Switched from iPhone 5; Highly Disappointed - My Review

[Left-handed]

Good morning folks,

After much deliberation and research, I finally took the dive and updated my iPhone 5 to the Samsung Galaxy S7. I based my purchase on the countless reviews that the Samsung Galaxy S7 was the phone to beat on the market today. Let me start by saying that I think the S7 is a very sharp phone. It clearly has a nice design and features some great hardware. However, I found the following areas to be lacking or underwhelming. After playing around with the phone for a solid two days, here are my thoughts.

Headphone audio jack
So I don't know what's going on here. It surprises me that such a basic feature can perform so poorly at this point in time. I have a pair of Klipsch R6i ear buds. These are premium ear buds. These worked beautifully with my iPhone 5 and my iPad Air 2. When I listen to audio through the headphone jack, I have to turn the audio up almost 80% of the way up to get full, clear sound. And even then, vocal tracks (podcasts, talk radio, etc.) all sound very "tinny". Spotify music (streaming Extreme Quality) sounds good enough. Watching Youtube and Netflix also requires that I run the volume almost all the way up to get a decent, full sound out of my headphones.

As someone who uses his phone for a lot of multimedia, this phone just doesn't cut it. I've even played around with the built in EQ settings and, though there was slight improvement, I'm just not happy with this aspect in a nearly $700 smart phone.

Battery Life
This really surprises me, since battery life seemed to be at the forefront of most reviews I read. The claim is that the S7 has one of the best battery lifes for a smartphone on the current market. Perhaps that is all relative, when you compare it to other large-screen phones. I felt like my iPhone 5 got about the same battery life as the S7 does now. And based on some video reviews I watched, the iPhone SE seemed to do better in this area. Heck, my iPad Air 2 gets better battery life when I'm streaming music on it all day and using it to browse the news and reddit. At the beginning of this morning, my phone was charged up to 85%. After a brief 23 minute walk (listening to Tune-In and had MapMyRun on in the background), and about 45 minutes of standby time, the phone is down to 72% battery charge. That is a significant drop. Though I have not tested it, I'm not sure how this phone would last a full day with heavy use when it's dropping 15-20% in one hour of use. The math just doesn't add up.

Lack of Volume Controls and Underwhelming Notification System on Lock Screen
On the 7th iteration of this phone, how is this not better? I can't see the volume level of my audio unless the phone is active and unlocked. The notifications on the locked screen are minimal, at best. There should be more options to include more/less info in these notifications.

Best Features
Despite all the underwhelming features I've pointed out, this phone does shine in some areas. The camera, built in speaker, and AMOLED screen are top notch. The Android OS GUI has also improved significantly since I started out with it. And as an ardent Google services user, I like how easily all my apps (mail, calendar, contacts) sync up once I log into my Google account.

Conclusion
As someone who started out with one of the original Samsung Android phones (Droid Charge), I was really looking forward to switching back to Android from iPhone. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the iPhone. I thought it was a very solid phone. But at my core, I feel like I'm fairly techie and would fall under the Android umbrella. However, I've been left very disappointed by my experience with Android phones yet again. Furthermore, I'm disturbed that none of the reviews I read about this phone brought up any of this. Not to delve into any conspiracy theories, but it makes one wonder what may have influenced some of these paid-reviewers.

 

[kurpaige]

Going from a 4 inch 720p screen to a 5.2 inch 2k screen there will not be an easy way to compare battery but you much have one if the best iPhone 5 batteries created. I don't know many 5 users with good battery life. Not sure what else can go on the lock screen notifications. And the s7 built-in seaker is good? Are you sure you own this phone?

 

[ianeb]

Interesting read.

I agree with some points, I did have an S7 which, after a little tweaking was giving me a whole days worth of battery even under heavy use. The battery life isn't just great out of the box and coming from iPhone also, I noticed straight away how poor it was. A little research and optimisation later and I got super battery life.

