Samsung Galaxy S7 review
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Summary
Our Score:
Pros
- Stunning looks
- Great camera experience
- microSD slot and IP68 water resistance
- Glorious display
Cons
- Fingerprint magnet
- TouchWiz still has some quirks
- Poor speakers
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Key Features
- 5.1-inch, quad-HD display
- 3,000mAh battery
- 12MP camera
- Fast and wireless charging
- MicroSD
- Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow
- 4GB RAM
- 5MP selfie camera
- Exynos 8890 processor
- Manufacturer: Samsung
- Review Price: £569.00
What is the Samsung Galaxy S7?
To use a tired cliche, Samsung has had a year of two halves. After the release of both the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, things were looking strong. It had a phone that was better than the HTC 10, better than the Huawei P9 and it’s still better than the iPhone 7.But then the exploding Galaxy Note 7 landed and Samsung took a bit of a hit. Is it enough to make you think twice about buying a Samsung device?
In a word, no. The Galaxy S7 is still the best phone we’ve reviewed this year. Maybe the Google Pixel phone will have something to say about that though?
Video: Check out our review of the Galaxy S7
Samsung Galaxy S7 – Design
After the massive, and much needed, change in design direction Samsung took with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge in 2015, all rumours pointed to things staying pretty much the same for the Galaxy S7.Well, it’s not like Apple, HTC or Sony make drastic changes to their industrial design every year.
And that’s exactly the case here. Place the Galaxy S7 next to the S6 and you’d be hard pushed to instantly pick which one is which. Frankly, this doesn’t bother me in the slightest. The S6 was already one of the best-looking phones around, and the Galaxy S7 follows suit.
Both the front and back are covered in Gorilla Glass 4, while a metal rim snakes in between. Two volume buttons sit on one side, with a lock/standby switch on the other. It’s a clean look, with the back free from any markings aside from a Samsung logo.
The camera lens now sits just about flush with the glass body too. This might seem a small change, but it makes a big difference. I can now tap out an email with the phone flat on my desk without it jumping and rocking from side to side.
Related: Best smartphone 2016
There is one notable design change on the back – the sides now curve ever so slightly, just like they did on the larger Galaxy Note 5, and it makes a huge change to how the Galaxy S7 feels. While the S6 felt harsh and rigid, the Galaxy S7 slips softly into my palm. It’s so much more ergonomic and makes picking it up off a flat surface much easier.
And the way the sides almost melt into the glass just looks damn cool. Good job, Samsung.
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Along the top is the Nano SIM tray, which now holds a microSD slot, plus a microphone. The bottom houses the headphone socket, another microphone, a speaker and a micro USB port for charging.
That speaker is one of the few missteps on this phone. It’s downward-facing, gets easily blocked by my hands when playing a game and it sounds tinny and distorted at high volume. I guess front-facing speakers weren’t included so the screen surround could be kept minimal, but it’s still a disappointment when a speaker sounds this bad.
It had been suggested that Samsung would make a big switch to the new, reversible USB-C connector that’s already being used on the Nexus 6P, OnePlus 2 and LG G5, but it hasn’t.
To be honest, USB–C is more of a hindrance than a help at the minute. You can’t use any of the cables you’ve picked up over the years and it doesn’t necessarily mean faster charging. It does mean the S7 isn’t quite so future proof, though.
The front again has a clean look about it. The elongated home button still sits under the display, and it still juts out ever so slightly, rather than being concave like the iPhone’s. For me, this is a plus – it feels better pressing the Galaxy S7’s home button than the iPhone 6S’s – but a couple of the TrustedReviews team think otherwise. They’re wrong, of course, but it’s interesting how such a small design choice can split people.
Related: Everything you need to know about the Samsung Galaxy Tab S3
Housed inside the home button is a really fast and accurate fingerprint sensor that matches the iPhone 6S’s for speed, but it’s marginally slower than the Nexus 6P’s. That difference is minimal, though, and something you would only notice if you had the two side by side.
It’s clear from the Galaxy S7 that Samsung is listening to customer feedback and bringing back favoured features from the Galaxy back catalogue. MicroSD expansion is one, and IP68 water resistance is another.
The latter is by no means a vital feature, yet it’s impressive that it’s been added without any forced changes to the design. There are no flaps, there’s no added thickness and no extra space between the display and glass.
