Samsung Galaxy S7
Phone Scoop Review
Mar 11, 2016 by Eric M. Zeman
Samsung's 2016 flagship represents the company's best effort in the fight for smartphone dominance. This beautifully crafted phone stands tall among its competitors, and justly so. Samsung packed a lot of capability into an easy-to-use, attractive handset that claims to have it all. Here is Phonescoop's in-depth review of the Galaxy S7. read review ›
User Reviews
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First Impressions of Samsung Galaxy S7
Carrier: T-Mobile
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I upgraded from my S4 to the S7 this week.
Here's the details:
Build & Quality
-First off this is very well crafted cell phone - there's plenty to like - Metal and glass feels very high quality (not a big fan of back plate glass due to the risk of breaking). The glass is curved on both the front and back and the ports are solid. No hard edges. Lightweight, skinnier than 4S I had prior, so it's easier to hold. Waterproof - awesome!
- Accessories - All of the accessories are in white, wish they would make accessories to match the phone. Also the new earbuds on this generation phone are very uncomfortable compared to the earbuds they used on the 3/4/5 series phones. I knocked them down on this due to the discomfort.
- SD Card support added back in, works great
Performance
- Screen is awesome - QuadHD is absolutely stunning, higher PPI than any phone I've used to date.
- Android 6.x is fast; the Qualcomm 820 processor is wicked fast. Checking email, browsing web, running 20-30 apps, no speed issues on anything
-Camera is very high quality and fast. Focusing is almost instantaneous, action shots and dark photos are much better now.
-Reception, so far so good, I'm getting better reception because of support of 700mhz band in my area (Which goes through walls now)
-Sound - Speaker phone is good for a cell phone and the volume was good on earpiece and headset
-Fingerprint scanner - Awesome, fast and easy to setup
Comments
-Touchwiz / Flipboard add-on is questionable - prefer Google Now
-Phone gets hot when charging using fast charger
-Some Apps need to be adjusted for screen (Google Play music) to provide more UI space between scroll bars and buttons on screen
- though not a Phone issue - Google can you guys fix the Caller ID phone bug that occurs when you have Business #s or Conference Bridges with extended extensions that get assigned a random person's name - This has been an issue since Android 1.x
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What a Device!
Carrier: Boost
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I am new to owning a flagship device, but this phone does everything and is a true performer. I really like the speed and display resolution. Calls on either the earpiece or speaker are loud and clear. There is a good amount of memory. 32 GB of ROM and 4 GB of RAM. I opted to add a 32 GB Micro SD Card. I received an update to 7.0 Nougat which seems to run great.
I would of like to seen the Do Not Disturb feature have more than one time slot to choose from. The UI after the 7.0 Nougat upgrade if fast and intuitive. On standby the battery life in Doze Mode is excellent. I only loose 0.80% per hour with the display on QHD and the 4G on, that is amazing on the 3000 MAh battery.
I will continue to evaluate and update soon.
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Best phone I've ever had
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Before this phone I had the Galaxy J5, and compared to that phone this S7 is simply wonderful!! Powerful!! I love this phone. No, it doesn't get hot, I use standard charging instead of the fast charging. It works fast and camera is great even at night. I recommend this phone. It's worth it!
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Fantastic Phone
Carrier: Boost
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I love my Galaxy s7, I've had it for about 7 months and it is a huge step up from the s5 I had before.
Pro's:
The processor is more than enough to handle everyday use, and if you want to run more heavy programs like 3D designs or a remote desktop app than this is the perfect phone for you.
I also love the always on display, in which you can customize it to show the time, date, and messages in the way that works best for you. The display is also dependent on the light, if its bright out the sensor makes the display brighter than at night in the dark.
The customizable theme is really nice, so if you want to change up how you're screen display looks you can change it to any of the many themes on the theme store.
Unlike the s6 that was disliked for not having expandable memory, the s7 is back to having expandable memory now up to 200gb.
