Samsung Galaxy S7 review 1

''Samsung Galaxy S 7''

Galaxy S7 Full Review

It's easy to get caught up in the hype that is the Samsung Galaxy S7. It's easy to look in awe at the over-the-top launch event, which was as entertaining as it was informative, and without being smarmy. It's easy to be affected by the sheer force of the Samsung marketing arm, which went into work the minute the Mobile World Congress launch ended.

But spend some time with the Galaxy S7 and you'll quickly come to the realization that this is a really good phone. Easily one of Samsung's best, if not the best. It's imperfect, sure. It maybe won't be for everyone, but it'll serve the needs of most, and do so better overall than anything else out there.

Much of what you'll find in the Galaxy S7 should be familiar to those who own a Galaxy S6. But Samsung has taken what it did well in its 2015 flagship and and improved it for 2016 — and more important it addressed a number of concerns we had with the GS6.

Let's get into it. This is our Samsung Galaxy S7 review.

About This Review

We've been using a Verizon-branded Samsung Galaxy S7 (SM-G930V) for 10 days in Pensacola, Fla., briefly in Atlanta, and also in the middle of Lake Lanier, Ga. It's running Android 6.0.1 (Build MMB29M.G930VVRU1APB1) with the February security patches.

Galaxy S7 Hardware

Let's start with the basics. The Galaxy S7 isn't a huge departure over 2015's Galaxy S6. Samsung's mainly kept what worked last time, and made it better. And along the way they've worked on some of our concerns.

The Galaxy S7 itself is just about the same size as the Galaxy S6, and the iPhone 6s, while we're comparing things. It's a tad heavier than both, but not so much that you'd notice. Its corners are rounded in the same manner as before.

The biggest difference this year is that the backside has picked up the same sort of curves that we enjoyed on the much larger Galaxy Note 5. So it's a lot more comfortable to hold that the S6. It also feels a lot less plasticky — using more metal will do that. All in all, it's a really good feeling in the hand. "Premium," even. Think of the GS7 as an extension of the GS6 and Note 5, really. It borrows from both while improving on what is already there, but very much still in the same family.

But like other metal phones, it's very possible to ding it up a little bit. We've managed a few pockmarks on the edges already. Undoubtedly there will be others. (It'll be interesting to see how much those stand out on the all-black model.)

And Samsung deserves a quick tip o' the hat for the speaker this year. If you're going to be stuck with a single, downward-facing speaker, you want it to at least be as good as what's in the Galaxy S7. While nothing beats a good front-facing stereo system, it's much improved over the GS6.

The Galaxy S 7 display

Samsung kept with a 5.1-inch AMOLED display this year as well. The quad-HD resolution — 2560x1440 — gives about 577 pixels per inch, which is still ridiculously dense. And the panel is still excellent, with crisp colors and deep blacks. It's about as good as you can get — and it's excellent outdoors, in full sunlight. And it's still impressive to see a screen that's so much bigger — and at a much higher resolution — than what Apple's kept in the iPhone, in a body roughly the same size. The stature of this phone goes back to what we had in, say, the 2014 Moto X. It's still large, while absolutely being pocketable. For many folks (including me) this is the sweet spot, or darn close to it.

New for the display is an "Always-on" mode. It's a feature we've seen on other phones, but this is the first time Samsung's going for it. When the phone's just laying around it'll float a little bit of information around on the screen. By default you get the day and date, time, battery level, and basic notifications from a select apps, like Samsung's email client and missed phone calls. Use Gmail? You're out of luck.

The bigger problem is that it's not really useful beyond quickly checking the time, or seeing that you have an email waiting. (And if you're anything like us, you always have an email or text message waiting.) Sure, you've got seven styles of clock from which to choose — or you can go with a monthly calendar view, or a full-bleed patterned image. But none of that comes close to the usefulness of other always-on implementations that let you actually do something with the notifications, or show previews of messages.

