New samsung galaxy s 7. I sold samsung galaxy s7 edge

In principle, everything is as usual. Galaxy S7 has got the largest 3000 mAh battery in the history of the line, while hardly increasing its dimensions. However, the extra charge went to ensure the operation of a faster processor - so the autonomy of the novelty is no better than that of its predecessor. In general, it can be rated as very good, and if you take into account the resolution and brightness of the screen, high performance, it will turn out to be almost a record.

As always, most of the energy is spent on screen-on tasks, and especially on 3D games. A lot more is spent on surfing over the cellular network. The Galaxy S7 is no surprise in this regard.

There is also an extreme power saving mode, when the interface is simplified and becomes as black as possible - again, a feature of OLED technology is used.

In total, the Galaxy S7 proved to be the fastest smartphone at the time of release, along with excellent autonomy.

Games on Galaxy S7

It is not difficult to guess that problems with games on the Galaxy S7 are not expected.

• Riptide GP2: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Asphalt 7: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Asphalt 8: noticeable delays are visible;

• Modern Combat 5: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• N.O.V.A. 3: some delays are visible;

• Dead Trigger: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Dead Trigger 2: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Real Racing 3: some delays are visible;

• need For Speed: No limits: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Shadowgun: Dead Zone: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Frontline Commando: Normandy: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Frontline Commando 2: noticeable delays are visible;

• Eternity Warriors 2: excellent, the game does not slow down;
• Eternity Warriors 3: not in the Play Market;

• Eternity Warriors 4: some delays are visible;

• Trial Xtreme 3: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Trial Xtreme 4: excellent, the game does not slow down;
• dead effect: not in the Play Market;

• Dead Effect 2: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Plants vs Zombies 2: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Iron Man 3: excellent, the game does not slow down;

• Dead Target: excellent, the game does not slow down.

Actually, what was required to be proved - nothing slows down on the Galaxy S7 and should not, by definition. And the memory is enough to record a decent number of games.

ON

As usual, the flagship Samsung Galaxy S7 gets the latest software. Of course, the company used Android 6.0. Someone began to resent that the unexpectedly early presentation of Android N, which will be renamed in the summer of 2016, is not on the top smartphone. But waiting for it is completely stupid due to the fact that at the beginning of 2016 this is nothing more than a beta version for developers. And over time, Android 7.0 for the Galaxy S7 will undoubtedly be released, and possibly even Android 8.0 - the Korean manufacturer updates its flagships for a long time.

Time goes by, but Samsung's TouchWIZ never disappears. And should it? This shell is well thought out and familiar to the owners of South Korean pipes. But, of course, in the edition for the Galaxy S7, she received a couple of new features. Including Always On - theoretically, this can be done on previous flagships, but why compete with the new product?

So in the theme settings, the ability to select a 5x5 grid is now available, while 4x4 is active by default. That is, you can turn on the mode, as on large phablets with a screen of 5.5".

From here, the theme store is also called. There are both paid and free themes.

Notification panel recolored White color which did her good. You can still pull it down and see a lot of quick settings icons.

Task Manager hasn't changed much. Here, tabs display all open applications, there is a button to clear the list, and some tabs have the option to display in half the screen.

Now let's go through the settings - here are the very "chips". For example, in the section about the screen there is a Smart shutdown item. Activating the mode keeps the display on while you look at it.

There was a whole section “Additional Features”, where everything that is small and does not deserve its own section is grouped. For example, take a screenshot with the palm of your hand.

They also hid "One-handed control" here. For a 5.1-inch smartphone, this may not be very relevant, but the number of possibilities is impressive. This is not just “for show”, everything is grown-up.

Pressing the Home button three times will activate this mode. And then you have an on-screen keyboard optimized for one-handed operation, and the entire screen can be reduced.

NFC is no surprise today, especially Samsung with its Samsung Pay.

Smart Manager, a utility for monitoring memory consumption, battery and device security, is no longer a separate application, but has become part of the settings.

It was the first time I saw something called Game Tools. They write that these are gaming features that improve the gaming experience by turning off all notifications (how they got it!), Blocking the touch buttons under the screen. From here you can simply minimize the game while saving its state, take a screenshot and even record a video. True, a small nameplate on top of the game is annoying - what to do with it, huh, Samsung?

Now let's go through the applications. But first, I note that in addition to the installed ones, there is also a Galaxy Essentials section in the Galaxy Apps store - the corresponding link is placed on one of the desktops. Here are collected programs that can be useful, but do not clutter up the smartphone's memory if they are not needed.

And so among these applications you can find the Kids mode, text recognition, S Note note taking program, S Translator translator, music synthesizer, video editor, OneDrive client with a 100 GB subscription for 2 years, and so on.

Thanks to the competent organization, all programs were able to fit on one screen. Some of them are sorted into folders, including proprietary utilities from Samsung, Google and Microsoft.

This is my first time seeing the Galaxy Care app. It provides help on the smartphone, and at the same time provides a link to the support service. It can be a useful device, but it cannot be called something new - I have seen it for a long time on the same Lenovo handsets.

Samsung has finally thought about transferring data from other devices to their smartphones. The Smart Switch Mobile utility is designed for this.

The S Health activity diary is also in place. Here, among other things, you can measure your pulse.

Other utilities are typical and do not provide interest: a clock, a calendar, a file manager, and so on - all this has been seen before, but there is nothing new here.

In general, the Galaxy S7 in terms of software is a good balance between useful features and applications. There are a lot of things that will come in handy, and some of this is taken out to the cloud, from where you can download what you need specifically to your smartphone for free.

Conclusion

Once again, Samsung has not blundered - its new flagship Galaxy S7 resembles old, well-worn slippers that were recently returned from repairs. Everything seems to be the same convenient and comfortable, but it has become better. The Galaxy S6 was a good smartphone, but there were certain flaws in it, the main one being the lack of a memory card slot.

Galaxy S7 not only got support for microSD cards, but got a more comfortable body shape, while maintaining a stylish appearance and the same materials: metal and glass. It is still impossible to disassemble the phone, but is it necessary so often? But Samsung managed to fit a more capacious battery and moisture protection into the case, only increasing the thickness by only 1 mm.

And the changes don't end there. The Korean company was able to come up with something else useful and unique that can be added to its next top product. In particular, this is the Always-On function. It seems that the idea is not unique, and it could have been done much earlier, but I haven’t seen it on other smartphones for a long time, but here it’s simply impossible to refuse it!

It is the combination of these little things that makes the Galaxy S7 one of the best devices on the market in early 2016. It de facto has no competitors, although in any case, let's see what other companies have to oppose to the Samsung flagship.

Galaxy S7 price

You can buy Galaxy S7 for 50 thousand rubles. The price is exactly the same as that was set on the Galaxy S6 in 2015, although the dollar has grown somewhat since then. Of course, not cheap, but believe me, it's worth it.

LG G5 in April 2016 we did not sell, but it should appear on sale. Moreover, LG managed to do something interesting and unique, namely all these interchangeable modules that are inserted along with the battery. The smartphone has an unusual design and has its own interesting feature. It makes no sense to compare the characteristics with the Galaxy S7 - they are extremely close, even if the handset from Samsung is better in some moments.

The HTC 10 is another belated flagship that came out a month after the Galaxy S7. Also an interesting tube in many respects, with a good design, made of metal, finally with a decent camera. Can it compete with the Galaxy S7? In frontal definitely not, but the phone is not devoid of its own charm and at least deserves attention.

Huawei P9 is positioned as an alternative to the Galaxy S7, including the price. As it turned out, there is a separate class of consumers who want to buy a flagship, but that it was not Samsung or Apple. And the P9 model is quite interesting from this point of view: stylish, with a fast processor and a good camera.

And, of course, the 16 GB iPhone 6s. This costs 53 thousand rubles, that is, more expensive than the Galaxy S7. Instead, it offers a 4.7-inch screen with a resolution of 1334x750 pixels, a dual-core A9 processor and a complete set of Apple's rake: iTunes, no memory card slot, noticeably less capacious battery, worse camera, and so on. Objectively, this smartphone is worse than the Samsung flagship and only plays on the strength of the brand.

Pros:

• metal case;
• excellent build quality;
• improved case shape compared to the Galaxy S6;
• moisture protection according to the IP68 standard;
• Super AMOLED screen with excellent color reproduction and high WQHD resolution;
• always-on function;
• best performance at the beginning of 2016;
• very high performance;
• excellent rear camera with support for 4K video recording;
• good 5-megapixel front camera with support for WQHD-video;
• fingerprint scanner and heart rate monitor;
• lightweight TouchWIZ shell on top of Android 6;
• good autonomy;
• many branded accessories;
• built-in support for wireless charging;
• fast battery charging;
• small weight and dimensions for a 5.1-inch smartphone;
• brought back support for memory cards;
• USB adapter included.

Minuses:

• non-separable body;
• black versions may peel off the paint from the speaker;
• a lot of weight for its size.