I am now on the S7 edge and that has fantastic battery life. Again, a little tweaking needed here and there but easy enough to do.

The headphone jack I don't use as my bose headphones are wireless but I thought they sounded great no different to iPhone.

Notifications, volume etc can all be changed and tweaked with apps etc. One of the great things about Android, if it's not there add it, if it's there and rubbish you can replace it or get rid of it.

Your comment about the speaker being too notch surprised me, imo it's absolutely garbage, but I rarely use it and would never a movie using it so doesn't bother me.

I found that when I first switched it took a good week or two to get things working how I wanted. The phone works great out of the box but can be tweaked for much better performance as well as a slicker GUI.

It's not for everyone though, I've tried many times to switch to various android phones but always gone back to iPhone but this time I don't feel I want to. Especially after using ios 10 for a couple months, you want a back lock screen/notification system that has it. Was awful. As we're the new notification bubbles, the redesigned today view etc. Your stuck with it, on the S7 if I don't like the notification tray I can change it quite a bit to suite.

 

[Left-handed]

I thought the built in speaker was adequate. It wasn't a mind blowing Bose experience, but I thought it stacked up well against other mobile devices I've listened to. It's less of an issue to me than the very poor headphone audio jack. I've been reading some posts on this thread (Samsung Galaxy S7 - Best next audiophile phone? - Page 4) and it seems like it's not only me who feels this way about the audio on this phone.

I will stand by my argument that my battery life on the iPhone 5 is very comparable to the battery life on this phone. And from what I could tell on some video reviews, the iPhone SE is far superior than both. Of course, that has to do with the screen size and output as well.

 

[mru007]

The difference between an iPhone and an Android smartphone is that the latter needs a little bit of tweaking (since you have an option to tweak as per your need), then you are good to go.
Out of the box, I would disable the unwanted, pre-installed apps that mobile carriers enforce on the device (S7 or any phone for that matter). These apps tend to create problems for users, but many times are not paid attention to. If you are not getting the most out of the battery life of your Android phone, you need to calibrate it manually & then it's good to go. Refer below for manual battery calibration steps (not recommended to do it often):

https://www.androidpit.com/how-to-calibrate-the-battery-on-your-android-device
(Scroll down the page & check the point: "How to calibrate an Android device battery without root access".)

Hope this helps; in the long run, you will really like S7 (it's really a great device) & feel no alienated by the bad behavior of an Android device

 

[Bold9930]

I'm new to Android and like the OS and customization it provides...If you are remotely "techie" it is my opinion that Android is your calling. I'm a huge fan of Android now.

I'm also new the S7 and it's not a perfect phone and like the OP, I feel that many and most reviews overrate it. My battery wasn't good on day 1, but I now control rogue apps and my battery life is pretty good after and lasts all day now. Battery Guru (and others) are good apps, IMO.

My biggest disappointment with the phone thus far has been the poor speaker and volume. I have it maxed out most of the time and even then it's only ok...The quality of the speaker is average at best. When I plug in headphones, I crank the volume, yet always want more. Earbuds are worse. Acceptable perhaps, but for such a hyped and reviewed phone, it needs work.

Otherwise, the phone has been pretty solid, other than the dropped calls when coverage is low (never had a phone as bad in this regard). Photos are good and camera is responsive. I do occasionally get an unresponsive device, where nothing works and the UI just sorta freezes, but this has been rare. Oh, the phone did go completely black once...It was out cold and NOTHING would start the device until I found some internet chatter on how to fix it...Had to hold the off/on button along with the volume button for 7 seconds, then got into a "green screen" where I could select an option to reboot...The text size was like 2 point font so I could barely see it, but it saved my ***.

As with any product, there's no perfect (insert product here). There's no perfect phone, no perfect computer, no perfect car, etc, etc.

On a side note: I went from a BB to an iPhone only to return it after a few days so hopefully the OP finds a device that meets his needs. Thankfully we have options.

