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Throughout its first three generations, Samsung’s flagship foldable phone has made massive leaps and improvements. Simply putting together the original Fold with its flexible OLED screen was a triumph of engineering, even though it had some obvious flaws. Then on the Z Fold 2, Samsung got rid of the selfie notch, increased the size of the Cover Screen and redesigned the hinge to better withstand everyday wear and tear. And with the Z Fold 3, we got native stylus support and water resistance on a foldable for the first time.

But with the Galaxy Z Fold 4, it feels like Samsung has slowed down to polish the blueprint it's been revising over the years. We’re talking sharper cameras with a longer zoom, better battery life, a renewed focus on multitasking and more. So while it might not look all that different, the Z Fold 4 feels like it’s five to 10 percent improved across practically every metric. Yeah, it’s still kind of bulky, and with a starting price of $1,800, it's way more expensive than a typical glass brick. But that’s the tax you pay for a cutting-edge device that’s actually ready for the mainstream.

Design and durability

Weighing 263 grams or 9.28 American yeehaw units and measuring 15.8mm at its hinge when closed, the Z Fold 4 is less than 10 grams lighter and 1mm thinner than the previous model. That’s a difference that’s almost impossible to discern – even when holding both phones at the same time. But that doesn’t mean everything is the same.

The bezels and frame around the 6.2-inch Cover Screen have been trimmed down, allowing for a display that’s about 3mm wider than before. That might not sound like much, but it makes a big impact. Typing quick replies or searches on my Z Fold 3 often felt cramped, resulting in regular typos. But even without really increasing the Fold’s physical dimensions Samsung has improved the typing experience and cut back on mishits.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

On top of that, the hinge is a bit flatter and thinner and the whole phone has slightly sharper edges, almost as if Samsung honed its design with a whetstone. And it’s a similar story on the inside, where the plastic bezels surrounding the 7.6-inch flexible OLED display have been trimmed down too. The effect is subtle, but everything is a bit sleeker and toned up, even though the phone is actually a touch wider than before. You still get a side-mounted fingerprint reader, which is fast and responsive and the best choice for this device until someone figures out how to make an under-screen sensor for flexible displays.

The Z Fold 4 sports Gorilla Glass Victus+ in front and back, along with the company’s signature Armor Aluminum alloy holding everything together. Samsung also says it has changed the construction of its flexible display to be 45 percent more durable than before, while the addition of new metal plates and sponges behind the display help prevent it from becoming mushy over time – not that it was really an issue on previous devices.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Of course, the one exception to the surprisingly rugged build on recent Folds’ is Samsung’s built-in screen protector, which once again comes with a warning on first boot that it should not be removed by anyone besides a certified technician. Now, I’ve been very open about the bubbling issues I’ve experienced on both my Z Fold 2 and Z Fold 3, and this remains one of my biggest concerns. This year, Samsung says it switched to a stickier adhesive and a new factory application process intended to prevent the screen protector from peeling away or bubbling prematurely. Naturally, I haven’t had time to see how this change will hold up over time, but you better believe I’m going to revisit this down the line.

Display

Next, let’s talk about the star of the show: the Z Fold 4’s display, or in this case displays. Both the 6.2-inch Cover Screen and the 7.6-inch main screen support a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate and excellent brightness. Using a light meter, I measured the Cover Screen hitting just shy of 700 nits on an all-white screen, while the interior display did even better at around 750 nits. And with Samsung claiming a peak brightness of over 1,000 nits, everything from games to movies just look better.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Honestly, this flexible main display is still the thing I like most about the Fold. You get a small vibrant screen on the outside that’s easy to use one-handed, so you can quickly look up directions or text a friend while walking around. Then when you have a chance to sit down, you can open up the phone to reveal a big and even more colorful display for all your productivity or entertainment needs. And all this comes on a device that easily fits in your pocket.

