Samsung Galaxy S7 Review

Now I know a couple of weeks ago I called the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge “The Best Smartphone Out There” but now that I played with the smaller and similar Galaxy S7 smartphone my views may have been altered a bit. Samsung has been doing this double dose of flagships since last year’s S6 launch and I used to think that one phone is needed and it should have been the Edge. But using one after the other I can see how some may not like be able to get accustomed to those curved edges and just want something that is familiar such as the Galaxy S7’s design.

Style

While it doesn’t have curved edges like its taller brother the S7 Edge, the Galaxy S7 is still a great phone to have in your hand. It’s not as slippery as the S6 model and its curved backing helps achieve a better grip in the hand. If you do happen to drop it you might feel better eased in the mind that it is coated back to front in Corning Gorilla Glass 4.

Samsung Galaxy S7 Review 

That doesn’t mean go crazy with it but it means it can take a bump or two. Besides that the S7 has nice clickable buttons such as volume controls on the left and power on the right. Dual Card Tray on top reveals a simCard and microSD slot for storage. On the bottom is an audio jack and microUSB port for fast charging. Don’t forget you can always go the way of wireless charging too if you want to go sans wires. Also the Galaxy S7 is water and dust resistant so you can get caught in the rain and still live to tell about it.

Hardware

The S6 was a new vision of how Samsung wanted to create their smartphones but omissed such things as removable batteries and expandable storage it alienated Samsung loyalists and even made some venture elsewhere. Good news is that they have brought back microSD storage which can take up to 200GB card capacities but removable batteries are a thing of the past. I personally don’t miss them and as long as I can fast charge the built-in 3,000mAh battery inside it will continue to take a backside in my eyes. I feel keeping the phone sealed helped the Galaxy S7 running very sufficient with its 4GB of RAM, Adreno 530 GPU and Snapdragon 820 processor. I haven’t even noticed a hiccup running an assortment of programs. Also as I stated in the Galaxy S7 Edge review I’m glad to see they don’t get hot like the S6 did after a decent amount of continuous usage.

Display

Samsung Galaxy S7 Review Now of course the curved edges are the rage in the taller S7 Edge but it doesn’t fit for everyone. The S7 has a 5.1″ Super AMOLED display with 576ppi but looks just as good. You still get sharp clean imagery, videos pop with color, and still good for playing some mobile gaming on. Now of course you might out some of the Edge features but even if you had that device you might really use them anyway. Always On Display(AOD) is available as well for those that might miss calls, need to know battery life or just want to be aware of the time without actually reaching for the phone. I felt this started with the Moto X line but it definitely works good in the S7 series. I don’t feel like it takes a hit on battery life but you are welcome to dis activate it.

Software

Samsung Galaxy S7 Battery Life From the days of using the Galaxy S4, Samsung has really turned its TouchWiz OS life around. It has gotten lighter compared to its chunky days and run pretty good in conjunction with Android’s marshmallow(6.0) software. You wouldn’t really know it’s there too much since TouchWiz visuals are all over the place and things like “Doze” are unfortunately not available nor is Adoptable Storage. There are ways around this but you will have to do some digging. It optimization is pretty good as I left the S7 alone(accidentally in office desk over weekend) for a couple of days and still had over 60% battery life. Things you will notice is Android asking you for permission first whenever you launch something for the first time. But yes TouchWiz has a plethora of options, themes and of course multi-window. If you feel some old features are missed you can most likely download them. Glad to see this OS is getting better with age. The built-in game tools is a nice feature as it brings along Game Recording, screenshots, no alerts, etc.

As this is a T-Mobile model, it does have the usual bloatware but it’s not too heavy and can easily be disabled. T-Mobile is one carrier I have that doesn’t go heavy on the apps thankfully. Service wise I got pretty good T-Mobile coverage in NYC besides the usual spots like my house where its depressing but luckily I can make calls via WiFi.

