There are several key improvements Samsung has made to the new Galaxy S7 line-up including build, which may not seem that apparent at first. But after using the device for some time, we try to list out some of the innovations that have gone into making 2016's Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge.
Build and Design
Samsung has gone with a similar metal and glass construction on the Galaxy S7 and its Edge brother. But there is refinement there too. We saw that with the launch of the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, it was actually better to hold than the Galaxy S6 edge, it wasn't as sharp and didn't dig into your palms as much.
With the Galaxy S7, Samsung has gone even further. There is curved glass at the top which blends in with the metal frame giving you a perfect in-hand experience. There are no sharp edges on the device and this time even the back on the devices is curved, like the Note 5, which makes for even better ergonomics.
I am not just talking about the Edge variant here, even the regular Galaxy S7 has curved glass at the top and a curved back which makes for better grip and easier handling. But both still attract fingerprints easily. Then there's Gorilla Glass 4 on the front and back for more protection and resistance against drops or scratches. Both have bigger batteries as well. The Galaxy S7 has a 3000 mAh unit while the Galaxy S7 Edge makes do with a 3600 mAh unit. Moreover, Samsung also brought back the microSD card slot which we all have been asking for.
To me, the Galaxy S7 Edge has, pardon the expression, a slight edge over the regular S7. It feels even better to hold, both the glass sides melt into that metal frame, making a beautiful smartphone. The S7 edge feels like it was made to fit in your palms perfectly, which cannot be said about most smartphones. It has a big screen, large battery and still isn't bulky.
Dust and Water Resistance
This is not new for Samsung, the Galaxy S5 was one of the only flagships of its time in 2014 which was water resistant, but came with a capped charging port which just looked awful. With the new metal design of 2015 with the Galaxy S6, we thought that dust and water resistance were out for good.
Flash forward to 2016 and Samsung has made the Galaxy S7 water-resistant, that too with the ability to survive under water for more than 30 minutes. This is one of those features which we don't care about or think that we need, but it just takes that one rain storm, one shower, one glass of spilled water or one accidental fall in the pool to remind us how important it is.
Dust can also ruin your phone from the inside, get into your camera or screen to ruin what you are looking at. Even here both the Galaxy S7 flagships have you covered.
Camera - Dual-pixel AutoFocus
There is a new 12MP camera here which boasts on dual-pixel auto-focus, which is an improvement over PDAF with 100% sensor coverage. What this means for us is super-fast auto-focus and great focus tracking in videos as well. Samsung is using both Sony IMX260 sensor and its own ISOCELL sensor for the camera here. Both have the exact same camera specs, including the 1.4 micron pixel size, dual-pixel autofocus and OIS. So some units may ship with the Sony sensor while others with the ISOCELL camera. The front-camera remains the same on all units.
Then there's the f/1.7 aperture lens to capture a lot more light. This would allow for your shots to look brighter with better color reproduction and great low light shots as well. We were quite impressed with the cameras on the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, and decided to shoot both hands on with the Galaxy S7. You can judge the video quality below and then there are some image samples as well.
Now, the dual-pixel auto-focus not only makes for faster auto-focus during the day, but even at night you will get better focusing on your subject and combined with that wide aperture and optical image stabilization, you will get some cool looking, low noise - night shots.
Rounding off the camera department is 4K video recording alongwith a 5MP front-shooter again with an f/1.7 aperture lens to get those great selfies even when you are indoors, at a club or just hanging out at night.
Exynos 8890 or Snapdragon 820
In India we are getting the Exynos 8890 variant which has been seen to perform quite well in benchmarks but those don't reflect real world usage. In the time that we spent with the new Galaxy S7(s), both performed admirably and even with some light gaming thrown in they didn't heat up at all.
Multitasking seemed good as well, it wasn't aggressive and apps remained in memory for longer. Moreover, Samsung has toned down TouchWiz even more with its Marshmallow build, which does make performance better. No lag was noticeable, apps opened quickly and animations were smooth. Samsung has also added support for Vulcan API, which is a cross-platform graphics and compute API, making for better graphics and visual quality in gaming. We may finally see atleast console level graphics on smartphones, but games are still to take advantage of this API and the promise it holds. We may see games running on the new engine later this year.
There have been some reports based on AnTuTu benchmarks that the Exynos 8890 variant doesn't perform as well as the Snapdragon 820 especially in the graphics department. That may be the case in terms of synthetic benchmarks, but in real world usage those don't mean much.
But we are keeping an open mind here and will check the Exynos 8890 variant out ourselves.
Connectivity, Fast Charging, Wireless Charging
On the connectivity front, the Galaxy S7 gets 4G LTE support on all Indian LTE bands. Moreover, you also have dual-band WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, NFC, Fingerprint sensor as well as GPS, but those are now features that we have come to expect. The Galaxy S7 is also ready for Samsung Pay, if and when it is introduced in India.
Both the Galaxy S7 and the S7 Edge do support fast charging, even the Exynos variant, but not as fast as Quick Charge 3.0 which is present on other SD820 devices. But still you would get charging speeds similar to Quick Charge 2.0 with the in-box charger and there is support for fast wireless charging as well.
Samsung Concierge
With the launch of the new Galaxy S7 devices, Samsung also launched a new premium service for its customers, Samsung Concierge.
It works in a couple of ways, first is an assistant which is a chat based interaction which you can use to book movie tickets, send flowers, birthday cards, cakes and similar stuff. Then you would have priority service in case something happens to your Galaxy S7 device, meaning your device would be catered to faster. Moreover, if Samsung is unable to fix your device in the stipulated time, you will get a stand-by device for the duration.
Then there's one-call phone pickup and drop, live chat with customer service all available through the new My Galaxy App on your device. Many brands have talked about introducing premium service for its customers, but most have failed miserably. But if anyone could actually implement this, it would be Samsung.
Pricing and Availability
Samsung has priced both the Galaxy S7 devices quite reasonably for a flagship. The regular S7 comes in at Rs. 48900 while the Galaxy S7 Edge 32GB variant costs Rs. 56900. That may seem pricey, but compared to the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, it is quite reasonable and these are flagship devices no less. You can chose from Black Onyx, Gold Platinum and Silver Titanium colors.
The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge are already available on pre-order from Samsung stores in India. If you pre-order before March 18th, you will also get the Gear VR for free which by itself costs more than Rs. 8000. It would have been more prudent to bundle a wireless charger with the devices instead but the GearVR is an experience you should definitely have, especially if you have kids who like to play games.
That's all I have about the new Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge. At this point we all know about the specs of these phones, but if you still want to have a look, just check out the comparison in the link below.
