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!