I thought I's post my thoughts on the S7 Edge after 10 days of owning one - I know I'm not the first (or last) to do so, but not posted for sometime, so thought I would have a go...
This is my first ever Samsung - I was tempted last year, but the small battery put me off. My last 3 phones have been the Xperia Z3, LG G4 & Moto X Force/Droid Turbo 2. So this was a bit of a leap of faith.
Firstly, this is definitely the most premium phone I've ever used in feel. The Z3 was nice, but this just feels like a £700 phone. The first thing I did was buy a case though - the S7 Edge has 'Smashed within a week' written all over it otherwise. I'll get a tempered screen protector when they become readily available, also.
The screen is gorgeous, and the curve does give it something I extra. I've actually found the Edge panels very useful too. The only trouble I had with them was actually remembering they existed - once you do, it's funny how nice it is to just use it for the calculator, clock or whatever.
As I'm loaded up with about 100 apps, I just backed Nova up and switched to that, so haven't got much to say about TouchWiz, or whatever Sammy want to call it nowadays. Using a theme is still usueful though, as it changes the way the innards look regardless of the launcher.
I don't game much, or watch tonnes of vids, but - and this is obvious I guess - the S7E is super fast. I have a some VERY occasional lag, but it's one tiny hiccup a day or so. For balance though, my Moto X Force never lagged once in 4 months that I recall. Maybe that's the more stock Android experience coming through...
Bearing in mind I've come from the Moto X Force, the battery on the S7E has been nothing short of excellent. On the Moto, I'd unplug at 7.30am, and, on a normal work day, plug it at 11pm with between 25-30% battery and 3-3.5hrs SOT. After the first 2 days of settling in, the S7E is at about 30-40% with 4-4.5hrs. I've yet to run it down, but I think I'd get 23-24hrs with in excess of 5 hrs were I to do so. Battery is a thing for me, so really pleased they seem to have nailed it. Also, in a particularity bad service area where some of my family live, I found the X Force drained very quickly looking for a signal, whereas the S7E still drops faster than usual, but no where near as much. I was always looking out for bad signal issues and putting the XForce into Airplane mode in case it plummeted. Not so now. Similarly, the S7E copes very well with taking photo's in battery life terms. I took about 50 last weekend in around 30 mins, and it took about 4% of my battery. The XForce used to plummet by 6-7% in that time.
On the camera, incredible - now, of course this may be as much to do with the amazing S7E screen that the photos are being viewed on as much as the actual quality of the images, but I've already had a few comments on how nice some of the photos I've taken are - this hasn't really happened since the Z3 (the G4 camera was excellent, but very neutral, and we know how the eye likes punchy colours!).
I do miss on screen buttons at the bottom, and what IS this with having the recent apps & back buttons back to front?! I knew they did it, but had no idea how hard it would be getting used to it... I mean, I'll live, but really - it's so counter intuitive, it seems a little ridiculous to me.
The speaker is actually OK. I'd heard that it was awful, and tinny, but for the odd YT vid or hands free call, it's fine. It's no Xperia, granted, but most of my listening is through my headphones too and from work, so it's no big deal for me. It's better than the backwards firing G4 one, IMO, and the X Force single front facer was maybe a bit better.
This is also my first use of a finger print sensor. So far, OK - however, I found that, when registering my thumb, for example, it took maybe 8-10 presses to do so. It's fine, but I actually think it may be a little better if, like it seems other FP sensors going from YT, it took a little longer. I've just found that I can't quite get my whole thumb print covered, so there's always the odd dead-spot, so to speak. I'd say it's 80-85% accurate, but I do sometimes find myself thinking exactly how to hit the sensor before doing so.
Overall, a great phone thus far.
This is my first ever Samsung - I was tempted last year, but the small battery put me off. My last 3 phones have been the Xperia Z3, LG G4 & Moto X Force/Droid Turbo 2. So this was a bit of a leap of faith.
Firstly, this is definitely the most premium phone I've ever used in feel. The Z3 was nice, but this just feels like a £700 phone. The first thing I did was buy a case though - the S7 Edge has 'Smashed within a week' written all over it otherwise. I'll get a tempered screen protector when they become readily available, also.
The screen is gorgeous, and the curve does give it something I extra. I've actually found the Edge panels very useful too. The only trouble I had with them was actually remembering they existed - once you do, it's funny how nice it is to just use it for the calculator, clock or whatever.
As I'm loaded up with about 100 apps, I just backed Nova up and switched to that, so haven't got much to say about TouchWiz, or whatever Sammy want to call it nowadays. Using a theme is still usueful though, as it changes the way the innards look regardless of the launcher.
I don't game much, or watch tonnes of vids, but - and this is obvious I guess - the S7E is super fast. I have a some VERY occasional lag, but it's one tiny hiccup a day or so. For balance though, my Moto X Force never lagged once in 4 months that I recall. Maybe that's the more stock Android experience coming through...
Bearing in mind I've come from the Moto X Force, the battery on the S7E has been nothing short of excellent. On the Moto, I'd unplug at 7.30am, and, on a normal work day, plug it at 11pm with between 25-30% battery and 3-3.5hrs SOT. After the first 2 days of settling in, the S7E is at about 30-40% with 4-4.5hrs. I've yet to run it down, but I think I'd get 23-24hrs with in excess of 5 hrs were I to do so. Battery is a thing for me, so really pleased they seem to have nailed it. Also, in a particularity bad service area where some of my family live, I found the X Force drained very quickly looking for a signal, whereas the S7E still drops faster than usual, but no where near as much. I was always looking out for bad signal issues and putting the XForce into Airplane mode in case it plummeted. Not so now. Similarly, the S7E copes very well with taking photo's in battery life terms. I took about 50 last weekend in around 30 mins, and it took about 4% of my battery. The XForce used to plummet by 6-7% in that time.
On the camera, incredible - now, of course this may be as much to do with the amazing S7E screen that the photos are being viewed on as much as the actual quality of the images, but I've already had a few comments on how nice some of the photos I've taken are - this hasn't really happened since the Z3 (the G4 camera was excellent, but very neutral, and we know how the eye likes punchy colours!).
I do miss on screen buttons at the bottom, and what IS this with having the recent apps & back buttons back to front?! I knew they did it, but had no idea how hard it would be getting used to it... I mean, I'll live, but really - it's so counter intuitive, it seems a little ridiculous to me.
The speaker is actually OK. I'd heard that it was awful, and tinny, but for the odd YT vid or hands free call, it's fine. It's no Xperia, granted, but most of my listening is through my headphones too and from work, so it's no big deal for me. It's better than the backwards firing G4 one, IMO, and the X Force single front facer was maybe a bit better.
This is also my first use of a finger print sensor. So far, OK - however, I found that, when registering my thumb, for example, it took maybe 8-10 presses to do so. It's fine, but I actually think it may be a little better if, like it seems other FP sensors going from YT, it took a little longer. I've just found that I can't quite get my whole thumb print covered, so there's always the odd dead-spot, so to speak. I'd say it's 80-85% accurate, but I do sometimes find myself thinking exactly how to hit the sensor before doing so.
Overall, a great phone thus far.
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