The under-the-hood improvements to the Galaxy Z Flip 4 eliminate the most of the compromise for opting for a foldable.

Samsung  (SSNLF)  wants foldables to be for everyone, and while I thought the Galaxy Z Flip 3 ended the compromise of getting a foldable, this year's Galaxy Z Flip 4 improves where it counts.

The key appeal? Well, it's a modern-day flip phone. You get a full-sized 6.2-inch display that matches up with iPhones and Androids when it's open. But when closed, it's a compact square that is downright adorable -- especially in Bora Purple and blue -- and incredibly pocketable. It can slide into the front pocket of jeans or pants, a shirt pocket, or any size bag.

And for $999, the Z Flip 4 is still expensive but matches that price with the hardware you'd find on other similarly priced smartphones. That includes some of the latest silicon in the form of a Qualcomm processor, two reliable cameras, and a larger battery that delivers all-day battery life.

If you want a smartphone that folds in half, the Z Flip 4 is likely for you. But after nearly two weeks with this 2022 flip phone, it's flipping great.

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Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip 4 main knack is its folding design, and rather than the Z Fold 4, which transforms a smartphone into a tablet, this one transforms a smartphone into a more compact one. For $999, it uses a premium aluminum and glass design which feels substantial in hand but not downright heavy. These materials, alongside a multi-generation in proprietary "Hideaway Hinge," create a smooth experience when opening or closing the Flip 4.

And I can't describe just how cool it is to fold a smartphone open or closed. It starts as a really compact square at 3.3- x 2.8- x 0.7-inches, so it's fairly wide but about half the size of a traditional smartphone. You can hold it comfortably in the palm of your hand, place it in a shirt pocket, or even slide it into your pants' front or back pocket. It's decently thick when closed, sitting at about two smartphones stacked together.

And like the Z Flip 3, 2, and 1 before it, you can see through the middle when closed and view it from the side. It's wedged like Apple's  (AAPL)  M1 MacBook Air when closed. But unlike a laptop, when completed, there's a display on the front. Aptly named the Cover Screen, it's a 1.9-inch rectangular AMOLED screen that can reduce the urge to open up the Z Flip to its main screen.

Now four generations in, Samsung's finally added some more capabilities to the Cover Screen. For starters, you can pick from some fun visual faces, including a vibrant and colorful array of flowers with a buzzing bee. This is similar to a watch face since it shows the time, date, and battery level. You'll double-tap the front screen to make it light up. Then swiping to the left or right displays the various panels -- including music controls, a weather widget, calendar, alarms, and timers, among others.

For content creators or selfie fanatics, you can double tap the power button to use this Cover Screen as a viewfinder for taking photos or videos. And truthfully, that's the most compelling experience this offers. The other panels mostly feel like widgets, and Samsung needs to put a little more work in here to make this more full-featured. I'd also really like for them to open this up to developers, which won't just create more buy-in but will also create better experiences for those who opt for the Z Flip.

I will say that viewing notifications can keep you from seeing one and diving into something else on your smartphone. And I think that's a positive -- especially for people who use phones too much or want to cut back on usage.

Of course, when you want the classic smartphone experience, you can just flip open the Galaxy Z Flip 4 and unveil the 6.7-inch display. Specifically, it's a Full HD+ Super AMOLED Infinity Flex display. It looks great in use, and like a Samsung display, it's vibrant and warm with hues while also boasting the keen ability to deliver crisp contrast points. Simply, it's a fantastic display that can rival the color performance of something like the S22 Ultra. You might scratch your head and question why it's only 1080p HD, but rest assured, it's plenty.

Additionally, whether you're scrolling through a timeline, playing a game locally or via the cloud through Xbox GamePass, or watching a movie, you'll find it to look pretty natural. And that's thanks to the adaptive refresh rate, which lets this 6.7-inch screen scale up to 120Hz. This way, the screen can refresh itself quickly and present the content to you in a life-like fashion.

Now, like the Z Fold 4's main screen and the Z Flip 3, which came before this, you have a crease in the middle of the screen. And in fact, the screen feels a bit softer since it's not actual glass but Samsung's "Ultra Thin Glass" technology (which mixes bits of glass and plastic).