A couple of months ago I bought a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge new for 30 thousand rubles. Although this is not the latest, but still quite relevant flagship. And for the price, this is a really great deal. Since then, 2 months have passed, I sold my "gnusmas" and breathed a sigh of relief. And that's why.

Year updated, no more

Once again, I was convinced that OS updates can be installed while you have the most up-to-date gadget of the company in your hands. As soon as the new flagship comes out and another update arrives, we start partisanship. This firmware will not bring anything good.

My S7 Edge is mercilessly slow. Applications, menu sections, switching between tasks - a smartphone is ALWAYS thinking! The feeling that I use some kind of Redmi 3S, and not a top-end device from the global electronics giant. A shame!

I mean, while the gadget was relevant, that is, the whole of 2016, it did not slow down, everything worked as expected. And with the latest updates, everyone scored on optimization. And I'm sure no one does it on purpose (it's not Apple). It’s just that optimizing software for last year’s devices is a “how it goes” business. If we succeed, it's good, if we don't, it's even better. The user swears, suffers and goes to the salon to buy the current flagship. He's "so used to the Samsung." No need to step on the same rake, turn on the brain.

Brief summary from my experience:

• If you have the current flagship from Samsung in your hands, then we stop updating immediately after the release of the new generation.
• If you have an iPhone latest generation, then you can update +1 year after the release of the new generation. You can't go further.

Thus, the period of normal operation of devices from Samsung is 1 year, from Apple - 2 years. The same is true for depreciation.

Bought for one price, sold for another

The golden rule of the aftermarket gadgets. I bought the device new, left the store with it, sell it as used, subtracting 25% from the price of a new one.

It works great with iPhone and even Samsung. It’s just that an “apple” smartphone holds the price for the first six months, and a top-end device from South Korea lasts a maximum of a couple of months.

For example, adequate offers for sale on the secondary market began to appear only in February after the September release. With an official price of 53 thousand rubles, on some Avito, a seven could be taken for 35 thousand.

After the release on March 29, with a price tag of 55 thousand rubles, already in early July it was possible to take for the same 35 thousand rubles. Offers in bulk and they are not in demand. The thing is that the price tag for gray versions starts at 38 thousand rubles apiece. For the new flagship. Does it make sense to buy it used?

Is it a shame for the owners of devices who bought them at full price? And how!

What's wrong with my S7 Edge? But nothing. I can't sell it for 25 thousand. Nobody needs it at all, and this is against the background of the fact that the iPhone 6S easily goes for the same money.

Brakes. Anytime and anywhere!

I thought the device was slowing down in power saving mode. Well, this is when you reduce the native resolution to Full HD, background processes are limited, Always On Display does not work, and so on. Turned on full power, but left a low resolution: fewer pixels - more agility. It's logical indeed. No matter how!

The smartphone is still slow. And nothing can be done about it. Although no, after all, you can do a hard reset every month, constantly transfer files to your computer, and then, maybe, if you're lucky, the smartphone will start working as expected.

But wait! Why did I spend 30 kilo rubles on all this pandemonium? I could buy Xiaomi Redmi 4 Pro for 8 thousand rubles and, most interestingly, not have such problems. And this is despite the voracity of their proprietary MIUI shell.

Infrequent, but stable glitches

For example, the following happened just a couple of days ago. I went to the Google Play Store to update all the apps on my smartphone (auto-update is disabled), but I couldn't do it. Why? The Refresh All button just didn't work.

Of course, I thought it was some kind of store glitch, went to the main screen and killed all the processes. Helped? Yes, never!

Now the Play Store icon on the desktop has stopped being pressed. But this is not the end.

I rebooted my smartphone, reopened the store, I wanted to click on the "Update All" button and guess what happened. Nothing! She didn't press again. Proof in the video below.

Terrible signal quality

S7 Edge lives in my house only near the windows. So the signal, at least a little bit, but passes through the walls.

Yes, the walls are not the thinnest, but wait. I still have the same question. Why does a gadget for 500 bucks work the same as some Cubot for 80 from China and without normal support for LTE frequencies?

One could attribute all this to the fact that I have a gray device designed for the UAE market. However, I went to the official Samsung website in the Emirates and there is full support for all the frequencies I need. Even more than necessary. However, the smartphone still catches the network out of the ordinary.

Further more. He left the house, Wi-Fi turned off, in theory, the smartphone should switch to the cellular essence, and, of course, it does. True, only EDGE is on the screen. In order for the seven to switch to 4G in the city center, where the coverage is perfect, you need to move away from all the buildings and stand on the street for 3-4 minutes. Then the system will realize that the coverage of the cellular network is confident and you can safely switch to at least H +.

And then I go to Pyaterochka, go to the cereal department, which is located deep in the building, and the situation repeats itself. Rebooting or turning on / off the flight mode helps. I do this at least twice a day. Every day! For my 500 dollars.

Second SIM card for the view

Not only does the device hold a weak cellular network signal, but there is practically no cellular network on the second SIM card. As soon as you enter the room, the smartphone falls into a dead vacuum. And he does not accept calls, and it turns out to call from him every other time.

Thank you that at least the first "sim card" is based on EDGE. But we must pay tribute, the system honestly shows the complete absence of sticks in the notification line.

Oleophobic coating - none

Once I read another article by Eldar Murtazin, where he said that the oleophobic coating is erased after a month, they say there is no need to have illusions about this. I thought that this was complete stupidity, because I had never encountered such a thing. On any, even on a budget smartphone, oleophobic lasts at least six months. So I thought until I started using a Samsung smartphone.

Really! The protective coating on the glass of my S7 Edge peeled off after three weeks. In three! weeks! Carl!!!1

And this is your flagship smartphone, which last year was sold at 50 thousand rubles apiece?

But there are also advantages...

Where the S7 Edge is good is the cameras. He still shoots great! Very cool!

Many manufacturers only in 2017 caught up with the quality of photography and video, which Samsung had already had for a year. I remember this primarily about Huawei and them. Good, by the way, the device for such a price. Unless, of course, the design bothers.

Furthermore! Many competitors from the Chinese market still cannot match our seven in photo quality. Including Xiaomi with their Mi6, and oh my God, even . Yes, now I will cause righteous anger among the fans of the brand, but this is true.

And it is not just words. Look at the photos I managed to get from the camera of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.

The only ones that outdid my smartphone are Google Pixel and . In the latter case, again, it was not without the intervention of Google. This is not advertised anywhere, but I am sure that without Google, the Taiwanese would not have been able to make such a camera, or rather, write such advanced software for it.

I also really like Samsung Pay. The contactless payment system works even with old terminals, which no competitor can boast of. Well, maybe. True, there is one BUT - the service works only in South Korea and then, not everywhere.

Everything! This is where the advantages of the smartphone end.

Brief squeeze

Let's summarize what did not suit me in the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge:

• he slows down
• buggy almost the same as the "Chinese" for 150 bucks
• poor cell signal reception
• has a very poor oleophobic coating (washes off after 3 weeks)
• quickly loses in price - then you can’t sell it

All these shortcomings greatly outweigh one single advantage - the chic quality of shooting photos and videos. That's why I sold my S7 Edge. Now again "in active search".

Specifications

• Android 6.0.1, TouchWiz 2016
• Display 5.1 inch, QHD-resolution, 576 ppi, SuperAMOLED, automatic backlight control, Always On function, different operating modes, Corning Gorilla Glass 4
• 4 GB RAM, 32/64 GB built-in, memory card up to 200 GB
• nanoSIM (there will be options for 2 SIM cards)
• Exynos 8890 chipset, 8 cores up to 1.8 GHz per core, MALI T880 MP12 GPU (Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 variant in some countries)
• support for LTE cat12/13 with software update, operator support is also required
• Front camera 5 megapixels, flash (screen), BRITECELL main camera, 12 megapixels, time lapse, slow motion, video effects, 4K video
• Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz), HT80 MIMO(2x2) 620Mbps, Dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, Mobile hotspot, Bluetooth®: v4.2, A2DP, LE, apt-X, ANT+, USB 2.0, NFC
• In-body wireless charging (WPC1.1(4.6W Output) & PMA 1.0(4.2W)
• 3000 mAh Li-Ion battery, extreme power saving mode, fast charging in one hour up to 70 percent
• Water proof, IP68 standard
• Dimensions - 142.4x69.6x7.9 mm, weight - 152 grams

Contents of delivery

• Telephone
• Charger (Fast Adaptive Charge) with USB cable
• USB adapter, microUSB-USB
• Instruction
• Wired stereo headset
• Clip for SIM tray

Positioning

In 2015, there was a reshuffle inside Samsung that affected the positioning of devices, the schedule for their release, and what the company does. In particular, they went on an experiment for flagships when they abandoned memory cards (Apple doesn’t have it, and no one complains!), They made the cases monolithic, and this scared many consumers away. The fact that two models appeared on the market at once - S6 and S6 EDGE, in the same case size, but one with a side edge, and the second without, confused the situation even more.

