Tag Archives: Samsung Galaxy S7 edge

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge – First Impressions – Updated

Android, Reviews, Tech News, ,

You have read all the glossy reviews, now for some reality. This is my first impressions on the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.

First up, the phone came free with the Gear VR. Both the phone and VR box were inside a larger box, which when opened revealed that the inside panels of the box were black. The phone and VR boxes were wrapped in black wrapping paper, creating a wow moment. The envelope that was inside the box was black too.

I have the black S7 Edge. Let’s not beat around the bush. It is gorgeous. The QHD screen is excellent. And the camera takes some cracking shots when it works. There is lag sadly. This is when pressing the home button, it doesn’t always register. Inserting my 200gb Sandisk micro SD caused the phone to collapse. While it was indexing the card for several hours, the phone was unusable. Anyway, I had my main sim in the S7 Edge along with 30 core apps. I had taken a number of photos and then I got the error message shown at the end of the article, that is the camera force closed when launching it.

So I performed a hard reset and started again and all seemed well. So my wife and I had a go with the Gear VR. It says not to wear glasses and instead use contact lenses. Well, as both of us don’t use contact lenses, we found that the lens adjustment gauge on the Gear VR was not enough to create a clear sharp view. This meant the VR experience became average at best. This is a real shame as even based on my experience which was not pin sharp, the wow factor was huge. My wife and I used the Gear VR with bluetooth noise cancellation headphones. I am certain the Gear VR will help Samsung sell loads of these phones.

And then just when I thought everything was working smoothly, I got the same camera force close camera error message. Nothing I tried worked, so I could see another hard reset was going to occur. So I took my sim card out of the S7 Edge and put it back in my iPhone 6S Plus. I also soft reset the S7 Edge and voila it worked again. So maybe there is something wrong with Three UK and / or using my Three Signal Booster? See update at end for actual reason.

Now not wishing to beat the S7 Edge into submission, this is day 1 firmware and hopefully will receive updates to quash the bugs.

So how does it compare to the iPhone 6S Plus. Well android feels liberating and clumsy. iOS has Touch ID that is so well implemented into many apps and makes using these apps much faster and easier on iOS than android. There is no mobile payments option for the S7 Edge yet if you’re in the UK. Then with iOS you have force touch, integration of iMessage and FaceTime and much more with slicker and better designed apps. However, it is not all one sided. There are aspects of android that make iOS seem behind. Let’s not beat around the bush here, the S7 Edge camera is much better than the iPhone camera. iOS has many third party camera apps that squeeze even more performance out of the phone. Android at the moment has no compatible apps that work with the S7 Edge or add any extra benefits. Then again, the S7 Edge camera app is feature rich. And when you look at the basics, the S7 Edge has a much better screen to the point whereby I don’t need to use my reading glasses as much.

So for me there are some amazing highs but also some frustrations especially with the camera app force closing.

Update – I have since discovered that the S7 Edge camera does not like to save photos to a micro sd card and this is an issue several people are having. The solution is to save photos to the internal memory until Samsung hopefully release a fix.

Update 2 – Samsung have confirmed the camera problem is effecting a number of devices.

Apple iPhone 6S vs Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge – Camera Shootout – Part 1 

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The million dollar question. Just how good is the camera on the new Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge? If you want to read my first impressions, that comes tomorrow. 

And how does it compare to the Apple iPhone 6S Plus?

So for part 1 of my camera comparison, all shots were hand held. Each shot is the first shot except in a few cases where I needed a second shot for the red berries. It was a dull rainy day with mist. 

At the end of the article, I have provided a link to the originals. You will notice that despite both phones having 12mp cameras the file size of each photo is a lot larger on the S7 Edge. 

The sequence is iPhone 6S Plus first then the S7 Edge photo. 

So below is the shot from the iPhone. 

 
 Next up the same shot from the S7 Edge. 
  
The differences between these two shots are minimal and most people would be content with either although the S7 is brighter. 

So let’s start again with another shot from the iPhone. 

  
And now the same shot from the S7 Edge. The S7 looks more saturated but again is brighter and has more detail. 

  
Back to the iPhone. A close up of a tap. Looks ok. 

  

Well it looks ok until you see the shot from the S7 Edge. To emphasise the level of detail I have included a crop as well from the S7 Edge. 

  
And now for the crop from the S7 Edge of the tap. 

  

Ok let’s go back to the iPhone. Some red berries. I had to take several shots to get the one below. 

  
So how did the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge perform? Much better. 

  
And to emphasise the difference in quality I took a crop from the iPhone. See below. 

  
So now let’s look at the crop from the S7 Edge. See below. So much better. I couldn’t dream of getting anything close like this shot below from the iPhone despite my best efforts. 

  
Another photo from the iPhone 6S Plus. Looks like a reasonable shot. 

