While there were plenty of new flagship devices announced over the past few weeks, Samsung is the first to get the device into the hands of consumers with the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. Not only is it the first major flagship release for 2016, the Galaxy S7 also has some big shoes to fill considering how good the Galaxy S6, and the Galaxy Note 5 were. So let’s take a better look at the Galaxy S7 Edge, and see if it is a worthy successor.
It's a looker
At this point in time, there is no doubt that Samsung is able to build some pretty darn good looking devices. The design and build quality of their recent devices like the Galaxy S6, Note 5, and A Series 2016, speaks volume about how far the company has come in just a few short years. Just take a look at the S7 Edge. It is one of the prettiest phone in the market right now.
The glass curves on both the front and back, allowing for a more comfortable grip compared to previous Edge series devices. The curved back also helps make the device easier to pick up when I put it on a flat surface. The glass even curves a little at the top and bottom giving the entire phone a more rounded look.
Take a closer look at various elements on the device, and you will find that they have been toned down as well. The colour of the speaker grill, the ring around the home button, and the ring around the rear camera now matches the colour of the phone, helping them blend in better. The huge camera bump on the Galaxy S6 is a lot less pronounced, and even the home button sits a bit more flushed. Nice refinements that helped to clean up the look of the Galaxy S6 a little. If Samsung is willing to remove its logo on the front of the phone (like they are doing in China), it would make it look even cleaner. Hopefully one day.
Not afraid of getting a little wet
Looking at the design of the S7 Edge, it is scarcely believable that it is actually IP68 certified. Samsung did a great job at hiding all the water-resistant bits on the inside. While it is certified to be able to be submerged in water for no deeper than 1.5m and no longer than 30mins, I wouldn’t recommended bringing it for a swim. Being submerged in still water is different from moving water. The higher pressure might cause liquid to find its way through the seals, and into the internals of the phone. I took the phone out into the rain, handled it with wet hands, washed it when it was a little oily, and it still works just fine.
Which brings me to the tricky part about marketing the phone as IP68. The warranty doesn't cover water damage as far as I know. It is understandable on Samsung’s part since the phone is only water resistant to a certain extent, and there is no way to prove or disprove whether the phone exceeded those limits when someone goes to the service centre claiming water damage. They are bound to have people feigning innocence when they push their device past its limitations and damages it. They are also bound to have people who genuinely did not exceed those limits (manufacturing defects), and ends up with a water damaged phone despite the IP68 rating. I am not sure how Samsung is going to manage this, but I hope I won't have to find out for myself.
Dat Edge
I have never found the Edge panels to be of much use in past Edge series devices. The Apps Edge, People’s Edge, and even the Edge screens on the Note Edge just wasn't of much use to me. This time round, the new Tasks Edge has changed my opinion.
With Tasks Edge, I can customise Tasks/Shortcuts that I most frequently use, and have them available at the swipe of my thumb, even if I am already in another app. It is not just restricted to system apps too, I can pretty much add any shortcut that would normally be available to me to add on my home screen. Like my most frequently used Hangouts group chat, WhatsApp group chat, and websites for example. Instead of needing to go to my home screen to find those shortcuts, I can have them always accessible on the Tasks Edge.
Panels like the ruler, compass, torchlight, S Planner, Yahoo News, etc, are back as well, but are generally pretty useless to me. I turned them off shortly after trying them out as they tend to overcrowd the Edge panels, and made it harder to access the ones I used most frequently.
Business as usual for the screen
The Galaxy S7 Edge has a slightly larger screen at 5.5” compared to the S7’s 5.1”. Both offers QHD resolution on a Samsung super AMOLED panel. As per usual, this is the best display on a smartphone today. Blacks are deep, contrasts are amazing, viewing angles are great, and outdoor visibility even in sunlight is excellent. The curved edges of the screen does mean that I can see reflections when light hits the edge in a certain way, but it isn't enough to detract from the excellent viewing experience of the display.
(The fingerprint sensor on the front is still pretty snappy too)The curved edge takes a bit of getting used to though. The device is quite nice to use one-handed, but I faced problems when trying to select things on the opposite end of my thumb. It is also rather challenging to to use the slide-in drawer found in some apps when I used the phone on my right hand. The curved edges makes it easy to accidentally touch the screen with my palm.
