S7 Performance - Impressions

[tcdude]

Hi everyone,

Just got my S7 edge today and so far it's working really well it's fast smooth and the battery is strong

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Eclectech]

...never underestimate Samsung's lack of software optimization. I've had the Galaxy S6 for 11 months, and it's felt like I've taken a step back from when I had the HTC One M8, which is why I've decided to wait for the HTC 10 before deciding on a device.

 

[Andyvalver]

My s7 edge has been fine so far. I noticed it dropping frames on reckless racing 3 while my older xperia z2 plays the game fine. Information act I did a side by side comparison of opening apps and to be honest it's very close in terms of speed to my old phone. Games load up quicker on the edge through.

Posted via S7 edge

 

[FutureMech]

All samsung 6.0.1 suffers from game lag problem, almost all games will lag after a bit, if u minimize it and maximize it will play fine for a sec, disabling gameservice helps a bit.

I know this 100% accurate, since on mine Note 5 same thing happens on 6.0.1 but never on 5.1.1.

 

[drone3]

...never underestimate Samsung's lack of software optimization. I've had the Galaxy S6 for 11 months, and it's felt like I've taken a step back from when I had the HTC One M8, which is why I've decided to wait for the HTC 10 before deciding on a device.

Oh yeh I fully agree with this, when I moved from the HTC M7 to the S6 the software felt like a downgrade. M7 is still my favourite phone ever, hopefully HTC can get it right this year.

dreaming of electric sheep

 

[thomasmarcgodskid]

I haven't noticed any lag on my phone - scrolling seems to be great. I don't really do games so can't speak to that.

I do notice as one person mentioned that the screen is ultra-sensitive and especially having the S7 Edge model (on Verizon), I accidentally open apps semi-regularly even with a thin case on it.

And at the moment, I don't see much use in the S-Panel - might be useful if it supported native Android Shortcuts API so you could add shortcuts from installed apps that have them (like Tasker for example to trigger tasker tasks).

But overall, I'm loving the phone and feel it is the premium Android phone it was meant to be.

 

[samtylera]

For gamers, Samsung had an interesting announcement in the form of support for Vulkan API support. This basically helps the multiple cores take better advantage during gaming. We will need to play some high end games to see how well it performs and at the same time, how well it manages the heat while at it.

 

[Cakefish]

Powerhouse of a phone!

 

[Vladimir Gareski]

I'm also sure of that as I have the same experience with Samsung flagships... However, since Samsung has improved its hardware and design since the S5 and the Note 3, I'd expect them to work a little harder on the software side of things. Maybe they need to hire more/better developers.

 

[capncoad]

I'm also sure of that as I have the same experience with Samsung flagships... However, since Samsung has improved its hardware and design since the S5 and the Note 3, I'd expect them to work a little harder on the software side of things. Maybe they need to hire more/better developers.

They have improved the S7. It's more consistent than the S6 ever was. Relative to itself, the S7 is a success and has stomped on performance problems decently.

My expectations are that for $800, I shouldn't experience slight framerate dips on 2D sidescrollers, I shouldn't experience hitches in Chrome and I shouldn't under-perform with loading pages compared to a $450 phone. Why are these compromises we're ok with on the android platform? So we can edit settings and change up the interface? The iPhone is slowly gaining the advantages Android has and the performance is out of this world on those phones. Samsung has put out something that is beautiful and powerful, but until it's on par with stock android phones when it comes to 60FPS performance, it's just never going to be something I drop almost a thousand bucks for. I'm all about speed and smoothness, and I think the performance to dollar value is still not there with the S7, but they are making progress.

And for those who wonder why I don't use an iPhone, it's because the interface is insanely boring and the phone is really boring to use. Google passed Apple in design with lollipop.

 

[Kevin Demers]

OP Is not crazy. 820 on Verizon here (S7 Edge), and can confirm all the behaviors indicated.

