As we know, there are two variants of the Samsung Galaxy S7 smartphone: the American version with a 4-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor and the international version with an 8-core Exynos 8890 processor. I wonder which of these options is better? Let's find this out.
Photo 1: Which Galaxy S7 is Better?
Differences in the processors of the two versions of the Galaxy S7.
Since we were not able to hold the American version of the S7 in our hands, we will use the information from the PhoneArena website. According to her, in benchmark tests regarding the browser and multi-core, both chips showed almost the same result. In principle, this is not surprising, because these processors are almost indistinguishable in terms of processing power, and once we can get our hands on the US version of the S7, we can do a more thorough comparison of both versions with each other.
Exynos vs Snapdragon: efficiency
If the Exynos processor has twice as many cores as its Snapdragon 820 counterpart, then, in theory, it should use more power. Since we do not yet have any numerical data, we cannot draw a final conclusion. We'll discuss battery life later.
Exynos vs Snapdragon: modifiability
Another important question in terms of processor differences between the two versions of the Samsung Galaxy S7 is whether it is possible to install third-party software. It is also equally important to know how difficult it is for users to get root rights. At first, the international version had a clear advantage, but now it looks like the American version of the S7 has taken the lead.
Note that programs such as CF-Autoroot S7 and S7 Edge Custom Recoveries were previously available only for the international version. After March 18, the bootloader lock was removed from the US version and the situation changed.
After that, the Snapdragon model got some clear benefits. Samsung has provided documentation for the Qualcomm processor to developers so that they can create third-party hardware. In the long term, it is possible that CyanogenMod firmware may be released for Galaxy devices intended for the United States. And the S7 version with Exynos seems unlikely to receive modified software outside of root access.
Basically, it's not surprising that Samsung has decided to release two different versions of the Galaxy S7. This allows the manufacturer to track differences in performance and satisfaction across a device with different variables. At the moment, the processor in the US version of the S7 seems to have some advantages, but buyers of the international version shouldn't worry at all. The Exynos version is also very decent, and is similar in many respects to the US version.
What do you think about the processor differences? Let us know in the comments.
Specifications
- Android 6.0.1, TouchWiz 2016
- 5.1-inch display, QHD-resolution, 576 ppi, SuperAMOLED, automatic backlight adjustment, Always On function, different operating modes, Corning Gorilla Glass 4
- 4 GB of RAM, 32/64 GB of built-in, memory card up to 200 GB
- nanoSIM (there will be options for 2 SIM cards)
- Exynos 8890 chipset, 8 cores up to 1.8 GHz per core, MALI T880 MP12 graphics coprocessor (Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 option available in some countries)
- lTE cat12 / 13 support with software update, operator support is also required
- Front camera 5 megapixels, flash (screen), main camera BRITECELL, 12 megapixels, time lapse, slow motion, video effects, 4K video
- Wi-Fi: 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac (2.4 / 5GHz), HT80 MIMO (2x2) 620Mbps, Dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, Mobile hotspot, Bluetooth®: v4.2, A2DP, LE, apt-X, ANT +, USB 2.0, NFC
- Built-in wireless charging (WPC1.1 (4.6W Output) & PMA 1.0 (4.2W)
- Li-Ion 3000 mAh battery, extreme power saving mode, fast charge in one hour up to 70 percent
- Water resistant, IP68 standard
- Dimensions - 142.4x69.6x7.9 mm, weight - 152 grams
Contents of delivery
- Phone
- Charger (Fast Adaptive Charge) with USB cable
- USB adapter, microUSB-USB
- Instructions
- Wired stereo headset
- Clip for SIM tray
Positioning
In 2015, there was a reshuffle inside Samsung that affected the positioning of devices, their release schedule and what the company was doing. In particular, we went for an experiment for the flagships when they abandoned memory cards (Apple does not, and no one complains!), Made the cases monolithic, and this scared many consumers. The fact that two models appeared on the market at once - S6 and S6 EDGE, in the same case size, but one with a side edge, and the other without, confused the situation even more.
The very first sales showed that the fashionable EDGE is in overwhelming demand, while the simple S6 is not so popular. The difference in demand did not affect the total volume of sales, but rather their distribution in the S6 / S6 EDGE pair. The EDGE deficit was noticeable during the first three months, the company did not have time to produce dies for them and was forced to launch additional production.
But then something happened that should have happened, the S6 with a flat screen took its toll, this device, at the expense of the price, pulled sales onto itself. For example, in Russia the cost of S6 is about 35 thousand rubles in the basic version, while a similar EDGE costs 10-12 thousand more. In the Russian market, it was the S6 that became the most massive flagship on Android, one of the best-selling models from Samsung. I am sure that the same will happen over time with the S7, this device has a long life cycle and over time and with the price adjustment will acquire more and more fans.
What is the beauty of this model? For me, the first priority in the phone is always the screen, you get used to the large diagonal quickly, and it's hard to refuse it. Last year I had a pair of two phones - S6 EDGE and Note, then smoothly switched to Note 5 and EDGE Plus. It so happened that my choice settled on two flagships with a large screen diagonal. In addition to the screen, the main reason was the operating time, the “small” EDGE did not allow me to comfortably survive until the evening, despite the fact that it was the second device to pair with the large Note. It is clear that my scenario of using the phone differs from the vast majority of people, I use smartphones to the fullest, I have different devices connected to them, a wireless headset, a hands-free kit and various sensors.
But many people use only one device and at the same time they do not want it to be large, they strive for compactness. In my opinion, the golden mean of the modern market is 5 inches, this is the overwhelming mass of smartphones sold, about half of all devices in the world come out in this diagonal. And that is exactly what the Galaxy S7 is, which offers that sweet spot.
For whom is this phone interesting? First of all, these are those who are transplanted from the iPhone and strive to maintain a compact body, and at the same time get more battery life and a better screen. Moving from the previous generation of sixes from Samsung makes little sense, unless you have the extra money and itching that there is a model that is better in many ways. Among the flagships, the S7 looks like a balanced solution, on the one hand, this is a typical cost for the basic version (the most affordable flagship of 2016), on the other hand, a maximum of technologies and a noticeably improved ergonomics of the solution. Despite my love for phablets, I now again consider the S7 as a second phone in a pair to the S7 EDGE / S6 EDGE Plus, since it is more compact and at the same time is not inferior to its older brothers in anything, except for the screen diagonal.