Compromises on audio
Having a single firing speaker at the bottom is still not ideal since they are easy to cover up, but it does sound decent. For the occasional video on YouTube while I am at home, the S7 Edge’s speaker is perfectly adequate. The speaker doesn't sound as good as the one found in the Note 5 though. They sounded a bit muddier or a bit muffled. I am not exactly sure if they are the same module or not, but I am guessing it might be down to needing to make it water-resistant.
Last year on the Exynos powered Galaxy S6 series and Note 5, audio was powered by Wolfson's DAC. But this time round the S7 Edge features an unknown (Lucky CS47L91 Sound) DAC within. But its naming convention looks remarkably similar to the ones made by Cirrus Logic, the company that purchased Wolfson Mircroelectronics. There is no way to confirm that of course until more information are made available, but to my untrained ears, they sounded a little bit better than they did on the Note 5.
Cutting edge performance
The Galaxy S7 Edge is powered by the Exynos 8890 here in Singapore. Only Japan, China, and US will be getting the Snapdragon 820 variant. It's a bit hard for me to talk about the difference between both chipsets as we have yet to have a Snapdragon 820 powered phone in Singapore, but in my time with the Exynos 8890, it's a really solid performer. The UI is generally snappy, and apps loads quickly. There are still a bit dropped frames from time to time in the UI, but it's not very noticeable unless you go looking for it.
In terms of general usage, app launch speeds, switching between apps, the difference between the S7 Edge and the Note 5 (one of the best performing phone last year) are pretty minor as the Marshmallow update did wonders for the Note 5. Where I found a bigger difference, was in gaming performance. Games loads noticeably quicker, and feels just a tad smoother. The Galaxy S7 is also one of the first phone in the market to support Vulkan API, but it's pretty hard to test it out as the games has to be build using those APIs, and so far there isn't any.
The phone still uses LPDDR4 RAMs and UFS 2.0 storage much like on the Note 5. This time round however, SD card expandability is back. Located in the same tray as the SIM card, that SD card slot which supports up to 200GB can also double up as a 2nd SIM card slot (4G + 2G). Which could come in handy for frequent travellers.
(Removing the SD card with apps installed on it brings back a familiar looking icon)
I noticed the ability to move some apps and games over to the SD card, and tried out some games like Need For Speed: No Limit, and Real Racing 3. While that might give you a bit more breathing room on your internal storage, don’t count on it to make a huge difference. As far as I can tell, it only moves the app itself over, but not the data. So for games that still requires a lot of data like Real Racing 3, it’s not going to make a huge difference. On the bright side, when playing the games from SD card, it performs just as well as it was on the internal memory as far as I could tell.
While I am curious whether the Snapdragon 820 version will perform better in day to day use over the Exynos 8890, I'm not going to break a sweat even if it performs better or worse. Knowing Samsung, it is unlikely that there will be a major difference. Also, I think we are already at a point where any top end mobile SoC will be able to provide an excellent experience for consumers. Fussing over what is out of our control makes little sense.
A mixed bag of Touchwiz
When it comes to software, the S7 Edge runs Android 6.0.1 with Samsung’s infamous Touchwiz overlay. Touchwiz has become something that we know and tolerate. The good news is, it is pretty tolerable this time round, perhaps even nice to use in some aspects. In recent years, instead of throwing in every single feature that Samsung can think of, they have been making better decisions about what to include, and what not to. Something which I think is starting to pay off.
The Marshmallow update brought a bit more “Material Design” flair and animations, along with a not so easy on the eyes colour choices. The app icon looks nicer, but I can't say I'm a huge fan of the colour choice for the quick settings menu. But these are customisable of course with Samsung’s own theme store.
Something of interest is the lack of Samsung’s own Music and Video player on the phone. They are instead available on Samsung’s own Galaxy Apps store, which might be an attempt to further lighten Touchwiz. There is now a more centralised location for more granular controls over the OS too, thanks in part to Android Marshmallow. App permissions, background mobile data use, and notifications for example. There are also more options to turn off features on Touchwiz like "pop-up window, and palm swipe to capture screen" for example.
Some nice additions to Touchwiz would be the ability to capture a long screenshot with a feature called Smart Capture. It is similar to the feature found on the Note 5, and something that I use pretty frequently on the Note 5. Another polarising feature that Samsung has hidden within an option called “Galaxy Labs”, is the ability to turn off the app drawer. The name implies that it is a way for Samsung to test out features to gauge consumers’ response to them, and turning off the app drawer is definitely something that I can get behind (popular opinion or not).