The very first sales showed that the fashion EDGE is in overwhelming demand, while the simple S6 is not so popular. The difference in demand did not affect the total sales volume, but rather their distribution in the S6/S6 EDGE pair. The shortage at EDGE was noticeable during the first three months, the company did not have time to produce matrices for them and was forced to start additional production.

But then something happened that was supposed to happen, the S6 with a flat screen took its toll, this device, due to the price, pulled over sales. For example, in Russia the cost of S6 is about 35 thousand rubles in the basic version, while a similar EDGE costs 10-12 thousand more. On the Russian market, it was S6 that became the most massive flagship on Android, one of the best-selling models from Samsung. I am sure that the same will happen with the S7 over time, this device has a large life cycle and over time and with price adjustments will gain more and more fans.

What is the beauty of this model? For me, the screen is always a priority in a phone, you get used to a large diagonal quickly, and it's hard to refuse it. Last year I had a pair of two phones - S6 EDGE and Note, then smoothly moved to Note 5 and EDGE Plus. It so happened that my choice settled on two flagships with a large screen diagonal. In addition to the screen, the main reason was the operating time, the “small” EDGE did not allow me to comfortably survive until the evening, despite the fact that it was the second device, in pair with the big Note. It is clear that my scenario of using the phone is different from the vast majority of people, I use smartphones to the fullest, I have different devices connected to them, a wireless headset, a hands-free kit and various sensors.

But many people use only one device and at the same time they do not want it to be large, they strive for compactness. In my opinion, the golden mean of the modern market is 5 inches, this is the vast majority of smartphones sold, about half of all devices in the world come out in this diagonal. And this is precisely the Galaxy S7, which offers the very golden mean.

Who is interested in this phone? First of all, these are those who change from the iPhone and strive to keep the body compact, but at the same time get more battery life and a better screen. Going from Samsung's previous generation of sixes doesn't make much sense, unless you've got extra cash and itching to see a model out there that's better in a lot of ways. Among the flagships, the S7 looks like a balanced solution, on the one hand, this is a typical price for the basic version (the most affordable flagship of 2016), on the other hand, the maximum technology and noticeably improved ergonomics of the solution. Despite my love for phablets, I now again consider the S7 as the second phone paired with the S7 EDGE / S6 EDGE Plus, since it is more compact and at the same time is not inferior to its older brothers in anything other than the screen diagonal.

Design, body materials

Time passes, and yesterday's ideas of beauty evaporate like fog. Remember, until recently we considered thin devices with a thickness of one and a half centimeters, but this was some ten years ago. Exactly the same situation with what is considered a compact phone today, in my opinion, these are models with a diagonal of 4.5-4.7 inches, while the most popular are devices with a screen of 5 inches. And gradually, people are switching to such phones, considering their size to be convenient, today this is the majority of smartphones on the market. The same S7 fits perfectly into the cohort of such devices, has a good size for them - 142.4x69.6x7.9 mm, weight - 152 grams.

Ergonomics of the device is what we worked on day and night, the impressions of the model in comparison with the S6 vary greatly. This device fits in the hand like a glove. Compared to the S7 EDGE, by not having a bevelled front edge like it does, you feel the S7 is much more comfortable. No slippage in hand, lays down like it's always been there. Of course, these impressions are individual, someone may not like the device, it all depends on your habits and hand size. But it suited me perfectly. And most importantly, there are no difficulties in dialing a number with one hand on the go, this is quite possible without acrobatic numbers.

Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge

Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S6 Edge

For Samsung in 2015, the redesign of the flagships was successful, now they are all built on a metal frame, have a back surface of Corning Gorilla Glass 4. In 2016, nothing changes, except that the glass on the front and back becomes 2.5D ( this is fashion and only, now all companies make such rounded glasses). Samsung, in order to position itself differently from competitors, calls 3D glass, for this they have a reason, no one uses such bends for Gorilla Glass 4 in their products.

As you can see, outwardly these smartphones completely repeat the flagships of 2015, it will be difficult to see the differences. Moreover, the same A-series of 2016 looks similar to these devices, only the colors will differ, due to them they will try to emphasize older models. But it is difficult in life to distinguish the saturation of the color of the case, to notice what kind of apparatus a person uses. A successful design, which is reproduced in a dozen models, quickly becomes boring. And, perhaps, it is this moment that will stop many, people will find that it will be difficult to stand out with the help of such an apparatus. As I see the situation, Samsung switched to a two-year design cycle, like Apple, but decided to play the opposite, that is, change the look of handsets not in the same year as Apple. This year, the iPhone 7 will get a different look, but the Galaxy S7 will resemble its predecessor.

From the point of view of color schemes, the black (Black Onyx) phone looks more interesting, the gold color is somewhat boring in the previous model. And most people order the phone in black or silver, it's also good.

In total, these colors are still available, but they will not appear in all markets at the same time.

Now a few words about dreams about a collapsible case. It is not and will not be in this model, the design itself does not involve replacing the battery yourself. But this can be done at any service center. The second point is water protection. Just like in the Galaxy S5, it returns to Samsung devices, and to all flagships. The protection standard is IP68, phones can be drowned, and nothing will come of it. There is an impregnation of the components on the board with a special solution that repels water (it is used in Motorola phones), but the design itself does not allow water to get inside, there are special membranes on the speakers and microphones.

And this is how they protected the microUSB connector so that water does not get inside, and if this still happens from a blow, then there is a special controller that prevents a short circuit.

All metal surfaces have undergone additional anti-corrosion treatment. In the picture you see the painted parts, which are additionally protected from water.

We did an IP68 test and the phone passed it with ease. There are no problems with it, watch the video. I want to note right away that in order for the speakers to not sound muffled after water, it is necessary that the device is dry, this is a simple logic, which for some reason is not clear to certain people.

Pay attention to how the tray for the SIM card and memory card is arranged, it has a rubberized insert, which is lower than the top edge. As a result, dust from pockets quickly accumulates here, but it does not penetrate inside the phone. The peculiarity of its protection is affected. Someone may not like it from an aesthetic point of view, but there are no problems with this, since dust does not penetrate into the case, it cannot get there.

The case has grown slightly in size, both as a result of the larger battery in the S7 and a different frame design, made stronger to withstand serious drops (6013 aluminum alloy). I have absolutely no complaints about the resistance to drops for the latest generations of Galaxy. Immediately, the location of the components and parts of the phone was completely recalculated to ensure even greater survival and safety of the glasses that cover the screen and the back surface. There are no miracles in the world, and you can break any device, but users of the Galaxy / Note line know that they have very reliable devices that are difficult to break.

Of the minuses of the black version, I note the speaker grille, which is also painted black. The paint wears off in a few weeks in the pocket, white metal appears. In the golden color of the case, this is simply imperceptible, it seems that everything is correct, but here it is clearly visible. In my opinion, this is a clear drawback, but it cannot be called critical.

Overall, the S7 is very good in terms of materials and feel. Fits perfectly in the hand, good in pockets.

In order for the device not to heat up, a special cooling system was created inside. Look at her description.

Type of memory, RAM, memory cards

When Samsung started refusing to manufacture its flagships with memory cards, the company reasoned that the memory capacity of 32, 64 and 128 GB is enough in theory for any person. In practice, the company got confused in logistics, and 32 GB devices appeared first, then 64 GB, but 128 GB models turned out to be difficult to find, and few were produced. This is a fundamental difference from Apple, where you can buy a device with any amount of memory and they are always in stock. Therefore, the experiment inside Samsung was considered unsuccessful, and the groan of consumers turned out to be so loud that all Samsung top managers felt it.

Apparently, in order to please people, you must first take something away from them. This happened with memory cards, they were removed in 2015 and they realized what a mistake it was in 2016. Now memory cards are back in all flagships, you can use them in almost any size. The 200 GB card is recognized and works. Later, support for 2 TB memory cards may appear, there are no reasons not to do this, there are no technical restrictions.

The main models will be those that offer 32 GB of internal memory, while devices with 64 GB will not be very common. I think that there is nothing wrong with this, and users will choose just such solutions.

Since Samsung smartphones use fast UFS 2.0 memory, the company had to abandon the Android 6 proprietary function, combining memory cards and internal memory into a single array. This is necessary for those who are not going to use their memory card somewhere else, but only in one phone. The risks of this are quite large, if the memory card fails, you will lose most of your data, if not all of it, except for what is stored in the cloud.

As a result, Samsung decided to make an intermediate solution. You get 24 GB of space out of 32 GB, while 8 GB contains the system and space for working with external memory, for example, it is used as a buffer for video recording, cache and other system functions. But, as before, you can transfer most of the applications to a memory card without storing them in the internal memory of the smartphone. As a result, there are no de facto restrictions, you can use your smartphone as you please.

RAM has not changed in type, these are chips built on 20 nm technology, we first saw them a year ago. The peak data transfer rate is 3.2 Gb / s, which can be considered the maximum speed in mobile devices in the next year, or even a year and a half. The amount of RAM has grown to 4 GB.