Yeah, there’s still a crease, and it’d be nice if it wasn’t there. But after using a Fold for even a short time, you stop caring about it and you start enjoying the screen for all of its strengths. When you want to bury yourself in a book, setting something like the Kindle app to display white text on a pure black background transforms the Fold 4's OLED screen into the best e-reader around. Comics arguably look even better thanks to rich, punchy colors. And because there’s so much screen space to utilize, you get room for immersive viewing in tight quarters like on the subway, or potent productivity if that’s what you need.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Before I forget, while it’s still easy to see when you’re looking for it, the new subpixel matrix on top of the Fold 4’s under-display-camera does an even better job of camouflaging its 4MP sensor. Just don’t expect a big upgrade in image quality, because this thing isn’t good for much more than showing your face during video calls.

Performance and software

When it comes to performance, there isn’t really anything that can bog the Z Fold down. Recent games like Diablo: Immortal and Warhammer 40,000: Lost Crusade run super smooth. Same goes for when you have three different apps on screen at the same time. It packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip, up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage (or 1TB if your order direct from Samsung). And in tests, the Z Fold 4 even flexes on its little brother, with multicore scores in Geekbench 5 of 4,036 versus 3,441 for the S22 Ultra.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

But more importantly, Samsung and its partners (like Google and Microsoft) continue to enhance the phone’s multitasking software thanks to expanded support for Flex mode and a platform based on Android 12L. Now if you’re scrolling through a news site like say Engadget, it's even easier to open a link in a new window without losing your place. And when the phone is half closed, apps like YouTube and Netflix automatically adjust their UI to better suit your orientation.

That said, my favorite improvement is the Fold 4’s redesigned taskbar, which now lives at the bottom of the screen and serves as a powerful extension of the traditional Android Home row. When you launch an app, the bottom row of icons cleverly shrinks and expands, giving you access to your Home Row, along with recently opened apps and any app pairs you may have created – all without taking up too much space.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

And while they’re kind of hidden, if you dive into Samsung’s Labs in the Advanced setting menu, you can activate a number of even more helpful multitasking features and gestures. Take for example the two-finger swipe up from the bottom or sides of the screen that lets you instantly launch into split screen mode, which makes multitasking a cinch. Alternatively, if you want a more desktop-like approach, you can toggle on the multi-window menu option, which adds a little tab at the top of apps that holds another set of spilt screen options.

However, I must admit I’m not really a fan of Samsung’s new Flex Mode Panel, which presents a little laptop-like touchpad and some quick settings on the bottom of an app when the phone is half-open. It’s kind of clunky, and because some media apps like YouTube already have their own customized Flex Mode layouts, I’ve yet to encounter a situation where having a little mouse cursor is actually all that useful.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

But that’s just one small swing and a miss, and for Samsung which is kind of plowing through uncharted territory with its attempts to add powerful multitasking features to a foldable phablet, one whiff among a bunch of handy hits is hardly something to get upset about.

Cameras

While the Z Fold 4 still can’t really hang with phones like the S22 Ultra or the Pixel 6 Pro, that gap isn’t nearly as big as it used to be. Not only do you get a new 10MP telephoto cam with a 3x optical zoom – up from 2x on the Z Fold 3 – there’s also a new 50MP main cam that catches 23 percent more light than before. That has a noticeable impact on low-light pics. And before I forget, there’s still a solid 12MP ultra-wide camera for capturing all your group shots and expansive landscapes.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

At night details are crisper, with the Z Fold capturing a shot of the NYC skyline featuring soft, blurry lights on the buildings in the distance compared to a similar pic from the Pixel 6 Pro. And in another shot of some mangos at a fruit stand, the Fold 4 arguably captured better textures, though Samsung’s photo processing strumbled by picking a white balance that’s a bit too warm.

But if image quality is super important to you, phones like the Pixel 6 Pro still have an obvious advantage. Even in daylight where most every high-end phone can shoot a great photo nowadays, the Pixel 6 Pro captured sharper focus and richer detail than anything the Z Fold 4 could manage.

Battery Life

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Remember when I said the Z Fold 4’s faster performance is hard to fully appreciate? Well, that may be true when it comes to processing power, but when it comes to energy efficiency, the improvement you get from the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip is plain to see. On our local video rundown test, the Z Fold 4 posted a time of 17 hours and 13 minutes for its main screen, compared to 14:03 for last year’s Z Fold 3. 

