I've got the Galaxy S7 Active, you have questions —*fire away!

[LonestarROB]

Got the S7 Active today, had to hit two AT&T stores to get a grey/black one but am in good shape (I've been without a new phone for four years, so it was time, coming from a S3). The S7 Active is a great phone, of course AT&T rep tried to sell me a case, a screen protector and DirecTV (lol) but I politely declined and got out of there in 20 minutes.

Overall feel of the phone is very nice, its slightly taller than my S3 from a top/bottom measurement, but I can definitely deal with that. The killer 4000mAH battery is really what sells the phone.

The display that AT&T is using for the S7 Active at the ATT store is pretty cool - hit a button and a clear cube, with a S7 Active inside, fills up with water. Pretty slick way of advertising the S7 Active.

Just getting rid of the bloatware now. So far the S7 Active seems to be working with my old ATT Microcell, so that is nice (I know the S6s had issues). Whether or not it will work 100% of the time, we will see.

Also, for those of you that are a fan of the LED notification that all Galaxy's have had...this one at least has a blue one, not sure if its multi-color, kind of a moot point with the Always On screen notifications but still nice to have a second option.

Chris

Can you post some pics?

 

[planoman]

I went to look at them and they only had the grey in a case with water in it so I could not see the back. No others on display. I am leaning towards the grey but need to see it in person.

 

[cfoote2667]

Just a couple of notes on these pics -

a) I have already customized the phone with Nova Launcher and a few other add-ons/widgets/etc. Don't take my home screen and expect it out of the box...

b) Found out the notification LED is in fact multi color, so you can use that in addition to the Always On screen which I think is cool. A casual glance at the phone in a meeting is always nice instead of picking up the phone and turning it on (and being rude).

c) Battery life is amazing, I mean it should be for a 4000mAH battery, but its awesome.

d) Would have like more 'grippy' sides, but I can deal. I really don't want to put a bumper around this phone, it just increases bulk. It's big enough as it is.

e) I know the Active series does not receive as many 'updates' as the regular S series, but for battery life and ruggedness alone, I'm willing to make this tradeoff.

f) ATT had a whole bunch of accessories on launch day - cases, screen protectors, etc. Kudos to ATT for having their act together, despite the fact I didn't buy any of it (they sure did try to sell it though!)

EDIT: Sorry I have no idea why the forum rotated the pictures...

 

[T48]

Glad your ATT store had their act together. Ours is always a chaotic mess & you have to wait in line to speak with anyone at anytime.
They had one S7A on display, though was not a working unit. Saw people waiting for 20 minutes ahead of me & did not wait around.

Went to Best Buy. They were waiting for a display unit, but had gold ones to sell. I did not want to open a box & irritate who was going to buy
it as not thinking I want the gold one. The Samsung girl knew her smart watches, but not much else. So unless my S3 dies a sudden death, think I'll wait to see if the price drops a little. The bogo promo does not work for me.

Thanks for the update/review above & hope to see more as people get them.

 

[planoman]

I was out running errands after mountain biking and I stopped in and bought a gray one. It was the fastest experience I have ever had in an Att store. I told the sales rep, Paulina what I wanted, she brought it, I paid and she asked if I wanted her to activate it and I said nope, so she put it in a bag with my receipt and I was walking out in 4 minutes! Was gonna wait for a price drop but what the hey...

Will set it up later, gotta entertain my kids lol!

 

[planoman]

Just a couple of notes on these pics -

a) I have already customized the phone with Nova Launcher and a few other add-ons/widgets/etc. Don't take my home screen and expect it out of the box...

b) Found out the notification LED is in fact multi color, so you can use that in addition to the Always On screen which I think is cool. A casual glance at the phone in a meeting is always nice instead of picking up the phone and turning it on (and being rude).

c) Battery life is amazing, I mean it should be for a 4000mAH battery, but its awesome.

d) Would have like more 'grippy' sides, but I can deal. I really don't want to put a bumper around this phone, it just increases bulk. It's big enough as it is.

e) I know the Active series does not receive as many 'updates' as the regular S series, but for battery life and ruggedness alone, I'm willing to make this tradeoff.

f) ATT had a whole bunch of accessories on launch day - cases, screen protectors, etc. Kudos to ATT for having their act together, despite the fact I didn't buy any of it (they sure did try to sell it though!)

