The Galaxy S series began production in 2010. Samsung wanted to compete with the most equipped smartphones from well-known companies, including Apple.
Samsung Galaxy S
In South Korea, the smartphone set a new record for sales of Android phones. In a month and a half, a million copies of the Samsung Galaxy S were sold in the United States. As for the main characteristics, the smartphone has a 4” SuperAMOLED screen with a resolution of 480x840 pixels, an ARM Cortex A8 processor with a frequency of 1 GHz. RAM is 512 MB, and the amount of built-in memory depends on the modification (from 2 to 16 GB). The smartphone has a PowerVR SGX540 graphics chip, support for microSD cards up to 32 GB, and two cameras.
The phone is at the forefront of mobile devices that support Bluetooth 3.0 and DivX/XviD. Galaxy S was the first smartphone to have TouchWiz 3.0 installed. At one time it became the thinnest Android smartphone. The company also launched a cheaper version of the Galaxy S scLCD, which has an LCD display, an OMAP 3630 processor and a PowerVR SGX530 video processor.
Then Samsung released an updated version of the Galaxy S Plus (Galaxy S 2011 Edition with index I9001). The new model has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8255T processor with a frequency of 1.4 GHz and an Adreno 205 graphics accelerator. The battery capacity has been increased to 1650 mAh, everything else is identical to the first released model.
Samsung Galaxy S2
In February 2011, a new model Samsung Galaxy S2 was announced. The smartphone is equipped with a processor of the company's own production, Exynos 4210. It contains 2 ARM Cortex-A9 cores with a frequency of 1.2 GHz. When it went on sale, the smartphone was ahead of its competitors in performance tests. The new ARM Mali-400 MP4 GPU replaces its weaker predecessor. The amount of built-in memory depends on the modification and is 16 or 32 GB. The smartphone also supports removable media with a capacity of up to 32 GB. RAM about 1 GB.
The SuperAMOLED+ screen has reduced energy consumption by 18% compared to regular SuperAMOLED. It also uses new technologies to reduce grain and has the ability to control color saturation. However, problems with color rendering were not completely resolved; a yellow stripe was observed in the corner on a gray background. The resolution of the 4.27-inch screen is 800x480 pixels.
The main camera has 8 MP, autofocus, LED flash, and records 1080p video. The front camera has a resolution of 2 MP and a fixed focal length. The smartphone has built-in data encryption. Initially, Android 2.3 OS was installed, and since 2016 an update to Marshmallow has been available.
By analogy with previous models, an improved version of the Galaxy S2 plus was released. The performance is not inferior to the standard S2, although the processor and graphics accelerator have been replaced. In this modification, the Gorilla Glass protective glass and TV output were abandoned. OS - Jelly Bean with version 5 of the Touch Wiz shell.
Samsung Galaxy S3
May 2012 was marked by the release of the next smartphone in the Galaxy S line. Samsung Galaxy S3, iPhone 5 and Lumia 920 became the three best smartphones of the year. In addition to improved technical performance, the phone has new Smart Stay technology.
Its essence is to preserve the display brightness settings and not block the smartphone when the front camera captures the user’s gaze directed at the display. Technologies have been added to control a smartphone by voice, a vibration signal if the user picks up the phone with missed calls, recognizing people in photos and searching for matches among friends on social networks and several other functions.
All modifications are powered by a 4-core Exynos 4 processor with a frequency of 1.4 GHz, with the exception of a device released specifically for the USA, based on a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 with 2 cores. In addition to the standard set of functions, the 8-megapixel rear camera takes a series of 20 pictures in auto mode, and can also select the best frame among 8. Video shooting in Full HD format is available. The front camera has a resolution of 1.9 MP and shoots smaller format (HD) videos.
The display size was increased to 4.8” and returned to SuperAMOLED and Gorilla Glass protective glass, but a more modern second version. The screen resolution was 720p, the pixel density was 306 pixels per inch. Modifications differ in the size of internal memory: 16, 32 or 64 GB, RAM is the same for all and is equal to 1 GB.
By the beginning of 2013, Samsung had sold 40 million units. A version of the Galaxy S III mini was released with a 4-inch screen, a dual-core 1 GHz processor and cameras with a resolution of 5 and 0.3 MP.
Samsung Galaxy S4
Less than a year has passed since the presentation of the Galaxy S3 to the public, when a fresh flagship appeared on the shelves of electronics stores - the Samsung Galaxy S4. Unlike the previous year's phone, the new product, according to the latest trends, has a 5-inch screen with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and a pixel density of 441 ppi, a 13-megapixel camera, 2 GB of RAM and additional functions.
Eye tracking technology has advanced to the point where it is possible to stop a video if the user stops looking at the screen and show the next page of text if the user is looking at the last word on the current page.
The performance of the Galaxy S4 has improved compared to previous models in the line, as it now has an 8-core processor. Depending on the required performance, the required 4 cores are enabled. A model with a 4-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor was released for some countries. The smartphone was equipped with several new sensors for measuring weather conditions (barometric pressure, temperature, humidity) and gesture control. The device can work as a remote control.
The company abandoned FM radio in its devices, explaining that users began to listen to music on social networks and YouTube. The camera's arsenal of functions now includes panoramic shooting and the ability to overlay pictures one on top of the other, taken with different smartphone cameras. Also released were the Samsung Galaxy S4 LTE (more about it - http://spb.aport.ru/samsung_gt-i9505_galaxy_s4_lte/mod430516) and a “miniature” version of the Galaxy S4 mini with simplified technical characteristics.
