Samsung Galaxy S7 review: a smartphone without weak points. Brief description of the Samsung Galaxy S series. Let's remember how it was All about Samsung s7

Today, January 3, the debut of two new smartphones from the South Korean brand took place, and they were named exactly as we expected: Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite and Galaxy S10 Lite. In Russia, both new products will go on sale in the middle of this month at an affordable price.

Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite will get better optical stabilization

Insider Ice Universe surprised everyone by tweeting that the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite will receive unprecedented optical stabilization technology. He said that it will be better than any other current flagship smartphone.

The user manual confirmed guesses about the design of the Galaxy S10 Lite

Just a few hours ago, a user manual for the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite leaked online, confirming its upcoming debut. This leak also made it possible to once again confirm that the new product will have a hole for the front camera in the middle of the display.

Galaxy S10 Lite and Note 10 Lite smartphones may debut at CES 2020

Most of the information about the unannounced Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite and Galaxy S10 Lite smartphones is already known, but we still do not know the exact date when the manufacturer will introduce them. Some speculate that both gadgets will debut in late December, while others suggest it will debut in early January.

Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite and Galaxy A91 turned out to be different devices

For several months, many people thought that the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite and Galaxy A91 were the same smartphone, but under different names. Insider Steve H.McFly denied our assumptions and even revealed the technical characteristics of the unannounced Galaxy S10 Lite.

Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite will receive a macro camera

More than two months ago, we learned that Samsung was preparing another more affordable version of the Galaxy S10, and after some time it became clear that it would be called the Galaxy S10 Lite. Today, sources revealed that the gadget, which carries the model number SM-G770F, will receive a macro camera.

Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite and Galaxy Note 10 Lite pose in fresh renders

In addition to the new Galaxy A series smartphones for 2020, Samsung is preparing a couple of models of the flagship Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10 lines. It is expected that Seoul residents will present their Lite versions, and now we will show you what they will look like.

Android 10 update released for Galaxy S10 in Russia

Readers of our site report that they have begun to receive the long-awaited Android 10 update for the Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus. A week ago, an update was released for those participating in the One UI 2.0 beta testing program, and Samsung took a whole week to please ordinary flagship users.

Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite appeared on the company's official website

Along with the Galaxy S10 came an affordable version called the Galaxy S10e, and we were surprised to hear that Samsung is preparing a Galaxy S10 Lite. Everything suggests that this is another cheaper version of the flagship that will be released this year.

Samsung Galaxy S10 received a stable version of Android 10

Samsung has suddenly released the final build of Android 10 for the Galaxy S10. It's available to those participating in the One UI 2.0 beta testing program, and for now only in Germany, but it's clear that an expanded release is just around the corner.

Seoul residents will release Galaxy S10 Lite with 45-watt charging

This morning, the unannounced Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite smartphone was spotted on the website of the Federal Communications Commission of the United States of America. She confirmed that the future device with model number SM-G770F will be called that way.

Samsung will introduce Galaxy S10 Lite, Galaxy Note 10 Lite and A51 in December

Our colleagues at 91Mobile report that Samsung will unveil the Galaxy S10 Lite, Galaxy Note 10 Lite and Galaxy A51 in December. It's likely that all three models will be announced at different times since they are quite different, at least two of them.

Samsung has released the third build of Android 10 beta for the Galaxy S10

You may have missed the notification about the release of the new, third build of Android 10 beta for the Galaxy S10, so open your phone's settings and check for the update. It includes another series of fixes to the operating system.

Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite may be equipped with a 4500 mAh battery

Despite the fact that a new flagship line of smartphones is due to debut in just a few months, Samsung is going to expand the current Galaxy S10. The company is rumored to be planning to introduce the Galaxy S10 Lite, some of the characteristics of which have already become known.

Galaxy S10 certified with Android 10 on board

Sooner or later, Samsung will release Android 10 for the Galaxy S10, but for now the company is testing the latest version of the operating system on three smartphones in this line at once. Today's news comes from the Wi-Fi Alliance certification center, which has certified three LTE models Galaxy S10e, S10 and S10 Plus with Android on board.

How much will the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite cost?

Over the past few weeks, we have heard several times about a new smartphone called the Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite. Despite its flagship specs, it will be more affordable than the Galaxy S10. However, we have a simplified model, and it’s called Galaxy S10e.

Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite visited the Geekbench benchmark

A few months ago it became known that Samsung was preparing another version of the Galaxy S10, which would have the prefix “Lite” in the name. Its corresponding model, the SM-G770F, was tested in the Geekbench 5 benchmark.

The second build of Android 10 beta has been released for the Galaxy S10

If you are participating in Samsung's Android 10 beta testing program, then the second build is probably already available to you. It fixes a huge number of bugs from the previous build, so install the latest update as soon as possible.

The second beta of Android 10 for the Galaxy S10 will be released in the coming days

Apparently, Samsung is preparing a second beta version of Android 10 for the Galaxy S10, but it is unknown when it will be released. Today, an update to the Samsung Video video player libraries was released, the changelog of which indicates that it now supports the second Android 10 beta update for the Galaxy S10.

Samsung Galaxy S10 Lite will appear in three colors

Like the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite, the new Galaxy S10 Lite will come in three colors, but they will be different. Experts believe that this is the same Galaxy A91, but under a different name. It is reported that it will go on sale in blue, white and black colors.

One UI 2.0 beta for Galaxy S10 available in Germany

From now on, you can enroll in the Android 10 testing program with One UI 2.0 beta and update your Samsung Galaxy S10 to the latest version of the OS. To do this, you will need to install the Samsung Members program from your app store, be it Google Play or Galaxy Apps.

Samsung is preparing Galaxy S10 Lite and Galaxy Note 10 Lite

At the end of September, we first learned that Samsung was planning to introduce a more affordable version of the Galaxy Note 10. Today it became known about a new version of the Galaxy S10 at an even more interesting price. Both smartphones will have the prefix “Lite” in the name, which indicates simplicity.

The Android 10 beta testing program will launch in three countries from October 14

On Monday morning, Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10 and Galaxy S10 Plus users will be able to take part in the Android 10 and One UI 2.0 beta testing program. The first build was leaked the other day, but the day after tomorrow it will become available to more people in Germany, the United States and South Korea.

Samsung has delayed the release of the first One UI 2.0 beta build for the Galaxy S10

Yesterday, Samsung announced the launch of a new testing program for One UI 2.0 based on Android 10 for its flagships, and many expected the first build to be released today. However, the company has just officially confirmed that the One UI 2.0 beta release is delayed.

The S10 series of phones now has the ability to take selfies in night mode and background blur in videos

Samsung has pleased us all with the release of an update for the Galaxy S10 series of smartphones, which brings a number of features that debuted with the Galaxy Note 10. We are talking about a night mode for the front camera, background blur in videos.

News archive

Mobile World Congress 2018 took place not long ago, where the company’s new flagship, the Galaxy S9, was presented. However, before users have time to study all the features of the new product, they are already eager to know everything about the future Samsung Galaxy S10. There are already a lot of rumors and all kinds of leaks appearing on the network, but we will try to find out what is true and what is fake.

First of all, you should pay attention to the rumor about solid-state batteries in future generation devices. According to technical parameters, such batteries have an increased energy capacity in smaller dimensions, and also do not overheat or explode, unlike conventional lithium-ion batteries. Despite all the colorful development, the introduction of such a battery in the Samsung C10 may slightly slow down the release date of the smartphone. According to the company, the developers have not yet fully studied all the nuances of the technology.