With the crease in the middle horizontally, it lies below the keyboard, but something like scrolling will have you run over it. Like the pinhole in a screen for a camera, the annoyance of it will fade away with use. It also doesn't distract from the quality of the display. And if you're after multitasking, you can split it with an app on the top and one on the bottom, effectively using the crease as a separation line.

While I've addressed flipping it open and closing it, there's also something to be said about propping it up like a laptop or at a 90-degree angle. And this starts with Samsung's Flex Mode, which shows you content or an interface on the top screen, and the bottom turns into a controller of sorts.

With the camera, your viewfinder lives at the top, and all controls live on the bottom. It's an enticing experience and one that is great for content creators or photo enthusiasts since the Z Flip 4 can be its own tripod. So self-sustaining for content creation. Similarly, in Gallery, the top is where you'll see the content, and the bottom is like a trackpad.

The issue is that not every single app is customized for this, similar to the story of multitasking on previous Galaxy Z Fold 3s. You can enable a mode that will let you place any app on the top and get an array of controls on the bottom. It works for some, but it can get clunky with an app like TikTok. The good news is that apps can be updated, and given the popularity of the Z Flip, I think there's a good chance we'll see some updates to take advantage of this mode.

By far, the best way to use Flex Mode is with the camera and the two main lenses this year are quite reliable. Not much has changed here, though -- it's still a 12-megapixel wide and a 12-megapixel ultra wide, but the sensors are larger, and there are a drove of software improvements.

And both of these perform pretty well and aid in making taking photos or video one of my favorite things to do on the Z Flip 4. The ultra wide is a fun way to frame a scene or capture a lot without physically moving; plus, it doesn't have a weird fisheye, and colors -- as to be expected from Samsung -- are punchy and vibrant. And it compliments the wide lens well, which is better for Portrait Mode shots, but also, these shots end up with a lot more detail. And you can see a full gallery embedded below. For the $999 price, you're getting an excellent photo experience here, though. And some very cool ways to capture that content.

A gadget is good when performance lets you accomplish what you need to do, and that's exactly the story with the Galaxy Z Flip 4. It's running the latest chip from Qualcomm -- the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 -- with Android 12 wrapped in Samsung's One UX 4 interface. And everything glides here and easily powers all the different Flex experiences and the two screens.

Better yet, Samsung is promising three years of Android updates -- hopefully, three more generations of Android -- and four years of security updates. This way, any issues can be addressed, and patches can be issued. And given the swiftness here and the age of the chip inside, I'm not too worried about the value running out after only a year or two.

Samsung also fixed the battery issue here. Not only is it a larger dual cell at 3,700 mAh, but the efficiencies here enable the Z Flip 4 — even with heavier usage — to last for a day and a half. It's fantastic and stretches even longer with less use or on standby for days. While the Z Flip 4 supports fast wired charging, you need to bring your plug that supplies enough wattage.

The Z Flip 4 is pretty much identical to the Z Flip 3. So, don't feel pressured to grab one if you have one of those. But the under-the-hood improvements here eliminate the heft of compromise for opting for a foldable. At $999, the Z Flip 4 can roll with the punches and competes with premium non-folding smartphones.

And if you're after a more compact device or just a freaking cool foldable, the Z Flip 4 hits that. But Samsung still needs to deliver a must-have feature here, and with the next generation (or maybe the one after that), Flex Mode or the Cover Screen might develop into that.

In the end, the Galaxy Z Flip is finally 'flippin' good,' and that's pretty cool.

Prices are accurate and items in stock at time of publishing.

1.9-inch Super AMOLED (Cover Screen), 6.7-inch FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2x Infinity Flex (Main Screen).

Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 with 8GB of RAM

12-megapixel ultra wide and 12-megapixel wide main cameras; 10-megapixel selfie camera.

5G: Sub-6, mmWave, and C-Band. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 6.

Blue, Bora Purple, Graphite, or Pink Gold.

Jacob Krol is Senior Editor of Technology and Commerce for The Arena Group’s TheStreet. He sources the latest deals, curates best-of reviews and covers new product announcements across tech, outdoors and sports.