Galaxy S7 edge review

      The best all-round smartphone on the planet right now, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge has great battery life, performance and screen quality.

KEY FEATURES:

• 5.5-inch, quad-HD display 
• 4GB RAM 
• 12MP camera with improved auto-focus 
• Always-on display 
• Fast and wireless charging 
• 3,600mAh battery 
• microSD expansion 

Design:

Easy to say not much has changed between the SGS6 and the SGS7 models. For the regular handset that's certainly true, and in some ways that's played out for the Galaxy S7 edge too. But this is Samsung finding the sweet spot in terms of size: measuring 150.9 x 72.6 x 7.7mm, weighing 157g, the S7 edge cuts between the size of the 5.1-inch SGS6 edge and the 5.7-inches of the S6 edge+. Design S7 those are the major changes. Well, there are plenty of those to cover, so I will start with the design, and it’s very much as you were on this front. There’s the bigger screen, of course, but style wise the phone looks very close to the S6 Edge. A glossy glass finish sandwiches a gleaming, coloured metallic substrate that catches the light in all the best ways, while the long edges of that 5.5 inch screen dip away to a slim, aluminium frame that runs all around the edges of the phone.

Eagle eyed readers will spy that the very edges of the glass at the top and bottom of the phone are softly curved, but other than that from the front at least little has changed. It still picks up unsightly fingerprints like mad, and the buttons and ports remain in the same locations: the volume buttons are on the left edge and the power button on the right, the combined SIM/microSD card drawer are on the top edge and the 3.5mm headphone jack, perforated speaker grille and micro-USB port are on the bottom. Yep, that’s right, there’s no USB Type-C here, presumably because Samsung wanted to ensure compatibility with the Gear VR.

Display:

Much of this is just design and in reality the edge doesn't add a huge amount beyond the visual. We think it looks stunning, but for apps where you might need to interact right at the edges, you might find it slightly less practical than a flat display. This has only been an issue for us when editing text that spreads right to the edges; for the vast majority of apps and games the edge makes the experience look like something from the future. There's also that seamless feel that the design lends. Many smartphones  like the iPhone 6  use 2.5D glass for that rounded edge, but the Galaxy S7 edge takes that to a higher degree.

And so to the display's finer details. The SGS7 edge offers a 5.5-inch AMOLED display with a 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution (534ppi). It's lovely and sharp, with rich saturated colours typical of AMOLED, supported by deep blacks. In bright conditions the phone automatically responds, boosting the brightness so you are not left looking at reflections, with the option to manuall tweak the brightness just a swipe away. It can boost things a little too far, but we will forgive that considering the richness on offer. You don't quite get the cleanest whites, but again, it's a trade off for richer colours. It's worth bearing in mind that photos will look richer and more contrasty on this phone than on other devices that don't have the same sort of display. On the whole, though, the Samsung Galaxy S7 offers a sumptuous experience.

There's a full range of edge display functions too. If you want the edge to do more than just look pretty, you can have swipe in features such as shortcuts or feeds. Some might like that convenience, but we can't help feeling it's never that useful: the phone is fast enough to flip to full apps, so you might as well take the bigger scale experience.

Battery:

The Galaxy S7 edge beats its regular S7 sibling is in battery life. There's a more capacious 3,600mAh battery onboard (compared to the S7's 3,000mAh) and this results in better endurance. Although the smaller S7 is good enough to get you through a day without issue, the edge is the better choice for power users: you'll be able to drive this phone a little harder, for longer. The expanded body allows for that capacity and happily the larger display isn't too much of a drain, meaning it's the better performer overall. Expect on average days to be finishing with 50 per cent of the life left; we've given the SGS7 edge a really hard day's work and still found it lasted until 5pm before begging for a recharge.

There's a lot going on to reduce battery drain too. Not only do you have more efficient hardware, but the software appears to be well optimised and there are a number of software options to help. You can, for example, turn off background access to data. It's designed as a data-saving method primarily, but it's a useful tool for battery saving too. Then there's a battery saving mode proper. The power saver noticeably throttles performance and brightness, but you can set the level you want it to swing into action. We set it to 50 per cent, but in reality, it's only on the longest busy days that it gets used.

