Samsung Galaxy smartphones. I sold Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

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 the remaining key aspects, first of all - the quality of the screen and camera, the duration 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, than smaller area white on the screen, the lighter 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 sufficiently 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 appears with a large relative amplitude. 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 very high resolution they have minimal impact on image quality.

The screen has excellent viewing angles. Is it true, White color when deviated even at small angles, it alternately acquires a slight 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 there is no color balance of great importance, 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

MHL interface, like Mobility DisplayPort, we are in this smartphone We didn’t find it, 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:

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 related to the 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.

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 manual installation 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 was “desalinated” after swimming in sea ​​water had to in the snow. He endured all these actions with dignity.

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.

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.

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 general use- you still have to use your second hand to turn it over. In addition, the smartphone is too thin and with such a grip it tends to slip out, and your fingers right hand constantly fall into the lens.

	Good sharpness across the field of the frame, and car license plates are distinguishable in such twilight hours.
	Good sharpness in distant shots.
	There is not much noise in the shadows, although the work of the noise reduction is visible.
	The camera pays attention to small details.
	The camera does macro photography well.
	The camera copes well with details in fairly complex scenes.
	The camera copes well with night photography, but only in manual mode.
	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 has 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.

Photo gallery

Software and communications

The smartphone runs on latest version Android OS - 6.0.1. On top of it is installed a proprietary Samsung shell, optimized specifically for the Edge modification. It's about about the auxiliary menu, which can be pulled out from the right edge, 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 most modern 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 model. 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 seems to correspond 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 in 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 best smartphones in terms of autonomous operation.

The curvature of the screen and its functional application are of course still controversial issues(for ease of everyday use this is more of a minus than a plus), but one cannot argue 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:

smartphone, Android 6.0, monoblock body, 5.1" screen, 2560x1440, nano-SIM SIM card, GPS/AGPS/Glonass, Wi-Fi / 3G / LTE / NFC, dimensions 69.6 x 142 x 7.9 mm, weight 152 g

5 advantages of the Samsung SM-G930F Galaxy S7 smartphone

Robust housing

Samsung SM-G930F Galaxy S7 measures 69.6x142x7.9 mm and weighs only 152 grams. It fits comfortably in the palm of your hand and is suitable for use in any conditions thanks to its shock-resistant housing with additional protection from dust and moisture.

Working with two SIM cards

A smartphone makes it easy to optimize communication costs. It has slots for two nano-SIM cards at once. This allows you to combine tariffs from different mobile operators, choosing the most advantageous offers for communication in your home region and travel abroad, calls and web surfing.

Impressive display

The diagonal of the Super AMOLED screen of the smartphone is 5.1 inches. It surprises with its rich and natural color reproduction and impresses with the clarity and detail of images reproduced in a resolution of 2560x1440 pixels. The 16:9 aspect ratio makes the display optimal for viewing photos and videos in widescreen mode, and durable Gorilla Glass 4 guarantees protection from accidental impacts.

Memorable photos

The main camera with a resolution of 12 megapixels works in conjunction with a fast autofocus system, a powerful flash and optical stabilization function. It is capable of taking bright and colorful pictures regardless of external conditions: even in the dark and while driving.

Effective work

Behind fast decision work tasks, loading resource-intensive files and applications, instant response to commands and no freezes in games are answered by a powerful eight-core processor with a frequency of 1800 MHz and 4 GB of RAM. If necessary, you can increase the internal memory of your smartphone using the microSD card slot.

Galaxy is a line of smartphones from Samsung, which includes a wide selection of devices with different screen diagonals, memory capacity and functionality. They are distinguished by high quality and performance.

The models run on the Android operating system and support the installation of modern applications from the official Google Play store. You need to choose a suitable smartphone from the series taking into account the following parameters:

• screen diagonal. Compact 4-inch ones are suitable for working with standard programs, and large 6-inch ones are suitable for watching videos;
• built-in memory capacity - from 8 to 64 gigabytes;
• camera resolution. Maximum - 20 megapixels - will allow you to take pictures High Quality;
• battery capacity, which determines how long the smartphone will work without recharging;
• Availability additional functions, for example, a fingerprint scanner.

