Oscars is upon us once again and it's quite obvious that when you have so many stars all at one place it makes up a Galaxy. And nobody seems to know it better than Samsung which took the opportunity to reveal its new foldable clamshell smartphone, the Galaxy Z flip in an ad during the Oscars on Sunday night.
Galaxy Z Flip commercial during Oscars broadcast
The Korean tech giant was expected to unveil the highly anticipated foldable clamshell smartphone at a special Unpacked 2020 event on February 11, but it seems that the company has jumped the gun by fully revealing the device in the commercial aired during the Oscars broadcast.
The ad dint mention the name of the foldable device, but we know it will be called the Galaxy Z Flip.
Meanwhile, Samsung hasn't upload the as on its website or social media pages yet, however, the commercial was spotted by many people who were watching the Oscars broadcast and among them was The Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel, who managed to get a capture a 28-second long video of the and which he posted on his Twitter account.
From the video, we can see that the Galaxy Z Flip can be propped open at a half-open position or at a 90 degrees angle, allowing users to do such things as make video calls without holding the phone in their hands.
Foldable phone with a purpose
As you can see, the phone is mostly seen in the half open position, sitting flush on a table with the top-half of the screen folded at a 90 degree angle, much like a laptop, suggesting the phone's ability to sit flush on a surface, and be folded at an angle thus allowing users to make hands-free video calls and see themselves using the selfie camera whilst keeping the phone on a table.
The video also confirms the dual camera setup on the rear and the tiny secondary screen on the exterior next to the camera lenses that shows quick bits of information and notifications. The ad also suggest that the user can swipe this exterior screen to answer or reject a phone call.
Earlier reports suggest that the Galaxy Z Flip could be targeted towards a younger female audience owing to its clamshell design which is rumored to be inspired by ladies' make-up powder kits, and the ad seems to suggest just that. The purple colour way that's shown in the ad also backs that up a bit.
Gap in the display
However, it also appears that the new Galaxy Z Flip foldable clamshell has a gap in between the two halves of the display when the phone is in the folded or closed position. The Verge also observed that there is a fine print towards the bottom right of the ad which reads: "You may notice a small crease in the center of the main screen, which is a natural characteristic of the screen."
The same sort of gap was also seen in the Galaxy Fold. However, the Motorola Razr which also has the same clamshell foldable form factor has an almost zero gap between the two halves of the phone when folded. Nevertheless, foldable smartphones are still in their infancy and we should see them become near perfect in the future.
Meanwhile, the 30-second long ad doesn't seem to reveal any pricing and availability information of the Galaxy Z Flip. However, the ad shows that everything will be revealed during Samsung's Unpacked 2020 event in February 11.
