Samsung Galaxy S7

Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

Samsung Galaxy S7 (left) and S7 Edge (right)
Codename	Project Lucky
Brand	Samsung Galaxy
Manufacturer	Samsung Electronics
Slogan	Beyond Barriers Rethink what a phone can do
Series	Samsung Galaxy S series
Model	SM-G930x SM-G935x (Edge)
First released	March 11, 2016 (2016-03-11)
Predecessor	Samsung Galaxy S6
Related	Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
Type	Smartphone
Form factor	Slate
Dimensions	S7: 142.4 mm (5.61 in) H 69.6 mm (2.74 in) W 7.9 mm (0.31 in) D S7 Edge: 150.9 mm (5.94 in) H 72.6 mm (2.86 in) W 7.7 mm (0.30 in) D
Weight	S7: 152 g (5.4 oz) S7 Edge: 157 g (5.5 oz)
Operating system	Android 6.0 Marshmallow
System on chip	World: Samsung Exynos 8890 U.S./China: Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
GPU	World: Mali-T880 MP12 U.S./China Adreno 530
Memory	4 GB LPDDR4 RAM
Storage	32 or 64 GB UFS 2.0
Removable storage	microSDXC up to 200 GB
Battery	S7: 3,000 mAh S7 Edge: 3,600 mAh
Display	S7: 5.1 in (130 mm) 227 ppcm (577 ppi) S7 Edge: 5.5 in (140 mm) 210 ppcm (534 ppi) Quad HD Super AMOLED 2560×1440 pixel resolution (16:9 aspect ratio)
Rear camera	Samsung ISOCELL S5K2L1 or Sony Exmor R IMX260 12 MP (1.4 µm), f/1.7 aperture with fast autofocus, 4K video recording at 30 fps, 1080p at 60 fps, 720p at 240 fps
Front camera	5 MP, f/1.7 aperture
Website	www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/galaxy-s7/

Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge are Android smartphones manufactured and marketed by Samsung Electronics. The S7 series is a successor to the 2015 Galaxy S6, S6 Edge and S6 Edge+, and was officially unveiled on 21 February 2016 during a Samsung press conference at Mobile World Congress, with a European and North American release scheduled for 11 March 2016. As with the S6, the S7 is produced in a standard model with a display size of 5.1 inches, as well as an Edge variant whose display is wrapped along the sides of the device which has a 5.5-inch display.

The Galaxy S7 is an evolution of the prior year's model, restoring features from the Galaxy S5 such as IP certification for water and dust resistance, as well as expandable storage.

Specifications

Hardware

The Galaxy S7's hardware design is largely identical to that of the S6; it retains its metal and glass chassis, but with refinements such as a squarer home button, and a thinner protrusion for the camera. Both models will be available in black and gold colors; a white and silver version will be available depending on the market. The S7 and S7 Edge are IP68-certified for dust and water resistance; unlike the Galaxy S5, the S7's ports are sealed and therefore it does not have protective flaps. Moisture in the charging port prevents the phone from charging.

Galaxy S7 devices are equipped with a Samsung Exynos 8890 system-on-chip and 4 GB of RAM. In the United States and China, the S7 uses the quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, as unlike Exynos, it supports the CDMA2000 networks which are still extensively used by some U.S. and China carriers. The heat from the processor is transferred with a 0.4mm thick water-to-steam heat pipe cooling system. The S7 includes either 32 or 64 GB of internal storage (in most markets only the 32 GB model will be available). The micro SD card slot was restored, enabling expansion of storage capacity. As well as accepting a multitude of micro SD cards, to top it off ,with the unveiling of the Sandisk 200 GB micro SDXC the Samsung Galaxy S7 has a significant data storage capaility

Both the S7 and S7 Edge feature a 1440p Super AMOLED display; the S7 has a 5.1-inch panel, while the S7 Edge (succeeding the S6 Edge+, as there is no longer a 5.1-inch curved-screen in the S7 lineup unlike the S6 Edge) now uses a larger 5.5-inch panel. As with the prior model, the S7 Edge's screen is curved along the side bezels of the device. Both models also have larger batteries in comparison to the S6, with 3000 mAh and 3600 mAh capacity respectively and support for wireless charging. They also feature a 12-megapixel rear-facing camera with a "Dual Pixel" image sensor and f/1.7 aperture lens.

Some carriers like T-Mobile provide the device with a locked bootloader, preventing rooting the device or installing third party system software.

Software

Galaxy S7 Edge shows notifications on the edge

The Galaxy S7 ships with Android 6.0 "Marshmallow" and Samsung's proprietary TouchWiz software suite. The new TouchWiz also allows the user to disable the app drawer. A new "Always On" functionality displays a clock and notifications on-screen when the device is in standby; the display is turned off completely if the device's proximity sensor detects that it is in an enclosed space such as a pocket. Samsung claims this feature would only consume half a percentage of battery capacity per-hour. New widget panes can be displayed on the edge of the S7 Edge, in "Edge Single" and wider "Edge Single Plus" sizes. Android Marshmallow's "adopted storage" feature was disabled by Samsung and is not usable.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 received support for the Vulkan 1.0 low-level rendering API.

Reception

The Galaxy S7 received generally positive reviews with critics praising the return of the micro SD card slot and waterproofing, though some felt the device was too similar to the preceding Galaxy S6.

The Exynos version is faster than the Qualcomm Snapdragon version, especially when multitasking where there is a clear difference, as the Qualcomm version fails to keep apps in the background and takes much more time to switch between apps.

iFixit noted the extensive use of glue makes the Galaxy S7 very difficult to repair. The display needs to be removed (and likely destroyed) if you want to replace the USB port. Replacing the glass without destroying the display is probably impossible. Official Galaxy S7 Edge screen repair is $270, so getting insurance is recommended.

Bloatware on the system has been criticized, as it takes 8GB of storage that cannot be used for other applications. Verizon bloatware includes the app DT Ignite that installs more bloatware on first boot.

Known issues

Video recorded at high frame rates stutters. Both Exynos and Snapdragon models suffer from the issue, the problem is more common in the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820-processor, which are sold in the United States, and latest software update failed to fix this issue.

See also

• Comparison of smartphones

References

Preceded by Samsung Galaxy S6

Samsung Galaxy S7 2016

Succeeded by Latest model