Samsung Galaxy S7 edge review: Bigger and better in nearly every way

The Galaxy S7 Edge is not about gimmicks — it’s about being a sincerely superb cell phone.

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The quick take

Samsung is undeniably putting its advertising power at the back of the “aspect” model of the Galaxy S7. It’s larger, flashier, and extra steeply-priced than the standard cellphone, and it’s for those who want to face out from the group simply a piece greater. Compared to the compact Galaxy S7, the bigger size of the GS7 aspect goes to purpose issues for some people. Still, if you need the raise in the battery, head-turning curved display screen, and the handful of greater software program functions, the Galaxy S7 aspect is the one to get. Over the beyond five years, innovation in the phone international has moved at a relentless pace. In terms of external layout, aspect strength, and general consumer enjoy, you can not argue that the phones nowadays are exponentially higher than those from just 5 years ago. With such super advances in such a lot of regions, consumers do not anticipate simply new and interesting characters in keeping with product release … they want the entirety to enhance. At first glance, it appears as though Samsung’s approach with the Galaxy S7 part is at odds with its customer needs. Physically, it is not unlike the Galaxy S6 edge+, which was additionally launched just six months in the past — it has totally similar steel and glass substances, a comparable screen size, and an equal twin curved display. At the equal time, many capabilities are unchanged — you get speedy internals, a top-notch display screen, wi-fi charging, and a familiar software program.

But what if there wasn’t all that a great deal within the Galaxy S6 side and S6 side+ that had to be modified within the first vicinity? Why alternate things to appear like you are doing something to improve, in preference to recognition at the few areas that needed fixes? If you are taking this view, you may see Samsung might also have taken the proper approach.

Expandable garage. A larger battery. Waterproofing. Simple software enhancements. Top it off with a higher low light digicam, although the Galaxy S6 aspect already had a superb shooter, and from Samsung’s eyes, it simply checked the most effective bits that had been left unfilled in the final year’s flagship. Does it upload as much as revel in the worth of 2016, or does the Galaxy S7 facet experience extra like a refreshed flagship of the beyond 12 months? We’re right here to reply to that in our full assessment. I (Andrew Martonik) am writing this overview after a week of using a Verizon model of the Galaxy S7 Edge in New York, NY, Atlanta, GA, and Seattle, WA. For the duration of the evaluation, an Under Armour Band health tracker become related to Bluetooth. Words are one thing; however, seeing a smartphone in movement is every other element altogether. To pair with our written overview, we’ve got worked up a complete video review of the Galaxy S7 side properly. Check it out above, then read on for our full, nuanced evaluations at the telephone within the assessment’s relaxation. Samsung Galaxy S7 facet Specs

It’s great to kick off an evaluation with the aid of getting the nitty-gritty specs out of the way first. These are all the little line gadgets, speeds, and feeds that permit the Galaxy S7 area to deal with the entirety you throw at it — the specs mean not anything without the experiences that take gain of them; however, you could argue that the speaker is likewise authentic.

Lots of predictable improvements at the internal.

The Galaxy S7 part carries a very predictable improvement in specifications over the final yr’s model, and in some regions, sticks with the same specifications as before. The one outward-dealing with circulating is in show size, wherein the GS7 part is available in a 5.5-inches over closing year’s 5.1 (though the GS6 edge+ was five.7) but sticks with the equal Super AMOLED show tech and 2560×1440 decision. On the interior, a small bump to 4GB of RAM is welcomed, as are the new processors — you may get both a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 or Samsung’s today’s octa-core Exynos 8 processor. The two other wonderful spec table modifications are storage and battery. You’ll best have the choice to shop for a Galaxy S7 facet with 32GB of the inner garage; of direction that is paired with the brand new microSD card slot, that can absorb to a 200GB card, but for those who need the entirety to be dinner there aren’t sixty-four and 128GB versions any greater. The battery additionally jumps to an instead huge 3600 mAh, which is one thousand mAh more than the Galaxy S6 facet and even 600 mAh greater than the Galaxy S6 edge+.

Here’s a complete breakdown of the spec desk compared to last year’s Galaxy S6 aspect and the direct competitor from another agency, the Apple iPhone 6s Plus. As became the case with the Galaxy S4 following the Galaxy S3, thousands of digital ink have been (and might be) spilled online about how Samsung’s new Galaxy S7 edge doesn’t look demonstrably unique from its predecessor. Even though as a standalone product with its curved show and flashy colors, the Galaxy S7 aspect stands proud from a crowd. It is easy to mistake it from a distance because of the Galaxy S6 aspect, the GS6 edge+ — 2015.

