PETALING JAYA — After years of refining the same tall-and-skinny foldable formula, Samsung has finally done something different this year. The new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 isn’t just another thinner Fold. It gets an entirely new shape which I think makes better sense.

Instead of the familiar narrow cover screen that opens into a squarish tablet, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 adopts a compact passport-sized form factor. It’s a refreshing take and it feels like it sits somewhere between the Galaxy Z Flip and the traditional Galaxy Z Fold.

The first thing you’ll notice is the proportions. When folded, the 5.5-inch (2520×1080 120Hz Dynamic AMOLED 2x) cover display with a 16:10 aspect ratio feels just right.

It’s slightly smaller than an actual passport, making it easy to hold and surprisingly comfortable to type as it gets a wider on-screen keyboard.

The 16:10 aspect ratio on the cover also works brilliantly for media consumption. You can comfortably watch videos without unfolding the device, and even in tent mode, 16:9 videos almost fill the entire display with very little blank space.

Open it up and you get a 7.6-inch (2504×2256 120Hz Dynamic AMOLED 2x) inner display with a 4:3 aspect ratio.

This is arguably the sweet spot for content consumption. Since most smartphone photos are captured in 4:3, they fill the display beautifully without weird cropping. Landscape video playback also benefit from smaller black bars than Samsung’s traditional Fold form factor.

For improved durability, the cover display gets Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3, while the back cover is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2.