There is a new feature as well named AOD (Always-on-Display). It shows either a clock, calendar, or image when the display is off. This allows for certain glance-able information when the phone is placed on a desk or on a wireless charger for example. Nothing new here since we have seen something similar on stock Android devices like Ambient display, Moto Display on Motorola devices, as well as the LG G5 which will have a similar mode too. Remember Nokia’s Glance Screen found on the Nokia N9 back in 2011?
While it is nice to have, it isn't interactive like on the Moto Display, so it is purely for informative purposes. I presume that would help save a bit of power too since the phone can keep the touch layer on the screen off. I keep wanting to double tap on the screen to turn on the display, which of course does not work. I ended up just turning the feature off since I see little use for it. While it doesn't use up too much battery thanks to the AMOLED display, it still uses a bit too much power for my liking. Read the battery section later on to see my findings.
Enhanced gaming experience
One of the new feature for the Galaxy S7 would be the Game Launcher. Something which is actually quite useful even for someone like myself who only games occasionally. The main thing for me comes in the form of power saving mode for games. I pretty much always have it on power saving mode so that I don't have to worry about the games impacting my battery life. For better optimised games like Real Racing 3 and Ingress, I don't feel much difference in terms of the gameplay experience. Games like Need For Speed: No limits runs seemingly in slow motion with power saving mode on.
The other nice-to-have, but not-as-crucial feature would be Game tools, which provides an overlay in-game to allow you to toggle some settings on and off. I have the option to turn off alerts, disable the back and recent apps button during gameplay, take screenshot, record gameplay (includes using the front camera to record myself and do voice-over), and a quick way to minimise games. While this is probably pretty useful for heavy gamers, it is not something that I would use frequently.
Long lasting battery
Last year Samsung launched a special edition of the Galaxy S6 called the S6 Active, but only on 1 carrier and in 1 country. This is a device that came with a 3,500mAh, and it topped the charts of GSMarena’s battery test when it came out. In fact it is at the number 2 spot as of this post, with the first being a phone with a 6,020mAh battery, and the number 3 spot being taken by a phone with 4,100mAh battery. That speaks volumes about the battery optimisation done with the device and the efficiency of the processor.
With the Galaxy S7 Edge packing an Exynos processor, as well as a 3,600mAh battery, as expected the battery life is pretty decent. While it didn't last 2 days of use for me, I can totally see it doing that for lighter users.
(Here’s one of my screenshots from a better day. You can see Doze working well. This is with AOD off,
and connected to a good Wifi 80% of the time.)
(Even with around 2-3 hrs of gaming on the phone, battery life is still good)
On average, I'm getting around 6 hours of screen on time with the S7 Edge. Your mileage may vary depending the apps you have on your phone, and your usage pattern. In a separate test, I left the phone overnight with AOD on, and the phone used 5% of battery over 6 hours, which is similar to Samsung’s claim of less than 1% per hour.
Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with the battery life on the S7 Edge. It lasts me a day of use easily without the need to worry about limiting my usage. Even when I do play the occasional game, the power saving features in game tools seems to work pretty well, especially when playing a bit of Ingress.
Fast charging and peripherals
The phone comes with Samsung’s Adaptive Fast Charging, which is really just Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 these days. Not that I'm complaining since you can get cheap QC 2.0 compatible chargers pretty easily these days.
I had the fast charging settings turned off though. Since the phone was able to last a day of use easily, I never found myself needing a quick top up throughout the day. But for those who need a quick top up, it should just take about 90-100 mins from 0 - 100%.
While we're at it, you'll find a good old micro-USB port (which means it can work with the current Gear VR) on the bottom of the phone instead of a newer Type C port. Having used phones with Type C ports like the Nexus 5X and 6P, I can't say that I miss the newer standard. Cables and charging options are understandably more limited at this point in time. While Type C is undeniably the future going forward, I live in the present currently. And at this point in time, micro-USB is still more convenient to have.
Also included in the box is a micro-USB to USB OTG connector for easy file transfer. Something that would definitely come in handy especially for users who needs to transfer data from their older devices. Samsung's own Smart Switch app works remarkably well if you need to transfer data from other Android, iOS, or BlackBerry (BBOS 7 and below only) devices.
Megapickles isn't everything… some times...
