I took the new samsung Galaxy S7 Edge to a party this week. One of the most amusing reactions I got was from one young woman who looked at it in shock and said: “Oh my god! It’s better than the iPhone!” I never thought I’d see the day, but, a lot of reviewers have also been raving over Samsung’s two new phones and bemoaning the fact they aren’t running Apple’s iOS. Of course, the iPhone 7 is yet to come.
At first glance, the S7 doesn’t look so very different from the S6. But take the new smartphone into your hand, and you’ll feel the difference. Somehow, with very subtle changes to sizing and curves, the S7 has been transformed into a device that’s much easier to hold. The 5.1-inch S7 is in any case compact, by today’s standards, but the 5.5-inch S7 Edge too feels smaller than it is and allows for a good grip.
The Edge of the EdgeYou may still want to get a case for it but the new Edge doesn’t feel quite as vulnerable. In fact, in the new Edge, the curved wrap-around display, has enhanced functionality. A subtle tab, when swiped, will slide out menus with your most-used apps, weather, Twitter, news, stocks, a compass, contacts, and more. This is customisable to a degree.
Always On DisplaySamsung’s screens have been the best — the reason I’ve tended to stick with Samsung phones personally — but it’s been a good choice for the company not to have gone in for a 4K display. The screen is sharp and yet balanced in its colours. This time, the sunlight-friendliness is much, much better. The edges of the Edge make that phone the better one if you’re fond of gaming and movies. There’s also an Always-On feature with which the sleeping phone shows the clock, calendar or image. This takes just a point or two off the battery usage. Personally, I find anything being permanently lit up on the screen distracting so I disabled the feature.
Punch and PowerThe S7 and Edge are among the most powerful phones available just now. They often seem too fast, as you find you can zip from one thing to another. Benchmark tests show figures one hasn’t even seen before. Samsung’s TouchWiz software however, even though it’s improved over the years, has always been decried for being too heavy. I, and other reviewers, have definitely experienced an occasional glitch and slight warming up. I also found that tapping on an icon sometimes led to no action and eventually worked. This may be because inadvertently, I was touching the screen elsewhere at the same time. All of these stopped happening after a couple of days however. Issues with TouchWiz are very likely to be fixed with software updates soon enough though. Updates to Android itself however, won’t come as quickly as they do to other devices, going by previous experience. Meanwhile, battery performance is very good. Using the S7 Edge, I was able to go through two full days on light usage. With more heavy usage, I was left with some 25 per cent battery by bedtime. The devices support fast charging. In addition, wireless charging is supported but you have to buy the wireless charger separately.
Virtual RealityIf you pre-book one of the S7 phones, you get the Gear VR headset free. Virtual Reality isn’t fully ‘here’ yet but there are already stunning experiences to see and you’ll find yourself converted very rapidly if you go through just one. The bundling of the headset is currently one of the deal-breakers for those on the fence about buying an S7 device. The new flagships are also being pushed as gamer’s devices and much has been done to allow users to control their gaming experience more deeply — including shooting gaming footage.
Impressive CameraReminding us that a camera is not just about megapixels, Samsung actually dropped the resolution to 12MP for the rear camera. At the same time, they widened the aperture to f1.7 and used a sensor that has fewer but larger pixels all to improve low light performance because it’s indoors that people like to take a lot of pictures. And it’s worked. The images are detailed, noise-free. For outdoors photography, the camera software has been neatened up hugely and you have a Pro mode as well as other interesting modes including hyperlapse and a mode in which you have a few seconds before and after a photo recorded. The image stabilisation works wonderfully with video. Triggering the camera is really fast — two presses of the home button — and so is shooting. It makes all the difference when you want to capture a fleeting moment. Shooting from a moving car, I was able to take perfectly clear unblurred images and these were filled with detail and natural colour. The front camera may be softening the images all on its own a little bit, but most will not complain about that.
The S7 and Edge have so much more that it would take more space than permitted to go through features. There’s a fingerprint sensor that works fine, though I’ve seen better.
The phone is also water and dust resistant: you can actually put it into a bowl of water. But don’t go swimming with it.
There’s a set of services specially for Indian users including jumping the queue at a service centre and a concierge to get your chores done.
Overall, from being ridiculed for its phone designs being plasticky and Apple rip-offs, Samsung has gone on to being described as a design leader in smartphones. The way the new devices look will be a major factor in the decision to buy one of these devices.
BW Reporters
Mala Bhargava has been writing on technology well before the advent of internet in Indians and before CDs made their way into computers. Mala writes on technology, social media, startups and fitness. A trained psychologist, she claims that her understanding of psychology helps her understand the human side of technology.