The memory manager that appeared in the previous generation and caused complaints from many users that it unloaded applications from the memory remained. But they added an operating mode in which the latest applications are kept in RAM, unloading them only when necessary. That is, a sort of mixed mode has turned out: while memory is not required, applications hang in it, and as soon as it is needed, they go into the buffer.

But due to the speed of the processor, the load time for applications from the cache has been reduced by at least half, it seems that they are hanging in memory. Visually, and on sensations, this is a big increase in the speed of work in this aspect.

Chipset and performance

In 2015, Samsung abandoned the use of Qualcomm in their flagships, the processors were very hot and had many flaws. In particular, it was the Snapdragon 810, which Qualcomm was able to finalize only a year after the first samples. This processor and Samsung's abandonment of it brought Qualcomm stock down and even caused a wave of layoffs and a reorganization of the chipset maker.

Until 2015, the prevailing stereotype said that the Exynos versions of the flagships were noticeably worse than their counterparts on Qualcomm. Often this was not the case, they were equivalent from the point of view of the average consumer. Qualcomm has traditionally had stronger LTE modems than in Samsung's own solutions. In 2016, the difference is leveled even more, as modems on Exynos also received an update and began to work better. Are they inferior to Qualcomm? I think yes. Do you notice this difference in real life? I think no.

The vast majority of countries will receive Samsung flagships on the Exynos version, and not on the Qualcomm 820. Operators who, for some reason, want to get the Qualcomm version, do so consciously and for their own reasons. Of the minuses of the Qualcomm version, I note about 10 percent less time in various modes, which, with the same performance, looks like a huge difference. Also, less integration of the Qualcomm chipset with the Samsung camera may affect the speed of the autofocus (but you probably won't notice it). The predominant version of the flagships will be the one that uses the Exynos 8890 inside.

Depending on the operator and / or the chipset used, the letters in the model markings will differ, the standard name is SM-G930. Let's dwell a little on this processor. So, it is made according to the 14 nm FinFET process technology, it has eight cores, as well as a new MALI T880 MP12 graphics coprocessor. In the graphics area, the processor is claimed to be 80 percent faster than the MALI-T760 and energy efficient by 40 percent at maximum load.

Among the interesting features of the chipset, I would like to note support for LTE cat.12/13, which ensures data download at speeds up to 600 Mbps (a 1 GB movie can be downloaded in one minute if your operator supports these categories). Check out the infographic dedicated to this processor.

In synthetic benchmarks, the Exynos version shows better performance.

The S7 wins in the tests, it is the fastest device at the moment (my phones are on Exynos). Look at the test results.

I want to separately note that the new processor is very fast. In every sense, this is one of the best processors on the market, and at the same time it has good energy efficiency, reduced power consumption, which, together with other technical solutions, makes these models very interesting.

The phone also has an additional Exynos M1 processor, which is responsible for calculating movements. Devoting a separate, specialized processor to this is justified. At the moment, S Health has an erroneous step count when moving in a car, shaking is perceived as walking. This oversight will be corrected in the coming months.

Display

The phone has a SuperAMOLED screen, 5.1 inches, QHD resolution. There is simply nothing better on the market, and the fact that all companies are trying to switch to AMOLED and are ready to buy screens outdated by several generations from Samsung only speaks of how good this technology is.

DisplayMate traditionally conducted a study of screens in S7 / S7 EDGE, and the result is quite interesting, the previous leader in the face of S6 EDGE Plus lost the crown, the latest generation displays were named the best screens in mobile devices, nothing better simply exists in the world. , it is quite detailed and thorough.

Let's focus on a few technologies, each of which is not obvious, but improves the use of these devices in everyday life. So, let's start with how the screens behave in bright sunlight. The S7 has no problems with this, no glare, no reflections, the brightness in automatic mode can be set to such a level that you will see bright and colorful colors, all screen content will be readable. But it depends on your preferences, however, more on that later.

Now let's imagine the unimaginable. Many people use sunglasses in the summer, many of them have polarized lenses. The problem with most screens in portable electronics is that they are hard to see, especially in a normal, vertical orientation. The screen of the same iPhone 6/6s becomes darker than it really is. Flip the screen to landscape orientation and it will appear lighter. Miracle? Just the arrangement of the elements.

The screen for the Galaxy S7 took care of this "little thing" and placed the polarizing filter at an angle of 45 degrees, so that no matter how you look at the screen with glasses, the picture remains bright. This is the first device on the market in which even such trifles for the screen have been thought out.

Another thing that has changed for the screens and appears for the first time in the S7/S7 EDGE is the personal auto-brightness setting. What does it mean? How can setup be personal and automatic at the same time? The answer lies in the fact that we are all different and perceive the brightness of screens, their colors and other parameters differently. Samsung has implemented an intelligent system that evaluates the level of ambient light and what lighting options we choose, which we consider a comfortable level for ourselves. And this data is used in order to subsequently adjust the backlight in a way that is convenient for you. It is enough to use both manual backlight adjustment and automatic for about one week, so that the phone understands what you like and works in automatic mode. I absolutely love this feature as it predicts what I want to see, what the brightness of the screen should be in different conditions.

The screen also has an Always On mode, when the time is constantly shown, as an option, a picture or a calendar, and you can choose topics in which these images will differ.

This is just a wonderful feature, because, unlike competitors, the picture is displayed in color, it is always visible, both at night and during the day, and is quite bright. For those who are afraid that this will affect the operating time of the device, on S7 EDGE 12 hours of display operation in this mode consumes from 1 to 2% of the battery (depending on external lighting conditions, the picture changes in brightness automatically). This is nothing, but you always have a clock in front of your eyes, and this sharply distinguishes this phone from all others.

Cameras - front and back

The front camera has a resolution of 5 megapixels, light sensitivity has been slightly increased. The screen itself can act as a flash. It is possible to improve complexion, remove artifacts on the skin, and at the same time correct the geometry of the face. Face enhancers will definitely appeal to girls.

But there is no intrigue here, everything is clear and familiar. The intrigue lies in what happened to the main camera, because in S6 its resolution was 16 megapixels, and in S7/S7 EDGE the camera suddenly became 12 megapixels.

The Galaxy S7/S7 EDGE uses the Sony IMX260 camera module (previously IMX240), which was created specifically for Samsung. On the Sony website, such products usually do not receive descriptions, moreover, they cannot be bought by other manufacturers.

I did not manage to find a sane description of the IMX260, and this is not so important, since the main innovations were explained during the presentation of the Galaxy S7. So, the company increased the lens aperture f/1.7 (f/1.9 a year earlier), while also increasing the pixel size to 1.4 microns, which makes it possible to get more information on the matrix. In Britecell, the pixel size is one micron, and it immediately turns out that this technology is not used in the IMX260, judging by the information that we had before. But everything is not so clear, let's try to figure it out.

To begin with, the S7 is the first device on the market that has focusing over the entire area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe matrix, that is, one hundred percent of the pixels are involved in phase detection autofocus.

But, perhaps, the most important thing is the increased clarity and brightness of the picture (although, to be honest, I don’t know which is better, the current flagships shoot very well). Here increased the possibility of shooting in the evening and in the dark. There are new scenes and plots, camera settings. Samsung was able to improve the camera, although it seemed that it was impossible to do so.

Photo examples

Comparison with S6 Edge+

S7 edge	S6 Edge+

For example, the “Food” mode has appeared, this is a kind of filter in which the background is blurred, note that on the left there is a picture without a filter, on the right - with it.

Ordinary	Food Mode

For video recording, a slow-motion mode has appeared, as well as a time-lapse, examples of which you can see in the video below.

And here is an example of a regular video on this camera.

From year to year, I say that Samsung flagships shoot better and better, they are very high quality. And I'm tired of constantly answering the question on social networks, what this picture was taken for. In S7/S7 EDGE, the camera has become even better, which makes these devices the undisputed leaders. Now the time has expanded when you can be guaranteed to get a high-quality picture, this is not only a day, but also twilight, evening. In short, the camera is, as before, one of the strengths of these devices.

extracurricular reading

Battery

Slightly increased dimensions are associated, among other things, with the battery capacity - 3000 mAh. The operating time of the device is always a combination of factors, in particular, the stability and optimization of software, the quality of components, and the power consumption of the screen. It is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to consider the operating time in isolation from these parameters.

A typical scenario for using a modern smartphone involves running various programs in the background, not only browsing pages, but connecting a wireless headset, and so on. Everyone has their own use case, for example, I use phones to the fullest - take pictures, listen to podcasts on a wireless headset, watch social networks, movies, web pages, every fifteen minutes I receive mail from different mailboxes. My EDGE Plus lives with three to three and a half hours of screen operation from morning to late evening with about 70 percent backlight. And this is a good indicator. For many, the operating time of this device is an average of two days. Some manage to make it work for up to three days, and say that this is enough for them for active use. It should be noted here that the word “active” is different for everyone, everyone puts their own worldview into it.

For S7, I get a full day, from morning to evening, there are no restrictions here. The screen time with automatic backlighting is from 3.5 to 4.5 hours (brightness is 50-60%, which is quite noticeable, this is considered full brightness by competitors). It is the operating time that becomes one of the advantages compared to the S6 / S6 EDGE.