 

[Taylorig]

Another ex-iphone user here. Since the 3G infact. So this S7 is my first Android device. My last iphone was a 6 and a 5 before that (I never went with the "S" or "C" models as they were well overpriced for a few little extras) But i have been pleasantly surprised with the Android OS and the S7. I will not be going back because i basically got fed up with Apples restrictive attitude. And yes i jailbroke at every opportunity but they always found a way to force you to update as some apps would need the latest IOS to work etc etc.

In regards to music off the S7. Yes the speaker is lame but it is there to serve a purpose like for ringing. And it does this perfectly fine. Anyone that wants to use it as a speaker phone or listen to music/movie through it needs to rethink what a phone is for to be honest. For music listening i use a pair of Razer Hammerheads and they are more than loud enough. I've even tried my Kingston HyperX clouds and even though these have 53mm drivers in them and are recommended to be used with a amp they are are also great. I don't find myself needing more.

Battery life was pretty bad on my S7 the first week. After that it seemed to have balanced itself out and i only needed to do some minimal tweaking myself. To be honest i am getting 2 days out of it, to which at the end of the second day i usually still have about 30% or so left. On my iphones at about the point they'd be lucky to have 10% left.

So yeah for me it's been the best move as i haven't lost anything in regards to what Apple had to offer me besides one or two apps i may of bought over the years. But i feel i have gained so much more freedom with Android. And of course the S7.

 

[Markxmlx]

Actually it's the S7 Edge which is supposed to have the stellar battery life. Just saying.

 

[everlightdark]

Well the audio is not as great because of the waterproofing which means you can get it wet unlike the iphone but I hope you change your mind and use it for an extensive time android phones are not bad!

 

[BruceLevy]

Interesting read.

I agree with some points, I did have an S7 which, after a little tweaking was giving me a whole days worth of battery even under heavy use. The battery life isn't just great out of the box and coming from iPhone also, I noticed straight away how poor it was. A little research and optimisation later and I got super battery life.

I am now on the S7 edge and that has fantastic battery life. Again, a little tweaking needed here and there but easy enough to do.

The headphone jack I don't use as my bose headphones are wireless but I thought they sounded great no different to iPhone.

Notifications, volume etc can all be changed and tweaked with apps etc. One of the great things about Android, if it's not there add it, if it's there and rubbish you can replace it or get rid of it.

Your comment about the speaker being too notch surprised me, imo it's absolutely garbage, but I rarely use it and would never a movie using it so doesn't bother me.

I found that when I first switched it took a good week or two to get things working how I wanted. The phone works great out of the box but can be tweaked for much better performance as well as a slicker GUI.

It's not for everyone though, I've tried many times to switch to various android phones but always gone back to iPhone but this time I don't feel I want to. Especially after using ios 10 for a couple months, you want a back lock screen/notification system that has it. Was awful. As we're the new notification bubbles, the redesigned today view etc. Your stuck with it, on the S7 if I don't like the notification tray I can change it quite a bit to suite.

What battery tweaks did you make?

 

[ianeb]

Wasn't really "battery tweaks" more tweaking the OS and getting rid of rubbish I never used or wanted. Also put all apps in permanent power saving rather than after 3 days. I turned off Google Now as I find it pointless, only cards I ever got were weather and how long my journey to work is, which I already know as I make it twice a day. I tried a number of times to adjust settings and get more results but never did, weather news and journey time, rubbish so I switched it off.

Also switched off now on tap, another gimmick.

Turned off WiFi scanning, and changed the location setting to network and WiFi and only turn on GPS on the rare occasions I need it.

My screen brightness is on auto, but apart from that I haven't done much else. Battery life is great for me, always a day or more before needing a charge but I don't worry about it too much as I have a charger at home in the car and at work.

Also disabled a bunch of apps from Samsung and a few others. Turned off a few features too but nothing I wouldn't use. I haven't disabled features to save battery only stuff I have no use for.