Camera :

Here's been a change of hardware, by introducing a new larger-pixel-size 12-megapixel rear camera and increasing the lens' aperture to f/1.7. The aim is to retain the good skills of the previous camera but boost the low-light performance. That's been achieved too, with good performance in a wide range of conditions. The important thing about the SGS7 edge's camera isn't just about how it might perform at extremes, but that it's a consistent camera in various conditions, whether that's an ad hoc low light shot, or in a high-contrast situation. There's also raw capture, so if you don't want a Samsung-processed JPEG as your only option, you can take control of the raw camera data yourself. There's no editor installed, but you can download an app like Adobe's Lightroom from Google Play to take care of things.

It's worth bearing in mind, however, that you can't really make accurate calls on colour when editing on the SGS7, because of the saturation of the display. If you really want to edit raw images, It be better doing it on a computer. The front camera is 5-megapixels and is generally good, with the display able to act as a flash in lower-light conditions. It's not the best selfie camera around, but we suspect it won't give you cause for complaint. There's a full range of face smearing and distorting effects if you want them too.

Performance: 

The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is one of the best phones you can buy right now, and there are now several solid reasons, other than good looks, to buy it over its less curvaceous sibling, the Samsung Galaxy S7. Indeed, on its own, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge doesn’t look anything special. Slide it up next to the Galaxy S7, however, and you will immediately spot the difference. This year, the S7 Edge has grown bigger (last year, the S6 Edge was the same size as the S6), and now has a 5.5in display. It’s a significant 0.4in larger than the standard S7 and, interestingly, a mere 0.2in smaller than the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ know your mobile went as far as to say the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge knocked the "build and design out of the park". 

The other big news is that, although there’s still no removable battery, Samsung has brought microSD expansion and water and dust proofing back to its flagship smartphone range. The Samsung Galaxy 7 Edge is compatible with microSD cards up to 200GB in size, with space for the card next to the SIM slot in the drawer that fits in at the top edge, while the phone is rated to IP68. The latter means, technically speaking, that the phone can be immersed completely in water up to 1.5m deep for up to 30 minutes. Drop it in the sink or the bath and it will survive, but a trip the bottom of the deep end at the hotel swimming pool might not end quite so well. 

As for performance, that’s pretty much impeccable. In fact, there’s hardly any difference between this handset and the Samsung Galaxy S7 when it comes to raw speed. 

That’s what you get when you give two phones exactly the same processor (the octa-core, 2.3GHz Samsung Exynos 8890) the same amount of RAM 4GB and the same resolution display. In every test, the S7 Edge performs to the same high standard as the S7, and that means it’s very, very good. Its Geekbench multi core results are ahead of any other phone we’ve tested, including the otherwise all conquering Apple iPhone 6s. In other tests, the 6s pulls out a lead, but the S7 Edge and its flat screened counterpart are faster than any other Android handset.

Pros And Cons:

PROS                                                 CONS

• Great camera in all conditions
• Stunning design
• Sharp, vibrant display

• Minor lag in TouchWiz
• Screen can be overly reflective
• 
  

For

Wonderful design and build quality, the edge curves look great, good battery performance (better than S7 standard), camera performance

Against

It's a fingerprint magnet, software adds features you might never use, speakers aren't stand-out great, it's costly

Verdict:

The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge is one of the most exciting smartphones of 2016. It offers strong design and a quality of build that's top tier.Sure, it might look similar to last year's SGS6 edge+, but the S7 edge's new 5.5-inch size finds the sweet spot and adds some battery capacity for greater practically. And while we think the edge element of that saturated AMOLED display is mostly for show, we love those looks it's one stunning phone.

There's a great pairing of cameras too, packed full of features and performing strongly. About the only real hardware weakness is the speaker performance on the bottom.Software-wise, Samsung's TouchWise is a little over-the-top, adding options and complexity you might never need compared to the strong offering from Android Marshmallow. It's stable and slick, though, and well optimised for great performance without destroying battery life.Make no doubt, the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge is a star performer. If you are looking for a new flagship phone in 2016 then this Android champion absolutely has to be on your shortlist.

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