EDIT: Sorry I have no idea why the forum rotated the pictures...

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Looks great! If you take the picture in landscape orientation versus a portrait orientation they should post in the correct orientation.

 

[cfoote2667]

Glad your ATT store had their act together. Ours is always a chaotic mess & you have to wait in line to speak with anyone at anytime.
They had one S7A on display, though was not a working unit. Saw people waiting for 20 minutes ahead of me & did not wait around.

Went to Best Buy. They were waiting for a display unit, but had gold ones to sell. I did not want to open a box & irritate who was going to buy
it as not thinking I want the gold one. The Samsung girl knew her smart watches, but not much else. So unless my S3 dies a sudden death, think I'll wait to see if the price drops a little. The bogo promo does not work for me.

Thanks for the update/review above & hope to see more as people get them.

I also came from the S3. Great phone and I have to say, with the extended battery kit from Samsung, it held its own weight over the years, it was really ahead of its time back four years ago.

I think you will find the S7 to be very fast/responsive compared to the S3, of course apps and Web content has evolved over time which has slowed the S3 down a bit. You still have a nice phone though!

Chris

 

[tkuhe]

would you ever share how you set up your phone. Going to be new to launchers/widgets and looking to dive in. Like how yours is looking.

 

[cfoote2667]

Sure, no problem at all. So I use Nova Launcher in order to setup the main screen - Nova allows you to set the Google Search bar to 'float' up top, and it also allows you all sorts of configurations for icon size/positioning.

I purchased Beautiful Widgets (Pro version) for the weather/clock you see below the Google Search bar. You can fully customize how that looks, there are literally hundreds of templates within that application for fonts, layout, etc.

Between those two things, you should be all set. I user Light Manager Pro on the app store to control the LED color for certain notifications, for me it's White for email, Green for txt/mms, Purple for Voicemail, Yellow for work email, etc. I'll see how this pans out with the Always on display, perhaps I'll use one over the other, I'm not 100% sure.

Any questions just ask, we are all here to share.

Chris

 

[GabSwiss]

Love the S7 active. I just upgraded Friday I'm coming form a S5 active.
Battery life is awesome. Last me a full day of heavy use (navigation, music streaming, online gaming).
Does anyone knows how to open the case? Also I was at the beach and I have some sand stuck between the screen and the case on the bottom left part of the phone . Does anyone see a little gap there like mine?

 

[cfoote2667]

Yes there is indeed a little gap, not sure what to advise in terms of getting the sand out. Maybe a vacuum cleaner?

 

[skidmark]

Are you able to screen mirror with this phone? So close to pulling the trigger.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[tkuhe]

Does anyone know if you can buy Samsung protection plus for this phone? Curious what my insurance options mint be.

 

[cfoote2667]

Are you able to screen mirror with this phone? So close to pulling the trigger.

Posted via the Android Central App

Yes you can use Chromecast or Miracast or Samsungs proprietary mirroring for Samsung TVs.

Chris

 

[Luc TR]

Can this phone be unlocked and use with US Tmobile ?

 

[y2jdmbfan]

Has anyone gotten the display scaling change to smaller / condensed to work on the phone?

 

[Andrea G06]

My husband and myself do not have the active, but we did just get the s7. When people call us they don't hear ringing on their end. It keeps saying dialing on their end and then we are saying hello It is doing it on both of our phones. It could be a landline calling or a cell. Sometimes after 30sec of a phone call it will drop the call. I ended up having 12 calls between my sister and myself the other day because it kept dropping the call. I finally used my daughter's phone and it kept the call the whole time. Is anyone else having these problems?
We have Verizon.

 

[andrew_ackley]

Does anyone know if you can buy Samsung protection plus for this phone? Curious what my insurance options mint be.

It isn't available for this phone as of now anyway. I tried to sign up for it with my active imei and it said:
Sorry, this device is not compatible with this Protection Plus plan.

 

[Slade8525]

...but does it blend?

 

[GerGa]

How much is it from the att store?