Depending on whether you are acquainted with a Galaxy S6 aspect or S6 area+, this may come as a very good or a terrible piece of news. For those who loved the smaller Galaxy S6 aspect, it is a bit hard — the GS7 aspect is greater and has even much less metal to maintain onto thanks to the brand new curved glass again. Suppose you’re used to quite large the five.7-inch GS6 side+, the drop of 0.2-inches might be a welcomed sight — mainly in how it narrows the telephone and makes it simpler to attain across.

For the uninitiated who have but to lay a finger on a current Samsung flagship — and particularly either previous curved Galaxy S6 variant — you are without a doubt in for a unique experience right here. No, rely upon what phone you are coming from. It’s difficult to deny the beauty of the Galaxy S7 part. The physical modifications made — irrespective of how diffused — from previous generations are very a good deal function-over-form in nature. The new curved glass again, borrowed from the Note 5, offers the Galaxy S7 fact a better surface for wrapping your palms around. The barely thicker build gives extra room for the battery and reduces the camera bump at the lower back to less than half of a millimeter.

The smartphone manages to be constructed like a strong, significant piece of machinery while maintaining the load in taking a look at and lightly disbursed. The metal machining, outside finishes, and how the elements healthy up are all on the very best stage. In terms of the device’s real usable capabilities, from the headphone jack to the buttons, Samsung has taken the simplest route and positioned them wherein you expect — no again buttons, funky layouts, or gimmicks. At this point, Samsung has accelerated its layout tale to attention on standout splendor and beauty, not vain modifications in the name of “differentiation” that might really grow to be negatives. That equal philosophy is at play in the to be had shades of the Galaxy S7 area, with 4 alternatives that skew toward excessive fashion in place of being playful. The completely ostentatious gold variation proven on this review is as loud and gaudy as you would ever need it to be. Still, it’s undeniably eye-catching and appealing to positive shoppers — and it’s the color Samsung chooses to apply for a majority of its advertising. Both the silver and gold colorings are extremely glossy and reflective to the factor in which they can shoot quite the flight beam on a person or work as an impromptu mirror if wiped clean up properly — in other words, they turn heads while you’re the use of them. The black model is the conservative one (and likely my private favorite) with far less gloss to it and even fewer silver accent portions than the dark blue of the remaining 12 months, whilst the white version (only available internationally) moves a pleasant center ground between the intense mirrored finishes and the murdered-out black.

These are high style colors, but rattling, the one’s fingerprints … And that brings me to the identical grievance as I had with the previous model. This cell phone acquires and displays an excellent quantity of fingerprints and smudges.

Covering the return of your cell phone in a strong pane of glass has usually been a recipe for finger oil accumulation; however, while you add that to the reflect-like gold and silver finishes, it is downright bothersome. The Galaxy S7 part is absolutely impossible to maintain easy except you intend on carrying gloves on every occasion you use it, and at the same time as the one’s bright shades and easy strains look brilliant in marketing substances, they are speedy was something along the way much less appealing once you lay your arms on it. Same first-rate display

One area of the Galaxy S6 and S6 facet+ that needed no extra paintings became the show. Despite having a great deal of the attention spent at the mind-bending twin curves that accessory the cell phone’s edges, the show pleasant is pinnacle-notch among any telephone show accessible, curved or flat. Samsung has the precise equal Super AMOLED display tech and QHD (2560×1440) decision this yr, albeit reduce into a slightly distinct length at five. Five-inches diagonally.

But no matter the dimensions, the display right here is sincerely excellent in each element. Colors, without a doubt, pop, the viewing angles are tremendous (vital at the curves especially), and textual content is sharp as a tack. You can argue that the colors are a chunk over-saturated and unnatural. However, even though there’s an alternative inside the settings to show down the saturation, I depart at the default because they look so appropriate.

One of my favorite functions of Samsung’s present-day shows is their top-notch variety of brightness, meaning you can crank it manner down at night to reduce eye pressure or permit it to go all of the manners up at some stage in the day. And when you leave, automatic brightness grew to become on and are in direct daylight; a special show mode is engaged in eking out some more units to make it less complicated to see. Sticking with micro-USB

Beyond the cellphone’s physical looks, a great little bit of focus is being placed on Samsung’s choice to stay with a micro-USB port on the bottom as opposed to the newer USB-C trendy. Considering the hardware similarities to final yr’s flagship lineup, it is not surprising that the same legacy port was lower back in 2016. However, there are some different things to take into consideration as properly.

For as high-quality as USB-C is, micro-USB does everything Samsung wishes it to do. Samsung has stated that keeping compatibility with the present-day Gear VR headset became a priority, necessitating maintaining the port. It also has an extended legacy of customers with preceding Samsung phones that it feels could opt to hold the one’s cables and docks around after they improve. Beyond their very own intentions, additionally, they experience purchasers aren’t geared up to improve their infrastructure of third-birthday celebration accessories to USB-C notwithstanding all of the port’s advantages.