This phone (like every Samsung Galaxy I've ever used) has a buttery problem. That is, things are just not buttery smooth. In most cases, most people don't notice it. Either they aren't bothered by the microstutter or don't care about it. But for those of us who do care and are used to either iPhone devices or Nexus devices, it's particularly terrible.

Just to clarify - I noticed microstutter in Alto's adventure within the first 5 seconds. It is constant and persistent and I find it annoying in a way that doesn't seem quite rational (it's like a constant tick that won't stop). I'm comparing performance to an iPhone 6s Plus where it is flawless.

Additionally, I find that Chrome is and always has been a non-starter for smoothness on Galaxy phones and it hasn't changed with the S7 edge. I expected that. The gaming performance/lag bothers me immensely. It makes me think that Samsung has fundamentally altered the rendering software on the phone or has fundamentally altered the phones behavior in another way. With it's focus on power saving in games, I wonder if they haven't attempted to implement a truly dynamic clock speed scaling implementation that can't keep up with fast games. For example, in Altos Adventure, this would explain why slowdown occurs as soon as something even minorly intensive starts to happen.

That's all speculation however. All I can really say is that there is an issue with rendering on my phone (and OPs phone). Additionally, disabling the two Game Services as identified in the XDA Forums gaming performance thread did not solve the issue (although it did solve the automatic screen saturation issue).

In short OP: You aren't alone, there is a problem, I don't think most people can perceive the problem in it's "minor' forms, and I am only holding out hope that Samsung fixes the game rendering issue... I hold no such hope for Chrome.

 

[Adranalyne]

They have improved the S7. It's more consistent than the S6 ever was. Relative to itself, the S7 is a success and has stomped on performance problems decently.

My expectations are that for $800, I shouldn't experience slight framerate dips on 2D sidescrollers, I shouldn't experience hitches in Chrome and I shouldn't under-perform with loading pages compared to a $450 phone. Why are these compromises we're ok with on the android platform? So we can edit settings and change up the interface? The iPhone is slowly gaining the advantages Android has and the performance is out of this world on those phones. Samsung has put out something that is beautiful and powerful, but until it's on par with stock android phones when it comes to 60FPS performance, it's just never going to be something I drop almost a thousand bucks for. I'm all about speed and smoothness, and I think the performance to dollar value is still not there with the S7, but they are making progress.

And for those who wonder why I don't use an iPhone, it's because the interface is insanely boring and the phone is really boring to use. Google passed Apple in design with lollipop.

I have a hard time making comparisons to the iPhone because of the resolution differences. Samsung still has a ways to go with their software, but the consensus is always "Man I wish it was stock". I had both the 6P and 5X and neither of them are perfect in the performance department, either---especially the 5X. Now obviously there's a price difference, as you pointed out already, but there's so many other things that go into that price that make the Edge price worth it.

Slowly but surely, the S and Note lines are getting better software-wise, but I'm hoping next year it's their primary focus. They added back in the SD card, they brought back and improved the water resistance/dust resistance, and they found a way to increase battery size substantially without sacrificing too much on the design front. I think the last real complaint is Touchwiz and if that's what they're going to focus on this year, the S8 could be a phone that brings back a lot of people.

 

[LeoRex]

I have a hard time making comparisons to the iPhone because of the resolution differences. Samsung still has a ways to go with their software, but the consensus is always "Man I wish it was stock". I had both the 6P and 5X and neither of them are perfect in the performance department, either---especially the 5X. Now obviously there's a price difference, as you pointed out already, but there's so many other things that go into that price that make the Edge price worth it.

Slowly but surely, the S and Note lines are getting better software-wise, but I'm hoping next year it's their primary focus. They added back in the SD card, they brought back and improved the water resistance/dust resistance, and they found a way to increase battery size substantially without sacrificing too much on the design front. I think the last real complaint is Touchwiz and if that's what they're going to focus on this year, the S8 could be a phone that brings back a lot of people.

