I sold Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. It was unbearable! Samsung Galaxy S7 Review: Smartphone Without Weaknesses Samsung Galaxy S7 Operating System

Samsung took into account all the mistakes of previous models and in its new flagship smartphone embodied successful technical ideas that were warmly welcomed by the public, who could hardly wait for the release date of the novelty. The new gadget differs from previous versions with increased performance, RAM and a new high-quality camera. And this is not all innovations. The output turned out to be impressive, and the new Samsung Galaxy phone is really excellent and can safely claim the title of “best smartphone of 2016”. The price of the Samsung Galaxy S7 in online stores starts at $620 and varies depending on the modifications. Let's study the review on Galaxy and analyze in detail the characteristics and description of the smartphone to prove whether the declared price is worth the money.

In what modifications is it sold in the CIS?

The review should start with the fact that the new smartphone is available in several versions depending on the sales regions. So, for example, the processors used will be different for owners from America or Europe. In our market there are 3 main models of the following description, which can be found on sale from their release date:

• Galaxy S7 SM-G930F. Standard version with slot for 1 SIM and microSD;
• Galaxy S7 Duos SM-G930FD. Dual-SIM version, which has an additional slot for a second SIM;
• Galaxy S7 Edge. Improved DS-model with a larger screen size of 5 inches and a battery capacity of 3600 mAh. It costs $100 more.

Body colors are available in white, silver and black. The complete set of all modifications of the Galaxy S7 in the box is the same:

• power unit;
• micro-USD cable;
• USB-OTG adapter;
• earplugs;
• user manual

Your phone has the ability to insert additional internal memory on 32GB or 64 GB.

Separately, I would like to note the USB adapter, which will allow you to connect your smartphone to external drives, batteries and other peripheral devices. The thing is insignificant, however, for many owners it becomes one of the most useful.

Appearance

Samsung Galaxy S7 combines pleasant ergonomics and a strict stylish look, both in white and in other colors. There are no unnecessary details, and all available ones are thought out to the last detail. The front and back panels on the phone are made of glass.

The waterproof case is made according to IP68 technology without the use of removable plugs. The device is able to withstand a fall into the water to a depth of 2 meters with open ports and connectors, and then calmly continue to work.

There is a metal frame around the perimeter to protect the case. The edges on the back panel have a slightly beveled look. This is done in order to improve ergonomics and ease of use with one hand. The main camera lens looks good and does not stick out even on the model in white. On the right side of it is an LED flash, pulse sensors and blood oxygen saturation SpO2.

The speaker is located just above the display and has a high sound quality. Next to it is the front camera and proximity sensor. Below the display on the edges are two touch buttons "Back" and "Application Manager". Between them is a mechanical home button with a fingerprint scanner.

Screen sizes with diagonal 5.1 inch reveal the full potential of the device, but do not affect the dimensions and ease of use. The streamlined body allows you to always comfortably place the phone in your hand and easily reach your thumb in the upper left corner. In this case, the phone does not crash into the palm.

For those to whom the display will seem large and cause inconvenience when working with one hand, there are two control modes. One of them shifts the button interface and the keyboard to the bottom corner for more convenient dialing and working with text. The second mode provides for a complete transfer of the interface to the bottom (activation occurs by triple pressing the Home button).

Brilliant display screen

The Samsung Galaxy S7 uses a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED Quad HD display with QHD 2560x1440 resolution. Pixel density parameters are 577 ppi. Additionally, the screen is covered with anti-glare protective glass Gorilla Glass 4. The size of the display provides perfect detail and color reproduction. Any picture and video look truly realistic.

Samsung really managed to refine their technologies to the ideal and invest them in the characteristics of a flagship smartphone. With all the desire to find shortcomings in the description - it is impossible. Each element and display parameter deserves applause. Brightness, contrast, hue and color reproduction are all top notch.

The AMOLED display has advanced options for adjusting the brightness of the image. The matrix is ​​able to demonstrate both maximum saturation and reduce it to a minimum for those who are used to IPS displays. The new adaptive brightness control technology takes into account the light level using sensors and selects the optimal settings for comfortable work. At the same time, the Galaxy S7 remembers the manual brightness settings and automatically offers them to the owner under the same conditions.

