Samsung Galaxy S7

Samsung galaxy s7 

What is the Samsung Galaxy S7?

If you’re on the hunt for an Android phone right now, the Samsung Galaxy S7 should be very close to the top of your list. Even though the competition from the HTC 10, LG G5 and the upcoming Note 6 (or Note 7) is strong, the S7 is the Korean company’s best phone yet.

Samsung Galaxy S7 – Design

After the massive, and much needed, change in design direction Samsung took with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge in 2015, all rumours pointed to things staying pretty much the same for the Galaxy S7. 

Well, it’s not like Apple, HTC or Sony make drastic changes to their industrial design every year. 

And that’s exactly the case here. Place the Galaxy S7 next to the S6 and you’d be hard pushed to instantly pick which one is which. Frankly, this doesn’t bother me in the slightest. The S6 was already one of the best-looking phones around, and the Galaxy S7 follows suit. 

Samsung Galaxy S7 – Display

Close to perfection. That’s the best way to describe the display on Samsung’s Galaxy S7. 

Not much has really changed from the outgoing S6, but this still holds up as the best screen on a smartphone.

It’s still a 5.1-inch QHD panel with a 2560 x 1440 resolution, and just like every Galaxy flagship so far, it uses Samsung’s Super AMOLED tech, rather than the more common LCD.

AMOLED displays are a lot better at showing off blacks than LCDs. Instead of looking slightly grey and washed out, the blacks here are inky deep. Some say AMOLED screens produce colours that are too oversaturated, so reds will look way brighter than they should, but that isn’t much of an issue here. And if you really prefer things toned down, there’s a picture setting for that.

Having so many pixels jammed into a relatively small space means you can’t really spot one pixel from another, and that sharpness makes everything from gaming to watching YouTube an absolute pleasure. Play a round of Alto’s Adventure or Monument Valley on this display and you’ll instantly be drawn in by the crisp details and vivid colour reproduction. 

I wouldn’t normally watch a film on a screen this size, but the panel here is so gorgeous that I can’t help getting lost in it. 

Samsung Galaxy S7 – Software and performance

Samsung Galaxy S7 – Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, TouchWiz and Software

There was a time when stock Android, the way Google intended it to be, was ugly. It was basic, lacked sheen and it paled in comparison to Apple’s iOS. Also, phone makers wanted to stamp their own identity on their handsets, rather than have them all appear alike, so they decided to spruce Android up a bit by adding their own ‘skins’. These are layers that sit over the operating system and change how it looks, along with adding some extra features.
Samsung’s version is called TouchWiz, and while it’s far less overbearing than Huawei’s EMUI or the skin used by LG, it still alters a lot of Android. Icons are different, there are multiple apps that do the same thing – there are two browsers, for example, and two music players – and Samsung’s exclusive features are pushed front and centre. It’s far from the mess it was a few years ago, but it can still look a bit childish and overly colourful.
One new feature I really do like is Game Launcher. This is a super-charged folder where all your games sit, with a few nifty extras. It’ll automatically organise all your titles, let you record your latest round of Clash of Clans and quickly save a screenshot of your latest high score.

There’s even a setting that ekes more battery life out of the phone when you’re gaming, by dialling down the performance.

Samsung galaxy s7 specification

NETWORK
Technology	4g/lte /3g/2g  GSM / HSPA / LTE

LAUNCH
Announced	2016, February
Status	Available. Released 2016, March

BODY
Dimensions	142.4 x 69.6 x 7.9 mm (5.61 x 2.74 x 0.31 in)
Weight	152 g (5.36 oz)
Build	Corning Gorilla Glass 4 back panel
SIM	Single SIM (Nano-SIM) or Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
	- Samsung Pay (Visa, MasterCard certified) - IP68 certified - dust proof and water resistant over 1.5 meter and 30 minutes

DISPLAY
Type	Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size	5.1 inches (~72.1% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution	1440 x 2560 pixels (~577 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch	Yes
Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass 4
	- Always-on display - TouchWiz UI

PLATFORM
OS	Android OS, v6.0 (Marshmallow)
Chipset	Qualcomm MSM8996 Snapdragon 820 Exynos 8890 Octa
CPU	Dual-core 2.15 GHz Kryo & dual-core 1.6 GHz Kryo Quad-core 2.3 GHz Mongoose + quad-core 1.6 GHz Cortex-A53
GPU	Adreno 530 Mali-T880 MP12

MEMORY
Card slot	microSD, up to 256 GB (dedicated slot) - single-SIM model microSD, up to 256 GB (uses SIM 2 slot) - dual-SIM model
Internal	32/64 GB, 4 GB RAM

CAMERA
Primary	12 MP, f/1.7, 26mm, phase detection autofocus, OIS, LED flash, check quality
Features	1/2.6" sensor size, 1.4 µm pixel size, geo-tagging, simultaneous 4K video and 9MP image recording, touch focus, face/smile detection, Auto HDR, panorama
Video	2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, 720p@240fps, HDR, dual-video rec., check quality
Secondary	5 MP, f/1.7, 22mm, dual video call, Auto HDR

SOUND
Alert types	Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
Loudspeaker	Yes
3.5mm jack	Yes
	- 24-bit/192kHz audio - Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic

COMMS
WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
Bluetooth	v4.2, A2DP, LE, aptX
GPS	Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
NFC	Yes
Radio	No
USB	microUSB v2.0, USB Host

FEATURES
Sensors	Fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, heart rate, SpO2
Messaging	SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM
Browser	HTML5
Java	No
	- Fast battery charging: 60% in 30 min (Quick Charge 2.0) - Qi/PMA wireless charging (market dependent) - ANT+ support - S-Voice natural language commands and dictation - OneDrive (115 GB cloud storage) - MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264 player - MP3/WAV/WMA/eAAC+/FLAC player - Photo/video editor - Document editor

BATTERY
	Non-removable Li-Ion 3000 mAh battery
Talk time	Up to 22 h (3G)
Music play	Up to 62 h

MISC
Colors	Black, White, Gold, Silver, Pink Gold
SAR US	1.40 W/kg (head)     1.59 W/kg (body)
SAR EU	0.41 W/kg (head)     0.62 W/kg (body)
Price group	9/10

TESTS
Performance	Basemark OS II: 2004 / Basemark OS II 2.0: 2128 Basemark X: 32345
Display	Contrast ratio: Infinite (nominal), 4.376 (sunlight)
Camera	Photo / Video
Loudspeaker	Voice 69dB / Noise 69dB / Ring 71dB
Audio quality	Noise -92.5dB / Crosstalk -92.7dB
Battery life	Endurance rating 80h