The video playback time at maximum brightness is from 13 to 14 hours on average (the radio module is not disabled).

The phone has two built-in wireless charging standards, you can use any. There is support for fast wireless charging. There is also fast wired charging - in 90 minutes you will charge the device to 100 percent. It takes less than half an hour to get half a charge. Many flagships from other companies can only dream of such a fast charging technology that saves you, even if you forgot to charge your device in the morning, it only takes a few minutes in the morning.

The most important improvement of the current flagships, and indeed of all 2016 models from Samsung, is the increased battery life. A gigantic work has been done here, and it should be noted. On average, they will work 1.5-2 times longer than previous devices of the same segment. The reason is the increase in battery capacity, but also the optimization of software and hardware.

A few words about the microUSB connector, which the progressive part of humanity has already decided to send to the scrap and is waiting for USB Type C. Personally, I am tired of carrying a second cable, I constantly forget it, and therefore some phones I only charge at home, where there are such cables. The value of Type C is still greatly overestimated, such a connector is needed by a small audience that considers itself technology enthusiasts. Therefore, it was not used in mass products. A gradual transition to it will begin in the fall of 2016, and even then, this is an issue that has not been fully resolved. Samsung has now considered that the compatibility of all accessories is much more important than the support of a fashion trend.

Speaking of AMOLED, Exynos and battery life. Meizu Pro 5 used this combination of components from Samsung to achieve maximum battery life in its flagship. Other companies are starting to learn from Samsung, it's becoming a trend.

USB, Bluetooth, communication capabilities

Bluetooth version 4.2, it was created for the Internet of things and works great with various sensors. Otherwise, there are no special changes, new profiles have appeared, energy consumption has improved. Let me remind you that there is something interesting in the new standard.

Firstly, this is an extended range, which can reach several tens of meters, depending on the settings of the devices and how the manufacturer configured this option. Secondly, the IP protocol is used for addressing, that is, devices now have their own unique addresses and communication with many such devices is supported.

From the technical points, the interaction of Bluetooth and LTE has been improved, now within the same device the operation of these technologies is synchronized, mutual interference is not created (for our LTE frequencies it is irrelevant). Plus, Bluetooth devices can now access the cloud and transfer their results directly, bypassing the companion device, as was necessary before.

USB connection. USB 2.0 is used here, that is, the data transfer rate is about 20 Mb / s. These are not theoretical, but real results on devices. They may differ depending on the operating system and the computer you are connecting your phone to. Both up and down.

WiFi. 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac is supported, the wizard is similar to that for Bluetooth. You can remember the selected networks, automatically connect to them. It is possible to set up a connection to the router with one touch, for this you need to press a key on the router, and also activate a similar button in the device's menu (WPA SecureEasySetup). Of the additional options, it is worth noting the setup wizard, it appears when the signal is weak or disappears. You can also set Wi-Fi to work on a schedule.

For 802.11n, HT40 mode of operation is supported, allowing you to double the Wi-Fi throughput (requires support from another device).

WiFi Direct. A protocol that aims to replace Bluetooth or compete with its third version (it also uses Wi-Fi version n to transfer large files). In the Wi-Fi settings menu, select the Wi-Fi Direct section, the phone starts searching for devices around. Select the desired device, activate the connection on it, and voila. Now in the file manager you can view files on another device, as well as transfer them. Another option is to simply find the devices connected to your router and transfer the necessary files to them, this can be done from the gallery or other sections of the phone. The main thing is that the device supports Wi-Fi Direct.

WiFi repeater.

It is impossible to write a review when you use the phone for a few minutes at the company's booth and this device is not your main one. Then there are materials that lack many "chips" that the manufacturer himself did not talk about, just as others did not find them. I am constantly working with the Galaxy S7, I have already discovered many “little things” that distinguish Samsung flagships from other Android smartphones and will later become part of Android itself. I want to talk about one of these chips.

Usually, when you turn on the hotspot on your phone, it instantly turns off Wi-Fi, you can’t use both at the same time.

On the Galaxy S7/S7 EDGE, I suddenly found that when Wi-Fi is turned on, it connects to the wireless network, but your hotspot does not turn off. There are two icons in the status bar.

Further - more and even more interesting. All phones connected to the Galaxy S7 start using its Wi-Fi connection instead of its mobile data connection. Until now, the Wi-Fi router scenario in mobile phones has never been used so widely.

Who might need it and why? For example, when traveling, I very often encounter a limit on the number of connected devices in hotels. With the help of the Galaxy S7 features, these restrictions on the number of devices are a thing of the past, now I am writing a text, and a dozen of my phones are hanging on one connection through the Galaxy S7 EDGE. And most importantly, I don’t need to waste time at all and enter my last name, room number and postal address on each one. Same story in restaurants, cafes, and other places where I can share my connection without having to enter Wi-Fi settings on each device. Cool? Undoubtedly.

Another question is that this function is not so necessary for the vast majority of people. At home, this is an opportunity to distribute your Internet to those corners of the apartment where your router does not finish off. At the same time, check whether it is worth buying a regular Wi-Fi repeater and whether it will work.

As always, I think it's better to have additional features in the device that are not required so often, but when they are needed, you will be grateful for them than not to have such features. Do you need a Wi-Fi repeater function?

NFC. The device has NFC technology, it can be used with various additional applications.

S Beam. A technology that allows you to transfer a file of several gigabytes to another phone in a few minutes. In fact, we see in S Beam a combination of two technologies - NFC and Wi-Fi Direct. The first technology is used to bring and authorize phones, but the second is used to transfer the files themselves. The creatively redesigned way to use Wi-Fi Direct is much easier than using the connection on two devices, selecting files, and so on.

Software - Android 6, TouchWiz and more

Inside Android 6.0.1, current flagships and two-year-old models will receive the same software, either at the same time or a little later than the S7/S7 EDGE will go on sale. As before, this device has TouchWiz, but it has been heavily redesigned for the style of Android, and now the whole system is perceived as very airy and light, everything looks organic together. The speed of the UI is excellent, it flies, there are simply no brakes. Again, it all depends on personal perception, someone sees the brakes in what other people consider instantaneous.

There are a lot of chips in the software, it will be necessary to tell about them separately, which I did, read full review and watch a video about this software.

Additional accessories

For these models, a new wireless charger will be available, it differs from the old one in that it has a 50-degree tilt and you can put your phone on it. There will be leather bumpers (leather back) as well as a case with two interchangeable lenses.

From what I managed to try, I will note standard book cases, including those with an LED screen. Look at the pictures of these accessories, then you can also watch the video where I explain and show you how they work.

Comparison with Galaxy S6

Samsung prepared an infographic showing why the new device is better than the S6, everything is very clear in it.

Impression

There are no complaints about the quality of speech reproduction, call volume, these devices are excellent, perhaps, their radio path quality is one of the best on the market. And this has long become a kind of mania, Samsung is finishing off what is already so good. However, as we saw in the review, they do this for many components of their flagships.

It is a thankless task to evaluate new devices by pictures or even photographs. In the case of the S7/S7 EDGE, it is doubly ungrateful. It seems to be the same materials, the same design, but you need to take the device in your hand to realize the difference. And it is not in favor of the previous generation. These devices need to be touched live and see how they work, how responsive the menu is, how the camera shoots, and it is advisable to do this at dusk in order to realize the differences.

We are accustomed to the fact that each new generation of Samsung flagships provides new technologies and sets the bar for performance, as well as what can be built into devices. Today these are the most functional solutions of all, but last year the refusal of memory cards upset many. Now this shortcoming has been corrected, and everything is back to normal. But they also added enhanced shock protection, IP68 protection against drowning. Plus, they increased the battery and optimized the system in such a way that the operating time increased by 1.5-2 times. All this together suggests that the models turned out to be not very successful, but super-successful.

The new camera module gives a great result, it's a breakthrough in a direction where no one expected major improvements. I did not expect that the difference would be visible in real life. And this is a serious claim to maintain its advantage in this area, other devices are approaching Samsung in terms of the photo part, but they still cannot catch up.

From an engineering point of view, these devices are small masterpieces, stuffed with the latest technology and made them work. What are the improvements in the display, which are not visible, but make our life better and easier. It is not superfluous to note that other companies, and primarily Apple, reach the use of such technologies only years later, they simply do not have the opportunity to do something similar. They are too far behind in development, and this can be seen in almost every piece of hardware. I have a very positive perception of the new flagships, and the fact that the previous generation dispersed well in Russia says a lot about the changed orientations of people during the crisis. The same S6, thanks to its affordable price, has become the most popular flagship, followed by the iPhone 5s 16 GB. The choice of a three-year-old model remains a mystery to me, but people see some sense in this. But everything is gradually changing, slowly and confidently, ordinary people are realizing what fast charging is in real life, what high-quality screens look like, and why Android gives freedom of use. I have no doubt that the seventh generation of Galaxy will be very successful, there are all the prerequisites for this, the devices turned out to be interesting.

