Taking the Galaxy Z Fold 5 on a trip made me fall in love with Flex Mode

I don't get out of the house much. It's not because I'm an introvert or don't have any friends. Well, I do have fewer friends now because some of them went back to their home cities when the pandemic hit and never came back, but the primary reason is that I earn a living working from home.

But whether or not I go out often, I do take a lot of pictures, and I have been a huge fan of Samsung's Galaxy S Ultra smartphones thanks to their extremely versatile camera setup. And those camera setups have spoiled me, especially when it comes to zoom, and are part of the reason I'm not all that fond of Samsung's foldable phones.

In the four years since its debut, the Galaxy Z Flip line's camera setup has remained largely the same, with all of those phones lacking a telephoto lens and using less impressive primary and ultra-wide cameras compared to Samsung's other flagships. Galaxy Z Fold devices come with better cameras than their clamshell bretheren, but they still lag behind (particularly in zooming capabilities) what you get on devices like the Galaxy S23 Ultra despite carrying a higher price.

But Samsung's foldables have something the company's candybar phones don't, and that's Flex Mode, which lets you keep the device unfolded at various angles. One of the biggest advantages of Flex Mode is that you can take hands-free photos or videos without reaching for a tripod. And the importance of Flex Mode for photography is something that finally hit me in full force on a recent trip to the mountains of Sikkim, India.

Flex Mode shines the most when capturing hyperlapse videos

This was the first ever holiday trip in which I had a Samsung foldable as my main phone. I took tons of photos and videos with the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and took advantage of features such as cover screen preview. I also shot hyperlapse videos, and that's where Flex Mode truly shined for me.

Our trip included going to a mountain pass (called Nathu La, for those wondering) that's at an elevation of 4,310 meters, and at such heights you get to see a lot of stunning scenery. Clouds in particular can look gorgeous when you're high up on the mountains, and so I was very keen on shooting hyperlapses every chance I got.

And I have to say I captured some amazing hyperlapse videos, and that's thanks to Flex Mode. In fact, they might just be the prettiest hyperlapse videos I have ever recorded – just check out the video below to see what I mean.

Without Flex Mode, I wouldn't have been able to capture these hyperlapses. Well, technically I could have, but the time it takes to record even a 5-second hyperlapse means holding the phone in the hand and keeping it steady (especially if want to keep the camera pointed at the same scene for the entire duration) can get tiring real quick.

And that's where Flex Mode makes all the difference in the world. You can of course just carry a tripod with you, but setting one up every time you want to take a photo or video is far from an ideal experience. On the other hand, a Galaxy Z Fold or Z Flip can turn into a tripod in a few short seconds, and it also means you have one less item to carry around when you're out and about.

If you own a Galaxy Z Fold or Galaxy Z Flip, you owe it to yourself to try out Flex Mode when using the camera. It doesn't matter if you're a shutterbug or just take photos and videos to capture memories to revisit later as human beings tend to do – Flex Mode is very useful and should be part of your arsenal if you want the best results from your Z Fold or Z Flip's cameras.