relaxation are part of our health. That's why we can only welcome the additional sleep monitoring features that come with the Galaxy Watch6 series. The proprietary app will help you better track all phases of sleep and conveniently visualise information and compare sleep performance over time. It will also provide useful and individualised advice on how to improve the quality of sleep for the user. Which has a positive effect on overall health.

Go Deeper:

• Samsung Galaxy Fold5, Flip5 foldable smartphones, Galaxy Watch6 smartwatches and Galaxy Tab S9 tablets in person
• Samsung Galaxy Flip4 review: flagship Android smartphone clamshell
• Samsung Galaxy Fold4 review: the best smartphone for geeks
• Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review: reaching for the stars
• The Eternal Revolutionary: Samsung Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+ R eview