First time poster long time reader. Decided to post about my experiences with the Note 7 after 5 days. This is for the Verizon version so as always your experience may be better or worse.
I bought into the hype train and picked up an all black N7 and i really like how Samsung tosses in an OTG dongle. Coming from a Nexus 6P running Pure Nexus i thought it was time for an upgrade. N7 feels amazing in the hand. Fits perfect but its kind of slick for me but i had an S6 edge so not a big deal to me. But it feels amazing. And if it did not have the Samsung logo on the front i would give the loots a 10/10
Display. No big surprise here its amazing. Side by side it blows other phones away. However on its own its a typical AMOLED display. Cant really tell how good it is until you put it against another phone side by side. Now i have seen these things cracking when dropped and i can not comment on that. Or that it scratches easy. We know for a fact it is easier to scratch thats all over the web but both of mine had no scratches...Yes both more on that later.
Iris scanner. Gimmick flat out no way around saying this is more useful then the fingerprint reader, more secure or faster. Its a hey look at me look how cool i am.
S Pen. It works good. I do not like it but i dont like pens. I used one back when tough screen phones first came out. Its just not my thing But that is a big selling point and it is pretty advanced. So good job on this but i would never use it.
Camera is great as expected
Always on display is trash. Just do what moto did. I love that. The 10% per day battery usesage is about an hour of OST. Just do what moto did and win.
Performance is sub par. Sub par for even sub $400 smart phones. Both of mine had this. First one i returned and the second i did 3 resets on it and nothing fixed it. I was expecting some lag from using my S6 Edge but this is to much. Its not smooth at all and really hurt the experience for me. It is an over $900 phone with tax and runs like a $200 phone. Yeah games played fine its the overall navigation in Android that is like dragging a nail across cement. Feels like a top notch $1,000 high end phone. Runs like a $200 prepayed and that disappoints me. Did i expect smooth? No but i expected it to be much smoother then it is and not bog down as easy. They really need to figure out the memory management. Or maybe its time they move to Tizan. If they can not optimize Android or are willing to do the work on it they need to just make the switch. I would use a Tizan phone if it is smooth. I went back to Verizon and put it side by side with a few display phones and it made me sick. Phone could of been amazing but software is holding it back ruining the experience for me.
So what did i do? I got another phone and honestly i am much more happy. I picked up a Moto Z Force that i must say is the smoothest running Android phone i have ever used. I wont go into details on that in here since this is the N7 section but the deciding factors were.
-USB type c. I made the switch with my 6P so i need a phone that has type c. The G5 is built like a $100 phone and HTC's have never been my thing. Last HTC i had was the DNA.
-Smooth. Must be smooth.
-3.000 mAH or larger battery
Would i advice people to do as i did? Up to you. Some people i know the lag does not bother them. But to me the Z is a better overall phone for what i want. And i am excited about the moto mods. And buying into the eco system is not an issue. I do not have a bluetooth speaker or usb charge bank so buying these did not set me back. But they are expensive and making the switch over to it i would not advise people to do.
All and all i love the N7. The hardware is there. The phone is there the software just did not show up. All my issues can be fixed with a software update. So who knows i might pick one up if they drop 7.0 and fix all the performance issues i like it that much. But there is no excuse on why Samsung could not polish the software enough to cut down on the lag. I would be more forgiving at $600 but for $900 it is totally unacceptable. I have used cheaper phones with more software and features added in and it did not lag this much. It feels the software was rushed to make launch. And that is a good thing because that means it will improve. However if this is the best they can do the phone is over priced by $300 and is a prime example of how software can make or break an electronic.
And lets not play the "Mine has no lag." Do not lie". Every N7 lags more then others and peoples tolerances for lag are all diff. I will not lie i am very sensitive to lag.