I have a 6P and my wife an S7.... It really didn't take too long to notice that there were some overall differences in how the phones each felt. The S7 is blazing quick, but it's also rough, surprisingly so... frame drops, stutters, weird little pops and wheezing that I don't see nearly as much as the 6P. Not saying that performance-wise, I never once see a burp or hiccup on the 6P, but they occur in far less frequency and severity as I see on the S7. Best way I can describe it is like having a really fast sports car that has some fuel mapping issues and misfires a little when you are putzing about town.

Now, it's hard to determine the whys here.... To get a good idea as to what Samsung is doing here, you'd have to be able to get into the kernel and play around. I have a suspicion that they are being really heavy on the race to idle... and try to avoid higher cpu states when at all possible and dropping down quicker than they really need... but it's moot since you need root access, system read/write access AND the ability to flash a custom kernel, all of which probably will never occur with the S7.

 

[Adranalyne]

I have a 6P and my wife an S7.... It really didn't take too long to notice that there were some overall differences in how the phones each felt. The S7 is blazing quick, but it's also rough, surprisingly so... frame drops, stutters, weird little pops and wheezing that I don't see nearly as much as the 6P. Not saying that performance-wise, I never once see a burp or hiccup on the 6P, but they occur in far less frequency and severity as I see on the S7. Best way I can describe it is like having a really fast sports car that has some fuel mapping issues and misfires a little when you are putzing about town.

Now, it's hard to determine the whys here.... To get a good idea as to what Samsung is doing here, you'd have to be able to get into the kernel and play around. I have a suspicion that they are being really heavy on the race to idle... and try to avoid higher cpu states when at all possible and dropping down quicker than they really need... but it's moot since you need root access, system read/write access AND the ability to flash a custom kernel, all of which probably will never occur with the S7.

Well the difference is definitely in the software. When you take Android as a baseline and then add on as much as Samsung does, it's not surprising that there would be some performance differences. It's the same type of differences you see between iOS and stock Android---when one has more built into it and more functionality, it tends not to perform at the same level. I agree it probably has a lot to do with not pushing the CPU too far on less intensive tasks, but that's only part of it. The Exynos is built just for that, but seemingly has the same issues. Guess we'll have to see.

 

[LeoRex]

Well the difference is definitely in the software.

Oh, it's the software... a combination of how Samsung configures their kernels and the Touchwiz slathering Android in digital molasses. The Exynos isn't going to fair any different.

 

[Cakefish]

Speak for yourself! Other than in 3D games (where there's this strange stuttering going on), my Exynos S7 is very smooth and responsive in daily tasks

 

[capncoad]

OP Is not crazy. 820 on Verizon here (S7 Edge), and can confirm all the behaviors indicated.

This phone (like every Samsung Galaxy I've ever used) has a buttery problem. That is, things are just not buttery smooth. In most cases, most people don't notice it. Either they aren't bothered by the microstutter or don't care about it. But for those of us who do care and are used to either iPhone devices or Nexus devices, it's particularly terrible.

Just to clarify - I noticed microstutter in Alto's adventure within the first 5 seconds. It is constant and persistent and I find it annoying in a way that doesn't seem quite rational (it's like a constant tick that won't stop). I'm comparing performance to an iPhone 6s Plus where it is flawless.

Additionally, I find that Chrome is and always has been a non-starter for smoothness on Galaxy phones and it hasn't changed with the S7 edge. I expected that. The gaming performance/lag bothers me immensely. It makes me think that Samsung has fundamentally altered the rendering software on the phone or has fundamentally altered the phones behavior in another way. With it's focus on power saving in games, I wonder if they haven't attempted to implement a truly dynamic clock speed scaling implementation that can't keep up with fast games. For example, in Altos Adventure, this would explain why slowdown occurs as soon as something even minorly intensive starts to happen.

That's all speculation however. All I can really say is that there is an issue with rendering on my phone (and OPs phone). Additionally, disabling the two Game Services as identified in the XDA Forums gaming performance thread did not solve the issue (although it did solve the automatic screen saturation issue).