  
And now from the S7 Edge. See below. Again the level of detail from the S7 is better. 

  
Remember these are real life photos, not staged shots. These are photos you could end up taking. 

So back to the iPhone 6S Plus. Again the photo looks good but it’s not on par with the S7 Edge. 

  
Below is the S7 Edge photo. I have noticed with this shot that it’s heavily sharpened probably too much for my liking. This could be resolved shooting in raw and then post processing it yourself. 

  
And finally, just to highlight the quality from the S7 Edge again. My dog Tiggy was moving around at home in lowish lighting. Here’s a crop of her face. 

  
I have to say that based on my preliminary tests, if you want a camera that takes good photos in all conditions, the S7 Edge really does a great job. 

Not only that, it’s focus speed is near instant. This means kids and pets will be so much easier to snap in focus quality shots. 

I have plenty more content on the S7 Edge, it’s camera , audio and more. I will also be pitting it against the LG G5. 

And one last thing. Remember there’s more to a phone than just its camera 🙂

Fight – LG G5 vs Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge vs Apple iPhone 6S Plus

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So last night Samsung and LG announced their new flagship phones. So firstly, which is best out of the phones and then how do they compare to the iPhone 6S Plus.

Well the decision is not clear cut and really depends on your personal priorities. However, these are my thoughts on each phone.

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge – This is the most attractive phone out of the bunch. The super amoled screen is gorgeous and using this tech for the always on screen is really good. For gaming, the Vulkan API is a great step forward, once developers support the API in their games. Quick wireless charging is good too as well as having larger batteries than last year’s model. Whilst the micro SD card has returned, the maximum storage is 32gb. Unfortunately, the S7 Edge does not support adoptable storage, nor does it support the latest USB-C standard. But it does have Gorilla Glass 5. Samsung has gone to town with its 12mp rear camera which has large pixels. Virtual Reality is also being heavily pushed. However, my experience of a Samsung VR headset involved feeling very sick. The accessories for the S7 Edge are decent too, from official cases and a case that has add on camera lenses. What is unknown is how good the loudspeaker is, and how good is the sound via headphones? Is there a HiFi DAC included? Personally, if I already had the S6 Edge, I wouldn’t upgrade to this phone. Samsung Pay is coming to the UK this year, but no firm date has been provided yet. However, when it does arrive, it will work with all terminals and not just contactless ones.

LG G5 – The design or look is just average. I need to see it in person, but from all the media footage it doesn’t inspire me. However from a specification point of view, the G5 appears to trounce the S7 Edge. Stunning IPS display capable of 850 nits. Really amazing camera with wide angle shots and some pretty funky options in the camera app. APT-X High Definition, infra red blaster, extra plug-in modules, and the kitchen sink. However, it doesn’t have any payment options unless Android Pay arrives soon. The Friends accessories are geeky too. So on paper it is likely the G5 will take high resolution photos and sound much better with headphones. The loudspeaker sound is unknown. What is also unknown is how the 16mp camera really compares versus the 12mp camera of the S7. Hard evidence is needed before being conclusive. Of course, it could depend on what type of environment you take photos in, which ends up dictating which phone camera suits you better. You may find having the option to shoot wide angle photos more useful than low light. With the G5 you won’t need to use an add on lens for wide angle shots that you will need with the S7.

Apple iPhone 6S Plus – So on paper it looks like the above phones will take better still photos, and in lower light this is quite likely. However, iOS is fortunate enough to have amazing apps, and therefore with the right apps, incredible low noise, low light photos are possible. There are no alternatives on android for these type of apps. iOS also has better apps, 3D Touch, a more advanced app eco system making use of 3D Touch and Apple Pay in full force. There are a number of aspects of both the LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge that wipe the floor of the iPhone from a hardware point of view, but iOS is supported by good software services , like iMessage and FaceTime. The iPhone is also 6 months old now, and 18 months into its product change cycle. The iPhone 7 could streak ahead of the Samsung and LG, or just level the field from a specs point of view. For example, whilst Samsung has introduced Vulkan API, Apple has been using metal for ages. However, Samsung clearly has the lead on VR, along with a decent number of VR apps already. But like everything, iOS offers some fabulous extras.

To pick a winner is a difficult choice. But I will in due course. Will the iPhone 6S Plus be history?? 🙂

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge – All 3 colours – Photos

Android, Tech News, ,

With Samsung poised to announce the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge on the 21st February 2016, it could end up that we know everything before the big reveal.

Well now you can even decide based on the photo below which colour S7 Edge you would like to order. Samsung is going to do an Apple this year, and have the phone ready to order on the 21st Feb, with delivery just a few weeks later.

s7 edge colours

Without a doubt, the S7 in the Edge variety will be the version I am most interested in. What about yourself?

Source – Evan Blass Twitter