Introduction
We already knew that Samsung was capable of producing an excellent premium device. Since the first Galaxy S device which shook the floor for iPhones, the sales have gone up and every next generation sets new standards for this class. Now when we’ve already seen the new flagship, the S8, we came back to the last year’s flagship, the S7. Here for our review we have a SingleSIM, 32 GB version, the SM-G930F. This device comes in several colors: White, Gold, Silver, Pink Gold and Black, which we have for the review. Let’s see what the S7 is capable of one year in.
Unboxing
Display
Samsung have set high standards with their amazing SuperAMOLED displays. The S7’s display is no exception. It is a QHD 5.1” SuperAMOLED display. This resolution was first presented in the S6/S6 Edge devices. This resolution on a 5.1” diagonal translates to 577PPI. Image is perfectly clear and sharp, with great color presentation and contrast. Black color reproduction is also great. As we have mentioned, the resolution of this screen is QHD, but there’s also an option to manually set the resolution in order to improve the battery life and increase the performances of the device. This way we have 3 resolution options, HD, FullHD and QHD. Visibility on the sunlight is excellent, and the brightness sensor is well adjusted and offers great maximum brightness. AlwaysOn display is also present. Blue Light Filter is also here, and it filters out the blue color in order to release the stress from the eyes during use. Excellent!
Hardware and OS
Another area where the S7 outperforms the S6 is the hardware. The S7 comes in 2 versions depending on the market: Exynos 8890 Octa or Qualcomm Snapdragon 820. We have the SM-G930F version which is a global version with the Exynos 8890 chipset. This is an octa core chipset divided into 2 clusters. First 4 cores are “fast” cores which are used for demanding tasks and they’re clocked at 2.3 GHz, while other 4 cores are clocked at 1.6 GHz. The graphics chip is a true candy. It is the 12-core ARM Mali T880-MP12. All applications work fluently, as well as more graphically demanding games. After extensive gaming, slight overheating is noticeable, but nothing significant. This device comes with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, and in 32 and 64GB storage options. Internal storage is expandable via a microSD card up to 256GB. Our device has 32GB of storage. Multitasking is not an issue with 4GB of RAM. AnTuTu benchmark score was slightly above 137.000 which was an excellent result until Snapdragon 835 chipset was unveiled. The fingerprint sensor is implemented into the Home button, and it works flawlessly. Other available sensors are: accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity, compass, pressure sensor and heart rate monitor. Android v7.0 Nougat firmware combined with the GraceUX user interface offers a great deal of functions. It is very fluid, with no stuttering or lagging at all. The device first came with Android v6.0, but software updates brought the Nougat in the meantime. Until the end of this year, the update to the Android O is also expected.
Camera
Samsung have unveiled the new 12MP camera sensor in the S7. Compared to the S6’s 16MP sensor, it has lower resolution but all other parameters have been improved. It is a 12MP sensor with DualPixel AutoFocus, where every pixel serves as the focus-pixel, resulting in the fastest auto-focus ever seen up to then. The S7 also has bigger pixels compared to the S6, and bigger aperture which automatically translates to more light, and there’s also the Optical Image Stabilization. The quality of photos is excellent. The sharpness is very good, as well as the color reproduction and contrast. The level of noise is well managed and the improvement is definitely noticeable compared to the S6. The S7 really shines in the field of low light shooting. Thanks to very well adjusted post-processing, the night time photos look very good, with low noise levels and great details. Other camera options here are Phase Detection Auto-Focus (PDAF), Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), Geo-Tagging, ability to shoot 9MP photos during video capturing, Touch-Focus, Face/Smile detection, Automatic HDR and Panorama mode. Available camera modes are Auto, Professional, Panorama, Selective Focus, Slow Motion, Time-Lapse, Food, virtual Recording, Video Collage and Live Streaming. You can easily select the mode swiping from left to right in the camera interface. Video captured by the main camera is in 4K resolution, and its quality is among the best available. Alongside the standard 4K video, there’s also FullHD at 60fps, HD at 240fps, and VGA. HDR video is also available. The front facing camera has the same 5MP resolution as the one in the S6. The difference is bigger aperture in the S7’s camera, which results in more light and therefore in better photos in both high and low light environments. The front facing camera supports HDR mode and captures 1440p videos at 30fps.
Connectivity
As expected from devices in the premium class, the S7 is packed with connection options. This device that we have here is a SingleSIM version using a nanoSIM card, and the same tray contains a slot for a microSD card. 2G, 3G, and 4G networks are also supported. MicroUSB port is used for charging and data transfer (OTG is also supported and the adapted is shipped in the factory box). The 3.5mm audio port is also present.
The list of wireless connections contains:
- WiFi 802.11 (with HotSpot mode)
- BlueTooth v4.2
- A-GPS
- NFC
- Samsung Pay
Battery
A non-removable Li-Ion 3000 mAh battery is implemented into the S7. It is a smaller battery compared to the S7 Edge (3600 mAh), but bigger compared to the S6 (2550 mAh). Fast charging is present and the stock charger will fully charge the device in 90 minutes, and wireless charging is also supported through Qi or PMA wireless chargers.
Battery results are:
- around 22 hours talk time
- around 250 hours stand-by (Nougat)
Final words
The S7 is definitely a complete premium device. Going from the display which is definitely among the best in mobile devices, and the DualPixel main camera to the hardware – we couldn’t find any downsides. Of course, there is always room for improvement, for example a 128GB storage version would be very welcome, as well as stereo speakers. Now when the price is on an affordable level, the S7 seems to be an excellent alternative to the S8, especially now that the price of the S8 is up to 50% higher, so the S7 seems like a more reasonable option.
Do you like the Samsung Galaxy S7? We’d like to see your opinion in the comment section below. If you have any ideas or you would like to see a specific device being reviewed soon, feel free to let us know here or on our Facebook page. If you liked this review, subscribe to our Youtube channel, like us on Facebook, and sit back and relax while we make more of the same for you.
