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Galaxy S7 Edge: 5 Things I Learned on the First Day

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The new Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge are officially available in the United States. It looks very similar to the Galaxy S6 from last year, but is faster, better, more durable, water resistant, has a micro-SD slot and a huge battery. It’s better in every way, and here are a few things we noticed or learned after 24 hours of using the Galaxy S7 Edge.

A full review will be coming soon, but in the meantime we want to share some initial thoughts, impressions, things we did and didn’t like and more after using the phone for a day or so. It’s clearly Samsung’s best smartphone to date, and built to do it all.

Read: 13 Exciting Galaxy S7 Edge Cases

The Galaxy S7 Edge changed a lot and now has a bigger 5.5-inch Quad-HD display, a huge battery, and Samsung returned the micro-SD card so owners can expand storage. All things buyers will absolutely love. Add in the fact that it has a better camera, a sleek premium metal design and a fast fingerprint scanner, and you’ll know why users are heading to a retail store to buy one today.

Galaxy-s7-edge1-720x4801-720x480

Last year the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge saw a complete redesign with an all metal frame, glass on the front and back and more. It was an award-winning change, so Samsung stuck with it again this year. At first glance the Galaxy S7 looks identical to last year, but there are noteworthy new additions. Then, with the Galaxy S7 Edge, the bigger screen will instantly be noticeable.

As a quick recap before we get into what we learned and liked, the Galaxy S7 Edge has a 5.5-inch Quad-HD display, a powerful Quad-core Snapdragon 820 processor with 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a micro-SD slot, a new 12 Dual Pixel camera setup that’s thinner than last year (no camera bulge) and a big fat battery that will last plenty long.

We still have the premium metal and glass design, a similar fingerprint scanner in the home button, fast charging, wireless charging and fast wireless charging. Not to mention Samsung Pay, Android 6.0 Marshmallow and more. It has it all.

Excellent Refined Design

One of the best parts of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge is the design. Simply because Samsung stuck to the same design as last year, but improved it. Owners will love the all aluminum design with glass on the front and back. There is no plastic anywhere on this high-end premium phone. However, it’s a fingerprint magnet, slippery, and we’d recommend a case from our link above.

Galaxy-s7-back

What Samsung managed to do with the design is quite the task. It’s nearly identical to last year, only rounded on the back. This makes it easier to hold, easier to pickup off a table, and it feels thinner in your hand, making it more ergonomic. Similar to the back of the Galaxy Note 5, but more rounded on all sides, not just the left or right.

While keeping everything almost the same they managed to make it IP68 dust and water-resistant. Which means it can sit in over 5ft of water for over 30 minutes and come out just fine. The Galaxy S7 also has a better camera that’s thinner and more flush with the back, rather than a huge bulge. It keeps all the same features from last year, but now has a massive 3,600 mAh battery. The Galaxy S6 was only 2,550, and even the bigger 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 5 was only 3,000 mAh. Meaning the Galaxy S7 Edge will be a battery champ, but more on that below.

Above is a demonstration of the IP68 rating, which is one of many aspects we love about the design of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. The fact that Samsung managed to keep everything the same, while improving the durability, return the micro-SD card, and increase the battery is very impressive. Users are going to love this phone.

Stunning Galaxy S7 Edge Display

The Galaxy S7 Edge is the perfect phone. It’s not too big, and not too small. Coming in at 5.5-inches, but feels much smaller. In fact, it’s substantially smaller and thinner than the Galaxy Note 5. If the Note 5 was too big for you, but you wanted a bigger screen than the Galaxy S6, the Galaxy S7 Edge is the perfect happy medium. Samsung nailed it.

It has an award-winning 5.5-inch 2560 x 1440 Quad-HD AMOLED screen that looks gorgeous. It’s covered in Gorilla Glass 4, so should be very durable, and of course water won’t phase it either.

Galaxy S7 Edge

After using the Galaxy S7 Edge for a little more than a day I’ve come to love the screen. It’s more crisp than the Galaxy Note 5, gets brighter, has amazing colors, and doesn’t drain the battery life. At first I didn’t like the new “always-on display” function, but it’s growing on me. I turned it off at first, but now have it back on. Samsung claims the always-on screen can show important information for an entire 8-hour work day, and only drain a few % of battery. So there’s no reason to turn it off. It’s really impressive.

