Hands On With the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge

BARCELONA—The Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are the biggest new flagshipphones appear at Mobile World Congress, just y'all might not realize it at first glance. They wait an atrocious lot like final year'southGalaxy S6 andS6 Edge, with the same metal frames, drinking glass backs, and overall design language. But closer inspection reveals some key differences. We got to spend some time with both new phones ahead of the show.

Blueprint

The five.1-inch Galaxy S7 has the same size screen as last year's model, while the v.five-inch S7 Border has been bumped upward a notch (the S6 Border measures 5.1 inches). Both new phones feature contoured backs to better suit to your grip, and brand ane-handed utilise a chip easier. Holding either new Galaxy feels notably better than trying to keep your grip on the slippery iPhone 6s or the squarish Nextbit Robin .

MWC Bug Art While both phones share nearly the exact aforementioned specs, there are a few notable differences. In addition to being slightly larger, the S7 Edge has a gentle curve on either side of its display. You tin use these edges for quick access to apps, contacts, preset options, contextual menus, and widgets, simply similar last year's model. The S7 Edge also has a bigger three,600mAh battery, compared with the iii,000mAh in the Milky way S7.

The phones have a number of other pocket-size design improvements. The bezel is even thinner than last year, the camera crash-land is smaller, and the fingerprint scanner is smoother. For the S7 Edge, the curved sides are a bit wider (550 pixels), assuasive you to have a double row of icons at your fingertips.

In addition, both phones comport the highest possible Ingress Protection rating of IP68 for water resistance, allowing you to submerge them in upwardly to five feet of water for xxx minutes. Samsung ditched waterproofing in the Galaxy S6 after including it in the Galaxy S5, and so it'southward nice to run into information technology dorsum.

Expandable storage has besides made a triumphant return. Both the S7 and S7 Edge take microSD carte du jour slots integrated with their SIM trays, which allow yous to aggrandize memory up to an boosted 200GB. Unfortunately, a removable battery has not come back, though both phones use bigger cells than last twelvemonth's models. Fast charging (both wired and wireless) is supported with Samsung chargers.

Always-On Brandish
The Quad HD displays look gorgeous, with brilliant, super-saturated colors—no surprise here, every bit Samsung's flagships ever include tiptop-notch panels. But this fourth dimension around the display is always on, showing you the time, date, calendar, and notifications. Y'all tin can even cull your ain personalized design. The display only lights up select pixels, and the phone goes to slumber in your pocket, then battery bleed shouldn't be likewise big of an issue. Overall, the characteristic reminds me more of the ambient display on theGoogle Nexus 6P than the secondary brandish on the LG V10. I wasn't sold on the idea at first, simply information technology'southward actually pretty corking afterward seeing it in person.

A Focus on Camera Performance

This might surprise you. Samsung has redesigned the rear camera for both the S7 and S7 Edge, shaving the resolution downward to 12 megapixels (from 16 megapixels on the S6 and S6 Edge). This increases the photosite size to 1.4 microns, meaning slightly larger pixels, which should provide an improvement in low-low-cal image and video quality. And the camera at present features f/1.viiaperture, which captures almost 25 percent more light than the f/1.9 lens used previously.

Low-light performance is of import, simply I'1000 even more interested in the improved focus system. Like the Dual Pixel AF organisation used past theCatechism EOS 70D, Samsung's new image sensor features dual photodiode pixels that are used to lock focus. The company claims this allows the S7 to focus three times more quickly than the S6. Thefocus box has fifty-fifty been removed from the camera app,because the camera oft focuses earlier you get a gamble to tap it.

In a side-past-side comparison between the S7 and the iPhone 6s Plus, the S7 was ordinarily faster to focus and captured images with meliorate clarity in low calorie-free. Of class, this was simply a quick test during a controlled demo; nosotros'll have to put the camera through its paces in our test lab to truly evaluate its performance.

U.S. Models vs. Global

U.S. models of the S7 and the S7 Edge volition exist powered by the new Snapdragon 820 processor with 4GB of

RAM,

while international models volition employ Samsung's ain Exynos chip. I didn't become a run a risk to run whatsoever benchmarks, but in terms of overall performance, both phones feel very fast.

Samsung has also made some software tweaks designed to improve gaming performance. If you're planning on an extended gaming session, you tin can enable a power-saving mode for gaming that will keep frame rates in check to save ability. You can also end calls and notifications from interrupting gameplay, and record in-game footage.

Naturally, both phones run Android six.0 Marshmallow, with a heavy layer of TouchWiz on top. Yes, I noticed some of the e'er-present Samsung bloatware on the phone I saw for the demo, along with a suite of various pre-installed apps. Fortunately, I didn't notice any instances of sluggishness while swiping through screens or launching apps, which isn't surprising given the processor pedigree.

Impressions and Availability

If yous're already a Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge owner and you're because an upgrade, I'd wait for the reviews. You lot'll definitely meet improvements in operation accommodating, but there'southward really zilch truly revolutionary nearly these new devices. The best way to remember about the Galaxy S7 and the S7 Edge is that they are to concluding year's models what the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus are the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. In that location'due south no big shake-upward in pattern, only a lot of small upgrades and tweaks that smoothen what was already our Editors' Choice-winning Android phone.

Samsung hasn't nevertheless confirmed an availability date or pricing. But I wouldn't be surprised to see the S7 and the S7 Edge sell for the same price every bit last year'south models, with availability on all the same carriers. Check dorsum soon for more than info, also as a total review when both phones are available.

This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.