Last year I went onto the S6 with no expectations in regards to the camera, and ended up getting blown away by how good it was. The Note 5 and S6 Edge Plus that followed, kept that winning formula, and was in my opinion the best camera found on a smartphone at the end of 2015. So Samsung really has a lot to live up to this year. In an unexpected move, Samsung went back to the drawing board, and came up with a smaller 12MP camera on the rear. This time round instead of a 16:9 sensor found in the Note 5, Samsung used a 4:3 sensor instead. Some may see the 16MP drop in resolution as a downgrade, but to me it didn't really matter since I shoot in 4:3 at 12MP all the time on my Note 5 anyway.
So how does it perform?
In daylight, images look great and the capture speed is really quick too. But the highlight feature has to be how fast this camera is able to focus. It has a Dual Pixel sensor which allows for faster focusing even in dimmer lighting conditions, a technology by Canon in which you can read more about here.
Image quality however, due to the lower resolution, isn’t quite as detailed as the Note 5 though. It is still an excellent camera, but when you zoom into the photos, it becomes apparent that the Note 5's camera has more details and as well as better sharpness. However, overall I tend to prefer the photos from the S7 Edge a lot of the time. The colours seems more pleasing to me overall, but that is down to individual preferences. Unless you like to constantly zoom in to examine every single pixel, you’re not going to find a huge difference here.
The camera uses an f/1.7 lens, and the sensor has a slightly larger 1.4 microns pixel size, which should mean better lowlight performance. In terms of image quality, it looks better than the Note 5 to me, but not as much as the specs would imply. The photos looked brighter, colours seemed a bit more accurate, and the camera was able to capture a more details. The images do looks a bit noisier than the ones on Note 5 though, and checking out the exif data, the Galaxy S7 Edge was using a higher ISO rating compared to the Note 5 in most instances. Shutter speed is faster too, but not by much.
Overall, despite a small dip in resolution, the improved focusing speeds, dynamic range, and low light performance makes the camera experience on the S7 Edge really enjoyable, even more so that the Note 5.
Full resolution images here.
More camera modes
Other than the already familiar Live Broadcast and Video Collage mode found on the Note 5 and S6 Edge Plus, the S7 and S7 Edge learned a few new tricks like Hyperlapse, Motion Photos (a.k.a Live Photos on iOS), and Motion Panorama mode. The first 2 should be familiar to most already, with the latter being the more interesting one. In a nutshell, it records a video while capturing a panorama. When playing it back, you can scroll through the image like you would while looking at the image, and it will include motion as well. While is a pretty interesting way of capturing a panorama shot.
(There is the usual slow motion mode too, which seems to be able to record at a higher fps)
Looking back at the history of “Edge” devices, I have always preferred their flatter counterparts. From the first Note Edge to the recent S6 Edge+, the Edge model never did enough for me to justify the higher price tag. With the S7 and S7 Edge though, Samsung made sure that more people would go for the Edge model (and it seems to be working). At just S$100 more, you get a prettier looking phone, a bigger screen, Edge features, as well as a significant increase in battery capacity. Which makes the S7 Edge a no-brainer for me unless you really hate the Edge and bigger sized phones.
The Galaxy S7 Edge is more of an evolutionary upgrade rather than revolutionary. It refines upon the design first established by the Galaxy S6, and later on the Note 5. It works. The design while similar, doesn't feel old or dated. In fact it is one of the best looking phone I've used in a while now. The specifications are still top-notch, and there are very little to complain about when it comes to hardware or build quality. Battery life is great, performance is great. More impressively, Samsung was able to include water and dust resistance with almost no compromises to the design of the phone. The S7 Edge isn’t just pretty for a phone with IP68 rating, it is one of the prettiest phone. Period.
However, Touchwiz is… well, still Touchwiz. It is tolerable and comes with some useful things, but it could be better (and by better I mean less bloat).
Last year when I reviewed the Galaxy S6 I concluded with this;
“The Galaxy S6 like the rest of the S series of devices, represents Samsung’s flagship Android smartphone for the year to come. For a few years now, the S series of devices have been pretty underwhelming compared to its competitors. But this year, I think Samsung finally brought their A-game. Samsung's TouchWiz has been toned down sufficiently to a bearable level, and the hardware package is top-notch. I have minor gripes with some aspect of the device, but as an overall package, it is an extremely compelling phone.”
This year, a lot of what I really enjoyed about the S6 has been further refined, and a lot of the minor gripes I had with the device were resolved. The Galaxy S7 Edge looks to be a pretty 'edge-traordinary' phone. Colour me impressed. Samsung has planted a new yardstick for how good an Android smartphone can be, now it's time for other manufacturers to see if they can beat it.
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