Samsung Galaxy S5
Traditionally, a new Galaxy S5 model was released at the beginning of 2014. Changes have been made to the design, performance and camera. The highlight was the addition of a fingerprint scanner and a heart rate sensor. An additional bonus was that the smartphone complies with the IP67 certificate (dust and moisture protection).
As before, phones with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor (4 cores, 2.5 GHz) or an Exynos 5422 (4 cores with a frequency of 2.1 GHz plus 4 cores with a frequency of 1.5 GHz) are presented for different markets. The RAM remains the same, there are only two memory options left - 16 or 32 GB, supported removable memory media can have a capacity of up to 128 GB.
The screen has increased slightly to 5.1 inches, the resolution has not changed, and the pixel density has decreased by 9 pixels. The main 16-megapixel camera can shoot video in the new Ultra HD format, and the 2.1-megapixel front camera can shoot video in Full HD format. Initially, Android 4.4.2 was installed on the Galaxy S5, and later updates to version 5 of Lollipop became available.
Samsung Galaxy S6
The Galaxy S6 was announced in March 2015. Most of the characteristics have undergone significant changes. The design has changed and the body is made entirely of metal. For the first time in the last few years, the company decided to release its flagship only on its Exynos 7420 processor. As before, it consists of two sets of cores with the same frequencies as the previous model, but the type of cores is different - Cortex-A57 and Cortex-A53 are used .
RAM was increased to 3 GB. They abandoned the memory card slot, but increased the internal memory capacity to 32, 64 or 128 GB, depending on the modification. The screen size and manufacturing technology remain the same. Increased resolution and pixel density (Quad HD, 557 dpi). Android 5.0.2 was initially installed.
In the summer of the same year, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ was introduced. Unlike the simple Galaxy S6, it has 4 GB of RAM and a 5.7-inch display. Its design features rounded edges and a glass back surface. Unfortunately, the company refused to protect its smartphones from dust and moisture.
Samsung Galaxy S7
The Galaxy S7 appeared on the Russian market in February 2016. Externally, it is not very different from the Galaxy S6, but the internal content has improved significantly and allows the smartphone to claim the title of the best device released at the beginning of the year.
The new product is equipped with the Exynos 8890 chipset, which has Exynos M1 cores also produced by the company itself. According to the test results, the processor shows high performance among other smartphone processors currently available on the market. Work with single-threaded computing has been improved, since not all modern applications can use multiple cores at once. Some markets will have the Galaxy S7 with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset, which has 4 Kryo cores with frequencies of 2.15 and 1.6 GHz. RAM is 4 GB, and internal memory is 32 or 64 GB.
A slot for removable memory media with a capacity of up to 200 GB has been returned to the Galaxy S line. The number of megapixels in the main camera was reduced to 12, but the shooting quality was much improved, especially in low light. The screen size and resolution remain the same. The smartphone comes with Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS and the updated TouchWiz shell.
Conclusion
In each new model of the series, the hardware and functional filling changed. The basic principles of display manufacturing and the desire to surpass the main competitor, Apple, have remained unchanged. To achieve this, Samsung is constantly improving the performance of its smartphones, improving the quality of shooting, and trying to fully satisfy the desires of consumers.
Camera, battery, design, functionality, Super AMOLED Quad HD screen
Minuses
Average phone speaker quality
Review
My husband and I chose a phone for him, walked around many stores and decided to go to M.video. Our eyes immediately fell on 2 phones: iPhone 6s and Samsung s7. We thought for a very long time which one to choose, read user reviews, watched video reviews. We highlighted the pros and cons of these two devices. Pros of iPhone 6s: - good operating system; - good camera; - high-quality sound both in the phone speakers and in the headphones; - it is possible to turn on the sound of the phone and put it in silent mode with one click; - 3D Touch. Cons of iPhone 6s: - problems with listening to music from social networks. networks (VKontakte); - the phone turns off in the cold; - there is no way to expand the phone memory; - it is possible to insert only 1 SIM card; - closed operating system (you cannot change application icons, themes, photos can only be uploaded to your computer via iCloud, music from the application cannot be transferred to another phone for free, it is impossible to change the ringtone for free to a non-standard one). Pros of Samsung s7: - you can insert either 2 SIM cards, or 1 SIM card and a memory card up to 200 GB; - very multifunctional camera; - phone optimization (maximum capabilities with minimal power consumption); - fast charging; - design; - Super AMOLED (black pixels consume 0% energy); -Always On Display (the time and calendar are always on on the lock screen, notifications are also visible, this function consumes only about 1% per day); - there is a pulse sensor, etc.; - there are 2 energy saving modes; - you can change performance modes (gaming, high performance, optimized and entertainment); - there is Samsung Pay; - Smart View (view the device screen or content on a large display using a wireless connection); - IP 68 dust, moisture protection; - it is possible to divide the screen into 2 parts (in one you can, for example, watch a video, in the other you can respond to messages); - There are many more features that make using the phone easier. Cons of Samsung s7: - operating system (sometimes slow); - there are few low frequencies on the phone's speaker, but this is due to the fact that the phone has ip68 without any plugs. Despite the fact that the iPhone 6s is a worthy competitor to the Samsung s7, we still chose Samsung because some of the disadvantages of the iPhone seemed critical to us. My husband has been using the phone for 3 months now, he likes it, is satisfied with everything, and doesn’t regret the purchase. Thank you for your attention, we hope our review was useful to you.