It is also known that the company intends to move away from the Galaxy S name in a different direction. At the moment, there are speculations that the new flagship will be called Galaxy X or some similar name. Obviously, this is due to the new design that the future smartphone will have.

Galaxy S10 release date

Traditionally, all Galaxy S devices will be presented at Mobile World Congress, which takes place in the first quarter. Accordingly, we should expect the future flagship no earlier than January-March next year.

Samsung Galaxy S10 will be officially launched on February 20, 2019.

DJ Koh, who is the head of the mobile division of the Korean company, said that most likely the name of the future “Galaxy” will be slightly changed. It is worth noting that the line itself will remain called Galaxy, but its one-letter name “S” will be replaced with something else.

Samsung has already made a similar decision in the case of the Galaxy A line of budget smartphones, when all the existing Core, Prime, Mini and other brothers were combined into one “A”. It seems that now it’s time to change the name of flagship smartphones. Let's hope that with the new name the smartphone will also get a new appearance.

Again, do not forget the possible delay in the official release of the Galaxy S10 due to the introduction and testing of a new type of battery. After all, the company certainly doesn’t want a repeat of the old incident with exploding batteries.

Specifications Samsung Galaxy S10

The exact characteristics of the Galaxy S10 are still unknown, however, there are already quite a lot of leaks and insights about the screen, processor, camera, RAM and some features. We invite you to familiarize yourself with them.

• Screen- 4K Ultra HD Super AMOLED
• CPU- 7nm Qualcomm Snapdragon of the latest generation at the time of launch of smartphone production (presumably Snapdragon 855).
• Camera- main (18 megapixels), front (10 megapixels, dual with optical stabilization and phase detection autofocus).
• RAM- 6 GB, memory type - LPDDR5.
• Main memory- 64, 256 or 512 GB.
• Battery- ~3800 mAh.
• Networks- 2G/3G/4G/5G (600-700 MHz).

For now, that's all that is known. However, even this list is not accurate, so take everything with a grain of salt. But, having this list, it’s worth considering each item in detail, as well as some of the specifications of the future flagship.

Screen

The future smartphone will feature a 4K Ultra HD Super AMOLED display that will cover at least 93% the entire front panel of the device. In addition, Samsung continues to sow rumors about a flexible display patent, which will obviously be used in the Galaxy S10.

The point is that the new “Galaxy” may acquire a screen that will cover the front, one side and part of the back panel. The display itself will be made in a single form factor, which, according to the design idea, should “envelop” the smartphone. The corresponding photos are already on the Internet.

A similar idea has already been implemented in Meizu Pro 7, which has 2 displays. The second screen is designed to display notifications and the clock. In addition, the rear display of Meizu Pro 7 has found its use as a selfie mirror. However, the rear screen was separate and not integral with the front panel, but the developers' idea turned out to be very interesting. We hope that Samsung will be able to put the flexible display patent into practice, and the Samsung C10 will become a truly revolutionary and new device in every sense.

Processor, RAM, network

As befits all flagships, the future Samsung Galaxy S10 will have the highest specifications to satisfy all user needs. It is expected that the heart of the device will be the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 series, made according to 7nm process technology. Qualcomm may create this processor in collaboration with Samsung specialists.

The amount of RAM and user memory is still just a guess. Obviously, the user will be allocated about 256 GB to store applications, photos, videos and other multimedia data. Perhaps a version of the smartphone will be released with 512 GB of memory on board. It is not known exactly how much RAM the future Galaxy S10 will have. However, Samsung plans to use LPDDR5 chips, which are significantly superior to the current LPDDR4.

It is also known that the Samsung Galaxy S10 will definitely support 5G networks. This network allows data transfer with a maximum latency of 1 millisecond at speeds of 15 GB/sec. It is worth noting that in Russia MTS, Megafon, Beeline and Tele2 are actively working on the 5G network. A record has already been set in which the operation of a new generation network was tested - a Huawei smartphone using 5G from Megafon reached a speed of 35 GB/sec.

Note that 4G reaches a maximum speed of 1 GB/sec with a latency of 10 milliseconds. Presumably, Russians will be able to enjoy the new speed no earlier than mid-2018.

Design

What can make the Samsung S10 stand out from the crowd of Chinese copies? That's right, a design that will exceed all critics' expectations. If Korean experts nevertheless call the new smartphone Galaxy X, then it should clearly surpass its direct competitor, the iPhone X.

Considering that the future device will have a curved display, which was written about earlier, we can roughly imagine the new design. It should be a monolithic block with curved side frames like the Galaxy S9; the screen occupies almost the entire front panel - at least 93%; from the front, the display goes through one side frame to the rear panel; no buttons other than the power/lock key.

Battery

Samsung devices have no complaints when it comes to battery capacity. The battery charge is enough for a whole day of active use of the device - 4G, games, watching and shooting 4K video and long-term use of the device at maximum display brightness, which should significantly “exhaust” the smartphone.

However, recently Korean specialists have been actively working on a new, solid-state type of battery. This is evidenced by all kinds of reports, as well as news from Samsung. The developers' plans include introducing new batteries into their wearable gadgets, and then mass production of solid-state batteries for electric cars. As experts say, this will increase the charge capacity, while the dimensions of the battery will be quite compact.

For the future Galaxy S10, this is at least another couple of hours of work and minus a couple of centimeters in the thickness of the device. However, there is no exact data on this matter yet. Therefore, we can only hope for the success of the developers before the release of the smartphone.

Galaxy S10 Features

You certainly won’t be able to win top sales with just the design, screen and new processor. Therefore, the Samsung Galaxy S10 simply must have its own characteristics. Everyone knows that Samsung specialists have been working for a long time on introducing a fingerprint scanner into the device’s display. However, it has not yet been possible to achieve the desired result. According to critics, by the release of the Galaxy S10, Korean developers should finish work on an in-display fingerprint scanner.

In addition, we should also not forget that Samsung has not yet presented its analogue of the Face ID technology, which is popular with iPhone X users. The iris and face scanner, even in simultaneous tandem, does not provide the comfort of use that Apple provides . Comparing the security of Face ID and Samsung's face and iris scanner simply doesn't make sense - alas, the fruity winner is obvious.

Also, there is information that the Samsung C10 will hide speakers under its display - both conversational and stereo. This is evidenced by Samsung data, which speaks of a new development by the company’s specialists. Judging by experts, with the right approach from developers, the result should have a “wow” effect. At the same time, the maximum volume of the device should not be affected. We hope that everything will be successful in the Korean laboratories.

Despite the demands of users to make the future flagship extremely frameless, the company still faces some difficulties even at the concept development stage. In particular, by abandoning the frames, the device risks being left without a place for the front camera. According to experts, to locate the selfie camera matrix, at least 3-5 millimeters must be allocated at the top of the device. Accordingly, the Galaxy S10 will not be so frameless. At least in the upper part for sure.

A solution to this problem could be a mechanical retractable front camera module. However, Korean experts cut it off at the concept stage, explaining that with such a module the risk of device breakdowns increases. In addition, introducing something mechanical into a new product while all over the world is increasingly abandoning it is absurd.

We saved the most interesting things for dessert. Perhaps the S10 will implement a revolutionary single-chip system that works in a single combination of processor, graphics module and neural network chip. Such a module will significantly speed up the operation of the entire system, as well as its overall performance and efficiency. The work of specialists on this technology is most closely followed by critics and tech bloggers.