The cost of S7 is 49,990 rubles, this is the most affordable flagship of the latest generation, the price has not changed compared to how the S6 came out a year ago. You can choose S7 EDGE as an alternative to this device.

Considering that the S7 EDGE comes out at a price of 59,990 rubles, this can be considered an additional payment for a larger screen, battery and a better image component.

The choice between S7 and S7 EDGE is obvious, I like the older model more, it looks more interesting. Another thing is that, perhaps, you are an adherent of more compact sizes.

But as a final word, I can say that Samsung has turned out models that are head and shoulders above the competition, and they are not just solid, they are the best on the market today. And without compromise.

Samsung is the most worthy competitor to Apple. The devices of this Korean brand are in great demand and popularity among users. The Samsung Galaxy S7 is no exception. The smartphone will appeal to lovers of minimalism and huge possibilities in one device. The Samsung Galaxy S7 is a "pumped" version of the Galaxy S6, as it has absorbed all its advantages and got rid of its shortcomings.

Samsung Galaxy S7 Package Contents

The Samsung Galaxy S7 package includes:

• smartphone;
• Charger;
• USB cable with adapters;
• instruction;
• corporate headset;
• clip for the SIM tray.

Appearance and dimensions of the Samsung Galaxy S7

Samsung Galaxy S7 received a new color scheme for products in this series. The entire body is made in soothing shades. It is completely matte and does not have the "metallic" effect that was observed in the S6. The user can choose one of the following color variations:

• Gold Platinum;
• Silver Titanium;
• Black Onyx;
• White Peral.

The main camera no longer protrudes above the surface of the body. The Home key is made of matte plastic and is much softer to press. It is located on the same level with the building itself. The power and volume buttons have become narrow and user-friendly.

The main dimensions of the device:

• Length - 142.4 mm;
• Width - 69.6 mm;
• Thickness - 8 mm.

Samsung Galaxy S7 display

In normal mode, the matrix is ​​​​not much different from the old model Galaxy S6. The image is clear and bright. In the "Basic" mode, the user will be able to apply many settings related to the quality of the picture displayed on the display.

The main feature of the Samsung Galaxy S7 is the always-on display. All indicators are displayed in black and white and do not disappear from the smartphone screen. Super AMOLED technology allows you to save a significant amount of energy. Thus, when black is displayed, the smartphone does not consume battery power.

Samsung Galaxy S7 display specifications:

• Diagonal - 5.1 inches;
• The maximum resolution is 2560x1440 pixels;
• Brightness level - up to 340 cd / m ^ 2;
• Color coverage - 100% sRGB;
• Gamma - 2.4;
• Color temperature - 6600 K.

The sound of the Samsung Galaxy S7

For professional work with audio files, such a device, unfortunately, will not work, but the gadget does an excellent job with telephone conversations. If we compare the Galaxy S7 and S6 in everyday tasks, then their sound is almost identical and is not satisfactory.

Components Samsung Galaxy S7

CPU

Samsung decided to install the best CPU for mobile devices in this device, which is called Snapgradon 820. For users from Europe and Russia, models with Samsung's proprietary Exynos 8890 CPU will be provided. It received custom high-performance Mongoose cores. Thanks to the new process technology, the processor has become fast, cool and economical.

Graphics adapter

The video adapter of this gadget, like the processor, is one of the best and can easily cope with all the gaming innovations. For maximum performance, the Samsung Galaxy S7 has a top-end Mali-T880 MP12 video accelerator from ARM. The new video adapter is 80% faster than the one installed in the Galaxy S6. The level of gaming performance outperforms even the iPhone 6S.

RAM and internal storage

The developers decided not to make any special changes in the storage subsystem of the device. The RAM, as it was 4 GB in the Galaxy S6, remained new. Its volume is enough for all the tasks performed on the smartphone.

Samsung decided to bring back the ability to install a micro-SD drive. The developers say that although internal memory such as UFS 2.0 is much faster than a regular "flash drive", an additional removable drive can be useful in some situations.

32 GB is provided for storing important data. In addition, the memory can be expanded with a micro-SD card up to 200 GB.

Additional modules

Equally important to a good smartphone is the ability to have reliable wireless connectivity. Samsung Galaxy S7 has one of the best Wi-Fi and 4G modules. Data transfer speed at the highest level.

Also, the new model has the opportunity - relaying a Wi-Fi signal. The user will be able to use his gadget as a mobile router.

Samsung Galaxy S7 cameras

The main feature of its main camera is Dual Pixel technology. The speed of working with photos is excellent. The user can instantly focus the lens and take a photo. There are no delays and freezes when shooting.

The camera of the Samsung Galaxy S7 smartphone has the following shooting modes:

• Auto;
• Professional;
• Selective focus;
• Panorama;
• Video collage;
• Live Stream;
• Slow motion;
• Virtual shooting;
• Hyperlapse.

A huge plus is the ability to stream to YouTube using only the built-in functions of the smartphone.

Operating system Samsung Galaxy S7

The Galaxy S7 has the ability to work in dual-window mode. In order to open two applications at the same time on the same screen, you need to hold down the "Menu" button.

The new operating system is specially optimized for gaming. The user can turn off any notifications during the game, block the system buttons or prevent the application from being unloaded from the device's RAM.

Powering the Samsung Galaxy S7

The operating time of the flagship is really impressive. With active use, its charge is enough for more than a day, with passive use - 2-3 days.

All Samsung phones that went on sale in 2016 have seen noticeably longer battery life thanks to larger batteries and software optimizations.

The smartphone also has two built-in wireless charging standards. For a full recharge, the user will need to devote no more than 1.5 hours of his time.

Advantages and disadvantages of the Samsung Galaxy S7

• Classic design;
• Support for fast and wireless charging;
• Curved display with Super AMOLED technology;
• Long battery life;
• Support for memory cards;
• High performance.

• Mark Corps;
• Combo slot for nano-SIM and microSD;
• Non-removable battery.

The average cost of Samsung Galaxy S7 is 60,000 rubles.

Watch the video review of the Samsung Galaxy S7 smartphone below:

Part 2: Examining the screen, camera, battery life and other features in detail

We continue the story about the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. In the first part of the article, the performance of the device was tested in detail, and its design was also described. Now we will study other key aspects, first of all, the quality of the screen and camera, battery life. And finally, we will share with you the experience of using a smartphone in extreme conditions.

Screen

As we already noted in the first part of the article, in the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, the manufacturer decided to rely on the average screen size - less than in the Galaxy S6 Edge +, but more than in the Galaxy S6 Edge. At the same time, the resolution remained ultra-high (2560×1440). And visually, the screen really makes an excellent impression. Instrumental testing of the display was carried out by Alexey Kudryavtsev, editor of the "Projectors and TV" section. Below is his conclusion.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, resistant to scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the screen of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the off screens (on the left is the Nexus 7, on the right is the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is slightly darker (the brightness of the photos is 103 versus 111 for the Nexus 7, the glare curved edges of the tested screen are excluded) and does not have a pronounced tint. The ghosting of reflected objects on the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is very weak, which indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen. Due to the smaller number of borders (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, screens without an air gap look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be changed. On the outer surface of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (effective, better than the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much easier and appear at a slower rate than in the case of ordinary glass.

When displaying a white field in full screen and with manual brightness control, its maximum value was 410 cd/m², the minimum was 1.6 cd/m². You also need to take into account the fact that in this case the smaller the white area on the screen, the lighter it is, that is, the actual maximum brightness of the white areas will almost always be higher than the specified value. As a result, readability during the day in the sun should be sufficient good level. The reduced brightness level allows you to use the device without any problems even in complete darkness. Automatic brightness control works according to the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker slot). You can make adjustments to how this function works by moving the adjustment slider. Next, for the three conditions, we present the screen brightness values ​​for the three values ​​​​of this setting - for 0%, 50% and 100%. In complete darkness in automatic mode, the brightness decreases to 1.6, 7.9 and 7.9 cd / m², respectively (the first is too dark, the second and third can be normal after adaptation of the eye), in an office lit by artificial light (approximately 400 lux) brightness is set to 1.6, 130 and 405 cd/m² (dark - just right - bright, which corresponds to the specified correction), in a brightly lit environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20000 lx or a little more) - rises to 520, 540 and 540 cd / m². These values ​​are greater than the maximum with manual adjustment, and such brightness should definitely be enough to ensure that the image on the screen is well distinguished in any natural conditions. In general, the result of the automatic brightness adjustment function is as expected. Note that even with automatic brightness correction turned off in a dark environment, the smartphone does not allow you to set the brightness above 190 cd / m². At any level of brightness there is a significant modulation with a frequency of approximately 60 or 240 Hz. The figure below shows brightness (vertical axis) versus time (horizontal axis) for several brightness settings:

It can be seen that at maximum and close to it, the modulation amplitude is not very large, and as a result, there is no visible flicker. However, as the brightness decreases, modulation with a large relative amplitude appears. Therefore, the presence of such modulation can already be seen in the test for the presence of a stroboscopic effect or simply with a rapid eye movement. Depending on individual sensitivity, such flickering can cause increased fatigue.