Part 2: we study in detail the screen, camera, battery life and other features
We continue the story about the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. In the first part of the article, the performance of the device was tested in detail, and its design was also described. Now we will study other key aspects, first of all, the quality of the screen and camera, battery life. And finally, we will share with you our experience of using a smartphone in extreme conditions.
Screen
As we already noted in the first part of the article, in the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge the manufacturer decided to rely on a medium screen diagonal - smaller than in the Galaxy S6 Edge+, but larger than in the Galaxy S6 Edge. At the same time, the resolution remains ultra-high (2560×1440). And visually the screen really makes a great impression. Instrumental testing of the display was carried out by the editor of the “Projectors and TV” section, Alexey Kudryavtsev. Below is his conclusion.
The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected when the screens are turned off (on the left is Nexus 7, on the right is Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, then they can be distinguished by size):
The screen of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is slightly darker (photo brightness is 103 versus 111 for the Nexus 7; glare from the curved edges of the tested screen is excluded) and does not have a pronounced tint. The ghosting of reflected objects on the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge screen is very weak, indicating that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen. Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, screens without an air gap look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. On the outer surface of the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (effective, better than that of the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much more easily and appear at a lower speed than in the case of regular glass.
When the white field was displayed in full screen and with manual brightness control, its maximum value was 410 cd/m², the minimum was 1.6 cd/m². You also need to take into account the fact that in this case, the smaller the white area on the screen, the brighter it is, that is, the actual maximum brightness of the white areas will almost always be higher than the specified value. As a result, readability during the day in the sun should be at a fairly good level. The reduced brightness level allows you to use the device even in complete darkness without any problems. Automatic brightness adjustment works based on the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker slot). You can make adjustments to the operation of this function by moving the settings slider. Below, for three conditions, we present the screen brightness values for three values of this setting - for 0%, 50% and 100%. In complete darkness in automatic mode, the brightness decreases to 1.6, 7.9 and 7.9 cd/m², respectively (the first is too dark, the second and third - after adaptation of the eye it may be normal), in an office illuminated by artificial light (approximately 400 lux) brightness is set to 1.6, 130 and 405 cd/m² (dark - just right - bright, which corresponds to the specified correction), in a brightly lit environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20000 lux or a little more) - increases to 520, 540 and 540 cd/m². These values are greater than the maximum for manual adjustment and this brightness should definitely be enough for the image on the screen to be clearly visible in any natural conditions. In general, the result of the automatic brightness adjustment function is as expected. Note that even with automatic brightness correction disabled in a dark environment, the smartphone does not allow you to set the brightness above 190 cd/m². At any brightness level there is significant modulation with a frequency of approximately 60 or 240 Hz. The figure below shows brightness (vertical axis) versus time (horizontal axis) for several brightness settings:
It can be seen that at maximum and close to it brightness, the modulation amplitude is not very large, and as a result, there is no visible flicker. However, as the brightness decreases, modulation with a large relative amplitude appears. Therefore, the presence of such modulation can already be seen in a test for the presence of a stroboscopic effect or simply with rapid eye movement. Depending on individual sensitivity, this flickering may cause increased fatigue.
This screen uses a Super AMOLED matrix - an active matrix on organic light-emitting diodes. A full-color image is created using subpixels of three colors - red (R), green (G) and blue (B), but there are twice as many green subpixels, which can be referred to as RGBG. This is confirmed by a fragment of a microphotograph:
For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.
In the fragment above you can count 4 green subpixels, 2 red (4 halves) and 2 blue (1 whole and 4 quarters), and by repeating these fragments, you can lay out the entire screen without breaks or overlap. For such matrices, Samsung introduced the name PenTile RGBG. The manufacturer calculates the screen resolution based on the green subpixels; based on the other two, it will be two times lower. The location and shape of the subpixels in this version is close to the case of the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and some other newer Samsung devices (and not only) with AMOLED screens. This version of PenTile RGBG is better than the old one with red squares, blue rectangles and stripes of green subpixels. However, some unevenness of contrast borders and other artifacts are still present. However, due to the very high resolution, they have a minimal impact on image quality.
The screen has excellent viewing angles. True, the white color, when deviated even at small angles, alternately acquires a light blue-green and pinkish tint, but the black color remains simply black at any angle. It is so black that the contrast setting is not applicable in this case. When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the white field is excellent. For comparison, here are photos in which the screens of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (profile Basic) and the second comparison participant, identical images were displayed, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to approximately 190 cd/m², and the color balance on the camera was forced to switch to 6500 K. White field:
We note the excellent uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field (with the exception of darkening and changes in hue towards the curved edges). And a test picture (profile Basic):
Color rendition is good, the colors are moderately saturated, the color balance of the screens varies slightly. Note that in this case, the image occupies the height (at this screen orientation) of the entire area available for image display and extends onto the curved edges of the screen, which leads to darkening and color distortion. Also, in the light, these areas almost always glare, which makes it even more difficult to view images displayed on the entire screen. And even the picture of films with an aspect ratio of 16:9 bends, which greatly interferes with watching movies. The photo above was taken after selecting a profile Basic in the screen settings, there are four of them:
Profile Adaptive display differs in some kind of automatic adjustment of color rendering to the type of output image and environmental conditions, which is obtained by selecting the two remaining profiles shown below.
Movie AMOLED:
Saturation and color contrast are noticeably increased.