Design, body materials
Time passes, and yesterday's ideas of beauty evaporate like fog. Remember, until recently we considered thin devices one and a half centimeters thick, but that was some ten years ago. Exactly the same situation with what is considered a compact phone today, in my opinion, these are models with a diagonal of 4.5-4.7 inches, while the most popular are devices with a screen of 5 inches. And gradually people are switching to such phones, considering their size to be convenient, today they are the majority of smartphones on the market. The same S7 fits well into the cohort of such devices, has a good size for them - 142.4x69.6x7.9 mm, weight - 152 grams.
The ergonomics of the device is what we worked on day and night, the impressions of the model in comparison with the S6 are very different. This device fits into the hand like a glove. Compared to the S7 EDGE, due to the absence of a beveled front edge, as in it, you feel the S7 is much more comfortable. No slippage in hand, lays down as if it was always there. Of course, these impressions are individual, some may not like the device, it all depends on your habits and hand size. But it suited me perfectly. And most importantly, there are no difficulties here in order to dial a number with one hand on the go, it is quite possible without acrobatic numbers.
Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge
Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S6 Edge
For Samsung in 2015, the redesign of the flagships was successful, now they are all built on a metal frame, they have a back surface made of Corning Gorilla Glass 4. In 2016, nothing changes, except for the fact that the glass on the front and back panels becomes 2.5D ( this is a fashion and only, now all companies make such glass with a rounding). At Samsung, in order to position itself differently from competitors, they call glass 3D, for this they have reasons, no one uses such folds for Gorilla Glass 4 in their products.
As you can see, outwardly, these smartphones completely repeat the flagships of 2015, it will be difficult to see the differences. Moreover, the same A-series of 2016 looks similar to these devices, only the colors will differ, due to which they will try to emphasize the older models. But it is difficult in life to discern the richness of the color of the case, to notice what kind of apparatus a person uses. A successful design, which is multiplied in a dozen models, quickly becomes boring. And, perhaps, this very moment will stop many, people will think that it will be difficult to stand out with the help of such a device. As I see it, Samsung switched to a two-year design cycle, like Apple, but decided to play as a counterweight, that is, to change the appearance of the pipes in a different year than Apple. This year, the iPhone 7 will get a different look, but the Galaxy S7 will resemble its predecessor.
From the point of view of color solutions, the Black Onyx looks more interesting, the gold color is a little tired in the previous model. And most people order a black or silver phone, which is also good.
All in all, these colors are still available, but they will not appear in all markets at the same time.
Now a few words about dreams about a collapsible body. It is not and will not be in this model, the design itself does not involve replacing the battery yourself. But this can be done at any service center. The second point is protection from water. Just like in the Galaxy S5, it returns to Samsung devices again, and to all flagships. The protection standard is IP68, phones can be heated, and they will have nothing from this. There is an impregnation of the components on the board with a special solution that repels water (they like to use it in Motorola phones), but the design itself does not allow water to get inside, there are special membranes on the speakers and microphones.
And this is how they protected the microUSB connector so that water does not get inside, and if it does happen from a shock, then there is a special controller that prevents a short circuit.
All metal surfaces have undergone additional anti-corrosion treatment. In the picture you can see the painted parts, which are additionally protected from water.
We ran the IP68 test and the phone passed it with ease. There are no problems with him, watch the video. I want to note right away that in order for the speakers to sound not dull after water, it is necessary for the apparatus to dry, this is a simple logic that for some reason is not clear to individual people.
Pay attention to how the tray for the SIM card and memory card is arranged, it has a rubberized insert, which is lower than the top edge. As a result, dust from pockets quickly gets piled in here, but it doesn't get inside the phone. The peculiarity of his protection affects. Someone may not like this from an aesthetic point of view, but this is not a problem, since dust does not penetrate into the case, cannot get there.
The case has slightly increased in size, this is a consequence of both the larger battery in the S7, and the different frame design, it was made stronger in order for the device to withstand serious drops (aluminum alloy 6013). For the latest generations of Galaxy I have absolutely no complaints about resistance to falls. We immediately recalculated the location of the components and parts of the phone to ensure even greater survivability and safety of the glasses that cover the screen and the back surface. There are no miracles in the world, and you can break any device, but users of the Galaxy / Note line know that they have very reliable devices that are difficult to break.
Of the minuses of the black version, I will note the speaker grill, which is also painted black. The paint wears off in a few weeks in the pocket, white metal appears. In the golden color of the case it is simply imperceptible, it seems that everything is correct, but here it is clearly visible. In my opinion, this is a clear drawback, but it cannot be called critical.
Overall, the S7 turned out to be very good in materials and feel. Fits perfectly in the hand, good in pockets.
In order to prevent the device from heating up, a special cooling system was created inside. Look at its description.
Memory type, RAM, memory cards
When Samsung started to abandon the production of its flagships with memory cards, the company reasoned that the memory capacity of 32, 64 and 128 GB would be enough in theory for any person. In practice, the company got confused in logistics, and the first devices appeared with 32 GB, then 64 GB, but 128 GB models were difficult to find, and they were not produced much. This is a fundamental difference from Apple, where you can buy a device with any amount of memory and they are always in stock. Therefore, the experiment inside Samsung was considered unsuccessful, and the groan of consumers was so loud that all Samsung top managers felt it.
Apparently, in order to please people, you must first take something away from them. This happened with memory cards, they were removed in 2015 and realized what a mistake it was in 2016. Now memory cards have been returned to all flagships, you can use them of almost any size. The 200 GB card is recognized and works. Later, support for 2 TB memory cards may appear, there is no reason not to do this, there are no technical restrictions.
The main models will be those offering 32 GB of internal memory, while 64 GB devices will not be very common. I think that there is nothing wrong with this, and users will choose exactly such solutions.
Since Samsung smartphones use fast memory of the UFS 2.0 standard, the company had to abandon the proprietary function of Android 6, combining memory cards and internal memory into a single array. This is necessary for those who are not going to use their memory card somewhere else, but only in one phone. The risks are great, if the memory card fails, you will lose most of your data, if not all of it, except for those stored in the cloud.
As a result, Samsung decided to make an interim solution. You get 24 GB of space out of 32 GB, while 8 GB contains the system and space for working with external memory, for example, it is used as a buffer when recording video, cache and other system functions. But, as before, you can transfer most of the applications to the memory card, not store them in the internal memory of the smartphone. As a result, there are no de facto restrictions, you can use your smartphone as you please.
The type of random access memory has not changed, these are chips built on 20 nm technology, we first saw them a year ago. The peak data transfer rate is 3.2 Gb / s, which can be considered the maximum speed in mobile devices in the next year, or even one and a half. The amount of RAM has grown to 4 GB.
