Samsung Galaxy S7 - 1 Month Later

James Falconer

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@All - Need your feedback here. For everyone already rocking a Samsung Galaxy S7, chances are you're 1 month in with the device. I want to know what you like, and what you dislike.

IMPORTANT: You can reply here, but if you want to be a featured fan in our 1-Month later YouTube video, hit us up on Twitter and Instagram with your comment in the form of a video... and make sure you use the hashtag #SamsungGS7AC.

So - what do you like and dislike about the Samsung Galaxy S7? Let's hear it!
 

jcp007

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May 17, 2012
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Like
Larger battery.
Better low-light pictures.
Faster processor.
More RAM.
More energy efficient.
Fast wired and wireless charging.
Curvature of the back
Water and dust intrusion protection.
Samsung Pay

Dislike
Lack of more base storage.
Microsd card slot.
RFC more resolution.
Lack of Nova or third party launcher customization capabilities.
Carrier bloat.
Carrier driven OS updates

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jcp007

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I meant having Nova or third party launcher capabilities on the stock TouchWiz.

Posted via the Android Central App
 

scotiez

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I am a 1st time Android user coming from Apple Iphone 6. I like everything this phone has to offer.
What i like
1. Fast Wireless charging, ( Take note apple, One of the reasons i left you)
2. Micro SD Card expandable storage. ( Another feature apple does not have)
3. Excellent camera, and I am a Photographer
4. Large Battery
5. Water and dust proof. I will not try this out on purpose but its nice to know for peace of mind.

Dislikes: I have NONE so far. My one month on Android has been a pleasant one. I love that i can customize my phone to the way i like it. Can't do that on apple. I am still learning something new all the time. I think I have finally found a phone that i really really like.
 

JHStewart1023

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I am seriously in love with this phone. People complain about battery life... easy either get a mophie OR utilize the fast charge. Like really this phone is what the galaxy series should've been last year. Coming from an iPhone I haven't even wanted to touch mine again. It's what I wanted for the galaxy series last year and more. I just wish it had a 64g variant for.more internal storage

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jcp007

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Battery life hasn't been an issue. I top off if I know that I will be away from a charger. There's one at home and the office. Carry a small Samsung power bank occasionally. Never needed it as of yet.

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James Falconer

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Reminder: You can reply here, but if you want to be a featured fan in our 1-Month later YouTube video, hit us up on Twitter and Instagram with your comment in the form of a video... and make sure you use the hashtag #SamsungGS7AC.
 

jma78b

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I am loving the S7. A whole day without charging! Been ages since that ever happened. I've got only a 32gb memory card but nothing is whinging say it's run out if memory. So thanks Samsung for getting it right. ??????
 

adeater95

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The phone as a whole is doing excellent job. Its camera and battery - outstanding.
I have some questions by the way. What does blue and green diode mean separately? I can't tell the difference between notifications that flash blue or green light.

Also, why do these icons appear when I get my fingers near camera lens and what do they mean?

jhjj.jpgpoo.jpg
 

FoneFreak

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I believe the second icon (hands) is the motion capture before a picture is ON. Similar to Live Photos. If you turn that off, the hands icon goes away.
 

Scoobysmith

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I'm on my 2nd S7 because the 1st didn't hold a charge. My 2nd S7 at first not a lot better over time the battery has gotten better but the battery life is most definitely not what was advertised. I have had a lot of issues with apps not working and apparently that's because of the new Marshmallow platform. From what I'm told will just have to wait until the apps catch up with updating to marshmallow which is very frustrating. Wish I would have kept my Note 4 and waited until apps and software updates were done.
 

nicole0nunez

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So I had my s7 for barely a week and the only complaint I have is that it gave me a "black screen of death". I'm pretty sure it was caused by a huge in flux of text rom a group message but the screen turned blacked and wouldn't respond. I had to youtube how to fix it (I had to hold the volume down and power button simultaneously). It works for now, and I'm hoping nothing else goes wrong. But overall I love the phone (upgraded from a s3).
 

Gianni Gonzalez

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LIKE:
the Galaxy S7 is a good phone. I believe it is better than the rest today on its category.