That’s more than solid for any smartphone, let alone a foldable with a huge main display. Alternatively, if for some reason you’re in a situation where you’re only using the Cover Screen all day, it did even better with a mark of 20:45. And when you need to refill, the Fold 4 still has 25-watt fast charging (which sadly is isn’t quite as speedy as the 45-watt charging you get on the S22 Ultra), 15-watt wireless charging and wireless power sharing for topping off other gadgets in need.

Wrap-up

When it comes to how you feel about the Z Fold 4, I think a lot of that depends on your opinion about foldables in general. There’s no denying that Samsung’s latest and greatest is still way bulkier than a standard smartphone, and at $1,800 it’s a lot more expensive too. And when you consider that its design is essentially the same as before, I doubt the upgrades included in this generation are really going to sway the naysayers. For current Z Fold 3 owners, it’s also kind of the same. The improvements are nice, but not really worth shelling out a bunch of money to upgrade after only a year.

But for people who have been tempted by a foldable that’s arguably the most powerful pocket-size multitasker you can buy right now, now there are even more reasons to consider diving in. The Z Fold 4’s cameras are better, its performance is faster and its battery life is even longer without Samsung actually increasing the size of the power cell inside. Also, thanks to new software, it feels like the Z Fold 4 is really starting to unlock the true potential for productivity on a handheld device. And we haven’t even talked about stylus support, which is just as handy as ever, and is only brought down by the lack of built-in storage for stashing an S Pen.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Do I wish Samsung had cribbed some of the fancy features seen on other high-end foldables from Vivo, Xiaomi and others? Yes, absolutely, and I won’t be surprised if we get some major design changes on next year’s offering. But as a total package, Samsung has tweaked and refined the Z Fold 4’s kit with just enough for it to retain its title as the flagship foldable phone to beat.

The gaming audio market has focused on headphones for years, leaving you to rely on familiar brands like Logitech and Klipsch if you prefer speakers. SteelSeries thinks it can shake things up, though. It's introducing its first desktop speaker line, Arena, and promising a few standout features aimed at gamers. The flagship Arena 9 (pictured at middle) is billed as the first gaming speaker setup to deliver 5.1-channel surround sound through USB. There's still a 3.5mm jack if you like, but you won't need a nest of wires to immerse yourself in games on a PC, Mac or PlayStation. You can expect synced RGB lighting, too.

All models also tout the first "pro-grade" parametric EQ aimed at gamers through the Sonar Audio Software Suite, SteelSeries claims. While we'd remain cautious about the company's boasts, this might prove useful if you're more interested in accurate-sounding explosions than nuanced music.

The other two Arena models aren't quite as elaborate, but could make more sense if price or desk space are concerns. The entry Arena 3 (shown at right) is a simple two-speaker offering with four-inch fiber cone drivers and Bluetooth audio support. Buy the 2.1-channel Arena 7 (left) and you'll get a subwoofer, optional USB audio and RGB lighting.

SteelSeries' speakers are available now with prices of $150 for the Arena 3, $330 for the Arena 7 and $600 for the Arena 9. You can also buy a $100 Arena Wireless Mic with a cardioid, noise-cancelling microphone to provide voice chat without donning a headset. None of these prices are trivial, but SteelSeries is clearly betting that you'll pay extra for speakers built more for Call of Duty than Claude Debussy.

Peiter "Mudge" Zatko, Twitter's former head of security, says the company has misled regulators about its security measures in his whistleblower complaint that was obtained by The Washington Post. In his complaint filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, he accuses the company of violating the terms it had agreed to when it settled a privacy dispute with the FTC back in 2011. Twitter, he says, has "extreme, egregious deficiencies" when it comes to defending the website against attackers.

As part of that FTC settlement, Twitter had agreed to implement and monitor security safeguards to protect its users. However, Zatko says half of Twitter's servers are running out-of-date and vulnerable software and that thousands of employees still have wide-ranging internal access to core company software, which had previously led to huge breaches. If you'll recall, bad actors were able to commandeer the accounts of some of the most high-profile users on the website in 2020, including Barack Obama's and Elon Musk's, by targeting employees for their internal systems and tools using a social engineering attack. 