The memory manager, which appeared in the previous generation and caused complaints from many users that it unloaded applications from memory, remained. But they added a mode of operation in which the latest applications are kept in RAM, they are unloaded only when necessary. That is, it turned out to be a kind of mixed mode: while memory is not required, applications hang in it, and as soon as it is needed, they go to the buffer.
But due to the speed of the processor, the loading time of applications from the cache has been reduced by at least half, it seems that they are hanging in memory. Visually, and by feeling, this is a big increase in the speed of work in this very aspect.
Chipset and performance
In 2015, Samsung stopped using Qualcomm in its flagships, the processors were very hot and had many flaws. In particular, it was Snapdragon 810, which Qualcomm was able to refine only a year after the first samples. This processor and Samsung's abandonment of it brought down Qualcomm's stock and even caused a wave of layoffs and a reorganization of the chipset maker.
Until 2015, the prevailing stereotype said that the Exynos versions of the flagships are noticeably worse than their counterparts on Qualcomm. Often this was not the case, they were equivalent from the point of view of an ordinary consumer. Qualcomm has traditionally been stronger than Samsung's own solutions with LTE modems. In 2016, the difference is leveled even more, as the modems on Exynos also received an update and began to work better. Are they lagging behind Qualcomm? I think yes. Will you notice this difference in real life? I think no.
The vast majority of countries will receive flagships from Samsung on the Exynos version, and not with the Qualcomm 820. Operators who want to get the version on Qualcomm for some reason do it deliberately and for their own reasons. Among the disadvantages of the Qualcomm version, I would like to note that the operating time in various modes is about 10 percent shorter, which looks like a huge difference with the same performance. Also, less integration of the Qualcomm chipset with the Samsung camera can affect the autofocus speed (but you probably won't notice it). The predominant version of the flagships will be the one that uses the Exynos 8890 internally.
Depending on the operator and / or the chipset used, the letters in the model markings will differ, the standard name is SM-G930. Let's dwell a little on this processor. So, it is made according to the 14 nm FinFET technological process, it has eight cores, as well as a new graphics coprocessor MALI T880 MP12. In the area of \u200b\u200bgraphics, the processor is claimed to be 80 percent faster than the MALI-T760 and 40 percent more energy efficient at maximum load.
Of the interesting features of the chipset, I would like to note support for LTE cat.12 / 13, which provides data download at speeds up to 600 Mbps (a 1 GB movie can be downloaded in one minute, if your operator supports these categories). Check out the infographic for this processor.
In synthetic benchmarks, the Exynos version shows better performance.
The S7 wins in the tests, it is the fastest device at the moment (my phones are on Exynos). Look at the test results.
I'd like to point out that the new processor is very fast. In every sense, this is one of the best processors on the market, and at the same time it has good energy efficiency, reduced power consumption, which, together with other technical solutions, makes these models very interesting.
The phone also has an additional processor Exynos M1, which is responsible for calculating movements. Allocating a separate, dedicated processor for this is justified. At the moment, S Health has an erroneous step count when moving in a car, shaking is perceived as walking. This defect will be corrected in the coming months.
Display
The phone has a SuperAMOLED screen, 5.1 inches, QHD resolution. There is simply nothing better on the market, and the fact that all companies are trying to switch to AMOLED and are ready to buy screens that are outdated by several generations from Samsung only speaks of how good this technology is.
DisplayMate traditionally conducted a study of screens in S7 / S7 EDGE, and the result is quite interesting, the previous leader in the person of S6 EDGE Plus lost the crown, the best screens in mobile devices are called displays from the last generation, nothing better exists in the world. , it is quite detailed and thorough.
Let's focus on a few technologies, each of which is not obvious but improves the use of these devices in everyday life. So, let's start with how screens behave in bright sun. The S7 has no problems with this, no glare, no reflections, the brightness in automatic mode can be set to such a level that you will see bright and colorful colors, the entire contents of the screen will be readable. But it depends on your preferences, however, more on that later.
Now let's imagine the unimaginable. Many people wear sunglasses in summer, many of them have polarized lenses. The problem with most screens in portable electronics is that they are hard to see, especially in normal, vertical orientation. The screen of the same iPhone 6 / 6s becomes darker than it really is. Flip the screen to landscape orientation and it appears lighter. Miracle? Just the arrangement of the elements.
The Galaxy S7 screen took care of this "little thing" and placed the polarizing filter at an angle of 45 degrees so that no matter how you look at the screen with glasses, the picture remains bright. This is the first device on the market in which even such trifles for the screen have been thought out.
Another thing that has changed for screens and first appears in the S7 / S7 EDGE is personal auto brightness. What does it mean? How can tuning be both personal and automatic? The answer lies in the fact that we are all different and perceive the brightness of screens, their colors and other parameters in different ways. Samsung has implemented an intelligent system that evaluates the ambient light level and which backlighting options we choose, what we consider to be a comfortable level for us. And this data is used in order to subsequently adjust the backlight as it is convenient for you. It is enough to use both manual and automatic backlight control for about one week for the phone to understand what you like and to work like that in automatic mode. I am absolutely delighted with this feature, as it predicts what I want to see, what should be the brightness of the screen in different conditions.
There is also an Always On mode for the screen, when the time is constantly shown, as an option, a picture or a calendar, and you can select themes in which these images will differ.
This is just a wonderful feature, since, unlike competitors, the picture is displayed in color, it is always visible, whether at night or during the day, and is quite bright. For those who fear that this will affect the operating time of the device, on the S7 EDGE 12 hours of display operation in this mode spends from 1 to 2% of the battery (depending on external lighting conditions, the picture changes in brightness automatically). This is nothing, but you always have a watch in front of your eyes, and this sharply distinguishes this phone from all others.
Cameras - front and back
The front camera has a resolution of 5 megapixels, slightly increased light sensitivity. The screen itself can act as a flash. It is possible to improve complexion, remove artifacts on the skin, and at the same time correct the geometry of the face. Face enhancers will definitely appeal to girls.
But there is no intrigue here, everything is clear and familiar. The intrigue is what happened to the main camera, because in the S6 its resolution was 16 megapixels, and in the S7 / S7 EDGE the camera suddenly became 12 megapixels.
The Galaxy S7 / S7 EDGE uses a Sony IMX260 camera module (a year earlier IMX240), which was created specifically for Samsung. Such products usually do not receive descriptions on the Sony website, and moreover, they cannot be purchased from other manufacturers.