DISLIKE:

Not Durable though. I accidentally dropped it from at least 2 feet together with my Sony Z Ultra. The Sony Z Ultra was the 1st one to fall to the ground then the Galaxy S7 fell on the Sony and rolled to the ground beside the Sony Z. Result? The Sony Z Ultra suffered very very minor scratches while the Galaxy S7 (Which hit the SonyZ 1st before rolling to the ground beside the SonyZ) suffered a cracked screen glass. :( really bad bad karma. Now everyone is telling me that it is difficult to repair. I thought just the glass to be replaced. The phone is still working properly. I am looking for someone expert enough to replace the glass screen.
 

imasiren

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The phone as a whole is doing excellent job. Its camera and battery - outstanding.
I have some questions by the way. What does blue and green diode mean separately? I can't tell the difference between notifications that flash blue or green light.

Also, why do these icons appear when I get my fingers near camera lens and what do they mean?

View attachment 223946View attachment 223947

the top one is for flash. the bottom is the antishake/stabilization option
 

imasiren

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I love it a lot of new things to try out and play on. I'm coming from the S5 and there's a few differences that I might have missed with the S6 but im only experiencing them now. The issues I have are small things that don't really affect the phone in anyway just observations.

Pros:
Battery and fast charging is wonderful.
I love some of the extra customization with the icon grids.
Storage is great
I like that I can customize the power my apps use and keep my ram usage down.
Camera is a huge step up from my S5. I love the shooting options. Still tinkering with the pro camera.

Cons:
Being stuck with stock fonts
Doesn't bother me too much really but not being able to take out the battery is new. Phone froze up on me and I had no idea what to do.
Good screen protectors are horrible to find right now. They pull up after attaching the VR goggles.
A lot of apps it seems haven't gotten on board with marshmallow.
Carrier bloat is horrible and I can't hide apps anymore.
 

jcp007

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LIKE:
the Galaxy S7 is a good phone. I believe it is better than the rest today on its category.

DISLIKE:

Not Durable though. I accidentally dropped it from at least 2 feet together with my Sony Z Ultra. The Sony Z Ultra was the 1st one to fall to the ground then the Galaxy S7 fell on the Sony and rolled to the ground beside the Sony Z. Result? The Sony Z Ultra suffered very very minor scratches while the Galaxy S7 (Which hit the SonyZ 1st before rolling to the ground beside the SonyZ) suffered a cracked screen glass. :( really bad bad karma. Now everyone is telling me that it is difficult to repair. I thought just the glass to be replaced. The phone is still working properly. I am looking for someone expert enough to replace the glass screen.

As far as durability is concerned, no offense but it is glass albeit shatter resistant glass and not shatter proof. Some type of case can be helpful. As I know that, at some point, whether within my control or not, I will drop my phone. Despite the added dimensionality, I have peace of mind with the Defender case. The cost of the case is better than an insurance deductible or full replacement.

Posted via the Android Central App
 

UtahRoadie

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Pro
Larger battery.
Better low-light pictures. .
Wireless charging.
Water and dust intrusion protection.
Samsung Pay

Con
Carrier bloat.
Carrier driven OS updates
 

mikehstry

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Cons:
- Updates thus far have been hit or miss. I got something a week or two ago, but it still says February security patch. I'm on Verizon so this may be their issue.
- Design choices around durability, specifically the glass on the back being prone to scratches (it's different from the front, with both scratches and fingerprints) and the aluminum outer ring being scratch-prone as well. My S7 has taken a few very small tumbles and has more scratches than it should, though it is still a far cry from the scratches and dents when I dropped my 6P.
- S-Voice and the default keyboard. S-Voice is garbage. It is a really, really terrible piece of software that is unforgivably bad. Fortunately on the phone you can use Google Now (though not as conveniently as on a Nexus) but on the Gear S2 you are stuck with it. The keyboard is almost as bad, and can be easily replaced with Google's which is much better.
- Lack of adoptable storage. You CAN move stuff to the SD card, but it is hit or miss how well it works. I moved Facebook and it wouldn't launch at all. I moved Mortal Kombat and it worked half the time, but kept over a gig on the phone.
- Pre-loaded stuff - but all can be disabled and it doesn't take up too much space, so it isn't a huge issue.