I have noticed something odd with the screen brightness though. For whatever reason whenever I launch a game the display dims to a lower brightness level, then returns when I hit home. It’s nothing too be concerned with, but doesn’t happen on other Galaxy devices, and means I have to crank up the brightness for a similar gaming experience as older phones like the Galaxy Note 5.

Micro-SD Slot

Samsung-Galaxy-S7-sd-720x4021

Samsung learned their lesson last year by removing the micro-SD card in the Galaxy S6, but returned it this year. Meaning the phone only has 32GB of storage, but owners can add a 128GB or 200GB micro-SD card for relatively cheap. It’s a welcomed feature, something we’re glad is back, and I’ve added a 128GB micro-SD card with about 5,000 songs, 4-5 movies, and moved all my apps and games to the micro-SD slot to free up space.

Read: How to Move apps to the Galaxy S7 MicroSD Card

Having a micro-SD card slot is a feature all smartphones should keep, as the versatility and options it brings can’t be matched by storing everything in the cloud. Not everyone has unlimited data to stream Google Music, Spotify, or Pandora radio all day. Instead, load up the SD card and take full advantage of this important feature.

Mediocre Software

With the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge Samsung finally made a big effort to improve the user interface. They still cover stock Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with their own overlay, but it’s much better than previous years. Everything is flat, the icons are rounded, and the cartoonish bright green colors from the notification bar are gone. Now there’s a clean white and blue color, and everything looks much cleaner.

That being said, the custom interface over stock Android is still average at best. The application tray is completely out of order, not alphabetical, and installing an app puts it on the last page. Owners can go into the app tray, hit settings, and alphabetize the app drawer so everything is in order, but if you download an app it goes to the back again, not where it should in the alphabet. Nothing major, but something that is frustrating and just doesn’t make any sense.

Samsung also has a lot of bloatware on these phones. There’s multiple messaging apps, Google messaging apps, Verizon has another, Amazon, AT&T stuff and more. It ends up taking over 8GB of the 32GB. So out of the box users have more like 22GB of space available. Between TouchWiz, bloatware, and Samsung apps, there isn’t a lot of space left for photos, videos, music, apps and games. It’s not a big deal, but the bloatware could really use a little cut back.

Great Battery Life

So far I’m very impressed with overall performance, the new 12 megapixel camera is pretty amazing and focuses insanely fast, but it’s the battery life I’ve been most impressed with. The Galaxy S6 had a tiny 2,550 mAh battery, and even the huge Galaxy Note 5 was only 3,000 mAh.

This year the Galaxy S7 Edge has an even bigger 3,600 mAh battery with fast charging, and fast wireless charging. Even the regular Galaxy S7 is 3,000 mAh. This is more than enough to last even the biggest power user 24 hours on a single charge, and nearly 2-3 days for light users. Below is a screenshot after an entire day of heavy heavy usage. From transferring photos, playing games, making calls, watching YouTube, sending emails all day and more.

S7-edge-battery

The important thing to notice is the Galaxy S7 Edge has 21% battery after 22 hours of usage. That’s from 4pm and I used it all evening playing games, sending emails, watching videos, left it unplugged all night, then made it through another entire 8-4PM work day all on a single charge. Over 4 hours and 30 minutes of important “screen-on” time, and I still had 21% remaining. Impressive to say the least.

Average users will have no problem making it well over 30-40 hours on a single charge, if not longer.

Final Thoughts

So far the Galaxy S7 Edge looks like a strong contender for best smartphone of the year, and it’s only March. It has an amazing design, a beautiful and perfectly sized display, it’s water resistant, has a micro-SD slot, takes stunning photos, and lasts for more than an entire day with absolutely no problem. Then, if it does die, 20 minutes gets you to 50-60% thanks to Quick Charging technology built in.

It’s hard to say anything bad about the Galaxy S7 so far after a day or so of usage. It does just about everything, and does it fast, fluid, and with ease. It’s available starting today, March 11th, so grab one and enjoy it. Check out some of Samsung’s official accessories below.