Photo AMOLED:
Saturation is still high, but color contrast is closer to normal. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen (profile Movie AMOLED). White field:
The brightness at an angle for both screens has noticeably decreased (to avoid strong darkening, the shutter speed has been increased compared to previous photographs), but in the case of Samsung the drop in brightness is much less pronounced. As a result, with formally the same brightness, the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge visually looks much brighter (compared to LCD screens), since you often have to look at the screen of a mobile device from at least a slight angle. And a test picture:
It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens and the brightness of the Samsung at an angle is noticeably higher. Switching the state of the matrix elements is performed almost instantly, but at the switching edge there may be a step with a width of approximately 17 ms (which corresponds to a screen refresh rate of 60 Hz). For example, this is what the dependence of brightness on time looks like when moving from black to white and back:
In some conditions, the presence of such a step can lead to plumes trailing behind moving objects. However, dynamic scenes in films on OLED screens are distinguished by high clarity and even some “jerky” movements.
For profiles Photo AMOLED And Basic constructed using 32 points with equal intervals according to the numerical value of the shade of gray, the gamma curve did not reveal any blockage in either highlights or shadows, and the index of the approximating power function is equal to 2.14, which is slightly less than the standard value of 2.2, while the real gamma -the curve deviates little from the power-law dependence (the captions in parentheses show the exponent of the approximating power-law function and the coefficient of determination):
For profile Movie AMOLED The gamma curve has a pronounced S-shaped character, which increases the visible contrast of the image, but in the shadows the distinguishability of shades remains.
Let us recall that in the case of OLED screens, the brightness of image fragments dynamically changes in accordance with the nature of the displayed image - it decreases for generally light images. As a result, the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) most likely slightly does not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential display of shades of gray on almost the entire screen.
Color gamut in the case of a profile Movie AMOLED very wide, it almost covers the Adobe RGB gamut:
When selecting a profile Photo AMOLED coverage is adjusted to Adobe RGB boundaries:
When selecting a profile Basic coverage is compressed to sRGB boundaries:
Without correction, the spectra of the components are very well separated:
In case of profile Basic with maximum correction, the color components are already noticeably mixed with each other:
Note that on screens with a wide color gamut, without appropriate correction, the colors of regular images optimized for sRGB devices appear unnaturally saturated. Hence the recommendation - in most cases, watching movies, photographs and everything natural is better when choosing a profile Basic, and only if the photo was taken on an Adobe RGB setting, does it make sense to switch the profile to Photo AMOLED. Profile Movie AMOLED, despite the name, is the least suitable for watching movies or anything else.
The grayscale balance is good. Color temperature in profile Movie AMOLED noticeably above 6500 K, in the remaining two - close to 6500 K, while in a significant portion of the gray scale this parameter does not change very much, which improves the visual perception of color balance. The deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) across most of the gray scale remains below 10 units, which is considered a good indicator for a consumer device, and also does not change very much:
(The darkest areas of the gray scale can in most cases be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)
Let's summarize. The screen has a very high maximum brightness and has excellent anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors without any problems, even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. It is acceptable (and in bright light it is necessary) to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works quite adequately. The advantages of the screen include a good oleophobic coating, as well as a color gamut close to sRGB and an acceptable color balance (when choosing a profile Basic). At the same time, let us remind you about the general advantages of OLED screens: true black color (if nothing is reflected in the screen), excellent uniformity of the white field, noticeably less than that of LCDs, and a drop in image brightness when viewed at an angle. Disadvantages include modulation of screen brightness. For users who are particularly sensitive to flicker, this may cause increased fatigue. However, overall the screen quality is very high. Separately, we note that from the point of view of image quality, curved edges are only harmful, since this design discovery introduces very noticeable distortions of the color tone and reduces the brightness at the edges of the picture, and also leads to inevitable glare along at least one long side of the screen in ambient light conditions .
Playing video
We did not find the MHL interface, like Mobility DisplayPort, in this smartphone, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Method for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p), 1920 by 1080 (1080p) and 3840 by 2160 (4K) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps). In the tests we used the MX Player video player in the “Hardware” mode. The test results are summarized in the table:
| File | Uniformity | Passes |
| 4K/30p | Fine | No |
| 4K/25p | Fine | No |
| 4K/24p | Fine | No |
| 1080/60p | Great | No |
| 1080/50p | Great | No |
| 1080/30p | Great | No |
| 1080/25p | Fine | No |
| 1080/24p | Great | No |
| 720/60p | Great | No |
| 720/50p | Great | No |
| 720/30p | Great | No |
| 720/25p | Great | No |
| 720/24p | Great | No |
Note: If in both columns Uniformity And Passes Green ratings are given, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and frame skipping will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with playback of the corresponding files.
According to the criterion of frame output, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the device itself is very good, since frames (or groups of frames) can be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping frames. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen, going to the bends. The clarity of the picture is high, but not ideal, since there is no escape from interpolation to the screen resolution. However, for the sake of experimentation, you can switch to the one-to-one mode by pixel; there will be no interpolation, but the features of PenTile will appear - the vertical world through the pixel will be in a grid, and the horizontal one will be slightly greenish. This is only true for viewing test worlds; the described artifacts are absent in real frames. The brightness range displayed on the screen actually corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - in the shadows and highlights, only a couple of shades merge with black and white, respectively.
The experience of using the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge has shown that the curved edges do not in any way harm the image when watching a movie - you soon forget about them completely, and the headphones do an excellent job of outputting sound: even in conditions of road noise at low volumes, the speech of the characters is intelligible, while your neighbors they don't hear the film.