It was after that incident that the company hired Zatko, who used to lead a program on detecting cyber espionage for DARPA, as head of security. He argues that security should be a bigger concern for the company, seeing as it has access to the email addresses and phone numbers of numerous public figures, including dissidents and activists whose lives may be in danger if they are doxxed.

The former security head wrote:

"Twitter is grossly negligent in several areas of information security. If these problems are not corrected, regulators, media and users of the platform will be shocked when they inevitably learn about Twitter’s severe lack of security basics.

In addition, Zatko has accused Twitter of prioritizing user growth over reducing spam by distributing bonuses tied to increasing the number of daily users. The company isn't giving out any bonuses directly tied to reducing spam on the website, the complaint said. Zatko also claims that he could not get a direct answer from Twitter regarding the true number of bots on the platform. Twitter has only been counting the bots that can view and click on ads since 2019, and in its SEC reports since then, its bot estimates has always been less than 5 percent. 

Zatko wanted to know the actual number of bots across the platform, not just the monetizable ones. He cites a source who allegedly said that Twitter was wary of determining the real number of bots on the website, because it "would harm the image and valuation of the company." Indeed his revelation could factor into Twitter's legal battle against Elon Musk after the executive started taking steps to back out of his $44 billion takeover. Musk accused Twitter of fraud for hiding the real number of fake accounts on the website and revealed that his analysts found a much higher bot count than Twitter claimed. As The Post notes, though, Zatko provided limited hard documentary evidence regarding spam and bots, so it remains unclear if it would help Musk's case.

When asked why he filed a whistleblower complaint — he's being represented by the nonprofit law firm Whistleblower Aid — Zatko replied that he "felt ethically bound" to do so as someone who works in cybersecurity. Twitter spokesperson Rebecca Hahn, however, denied that the company doesn't make security a priority. "Security and privacy have long been top companywide priorities at Twitter," she said, adding that Zatko's allegations are "riddled with inaccuracies." She also said that Twitter fired Zatko after 15 months "for poor performance and leadership" and that he now "appears to be opportunistically seeking to inflict harm on Twitter, its customers, and its shareholders."

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So HBO’s The Last of Us is almost here, but Sony forges forward with even more shows and/or movies based on PlayStation game franchises. With mixed levels of anticipation, I’d say.

Sony is reportedly working on a Gravity Rush movie with Ridley Scott's production team. The movie will be based on the original 2012 PlayStation Vita game, featuring Kat, an amnesiac who can manipulate gravity to traverse an open world in a novel way. Emily Jerome, the writer of upcoming thriller Panopticon, is working on the script. Anna Mastro, who helmed Disney+ film Secret Society of Second Born Royals, has been tapped to direct.

On top of that, Days Gone’s post-apocalyptic tale is going to be a film, with Outlander actor Sam Heughan reportedly to star in a script penned by Up in the Air and X-Men: First Class writer Sheldon Turner. It may seem like an odd choice: The game has sold nine million copies to date, making it one of the company’s least well-received first-party titles. But Days Gone has picked up a new audience since its release on Steam — a movie could repeat that magic.

— Mat Smith

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James Webb telescope captures Jupiter's auroras in gorgeous detail

The ethereal images are composites.

NASA

The JWT has snapped a pair of near-infrared photos showing Jupiter's polar auroras. You can also see, above, the planet's extremely faint rings and two of its smaller moons, Amalthea (the bright spot to the far left) and Adrastea (the dot at the left edge of the central ring). Astronomers created composites with filters mapped to multiple colors. In several images, the Great Red Spot and other cloud formations are white because they reflect large amounts of sunlight.

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MoviePass will return on September 5th

Plans will start at around $10 per month.

MoviePass’ return is almost here. A beta of the revived service will launch on or around September 5th (Labor Day). Pricing depends on the market, but it will be a tiered system costing around $10, $20 or $30 per month. Insider, which reported the relaunch details, noted users will get a number of credits each month. There won't be an unlimited plan — maybe lessons have been learned.

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VESA announces a new standard for display motion performance

The organization wants to end confusing response time specs.