14 Official Galaxy S7 Accessories Worth Buying

Galaxy S7 S-View Flip Cover

Galaxy S7 S-View Flip Cover

As expected, the popular S-View case is also available for the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, and comes in multiple different colors. For the Galaxy S7 there's Black and Gold, the two colors being offered, then for the Galaxy S7 Edge it comes in Black, Gold & Silver. The S-View has been popular for years, and protects your device while letting you interact with it without ever opening the case. Basically offering full protection even while you answer calls, take pictures and more.

When closed, the S-View cover offers instant access to critical features through a unique window interface, thanks to the Samsung ID chip. View the home screen to check the time, weather and other status items. Accept or reject incoming calls with just a swipe, or reject calls with a preset message. Control your music playback directly on the S-View screen. If you miss anything, notifications are shown in the recent activity menu of your S-View cover. It works even better with the new always-on display feature.

Buy it Now for $49.99

19 Comments

19 Comments

  1. Lorettasolis

    03/11/2016 at 5:31 pm

    0=1m­­­­­­y b­­­­­­­­­u­­­­­­­­­d­­­­­­­­­d­­­­­­­­­y’s e­­­­­­­­­x-w­­­­­­­­­i­­­­­­­­­f­­­­­­­­­e m­­­­­­­­­a­­­­­­­­­k­­­­­­­­­e­­­­­­­­­s $81 e­­­­­­­­­v­­­­­­­­­e­­­­­­­­­r­­­­­­­­­y h­­­­­­­­­o­­­­­­­­­u­­­­­­­­­r o­­­­­­­­­n t­­­­­­­­­h­­­­­­­­­e l­­­­­­­­­a­­­­­­­­­p­­­­­­­­­t­­­­­­­­­o­­­­­­­­­p . S­­­­­­­­­h­­­­­­­­­e h­­­­­­­­­a­­­­­­­­­s b­­­­­­­­­e­­­­­­­­­e­­­­­­­­­n w­­­­­­­­­i­­­­­­­­­th­­­­­­­­­o­­­­­­­­­u­­­­­­­­­t w­­­­­­­­­o­­­­­­­­­r­­­­­­­­­k f­­­­­­­­­o­­­­­­­­­r s­­­­­­­­­e­­­­­­­­­v­­­­­­­­­e­­­­­­­­­n m­­­­­­­­­o­­­­­­­­­n­­­­­­­­­t­­­­­­­­­h­­­­­­­­­s b­­­­­­­­­u­­­­­­­­­t l­­­­­­­­­a­­­­­­­­­s­­­­­­­­­t mo­­­­­­­­­n­­­­­­­­­t­­­­­­­­­h h­­­­­­­­­e­­­­­­­­­r p­­­­­­­­­a­­­­­­­­­y c­­­­­­­­­h­­­­­­­­­e­­­­­­­­­c­­­­­­­­­k w­­­­­­­­­a­­­­­­­­­s $14798 j­­­­­­­­­u­­­­­­­­­s­­­­­­­­­t w­­­­­­­­­o­­­­­­­­­r­­­­­­­­­k­­­­­­­­­i­­­­­­­­­n­­­­­­­­­g o­­­­­­­­­n t­­­­­­­­­h­­­­­­­­­e l­­­­­­­­­a­­­­­­­­­p­­­­­­­­­t­­­­­­­­­o­­­­­­­­­p f­­­­­­­­­o­­­­­­­­­r a f­­­­­­­­­e­­­­­­­­­w h­­­­­­­­­o­­­­­­­­­u­­­­­­­­­r­­­­­­­­­s.
    c­­­­­­­­­h­­­­­­­­­e­­­­­­­­­c­­­­­­­­­k h­­­­­­­­­e­­­­­­­­­r­­­­­­­­­e…. See More

  2. Leigirl

    03/12/2016 at 4:20 pm

    Why is it that I just got a new galaxy s7 and my battery drains really fast??? I have tried to restart it and the battery doctor but nothing works!! Can someone please explain to me why it does it

  3. Cory

    03/12/2016 at 6:02 pm

    Mine is doing the same thing. I think is the OS Marshmallow.