Camera
On the occasion of the release of the new flagship, Samsung decided to gather journalists and take them to the “nearest Moscow region” so that they could appreciate the smartphone in harsh conditions, without being distracted by work, social networks and other machinations of dark forces. However, the closest Moscow region that corresponded to the required harsh conditions turned out to be the Karelian coast of the Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea - in fact, the Arctic. There, our editor of the “Digital Photo” section, Anton Soloviev, tested the smartphone’s camera. Below is his detailed report.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge has an updated camera module as part of an overall consumer improvement program, as is the case with many other features of this model. The lens is now characterized by an aperture ratio of 1:1.7, the pixels on the sensor have become even larger and reached a size of 1.4 microns (you can even remember the “famous” HTC ultrapixels), while each one has become double for faster focusing. The number of pixels was reduced to 12 million, which is the golden mean in this form factor (just remember the history of the development of compact cameras in the 1/2.3″ format).
However, the hardware innovations had little effect on the camera menu.
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An interesting feature of the camera is the presence of a manual mode, in which it is possible to shoot in RAW. In general, manual mode, like RAW, on a smartphone are far from essential tools. Moreover, the manufacturer tries to hone and maximize the auto mode, and the built-in converter often works much more adequately than third-party ones, so in most cases it is more advisable to use it for shooting.
However, in difficult lighting, problems with white balance may arise, which can be solved by manually setting the temperature.
RAW will also be a nice bonus for those who like to tinker with processing, but don’t forget that to get it you need to turn the corresponding toggle switch in the camera settings, which is active only in Pro mode and is periodically reset after using other modes.
The camera has well-implemented panoramas. Moreover, the power reserve during wiring is enough for more than 360 degrees. In addition, in panorama mode you can get interesting compositions if everything you would like does not fit into the frame. However, it is worth considering that panoramas are less clear than simple photographs. Unfortunately, the HDR mode does not work when shooting panoramas, but it would be very nice.
Keeping IP68 protection in mind, you don’t have to worry about your smartphone if it falls into snow or water. And although the manufacturer does not offer to shoot underwater, it would be a shame to miss such a chance, because we tested it not just anywhere, but on the shores of the White Sea (we will tell you more about our overall impressions of using the smartphone in extreme conditions below). There were a lot of problems when shooting with a smartphone underwater: the sensor starts to go crazy, the volume buttons set to release are not very conveniently located, and the water is cold and salty. The first problem was solved by turning on the display after lowering it under water or by partial immersion, the second and third had to be endured, and the smartphone had to be “desalinated” after swimming in sea water in the snow. He endured all these actions with dignity.
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| Examples of underwater photography | |||
Since we are talking about convenience, it is worth noting the problems when shooting with one quite standard hand. Since we were using the Edge modification, we had to be careful with sensitive edges. (In general, these “edges” often create some discomfort when using, although if you want, you can get used to them for the sake of design.) If you grasp the smartphone as you have to do with most tablet phones, your fingers often “occupy” the sensor and the shutter button stops responding to presses.
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| Example of a standard one-handed grip |
For such cases, you can use the volume buttons in the settings and use them as a shutter button. However, they are located in such a way that it will not be very convenient for right-handers, and it is difficult to compose a frame across the remaining third of the display. In vertical orientation, problems arise with the fact that part of the index finger periodically ends up in the corner of the frame.
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The last option is to turn the smartphone over, holding it by the top so that the volume button is under your index finger. However, this is inconvenient from the point of view of general use - you still have to connect a second hand to turn it over. In addition, the smartphone is too thin and with such a grip it tends to slip out, and the fingers of the right hand constantly get into the lens.
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Good sharpness across the field of the frame, and car license plates are distinguishable in such twilight hours. |
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Good sharpness in distant shots. |
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There is not much noise in the shadows, although the work of the noise reduction is visible. |
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The camera pays attention to small details. |
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The camera does macro photography well. |
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The camera copes well with details in fairly complex scenes. |
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The camera copes well with night photography, but only in manual mode. |
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The sharpness across the frame is not always uniform, but the area of blur at the top in this case can be attributed to composition problems. |
In addition to testing in real conditions, we tested the camera on a laboratory bench using our method.
The camera turned out to be quite a flagship camera, although a little crude, which, I would like to believe, will be corrected in serial firmware. First of all, the rather obvious sharpening and the presence of blur zones in very unexpected parts of the frame are confusing. In addition, a slight soapiness is noticeable, which, however, we are already accustomed to from Samsung smartphones. Otherwise, the camera behaves very well and allows you to take pictures at the level of a good compact, both from a technical and artistic point of view.
As can be seen from the graph, in terms of resolution the camera is almost at the level of its predecessors, but the overall quality of the images has undoubtedly increased, although not much.
Focusing in a smartphone is implemented so well that you stop paying attention to it. Double pixels essentially implement the principle of phase focusing, and their presence over the entire sensor area ensures good accuracy. It's difficult to say whether the camera focuses much faster compared to other smartphones, but there were no problems with searching for sharpness, waiting for focus, or missing shots during testing. In any case, in this regard, using the camera did not cause discomfort, so we can say that focusing is quite fast.
I would like to note video shooting separately, since this time its implementation in a smartphone really does not raise any questions. The rolling shutter effect and other artifacts are practically absent. The image is stable, sharp, without twitching or ripples, despite only 30 fps. Focusing when shooting video is as fast as when shooting photos.
