Samsung has unveiled its latest and newest duo of flagship smartphones for 2016, the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge at the 2016 edition of the MWC (Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona, Spain. Like always the handsets had already leaked on a number of occasions and most of the speculations turned out to be quite accurate.
Both the handsets continue last year’s design language with a glass and metal finish, which proved to be a successful decision by Samsung as fans were not very happy with the lacklustre plastic flagships prior to the Galaxy S6.
The smartphones look very similar to the last year models, but there are certain refinements in the design as the back is now more curvy and the camera hump has gone down. Samsung seems to have taken feedback from its fans as not only the phones are now waterproof, the microSD card expansion slot also makes a comeback. This feature was omitted from all the major flagships last year and had disappointed many Samsung smartphone loyalists.
Another issue that the company has resolved is the battery life. Both the handsets have a larger battery pack compared to last year, a 3,000mAh unit on the S7 and the 3,600mAH one the S7 Edge, which should bring almost 2 days of battery backup.
The displays carry the same super sharp Super AMOLED QHD (2560x1440) resolution display, a 5.1-inch panel on the S7 and a larger 5.5-inch on the S7 Edge. Both the smartphones will feature an ‘Always On’ feature where the display will always show certains things like the clock, notifications, calendar reminders, etc. Since Samsung uses an AMOLED panel, battery consumption will fairly be very low.
There is also a new and improved 12MP camera on board. Yes it is a lower resolution compared to last year’s models but this a whole new module with a f/1.7 aperture which means better low light pictures and Samsung also claims that the new camera can focus up to three times faster thanks to its dual-pixel system.
Under the hood there a Snapdragon 820/Exynos 8890 octa-core chipset (depending on region) with 4GB of RAM and 32GB/64GB variants with microSD card expansion. Both the handsets support quick charging as well as wireless charging. Samsung has once again used a microUSB 2.0 port and not gone for the USB Type-C port which would have been a sweeter deal. The handsets will run on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with Samsung's TouchWiz UI.
Prices are unconfirmed but the S7 and S7 Edge will start shipping in the US starting on March 11th. Colour options include black or gold for the S7 and black, gold, or silver options for the S7 Edge.
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