The smartphone market is getting boring. Great cameras, killer screens and powerful processors abound, making it easy to find a phone that will fit your needs, but also overwhelming you with options that are hard to tell apart. The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge has all the things that make modern smartphones great, plus a little more to help it stand out.
But do those extra features make for a better phone, or are they just gimmicks to get you to pay more for a device that looks neat but isn’t that special? Here are my takeaways after using a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge review unit for the past month.
Screen
The key difference between the Galaxy S7 Edge and pretty much every other phone is obvious from looking at it: the curved edge of the phone gives the screen room to wrap around the sides, letting Samsung squeeze in just a few more pixels without making an already-big phone even bigger.
The AMOLED screen looks great. The size alone is enough to get lost in, and the screen wrapping around the glass creates an interesting perspective and sense of depth.
Of course, the edge does more than just let Samsung pack in a big screen. You can access some frequently used apps into a sidebar by just swiping out from the lock button on the side of the phone.
And if you keep your phone on a desk or tabletop screen-side down, you don’t have to worry about missing a notification thanks to the curved edges that flash extra bright with every new email, text or Instagram like. The feature turns off when the phone is face up, and can be disabled as well, but it is a great use for the curved glass.
But the curved edge has a big downside too. It’s super sensitive, with the slightest touch causing the touch sensors to go haywire. With such a big phone, reaching across the screen with my thumb usually meant my palm would touch the curved edge, often clicking into a Facebook post or scrolling down my Twitter feed inadvertently.
However, the curve generally made the phone more grippable in one-handed use. The small band of metal between the front glass and the slightly curved back glass seemed to provide just enough grip to feel solid in my hands. It even feels better in the hand than the smaller iPhone 6S and is way more comfortable to use one-handed than the iPhone 6S Plus, even though the phones have the same sized screen.
Camera
That big, beautiful screen also helped me enjoy one of the Galaxy S7 Edge’s other great features: the camera. Smartphone cameras are crazy good now. But this one is really fast, in addition to taking good pictures. First, it just opens quickly; a double tap to the home button and you’re ready to snap away.
The autofocus is quick, as well, with no perceivable time spent searching for the subject once you tap the screen. Thanks to the dual-pixel autofocus technology in the 12MP sensor, the camera tracks your subject really well, too. With optical image stabilization and 4K capabilities, you can’t really blame your bad photos on the fact that it’s a smartphone camera anymore.
A few gimmicks that aren’t worth it
The curved screen and snappy camera aren’t the only features Samsung has crammed into this phone, though. And the rest of Samsung’s touches don’t do much for the end user.
The always-on screen will likely be the first thing a new Galaxy S7 Edge owner will want to turn off. While the monster 3,600mAh battery doesn’t take much of a hit from keeping a small portion of the display on, it didn’t provide any big benefits in my eyes.
In fact, it was annoying to have the screen always on, but never show notifications. I usually have my phone next to my computer when I’m working, and having the display always on meant I thought I was getting notifications every time the clock moved (which it does to reduce burn in).
Another gimmick, and one that plagues many Android devices, is all the custom software Samsung stuck on it. There are two messaging apps, two app stores and two photo apps. It’s a confusing mess. If you’re looking for stock Android, this is not the phone for you.
The fingerprint sensor also needs some work. While it’s great to have, it’s so much slower than the iPhone 6S sensor that I’ve been spoiled by. What’s worse is that setting it up seemed to take forever, with it failing to recognize my thumb print at all after the initial setup. A second setup to clear out any bugs took at least a minute longer than the first round. By the time I was done with one thumb, I figured I’d lost any time I could have saved over just punching in a pin code every time.
Two gimmicks that should be more common
There are two things the Galaxy S7 Edge has that some may call gimmicks, but should really be standard on every phone: this phone is waterproof and charges really fast.
The waterproof feature isn’t something that I extensively tested out, but it’s nice to know that if I get caught in the rain or have a drink spilled on me, I don’t have to worry about what’s in my pockets.
But the fast charging, powered by Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0, is a real boon. With the 3,600 mAh battery, you could be looking at hours-long charging sessions with a standard USB outlet. But thanks to the included quick-charging wall wart, you can spend much less time tethered to the wall.
Right now, these features make the Galaxy S7 Edge really stand out. But one day we’ll look back wondering why phones didn’t always work like this and question how people lived before.
Some other notes
Here are some things you should probably know:
- Scrolling is wonky. If you’re coming from iOS, it feels like the machinery needs some oil. But it’s not just a little slow — it also stutters, something that’s harder to get used to than just a slower scroll. It’s not the worst thing, but it does make me happy when I pick up my iPhone again.
- As someone who’s finally getting started on his New Year’s resolution of working out, Samsung’s fitness features are killer. Thanks to a built-in heart-rate monitor and a neat app to display your data, Samsung’s health stuff is more accessible than Apple’s options.
- The metallic material behind the Galaxy S7 Edge glass back really shows off fingerprints, and the curved glass on the front also makes it easy to spot smudges that you may be able to ignore on flat glass.
- I tested the silver, 32GB model on Verizon.
Should you get this phone?
There’s a lot to love about this phone. It’s snappy, has a great camera, and its gimmicks range from useful to sad-I-have-to-give-this-phone-back greatness. While it is a step up in price from many other Android devices, ranging from $750 to $795, depending on the carrier, when buying it outright, it’s also a bigger phone than many premium Android options.
If you’re looking for a big screen and don’t have strong feelings about the operating system it runs, I can’t imagine a more comfortable choice. The curved glass makes this the only phone of its size that’s actually comfortable for me. There are some quirks and unnecessary software additions that come with the curved glass, but nothing that ruins the experience.
Photographers will also love this phone. We’ve been saying for years that the camera you have with you is always the best camera. But this camera really takes that to heart, getting autofocus speed unlike any other smartphone camera I’ve used, paired with great resolution and plenty of fine-grained controls.
Sure, you could go in blind to a phone store and come away with plenty of phones worthy of a two-year contract, but if you’re looking for a phone with great features that set it apart from the iPhone clones, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is the phone for you.