The smartphone features a slow motion mode that allows you to record in 720p format at 240 fps with sound. When viewing, you can slow down a certain fragment. Below is a video made up of various recordings taken on a smartphone during testing.
More examples of shooting with the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge camera are presented below in the gallery.
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Software and communications
The smartphone runs on the latest version of Android OS - 6.0.1. On top of it is installed a proprietary Samsung shell, optimized specifically for the Edge modification. We are talking about an auxiliary menu that can be pulled out from the right side, as well as the ability to use curved edges for color alerts.
By and large, there is nothing new here compared to previous Edges, and, frankly, we still think that all these features are more of an artificial attempt to justify the presence of curved edges and make this design find at least somewhat useful, rather than really useful features. After all, hypothetically, the same thing could be done with a regular screen.
A much more valuable innovation is the updated file manager. Now you can easily transfer files from your smartphone to a flash drive and back; unnecessary files can be deleted both from a flash drive and a microSD card.
As befits a flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge supports all the latest technologies and communication standards, including Wi-Fi 802.11ac 5 GHz, LTE Cat.9, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, NFC, ANT+. The latter is valuable because it makes it possible to connect a smartphone with various fitness accessories (for example, chest heart rate monitors) using an energy-efficient protocol.
We also note that the smartphone supports two SIM cards. At least that's what Samsung claims, but we couldn't verify it. In our copy (engineering sample), the slot did not allow inserting a second Nano-SIM; the space for it was slightly less than necessary. Apparently, this should be attributed to the peculiarities of the engineering sample. But if you buy a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge at a dealership, ask a consultant to show you how and where to insert the second SIM card.
Autonomous operation and heating
The smartphone is equipped with a significantly larger battery than the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge - 3600 mAh versus the previous 2600 mAh. Even the larger S6 Edge+ has only 3,000 mAh.
Of course, such an increase had the most positive effect on battery life: the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is one of the leaders in this regard, and it is capable of operating on battery power even with moderate active use for much longer than the standard time of one day.
During active photo and video shooting, the smartphone sat down by about 50% in one busy day, working in “airplane” mode and with automatic screen brightness. Under the same conditions, watching an MP4 movie loaded into the internal memory drains the battery by about 10% per hour.
In addition, we tested the battery life of the smartphone using our method, with the brightness set to 100 cd/m².
As you can see, the less stressful the scenario, the better the smartphone performs. Thus, in the gaming scene it is inferior to the iPhone 6s Plus in terms of operating time, but in video playback it is superior. And finally, let's pay attention to the excellent results in reading mode. By the way, among the Android smartphones that we have ever tested, in this scenario the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge has no competition!
Below are thermal images of the rear surface taken after 10 minutes of running the battery test in the GFXBenchmark program (the lighter, the higher the temperature):
It can be seen that the heating is highly localized above the center and close to the right edge, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat camera, the maximum heating was 44 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), which is higher than the average value in this test for modern smartphones.
Separately, it is worth noting the charging speed of the smartphone. Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge supports QuickCharge fast charging technology and, when using the included power supply (9 V 1.67 A), is fully charged in about an hour and a half. The device charges up to 50% in 40 minutes, half an hour is enough to fill the battery by 38%, and 15 minutes - by 22%.
During charging, both the smartphone and the power supply heat up noticeably, but this does not go beyond comfortable values, that is, you won’t burn your hands.
In general, despite the situation with load conditions, we can recognize the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge as one of the best (if not the best) Android smartphone in terms of battery life. And, of course, the charging speed is a very big plus compared to the iPhone, since there are cases when you urgently need to charge your smartphone, but you only have a few minutes, especially when traveling or if you forgot to charge your smartphone at night.
conclusions
Well, we carefully got acquainted with one of the main smartphone innovations of this year, tested it both in the laboratory and in real life (and under extreme conditions). Based on the results of studying the device, we can safely admit that at the moment this is the real pinnacle of “smartphone manufacturing”. The device combines innovation, practicality and uncompromisingness in almost all respects. For the fourth model in the Edge line (and the third among the S Edge), Samsung found an almost ideal ratio of screen diagonal and body size, equipped the smartphone with support for memory cards and two SIM cards, and was also able to implement full-fledged moisture protection without sacrificing the dimensions of the device or external view (no plugs - hello Sony!). On top of that, the battery capacity has increased significantly, and now it is one of the best smartphones in terms of battery life.
The curvature of the screen and its functional use, of course, still remain controversial points (for the convenience of everyday use this is more of a minus than a plus), but one cannot argue with the fact that this feature makes the Samsung smartphone unique, which is perhaps truly valuable in our time of clones. And advanced photo capabilities and high performance make the new product an ideal choice for enthusiasts. Of course, all this could not but affect the price: the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, with a price tag of 60 thousand rubles, occupies the highest price category. However, it is also cheaper than the iPhone 6s Plus even with the smallest amount of internal memory. And therefore, this is a very, very formidable competitor to the flagship of the apple company.
Finally, we bring to your attention a video review, where we share our main impressions of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and clearly demonstrate some of its features (including water resistance).
P.S. For the excellent combination of appearance and design functionality (above all, the implementation of water resistance), we award the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge our editorial Original Design award:
The mid-size flagship of the Japanese company came out controversial. The display resolution was left old-fashioned, the proprietary moisture protection only implies “exposure to light rain” and no underwater photography, as in Sony advertising, and the Snapdragon 810 processor, although it began to overheat less, still does not work ideally in this model.