Samsung Galaxy in Eldorado

The Eldorado catalog presents the full range of the Samsung Galaxy line. Placing an order will take no more than a few minutes, and store consultants will answer all your questions. Buy flagship Samsung smartphones in installments without overpayment and get back part of the purchase price with bonuses! All items come with a manufacturer's warranty and will be replaced or refunded if damaged.

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 “breakthrough” ones? 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 conditional 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.

At the moment, the Galaxy S line is represented by two current smartphone models. Slim and not too big, the S7 is positioned as a classic smartphone for everyone. The 5.1-inch screen diagonal does not cause problems even when held with tiny female hands, and the absence of any specific bells and whistles in the design does not scare away the audience accustomed to the standard form factor.

The S7 edge phablet, on the contrary, acts as a sophisticated older brother for the sophisticated. Not only is it 0.4 inches larger, but it also offers a special body design with a screen that is curved on the sides.

The Galaxy S7 doesn't really seem big, especially compared to other modern smartphones. Look, it is noticeably more compact than even the Nexus 5X, which is not outstanding in size, and definitely does not deserve to be called a shovel.

We are sure that if you gather a hundred people and ask them to choose between S7 and S7 edge, the classic will win unconditionally. Few people will decide to buy a larger, more expensive and problematic device in terms of convenience.

Performance and quality

It's very easy to fall in love with the Galaxy S7. Seriously. Just take it in your hand and you will immediately understand everything. Handle the Galaxy S7 and your criteria for build quality will change dramatically. The smartphone does not look like something consisting of hundreds of parts, and is perceived exclusively as a whole, monolithic, skillfully polished piece of glass without a hint of sharp corners or lines, with a neatly fused layer of metal in the middle. There’s no need to even talk about backlashes and squeaks. Everything fits perfectly. It is so neat and smooth that you want to lick it.

Galaxy S7 is made in accordance with the IP68 standard, that is, it is not at all afraid of dust and is friendly with water. Please note that such high moisture resistance does not require any removable plugs or other nonsense. The smartphone can withstand a 30-minute immersion in water up to a depth of 1.5 meters with an open USB port and headphone jack. We did not test the water resistance in practice, since there are already enough videos on YouTube confirming the level of water protection claimed by Samsung.

Samsung's decision to move away from plastic can be called the best thing that ever happened to the flagship Galaxy line. Plastic, even high-quality one, is always associated with something cheap, but metal and glass look and feel luxurious. For a flagship, this is it. In the case of the Galaxy S7, a fashionable method of glass processing, which received the marketing name “2.5D glass,” is added to the premium set of materials.

Take a look at the front and back of the Galaxy S7. The glass on them is rounded towards the edges. The screen under the glass is absolutely flat. The point of this treatment is to increase the streamlining of the body at the junction with the side panels. The transition becomes smooth, sharp angles dissolve, blur and are replaced by what is called conjugation in drawing.

In addition to smoothness, 2.5D glass adds a very beautiful optical effect, which is further enhanced by the dark matte surface around the screen and on the back of the smartphone.

Take another look at the photos of the device. Do you notice some color unevenness, as if in some places the smartphone is lighter, with a grayish tint? This is how the light hitting the surface through the uneven glass is refracted, and when you turn the device, the glare jumps around the body like sunbeams.

Unfortunately, 2.5D glass also has its downsides. In case of excessive lighting and especially under the sun, you can always position the flat screen so that the light is not reflected into the eyes and the contents of the screen are visible. In this case, glare is almost impossible to avoid. The rounded edges will still reflect, which is noticeable even in smartphone photographs under artificial lighting, and the blinding summer sun will certainly worsen the situation.