Price of Samsung Galaxy S10 in Russia and the world

Taking into account all the development features, new components and production costs, the cost of the Samsung Galaxy S10 in Russia should start at 56,990 rubles. For other CIS countries, it may traditionally increase slightly due to local legal peculiarities. However, it is unlikely to be higher than $1,100 in equivalent.

smartphone, Android 6.0, monoblock body, 5.1" screen, 2560x1440, nano-SIM SIM card, GPS/AGPS/Glonass, Wi-Fi / 3G / LTE / NFC, dimensions 69.6 x 142 x 7.9 mm, weight 152 g

5 advantages of the Samsung SM-G930F Galaxy S7 smartphone

Robust housing

Samsung SM-G930F Galaxy S7 measures 69.6x142x7.9 mm and weighs only 152 grams. It fits comfortably in the palm of your hand and is suitable for use in any conditions thanks to its shock-resistant housing with additional protection from dust and moisture.

Working with two SIM cards

A smartphone makes it easy to optimize communication costs. It has slots for two nano-SIM cards at once. This allows you to combine tariffs from different mobile operators, choosing the most advantageous offers for communication in your home region and travel abroad, calls and web surfing.

Impressive display

The diagonal of the Super AMOLED screen of the smartphone is 5.1 inches. It surprises with its rich and natural color reproduction and impresses with the clarity and detail of images reproduced in a resolution of 2560x1440 pixels. The 16:9 aspect ratio makes the display optimal for viewing photos and videos in widescreen mode, and durable Gorilla Glass 4 guarantees protection from accidental impacts.

Memorable photos

The main camera with a resolution of 12 megapixels works in conjunction with a fast autofocus system, a powerful flash and optical stabilization function. It is capable of taking bright and colorful pictures regardless of external conditions: even in the dark and while moving.

Effective work

A powerful eight-core processor with a frequency of 1800 MHz and 4 GB of RAM are responsible for quickly solving work tasks, loading resource-intensive files and applications, instant response to commands and no freezes in games. If necessary, you can increase the internal memory of your smartphone using the microSD card slot.

Samsung Galaxy S7 is the iconic smartphone of 2016. It sets the rules of the game and serves as a guide for all its competitors, including Apple. However, based on the example of this smartphone, it is already becoming clear that we should not expect any breakthrough this year. There are a lot of positive changes, a lot of retouching, but it’s all evolution. I have already said in that the development of the market is moving towards services and accessories, and S7 is further confirmation of this.

Equipment

The following was found in the Samsung Galaxy S7 kit:

• charger with Fast Adaptive Charge function
• Micro USB cable
• wired headset (in my case there was none)
• SIM eject tool
• USB to Micro interface adapter

The latter is designed to copy data from an old smartphone to a new one. There was even a corresponding software function in the menu. The only thing I don’t understand is what kind of devices we are talking about: any Android smartphone or only “Samsung” solutions.

Immediately regarding the fact that Samsung decided not to equip its brainchild with USB Type-C, but limited itself to the version with Micro USB. From the point of view of the desire to get the very latest, this is, of course, a drawback. In practice, there is no real need for a new type of cable. Micro USB is like Nokia charging in its heyday. Type-C is something new, tempting and not clear why it is needed. Well, it's true!

Design

The first thing that catches your eye is the design, or rather, the lack of fundamental changes in it. The new product has been retouched in the spirit of the times, but the designers did not bring anything new to the appearance of the device.

Is this good or bad? I don't think you need to chase something new every year. This meaningless race, which is already too much in our lives. Updating the appearance every two years, as they do at Apple and now at Samsung, is a small island of stability that should be appreciated and not scolded. And our savings will be intact.

Samsung Galaxy S7 turned out to be chubby. It is thicker than its predecessor by as much as 1.1 mm.

It would seem that just one millimeter and a tenth is what all the fuss is about? In practice, this matters. I didn’t have the S6 on hand, however, even after many months, when I last held the Essence in my hands, I immediately determined that the new product was noticeably thicker.

Of course, this does not negatively affect the experience of using the device. Well, more by a millimeter. And what? Never mind! We use and enjoy the benefits of modern civilization, especially since the Galaxy S7, believe me, allows you to do this 100 percent.

However, if thickness is critical for you and you experience something similar to ecstasy when holding a thin smartphone in your hands (for example), then the S7 will seem awkward to you. Another thing is that I have never met such aesthetes in my life, and I myself cannot classify myself in this category.

The developers sacrificed thickness in favor of installing a more capacious battery, as well as rounded protective glass. The intentions are good, so at this moment you can safely close your eyes.

Samsung broke down and installed a truly curved protective glass on the front panel. This is Corning Gorilla Glass 4, by the way.

I never tire of repeating that 2.5D glass comes in different forms. On the one hand, a similar panel was already in the Galaxy Note 4, but in comparison it is not at all the same. In S7 it has very steep edges, thanks to which the light plays very beautifully on the front surface of the device.

The same glass is installed on the back, but a little more easily soiled than we would like, and more curved. There is a good oleophobic coating, however, fingerprints and other traces of use will always accompany the device. Previously, many men only carried a shoe brush with them; now they will also have to carry microfiber to keep not only their shoes, but also their phone in proper condition. Times like these.

Personally, I like the use of glass on both the front and back instead of an all metal body. This is practical simply because you are less likely to drop the device. The same iPhone 6 or 6S tries to slip out of your hands. It seems that the creators made the case so “soapy” on purpose so that we would break the screens and replace them at our own considerable expense.

Fingers cling to the glass more reliably, so the safety for the handset is higher here.

And besides, glass provides the proper level of gloss. You certainly can’t refuse this new product. In my opinion, it shimmers with different colors so glamorously that it’s even too much. Perhaps a more matte shade would have looked much more impressive and discreet. However, this is a matter of personal preference.

All standard front elements are located above the screen. No additional flashes, second cameras and other nonsense pulled from the finger. However, when taking self-portraits in the dark, the display briefly turns up the brightness to illuminate the face. The technology is not new and we first became acquainted with it back in .

The ambient light sensor works strangely. More precisely, slowly and sharply.

The screen changes brightness level with a delay of about 3-4 seconds and one jump. There is no talk of any smoothness. Perhaps this is exactly the case that is associated with a non-final sample. I had exactly such a device.

There is evidence that over time, the device learns to determine the level of ambient light and display brightness depending on the user’s preferences. Unfortunately, I was not able to check this, since I did not test the device for much time.

The metal rim around the perimeter of the case is now completely rounded. Previously there were partially flat edges, but now they are not. No corners. At all! It is stated that the metal here (aluminum alloy 6013) is resistant to falls and is very durable.

The SIM card slot here has a composite design. The outer part that sticks out flush with the body is metal, and the inner part is plastic. The design, admittedly, is flimsy. I would like more reliability, although in principle it is not needed if you are not going to constantly change cards from one to another.

The multimedia speaker is located at the bottom and I didn’t like it.

Quite weak for a device of this level, both in volume and quality. The mids and highs go whistling, and you will definitely miss the volume on a noisy street. It costs nothing to miss a call.

But the vibration motor here works as it should. If the device is in your trouser pocket, then I don’t know what should distract you so much that you won’t feel the vibration. I rarely encounter such a strong vibration response. It’s great that in the settings you can adjust its intensity to suit your needs.

The rear camera still protrudes above the body, but now much smaller.