I could not find a sane description of the IMX260, and this is not so important, since the main innovations were explained during the presentation of the Galaxy S7. So, the company increased the lens aperture f / 1.7 (a year earlier f / 1.9), while also increasing the pixel size to 1.4 microns, which makes it possible to get more information on the matrix. In Britecell, the pixel size is one micron, and it immediately turns out that this technology is not used in the IMX260, judging by the information that we had before. But everything is not so simple, let's try to figure it out.
To begin with, the S7 is the first device on the market that has focusing over the entire area of \u200b\u200bthe matrix, that is, one hundred percent of the pixels are used in phase detection autofocus.
But, perhaps, the most important thing is the increased clarity and brightness of the picture (although, I confess, I don’t know much better anymore, the current flagships shoot very well). Here the possibilities of shooting in the evening and in the dark have increased. There are new scenes and plots, camera settings. Samsung was able to improve the camera, although it seemed impossible to do so.
Sample photos
Comparison with S6 Edge +
| S7 Edge | S6 Edge + |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
For example, the "Food" mode has appeared, this is a kind of filter in which the background is blurred, note that on the left is a picture without a filter, on the right - with it.
| Usual | Food mode |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
For video recording, a slow-motion mode appeared, as well as a time-lapse, examples of which you see in the video below.
And here is an example of a typical video for this camera.
From year to year, I say that Samsung flagships are shooting better and better, they are of very high quality. And I'm tired of constantly answering the question on social networks, what this picture was taken for. In S7 / S7 EDGE the camera has become even better, which makes these devices the undoubted leaders. Now the time has expanded when you can be guaranteed to get a high-quality picture, it is not only day, but also twilight, evening. In short, the camera is, as before, one of the strengths of these devices.
extracurricular reading
Battery
Slightly increased dimensions are associated with the capacity of the battery - 3000 mAh. The operating time of the device is always a combination of factors, in particular, the stability and optimization of the software, the quality of the components, and the power consumption of the screen. It is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to consider the operating time in isolation from these parameters.
A typical scenario for using a modern smartphone involves working in the background of various programs, not only browsing pages, but connecting a wireless headset, and so on. Everyone has their own use case, for example, I use phones to the fullest - I take pictures, listen to podcasts on a wireless headset, watch social networks, movies, web pages, receive mail from different mailboxes every fifteen minutes. I have an EDGE Plus with three to three and a half hours of screen operation from morning to late evening with a backlight of about 70 percent. And this is a good indicator. For many, the operating time of this device is two days on average. Some people manage to make it work for up to three days, and say that this is enough for them for active use. It should be noted here that the word "active" is different for everyone, everyone puts his own worldview into it.
For S7, I get a full day, from morning to evening, there are no restrictions here. The operating time of the screen with automatic backlighting is from 3.5 to 4.5 hours (brightness is 50-60%, which is quite noticeable, for competitors it is considered full brightness). It is the operating time that becomes one of the advantages over the S6 / S6 EDGE.
Video playback time at maximum brightness is from 13 to 14 hours on average (the radio module is not turned off).
The phone has two built-in wireless chargers, you can use either one. There is support for fast wireless charging. There is also fast wired charging - in 90 minutes you will charge the device to 100 percent. It takes less than half an hour to get half the charge. Many flagships of other companies can only dream of such fast charging technology, which saves, even if you forgot to charge the device in the morning, in the morning it will take only a few minutes.
The biggest improvement in the current flagships, and indeed all 2016 models from Samsung, is the increased battery life. A huge amount of work has been done here, and this should be noted. On average, they will work 1.5-2 times longer than previous devices of the same segment. The reason is the increase in battery capacity, but also the optimization of software and hardware.
A few words about the microUSB connector, which the progressive part of humanity has already decided to send to the scrap and is waiting for USB Type C. Personally, I was tortured to carry the second cable, I constantly forget it, and therefore some phones I charge only at home where there are such cables. The value of Type C is still highly overestimated; such a connector is needed by a small audience, which considers itself to be technology enthusiasts. Therefore, it was not used in mass products. The gradual transition to it will begin in the fall of 2016, and then, this is an issue that has not been fully resolved. Now Samsung considered that the compatibility of all accessories is much more important than maintaining a fashion trend.
Speaking of AMOLED, Exynos and battery life. The Meizu Pro 5 used this combination of Samsung components to maximize its battery life. Other companies are starting to adopt Samsung's experience, and this is becoming a trend.
USB, Bluetooth, communication capabilities
Bluetooth version 4.2, it was created for the Internet of Things and works great with various sensors. Otherwise, there are no special changes, new profiles have appeared, power consumption has improved. Let me remind you that there is something interesting in the new standard.
Firstly, this is an extended range, which can reach several tens of meters, depending on the device settings and how the manufacturer configured this option. Secondly, IP is used for addressing, that is, devices now have their own unique addresses and communication with many such devices is supported.
From technical points, the interaction between Bluetooth and LTE has been improved, now, within the framework of one device, the operation of these technologies is synchronized, there is no mutual interference (for our LTE frequencies it is irrelevant). Plus, Bluetooth devices can now access the cloud and transfer their results directly, bypassing the companion device, as was previously necessary.
USB connection... It uses USB 2.0, that is, the data transfer rate is about 20 Mb / s. These are not theoretical, but real results on devices. They may differ depending on the operating system and the computer to which you connect your phone. Both up and down.
Wi-Fi... Supports 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac standard, the wizard is similar to that for Bluetooth. You can remember the selected networks, automatically connect to them. It is possible to set up a connection to the router in one touch, for this you need to press a button on the router, and also activate a similar button in the device menu (WPA SecureEasySetup). Of the additional options, the setup wizard should be noted, it appears when the signal is weak or disappearing. You can also configure Wi-Fi to work on a schedule.
For 802.11n, HT40 mode is supported, which allows you to double the Wi-Fi bandwidth (requires support from another device).
Wi-Fi Direct... A protocol that aims to replace Bluetooth or compete with its third version (it also uses Wi-Fi version n to transfer large files). In the Wi-Fi settings menu, select the Wi-Fi Direct section, the phone starts looking for devices around. We select the desired device, activate the connection on it, and voila. You can now view files on another device in the file manager, as well as transfer them. Another option is to simply find the devices connected to your router and transfer the necessary files to them, this can be done from the gallery or other sections of the phone. The main thing is that the device supports Wi-Fi Direct.
Wifi repeater.