The part of the phone that I like probably the most is the battery life. The 3000mAh battery is made to last a whole day with everyday use, and with the power saving mode and ultra power saving mode you can push the battery expectancy extremely far. And with fast charge, and even fast wireless charging it doesn't take long to get the battery to full charge.
Con's:
Like the s6 the phone no longer has a removable battery, however with the fast charge and wireless charging it doesn't affect much.
the only other con's I can even think of is that they lowered the camera megapixels from 16 to 12, however the camera quality is still extremely high and even better in lowlight situations than the previous cameras.
-overall the phone is fantastic and when comparing against the s6, iPhone 7 & 7plus, pixel, Moto Z, and lg v20 this phone stands strong against the competition.
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Great Phone
Carrier: Verizon
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Near perfect phone with great battery life. I have owned the S4, S5, S6 & now the S7. I like the fact that it has an external Micro SD, and is waterproof. Now the battery life has greatly improved. I easily can go all day. I use the wireless charging at work if I have long conference calls, or heavy usage. Also, i like that fact that you can disable almost any app.
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Pretty sweet phone
Carrier: Verizon
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I've always loved Samsung. this will definitely be the phone to beat this year. It's not too huge so using it one handed is not an issue like it is with the ridiculously huge phones they're churning out these days, the waterproofing is huge peace of mind, and the processer is very fast. The phone looks stunning just by looking at it, I like the all glass design though I'm not a fan of how the glass on the back of the device is a fingerprint magnet. It still looks pretty sweet so long as you keep it clean though.
Though the 12mp camera isn't stunning, but the auto focus and low light performance make up for what it lacks in megapixels.
The battery life is definitely much better than its predecessors, but it is still a bit of a turnoff for me that there is no removable battery. That's probably my only real complaint about the phone, but I understand they probably can't make it waterproof without sealing the battery inside the phone, so I suppose it's worth it. It still lasts me a whole day with some to spare, even with as much as I use my phone...which is a lot.
Overall, I'm very impressed with this phone. Would recommend to anyone.
Pros:
Waterproof
Expandable memory
Fast processor
Auto focus camera lighting fast
Perfect size, not overly huge so you can fit it in your pocket and use one-handed.
Great, crystal clear microphone, and pretty good speaker too.
Enhanced battery life
Cons:
Non-removable battery
Camera isn't amazing (though the fast auto focus makes up for it).
Not a big screen, which is good for me, but if you're one who likes the huge screens like the LG V10, it's a pretty big step down.
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Hate it! But has some pros others may like.
Carrier: Verizon
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I absolutely hate this phone, I'm returning it after having it 2 weeks or trading it in on something that's more for me.
What I don't like:
- The new way they organize the apps. You can't find them! It's a pain in the ass.
- This phone is extremely intrusive. Maybe other phones also do such things as log and broadcast and compare your usage to other users without us knowing but this phone has been giving me "daily summary" statistics that include what and how many characters I've tapped, the apps I've used, the websites I've gone to. God only knows what else it's spying on and tracking. If you like your privacy and security don't get an S7.
- Location turns it self on. This isn't for me. I only want location on when I need or want it. It's NOT convenient, it's an annoyance in my opinion...as well as a battery killer (the main reason I don't want it turning it self on).
- Apps don't work the way they're supposed to. Such as, for example, wake-up alarms. They turn themselves off while I'm sleeping and never go off! I'm still using my old phone for my alarms to wake me up for work. I'm still using my old (S4) phone for many things because the S7 just doesn't do them or the way it does them isn't reliable.
- With an otterbox case the task bar is difficult to open.
- While my S4 has no problems with the data or wi-fi connection this piece of junk is frequently "waiting for network".
- It's slow. My S4, which is almost 4 years old, is faster.
Pros:
- Great battery life
- Sound quality is amazing (if you find a music app that works right on it - the music apps I've been using for years don't. It doesn't even come with the samsung music app installed.).
- Good camera. Photo and video quality is top notch.