What does an IP68 rating mean? Well, you’ll be able to dunk the Galaxy S7 into 1m of water for up to 30 minutes without damaging the phone. Or, if you’re like Lil’ Wayne, you can douse it in multiple bottles of champagne. Obviously.
It’s become a cliche that phones get thinner and thinner each year, but that isn’t the case with the S7. It’s marginally thicker than its predecessor and has a nice weight to it. It feels dense and expensive, though not as delicate as you’d expect from a phone with glass on the front and back. I dropped it about four foot onto a hard floor and it survived without any problems.
Samsung has stuck with the same 5.1-inch display, there’s the Galaxy S7 Edge if you want something bigger, and it’s refreshing to have a flagship phone that feels this compact and easy to hold. It’s roughly the same size as the iPhone 6S, which only has a 4.7-inch screen, and much smaller than top-end devices from LG, Huawei and Google.
Coming from using the S7 Edge, I was initially a little underwhelmed by the Galaxy S7. It didn’t quite have that wow factor its curvier sibling does. But after a while it became my favourite phone to use on a daily basis. It feels great, is the perfect size and doesn’t make any sacrifices – aside from maybe the speakers – to get there.
Related: Best Android smartphone 2016
Samsung Galaxy S7 – Display
Close to perfection. That’s the best way to describe the display on Samsung’s Galaxy S7.Not much has really changed from the outgoing S6, but this still holds up as the best screen on a smartphone.
It’s still a 5.1-inch QHD panel with a 2560 x 1440 resolution, and just like every Galaxy flagship so far, it uses Samsung’s Super AMOLED tech, rather than the more common LCD.
AMOLED displays are a lot better at showing off blacks than LCDs. Instead of looking slightly grey and washed out, the blacks here are inky deep. Some say AMOLED screens produce colours that are too oversaturated, so reds will look way brighter than they should, but that isn’t much of an issue here. And if you really prefer things toned down, there’s a picture setting for that.
Having so many pixels jammed into a relatively small space means you can’t really spot one pixel from another, and that sharpness makes everything from gaming to watching YouTube an absolute pleasure. Play a round of Alto’s Adventure or Monument Valley on this display and you’ll instantly be drawn in by the crisp details and vivid colour reproduction.
I wouldn’t normally watch a film on a screen this size, but the panel here is so gorgeous that I can’t help getting lost in it.
The one thing that has changed this time around is the addition of a new ‘Always-on’ display.
Due to the way AMOLED screens work, they don’t need to light up the whole display all of the time. They can select individual pixels and just show them, keeping everything else off. So, when the Galaxy S7 is locked it can still show the time, date and a couple of bits of other information on the screen without eating through too much battery.
It’s a nice touch, and great for quickly checking the time when the phone is resting on your desk or a bedside table. But it’s a good software update or two short of being really useful.
First off, it’ll only show notifications from a few apps – it’s currently limited to Samsung’s own Messages, Email and Phone. If you, like me, regularly use WhatsApp, Gmail and Facebook Messenger, none of these will appear. That’s a shame, and makes the notification side of things a lot less useful.
I’d also like a lot more control over the mode. There’s no setting to alter the brightness, which causes some problems when you’re in a darker room, and aside from choosing whether or not you want a calendar showing, there’s no customisation allowed.
It uses extra battery too. About 1-2% per hour, so 15% or so per day. It’s just about worth it, but it could be so much better.
My only gripe with the display on the Samsung Galaxy S7 is that, in sunny conditions, it can be quite hard to read – certainly more so than the LCD panel on the iPhone 6S. Even with the brightness jacked all the way up, you’ll have to tilt the screen or find some shade to stop yourself squinting at it.
Thankfully, unlike the Galaxy S7 Edge, it has great viewing angles and doesn’t suffer from white backgrounds getting tinged with blue.