The second objective disadvantage of glass is its soilability. The case quickly becomes covered with fingerprints, and although they can be removed quickly and easily, you will have to get used to the permanent staining of the device.

Design and equipment

It seems that Samsung has finally found the ideal arrangement of control buttons and other external elements smartphone. Sound, power, speaker, headphone and USB jacks are in the same place as the predecessor.

Only the SIM card slot has moved to the top side panel, and there is a reason for that.

Yes, the Galaxy has a microSD slot again, which is great. No more guessing and suffering regarding the optimal amount of internal storage.

Do you need another 32 GB to add to the built-in 32 GB of memory? We place the card and rejoice. Need 128 GB? No problem. Drives with capacities up to 200 GB are supported. The memory card is incomparably cheaper than older smartphone models with increased internal storage.

If additional space is not required, a second SIM card can take the place of the microSD card. Simultaneous operation of the second SIM and memory card is not provided.

The fingerprint sensor located in the Home button has become noticeably faster and more accurate in fingerprint recognition, and the button itself is now flush with the body. There will be no more false alarms when a smartphone is accidentally pinched in a pocket.

The Galaxy S7 comes with a power adapter, a USB cable, standard earbuds with replaceable earplugs, as well as a microUSB adapter designed for quickly and completely transferring data from an old smartphone via the built-in Smart Switch utility.

Screen

Displays have always been Samsung's strong point, and the Galaxy S7 continues to hold its own. The smartphone is equipped with a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED Quad HD display (resolution 2560 × 1440) with a density of 577 pixels per inch. The screen is protected by Gorilla Glass 4 with anti-reflective coating.

The most interesting innovation is the Always On mode, in which the display displays user-selectable information in a locked state without any noticeable impact on battery power. This is possible thanks to the autonomous power supply of each pixel of the AMOLED display. Energy is spent only on illuminating the working pixels. The rest of the screen area is black, in this place the pixels are turned off and do not consume battery power. If desired, Always On can be disabled in the settings.

Other indicators of the Galaxy S7 screen are not much different from its predecessor. It is just as bright and sometimes overly rich, adapts a little better to excess or lack of light, but in general it is still the same cool display inherent to Samsung, which is criticized only for excessive color saturation.

Cameras

If before the Galaxy S7 it might seem to you that your smartphone takes photos quickly and coolly, then after the Galaxy S7 any other camera suddenly becomes slow and “not very good at all.”

Samsung chose the right path, and instead of a stupid marketing race for megapixels, the company worked closely on the quality, functionality and, what is also important, the speed of operation and focusing (Dual Pixel technology - two photodiodes for each pixel of the matrix) of the camera module. The camera module itself has become more compact and practically does not protrude from the body.

Focusing and photographing happen literally instantly, and after a tiny fraction of a second the smartphone is ready to take the next photo. No delays, no freezes or slowdowns during shooting. You can use manual multi-shooting mode and take clear frames without stopping at all.

To improve the quality of low-light images, the Galaxy S7 uses a combination of a fast f/1.7 lens and an individual pixel size increased to 1.4 microns.

Some will think that 12 megapixels is somehow not enough for a 2016 flagship. In fact, this resolution of the main camera is enough for any task. Still, the vast majority of photos are mercilessly shrunk and end up on social networks, and therefore quality and easily applicable in practice are more valuable to the end user additional features than the original image size. Camera Galaxy The S7 offers as many as 10 shooting modes.

By default, the standard automatic mode is launched, when the smartphone itself adjusts everything, and the user only selects a filter (if, of course, he wants) and presses a button.

In contrast to the automatic mode, there is a professional mode with the ability to fine-tune each shooting parameter manually.

Selective Focus lets you take an interactive photo with variable focus.

Do you need to make the main object clear? Select “Near Focus” from below.

Would you like to see the background? Tap “Far Focus”.