Camera

So like the S7 Edge, the camera is identical front and back. You have a 5MP front facing cam for selfies or video conferencing which also records in 2K which is always good. On the back is the 12MP shooter which you will use most of the time. As started the S7(Edge) have one of the best shooters on the market. It takes crisp, colorful images and can be accessed quickly with just a double tap of the home button. Now I have tried shortcut camera launchers such as on the LG G5 nothing pops up as fast and smooth as the S7. Best thing this year with Samsung is the updates provided for low light shooting. It does a great job to adds to those usual dark photos you might have been forced to use with flash. Nothing has changed much in video recording as you can still do up to 4K video on the back lens. Below are some examples of video and various camera shots with the Galaxy S7.
Verdict

Besides the missing curves of the Galaxy S7 Edge, the S7 is just as good that don’t need the added features. Crisp colorful display, quick picture-taking and runs smooth no matter what’s thrown at it. MicroSD storage is great to have back and with a 3,000mAh charging shouldn’t be a nuisance thanks to the battery size and fast charging equipped. If you do prefer the smaller size of the Galaxy S7 its comes in $100 less than the Galaxy S7 Edge at around $700. The Samsung Galaxy S7 shows what you can achieve when you give the public what they want.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Review

If you wind the clock back a bit and look at older KYM reviews of Samsung devices, you might notice that we did a fair bit of grumbling aimed at Sammy back in the day. Up to and including the Galaxy S5, regardless of how much we liked the rest of the device, we always had a bit of a gripe with the firm's insistence on using a fairly generic and somewhat uninspiring design for the flagship handsets. Even worse, however, was the repeated use of plastic bodywork, and not just any plastic, particularly cheap-feeling plastic - yes the feel, not the durability, they were in fact quite rugged more often than not. It was galling because at the same time you had offerings from rival firms with more interesting shaped devices, but more importantly the use of metal, glass and ceramics, and even at the very least, plastics with a better quality feel to them (HTC and Nokia, spring immediately to mind).

Despite all our protestations, we appeared to be in the minority, and in direct odds to what consumers actually wanted - or at least, that was how it seemed given that consumers vote with their wallets, and Samsung phones sold like hot cakes.

But here's the kicker; popular opinion can be fickle - it can turn on a dime, in fact - and clearly, between the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S5 times changed, though, apparently, Samsung hadn't noticed.

Apple had been producing metal and glass phones for years, followed by HTC and Sony, but then it was as if, with the launch of the once-again plastic Galaxy S5 consumers across the board had at long last agreed with us, and had pretty much concluded plastic samey-ness wasn't acceptable anymore. Samsung, unfortunately, hadn't got the memo.

A turnaround was needed, a new direction.

Samsung itself readily admitted to its failings, to be fair, and impressively the firm vowed to improve things. It went back to the drawing board with "Project Zero", the device that turned into the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 EDGE. Samsung learned that the Galaxy S5 lacked the much-needed "wow" factor. The time for plasticky builds was over. Say hello to stylish, ultra-modern metal and glass. The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 EDGE were announced at this year's MWC expo in Barcelona, Spain, in early March, and the positive reaction indicates Samsung has managed a 180-degree turnaround on the disaster that was the Galaxy S5.The Galaxy S6 EDGE is the more expensive and more stylish of the two, but aside from some added aesthetic flair from the curved display design it is pretty much identical in specs and capabilites to its Galaxy 6 stable-mate. 

The Samsung Galaxy EDGE variant will return in 2016, though it will go by the name Samsung Galaxy S7 EDGE. The handset will accompany a non-EDGE version of the Galaxy S7, just as it did in 2015, but there won’t be an EDGE+ version released in the UK. Nope. In an odd twist of fate, Samsung has opted to push the Galaxy Note 6 in the UK in 2016, not the EDGE+ — the exact opposite of what it did in 2015. 

“Samsung has no plans to launch a Galaxy S7 Edge+ handset and will instead reinstate the Galaxy Note 6 as the brand's chief phablet in the UK,” notes Tech Radar. “That’s according to a source high up at one of the UK's major networks who cited a ‘backlash from loyal Note fans’ as one of the chief reasons for the reverse decision.”

So, yes, if you’re hoping for an EDGE version in 2016 then your only option will be the standard Galaxy S7 EDGE. Having said that, we can see a lot of people holding out for the Galaxy Note 6. 

In our Samsung Galaxy S6 review we awarded the handset full marks, something that we have only ever done once before –– the iPad Air also got full marks. In this respect, we kind of knew what the EDGE would entail, so the purpose of this review was to ascertain whether or not the EDGE actually made a difference and, importantly, whether it was worth shelling out the additional monies to pick one up. 

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge review

The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is a phone I'd hate to have had to make. Its predecessor was a multi-award-winning phone, simply because it packed all the power of the 'normal' Galaxy S6 and yet... that curved edge. I wasn't alone in loving it, whipping it out proudly whenever possible.

But that was last year, and the world is bored of the curved design. We've seen it. It's been done. So what
?can Samsung do to make the new phone a real step forward

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Review