MHL (Mobile High Definition Link) technology will allow you to connect your smartphone to a TV or monitor to broadcast video in FullHD resolution via HDMI and MicroUSB ports.

The new Always ON feature allowed the display to show the necessary information in a locked state. At the same time, energy consumption for the battery is minimal. The autonomous power of each pixel in the AMOLED display allows you to highlight only the working areas when the rest of the screen remains black.

The best smartphone camera

And here I want to stand up and applaud the creators. Samsung has made a first-class camera for smartphones of the seventh generation. The company did not participate in the senseless race of competitors for megapixels, but thoroughly improved the quality and functionality of shooting, having worked through each element.

The main camera uses a Sony IMX260 module on 12 MP. This sensor is exclusive to the Galaxy S7 and does not apply to other devices. Compared to previous versions of Samsung smartphones, the camera's resolution has dropped slightly, but this allows you to get better photos and videos at night by increasing the physical size of the pixels. The new sensor uses enhanced phase detection autofocus with Dual Pixel technology, which uses both photodiodes for each of the sensor's pixels. Due to this, the camera is able to instantly focus under any shooting conditions. After launch, the smartphone is ready to take high-quality pictures in less than 1 second. Additionally, I would like to note the "Panorama" mode, which makes it possible to stitch together photos and get full-size images in a resolution of 38 megapixels.

Front camera on 5 MP takes great selfies. The phone's interface has many functions for processing and enhancing the received photos: color correction, skin texture improvement or background detailing. You can always download additional processing modes and functions from the Samsung store.

The video is recorded in Ultra HD resolution. In the standard video recording mode, the frame rate is 60 FPS. Slow motion mode allows you to increase the rate to 240 FPS, but the video resolution will be reduced to HD. All videos are clear and smooth. The optical stabilization function removes any interference, and the included HDR mode always ensures true-to-life color reproduction even in bright sunlight.

All this allows us to safely call the Galaxy S7 camera one of the best in new generation phones. It is able to capture any scene, even in low light levels.

Specifications

The Samsung Galaxy S7 smartphone for sales in Russia and Europe is equipped with a 64-bit Samsung Exynos 8890 Octa processor with ARM BIG.LITTLE architecture (similar to Snapdragon) based on Android OS. The chipset is made according to the 14 NM process technology with 8 cores: 4 Mongoose 2.3 GHz cores (Samsung's own development) and 4 Cortex-A53 1.6 GHz cores. LPDDR4 RAM is 4 GB. Additionally, the Galaxy S7 provides the ability to install internal memory on 32GB or 64 GB. It uses the UHS 2.0 standard - the fastest for the internal memory of mobile devices. There are no analogues to him in terms of quality and speed at the moment.

The gadget has a full range of modern wireless interfaces and functions: Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, ANT+. The possibilities of data transmission over LTE are limited only by the cellular operator. The sound in the headphones is capable of transmitting a rich range of low and high frequencies.

Samsung has returned the ability to use the microSD slot, so if you wish, you can install memory cards with capacities up to 200 GB. As mentioned earlier, the Galaxy S7 comes with a USB OTG adapter to work with external drives.

The top-end processor, along with the MALI-T880 MP12 graphics module based on Android Nougat 7.0, will launch any application and the latest gaming novelties. With the Galaxy S7 in games, you can safely forget what "medium" or "low" graphics settings are. The Anututu Benchmark test proved that the smartphone can easily cope with any load.

Accumulator battery

The Galaxy S7 uses a non-removable battery with a capacity 3000 mAh. Fast charging function Quick Charge 2.0 allows you to charge your smartphone up to 65% in 30 minutes. The developers have optimized the power consumption of the phone, which made it possible to work with applications and the active screen by 30% more. With continuous loads and games in applications on the maximum schedule, the operating time will be more than 10 hours. Watch full HD video at maximum brightness in flight mode for over 14 hours before needing an additional charge.