It is impossible to write a review when you use the phone for a few minutes at the company's stand and this device is not your main one. Then there are materials that lack a lot of "chips", which the manufacturer himself did not tell, as well as others did not find them. I am constantly working with the Galaxy S7, I have already discovered many "little things" that distinguish Samsung flagships from other Android smartphones and will later become part of Android itself. I want to tell you about one of these chips.
Usually, when you turn on the access point on your phone, it instantly turns off Wi-Fi, you cannot use both at the same time.
On the Galaxy S7 / S7, EDGE unexpectedly discovered that when Wi-Fi was turned on, there was a connection to the wireless network, but your hotspot was not disconnected. There are two icons in the status bar.
Further - more and more interesting. All phones connected to the Galaxy S7 start using its Wi-Fi connection, rather than mobile data from it. Up to this point, never the Wi-Fi router scenario in mobile phones has been used so widely.
Who might need it and why? For example, when traveling, I very often come across a limit on the number of connected devices in hotels. With the features of the Galaxy S7, these restrictions on the number of devices are a thing of the past, now I am writing text, and a dozen of my phones are hanging on the same connection via the Galaxy S7 EDGE. And most importantly, I do not need to waste time at all and enter my last name, room number and leave a postal address on each. It's the same story in restaurants, cafes and other places where I can share my connection without having to enter Wi-Fi settings on every device. Cool? Certainly.
Another question is that this function is not so necessary for the vast majority of people. At home, this is an opportunity to distribute your Internet to those corners of the apartment where your router does not finish. At the same time, check whether it is worth buying a regular Wi-Fi repeater and whether it will work.
As always, I believe that it is better to have additional functions in the device that are not required so often, but when they are needed, you will be grateful to them than you will not have such functions. Do you need a Wi-Fi repeater function?
NFC... The handset has NFC technology, which can be used with various additional applications.
S Beam... A technology that allows you to transfer a file of several gigabytes to another phone in a few minutes. In fact, we see in the S Beam a combination of two technologies - NFC and Wi-Fi Direct. The first technology is used to bring up and authorize phones, but the second is used to transfer the files themselves. A creatively redesigned way of using Wi-Fi Direct is much easier than using a dual-device connection, file selection, and so on.
Software - Android 6, TouchWiz and more
Inside Android 6.0.1, the same software will be received by the current flagships and two-year-old models at the same time or a little later than the S7 / S7 EDGE will be on sale. As before, this device has TouchWiz, but it has been heavily redesigned for Android style, and now the whole system is perceived as very airy and light, everything looks organic. The UI speed is excellent, it flies, there are simply no brakes. Again, it all depends on personal perception, someone sees the brakes in what other people consider instant.
The software has a lot of chips, you will have to tell about them separately, which I did, read the full review and watch a video about this software.
Optional accessories
New wireless charging will be available for these models, it differs from the old one in that it has a 50-degree tilt and you can put your phone on it. There will be leather bumpers (leather back) as well as a case with two interchangeable lenses.
From what I was able to try, I will note the standard book covers, including those with an LED screen. Take a look at the pictures of these accessories, then you can also watch a video in which I explain and show how they work.
Comparison with Galaxy S6
Samsung has prepared an infographic on why the new device is better than the S6, everything is very clear in it.
Impression
There are no complaints about the quality of speech reproduction, the volume of the call, these devices are excellent, perhaps their radio quality is one of the best on the market. And this has long become a kind of mania, Samsung is finishing up what is already good. However, as we have seen in the review, they do this for many components of their flagships.
It is a thankless task to evaluate new devices by pictures or even photographs. In the case of the S7 / S7 EDGE, it is doubly ungrateful. It seems to be the same materials, the same design, but you need to take the device in your hand to realize the difference. And it is not in favor of the previous generation. These devices need to be touched live and to see how they work, how responsive the menu is, how the camera shoots, and it is advisable to do this at dusk in order to realize the differences.
We are accustomed to the fact that each new generation of flagships from Samsung provides new technologies and sets the bar for productivity, as well as what can be built into devices. These are the most functional solutions of all today, but last year the rejection of memory cards upset many. Now this flaw has been corrected, and everything is back to normal. But they also added enhanced shock protection, IP68 protection against drowning. Plus, the battery was increased and the system was optimized so that the operating time increased 1.5-2 times. All this together suggests that the models turned out to be not very successful, but super successful.
The new camera module gives a great result, it is a breakthrough in a direction where no one expected major improvements. I did not expect at all that the difference would be visible in life. And this is a serious claim to maintain its advantage in this area, other devices are approaching Samsung in terms of photos, but they cannot catch up.
From an engineering point of view, these devices are small masterpieces, they were stuffed with the latest technology and made them work. What are the improvements in the display, which are not visible, but make our life better and easier. It would not be superfluous to note that other companies, and first of all Apple, reach the use of such technologies only years later, they simply do not have the opportunity to do something similar. They are too far behind in development, and this can be seen in almost every piece of hardware. I have a very positive perception of the new flagships, and the fact that the previous generation sold well in Russia says a lot about the changed orientations of people during the crisis. The same S6, due to its affordable price, became the most popular flagship, followed by the iPhone 5s 16 GB. The choice of a three-year model remains a mystery to me, but people see some sense in it. But everything is gradually changing, slowly and surely ordinary people are realizing what fast charging in real life is, what high-quality screens look like and why Android gives freedom of use. I have no doubt that the seventh generation Galaxy will be very successful, there are all the prerequisites for this, the devices turned out to be interesting.
The cost of the S7 is 49,990 rubles, this is the most affordable flagship of the latest generation, the price has not changed compared to how the S6 came out a year ago. You can choose S7 EDGE as an alternative to this device.
Considering that S7 EDGE comes out at a price of 59,990 rubles, this can be considered a surcharge for a larger screen, battery and better image component.
The choice between S7 and S7 EDGE is obvious, I like the older model more, it looks more interesting. Another thing is that, perhaps, you are an adherent of more compact sizes.
But as a final word, I can say that Samsung has turned out models that are head and shoulders above the competition, and they are not just good quality, they are the best that is on the market today. And no compromise.
Due to the fact that two different processors will be used to produce the Samsung Galaxy S7, the Exynos 8890 vs Snapdragon 820 competition promises to be even more interesting.
Last year, the Galaxy S6 was made only on the basis of its own development of the Korean company Exynos 7420, so the comparison of the mobile chipset from Samsung with competitors was possible with certain assumptions: after all, different firmware, different optimization and different pre-installed software. However, this year the Koreans returned to the practice of using two processor solutions at once for their flagship, all other things being equal, thanks to which we are able to quite accurately compare the performance of Exynos 8890 vs Snapdragon 820.