This fact even became an independent reason for pride on the part of the manufacturer. Check out the official image below.

Cool, I guess. The most interesting thing is that with the release of iPhone 7, the fact of a non-protruding camera will be actively exploited by Apple. Wow, there's going to be some hype. I'm already looking forward to it.

One of the main features of the new product is protection against moisture and dust according to the IP68 standard.

Previously, such protection was already present and the company actively exploited this point. Then, with the release of Six, they somehow delicately forgot about it, because the phrase “Can your smartphone do that?” suddenly became a joke in the direction of its own, moreover, more advanced and modern device. It turned out funny, in my opinion.

Now the device can officially be heated for 30 minutes at a depth of 1.5 meters. Let me remind you that there was no information in relation that the same could be done with him. The phone was splash-proof, but it was strongly not recommended to dip it in water, although it withstood such tests perfectly. Now everything is without restrictions. Everything is grown-up.

Firstly, the motherboard itself has a special, water-repellent impregnation. Secondly, the case does not allow moisture to pass inside, to its components.

Fingerprint's scanner

Unfortunately, the scanner doesn't work when you just touch it. To unlock your smartphone, you need to press the button while holding your finger on it. This behavior is typical for , but not for Android devices. In the latter case, it is usually enough just to touch the scanner and the device will unlock.

There is no need to worry about the latter - out of 10 attempts, 10 will be successful. The reading speed, and as a result the unlocking speed, is maximum: no more than half a second per eye, but maybe faster.

Display

The device received a Super AMOLED screen, one of the best to date, in terms of its characteristics, of course:

• diagonal 5.1 inches
• resolution 2560 x 1440 pixels (QHD)
• dot density 576 ppi

Yes, the screen has a very good brightness reserve, it is very contrasty and perfectly conveys the richness of colors. Perhaps even too much. On the other hand, this moment is quite simply configured in the menu, where you can choose a color scheme that is comfortable for you. The only pity is that the selection of presets is not too large.

Traditionally, AMOLED screens tend to turn greenish when tilted. Previously it was very noticeable, but now it is not noticeable. There is also a small leapfrog with other colors if you rotate the device at different angles. High-quality IPS matrices, in my opinion, bypass Samsung solutions in this regard.

If you look at the screen at the right angle, then perhaps this is the best matrix I have ever come across.

Extremely pressure sensitive. There is no “glove” mode in the settings, so this moment cannot be configured. You'll have to get used to the fact that the display will recognize your clicks even if you haven't touched the surface of the protective glass yet. This is normal for many Samsung devices. On the other hand, this is not the worst thing you can get used to. It would be much sadder if the situation were exactly the opposite.

Always On Display

This is a completely new setting that only new flagships received. Surprisingly, along with Samsung, . The screen in it can also be always active and display service information. It’s as if someone leaked something from someone else at the stage of device development.

The set of preset pictures that can be displayed on the display in sleep mode is strictly limited to a specific topic. You cannot add your own drawing. At least not for now.

The collections of these very pictures are not common. Install a third-party theme, activate it, and in addition to standard images, third-party ones also appear in the menu. And if the regular shell is activated, then third-party images are not visible. That's a pun.

In any case, this is a very useful feature that does not waste much energy on the device. For example, they said that this feature consumes no more than 0.8% of energy per hour, which ultimately amounts to approximately 30 percent of the charge. Not a little, but the hero of our review has one strong advantage - the Super AMOLED display. Firstly, this screen consumes incomparably less energy. And secondly, it can only highlight individual pixels. If the picture is black and white, then energy is wasted like crazy.

Specifications Samsung Galaxy S7 (model SM-G930F)

It’s logical to compare the device’s specifications with last year’s model. This will be much more clear and will help people on S6 decide whether they need the update or not.

A little more about the most important thing - the processor. Exynos 8 Octa 8890 is installed in both new flagships - S7 and S7 Edge. There are no differences between them here.

The “stone” is made using 14-nanometer technology at Samsung’s own facilities. The processor architecture is based on the big.LITTLE configuration. For the first time, it includes four cores of the South Korean giant’s own design, and the other four are the Cortex-A53, which we have long known. Of course, at peak load all eight cores can be turned on, and for other scenarios a number of different scenarios are provided: 2:3, 1:2, 3:1 and so on. Very diverse operating algorithms.

In terms of performance, the new “brains” are 80% faster than their predecessor (graphics), and energy consumption at peak loads is reduced by 40%. All this is great, but it doesn’t mean that the Galaxy S6 and its peers belong in a landfill. These are still very powerful devices that will be relevant for two years - absolutely.

An LTE Cat modem is also part of the system on a chip. 12/13 of Samsung's own production. It provides data download speeds of up to 600 Mbit/s, and upload speeds of up to 150 Mbit/s.

In addition, the new chip is capable of supporting 4K Ultra HD video playback or 4096 x 2160 pixels. This is even higher than the resolution of 4K video that is recorded on the built-in camera.

This time, the system on a chip has acquired a separate Exynos M1 processor, which is the nodal point for collecting and analyzing all data received from sensors. Such solutions are found in both . Moreover, it’s been a couple of years now.

Performance

Do you think you can find something interesting here? Whatever the case! S7 works as expected and reactively, period. Although no, a couple of times I was still able to detect barely noticeable animation brakes. This was in the deep Wi-Fi settings and then when switching to the browser. Something flashed, or rather, a little thought, but nothing more.

Naturally, all these are trifles and you shouldn’t pay attention to them. In addition, it is worth knowing that I did not have the final sample in my hands, so, most likely, updates will be released that will close these holes, if you can call them that.

Performance test results in system benchmarks are again the highest available at the moment.

Many people often argue that it’s all synthetic and doesn’t mean much. I strongly disagree with this. A device that scores 35,000 points in AnTuTu cannot run Unkilled at maximum and not sag in difficult scenes. This is impossible.

The operation of standard animation and interface has nothing to do with peak performance and, of course, benchmarks have nothing to do with it.

During the test, I managed to catch only one glitch - Google Play Market unexpectedly decided to self-destruct. Considering that this problem is widespread and appears on a large number of different devices, I think the error is on Google's side, not Samsung.

Games and Game Tools

I only tested one game - the 3D shooter Unkilled. And in my memory there are only two devices that swallowed the toy at ultra and didn’t even hiccup: and now the Samsung Galaxy S7. Other devices begin to drop to 15-20 fps in battles, but not these two monsters.

And now about a new bonus - Game Tools.

This is an end-to-end system function with which you can take screenshots of the game, record the game process itself, overlay the window from the front camera, adjust the sound and much more. The thing is really, very interesting.

Below is a video of what happened when I activated the game recording, video from the front camera.

Cameras and image quality

There is not much to say about the front module. It shoots well, there are different settings in the spirit of all the main competitors.

I wouldn't say that the quality of the images stands out in any way compared to the competition. The manufacturer clearly did not pay any special attention to this point.

The front sensor records good video in a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels at 30 frames per second. Here's an example.

The rear camera is a separate matter. First of all, there are many innovations in theory. The Sony IMX260 module with quite specific characteristics is used:

• 12 megapixels
• maximum resolution 4032 x 3024 pixels
• aperture f/1.7 (a kind of record)
• pixel size 1.4 µm

Unfortunately, during testing in Moscow, the weather was frankly crappy and it was impossible to get bright, beautiful shots. On the other hand, this is even a plus, because with sufficient lighting, many cameras shoot very well. Now go and make a masterpiece in cloudy weather! I’ll say right away that I got what I got.