Outcome

And, finally, let's finish the review with the conclusions on the characteristics, according to which, we can safely say that the mobile phone turned out to be of high quality and multifunctional, so many were waiting for the release date for good reason. With the Galaxy S7, Samsung has reaffirmed its leadership position and launched a truly worthy and versatile phone that demonstrates all the achievements in the world of mobile technology. Stylish design, nice ergonomics, high performance, lightning-fast performance and an amazing camera are just the “tip of the iceberg” that Samsung's flagship phone boasts. Galaxy S7 worth 620$ , but the price is fully justified. The smartphone is suitable for those who want to receive only the best and are not ready to use second-rate devices.

At the moment, the Galaxy S line is represented by two current models of smartphones. Flat and not too big, the S7 is positioned as a classic smartphone for everyone. The screen diagonal of 5.1 inches does not cause problems even when held by miniature female pens, and the absence of any specific bells and whistles in the design does not scare away the audience accustomed to the standard form factor.

Phablet S7 edge, on the contrary, acts as a sophisticated older brother for the sophisticated. It is not only 0.4 inches larger, but also offers a special case design with a screen that is rounded on the sides.

The Galaxy S7 doesn't really feel big, especially compared to other modern smartphones. Look, it's noticeably smaller than even the not-so-great Nexus 5X, and definitely doesn't deserve to be called a shovel.

We are sure that if you gather a hundred people and ask them to choose between S7 and S7 edge, then the classic will win unconditionally. Few will dare to buy a larger, more expensive, and questionable device.

Execution and quality

It's very easy to fall in love with the Galaxy S7. Seriously. Just take it in your hand, and you yourself will immediately understand everything. Feel the Galaxy S7 and your criteria for build quality will change dramatically. A smartphone does not look like something consisting of hundreds of parts, and is perceived solely as a whole, monolithic, skillfully polished piece of glass without a hint of sharp corners and lines, with a neatly fused metal layer in the middle. There is no need to even talk about backlash and squeaks. Everything is fitted perfectly. He is so neat and smooth that you want to lick him.

Galaxy S7 is made in accordance with the IP68 standard, that is, it is not afraid of dust at all and is friendly with water. Please note that such a high moisture resistance does not require any removable plugs and other nonsense. The smartphone can withstand a 30-minute submersion in water up to 1.5 meters deep with an open USB port and a headphone jack. We did not test the water resistance in practice, as there are already enough videos on YouTube confirming the level of water protection claimed by Samsung.

Samsung's decision to move away from plastic is perhaps the best thing that has happened to the flagship Galaxy lineup. Plastic, even high-quality, is necessarily associated with something cheap, but metal and glass look and feel luxurious. For the flagship - it's the most. In the case of the Galaxy S7, a fashionable way of processing glass, which has received the marketing name "2.5D glass", is added to the premium set of materials.

Look at the front and back panels of the Galaxy S7. Glass on them is rounded to the edges. The screen under the glass is absolutely flat. The meaning of such processing is to increase the streamlining of the body at the junction with the side panels. The transition becomes smooth, sharp corners dissolve, smear and are replaced by what is called conjugation in drawing.

In addition to smoothness, 2.5D glass adds a very beautiful optical effect, which is further enhanced by the dark matte surface around the screen and on the back of the smartphone.

Take another look at the photos of the device. Do you notice some color unevenness, as if in some places the smartphone is lighter, with a grayish tint? This refracts the light that hits the surface through uneven glass, and when you turn the device, the glare jumps around the body like sunbeams.

Unfortunately, 2.5D glass also has its downsides. With excessive lighting and especially under the sun, you can always position the flat screen so that the light does not reflect into the eyes and the contents of the screen can be seen. In this case, glare is almost impossible to avoid. The rounded edges will still shine, which is noticeable even in smartphone photos under artificial lighting, and the blinding summer sun will certainly exacerbate the situation.

The second objective disadvantage of glass is its soiledness. The case is quickly covered with fingerprints, and although they are quickly and easily removed, the device will have to get used to the permanent sagging of the device.

