At its new products event, Galaxy Unpacked, Samsung announced a new fleet of gadgets including its latest foldable phones. Mark Spoonauer, the global editor-in-chief at Tom's Guide, joined Cheddar News to talk about its new device line. "It's about making or trying to make foldable phones mainstream, which has been difficult to do up until this point, and it's hard to believe that we're already on generation four of foldables," he said.

Closing Bell

 Samsung Announces 4th Generation of Foldable Phones

Samsung unveiling a new line of products today, including a pair of foldable phones, new smartwatches and new wireless earbuds, the electronics company introducing the new devices this morning at its annual summer product launch event, Galaxy unpacked the products will all be at all be available to purchase later this month. But as inflate mission and recession fears continue, will the new gadgets from Samsung offer enough new updates and features to lure shoppers joining us now to discuss just that Mark spoon, our global editor of tom's guide, welcome Mark, which is a platform for tech product reviews of course. What do you think was the biggest takeaway from today Samsung event? I would say it's about making or trying to make foldable phones mainstream, which has been difficult to do up until this point and it's hard to believe that we're already on generation four of foldables and today I actually got my hands on the Galaxy Z fold four and we're also going to be reviewing the flip four as well. So there's lots to talk about and lots of new features but people are talking about the prices as you were talking about inflation. Samsung's Galaxy Z fold four offers an upgrade to the company's part tablet, part smartphone fold lineup but will it come with a hefty price tag that's always what I'm looking at it, starting at $1800. What are your thoughts on what this new device will offer because that's that's a lot of money That that is a lot of money and and to be fair, I mean a lot of companies and other industries including electronics have been raising their prices because what's been going on with component costs so to stay at the same price while offering better features was feed in of itself, but it's hard to argue that $1800 is still not a lot of matter, is still a lot of money for a phone. So the question is, what are you getting for your money in this case? You're getting a tablet and a phone and one device. So you are getting a two on one. It is a big screen on the inside at 7.6 inches. The outside is definitely more comfortable than in the past where you can actually use it with one hand, which is nice. The cameras are better. So galaxy has 22 quality cameras have actually been taking it out today uh and it actually stacks up pretty well against the iphone 13 Pro Macs, but ultimately it is about having that two on one functionality and that huge display on the inside and the way that I used it already is just dragging and dropping and having two windows open side by side and being able to drag and drop stuff over like I do into google drive and the multitasking is better because there's a task bar at the bottom of the screen, it's very similar to Windows PC. So it's kind of like a pc in your pocket but it's definitely for power users and people who are willing to pay a premium mark. Can you hold it up again? You have it? Right, Sure. Okay. Yeah, so this is the large screen. Okay, right here. So you can see along the bottom of the display where it has. Yeah, so it has, this is the 7.6 inch display along the bottom, you can see the task bar right here. You can run two apps side by side. The durability is better than before, it's still on the, on the chunky side so you can see how thick it is right here. But overall the cameras are good and the overall quality seems pretty solid. So I think it just depends on do you want something that can double as a phone and a tablet in one device? That's interesting. Kristen shoulder and I were actually wondering about the camera so that's great insight and context. Thank you. The Galaxy Z flip four is an upgrade to the company's most popular foldable phone. The device also cheaper than the Galaxy Z fold for. So how is it different And what new features can we, the customer expect. So the flip floor is really about style and reaching the Gen Z audience and I think Samsung has done a good job with multiple color options. You can actually, I think there's like 70 different color combinations but they've also addressed one of our criticisms, which is the battery life. So they've gone to the point where it's a bigger battery, they're promising three hours more of endurance, which is great. And they're also letting you do more on what's called flex mode. So you can put the device down on the table and you can take pictures without, you know, hands free, which is really great. If you want to take selfie or a group photo without having to even touch the device, you can just like sort of wave your hand and it will take things from there. And then the apps that the app ecosystem is getting better too. They had meta on stage today talking about instagram Tik is optimized for the device. So they definitely know their target audience with this. And at 9 99 it's relatively affordable and it's the same price as the iphone 13 Pro. So along with the new phone Samsung also offering a first look at the newest version of its flagship, the wearable device I'm always interested in that can't live without my Apple watch, but what should customers expect from the Galaxy Watch five and of course the Galaxy Watch five Pro. Yeah, I think the bigger news was that there was a Pro at all. Right. So they're going after garment in a way with that device with a much sturdier design. It's meant for the outdoors and has built in Gps and turn by turn directions. Uh, and I think probably an impressive stat or spec is battery life. So one of the complaints that people have about the Apple Watch is that it lasts for about 18 hours. In the case of the Galaxy Watch five, we're talking about 50 hours and up to 80 hours for the Galaxy Watch five Pro. So I think endurance is definitely a big story here. We'll have to see how well it does with GPS turned on, but that's definitely nice to have. And one thing that's also new is that there is a temperature sensor built in for the first time, so it measures your skin temperature, which can be used for sleep tracking. So we'll be testing that out as well. Actually love the look of it. It's it's very sleek. Might convert after talking to you, Mark, we'll see Mark spoon, our global editor in chief of Tom's Guide. Always appreciate your time. Thank you.