But in terms of the quality of the body materials, the convenience of the operating system and the sophisticated camera, the Sony flagship remains an attractive model to this day. The Z5's automatic shooting modes aren't perfect, but in manual mode you can squeeze some amazingly high-quality images out of the Z5's camera. The autonomy of the smartphone is seriously inferior to the results demonstrated by the top Samsung, but the iPhone 6s will soon retire (like the quickly outdated HTC One M9 Plus), the LG Nexus 5X, already on sale, is much less powerful and not so prestigious, and beyond these models there are thoroughbred flagships of moderate the dimensions just run out.
conclusions
Attitudes towards the Galaxy S7 change as you use the smartphone. The first impression is a “restyling” of last year’s flagship with a new sauce, but then you add up the number of innovations and realize that improvements of this magnitude in the iPhone would be considered a revolution, and every Apple fan would be delighted. Only Samsung did not release the S6 Super/Ultra/Neo, but released the S7, which divided brand connoisseurs into two camps.
Current owners of the Galaxy S6 admit that the smartphone has become “better in everything,” but they see no point in replacing existing models with new flagships. Those who are watching the price drop for the “morally outdated” S6 series are also in no hurry to take an extra 15 thousand rubles out of their pockets. There remains an audience that acquires a “new cool Samsung” with each new generation of the model, and those who are disappointed in other flagships / do not want to wait for manufacturers to release more breakthrough superphones.
However, what other “breakthroughs”? In the class of “less than 5.5 inches” of truly sophisticated smartphones, the cat cried. If it weren’t for the example of the iPhone 6/6s, the rest of the manufacturers would rush to produce “shovels” without options for the buyer. In this sense, the Galaxy S7 (just don't laugh) is a living exotic, because the class of 5-inch flagships is slowly dying out.
But the release cycle according to the principle “modernized version - revolutionary version” is already quite Apple’s way, comrades. And even though we are unfamiliar with the conventional two-year cycle from the evolutionary to the revolutionary Galaxy S, such changes will benefit both those who like to “wait until cool models”, and everyone who sells an old smartphone to buy a new one, “with changes and additions.” We can only hope that such tactics will not “sink” Samsung and that the Koreans know what they are doing.
Samsung took into account all the mistakes of previous models and implemented successful technical ideas in its new flagship smartphone, which were warmly greeted by the public, who could hardly wait for the release date of the new product. The new gadget differs from previous versions by increased performance, RAM capacity and a new high-quality camera. Moreover, this is not all the innovations. The output turned out to be impressive, and the new Samsung Galaxy phone is truly excellent and can easily claim the title of “best smartphone of 2016.” The price of Samsung Galaxy S7 in online stores starts from $620 and varies depending on modifications. Let's study the Galaxy review and analyze in detail the characteristics and description of the smartphone to prove whether the stated price is worth the money.
In what modifications is it sold in the CIS?
The review should start with the fact that the new smartphone is available in several modifications depending on the regions of sale. So, for example, the processors used will be different for owners from America or Europe. There are 3 main models on our market with the following descriptions, which can be found on sale from their release date:
- Galaxy S7 SM-G930F. Standard version with slot for 1 SIM and microSD;
- Galaxy S7 Duos SM-G930FD. Dual-SIM version, which has an additional slot for a second SIM;
- Galaxy S7 Edge. An improved DS model with an increased screen diagonal of 5 inches and a battery capacity of 3600 mAh. Costs $100 more.
The body colors are available in white, silver and black. The contents of all modifications of the Galaxy S7 in the box are the same:
- power unit;
- micro-USD cable;
- USB-OTG adapter;
- headphones;
- user manual
The phone has the ability to insert additional internal memory into 32GB or 64 GB.
Separately, I would like to note the USB adapter, which will allow you to connect your smartphone to external drives, batteries and other peripheral devices. This is an insignificant thing, but for many owners it becomes one of the most useful.
Appearance
Samsung Galaxy S7 combines pleasant ergonomics and a strict stylish look, both in white and in other colors. There are no unnecessary details here, and all available ones are thought out to the last detail. The front and back panels of the phone are made of glass.
The waterproof case is made according to IP68 technology without the use of removable plugs. The device can withstand a drop into water up to 2 meters deep with open ports and connectors, and then continue to work calmly.
To protect the case there is a metal frame around the perimeter. The edges on the back panel have a slightly beveled appearance. This is done to improve ergonomics and ease of use with one hand. The main camera lens looks good and does not stick out even on the white model. On the right side of it there is an LED flash, pulse sensors and SpO2 blood oxygen saturation sensors.
The earpiece is located just above the display and has high sound quality. Next to it there is a front camera and a proximity sensor. Below the display on the edges there are two touch buttons “Back” and “Application Manager”. Between them there is a mechanical “Home” button with a fingerprint scanner.
Screen sizes with 5.1 inch diagonal reveal the full potential of the device, but do not affect the dimensions and ease of use. The streamlined body allows you to always place the phone comfortably in your hand and easily reach the upper left corner with your thumb. At the same time, the phone does not cut into the palm.
For those who find the display large and uncomfortable when working with one hand, there are two control modes. One of them moves the push-button interface and keyboard to the lower corner for more convenient dialing and text processing. The second mode provides for a complete transfer of the interface to the lower part (activation occurs by triple pressing the “Home” button).