Design and equipment

It seems that Samsung still found the perfect location for the control buttons and other external elements of the smartphone. Sound, power, speaker, headphone and USB jacks are in the same place as their predecessor.

Only the SIM card slot has moved to the top side panel, and there is a reason for that.

Yes, the Galaxy has a microSD slot again, which is great. No more guesswork and suffering regarding the optimal amount of internal storage.

Do you need another 32 GB for the built-in 32 GB of memory? We put a card and rejoice. Need 128 GB? No problem. Drives up to 200 GB are supported. A memory card is incomparably cheaper than older smartphones with increased internal storage.

If additional space is not required, a second SIM card can take the place of the microSD card. Simultaneous operation of the second SIM and a memory card is not provided.

The fingerprint sensor located in the Home button has become noticeably faster and more accurate in recognizing fingerprints, and the button itself is now flush with the body. There will be no more false positives when the smartphone is accidentally clipped in your pocket.

The Galaxy S7 comes with a power adapter, a USB cable, standard earbuds with interchangeable earplugs, and a microUSB adapter designed to quickly and completely transfer data from an old smartphone through the built-in Smart Switch utility.

Screen

Displays have always been Samsung's strong point, and the Galaxy S7 continues to hold its own. The smartphone is equipped with a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED Quad HD display (resolution 2560 × 1440) with a density of 577 pixels per inch. The screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 4 with anti-reflective coating.

The most interesting innovation is the Always On mode, in which the display shows user-selectable information in a locked state without any noticeable effect on battery power. This is possible thanks to the autonomous power supply of each pixel of the AMOLED display. Energy is spent only on the illumination of working pixels. The rest of the screen area is black, in this place the pixels are disabled and do not consume battery power. If desired, Always On is disabled in the settings.

Other indicators of the Galaxy S7 screen do not differ much from its predecessor. It is just as bright and sometimes overly juicy, adapts a little better to excess or lack of light, but in general it is still the same cool display inherent in Samsung, which is criticized only for excessive color saturation.

cameras

If before the Galaxy S7 it may seem to you that your smartphone takes pictures quickly and cool, then after the Galaxy S7 any other camera suddenly becomes slow and “not very good at all”.

Samsung chose the right path, and instead of a stupid marketing race for megapixels, the company worked hard on the quality, functionality and, which is also important, the speed of operation and focusing (Dual Pixel technology - two photodiodes for each pixel of the matrix) of the camera module. At the same time, the camera module itself has become more compact and practically does not protrude from the body.

Focusing and photographing happen literally instantly, and after a tiny fraction of a second, the smartphone is already ready to take the next shot. No delays, no friezes and slowdowns during shooting. You can depict manual multi-shooting mode and scribble clear frames without stopping at all.

To improve the quality of images in low light, the Galaxy S7 uses a combination of a fast f / 1.7 lens and an individual pixel size of the matrix increased to 1.4 microns.

Some will think that 12 megapixels is somehow not enough for the flagship of 2016. In fact, this resolution of the main camera is enough for any task. Anyway, the vast majority of photos are mercilessly squeezed and settled in social networks, and therefore, for the end user, quality and additional features that are easily applicable in practice are more valuable than the original image size. Galaxy S7 camera offers as many as 10 shooting modes.

By default, the standard automatic mode is launched, when the smartphone adjusts everything itself, and the user only selects a filter (unless, of course, he wants) and presses a button.

As opposed to automation, there is a professional mode with the ability to fine-tune each shooting parameter manually.

Selective Focus allows you to take an interactive photo with variable focus.

Need to make the main object clear? Select "Near Focus" from the bottom.

Want to see the background? Tap "Far Focus".

Among other shooting modes, “Live Broadcast” also deserves a separate explanation. It allows you to connect your YouTube account and stream what is happening on the screen simultaneously with the picture from the front camera. Trendy mobile YouTuber gamers will definitely appreciate this feature.

The last mode worth mentioning is "Virtual Shooting". We catch the object of interest to us in the center of the lens, start shooting and go around the object in a circle. The resulting animation is tied to the smartphone's gyroscope and allows you to re-examine the captured object from any angle.