This screen uses a Super AMOLED matrix - an active matrix on organic light emitting diodes. A full color image is created using subpixels of three colors - red (R), green (G) and blue (B), but there are twice as many green subpixels, which can be referred to as RGBG. This is confirmed by a fragment of a microphoto:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

On the fragment above, you can count 4 green subpixels, 2 red (4 halves) and 2 blue (1 whole and 4 quarters), while repeating these fragments, you can lay out the entire screen without gaps and overlap. For such matrices, Samsung introduced the name PenTile RGBG. The manufacturer considers the screen resolution based on green subpixels, on the other two it will be two times lower. The location and shape of the sub-pixels in this variant is close to the case of the Samsung Galaxy S4 screen and some other newer Samsung devices (and not only) with AMOLED screens. This version of PenTile RGBG is better than the old one with red squares, blue rectangles and stripes of green subpixels. However, some uneven contrasting borders and other artifacts are still present. However, due to the very high resolution, they have minimal effect on image quality.

The screen has excellent viewing angles. True, the white color, when deviated even at small angles, alternately acquires a light blue-green and pinkish tint, but the black color remains just black at any angle. It is so black that the contrast setting is not applicable in this case. When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the white field is excellent. For comparison, here are photos in which the screens of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (profile Basic) and the second comparison participant, the same images were displayed, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to approximately 190 cd / m², and the color balance on the camera was forcibly switched to 6500 K. White field:

Note the excellent uniformity of brightness and hue of the white field (with the exception of darkening and changing hue towards the curled edges). And a test picture (profile Basic):

The color reproduction is good, the colors are moderately saturated, the color balance of the screens is slightly different. Note that in this case, the picture occupies the height (with this screen orientation) of the entire area available for displaying the image and goes to the curved edges of the screen, which leads to darkening and color distortion. Also, in the light, these areas almost always glare, which makes it even more difficult to view images displayed in full screen. And even the picture of films with an aspect ratio of 16:9 comes to bends, which greatly interferes with watching movies. The photo above was obtained after choosing a profile Basic in the screen settings, there are four of them:

Profile adaptive display differs in some kind of automatic adjustment of color rendering to the type of displayed image and environmental conditions, which is obtained by selecting the two remaining profiles shown below.

AMOLED movie:

Saturation and color contrast are markedly increased.

Photo AMOLED:

The saturation is still high, but the color contrast is closer to normal. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen (profile AMOLED movie). White field:

The brightness at an angle on both screens has noticeably decreased (in order to avoid strong darkening, the shutter speed is increased compared to previous photos), but in the case of Samsung, the decrease in brightness is much less pronounced. As a result, with formally the same brightness, the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge visually looks much brighter (compared to LCD screens), since you often have to look at the screen of a mobile device at least at a slight angle. And a test picture:

It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens and the brightness of the Samsung at an angle is noticeably higher. Switching the state of the elements of the matrix is ​​\u200b\u200bvirtually instantaneous, but there may be a step at the front of the inclusion of about 17 ms wide (which corresponds to a screen refresh rate of 60 Hz). For example, the dependence of brightness on time looks like this when moving from black to white and vice versa:

In some conditions, the presence of such a step can lead to plumes trailing behind moving objects. However, dynamic scenes in films on OLED screens are distinguished by high definition and even some “twitchy” movements.

For profiles Photo AMOLED and Basic the gamma curve constructed from 32 points with equal intervals over the numerical value of the gray tint did not reveal any blockage either in the highlights or in the shadows, and the exponent of the approximating power function is 2.14, which is slightly less than the standard value of 2.2, while the real gamma - the curve slightly deviates from the power dependence (in the captions in parentheses are the exponent of the approximating power function and the coefficient of determination):

For profile AMOLED movie the gamma curve has a pronounced S-shaped character, which increases the apparent contrast of the image, but in the shadows the distinguishability of shades is preserved.

Recall that in the case of OLED screens, the brightness of image fragments dynamically changes in accordance with the nature of the displayed image - it decreases for images that are generally bright. As a result, the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve), most likely, does not correspond slightly to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential grayscale output almost on the entire screen.

Color gamut in profile case AMOLED movie very wide, it almost covers Adobe RGB coverage:

When choosing a profile Photo AMOLED coverage is pressed to the borders of Adobe RGB:

When choosing a profile Basic coverage is compressed to sRGB borders:

Without correction, the spectra of the components are very well separated:

In the case of a profile Basic with the maximum correction, the color components are already noticeably mixed with each other:

Note that on screens with a wide color gamut without proper color correction, normal images optimized for sRGB devices look unnaturally saturated. Hence the recommendation - in most cases, watching movies, photos and everything natural is better when choosing a profile Basic, and only if the photo was taken on an Adobe RGB setting does it make sense to switch the profile to Photo AMOLED. Profile AMOLED movie, despite the name, is the least suitable for watching movies and anything else.

The balance of shades on the gray scale is good. Profile color temperature AMOLED movie noticeably higher than 6500 K, in the remaining two it is close to 6500 K, while in a significant part of the gray scale this parameter does not change very much, which improves the visual perception of the color balance. The deviation from the black body spectrum (ΔE) remains below 10 units for most of the gray scale, which is considered a good indicator for a consumer device, and also does not change very much:

(The darkest areas of the gray scale can in most cases be ignored, as there the color balance does not of great importance, and the measurement error of color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

Let's summarize. The screen has a very high maximum brightness and has excellent anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors without any problems even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. It is permissible (and in bright light it is necessary) to use the mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works quite adequately. The advantages of the screen include a good oleophobic coating, as well as a color gamut close to sRGB and an acceptable color balance (when choosing a profile Basic). At the same time, let's recall the general advantages of OLED screens: true black color (if nothing is reflected on the screen), excellent white field uniformity, noticeably smaller than that of LCDs, and a drop in image brightness when viewed from an angle. The disadvantages include modulation of the screen brightness. Users who are particularly sensitive to flicker may experience fatigue as a result. However, overall the screen quality is very high. Separately, we note that from the point of view of image quality, curled edges are only harmful, since this design find introduces very noticeable color tone distortion and reduces brightness at the edges of the picture, and also leads to inevitable glare along at least one long side of the screen in ambient light conditions .

Video playback

We did not find the MHL interface, as well as Mobility DisplayPort, in this smartphone, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see "Methodology for testing video signal playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)"). Screen shots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p), 1920 by 1080 (1080p) and 3840 by 2160 (4K) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps). In tests, we used the MX Player video player in Hardware mode. The test results are summarized in the table:

Note: If both columns Uniformity and Passes green ratings are set, this means that, most likely, when watching movies, artifacts caused by uneven interleaving and dropping frames will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with the playback of the respective files.

According to the criteria for displaying frames, the quality of playing video files on the screen of the device itself is very good, since frames (or groups of frames) can be displayed with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without frame drops. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen, going to the bends. The clarity of the picture is high, but not ideal, since there is no escape from interpolation to the screen resolution. However, for the sake of experiment, you can switch to the one-to-one mode by pixels, there will be no interpolation, but PenTile features will appear - the vertical world through the pixel will be in the grid, and the horizontal one will be a little greenish. This is true only for viewing test worlds; the described artifacts are absent on real frames. The brightness range displayed on the screen actually corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - in the shadows and in the highlights, only a couple of shades merge with black and white, respectively.

The experience of using the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge showed that the curved edges in no way harm the image when watching a movie - you soon forget about them altogether, and the headphones do an excellent job of outputting sound: even in the conditions of road noise at low volume, the speech of the characters is legible, while your neighbors the film is not heard.

Camera

On the occasion of the release of the new flagship, Samsung decided to gather journalists and take them to the "nearest suburbs" so that they can appreciate the smartphone in harsh conditions, without being distracted by work, social networks and other machinations of dark forces. However, the nearest Moscow region, corresponding to the required harsh conditions, turned out to be the Karelian coast of the Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea - in fact, the Arctic. There, our editor of the "Digital Photo" section, Anton Solovyov, tested the smartphone's camera. Below is his detailed report.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge has been updated with a camera module as part of a general consumer improvement program, as is the case with many other features of this model. The lens now has an aperture ratio of 1:1.7, the pixels on the sensor have become even larger and have reached a size of 1.4 microns (you can even remember the "famous" HTC ultra pixels), while each has become double for faster focusing. The number of pixels was reduced to 12 million, which is the golden mean in such a form factor (suffice it to recall the history of the development of compact 1 / 2.3 ″ cameras).

However, hardware innovations had little effect on the camera menu.

An interesting feature of the camera is the presence of a manual mode, in which it is possible to shoot in RAW. In general, manual mode, like RAW, on a smartphone are far from essential tools. Moreover, the manufacturer tries to hone and bring the auto mode to the maximum, and the built-in converter often works much more adequately than third-party ones, so in most cases it is more expedient to use it for shooting.

However, in difficult lighting conditions, white balance problems can occur, which are solved by manually setting the temperature.