Screen with rich image
Samsung Galaxy S7 uses a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED Quad HD display with a QHD resolution of 2560x1440. The pixel density parameters are 577 ppi. Additionally, the screen is covered with anti-reflective protective glass Gorilla Glass 4. The size of the display ensures ideal detail and color reproduction. Any picture and video looks truly realistic.
Samsung really managed to perfect their technologies and put them into the characteristics of a flagship smartphone. No matter how hard you try, it is impossible to find flaws in the description. Every element and display option deserves applause. Brightness, contrast, shades and color rendering quality are all excellent.
The AMOLED display has advanced image brightness adjustment capabilities. The matrix is capable of demonstrating both maximum saturation and reducing it to a minimum for those who are accustomed to IPS displays. New adaptive brightness control technology takes into account the light level using sensors and selects the optimal parameters for comfortable work. At the same time, the Galaxy S7 remembers manual brightness settings and automatically offers them to the owner under the same conditions.
MHL (Mobile High Definition Link) technology allows you to connect your smartphone to a TV or monitor to broadcast video in FullHD resolution via HDMI and MicroUSB ports.
The new Always ON feature allowed the display to display the necessary information when locked. At the same time, energy consumption on the battery is minimal. Autonomous power supply of each pixel in the AMOLED display allows you to highlight only the working areas when the rest of the screen remains black.
The best camera in smartphones
But here I want to stand up and applaud the creators. Samsung made a first-class camera for seventh generation smartphones. The company did not participate in the senseless race of competitors for megapixels, but thoroughly improved the quality and functionality of shooting, having worked on every element.
The main camera uses a Sony IMX260 module on 12 MP. This sensor is designed exclusively for the Galaxy S7 and is not used in other devices. Compared to previous versions of Samsung smartphones, the camera resolution has dropped slightly, but this allows for better photos and videos when shooting at night by increasing the physical size of the pixels. The new sensor uses enhanced phase detection autofocus with Dual Pixel technology, which uses both photodiodes on each pixel of the matrix. Due to this, the camera is able to instantly focus under any shooting conditions. Once launched, the smartphone is ready to take high-quality photos in less than 1 second. Additionally, I would like to note the “Panorama” mode, which makes it possible to stitch together photos and obtain full-size images in a resolution of 38 megapixels.
Front camera on 5 MP takes great selfies. The phone interface has many functions for processing and improving the resulting photos: color correction, improving skin texture or background detail. You can always download additional processing modes and functions from the Samsung store.
Video recording occurs in Ultra HD resolution. In standard video recording mode, the frame rate is 60 FPS. Slow motion mode allows you to increase the rate to 240 FPS, but the video resolution will drop to HD. All videos are clear and smooth. The optical stabilization function eliminates any interference, and the enabled HDR mode always ensures realistic color reproduction, even in bright sunshine.
All this allows us to safely call the Galaxy S7 camera one of the best in the new generation of phones. It is capable of capturing any scene, even in low light levels.
Specifications
The Samsung Galaxy S7 smartphone for sale in Russia and Europe is equipped with a 64-bit Samsung Exynos 8890 Octa processor with ARM BIG.LITTLE architecture (analogous to Snapdragon) based on Android OS. The chipset is made according to the 14 NM process technology with 8 cores: 4 Mongoose 2.3 GHz cores (Samsung’s own development) and 4 Cortex-A53 1.6 GHz cores. LPDDR4 standard RAM is 4 GB. Additionally, the Galaxy S7 provides the ability to install internal memory on 32GB or 64 GB. It uses the UHS 2.0 standard - the fastest for the internal memory of mobile devices. At the moment there are no analogues to it in terms of quality and speed.
The gadget has a full set of modern wireless interfaces and functions: Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, ANT+. Data transfer capabilities via LTE are limited only by the cellular operator. The sound in the headphones is capable of transmitting a rich range of low and high frequencies.
Samsung has returned the ability to use a microSD slot, so if desired, you can install memory cards with capacities of up to 200 GB. As mentioned earlier, for collaboration with external drives, the Galaxy S7 includes a USB OTG adapter.
The top-end processor together with the MALI-T880 MP12 graphics module based on Android Nougat 7.0 will launch any application and the latest gaming innovations. With the Galaxy S7, you can safely forget what “medium” or “low” graphics settings are when playing games. The Anututu Benchmark test proved that the smartphone can easily cope with any load.
Accumulator battery
Galaxy S7 uses a non-removable battery with a capacity 3000 mAh. The fast charging function Quick Charge 2.0 allows you to charge your smartphone up to 65% in 30 minutes. The developers have optimized the phone's power consumption, which makes it possible to work with applications and the active screen 30% more. With continuous loads and games in applications at maximum graphics, the operating time will be more than 10 hours. You can watch FullHD videos at maximum brightness in Airplane mode for over 14 hours before requiring additional charging.
Bottom line
And finally, let’s finish the review with conclusions on the characteristics, according to which we can safely say that the mobile phone turned out to be of high quality and multifunctional, so many were not in vain waiting for its release date. With the Galaxy S7, Samsung confirmed its leadership title and released a truly worthy and versatile phone that demonstrates all the achievements in the world of mobile technology. Stylish design, pleasant ergonomics, high performance, lightning speed and an amazing camera - this is just the “tip of the iceberg” that Samsung's flagship phone can boast of. Galaxy S7 costs 620$ , however, the price is completely worth it. The smartphone is suitable for those who want to receive only the best and are not ready to use second-rate devices.