Can you knock Samsung’s unwillingness to leap into the destiny USB standard? Absolutely. Will it do something to change Samsung’s technique? Probably now not. For now, even though USB-C is the new trendy and has plenty of upsides, micro-USB is doing the whole lot Samsung desires it to do and, for this reason, sees no reason to move on simply yet. Fingerprint sensor, now with more opportunities

Plenty of focus is being placed on fingerprint sensors in 2016 phones. Still, we need to remember that Samsung changed into proper at the early stages of this game (at the least amongst Android producers) in launching the Galaxy S6 and S6 aspect with notable one-contact fingerprint sensors. These have been a nighttime-and-day improvement over the successful but finicky swipe-fashion scanner within the Galaxy S5. Samsung has carried over the equal top-notch revel into the Galaxy S7 side. The biggest development this time around would not come from any trade within the hardware; in reality, however, alternatively, the access to Android 6.0 Marshmallow’s new fingerprint authentication APIs.

With this new assist, any app that targets Android’s trendy fingerprint authentication device will work perfectly at the Galaxy S7 part — and that’s extraordinarily crucial because the variety of Marshmallow-targeted apps grows this 12 months. Apps that most effectively target Samsung’s very own proprietary fingerprint APIs from pre-Marshmallow releases will find paintings nevertheless, too, which boosts the installation base of successful apps till the new Marshmallow-enabled one starts to top off the Play Store. Return of the microSD card slot

The SIM card slot on the Galaxy S7 side is within the same region as earlier models — at the top edge of the cell phone — however, this year, it harbors a touch something more: room for a microSD card. Samsung heard a large amount of angst regarding its selection to remove the microSD card slot from its flagship Galaxy telephones in 2015 after having it every preceding generation. And no matter what, several human beings truly miss the feature compared to how many it seems like; the slot is lower back on the Galaxy S7 part.

But of direction, no characteristic addition comes without some trouble. This time including the microSD card back to the Galaxy S7 Edge brings up a thrilling communication because the telephone is strolling Android 6.0 Marshmallow, which delivered a new way of dealing with detachable storage called “adaptable storage.” Adaptable storage allows the phone to take in an outside storage device and combine it with the system to be dealt with as inner storage.

An SD card slot is something numerous humans had been clamoring for, although it would not make paintings as an adaptable garage. That’s a departure from the manner previous versions of Android used an SD card. For a mess of motives, Samsung has decided not to encompass adaptable storage in its Marshmallow construct for the Galaxy S7 aspect — now not the least of which is user confusion and issues over information corruption low-exceptional SD card is used. When you insert an SD card into the Galaxy S7 side, it works just like it did in any pre-Marshmallow smartphone you may have used, in that it’s genuinely hooked up as a separate volume to be able to keep facts of your choosing on. Besides for a few forms of records that do not play well with a removable garage of this type.

For example, the SD card is quality used for the media garage. The files are large, and the rate necessities are meager — like movies and track loaded out of your laptop or snapshots and video generated for your cell phone. Whether you may set up apps onto the SD card is a case-through-case state of affairs you may discover with the aid of traveling the software settings. However, chances are your most intense and powerful apps might not be allowed to move. You also wouldn’t want to use the outside storage for facts that you do not need to be without difficulty eliminated from the phone with an easy SIM tray tool.

Whether the SD card is all that useful while implemented in this manner is up for debate, but understanding that it’s miles there for individuals who want to apply it to its complete capacity is right. It does not have any effect on the cellphone if you select no longer to use it, and it opens up a manner for you to extend the garage later in case you want it.TouchWiz on Marshmallow

Marshmallow marks a factor of subtle layout changes around the interface. The largest being the flatter, quieter notification color that drops bright colorations for subtle blues and grays, and a few Material Design-inspired animations all through the user interface. Awkwardly placed drop shadows and useless 3D animations are long past, which is a welcomed trade. However, lots of Samsung’s interface is similar to what you may discover on a Galaxy S6 side nonetheless on Lollipop. (Also, remember that ultimate yr’s Galaxy S phones are in the technique of being up to date to this same Marshmallow software.)

The settings menu, keyboard, and default apps are only a few pixels away from being similar to earlier than, which in this situation is clearly simply best thinking about that they had been already very flat and modern-day after their preceding updates. The big majority of the interface is very subtle by using Samsung at this point. Besides, the not unusual criticism of people now not liking it simply as it’s not “Stock” Android, it is difficult to argue that this software program doesn’t work really nicely.