  4. Roger

    03/13/2016 at 6:33 am

    Same here. I havent made it through 12 hours on one charge on my Edge. I love the phone, but without power saving mode, it dies quick.

  5. Bob

    03/13/2016 at 10:08 am

    The only bad thing of this new phone is that you can not replace the battery. That the only reason i am not buying this one i stick to my Galaxy s5 until Samsung decides to make a user removable battery i gladly buy the phone.

  6. Ibraheem Moafa

    03/13/2016 at 12:26 pm

    Samer thing here, battery dies super fast, 4 hours lost 50% @@!!!!!!

  7. Vero

    03/13/2016 at 2:25 pm

    My phone screen has gone black twice and it stays hot as if I were charging the phone.

  8. Ricky

    03/14/2016 at 8:32 am

    Battery life isn’t that great. I’m getting about 12-13 hours as a power user. I might go back to an iPhone…iOS > All

    • Babu

      03/14/2016 at 3:31 pm

      Same here. s7 edge battery performance is disappointment.

  9. Victor Hassan

    03/14/2016 at 6:56 pm

    how long do u guys stare at ur phone in 1 day?
    like is it for work or just social life? that’s alot of hours on the phone in 1 day.
    my s7 edge last long. but I dont use my phone all the time. i dont go check facebook every minute.
    100% at 7 am and 84% by 4pm.
    And usually when i got new phone, it takes few weeks before the battery gets better.

  10. Soke Well

    03/15/2016 at 1:26 am

    I agree with some of the other users. Overall I am not impressed with the s7 edge and battery life is just on of the things. Probably going to go back to the s6 edge plus which looked way better no question.

  11. Rinnara Brunelli

    03/15/2016 at 1:03 pm

    I agree with the others, I just got my s7 edge today and the battery has been awful so far! BUT I do think that it might need a few charge cycles. I’ll give it a try anyway because the phone is very pretty and functional, hopefully the battery will sort itself out.

  12. IJ

    03/15/2016 at 1:41 pm

    Same here. Just like browsing the web for a few moments, then POOF! -1% already. I’m on the 3rd day of owning my S7 (think it’s a Snapdragon variant). I am hoping it gets better in the next days. (If anyone gets their battery back to normal please update on this thread. Thanks!)

  13. Cory Gunther

    03/16/2016 at 12:10 pm

    After the first few days battery life gets better. I got over 25 hours on a single charge with 5 hours of screen-on time. That’s the important number. Go into battery and hit screen, and see your “screen on time”. If you’re only getting 2 hours, then something isn’t right.

    Also, everyone uses the SHIT out of a new phone at first, more so than your old phone. Messing around, setting things up, transferring files. All of that drains the battery. Give it a few days before you instantly bash it. It’s noticeably better than the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+. Very noticeably better.

  14. Ng Jun Min

    03/17/2016 at 3:00 pm

    I just bought my S7 Edge yesterday.
    90 minutes ago my phone battery was 80%, not it’s only 50%, I was just surfing internet,and played 15 minutes of Clash Royale, which is not a hardcore game.

    Is this normal to S7 Edge or mine is having trouble? What should I do?

  15. Rinnara Brunelli

    03/17/2016 at 3:19 pm

    Day 3 here and the battery has improved a lot already. Right now I’ve got 24% left, 5h30m screen on time and 23 hours since the last full charge. I’m impressed :-)

  16. Charles T

    03/23/2016 at 1:08 am

    I think there are a few trolls here probably paid by Apple for the launch of their iPhone 7 which is behind the S7 either everyone on here have bad copies or like I said some might be trolls..I am getting at least 30 to 40 percent more battery life than my S5 ..so I can’t see why there are so many complaints …I love it ..best phone I ever owned!

  17. IJ

    03/25/2016 at 11:42 pm

    Update: On 2nd week now, my battery subsided and getting average 5 hrs SoT now. Can even go to 6hrs+ on low brightness. I’m happy with my S7 now. :)

  18. Tester

    04/16/2016 at 3:59 pm

    Trying to watch a 2hr long YT video from a full 100% Fully charged battery to try and condition my 3600mah battery for 3 cycles and it takes forever to drain the battery. Plus point is that battery life is a-okay!

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