The capabilities of cameras built into smartphones have long outgrown fairly budget point-and-shoot cameras, and Samsung does not stand still and is trying to improve something else.

However, I didn't notice any significant differences. The point is that you need to compare both generations head-on and, perhaps, only then will it be possible to isolate the difference. The S6 took excellent pictures, the S7 takes pictures no worse - that's for sure.

If you are chasing the quality of the camera built into your phone, then it’s definitely not worth replacing your old S6 or Note 5 with a new one. There are very few differences, in my opinion.

The HDR mode, traditional for Samsung devices, works great. The system can independently turn on this function when it deems it necessary. As a result, photographs turn out more saturated, without going into overexposure or, conversely, into blackness. Usually HDR means the contrast is extremely high and the photos are not realistic. Here these nuances are more or less smoothed out, so the pictures turn out even pleasant.

Of course, the device can record 4K video (resolution 3840 x 2160 pixels) at 30 frames per second and at a speed of 50 Mbps. Quite impressive parameters.

Here are some video recordings on the street.

And this is a video shot indoors.

Chips

Samsung, as a rule, adds several new features with the release of each new flagship. Some of them are useless, some, on the contrary, can be very useful in one situation or another. In general, let's get acquainted with the most interesting functions.

Galaxy S7 as a Wi-Fi repeater

Our hero can connect to wireless networks and transfer the same network to other devices. For example, there is a public network with the Internet “A”, our S7 connects to it and becomes an access point for transmitting the signal from network “A” further. So devices “B”, “C”, “D” and so on (up to 10 pieces) can connect to S7 and use the same Internet that is distributed by point “A”. A very cool and useful feature.

Where will it be useful? For example, in a hotel, when the Internet is paid and costs significant money, and there are many hungry mouths around (see devices) that need access to Instagram. You buy a subscription for one device and connect your whole family to the same access point via your S7, and at the same time you can earn extra money from your neighbors by offering them to chip in a little bit. Thus, you can use paid Internet and repay the same service. Such is the Jewish trick. Don't thank me.

As a boundary wall, you can set not only a traditional Wi-Fi password, but also create a list of allowed devices. They are marked by the device by MAC address. This way, unnecessary gadgets will not get through.

Desktops and more

Many manufacturers are slowly giving up and transferring all installed applications to desktops, but not the Koreans, or rather, not Samsung. LG failed to resist the trend.

The S7 still only has the essentials on the home screen, including app skins for ads (like Instagram, Facebook, etc.).

The matrix with the remaining icons is located in the menu item.

Themes

Yes, it is now possible to install third-party themes. To download and manage additional skins, you need a Samsung account. The thing is generally useful if you have a device from the company of the same name. In general, I advise you to get one.

Of course, the system has new wallpapers and a background animation effect when the device is tilted to different angles. Everything is stylish and cool. The only downside is that there are not many officially sanctioned pictures that are loaded into memory at the factory. They are beautiful, but I would like to have a more extensive collection.

Dictaphone

There are several operating modes: normal, interview (two microphones on the bottom and top are activated), as well as “voice”. What exactly is “voice” is unclear: the inscription goes beyond the boundaries of the screen and is still not readable in landscape orientation.

However, I liked the last mode the most. This is a voice dictation mode that automatically converts voice to text. Moreover, it does it quite well even in a noisy place. The main thing is to speak clearly, intelligibly and keep the smartphone close to your mouth.

Below is the result of my efforts using a small example:

Samsung Galaxy s7 review Today is Wednesday the second of March 2016

Below I suggest taking a look at the screenshots of other places in the updated TouchWiz shell for 2016.

Battery life

Unfortunately, I used the smartphone for quite a short time: so that I could test the device to its fullest (from 100 to 0 percent). However, in terms of energy efficiency, the device pleased me. Well, how? Regarding battery life in the modern sense, which is 1-2 days for any smartphone (flagship or not).

Thus, the device will definitely survive under load on all fronts for one day.

By this I mean 4-5 hours of screen operation, background notifications via 4G/Wi-Fi, calls, shooting with built-in cameras, surfing the Internet for 2-3 hours, listening to music through headphones, and so on. This is a pretty cool result. Compared to the Motorola E398, it’s nothing at all, but compared to modern competitors, everything looks more than decent.

The device charges up to a full hundred percent in less than two hours. This is how fast charging works.

As always, Samsung pays special attention to the issue of energy saving. And this is despite all the other characteristics, which in themselves are very effective in saving charge (for example, Super AMOLED display, smart and extreme saving modes, and so on).

So, in the settings there was a menu item where you can manage installed applications. Some utilities hang in the system and periodically do something on their own. As a result, energy is wasted. The system evaluates that such programs have not been used for some time (configurable in days) and automatically switches them to energy saving mode, that is, restrictions on their operation. This is convenient, since we install dozens of applications and use many of them from time to time, but at the same time they continue to dig around and consume battery power.

Samsung couldn't resist and installed a cleaner in their product - SmartClean Master SDR, it's called. It is called differently in the menu. This is a kind of center for monitoring the main components of a smartphone: power supply, memory, and so on.

In general, the thing is convenient and you could even make a separate shortcut on the desktop for it.

Wireless charging is, of course, supported and built into the back of the device. However, the accessory for this is sold separately.

Bottom line

I remember what thoughts came to my mind when I was preparing a large-scale comparison of the iPhone 6 and 6S. My conclusions regarding the flagship from the Koreans will be the same. And all thanks to the strategy that Samsung follows when developing its products.

If you don't have a Samsung Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge, but have enough money for an upgrade, then buy the S7 or its extremely curved brother. You can't go wrong. From all points of view, these are the best smartphones that can be found today, and I think nothing will change for sure in the next six months.

Yes, the iPhone 6S has a very cool 3D Touch - perhaps the only advantage in favor of the brainchild of an American corporation. In terms of performance, both competitors are very close, as they offer unprecedented graphics and processing power. In all other respects, the 6S is inferior to its competitor from Asia (camera, communications, OS and technology in general).

If you have an S6 or S6 Edge, then it's not worth upgrading to the new generation. You won't notice anything fundamentally new. Your requirements must be very specific, or you play mobile toys at some geek level, so that there is an objective need to upgrade to the “seven”. Of course, again it is worth considering the absence of financial problems.

There is another category of users who read this review and think about the topic. This paragraph is for you. If you are tired of iOS and would like to try something new, then welcome to the real, diverse and very interesting world of Android and purchasing a Galaxy S7 right out of the gate is like suffering from an allergy to citrus fruits throughout your childhood, and then grow up, buy yourself 5 kilograms of oranges and eat them at once. Interesting? Not that word!

In conclusion about what is reasonable in our lives. New flagships are expensive (S7) and very expensive (S7 Edge). This is a fact and we will not discuss the reasons. I just want to remind you that you need to know who you are, where you belong and what you can afford. There is absolutely nothing offensive about earning 20-30 thousand rubles a month. On the contrary, there is excellent motivation to develop and achieve success, which will certainly be accompanied by financial returns. Four people chipping in to buy a BMW or buying an S7 on credit, provided that there are issues with employment, is the utmost stupidity. And it is precisely this behavior that one should be ashamed of. However, this is just my opinion and the author may be wrong. This is the “disclaimer”.