Other photo modes such as slow motion, slow motion, panorama, video collage, and food are quite popular and self-explanatory.

The Galaxy S7 can shoot Full HD video at 60 fps and 4K video at 30 fps. Stabilization is supported in all modes.

The front camera does not differ in exciting characteristics.

The standard 5 megapixels, combined with adjustable face lighting and correction tools, do their job and give great selfies.

Filling and performance

Versions of the Galaxy S7 for Russia and Europe are equipped with a 14-nm process technology 8-core Exynos 8890 processor (4 proprietary Samsung Mongoose 2.3 GHz cores and 4 Cortex-A53 1.6 GHz cores) and Mali-T880 MP12 graphics.

The top processor combined with 4 GB of fast LPDDR4 memory effortlessly cracks down on the heaviest 3D applications. The AnTuTu Benchmark 6.0.1 test showed the following results:

In addition to the current types of communication, Samsung has equipped the Galaxy S7 with a Wi-Fi repeater function. In this mode, the smartphone can hook up to any available Wi-Fi point and distribute the Internet through itself.

System

Out of the box, the Galaxy S7 runs on Android, on top of which the proprietary TouchWiz shell is installed.

There is a pre-installed basic set of applications from Samsung, a full set of applications and services from Google, social networks and a set of software from Microsoft.

Uninstallable applications, of course, go to the disadvantage of the device from the position of optimization, but if you don’t want to spend a certain amount of time searching for and downloading applications from Google Play or the Samsung app store, then a large set of pre-installed software is even useful.

The transition to the two-window mode of operation occurs through a long hold of the "Menu" button.

In addition to some changes in the interface associated with the transition to , a new game center attracts special attention, accumulating all the user's games in one interface and optimizing the gameplay. You can turn off any notifications while the game application is running, block the system buttons, prevent the game application from unloading from RAM when minimizing, and force a decrease in the resolution and number of frames in the game.

Working hours

Galaxy S7 is equipped with a non-removable 3,000 mAh battery with fast charging function. Obviously, depending on the intensity of use and other factors, the battery life can vary significantly, and in our scenario, the results turned out to be quite acceptable.

Before testing, we did a full reset to the factory settings with clearing the memory, left automatic adjustment of the display brightness. The smartphone offered to carry out the initial setup, updated the applications and downloaded the Android 6.0.1 update.

In total, for the first intensive hour of work, which included performance analysis through AnTuTu, the battery lost 15% of its charge. Then standard operations were carried out: photographing, filming, checking all types of communications, the operation of applications and branded Samsung chips. Thus, it took about 20% of the battery charge. According to the built-in battery monitoring tool, in this mode, the smartphone would have lived for 8 hours, which is very good. In passive mode with working Wi-Fi and the Always On screen, the smartphone lost about 13% of the charge per day.

Partially, power consumption is optimized due to the built-in utility, but in total, after almost a day and a half of operation, the battery retained 41% of the charge.

Conclusion

Lifehacker thanks Samsung for providing the device for testing. We really enjoyed. From the point of view of performance and technical characteristics, the Galaxy S7 is not to be faulted. The build quality and materials are great. The design is pleasant. The screen, as always, is on top, and even shows the right things without draining the battery. The camera is fire. The battery is durable. Power is overkill, performance is over the top. The system is up to date, there are pre-installed applications. You can list the pros for a long time, the flagship has no weaknesses. But it is worth touching on price issues, as problems begin. Paying 50 thousand rubles for a smartphone is difficult, very difficult. What do you think?

Despite the deservedly high marks of the “critics” and the status of the main Android smartphone in the visible universe, the Samsung Galaxy S6 could not boast of record sales, not only in Russia, which could be explained by the financial crisis, but also in the rest of the world too. No memory card slot? Weak battery? Lack of moisture protection? It seems that the engineers sorted out the reasons for the lack of success of the S6 in the same way, simply “filling up” the missing in the new Galaxy, without touching its very essence.