Note that this year Samsung has no plans to ship the top-end Exynos 8890 Octa Core to other smartphone manufacturers. The sad experience with the Meizu Pro 5, which, like the Galaxy S6, was based on the Exynos 7420, but turned out to be significantly faster than the Samsung flagship, pushed the Koreans to release a special cut-down version for sale to third-party companies. Thus, a comparison of Exynos 8890 vs Snapdragon 820, in fact, will mean whether it is worth taking the Galaxy S7 or making a choice in favor of one of its competitors.
Parameters Exynos 8890 vs Snapdragon 820
Note that Qualcomm describes in some detail the characteristics and capabilities of the Snapdragon 820, which is quite natural in view of the fact that the company sells it to smartphone manufacturers. As for the Exynos 8890, some of its parameters still remain a mystery (for example, the digital signal processor - DSP used in this Samsung chipset), which is also not surprising - this information is mainly needed only by the engineers of the Korean giant.
In general, the Exynos 8890 looks much more interesting in view of the larger number of computing cores, four of which are designed for high performance mode (Exynos M1), and four for power saving mode, while all eight cores can work simultaneously.
Exynos 8890 vs Snapdragon 820 performance comparison
This testing was conducted on Samsung Galaxy S7 SM-G930W8 (Exynos 8890) and SM-G930A (Snapdragon 820) prototypes. The latter option is an operator version for the American cellular operator AT&T, the exact purpose of the first is not yet known.
| Exynos 8890 | Snapdragon 820 | |
|---|---|---|
| Single core mode | 1873 | 2282 |
| Multi-core mode | 5946 | 4979 |
As we can see, Snapdragon 820 outperforms the Exynos 8890 in the single-core test by 18%, but loses almost the same amount in the multi-core test. Thus, we see a kind of parity.
From the user's point of view, the situation is like this. The most resource-intensive applications are now increasingly receiving good optimization to get the most out of multi-core systems. In addition, the superiority in multi-core computing provides better multitasking. Conclusion - Exynos 8890 is preferable.
However, we are still talking about prototypes with raw firmware and, quite possibly, not yet completely finished hardware. For example, a variant of the Samsung Galaxy S7 SM-G930T was recently tested for the American mobile operator T-Mobile based on Snapdragon 820, which showed a noticeably better result in the multi-core test - 5352 (but still did not catch up with the Exynos 8 Octa Core), and also increased the number "Parrots" in a single-core - already 2347. By the way, the last point suggests that Snapdragon 820 was finally able to win in the "discipline" where until now the leaders were exclusively mobile processors Apple.
There is also data on the test of another variant of the Samsung Galaxy S7 based on the Exynos 8890, which showed a phenomenal result in the multi-core test - 9269 "parrots". Yes, and in the single-core test, it almost caught up with Snapdragon 820 - 2126. Skeptics, however, say that this could be a fake "leak", or we are talking about a deliberately overclocked prototype. However, even if the overclocked version of the Galaxy S7 can conquer the symbolic milestone of 10,000 points, this will be a serious image advantage for the eighth generation Exynos processors.
The mid-size flagship of the Japanese company came out controversial. The display resolution was left old-fashioned, the proprietary moisture protection means only "getting in a light rain" and no underwater shooting, as in Sony's advertising, and the Snapdragon 810 processor, although it began to overheat less, still does not work in this model in an ideal way.
But in terms of the quality of the body materials, the convenience of the operating system and the sophistication of the camera, the Sony flagship remains an attractive model to this day. The Z5's auto modes don't work perfectly, but in manual mode, the Z5 can squeeze surprisingly high quality shots. The autonomy of the smartphone is seriously inferior to the results shown by the top-end Samsung, but the iPhone 6s will soon retire (as will the quickly outdated HTC One M9 Plus), the LG Nexus 5X already on sale is much less powerful and less prestigious, and outside of these models, purebred flagships of the moderate the dimensions just end.
conclusions
Attitudes towards the Galaxy S7 change as you use your smartphone. The first impression is a "restyling" of last year's flagship under a new sauce, but then you sum up the number of innovations and you understand that improvements of this scale in the iPhone% of anything% S would pass for a revolution, and any Apple fan would be delighted. Only Samsung did not release the S6 Super / Ultra / Neo, but released the S7, which divided connoisseurs of the brand into two camps.
The current owners of the Galaxy S6 admit that the smartphone has become "better in everything", but they see no reason to change the existing models to new flagships. Those who are watching the price drop for the "morally outdated" S6 series are also in no hurry to get the extra 15 thousand rubles out of their pockets. There remains an audience that acquires a "new cool Samsung" with each new generation of the model, and those who are disappointed in other flagships / do not want to wait until the manufacturers release more breakthrough superphones.
However, what other "breakthrough" ones? In the “less than 5.5 inches” class of truly sophisticated smartphones, the cat cried. If it were not for the example of the iPhone 6 / 6s - the rest of the manufacturers would have rushed to produce "shovels" without options for the buyer. In this sense, the Galaxy S7 (just don't laugh) is a living exotic, because the class of 5-inch flagships is slowly dying out.
But the release cycle on the principle of "modernized version - revolutionary version" is already quite the way for Apple, comrades. And even though we are not used to the conditional two-year cycle from the evolutionary to the revolutionary Galaxy S, such changes will benefit both those who like to “sit out to cool models” and everyone who sells an old smartphone to purchase a new one “with changes and additions”. We can only hope that such a tactic will not "sink" Samsung and the Koreans know what they are doing.
The paths to excellence are different. Apple, which has been making the best smartphones in the world for a long time, didn't have to try hard - it had a secret weapon in the form of the genius of Steve Jobs. But geniuses are not enough for everyone. The rest of the manufacturers have to either more or less successfully copy each other's ideas, trying to improve something, or just work hard on themselves, improving the products. Samsung went the latter way. This text is about the visual result of such work, a result that will be available from March 18 in electronics stores throughout Russia. About the Galaxy S7 smartphone.
Appearance, convenience
At first glance, it is difficult to distinguish the novelty from its predecessor. The metal frame of the case is now smoothly rounded around the entire perimeter of the device, devoid of sharp edges. The Samsung Galaxy S7 sent to us for review has become more rounded also due to the convex"3D glasses" Gorilla Glass 4 on both sides. It is pleasant to simply turn the smartphone in your hands, like a pebble polished by the sea.