The debut Samsung Galaxy S was born in mid-2010. Here's a brief picture of the world of mobile phones, so that you don't consider the Galaxy S an "upstart" that was accidentally lucky enough to become a star:

• Nokia was already producing outdated Symbian smartphones,
• Apple released the long-awaited iPhone 4 with shameful network reception levels,
• LG was in the budget class (like Fly now, for example),
• Xiaomi smartphones have not yet been born,
• Meizu produced a parody of the iPhone running Windows Mobile.

Android was still of little use to anyone and looked like a short-lived experiment like the half-dead Maemo/Meego. Because most android phones were still goons - with poor autonomy, buggy firmware or memory deficiency. For example, HTC released Desire in 2010 with 576 MB (!) of internal memory, of which even less was free. Sony Ericsson sold the flagship X10 with 384 MB of RAM, ancient Android 1.6, incomplete color display and non-working multi-touch! Therefore, the Galaxy S, as the only Android flagship that had been brought to fruition, provoked a culture shock - there was simply nothing of such high quality, with all the working bells and whistles, not counting the iPhone!

Samsung Galaxy S

Yes, it was frustrating with the weak level of GPS reception (Samsung was just learning to produce its own processors), the flagship hardware had great difficulty running the proprietary TouchWiz shell, and the RAM was especially dirty. But in terms of display quality, headphone sound, rear camera and design, the Galaxy S was the best and only competitor to the iPhone. Success was predictable.

Galaxy SII - when the power reserve overcame all other innovations

Considered by many to be the best Galaxy S ever made. At one time, it was coolly received by “reviewers” ​​because it seemed like a boring piece of plastic with powerful hardware, but practice has shown that ordinary workers just needed an ordinary Android phone with excessive performance, a good camera and without showing off like a 3D camera/3D display (HTC Evo 3D) or designed for a game console (Sony Ericsson Xperia Play).

In the broadest sense of the word, the smartphone was indeed created on the principle of “the same cabbage soup, but pour more.” At the same time, cabbage soup was very expensive, and the processor, although it was better than the “low-power stove” NVIDIA Tegra 2 in the first dual-core LG Optimus 2X, was also very hot and gluttonous. And jokes with lamentations about the autonomy of Android flagships also began with the Galaxy SII - under load, the smartphones worked “from socket to socket” for only a few hours.

But SII was “stuffed” so much that even today, 6 years later, its characteristics do not look ridiculous. A very cool, powerful “mainstream” - a solid phone without experiments. Competitors were either late and weaker (HTC Sensation XE with its “under-RAM” 768 MB of RAM and 1 GB of internal memory, single-core Sony Xperia Arc with 512 MB of RAM), or were sold overseas (Motorola RAZR XT910) and did not really compete with the “worldwide” Galaxy SII.

Samsung Galaxy S2

In short, the exorbitant characteristics of the hardware with a design similar to the first generation justified themselves - the smartphone became wildly popular with initial buyers, and then very slowly dropped in price on the secondary market. Since then, the main complaint about the Galaxy S in comparison with the iPhone has been the case materials - the indecently expensive and plastic Samsung is somehow not very pleasing to the eye in comparison with the glass-metal iPhones.

In those years, Samsung did not yet consider enthusiasts to be the second class of buyers and did not put a spoke in their wheels with regional locking, changing bootloaders and KNOX, so the Galaxy SII is still popular among geeks - if desired, you can even install Android 7.0 on it.

Galaxy SIII - “soap box with whistles”

Starting with the third Galaxy S, Samsung began to “groom” its flagships with a new corporate design - instead of the “iPhone, but not an iPhone” appearance, for which Apple sued the Koreans, the flagships received, excuse me, slicked-down cases made of glossy plastic.

With such innovations, many Galaxy lovers experienced acute discomfort; the smartphone forever received the nickname “remnant”. But fans have always chosen the Galaxy because of its superior performance, and those same features have changed significantly since the SII - it's no surprise that sales skyrocketed and 50% more people bought the S3 than the S2.

Five years later, the Galaxy SIII doesn't look cool at all - it hasn't become a "living classic" like the SII, and very quickly "deflated" in terms of prestige/suitability for modern work, unlike peers like the LG Optimus G/Nexus 4 or iPhone 5. And the Galaxy SIII became the most problematic Samsung flagship in terms of reliability - many smartphones “died” due to premature wear of the internal memory, and the AMOLED display not only became more grainy (“thanks” to Pentile technology), but also and had a tendency to quickly “burn out.” That is, traces of applications or menus were immortalized on the screen.

Samsung Galaxy S3

The processor wasn't outstanding either - just a sandwich of Galaxy S2 cores with outdated graphics. For comparison, Qualcomm already offered a 28 nm process technology (APQ8064 in LG Optimus G and Xiaomi Mi2) and a 2 (!) times cooler video accelerator for games.

But, starting with the third generation Galaxy S3, the Koreans began to introduce a pack of “whistles” into their top model, which no one used (the happy exception was the auto-brightness of the display):

• Multi-window. Almost useless at 4.7 inches and does not always work adequately.
• S Voice. A stupid voice assistant that was only useful in English-speaking countries.
• Gestures and voice commands. Come on, remember without searching the Internet, what command did the Galaxy S3 use to take photos? How to take a screenshot without touching the screen?
• S-Beam. Transfer files via NFC. Have you used this feature many times or seen it used in practice?

We bought the Galaxy S3 not for its design (which was terrible in comparison with the Sony Xperia S/SL or the same iPhone 5) and not for the perfection of the camera, the primacy of which remained with the Nokia Lumia 920. The third generation of Galaxy was sold out partly by inertia, partly because, although the smartphone was not a leader in each of the individual categories, all the components in it were of high quality and flagship. They also bought it for the “adult” display diagonal and the same 4 cores, good sound in headphones and the regular release of new versions of Android, unlike LG Optimux 4S, HTC One X or Sony Xperia S, for example.

Galaxy S4 - an unattainable “spaceship”

The fourth generation of the Galaxy was closer in concept to the Galaxy SII than to its predecessor. Because Samsung pulled itself together and built the really coolest smartphone of 2013. Eight-core processor! Full HD AMOLED display with several color rendering modes (even photographers were pleased)! The screen is 0.2 inches larger in a more compact body!

Therefore, it seems rather strange that the S4 sold the same number of copies as the S2, that is, in the amount of 40 million units versus 60 million in comparison with the Galaxy S3.

The problem, probably, was that in the three years since the announcement of the first Galaxy S, competitors had also produced balanced flagships, and Samsung users were already tired of the plastic body (a little more elegant, but too similar to the S3), the fat shell and far-fetched software innovations . For example, the LG G2 gave Samsung a run for its money in terms of display brightness, performance, and video quality, while the co-platform Nexus 5 was also cheaper. The HTC One M7, with its stupid camera and weak battery, still looked much more expensive. And the “cut out” support for LTE (4G) in many countries could also confuse someone. Software innovations, such as pausing the video if you take your eyes off the screen, the slightly wiser S-Voice assistant and stupid photos with sound / photos on two cameras at the same time, as you might guess, did not take off.

Samsung Galaxy S4

And the Galaxy Note 3 pulled the blanket over itself, which from an experimental “shovel” with a stylus for artists and businessmen turned into a popular “big Samsung” when phablets were at the peak of popularity.

In any case, the Galaxy S4 has become one of the most technically advanced, popularly loved and “timeless” flagships, to which even Samsung engineers themselves were “breathing unevenly” - a situation when a non-Nexus is updated to a new version of Android a couple of years after its release, are vanishingly rare. This is a smartphone that you can use to this day and not feel deprived of anything (except, perhaps, LTE communications).