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Faslane
February 21, 2016, 7:19 pm
How about getting the date right in the headline. It's 2016 not 2015....ugh. My 6 year old nephew could write this shit better.toboev
February 21, 2016, 7:41 pm
What does "95% brighter photos" mean? Were they too dark before (underexposed)?Apocalysse
February 21, 2016, 8:01 pm
I think it's under low light :)Oberoth
February 21, 2016, 10:44 pm
Sarcasm is always hard to pick up on in forums but just incase:95% brighter photos is misleading, they are trying to say the phone will now take photos at a lower, less noisy ISO or better yet a faster shutter speed to reduce any blurry photos.
toboev
February 21, 2016, 11:10 pm
No sarcasm intended. Given that obviously the photos themselves are still going to be correctly exposed - not any brighter than before - are they implying that I can get away with, roughly, halving of the shutter time in the same shooting situation? If so how so? The aperature increase from f1.9 to f1.7 won't do that, it is not a full stop increase.Oberoth
February 21, 2016, 11:21 pm
This is true but there are several other factors coming into play, the main one being Samsung's new sensor tech, Britecell. You can find out more here: http://www.trustedreviews.com/...André Brasil
February 22, 2016, 8:23 am
No big changes there, it sounds like a Galaxy S6 "S" to me...toboev
February 22, 2016, 10:34 pm
This headline:"Hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy S7: An impressive upgrade to the best phone of 2015"
What's wrong with the date, I don't get it? Or did they already fix it?
Donald
February 22, 2016, 10:37 pm
Just compare this to the first Galaxy phone from 2009 and the first S from 2010 - and they cost nearly £500.Brian
February 23, 2016, 1:33 am
I'd say they're pretty big coming from an S6 that's terrible on battery, doesn't allow expandable storage, and isn't water/dust resistant.Who knows why they had these features on previous phones but got rid of them, money and marketing most likely? All I know is I'll be returning the S6 I just bought to pre-order the S7...
Kiranpal Pendyala
February 23, 2016, 8:13 pm
I suppose they meant that the improvements in aperture and the sensitivity of the sensor, the camera is now capable of almost double the low light performance of the older model.Alan Flores
February 24, 2016, 9:15 am
The Product seems to be launched in Dubai.https://prologix.ae/index.php/...
The price is AED2,499 nearly £620.
RM
February 24, 2016, 5:42 pm
Not a huge deal but wondering if they addressed the group text issue. Texts showing up as individual and not being able to see who's in the group.Shamz
February 25, 2016, 7:14 pm
Another phone already? I guess I'll wait for Galaxy S10. It's just around the corner.Hrion
February 26, 2016, 8:31 am
Nothings wrong with the headline, They are just saying that Samsung S6 was the best phone of 2015 and so S7 is an upgrade of thatRunningGreat
March 2, 2016, 1:50 am
Looks like it's got everthing I want in a phone. Looks, Water-resistance without flaps, best screen, best camera, mst/nfc card support (can already be used at 90 percent of U.S. retailers that already use magnetic strip readers.), plus sdcard, vr support. lovely.Thuglife
March 3, 2016, 4:00 pm
Waitn for my s7 edge iPhone is played outSes
March 6, 2016, 12:53 pm
You might want to ask her to read the article for you next time.Dead Words
March 8, 2016, 3:27 pm
It has been a year you know. The same as Apple, twice as good as Sony.toboev
March 8, 2016, 5:18 pm
But it's a Sony sensor. No 'Britecell' or Samsung tech there.Oberoth
March 8, 2016, 9:27 pm
yep you are right, that came out after i wrote my comments. I was surprised not to see a Britecell in use after all the marketing hype they generated for it. I wonder what it will get used in? Note 6 maybe?Andrei Low
March 10, 2016, 3:24 pm
Have you tried inserting a SIM in it? Is it true that it locks on that network automatically?Kadeem Wiz Jones
March 11, 2016, 9:12 pm
I have the S7 and I like it. no complaints yet other than the poor quality headphones provided with the phone. For the phone itself, so far its better than my Note 4 and thats really all I care aboutAdam
March 13, 2016, 11:26 pm
Andre, I am guessing you are from Brazil. If so, have you tried to dictate text messages in Portuguese? Did it work or did it just type gibberish? I tried 2 phones already, but none has been able to recognize Portuguese. Is it my luck or is it a problem with S7? Thanks.Justin
March 15, 2016, 3:57 pm
Main problem I am finding is the video angle due to the 4.3 sensor, on the s6 it had a 16.9 so when you start recording it kept the wide field of view. On the s7 it crops the sensor to create the 16.9 ratio and in doing this zooms in a hell of a lot. I wish they had kept the sensor ratio from the s6 as this seems like a step backwards on a otherwise great phone
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