But, yes, you'll save battery life by not waking the entire screen when you just need to check the time. So there's that. And if you're wearing a smartwatch, it's even more superfluous.

An excellent fingerprint experience
More useful is Samsung's fingerprint sensor tucked inside the 
home button. On it's own it's as good as ever. But now that it's on a phone with Android 6.0 Marshmallow — and supports all of the fingerprint features that come baked into Android 6.x and not just Samsung's — it's excellent. Buying things is easier than ever. Password managers are secure but quick to open. And, of course, you can unlock your phone more easily.

The SD card returns, and micro-USB stays

That's maybe not a big deal just yet — far too few apps are really using the new fingerprint software yet, but that's changing. And it'll continue to get better as more phones update to Marshmallow, and more new phones launch with it. (And that's to say nothing about Android N coming out later in 2016.)

Oh, and a double-press of the home button is still the fastest way
to launch the camera. No other phone comes close.

One major feature Samsung's brought back with the Galaxy S7 is expandable storage. That is, it's got a microSD card tucked into the SIM card tray. Using that on top of the 32 gigabytes of on board storage — and only about 16 gigabytes or so of that is actually available to you — means you can have up to 200 gigabytes of storage in total. And Samsung has decided to NOT use the Adoptable Storage feature that's in Marshmallow, so you can still use the card to transfer pics and videos and music and movies from one device to another. And you can still move some apps to the SD card, but not all of them. That's absolutely still up to the developer.

Few will question the return of the SD card, but shunning Adoptable Storage will be a questionable decision for a good many who would prefer Samsung use the updated Android feature. But Samsung's being very conservative in this case.

Another area in which Samsung isn't yet moving to future tech is on the bottom of the phone. The Galaxy S7 continues to use a micro-USB plug and not the newer, reversible USB-C.

That means a couple things. One is that your existing accessories should still work and you won't have to buy new chargers and cables. Another is that the Galaxy S7 will work in the existing Samsung Gear VRvirtual reality visor. (And, in fact, Samsung is giving a bunch of them away when folks purchase a Galaxy S7.) Sticking with micro-USB will be another strike against the Galaxy S7 for some people, but Samsung at least has a good
argument for not changing things just yet

Samsung Galaxy S7 Specs

Category	Galaxy S7	Galaxy S6	iPhone 6s
Operating System	Android 6.0 Marshmallow	Android 5.1.1 Lollipop	iOS 9
Display	5.1-inch 2560x1440 Super AMOLED	5.1-inch 2560x1440 Super AMOLED	4.7-inch 1334x750 IPS LCD
Processor	Quad-core Snapdragon 820 or Octa-core Samsung Exynos	Octa-core Samsung Exynos 7	Dual-core Apple A9
Storage	32GB	32/64/128GB	16GB/64GB/128GB
Expandable	microSD Up to 200GB	No	No
RAM	4GB	3GB	2GB
Rear Camera	12MP f/1.7 1.4-micron pixels OIS	16MP f/1.9 1.12-micron pixels OIS	12MP ƒ/2.2 1.22-micron pixels
Front Camera	5MP f/1.7	5MP f/1.9	5MP f/2.2
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11 ac MIMO Bluetooth v4.2 LE ANT+, USB 2.0, NFC	Wi-Fi 802.11 ac MIMO Bluetooth v4.1 LE ANT+, USB 2.0, NFC	Wi-Fi 802.11ac Bluetooth 4.2 LE
Charging	micro-USB Fast charging Qi wireless Powermat wireless	micro-USB Fast charging Qi wireless Powermat wireless	Lightning port
Battery	3000 mAh	2550 mAh	1715mAh
Water resistance	IP68 rating	No	No
Security	One-touch fingerprint Samsung KNOX	One-touch fingerprint Samsung KNOX	Touch ID
Dimensions	142.4 x 69.6 x 7.9 mm	143.4 x 70.5 x 6.8 mm	138.3 x 67.1 x 7.1 mm
Weight	152g	138g	143g