How Flex Mode and the New Taskbar Turn Samsung’s New Foldable Smartphones into Mini Laptops

The new Galaxy Fold 4 has a taskbar that lets you easily access your recent apps and switch between them. Image: June Wan/ZDNET.

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold smartphones are best known for their ability to fold in half like a laptop. The folding capability of the smartphone allows users to have a larger screen while maintaining the size of a normal smartphone when folded. To spice things up, Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Fold 4 comes with two usability enhancements: an improved Flex mode and a new taskbar, both of which turn the portable 2-in-1 into a a miniature laptop computer.

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For starters, the new Flex mode takes advantage of the Z Fold’s sturdy hinge, with one half of the device acting as the main display and the other acting as a trackpad or QWERTY keyboard when laid on a flat surface. So users can park the Z Fold 4 and navigate the software with swipe gestures and taps on the bottom.

The new Flex mode should make multitasking easier and more intuitive. With new swipe gestures, you can convert full-screen apps into pop-up windows or split your screen into two windows at once. While seeing two screens at the same time is usually an activity reserved for your laptop, now you have the option of viewing multiple tabs at once, in the palm of your hand.

The keyboard-trackpad use case isn’t the only similarity between the Z Fold 4 and a traditional laptop

This upgrade builds on the basics of the Z Fold 3’s Flex mode, which allowed apps to automatically adapt to the screen when the phone was bent at any angle. With Flex Mode, users could keep the device upright while watching videos, capturing images, and more.

The Galaxy Fold 4 has a new split-screen feature, allowing you to watch two different screens at the same time. Image: June Wan/ZDNET.

The keyboard-trackpad use case isn’t the only similarity between the Z Fold 4 and a traditional laptop. A new taskbar now sits at the bottom of the UI, offering an apps dock – much like on a PC – allowing users to easily access their favorite and newest apps. The taskbar makes it easier to switch between applications, which saves time and effort in completing tasks.

To improve the productivity of its users, Samsung has partnered with Google and Microsoft to support drag-and-drop functions, which allows users to quickly copy and paste links, photos, and more. from one application to another.

All of the aforementioned new features allow users to take full advantage of the Galaxy Z Fold 4’s large 7.6-inch main screen. The new screen is brighter and has a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and a under the screen (UDC) less visible.

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Source: ZDNet.com