Samsung also got rid of the strange abundance of smartphone variations, throwing out the version with a curved display of the same diagonal as the “normal” one. Now there's the Samsung Galaxy S7 with a 5.1-inch display and the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge with a 5.5-inch display; edge+ version is not planned. We got a “simple” S7 for the test, which differs from the edge, in addition to the price, only in dimensions, a less capacious battery, the size and design of the display. And, of course, design: many people love edge for its uniqueness and elegance; I, in turn, just like the usual version with the display that is ideal for me in size. However, all this is taste, let's move on to a more substantive conversation.

⇡ Specifications

	Samsung GALAXY S7	Samsung GALAXY S6	Sony Xperia Z5	Google Nexus 6P	LG V10
Display		5.1 inches, AMOLED, 2560 × 1440 pixels, 575.9 ppi, capacitive multi-touch	5.2 inches, AMOLED, 1920 × 1080 pixels, 424 ppi, capacitive multi-touch	5.7 inches, AMOLED, 2560 × 1440 pixels, 515 ppi, capacitive multi-touch	5.7 inches, 2560 × 1440, IPS, 515 ppi, capacitive multi-touch
Air gap	No	No	No	No	No
Protective glass	Corning Gorilla Glass (version not specified) on both sides	Corning Gorilla Glass 4 on both sides	no information	Corning Gorilla Glass 4	Corning Gorilla Glass 3
CPU	Exynos 8890 Octa (4x ARM Cortex-A57, 2.6GHz; 4x ARM Cortex-A53, 1.6GHz)	Samsung Exynos 7420 (four ARM Cortex-A57, 2.1GHz; four ARM Cortex-A53, 1.5GHz)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 (four ARM Cortex-A57 cores, frequency 2 GHz + four ARM Cortex-A53 cores, frequency 1.5 GHz)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 810	Qualcomm Snapdragon 808
				(four ARM Cortex-A53 cores, frequency 1.55 GHz +	(four ARM Cortex-A53 cores, frequency 1.4GHz +
				two ARM Cortex-A57 cores, frequency 2 GHz)	two ARM Cortex-A57 cores, frequency 1.82 GHz)
Graphics controller	Mali-T880 MP12	Mali-T760 MP8	Adreno 430	Adreno 430	Adreno 418
RAM	4 GB	3 GB	3 GB	3 GB	4 GB
Flash memory	32/64 GB	32/64/128 GB	32 GB	32/64/128 GB	64 GB
Memory card support	yes, in the S7 Duos version - a combined slot for a memory card and a SIM card	No	There is	No	There is
Connectors	microUSB, mini-jack 3.5 mm	microUSB, mini-jack 3.5 mm	microUSB, mini-jack 3.5 mm	USB-C, 3.5 mm mini-jack	microUSB, mini-jack 3.5 mm
SIM cards	one nanoSIM / two nanoSIMs	one nano SIM	one nano SIM	one nano SIM	two nanoSIMs
Cellular 2G		GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1700 / 1900 MHz	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
Cellular 3G	HSPA 850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz	HSPA 850/900/1900/2100 MHz	WDCMA 850/900/1900/2100 MHz	HSDPA 850/900/1700/1800/1900/2100 MHz	HDSPA 850/900/1900/2100 MHz
Cellular 4G	Support for LTE Cat. 12 (up to 600/50 Mbps): bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 12, 13, 20	FDD LTE Cat. 6 (up to 300/50 Mbps): bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 20	FDD LTE Cat. 6 (up to 300 Mbps): bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 20, 28, 40	LTE Cat. 6 (up to 300 Mbps): bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 17, 19, 20, 28, 38, 39, 40, 41	LTE Cat. 4 (up to 150 Mbps), bands 1, 3, 7
WiFi	802.11a/b/g/n/ac	802.11a/b/g/n/ac	802.11a/b/g/n/ac	802.11a/b/g/n/ac	802.11a/b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth	4.2	4.1	4.1	4.2	4.1
NFC	There is	There is	There is	There is	There is
Navigation	GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou	GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou	GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou	GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou	GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou
Sensors		Light, proximity, accelerometer/gyroscope, magnetometer (digital compass), barometer, heart rate	Light, proximity, accelerometer/gyroscope, magnetometer (digital compass), barometer	Light, proximity, accelerometer/gyroscope, magnetometer (digital compass), pedometer
					Ambient light, proximity sensor, pressure sensor, accelerometer/gyroscope, magnetometer (digital compass), pedometer
Fingerprint's scanner	There is	There is	There is	There is	There is
Main camera	12 MP, ƒ/1.7, phase detection autofocus, LED flash, optical stabilization, 4K video recording	16 MP, ƒ/1.9, laser autofocus, LED flash, optical stabilization, 4K video recording	23 MP, ƒ/2.0, autofocus, LED flash, 4K video recording	12.3 MP, ƒ/2.0, laser autofocus, LED flash, 4K video recording	16 MP, ƒ/1.8, laser autofocus, LED flash, optical stabilization, Full HD video recording
Front-camera	5 MP, fixed focus	5 MP, fixed focus	5 MP, fixed focus	8 MP, fixed focus	5 MP fixed focus 80° FOV + 5 MP fixed focus 120° FOV
Nutrition	11.4 Wh (3000 mAh, 3.8 V) non-removable battery, Quick Charge 2.0 support, wireless charging support	9.7 Wh non-removable battery (2550 mAh, 3.8 V)	Non-removable battery 11.02 Wh (2900 mAh, 3.8 V)	13.11 Wh (3450 mAh, 3.8 V) non-removable battery	Removable 11.4 Wh battery (3000 mAh, 3.8 V)
Size	142.4×69.6×7.9mm	143×70.5×6.8mm	146×72×7.3mm	159.3×77.8×7.3mm	160×80×8.6mm
Weight	152 grams	138 grams	154 grams	178 grams	192 grams
Protection corps	IP68	No	IP65, IP68 Up to half an hour at a depth of up to 1.5 m	No	No
operating room system	Android 6.0 Marshmallow, Samsung's own TouchWiz skin	Android 5.1 Lolliipop, Samsung's own TouchWiz skin	Android 5.1 Lolliipop, Sony Xperia's own skin	Android 6.0 Marshmallow	Android 5.1 Lolliipop
Actual price, rub	from 49 990	40,000-54,000 (depending on memory size)	49 990	49 990-56 990 (depending on memory capacity)	50 990