Among other shooting modes, “Live Broadcast” also deserves a separate explanation. It allows you to connect your YouTube account and stream what is happening on the screen simultaneously with the image from the front camera. Fashionable mobile YouTuber gamers will definitely appreciate this feature.

The last mode worthy of mention is “Virtual Shooting”. We catch the object of interest to us in the center of the lens, start shooting and walk around the object in a circle. The resulting animation is tied to the smartphone's gyroscope and allows you to re-examine the captured object from any angle.

Other photo modes, such as fast and slow motion, panorama, video collage, and Food, are quite popular and self-explanatory.

The Galaxy S7 can shoot Full HD video at 60 frames per second and 4K video at 30 frames per second. Stabilization is supported in all modes.

The front camera does not have exciting characteristics.

Standard 5 megapixels combined with adjustable face lighting and correction tools do their job and produce excellent selfies.

Features and performance

Versions of the Galaxy S7 for Russia and Europe are equipped with an 8-core Exynos 8890 processor made using a 14-nm process technology (4 proprietary Samsung Mongoose cores 2.3 GHz and 4 Cortex-A53 1.6 GHz cores) and Mali-T880 MP12 graphics.

The top-end processor, combined with 4 GB of high-speed LPDDR4 memory, effortlessly handles the heaviest 3D applications. The AnTuTu Benchmark 6.0.1 test showed the following results:

In addition to current types of communication, Samsung has equipped the Galaxy S7 with a Wi-Fi repeater function. In this mode, the smartphone can connect to any available Wi-Fi point and distribute the Internet through itself.

System

Out of the box, the Galaxy S7 runs on Android, with the proprietary TouchWiz shell installed on top.

There is a pre-installed basic set of applications from Samsung, full set Google applications and services, social networks and a set of software from Microsoft.

Uninstallable applications, of course, are detrimental to the device from an optimization standpoint, but if you don’t want to spend a certain amount of time searching and downloading applications from Google Play or the Samsung app store, then a large set of pre-installed software is even useful.

The transition to two-window operating mode occurs by long-pressing the “Menu” button.

In addition to some changes in the interface associated with the transition to , special attention is drawn to the new game center, which accumulates all the user’s games in one interface and optimizes the gameplay. You can disable any notifications while a gaming application is running, block system buttons, prevent the gaming application from being unloaded from RAM when minimized, and forcefully reduce the resolution and number of frames in the game.

Working hours

Galaxy S7 is equipped with a 3,000 mAh non-removable battery with fast charging function. Obviously, depending on the intensity of use and other factors, the battery life can vary significantly, and in our scenario the results turned out to be quite acceptable.

Before testing we did full reset to the factory settings with clearing the memory, leaving automatic adjustment of the display brightness. The smartphone offered initial setup, updated applications and downloaded the Android 6.0.1 update.

In total, during the first intensive hour of work, which included performance analysis via AnTuTu, the battery lost 15% of its charge. Then standard operations were carried out: photographing, video shooting, checking all types of communications, the operation of applications and branded Samsung chips. Thus, about another 20% of the battery charge was consumed. According to the built-in battery monitoring tool, in this mode the smartphone would last 8 hours, which is very good. In passive mode with Wi-Fi running and the Always On screen, the smartphone lost about 13% of its charge per day.

Power consumption is partially optimized due to the built-in utility, but in total, after almost a day and a half of operation, the battery retained 41% charge.

Conclusion

The life hacker thanks Samsung for providing the device for testing. We really enjoyed. From a performance point of view and technical characteristics There's no fault with the Galaxy S7. The build quality and materials are super. The design is nice. The screen, as always, is excellent, and even shows the necessary things without draining the battery. The camera is fire. The battery is durable. The power is excessive, the productivity is off the charts. The system is up to date, there are pre-installed applications. It would take a long time to list the advantages; the flagship has no weak points. But as soon as we touch upon the issue of price, problems begin. Paying 50 thousand rubles for a smartphone is difficult, very difficult. What do you think?