The Galaxy S5 is neither good nor bad. No

Either Samsung got tired of releasing the Galaxy S and the Koreans were preparing to replace it with other models, or it became difficult to snatch a bunch of performance and luxury records from the “bins” of the engineering department, but in the fifth generation the smartphone turned out... bland.

Firstly, Samsung “cheated” the holy of holies - the display and processor. Yes, Full HD AMOLED, as was the case in the Galaxy S4, only slightly brighter than its predecessor. That's all? Where is the top Samsung processor with which Galaxy defeated its competitors in 2011 and 2013? Why is the buyer of the “most sophisticated iPhone alternative” offered a consumer-grade Snapdragon 801, which is even available in an unnamed Chinese product (OnePlus One)? And why wasn’t the Galaxy Note 4, which has always played a secondary role, deprived of innovations? And only the lazy did not joke about the sickening varieties of “young plastic skin” in the style of the Lada ceiling and the peeling “metal” frame. The Galaxy S5 looked especially sad in comparison with the iPhone 6 of the same year.

But the smartphone became popular not because of its characteristics “on paper”, but, as in the case of the first Galaxy S, because of the quality of execution of what was built into it.

Samsung Galaxy S5

Simply because the “most likely” opponent from the point of view of bells and whistles, the LG G3, was slow, overheated and had little battery life (the processor supported the Quad HD display with great difficulty), and its camera was worse. The HTC One M8 firmly established itself in the “but we have a cool body and stereo speakers!” class, but it didn’t shine with anything else, Windows phones almost died, the Motorola Nexus 6 failed in sales because Google didn’t understand (and still doesn’t understand to this day, judging by situation with Pixel) that no one needs expensive Google phones. And in the fight against the Sony Xperia Z2, Samsung had the argument “I’m Samsung” and a similar class of water protection. Oh yes, another innovation of the model was the fingerprint scanner - disgusting in terms of the quality of work, but do you understand how indifferent ordinary workers were to such nuances?

In short, Samsung has produced a high-quality, super-reliable, but very boring flagship. And it was impossible to continue like this, because sales of the smartphone “didn’t take off,” and the company’s management realized that with this approach, not today or tomorrow, even the powerful “Chinese” would trample the great Galaxy S.

Galaxy S6/S6 edge - Samsung's revolutionary flagship with mediocre sales and "childhood diseases"

No top smartphone of 2015 was perfect, but the Galaxy S6 came the closest to that bar. Absolutely new, luxurious design made of glass and metal (the first non-ugly Samsung flagship since the Galaxy S2!), a bright and perfectly calibrated Quad HD display with a diagonal of 5.1 inches, the most productive and problem-free processor in Android phones in 2015 (thanks to the grandiose fiasco Qualcomm Snapdragon 810), super-fast internal memory for random operations, very high-quality rear camera, thin body. And the Galaxy S6 edge also has a futuristic design, albeit at the expense of ease of use.

In other words, in 2015, the most beautiful, fastest and most technically advanced Samsung flagship was born in two varieties - flat and curved. Even after two years, only two shortcomings can be noted in it: poor (by flagship standards) battery life and the lack of a slot for memory cards.

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge

True, defective copies of the S6 were more common than those of the previous generation model. Pink displays, failure of the rear camera to focus, purple spots in pictures taken with the front camera - users of Samsung flagships have not encountered so many problems since the SIII.

Samsung Galaxy S6

The sixth generation Galaxy can, without any exaggeration, be called the best smartphones of 2015, so it’s a shame that they couldn’t repeat the success of the S5. They failed so much that the head of Samsung’s mobile division was asked to do so. The problem was that Samsung management was piling the S6 and S6 edge onto the shelves in equal quantities, and the queues were lining up mainly for the curved version. And the price of the smartphone was astronomically high.

There are different paths to perfection. Apple, which had been producing the best smartphones in the world for a long time, did not have to try very hard - it had a secret weapon in the form of the genius Steve Jobs. But you can’t have enough geniuses for everyone. Other manufacturers have to either more or less successfully copy each other's ideas, trying to improve something, or simply work hard on themselves, improving their products. Samsung took the latter route. This text is about the visual result of such work, a result that will be available for purchase in electronics stores throughout Russia from March 18th. About the Galaxy S7 smartphone.

Appearance, comfort

It is difficult to distinguish the new product from its predecessor at first glance. The metal edging of the case is now smoothly rounded along 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 glass” Gorilla Glass 4 on both sides. It’s nice to just twirl the smartphone in your hands, like a pebble polished by the sea.

Having thickened by a millimeter, the device decreased by a millimeter in length and width, while simultaneously gaining 14 g (about 10%) of weight. Due to this, it seems even more dense and monolithic. The “hump” of the rear camera, which irritated many people in the Galaxy S6, has disappeared - now it sticks out by less than a millimeter. The device with a 5.1-inch screen 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 narrower than the Galaxy S7 by only 2.5 mm, but in the display diagonal it loses more - 1 cm.

In general, I have never seen 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 reliably, except when the finger is completely wet or dirty. The only (and even subjective) drawback of the ergonomics of the Galaxy S7 is the volume keys located too high on the left edge.

At the same time, the Samsung Galaxy S7 is not only a convenient device, but also a practical one. For example, you can safely take it out in the rain and even immerse it in fresh water to a depth of up to a 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 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 in fingerprints - in this case, it's better to look at lighter colors. In Russia, the smartphone goes on sale in three of the four colors mentioned at the presentation on February 21 - Black Onyx (in Russia, transmuted from an ordinary ornamental stone into a “black diamond”), Silver Titanium (“silver titanium”) and Gold Platinum (“dazzling platinum”) "). White Pearl White is not yet available 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 certain retail networks or mobile operators.

Screen

Galaxy S7 received a 5.1-inch screen with a Super AMOLED matrix with QuadHD resolution. Last year it seemed that there was no practical sense in such a high density of points. This year there was a disclaimer - “unless you use VR devices.” In VR headsets, such as Gear VR, the smartphone is located very close to the eyes and only Quad HD resolution screens provide a realistic, non-pixelated picture.

I rarely used smartphones with AMOLED screens for a long time, so one of their features slightly hurts my eyes - a slight change in hue noticeable in predominantly white images when changing the viewing angle. But this, of course, is a trifle - how often do we look at the screen at an angle? Otherwise there is nothing to complain about. The maximum brightness is excellent; in direct sunlight, the screen turns on a kind of “turbo mode” that maintains readability; automatic brightness adjustment depending on the light level works accurately. It would also be possible to build in a night mode at the system level, which changes the color rendition 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 many third-party applications on Android that implement this function.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 has another outstanding feature related to the display - it can be always on. That is, even when the device is locked, the current time and notifications are displayed on the screen. In the settings you can select options for displaying the date and calendar, there are several different background images to choose from:

I did not notice any difference in the rate of battery consumption with the always-on screen function enabled and disabled. The whole thing is great, but I would like to be able to view the contents of notifications without unlocking the phone - as 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 interesting - for the first time it uses Exynos M1 cores, which the Korean company's engineers developed independently, using the architecture of ARM's flagship solutions only as a starting point. We managed to achieve an extremely high maximum frequency for a mobile processor - 2.6 GHz. There are four such cores in the system-on-chip, another 4 are regular ARM Cortex A53 with a frequency of 1.586 GHz intended for tasks that do not require top performance.

