Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge announced: Refined design and improved camera
After what seems to have been a pretty long wait and also a long period of constant leaks, Samsung has finally revealed every last detail of the new Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, even though there wasn’t really that much left to reveal.
The device is the successor to Samsung’s highly praised Galaxy S6 and brings many internal changes, as well as couple of tiny external ones. But are the Galaxy S7 or Galaxy S7 Edge for you? We'll let you decide.
Design and Display
Looking at the design, not much has really changed when compared to the S6 or S6 Edge. The front Corning Gorilla Glass 5 panel keeps the same shape and look with thin bezels on either side of the display, and two larger ones on the top and bottom – The top one houses the in-ear speaker, while the bottom one houses the physical home button and the other capacitive touch ones. Looking at the rear, the design also remains mostly the same, with one of the few differences being the outer metal frame that appears to be slightly less prominent than on last year’s flagship. Another difference is the extreme reduction in the camera hump, with the hump being barely noticeable on the devices. Perhaps the most welcome change, and one that can’t be physically seen, is the addition of IP68 water and dustproofing, something Samsung removed in the Galaxy S6. The Galaxy S7 weighs in at152g and the S7 Edge weighs in at 157g. Regarding thickness, the S7 edge is 7.9mm thin and the Edge model is just 7.7mm thin. Both devices will be made available in Black Onyx, Glacier White and Gold Platinum colours, though the S7 Edge will also be made available in a fourth Silver Titanium colour.
Regarding the displays, this year Samsung has opted for a slightly larger one on the S7 Edge, specifically a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display, while the S7 comes with a smaller 5.1-inch one. Both displays come with the same 1440x2560p resolution (Quad-HD) as last year’s models, though the pixel density is slightly lower, with the S7 coming with 577ppi and the S7 Edge coming with 534ppi. Both devices come with a new feature called “Always On Display” which allows the device to constantly display the date, time and weather as well as other information without the need for you to turn the whole display on, which, considering most people check their phones around 150 times a day, should save quite a bit of battery life in the long run.
Processor and Memory
Both devices come with either the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 or Samsung’s Exynos 8890 processor depending on your location. The Snapdragon variant is accompanied by the Adreno 530 GPU while the Exynos version is accompanied by the Mali-T880 MP12 GPU and both are coupled with a generous 4GB of RAM. Regarding internal storage, the devices will be available in both 32 and 64GB configurations depending on your preference, though this can be further expanded via microSD if you feel that your choice of storage isn’t quite enough.
Camera
The new Galaxy S7 range feature an all new Dual Pixel 12MP sensor on the rear, which is similar to HTC’s UltraPixel in the way that the size of each individual pixel is much larger than the ones on the S6, therefore allowing you to capture up to 95% more light than previously possible. The rear sensor is accompanied by a dual-tone LED flash, OIS and phase detection autofocus. Samsung has also included a number of software tricks, such as “Motion Panorama” which allows you to capture panorama pictures with movement as you scroll along. As well as software tricks, there will also be a number of camera accessories available such as a wide-angle lens add-on or a fish eye lens.
On the front, a 5MP sensor with the same f/1.7 aperture as the rear is featured, though it’s not known if Samsung will market this as Dual Pixel sensor too.
Additional Features and Software
The new flagships will both come with Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, support for 4G LTE and a new, faster fingerprint sensor. Regarding battery, the Galaxy S7 features a large 3000mAh, a generous 450mAh more than the S6. The S7 Edge on the other hand, features a huge 3600mAh battery which is a whopping 1000mAh more than was available in the S6 Edge. Both devices support Wireless and Quick charging.
Moving on to software, the Galaxy S7 comes running the latest version of Android, Version 6.0.1 Marshmallow, straight out of the box along with the latest version of TouchWiz on top.
Price and Release
The company has revealed that the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge will both go up for pre-order in two days’ time (February 23) and will be released around the world on March 11th. If you plan on pre-ordering the device, Samsung will gift you a free Gear VR headset and 6 free games that can be played on it.
Finally, the Galaxy S7 will cost $699/€699 and the Galaxy S7 Edge will cost $799/ €799
Now that we’ve gone through every last detail of the device, what do you think of it? Let us know in the comments below!
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Image Credits: | PhoneArena (1) | | PhoneArena (2) | | Samsung |
