My colleague Eric Zeman finished his review of the Samsung Galaxy Flip 3, another 4,000+ word breakdown aiming to understand the question: It’s Samsung’s first foldable that’s priced in line with competing flagships, but is it worth your money?

• Almost, is the short answer.

Eric writes breaks it down further:

• The Flip 3 may not be entirely on the level with other competing $1,000 flagships when it comes to performance, but it ticks a lot of boxes.
• It’s a more robust smartphone thanks to the new glass, aluminum, display cover, and IPX8 rating, while the processor is speedy, 5G connectivity helps if you can get it, and you can do a lot more with the cover screen on the outside.
• The internal display means you can use the phone outdoors properly, for the first time for the Flip series.
• On the downside is battery life, though it’ll last much longer if you defer to checking notifications or the time or whatever without flipping open the main display on the device.
• The camera does a good enough job — focus, white balance, and exposure are on point — but it can be a little noisy, while dark or near dark snaps were mixed in quality, and there’s no real zoom to speak of.
• But: the folding form factor makes up the difference thanks to its still-novel experience.

Here’s Eric’s final word:

• “There’s no question the Z Flip 3 is an enjoyable smartphone to use. It’s novel compared to the boring slabs of today’s market — and novel sometimes goes a long way. If you’re looking to change up the daily experience of how you use your phone, you can do a lot worse than the Z Flip 3. It’s not a perfect phone and certainly has its share of faults, but some things are worth taking a chance on — and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 3 is one of them.”
• Which is somewhat echoed by demand. 
• Samsung has been notifying buyers that their new foldables and watches will be very late: The explainer email from Samsung cites higher-than-expected demand.
• Or, it’s the chip shortage, which Samsung can spin as demand exceeding constrained supply?

👍 WhatsApp could soon let you ‘react’ to messages with emojis (Android Authority).

🚪 Google Nest Doorbell review: Catching up to the competition, but shame about the low-ish res camera, while the price is a little steep (Android Authority).

📈 Lenovo exec says Snapdragon 898 GPU will be greatly upgraded (Android Authority).

🆚 The SpeedTest G result from a Google Pixel 5a vs Pixel 5 vs Pixel 4a 5G is a little bit unexpected (Android Authority).

🎮 Xbox consoles are getting xCloud this holiday, expanding from PCs to Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox One consoles so you can stream before you download (The Verge).

🎮 Also, Halo Infinite to skip co-op at launch: “We needed to pick a moment” (Ars Technica).

🥽 You can now buy the $299 Oculus Quest 2 with 128GB of storage, up from 64GB (Engadget).

💳 OnlyFans founder says porn ban was caused by a crackdown from banks, like Bank of New York Mellon, JPMorgan Chase, and Metro Bank (Input).

🔫 The Matrix 4 title, and a trailer (not yet officially shared online) was unveiled during Warner Bros’ CinemaCon and it’s called The Matrix: Resurrections. Hype! (Deadline).

💵 TikTok is working with Shopify to pilot TikTok Shopping in US, UK, and Canada (TechCrunch).

🛬 Alaska Airlines evacuated a plane after a phone burst into flame (The Verge).

🌉 Waymo’s now self-driving (ish) the streets of San Francisco, with a meat-based non-robot in the driver’s seat for when it gets stuck, though (Waymo). 

🔋 “One year of leaving a MacBook Pro connected to power” — loads of good discussion here (r/apple)

🐛 “Do caterpillars have stomachs?” (No. But the why and what it all means are the interesting parts!) (r/askscience).

Remember about 17 Wednesdays ago, and the Colgate toothpaste tube that didn’t stick?

Well, I can report that LiquiGlide, who make that very cool, slightly weird non-stick superhydrophobic coating that’s recyclable, is getting into other bathroom stuff: creams, lotions, gels, and conditioners — anything that sticks more to the packaging than it should.

Look, a fresh gif showing how it doesn’t even stick to the nozzle part:

• LiquiGlide, a humble request: I’d also like this for frypans, oven trays, sunscreen bottles, er, anywhere my dog throws up in the house, my entire body when it rains hard….
• Obviously, smartphone internals as well for that good waterproofing.

Bonus: A weird new YouTube hobby is building miniature hydroelectric dams.

Cheers,

Tristan Rayner, Senior Editor