In short OP: You aren't alone, there is a problem, I don't think most people can perceive the problem in it's "minor' forms, and I am only holding out hope that Samsung fixes the game rendering issue... I hold no such hope for Chrome.

Glad to see someone checked out Alto and saw the bizarre frame dips, especially at the beginning when lots of deer or objects are on screen.

And to sum up, and from what i've read, there are some of us who are crazy about 60FPS butter and consistency, and others where it's really not a problem, or feel it's not enough to matter. I hope Samsung can continue working it out of their phones, because everything else is really spot on.

I returned my S7 Edge and will keep an eye out for the supposed HTC Nexus.

 

[Cakefish]

Android Police tested Snapdragon 820 S7 vs Exynos 8890 S7 and found this:

"So, are the S7 and S7 edge with Snapdragon 820 processors fast? I mean, I guess? Here’s the thing: these phones don’t feel any faster to me in day-to-day usage than a Galaxy S6 on Marshmallow. I mean that with complete sincerity. The only areas I really notice speed improvements are the camera and 3D performance (i.e., gaming). And in some areas, they actually seem slower sometimes.

On the Exynos version, though, I do feel things are faster. Apps load more quickly. Web pages scroll more fluidly. Hell, even the lockscreen feels more responsive. None of this is particularly encouraging for those of us with the Snapdragon 820 version here in the US. That feeling appears to be increasingly corroborated by informal testing.

Is it a bit odd that apart from America, where Qualcomm’s close relationship with US carriers ensures quick approvals of handsets with fewer certification hurdles (read: money), Samsung felt the best chipset for the Galaxy S7 was the Exynos? For a while, I thought it was simply a supply constraint or cost issue with the 820 - enough could not be produced for the whole world. And while that may well be true, why use it at all then? Surely Samsung could manage Exynos capacity for the US if it did so for the rest of the world (except China). Could it be that the 820 was chosen primarily for its ability to reduce the cost of doing business for Samsung in America, as opposed to it being “the best” chipset for the device? Comparing the two really has me wondering at this point, as I already prefer interacting with the Exynos version of the handset versus the noticeably slower 820."

Source: http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/0...an-iteration-but-one-samsung-can-be-proud-of/

 

[kazafog]

totally agree with "Kevin Demers" but in my case my p.o.s. is a S7 exynos (not edge)

From my experiences i can only determine that the only people giving these phones a good rating are sales men/women who are laughing at the idiots that buy this garbage. (me included).

crashes that had to be resolved via power/volume down buttons
laggy scrolling in all sorts of apps (up to 0.5 pauses)
keystrokes lag up to a word behind consistently (standard and gingerbread keyboards)
keypresses not happening at all, sometimes needing 3 presses.

my iphone 4 is better than this rubbish.

Btw android authority also don't like hearing this after giving the p.o.s. 9/10 they keep deleting my posts (and I haven't even sworn in them)

My phone has been factory reset then restored via google and still is rubbish. It is just over a week old and will be going back to the shop this week.

 

[kazafog]

totally agree with "Kevin Demers" but in my case my p.o.s. is a S7 exynos (not edge)

From my experiences i can only determine that the only people giving these phones a good rating are sales men/women who are laughing at the idiots that buy this garbage. (me included).

crashes that had to be resolved via power/volume down buttons
laggy scrolling in all sorts of apps (up to 0.5 pauses)
keystrokes lag up to a word behind consistently (standard and gingerbread keyboards)
keypresses not happening at all, sometimes needing 3 presses.

my iphone 4 is better than this rubbish.

Btw android authority also don't like hearing this after giving the p.o.s. 9/10 they keep deleting my posts (and I haven't even sworn in them)

My phone has been factory reset then restored via google and still is rubbish. It is just over a week old and will be going back to the shop this week.

The only way this phone could be buttery is by being put in a butter churn and being beaten to death.