The Video Electronics Standards Associated (VESA) wants to make buying your next monitor or TV easier, and it’s doing so by introducing a new standard. I know what you’re thinking: Between DisplayPort, DisplayHDR and AdaptiveSync, aren’t there already enough VESA standards? Well, yes.

But here comes another. VESA’s new Clear Motion Ratio Compliance Test Specification, or ClearMR for short, has tiered ranking designed to communicate the ratio of clear to blurry pixels a screen will produce when displaying a fast-moving image.

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Elon Musk subpoenas Jack Dorsey

Dorsey previously endorsed Musk’s bid to buy Twitter.

Lawyers representing Elon Musk in his battle with Twitter have subpoenaed former CEO Jack Dorsey. It’s not yet clear how Dorsey factors in Musk's legal strategy. As noted by the Chancery Daily Twitter account, the subpoena refers to “documents and communications reflecting, referring to, or relating to the impact or effect of false or spam accounts on Twitter’s business operations.” Interestingly, it also requests “documents relating to incorporating mDAU (monetizable daily active users) into executive or director compensation.”

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The Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake is reportedly back in development... at a different studio. According to Bloomberg, one of Saber Interactive's studios in Eastern Europe has taken over the project after it was put on indefinite hold by Aspyr Media in July. Aspyr had been working on the project for years and had industry veterans, as well as people who worked on the original game released back in 2003, on board. It even finished a demo of the game to show Lucasfilm and Sony on June 30th. But a week later, the company reportedly fired design director Brad Prince and art director Jason Minor.

The situation surrounding Prince and Minor wasn't quite clear, but a source that talked to Bloomberg at the time suggested that the demo cost a disproportionate amount of time and money. Rumors reportedly circulated among Aspyr personnel that Saber Interactive, which has been doing outsourced work for the project, would take the helm. Those speculations may turn out to be true.

While neither developer has issued an official statement yet, mega game publisher Embracer may have alluded to the studio switch in its most recent financial report. Embracer, which owns both Aspyr and Saber Interactive, said one of its "AAA projects has transitioned to another studio" within the company. "This was done to ensure the quality bar is where we need it to be for the title," it added.

Embracer also said that it's not expecting any major delays as a result of the transition, but it's not like the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake was scheduled for release in the near future anyway. It doesn't have a launch date yet, and it will reportedly take at least two more years before it's ready.

Back in 2018, former Apple employee Xiaolang Zhang was arrested at San Jose International Airport where he was going to board a last-minute flight to China. Zhang was accused of transferring a 25-page document that includes the engineering schematics of a circuit board for the company's self-driving vehicle, along with technical manuals describing Apple's prototype, to his wife's laptop. He was also accused of stealing circuit boards and a Linux server from the company's development labs. Now, Zhang has pleaded guilty to a felony charge of theft of trade secrets in San Jose federal court, according to CNBC.

The news organization has obtained a court document (PDF) summarizing the proceedings in which Zhang changed his plea — he originally pleaded not guilty when he was indicted in 2018. In it, the court has noted that his plea agreement is under seal and that his sentencing is scheduled on November 14th. Zhang faces up to ten years in prison and could pay up to $250,000 in fine.

Before his arrest, Zhang worked as a hardware engineer in Apple's autonomous vehicle division and was part of the team that designs and tests circuit boards for sensors. As CNBC notes, circuit designs are typically considered some of the most valuable trade secrets in electronics. Apple reportedly first suspected Zhang of stealing from the company when he turned in his resignation following a paternity leave and a trip to China. He told the company that he was resigning so he could move back to China and take care of his mother. 

Zhang also told Apple that he was planning to work with XPeng Motors, an electric vehicle manufacturer that's also developing its own autonomous driving technology. His access to Apple's resources was cut off after he resigned, and an investigation followed soon after. It was through that investigation that Apple discovered that he transferred gigabytes' worth of top secret files via AirDrop and saw him physically taking hardware from the company's labs via CCTV footage.

Meanwhile, the tech giant remains as secretive about its autonomous vehicle development progress as ever. Last year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Apple decided to focus on developing full self-driving capabilities and that the company is aiming to launch its autonomous electric vehicle in 2025. 

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