⇡ Appearance and ergonomics

Externally, the Samsung Galaxy S7 is very similar to the Galaxy S6. Similar, but not identical - due to the beveled and slightly rounded edges, it looks a little lighter and weightless than its predecessor, despite the fact that it is thicker and heavier. This is helped by the 2.5D glass on the front panel, slightly beveled at the edges. But the essence itself has not changed - tempered Gorilla Glass front and back, a metal edge, tiny frames around the screen, a mechanical Home key with a built-in fingerprint scanner.

Samsung Galaxy S7 front panel. Above the screen: earpiece, front camera, light and proximity sensors, as well as a status indicator. Under the screen: Home button with a fingerprint scanner and touch keys "Back" and call the list of open applications

This is one of the most pleasant modern smartphones to use - it only looks slippery, which is a little scary (won't it slip out? won't it fall?), but in fact, it's okay, the metal frame around the edges allows you to grab it tenaciously. A little more than a five-inch screen is optimal in terms of the combination of diagonal and ease of operation with one hand, you don’t have to stretch your finger to the corners, as well as intercept the gadget with the second hand. There are complaints about the volume keys located too high - but these are, firstly, completely trifles, and secondly, I have them right under the index and middle fingers, no problem.

Tempered glass theoretically allows you to carry a smartphone in your pocket along with keys and small change - but in practice you should not do this, scratches are still inevitable. One of the most important differences between S7 and S6 is the camera lens that almost does not protrude above the body. This is the merit of both a new smaller camera module and a thicker case - the new flagship is more than a millimeter thicker than the old one (7.9 mm versus 6.8 mm), - it was possible to pack the camera almost completely into such a case. But, by the way, a slightly protruding camera is good, I am an apologist for such a decision: due to the fact that it is easy to grope blindly, you are less likely to run your finger over the lens and the chances of getting it dirty, respectively, are less.