Having grown fatter by a millimeter, the device decreased by millimeter in length and width, while gaining 14 g (about 10%) of weight. Due to this, it seems even more dense and monolithic. The "hump" of the rear camera that annoyed many in the Galaxy S6 has disappeared - now it sticks out less than a millimeter. The 5.1-inch device feels almost like a "small" smartphone in the hand - like the iPhone 6s. And the real difference in width is small. The "Apple" device is already a Galaxy S7 by only 2.5 mm, but in the diagonal of the display it loses more - 1 cm.
In general, I have never encountered such convenient Android smartphones with 5-inch screens before. The fingerprint scanner is also convenient - the sensor built into the "Home" button works clearly and flawlessly, except for cases when the finger is completely wet or dirty. The only (and even then, subjective) drawback of the Galaxy S7's ergonomics is the high-positioned volume keys on the left edge.
At the same time, Samsung Galaxy S7 is not only convenient, but also practical. For example, you can safely take it out in the rain and even immerse it in fresh water to a depth of one meter. The smartphone is certified according to the IP68 standard, that is, it is waterproof - it is not afraid of immersion in a bath or a puddle. But after "bathing" it would be good to turn it off and dry it, especially the ports.
You might not like how quickly the Galaxy S7, especially the black one, becomes covered with fingerprints - in this case, it is better to look at the lighter colors. In Russia, the smartphone goes on sale in three colors out of the four mentioned at the presentation on February 21 - Black Onyx (in Russia it was transmuted from an ordinary ornamental stone into a "black diamond"), Silver Titanium ("silver titanium") and Gold Platinum ("dazzling platinum "). White Pearl White is still absent in Russia, as in many other markets. Either there were problems with the production of this particular color, or it was saved to be released later as an exclusive offer of individual retail chains or cellular operators.
Screen
Galaxy S7 received a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED screen with QuadHD resolution. Last year it seemed that there was no practical sense in such a high density of points. This year a disclaimer appeared - “if you don't use VR devices”. In VR headsets such as Gear VR, the smartphone is located very close to the eyes and a realistic, non-pixelated picture is provided only by Quad HD-resolution screens.
I rarely used smartphones with AMOLED screens for a long time, so one of their peculiarities hurts my eye a little - a slight change in hue noticeable in predominantly white images when changing the angle of view. But this, of course, is a trifle - how often do we look at the screen from an angle? Otherwise, there is nothing to complain about. The maximum brightness is excellent, under direct sunlight the screen turns on a kind of "turbo mode" that preserves readability, the automatic brightness adjustment depending on the illumination works precisely. It would also include a night mode at the system level, which changes the color rendering of the display to a "warmer" side at night - in this mode, the risk of insomnia caused by the "blue screen" is reduced. However, there are quite a few third-party apps on Android that implement this feature.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 has another outstanding display property - it can always be on. That is, even when the device is locked, the current time and notifications are displayed on the screen. In the settings, you can choose options with the display of the date and calendar, there are several different background images to choose from:
I did not notice the difference in the rate of battery consumption when the function of the constantly lit screen is turned on and off. The thing is generally excellent, but I would like to be able to view the contents of notifications without unlocking the phone - as it is implemented, for example, on.
Filling, performance
In Russia, other European countries and many other regions, a version of the Galaxy S7 with an eight-core Exynos 8890 processor of its own production will be sold. The chip is curious - for the first time, it uses the Exynos M1 cores, which the engineers of the Korean company developed independently, using the architecture of ARM's flagship solutions only as a starting point. It was possible to achieve an extremely high maximum frequency for a mobile processor - 2.6 GHz. There are four such cores in the system-on-a-chip, 4 more are intended for tasks that do not require top-end performance, ordinary ARM Cortex A53 with a frequency of 1.586 GHz.
Geekbench 3 benchmark results show more than 50% performance improvement over last year's Galaxy S6
Samsung Galaxy S7 features over 100,000 AnTuTu score
The Mali-T880 MP12 is responsible for the graphics in the Exynos 8890. The limiting frequency of the accelerator is 650 MHz. The Exynos 8890 is manufactured according to the latest 14 nm process technology, but it seems that it can get quite warm under maximum load. Otherwise, why then equip it with a special heat sink tube? It, however, ensures that the heat from the chip is evenly distributed and the surface of the smartphone does not heat up to an uncomfortable temperature. I have never encountered such a thing during testing.
According to the test results in Epic Citadel, Galaxy S7 owners will not have problems with games
Complete with 4GB of RAM and fast (UFS 2.0 technology) 32GB internal storage, the Galaxy S7 provides excellent performance in 3D games (50-60 fps even at maximum settings in the Epic Citadel benchmark), applications (at least written growing from where they should be) start instantly, and the interface does not think for a moment. We have not yet tested the ones presented on, so it's too early to give up the Galaxy S7. In addition, we had a non-final sample of the device on the test. But it is already clear that the Galaxy S7 is one of the fastest phones in 2016.
And finally, another trump card of the Galaxy S7 compared to the previous generation of Samsung flagships - support for microSD up to 2 TB. You can easily not only save videos and photos to the card, but also move applications. The ability to use and change memory cards is a huge advantage of the Android platform over iOS, it's good that Samsung changed their minds and decided to return microSD to their smartphones. True, the owners of the dual-SIM version will have to make a choice: either 2 SIM or microSD (the memory card takes up one of the SIM slots).
Battery, autonomy
Maximizing battery life is what the consumer demands from new smartphones in the first place. And Samsung succeeded in this in the Galaxy S7, the processor, software, and communication hardware were optimized in terms of power consumption, and the battery was physically made bigger (3000 mAh). The bottom line is that there are very few ways to guaranteed to empty the battery from morning to evening. The main one is, of course, games: in modern 3D titles, the charge will last for 5 hours at most. But a two-hour movie will require only about 13-14% of the charge to watch.
The day illustrated by the graph in the screenshot was very busy for my test Galaxy S7: installing applications, benchmarks, games, working as an access point - and still more than 20% of the charge remained by the evening
The only mode besides gaming where the Galaxy S7's battery doesn't feel infinite is Wi-Fi hotspot mode. An hour of journalistic work with a laptop (the Internet is used from time to time to download pages, watch short videos, as well as upload texts and images to the site's CMS) and a Galaxy S7 connected to the cellular network via LTE as an access point "costs" about 15 percent of the battery. It seems that the modem integrated into the Exynos 8890 chip has room for improvement in terms of energy efficiency.
