The Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge Review: Part 2
by Joshua Ho on July 5, 2016 8:00 AM ESTCharge Time
While charge time is no longer much of a concern in light of how OEMs have made it a major priority in the last few product cycles, I still wanted to go ahead and verify its effects. Testing this is done with the usual method of monitoring until power draw at the outlet reaches a value approaching 0 to try and eliminate inaccurate battery percent reporting as a problem.
Interestingly enough, the Galaxy S7 charges faster than the HTC 10 here even though both have similar power output on their AC adapters. I suspect that we’re actually seeing the differences between QC 2.0 and QC 3.0 here as the environment in San Jose recently has never gone below 80F when testing. At any rate, the delta between the Galaxy S6 and S7 in charge rate is effectively not worth talking about, which isn’t really a huge surprise.
Miscellaneous
The miscellaneous section of each review is really just a list of comments that are too short to justify a separate section, but something worth discussing regardless. The first of these subjects is sound quality. While I don’t really have the ability to test 3.5mm output properly, I can say that the speaker output of the Galaxy S7 is weak without question. Maximum volume is quite low, and even ignoring that the quality of the output is nothing special with emphasis on higher frequencies. I suspect this is just the cost of waterproofing at work here.
The fingerprint scanner remains a Synaptics design win, and it generally works quite well. I like it a lot but it isn’t particularly fast or reliable the way the iPhone 6s’ TouchID is. I would say that it’s better than the iPhone 6’s fingerprint scanner, and is comparable with the HTC 10’s fingerprint scanner. However I do favor the HTC 10 fingerprint scanner design as it’s faster to just place a finger to the fingerprint scanner rather than pressing a button and waiting to scan, but the delta here is basically not worth talking about.
Samsung Pay is actually, finally available. Weirdly enough the magstripe transmission still has applications as places like Safeway seem to have completely ignored the liability transfer and continued using magstripe-only readers. Places like Walmart don’t seem to have NFC enabled despite moving to EMV which is strange to say the least. For the US, Samsung Pay actually does provide value, and turns paying from your phone from an occasional experience to a common one. For now at least, Samsung Pay has some real value which is good to see.
I haven't seen any real issues with GPS on the Galaxy S7, as OEMs have been taking this sort of thing seriously for a while. I don't think anyone is really going to face issues with GPS at this point, but it's worth mentioning just to confirm that this is the case.
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lilmoe - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
No...................... (wiping eyes)lilmoe - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
OK, now that I've read the whole review (and some parts twice), I can come to two conclusions.1) The author is sort-of unhappy with Samsung's decision to dual source the SoC.
2) Lots of testing metrics (and data) don't match my personal experience with the phone (Edge, Exynos version), nor the hundreds of videos and reviews online. The only significant issue I have is with the front facing camera compared with other new hardware; it could be a LOT better (but I'm not a huge selfie person).
The Exynos variant is significantly better than the SD variant this time around, probably because Samsung's software leans more to higher core count, but also because it takes advantage of the *better* co-processors on Samsung's silicon. The Exynos variant has better image/video post processing, better audio, better and more sustained performance, better RAM management and significantly better battery life compared to the SD variant. Too bad all the hype Qualcomm has been selling for the additional parts didn't live up.
That being said, I do agree, to some extent, about the radios. They're definitely better than previous models (after the migration to metal design), but my wife's Note4 has noticeably better reception. Not huge, but noticeable. In that regard, nothing beats good ole' plastic designs.
cknobman - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
The Apple bias you get from this site is annoying at best.Everything in this review is laced with a undertone of how iPhone is just as good or better.
Camera on the S7 is actually pretty danged amazing and easily better than what iPhone has right now. Other sites and reviews have posted their figures and results and they all show it but for some reason here the camera is just ok?
Battery life on the S7 is actually quite amazing and noticeably better than past Galaxy iterations.
The design is well executed and I did not see any mention of the water resistant feature which is a nice inclusion most other manufacturers dont even have.
I'm a Windows phone user but I did recently upgrade my son to the S7.
ikjadoon - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
While Anandtech is getting better at moving away from esoteric benchmarks to show "in the lab" performance...these reviews were not holistic.How can you write a review comparing the iPhone 6s to the Galaxy S7 and NOT mention water resistance?
I think it's because, in the end, performance is what matters to Anandtech above all else. If the device doesn't perform well in day-to-day use, then whatever other benefits it may have are always painted against that background.
ikjadoon - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
Why can't we edit? Yeesh. "Doesn't perform well compared to its equally-priced peers"...DERSS - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link
iPhone 6s/Plus already has water resistance, Apple covered the mainboard with special foam, and there are other measures. It is tested in videos, and it works. So the degree here is that SGS 7/Edge has better water resistance. The practical difference, though, is debatable.pablo906 - Friday, July 8, 2016 - link
I dropped my 6s in the sink full of water. Pulled it out shook it off, sucked the water out of the speaker holes, charging port holes, and headphone holes and it was fine. I've never had an iPhone survive that. They're not water proof, but their water resistance is certainly far better than it used to be and can survive day to day spills and accidents unlike the older models. That's nowhere near as good as the waterproof Samsung phones I've seen go underwater fully submerged for more than a few seconds in videos and come out alive, but it's an improvement. I agree with you here. If you want to compare water resistance among phones, then you have to take the non water resistant Android and get it wet measure the effects and then do the same with the Apple phones. I think that's a pointless road to go down. It's better to just mention the water proofing in the description or not at all and move on.theduckofdeath - Saturday, July 9, 2016 - link
I hope you don't live by that belief, DERSS. most mainboards has a protective coating, including the one in your PC. Mostly for dust and humidity protection. The ports, camera, sensors and most other things on the iPhone aren't water resistant. So... You might get lucky to survive getting it wet, but it most likely won't work properly after it.My previous (wireless) keyboard survived a glass full of Coke spilled all over it once. No issues, I just rinsed it off and let it dry off for a couple of days. Somehow I managed to spill another glass on in a month later (yay! I guess I subconsciously wanted a new keyboard) and it instantly fried.
theduckofdeath - Saturday, July 9, 2016 - link
*itBigbank - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link
BooGo get wet sinker