But nothing will save you from “slamming” the back panel - the glass looks good, but it also collects fingerprints well. This is a noticeable drawback of the light colors of the Galaxy S7 ("dazzling platinum", "titanium silver"). The option that I had a chance to get to know closely, the “black diamond”, looks good even without constant wiping with a cloth.

Samsung Galaxy S7, bottom: microUSB port, 3.5mm mini headphone jack and main speaker

The most important feature of the Samsung Galaxy S7 is the IP68 waterproof (up to half an hour at a depth of one and a half meters) case, splashes and accidental drowning in a puddle or thunderstorm of all smartphones, a toilet, you can not be afraid. This, along with a larger capacity battery, resulted in a thicker body. In my opinion, more than a reasonable fee.

Despite the fact that software support for a fingerprint reader is built into Android 6.0 Marshmallow by default, it did not work great in a test Samsung Galaxy S7, almost never recognizing a fingerprint on the first try. I attribute this to the peculiarity of the pre-production copy - the idea that Samsung “did not finish such a trifle” simply disgusts when talking about the S7. Using the scanner is the easiest. In practice - to unlock the device with one touch, in theory - also for payment, including through the Samsung Pay application (which will someday appear in Russia, we believe).

Samsung Galaxy S7, like its predecessor, flaunts only one mono speaker, located on the bottom. It is not too loud, but in order to “finish off” the call to the next room, it is enough; Also, the call is clearly audible when the smartphone is on the table. The problem is different - it is easily blocked by a finger with a horizontal grip, and it is often simply impossible to hear its soundtrack and voice acting during the game. The only way out is to use headphones - the sound path here is quite good.

⇡ Software

Samsung Galaxy S7 is running Android 6.0 Marshmallow with TouchWiz proprietary shell. Since last year, this is no longer an advantage or disadvantage of Samsung smartphones, but only their feature - the shell has become very close in appearance and logic to pure Android. But at the same time with a lot of add-ons and a large set of pre-installed software.

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 replaced. On the outer surface of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (effective, better than Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much more easily, 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 at a fairly 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 drop 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 Samsung at an angle is noticeably higher. Switching the state of the matrix elements is almost instantaneous, but there may be a step about 17 ms wide at the turn-on front (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 blackbody 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 in most cases can be ignored, since there the color balance does not matter much, 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, curved 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 at least along one long side of the screen in ambient light conditions .

Video playback

We did not find an 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)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output frames of video files with different 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:

File	Uniformity	Passes
4K/30p	Fine	No
4K/25p	Fine	No
4K/24p	Fine	No
1080/60p	Great	No
1080/50p	Great	No
1080/30p	Great	No
1080/25p	Fine	No
1080/24p	Great	No
720/60p	Great	No
720/50p	Great	No
720/30p	Great	No
720/25p	Great	No
720/24p	Great	No

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 conditions of road noise at low volume, the speech of the heroes 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 to shoot 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 from the point of view of general use - you still have to connect your second hand to turn it over. In addition, the smartphone is too thin and tends to slip out with such a grip, and the fingers of the right hand constantly fall into the lens.

	Good sharpness across the field of the frame, and the numbers of cars are distinguishable at such a twilight time.
	Good long-range sharpness.
	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 is good 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 worthy 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 when shooting movies is as fast as when shooting photos.

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.

Autonomy 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 supplied power supply (9V 1.67A) it 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 won’t 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 put your smartphone on charge 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 excellent 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:

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 long 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, as 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 of the people order the phone in black or silver color, it is 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 impregnation of the components on the board with a special solution that repels water (it is often 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. Support for 2 TB memory cards may appear later, 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 high, 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 we 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, crashed Qualcomm's stock 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 flagships from Samsung 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, dedicated 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 - I take pictures, listen to podcasts on a wireless headset, watch social networks, movies, web pages, receive mail from different boxes every fifteen minutes. 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 the 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 device settings 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 between 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 believe that it is 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, 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 features in the software, you will need to talk about them separately, which I did, read the 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.