Samsung were under pressure to deliver after the roaring success that was the
Galaxy S6. To put it shortly they’ve done it. The S7 is a beautiful albeit familiar device
that borrows heavily in design from the S6. Old features such as water resistance
and an SD card slot return, much to the joy of fans everywhere. The S7 has arguably the
best screen on show at Mobile World Congress with a QHD super AMOLED display. The
standard S7 retains the comfy 5.1-inch screen whilst the edge version is upgraded to
5.5-inches.
Under the hood Samsung will be using Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 and their own Exynos
chipset. The US is confirmed to receive the Snapdragon 820 version with Europe most likely
receiving Samsung’s new Exynos chip. A massive 4GB of RAM will be in tow, a standard for all
the major flagship announcements.
The S7 seems more of a refinement than a true upgrade from the S6, an “S6s” if you will. But
the camera is the standout upgrade. Last Year’s S6 had 16 megapixels and S7 with just 12
megapixels. Sounds like a downgrade? Far from it. Samsung are getting more out of the 12
megapixels making then wider and overall perform significantly better than the S6’s snapper.
Samsung showed us a presentation where the S7’s camera spanked the iPhone 6s in terms
of camera quality, particularly in low light. That’s what Samsung are trying to do this year not
only to have the best camera, but the best low light camera. With a wider f/1.7 aperture
lens, more light is allowed in to produce pictures that are distinctively clear in low light. This
also means pictures in good lighting conditions do more than impress, it’s awe-inspiring how
impressive pictures turn out.
Android 6.0 Marshmallow will be ready out of the box with improvements (finally) on the edge
screen. Samsung has also introduced the new Always-On display, which third party developers
can produce for. Space Invaders display please. Pre-orders for the S7 or S7 Edge start now,
doing so will bag you a free GEAR VR. The S7 will be £569, and the S7 edge £639.