Galaxy S7 charges quickly - especially if you use the standard charger, which provides 100% filling of a fully discharged battery in an hour and a half, and 50% in less than half an hour. Even from the USB port, the MacBook Pro Galaxy S7 fully charges in less than two hours - that is, one and a half times faster than the iPhone 6s Plus (which, by the way, has a smaller battery).
Cameras, sound
How did Samsung spare megapixels ?! In the last generation Galaxy S, the main camera had 16, but now only 12? Yes, and that's a good thing - every element of the sensor has become larger (56%), thanks to this, capturing more light and making it possible to shoot even in very low light conditions. Samsung calls the new sensor (manufactured for Koreans by special order by Sony) Dual Pixel. In addition to its high light sensitivity, its main advantage is an improved phase detection autofocus, which uses not a part, but all the pixels of the matrix to focus on. Some top-end DSLRs use a similar technology, but it is used for the first time in smartphones. The wide-angle lens (F1.7) not only helps to fit more objects into the frame, but also lets more light into the sensor.
The camera software has become more functional - there are new Hyperlapse modes (as in the app of the same name from Instagram) and Motion Panorama (animates objects moving in the frame when shooting a panorama), and selfies (they remain 5-megapixel) can now be highlighted by the screen, like a flash. There are a lot of shooting modes left, additional ones can be downloaded, but the interface for their selection has become much simpler and faster. Finally, one of the most convenient features of the Galaxy S6 has been preserved - instant camera launch by double-clicking the Home button.
Compared to the vast majority of Android smartphones, the quality of the photos the Galaxy S7 takes with the main camera is just perfect. The camera instantly focuses, including when shooting rapidly moving objects in the frame, and perfectly captures night scenes - perhaps we have not tested devices with such sensitivity in low light conditions.
There are only two shortcomings (perhaps, the non-final software of our test sample is to blame): the yellowish tone of the pictures taken in low light, and the too aggressive use of the sharpening filter, noticeable at maximum magnification. But they do not spoil the overall picture - this is the best camera in an Android smartphone at the moment. The quality of most of the pictures does not differ much from last year's Samsung flagships, however, the speed and focusing accuracy have significantly increased, as well as the ability to "see" in the twilight. Sample photos can be found below, more photos and a couple of videos are available here (Google Photos). Click to open full-size images.
Samsung store in Frankfurt, Germany
The colors in photographs are often brighter than in reality. I don't think it will upset anyone
Galaxy S7 shoots at night no worse than during the day
Find a reason to be proud of Russia in a photo taken in Germany
Galaxy S7 lets you take photos with confidence in the pouring rain
In macro shots, the Galaxy S7 diligently blurs the background while still delivering great detail to the main subject.
This picture, in my opinion, is underexposed, but if you want to "pull out" the details in the shadows, you can use any editor
During testing, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the built-in speaker of the Galaxy S7 - the device sounds no worse than small flagship tablets like the iPad Mini or smartphones with front-facing stereo speakers, supposedly able to compete in sound quality with compact Bluetooth speakers. Samsung did not specify in the specifications the type and manufacturer of the digital-to-analog converter (DAC) in the Galaxy S7. Probably, in order not to increase the cost price, a conventional 16-bit DAC is used. Nevertheless, the sound of the smartphone in tandem with the Harman / Kardon BT headphones connected by a cable did not cause any complaints - no extraneous noise, clear and juicy, well-detailed sound.
Interface, software
The Samsung Galaxy S7 runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow and will likely receive updates to the next couple of "numbered" versions of Android. The TouchWiz interface, if you apply a suitable theme to it, is not much different from stock Android, and in the default version it began to look much more decent than a couple of years ago:
On the live photos in the review, the Material Dark theme, available free in the theme store, was used, which, in my opinion, suits a black smartphone better. I also immediately replaced the stock keyboard with Fleksy and changed the default theme to dark and minimalistic. Not because TouchWiz is bad - it got rid of most of the shortcomings last year, for which only the lazy did not criticize it. I just wanted to make it really beautiful.
The settings contain a lot of additional functions of varying degrees of usefulness - from automatically answering a call when you bring the handset to your ear or taking a screenshot with a palm gesture to the option to delete the application menu. When the latter is activated, all installed programs are not placed in a separate menu, but on home screens - like on the iPhone or in the Android interfaces of most Chinese manufacturers.
As you can see in the screenshot above, software products (and another company, just a very generous one) cannot be removed from the Galaxy S7, even if you really want to. A lot of software is preinstalled: Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint (for full use of the "office" you will need to purchase a subscription). Out of the box, the 32 GB version of the Samsung Galaxy S7 is occupied by the system and software just over 8 GB. At the same time, applications and games can be painlessly transferred to a memory card.
conclusions
The annual work on bugs and the desire to improve the product did their job. The Samsung Galaxy S7 is by far the best Android smartphone I've tested in 2016. An elegant futuristic design, a body that fits comfortably in the hand, record performance, the best camera among Android smartphones, full protection from water and high, of course, but taking into account financial realities, a very reasonable price - 49,990 rubles.
The closest rival in the Android camp, I would call the Huawei Nexus 6P, but this device is still of a different format, a "shovel" with a large screen. The Sony Xperia Z5 is also very good, the photographic capacity here only slightly falls short of the Galaxy S7, but in terms of autonomy, ergonomics and display quality, the Japanese device loses.
The iPhone 6s stands apart - a truly premium smartphone that rivals the Galaxy S7 in convenience and beauty and has one of the fastest single-threaded processors. Against the iPhone, however, several factors work in competition with the Galaxy S7: an overpriced (from 55,000 rubles for a version with a pitiful non-expandable 16 GB of memory), a much shorter battery life and less convincing low-light shooting results. So to all owners of old iPhone models who are thinking about buying a new device, I strongly recommend not to exclude the possibility of purchasing the Galaxy S7, but to take a closer look at it.
Another thing is that I am close to the practical, rational approach that Samsung has recently been following in the development of flagship smartphones. If the Galaxy S7 was designed by a company that Samsung was about 4 years ago, a smartphone could easily have an irrelevant USB-C port, an infrared transmitter used only by a few units, and a more reasonable screen diagonal, and some crazy dual camera system. with prohibitive resolution, and a clumsy interface, more like a computer game. But the Galaxy S7 came out very balanced. It has everything that is important for the user - a great camera, a long-lasting battery, a beautiful, comfortable and protected from the elements - and there is nothing superfluous, except for the indelible "gifts" from Facebook and Microsoft.