I will say if there was a snowballs chance it would get a bootloader unlock so i could flash a better custom rom i would of kept the N7 and never looked back. But Samsung + Verizon = perma locked bootloaders. But anyone who can deal with the lag or r not very sensitive to it you will love this phone
I bought into the hype train and picked up an all black N7 and i really like how Samsung tosses in an OTG dongle. Coming from a Nexus 6P running Pure Nexus i thought it was time for an upgrade. N7 feels amazing in the hand. Fits perfect but its kind of slick for me but i had an S6 edge so not a big deal to me. But it feels amazing. And if it did not have the Samsung logo on the front i would give the loots a 10/10
Display. No big surprise here its amazing. Side by side it blows other phones away. However on its own its a typical AMOLED display. Cant really tell how good it is until you put it against another phone side by side. Now i have seen these things cracking when dropped and i can not comment on that. Or that it scratches easy. We know for a fact it is easier to scratch thats all over the web but both of mine had no scratches...Yes both more on that later.
Iris scanner. Gimmick flat out no way around saying this is more useful then the fingerprint reader, more secure or faster. Its a hey look at me look how cool i am.
S Pen. It works good. I do not like it but i dont like pens. I used one back when tough screen phones first came out. Its just not my thing But that is a big selling point and it is pretty advanced. So good job on this but i would never use it.
Camera is great as expected
Always on display is trash. Just do what moto did. I love that. The 10% per day battery usesage is about an hour of OST. Just do what moto did and win.
Performance is sub par. Sub par for even sub $400 smart phones. Both of mine had this. First one i returned and the second i did 3 resets on it and nothing fixed it. I was expecting some lag from using my S6 Edge but this is to much. Its not smooth at all and really hurt the experience for me. It is an over $900 phone with tax and runs like a $200 phone. Yeah games played fine its the overall navigation in Android that is like dragging a nail across cement. Feels like a top notch $1,000 high end phone. Runs like a $200 prepayed and that disappoints me. Did i expect smooth? No but i expected it to be much smoother then it is and not bog down as easy. They really need to figure out the memory management. Or maybe its time they move to Tizan. If they can not optimize Android or are willing to do the work on it they need to just make the switch. I would use a Tizan phone if it is smooth. I went back to Verizon and put it side by side with a few display phones and it made me sick. Phone could of been amazing but software is holding it back ruining the experience for me.
So what did i do? I got another phone and honestly i am much more happy. I picked up a Moto Z Force that i must say is the smoothest running Android phone i have ever used. I wont go into details on that in here since this is the N7 section but the deciding factors were.
-USB type c. I made the switch with my 6P so i need a phone that has type c. The G5 is built like a $100 phone and HTC's have never been my thing. Last HTC i had was the DNA.
-Smooth. Must be smooth.
-3.000 mAH or larger battery
Would i advice people to do as i did? Up to you. Some people i know the lag does not bother them. But to me the Z is a better overall phone for what i want. And i am excited about the moto mods. And buying into the eco system is not an issue. I do not have a bluetooth speaker or usb charge bank so buying these did not set me back. But they are expensive and making the switch over to it i would not advise people to do.
All and all i love the N7. The hardware is there. The phone is there the software just did not show up. All my issues can be fixed with a software update. So who knows i might pick one up if they drop 7.0 and fix all the performance issues i like it that much. But there is no excuse on why Samsung could not polish the software enough to cut down on the lag. I would be more forgiving at $600 but for $900 it is totally unacceptable. I have used cheaper phones with more software and features added in and it did not lag this much. It feels the software was rushed to make launch. And that is a good thing because that means it will improve. However if this is the best they can do the phone is over priced by $300 and is a prime example of how software can make or break an electronic.
And lets not play the "Mine has no lag." Do not lie". Every N7 lags more then others and peoples tolerances for lag are all diff. I will not lie i am very sensitive to lag.
I will say if there was a snowballs chance it would get a bootloader unlock so i could flash a better custom rom i would of kept the N7 and never looked back. But Samsung + Verizon = perma locked bootloaders. But anyone who can deal with the lag or r not very sensitive to it you will love this phone
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