RAW will also be a nice bonus for those who like to tinker with processing, but do not forget that to get it, you need to turn the corresponding toggle switch in the camera settings, which is active only in Pro mode and is periodically reset after walking through other modes.

Panoramas are well implemented in the camera. Moreover, the power reserve during wiring is enough for more than 360 degrees. In addition, in the panorama mode, you can get interesting compositions if everything you would like does not fit into the frame. However, it should be borne in mind that panoramas are less clear than simple shots. Unfortunately, the HDR mode does not work when shooting panoramas, but it would be very nice.

Keeping IP68 protection in mind, you don't have to worry about your smartphone if it falls into snow or water. And although the manufacturer does not offer shooting underwater, it would be a shame to miss such a chance, because we tested it not just anywhere, but on the shores of the White Sea (more on our overall impressions of using a smartphone in extreme conditions will be discussed later). There were a lot of problems when shooting with a smartphone underwater: the sensor starts to go crazy, the volume buttons set to release are not very conveniently located, but the water is cold and salty. The first problem was solved by turning on the display after lowering it under water or by partial immersion, the second and third had to be endured, and the smartphone had to be “desalinated” after swimming in sea water in the snow. He endured all these actions with dignity.

Underwater shooting examples

Since we are talking about convenience, it is worth noting the problems when shooting with one quite standard hand. Since there was an Edge modification in use, sensitive edges had to be handled carefully. (In general, these "edges" often create some discomfort when used, although if you want, you can get used to them for the sake of design.) stops responding to pressure.

An example of a standard one-handed grip

For such cases, you can use the volume buttons in the settings and use them as a shutter button. However, they are located in such a way that it will not be very convenient for right-handers, and it is difficult to compose a frame on the remaining third of the display. In vertical orientation, there are problems with the fact that part of the index finger periodically falls into the corner of the frame.

The last option: turn the smartphone over, taking it by the top so that the volume button is under the index finger. However, this is inconvenient in terms of general use- you still have to connect the second hand to turn over. In addition, the smartphone is too thin and with such a grip strives to slip out, and fingers right hand constantly hit the lens.

	Good sharpness across the field of the frame, and the numbers of cars are distinguishable at such a twilight time.
	Good sharpness in the distance.
	There is not so much noise in the shadows, although the work of the noise reduction is visible.
	The camera pays attention to small details.
	Macro photography works well for the camera.
	The camera does a good job of capturing details in fairly complex scenes.
	With night shooting, the camera copes well, but only in manual mode.
	The sharpness across the field of the frame is not always uniform, but the blur zone at the top in this case can be attributed to composition problems.

In addition to the test in real conditions, we tested the camera on a laboratory bench according to our methodology.

The camera turned out to be quite flagship, although a little raw, which, I would like to believe, will be fixed in serial firmware. First of all, quite obvious sharpening and the presence of blur zones in very unexpected parts of the frame are embarrassing. In addition, a slight soapiness is noticeable, which, however, we are already accustomed to with Samsung smartphones. Otherwise, the camera behaves very decently and allows you to take pictures at the level of a good compact, both from the technical side and from the artistic side.

As you can see from the graph, in terms of resolution, the camera is almost at the level of its predecessors, but the overall quality of the images has undoubtedly increased, albeit not by much.

Focusing in a smartphone is implemented so well that you stop paying attention to it. Double pixels, in fact, implement the principle of phase focusing, and their presence on the entire sensor area ensures good accuracy. It's hard to say if the camera focuses much faster compared to other smartphones, but there were no problems with focusing, waiting for focus, and misses during testing. In any case, in this regard, the use of the camera did not cause discomfort, so we can say that focusing is fast enough.

I would like to note video recording separately, because this time its implementation in a smartphone really does not raise any questions. There is practically no effect of "rolling shutter", and other artifacts. The image is stable, sharp, without twitches and ripples, despite only 30 fps. Focusing in movies is as fast as it is in stills.

The smartphone has a slow motion mode that allows you to record in 720p at 240 fps with sound. When viewing, you can slow down a certain fragment. Below is a video made up of various recordings taken on a smartphone during testing.

More examples of shooting on the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge camera are presented below in the gallery.

photo gallery

Software and communications

The smartphone runs on the latest version of Android OS - 6.0.1. On top of it, a proprietary Samsung shell is installed, optimized specifically for the Edge modification. We are talking about an auxiliary menu that can be pulled out from the right side, as well as the ability to use curved edges for color alerts.

By and large, there is nothing new here compared to previous Edge, and, frankly, we still feel that all these features are more of an artificial attempt to justify the presence of curved edges and make this design find at least somewhat useful, rather than really useful features. After all, hypothetically, the same thing could be done with a conventional screen.

A much more valuable innovation is an updated file manager. Now you can easily transfer files from your smartphone to a flash drive and back without any problems, you can delete unnecessary files both from a flash drive and from a microSD card.

As befits a flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge supports all the latest technologies and communication standards, including Wi-Fi 802.11ac 5 GHz, LTE Cat.9, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, NFC, ANT+. The latter is valuable because it allows you to connect your smartphone with various fitness accessories (for example, chest heart rate monitors) using an energy-efficient protocol.

Also note that the smartphone supports two SIM-cards. At least that's what Samsung claims, but we haven't been able to verify it. In our copy (engineering sample), the slot did not allow inserting a second Nano-SIM, the space for it was slightly less than necessary. Apparently, it is necessary to attribute this to the features of an engineering sample. But if you buy a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge in a showroom, ask a consultant to show you how and where to insert a second SIM card.

Battery life and heating

The smartphone is equipped with a significantly more capacious battery than the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge - 3600 mAh versus the previous 2600 mAh. Even the larger S6 Edge+ has only 3000 mAh.

Of course, this increase has had the most positive impact on battery life: the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is one of the leaders in this regard, and it is able to operate on battery even with average active use much longer than the standard time of one day.

With active photo and video shooting in one busy day, the smartphone sat down by about 50%, working in “airplane” mode and with automatic screen brightness. Under the same conditions, watching an MP4 movie loaded into the built-in memory drains the battery by about 10% every hour.

In addition, we tested the battery life of the smartphone according to our method, with the brightness set to 100 cd/m².

As you can see, the less stressful the scenario, the better the smartphone performs. So, in the gaming scene, it is inferior to the iPhone 6s Plus in terms of battery life, and in video playback it is superior. And finally, let's pay attention to the excellent result in the reading mode. By the way, among the Android smartphones that we have ever tested, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is unrivaled in this scenario!

Below are thermal images of the back surface obtained after 10 minutes of running a battery test in the GFXBenchmark program (the lighter, the higher the temperature):

It can be seen that the heating is strongly localized above the center and close to the right edge, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was 44 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), which is above the average value in this test for modern smartphones.

Separately, it is worth noting the speed of recharging the smartphone. The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge supports QuickCharge fast charging technology and when using the included power supply (9V 1.67A) is fully charged in about an hour and a half. The device charges up to 50% in 40 minutes, half an hour is enough to fill the battery by 38%, and 15 minutes - by 22%.

During charging, both the smartphone and the power supply heat up noticeably, but this does not go beyond comfortable values, that is, you will not burn your hands.

In general, despite the situation with load modes, we can recognize the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge as one of the best (if not the best) Android smartphone in terms of battery life. And, of course, the charging speed is a very big plus compared to the iPhone, since there are cases when you urgently need to recharge your smartphone, but you have only a few minutes - especially when traveling or if you forgot to charge your smartphone at night.

conclusions

Well, we carefully got acquainted with one of the main smartphone innovations of this year, tested it both in the laboratory and in real life (and under extreme conditions). Based on the results of studying the device, we can safely admit that at the moment this is the real pinnacle of “smartphone construction”. The device combines innovation, practicality and uncompromisingness in almost all respects. By the fourth model in the Edge line (and the third among the S Edge), Samsung found an almost perfect ratio of screen diagonal and body size, equipped the smartphone with support for memory cards and two SIM cards, and was also able to implement full-fledged moisture protection without sacrificing the dimensions of the device or external view (no plugs - hello Sony!). On top of that, the battery capacity has grown significantly, and now this is one of the best smartphones in terms of battery life.

The curvature of the screen and its functional application, of course, still remain controversial points (for the convenience of everyday use, this is more of a minus than a plus), but it cannot be argued that this feature makes the Samsung smartphone unique, which is perhaps really valuable in our clone time. And advanced photography capabilities and top performance make the new product an ideal choice for enthusiasts. Of course, all this could not but affect the cost: Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge with a price tag of 60 thousand rubles occupies the highest price category. However, it is also cheaper than the iPhone 6s Plus, even with the smallest amount of internal memory. And therefore, it is a very, very formidable competitor to the flagship of the apple company.

Finally, we bring to your attention a video review, where we share the main impressions of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and clearly demonstrate some of its features (including water resistance).

P.S. For the perfect combination of looks and design functionality (above all, the implementation of water resistance), we award the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge with our Editorial Original Design Award: