S7 Performance - Impressions

[Maknora]

stock browser + ad block fast = butter

820 snap for me. T-mobile.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[Jaymil]

If you're coming from a Nexus, chances are you are never going to adapt to a Samsung. Stick with your Nexus, I'm serious. I have a 6P and a Note 5 and they are as different as night and day. But I'm use to Samsung's take on Android. It's never going to be like your Nexus. Never.

Posted via the Android Central App

I've had just about every flagship phone in the last 7 years. I know how Samsung is and how laggy touchwhiz can be... I had an s6 edge, an s6 edge + and a note 5 in addition to the v10, g4, moto x and Nexus 6p I've had in the last ~8 months or so. I can live with a little delay when moving from a Nexus, what I'm experiencing with the s7 edge is much worse. The kind that is usually fixed shortly after release with an ota or means the phone is defective.


TLDR: I'm well aware of what I'm getting into with a Samsung phone, this is not that.

 

[Cakefish]

Gonna repeat it just in case - I have a Snapdragon, I have Verizon, I have no problems using Chrome. So let's not overgeneralize.

Good to hear!

 

[ThrottleJohnny]

I've had just about every flagship phone in the last 7 years. I know how Samsung is and how laggy touchwhiz can be... I had an s6 edge, an s6 edge + and a note 5 in addition to the v10, g4, moto x and Nexus 6p I've had in the last ~8 months or so. I can live with a little delay when moving from a Nexus, what I'm experiencing with the s7 edge is much worse. The kind that is usually fixed shortly after release with an ota or means the phone is defective.


TLDR: I'm well aware of what I'm getting into with a Samsung phone, this is not that.

I gotcha.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[hotpantsraygun]

I tried a demo unit (if that counts) at a local telco office and so far it's smooth as butter. Would like to try the waterproof feature!

 

[Michial Brown]

I have a 6s plus and been an exclusive iphone user for 7 years. I'm bored with Apple. They are great mind you I just want a change but not if battery life is worse. I'm thinking of switching at TMobile tomorrow. Any thoughts on iOS vs Androis and good and bad experiences? Thanks.

 

[KimJongOMG]

I have a 6s plus and been an exclusive iphone user for 7 years. I'm bored with Apple. They are great mind you I just want a change but not if battery life is worse. I'm thinking of switching at TMobile tomorrow. Any thoughts on iOS vs Androis and good and bad experiences? Thanks.

You won't get the smoothness of the iPhone. Nor the consistently fast speeds when performing tasks.

Everything else is better. I have both phones and absolutely love the S7E.

 

[capncoad]

It's totally cool that people are satisfied. I want to say that the frame drops I experience in Alto's adventure is probably more subtle than I let on in my original post and it may require you having a 6P next to you and playing it to notice the difference. Not everyone has the luxury of another phone to sit side by side and decide which one is better performing.

Something just feels off, and it takes something like a Nexus to have you notice it. Something about the underlying graphics on the phone just seems wonky. like the S7's interface is like a really fast swimmer, and the Nexus is like a fast runner. Little hitches, and slower less responsive scrolling, coupled with accidental link presses on Chrome. The games are performing equal to the 6P and sometimes worse, especially with endless runners. Ski Safari 2 was another one I saw slightly better performance on the 6P.

So you can say i'm being hugely nitpicky, and that's ok. I know lots of people are super excited about the phone, so if you're happy, i'm not telling to not be happy. Disregard my opinion and enjoy the phone. But for me, at $800, with a 30% faster CPU and a 80%+ faster single core performance, along with Samsung's claims to have worked with Google to optimize Touchwiz, this phone should at least be equal to the $450 Nexus 6P at launch. I was expecting that when I ordered it and I shouldn't have expected anything less.

What I have is a fantastic camera, SD card expandability, beautiful display, beautiful build quality, waterproof and now I have to decide if all that is worth it over an underperforming software experience and a touchy interface.

Now you know why the iPhone sells a billion units a year. People don't usually have to figure out these tradeoffs when they get an iPhone.

 

[Adranalyne]

It's totally cool that people are satisfied. I want to say that the frame drops I experience in Alto's adventure is probably more subtle than I let on in my original post and it may require you having a 6P next to you and playing it to notice the difference. Not everyone has the luxury of another phone to sit side by side and decide which one is better performing.

Something just feels off, and it takes something like a Nexus to have you notice it. Something about the underlying graphics on the phone just seems wonky. like the S7's interface is like a really fast swimmer, and the Nexus is like a fast runner. Little hitches, and slower less responsive scrolling, coupled with accidental link presses on Chrome. The games are performing equal to the 6P and sometimes worse, especially with endless runners. Ski Safari 2 was another one I saw slightly better performance on the 6P.

So you can say i'm being hugely nitpicky, and that's ok. I know lots of people are super excited about the phone, so if you're happy, i'm not telling to not be happy. Disregard my opinion and enjoy the phone. But for me, at $800, with a 30% faster CPU and a 80%+ faster single core performance, along with Samsung's claims to have worked with Google to optimize Touchwiz, this phone should at least be equal to the $450 Nexus 6P at launch. I was expecting that when I ordered it and I shouldn't have expected anything less.

What I have is a fantastic camera, SD card expandability, beautiful display, beautiful build quality, waterproof and now I have to decide if all that is worth it over an underperforming software experience and a touchy interface.

Now you know why the iPhone sells a billion units a year. People don't usually have to figure out these tradeoffs when they get an iPhone.

I don't have them to compare side by side (though I've used them both), but I just can't imagine the Edge with that Adreno 530 not being able to outperform the 6P in gaming. As far as Chrome goes, the 6P is optimized for Chrome where the Edge is optimized for the Samsung browser. The Samsung browser flies on this phone. Even in general, there's nothing about the Edge that doesn't move as quick as the 6P. I know the consensus is always that "stock is better", and I agree to an extent, but there's not a performance issue with this device. Wouldn't be a Samsung launch if you didn't have people claiming problems, though.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[zipro]

I've had just about every flagship phone in the last 7 years. I know how Samsung is and how laggy touchwhiz can be... I had an s6 edge, an s6 edge + and a note 5 in addition to the v10, g4, moto x and Nexus 6p I've had in the last ~8 months or so. I can live with a little delay when moving from a Nexus, what I'm experiencing with the s7 edge is much worse. The kind that is usually fixed shortly after release with an ota or means the phone is defective.


TLDR: I'm well aware of what I'm getting into with a Samsung phone, this is not that.

Honestly, if your phone is showing lag that goes beyond that of an S6, there's something wrong on the hardware side of things. I'm no Samsung fanboi in any way and if there's one thing I hate in a phone it's lag. I've returned or sold numerous phones in the past for this reason, including a variety of Samsung models. I'm coming from an iPhone 6S Plus, which was absolutely buttery smooth. The S7 EDGE is not 100% as smooth as the iPhone, but it's really fast - I honestly don't see any kind of stutter or lag and scrolling ranges from fairly smooth to completely smooth, even in apps like Tapatalk that aren't completely smooth on the iPhone, either.

 

[Adranalyne]

Honestly, if your phone is showing lag that goes beyond that of an S6, there's something wrong on the hardware side of things. I'm no Samsung fanboi in any way and if there's one thing I hate in a phone it's lag. I've returned or sold numerous phones in the past for this reason, including a variety of Samsung models. I'm coming from an iPhone 6S Plus, which was absolutely buttery smooth. The S7 EDGE is not 100% as smooth as the iPhone, but it's really fast - I honestly don't see any kind of stutter or lag and scrolling ranges from fairly smooth to completely smooth, even in apps like Tapatalk that aren't completely smooth on the iPhone, either.

Comparisons to the iPhone as far as speed goes makes sense. It's a minimalistic UI with a lower res display and extremely powerful hardware---performance has a good shot at being a tad better with that setup. That said, I have a 6S to compare this to and it's faster in some areas and slower in others. Feel the same way if I compared the 6S and 6P, but more in the iPhone's favor.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[xocomaox]

RSBrowser runs like crap on my Verizon S7e. It's supposed to be optimized for Snapdragon SoC but I think that was older models. I need to switch browsers.

 

[t11rmh]

Please, please, please, can posters start detailing which model of Galaxy S7 Edge they have, Global or U.S./China, and which carrier they are on. Otherwise it makes posts on here pointless as there are 2 different Galaxy S7 Edge hardwares and at least 7 different firmwares and not all performances or issues will affect all models and firmwares equally, necessarily.


"Think all Galaxy S7 Edge models are the same...
Think again!"

This is a good point as most issues seem to be from the heavily branded US models where the suppliers muck up the phones with their customisations. In the UK we get therm unlocked and don't seem to get as many problems as the Americans.

Posted via the Android Central App via a kicking Gold Galaxy S7 Edge.

 

[ragingd]

Just a heads up if you want to see if the phone is dropping frames, go into developers options and turn on profile GPU rendering and select on screen as bars. You will see a green line, any bars over the green line means the UI is dropping frames

 

[zoccy]

I'm sure it will improve with updates

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

RSBrowser runs like crap on my Verizon S7e. It's supposed to be optimized for Snapdragon SoC but I think that was older models. I need to switch browsers.

Makes sense. New SoC, all new custom CPU cores. Most likely new libraries to take advantage of it.

 

[zipro]

I'm sure it will improve with updates

Which Samsung is known for pushing out to phones in a timely manner. Not.

If there's one thing I've come to know, it's that waiting for Samsung to update stuff is like waiting for that new release of Duke Nukem.

 

[capncoad]

I'm sure it will improve with updates

What are those?

 

[capncoad]

Just a heads up if you want to see if the phone is dropping frames, go into developers options and turn on profile GPU rendering and select on screen as bars. You will see a green line, any bars over the green line means the UI is dropping frames

Yeah XDA ran that graph and it definitely showed more severe frame dropping on the S7. Some people (me) are more sensitive to that than others.

 

[zipro]

Yeah XDA ran that graph and it definitely showed more severe frame dropping on the S7. Some people (me) are more sensitive to that than others.

For which processor?