Pros:
- Feel. This is completely subjective, but it just feels great in hand. The size is perfect, the rounded edges and curved front and back, the premium feel of the materials used, and the balance of weight all add to a phone that just feels wonderful to hold and use. There are regular moments where I'll pick the phone up and send a brief message and just be impressed with how smooth and responsive the OS is, and how great the glass feels. While again, this is totally subjective, this is by far the best feeling phone I've used in awhile. The only other devices that I've felt this way about are the Palm Pre and the Lumia 800.
- Gear VR. Gear VR is still a bit of a "proof of concept" at the moment. It isn't that it isn't ready for prime time yet, it is just that the adoption and support isn't where it could be just yet - but ultimately, I'd bet all the money I (don't) have that it represents the future of VR better than the Rift and Vive do. For VR to really work it needs to be un-tethered and afforable - which, when you consider that it already works with phones millions have - the Gear VR is. It needs to be something you pull out, strap on, and start using (that could be hilariously taken out of context!) You could watch movies in a private theater on a plane, catch up on games laying in bed while your partner sleeps, or spin around with a full range of motion in a space shooter on the Gear VR - which you can't do the Rift or Vive. This is a bit of a tangent, but I expect when the capability to stream higher fidelity visuals (without latency) from a computer or the web wirelessly, the biggest VR platform will more closely resemble the Gear VR than its bigger more expensive siblings. Prophesying aside, the Gear VR just works really well. Watching a movie in Oculus Video is a stunning experience, and some of the games (Anshar Wars 2, Dead Secret) are incredibly impressive. It feels like the future.
- Samsung Apps (?!) Much to my surprise, and with the notable exception of S-Voice and their keyboard, the Samsung stuff is actually pretty great this time around. Samsung Internet (with ad blocking!) is a much better experience than Chrome on mobile, the Email app, while inferior to Gmail in some ways, has the glorious ability to let me see my combined inboxes as the default view (which Gmail still doesn't,) the Phone app is pretty great, and while the others seem unnecessary (Messages, Contacts, Calendar, an additional app store... why not just leave Google's?) none of them are particularly bad or ugly. Much to my own surprise I've found myself using the default (TouchWiz) launcher. Despite not coming from iOS, I like seeing the notification numbers on the app icons, and the ability to resize the amount of icons you can fit gives it an edge of Google Now. While gimmicky, I also like the slight movement effect you can set on the background image. The Camera app is great, S Health is great, and the game launcher ads some cool abilities. Overall, I was expecting to try to get my S7 as stock as possible - but I'm actually liking and using many of Samsung's apps.
- Camera. While I haven't yet had an opportunity to take many photos, they ones I have taken are great. And while I know they stole it from Apple (or Nokia? Who knows?) I love the motion photos (especially with pictures of my puppy.
- Wireless charging. This was my biggest annoyance with the 6P. I had wireless chargers from my Windows Phones all over my house/car/office and it is great to use them again.
- Samsung Pay. In the last month, I have used this almost exclusively to pay for stuff, and found ONE place (Moe's Southwest Grill if anyone is curious) where it didn't work. I love not having to pull out a debit/credit card to pay for stuff, and sort of like Gear VR, this is an area where it seems like Samsung just "gets it." Mobile payments need to work everywhere you can already swipe, not just on new readers. And Samsung Pay does that.
- Call quality/WiFi calling. Some of this may be carrier related in addition to the S7, but on my Nexus 6 and 6P on both Verizon and Project Fi, I continually had complaints about people not being able to hear me, and in areas like my house with bad reception, it was almost unusable. With Fi, if it by chance made the choice to use WiFi over cellular, it was better, but that seemed to be at random. The S7 I haven't had one complaint yet, and it has seemed to default to WiFi if available, which just makes sense.

Anyway, those are the thoughts that come to mind at the moment. Maybe I'll make a clip for the video, but hope that helps anyone on the fence!
 
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bembol

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Jun 18, 2011
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Love

*Water Resistance.

*Battery Life. I really love that Samsung made the S7 thicker to improve it. Stop this nonsense of trying to be the thinnest phone. Add Wireless Charging.

*Titanium Silver, I can't get over how amazing it looks.

*microSD. I could've live without it but love that Samsung listened.

Edit: I forgot love the update with Display Scaling.

Hate

*Samsung removed the IR Blaster.

Honestly I can't really think what I hate about the S7.
 

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