Geekbench 3 test results clearly show a more than 50 percent performance increase compared to last year's Galaxy S6

The characteristics of the Samsung Galaxy S7 allow it to get more than 100,000 points in the AnTuTu test

The Mali-T880 MP12 is responsible for the graphics in the Exynos 8890. The maximum accelerator frequency is 650 MHz. The Exynos 8890 is produced using the latest 14nm process technology, but apparently it can get quite hot under maximum load. Otherwise, why then equip it with a special heat sink? It, however, guarantees that the heat from the chip will be distributed evenly and the surface of the smartphone will not heat up to an uncomfortable temperature. I never encountered this during testing.

Judging by the results of testing at Epic Citadel, owners of the Galaxy S7 will not have problems with games

Complete with 4 GB of RAM and fast (UFS 2.0 technology) built-in storage of 32 GB, the Galaxy S7 provides excellent performance in 3D games (50-60 fps even at maximum settings in the Epic Citadel test), applications (at least written hands growing from where they should be) start instantly, and the interface is not thought about for a moment. We have not yet tested the ones presented on, so it’s too early to give the palm to the Galaxy S7. In addition, during the test we had a non-final sample of the device. But it’s clear now that the Galaxy S7 is one of the fastest devices of 2016.

And finally, another trump card of the Galaxy S7 compared to the previous generation of Samsung flagships is support for microSD with a capacity of 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 came to their senses and decided to return microSD to their smartphones. True, owners of the dual-SIM version will have to make a choice: either 2 SIM or microSD (the memory card occupies one of the SIM slots).

Battery, autonomy

Maximizing battery life is what consumers demand from new smartphones first and foremost. And Samsung succeeded in this in the Galaxy S7; the processor, software, and communication hardware were optimized in terms of energy consumption, and the battery was physically made larger (3000 mAh). The bottom line is that there are very few ways to guarantee emptying the battery from morning to evening. The main one is, of course, games: in modern 3D titles, the charge will last for at most 5 hours. But a two-hour movie will require only about 13-14% charge to watch.

The day that the graph illustrates in the screenshot was very busy for my test Galaxy S7: installing applications, benchmarks, games, working as an access point - and still by the evening there was more than 20% charge left

The only mode, other than gaming, in which the Galaxy S7's battery doesn't seem to last forever is Wi-Fi hotspot mode. An hour of journalistic work with a laptop (the Internet is used from time to time to load pages, watch short videos, and upload texts and images to the site’s CMS) and a Galaxy S7 connected to a cellular network via LTE as an access point costs about 15 percent of the battery. It looks like the modem integrated into the Exynos 8890 chip has room for improvement in terms of energy efficiency.

The Galaxy S7 charges quickly - especially if you use the standard charger, which ensures that a completely discharged battery is filled 100% in an hour and a half, and 50% in less than half an hour. Even from the MacBook Pro USB port, the 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 less capacious battery).

Cameras, sound

How did Samsung spare the megapixels?! In the previous generation of Galaxy S, the main camera had 16 of them, but now there are only 12? Yes, and this is good - each element of the matrix has become larger (by 56%), thereby capturing more light and making it possible to shoot even in very low light conditions. Samsung calls the new sensor (produced for Koreans on special order by Sony) Dual Pixel. In addition to high photosensitivity, its main advantage is the improved phase detection autofocus, which uses not part, but all the pixels of the matrix for focusing. Some top-end DSLRs use similar technology, but this is the first time it has been used in smartphones. A wide-angle lens (F1.7) not only helps you fit more objects into the frame, but also lets more light into the sensor.

The camera software has become more functional - new modes have appeared: Hyperlapse (as in the application 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 illuminated by the screen, like a flash. There are still a lot of shooting modes, additional ones can be downloaded, but the interface for selecting them has become much simpler and faster. Finally, one of the most convenient features of the Galaxy S6 has been preserved - instant launch of the camera by double pressing the Home button.

Compared to the vast majority of Android smartphones, the quality of photos the Galaxy S7 takes with its main camera is simply excellent. The camera focuses instantly, including when shooting video of objects moving quickly in the frame, and perfectly captures night scenes - perhaps we have not yet 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): a yellowish tone in photographs taken in low light, and an overly aggressive use of the sharpening filter, noticeable at maximum zoom. But they don’t spoil the overall picture - this is the best camera in an Android smartphone at the moment. The quality of most images is not much different from last year's Samsung flagships, but the speed and accuracy of focusing have increased noticeably, as has the ability to “see” in the dark. Sample photos can be found below, and even more photos, as well as a couple of videos, are available at this link (Google Photos). Click to open full-size photographs.

Samsung store in Frankfurt, Germany

Colors in photographs are often more vibrant than in reality. I don't think this will upset anyone

The Galaxy S7 takes pictures no worse at night than during the day

Find a reason to be proud of Russia in a photo taken in Germany

The Galaxy S7 lets you take photos without fear in the pouring rain

In macro photos, the Galaxy S7 diligently blurs the background while still providing excellent detail to the main subject.

This photo, 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 capable of competing in sound quality with compact Bluetooth speakers. Samsung does 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, a regular 16-bit DAC was used. However, the sound of the smartphone in tandem with Harman/Kardon BT headphones connected by cable did not cause any complaints - no extraneous noise, clear and rich, well-detailed sound.

Interface, software

Samsung Galaxy S7 runs on 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 design theme to it, is not much different from stock Android, and even in the default version it begins to look much more decent than a couple of years ago:

In the “live” photos in the review, the Material Dark theme, available for 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 minimalist. Not because TouchWiz is bad - last year it got rid of most of the shortcomings, for which only the lazy did not criticize it. I just wanted to make it absolutely beautiful.

The settings hide a lot of additional functions of varying degrees of usefulness - from automatically answering a call when you put 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 located 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 those of 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 pre-installed: Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint (to fully use the “office” you will need to purchase a subscription). Out of the box, the 32GB version of the Samsung Galaxy S7 takes up just over 8GB of system and software space. At the same time, applications and games can be painlessly transferred to a memory card.

conclusions

Yearly work on bugs and the desire to improve the product have done their job. The Samsung Galaxy S7 is so far the best Android smartphone I've tested in 2016. Elegant futuristic design, a body that fits comfortably in the hand, record performance, the best camera among Android smartphones, complete protection from water and a high, of course, but, given financial realities, a very reasonable price - 49,990 rubles.

I would call the closest rival in the Android camp 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, its photo capabilities are only slightly below 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, not inferior in convenience and beauty to the Galaxy S7 and with one of the fastest processors for single-threaded tasks. However, several factors work against the iPhone in competition with the Galaxy S7: an inflated price (from 55,000 rubles for the version with a pitiful non-expandable 16 GB of memory), a much less long-lasting battery and less convincing shooting results in low light. So, I strongly recommend that all owners of older iPhone models who are thinking about buying a new device do not rule out the possibility of purchasing the Galaxy S7, but take a closer look at it.

One more thing - I am close to the practical, rational approach that Samsung has recently been professing when developing flagship smartphones. If the design of the Galaxy S7 had been carried out by the company that Samsung was about 4 years ago, the smartphone could easily have had a USB-C port that is still irrelevant, and an infrared transmitter used only by a few, and a screen diagonal larger than reasonable, and some kind of 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 - an excellent camera, a long-lasting battery, a beautiful, comfortable and weather-proof case - and there is nothing superfluous, with the exception of non-removable “gifts” from Facebook and Microsoft.