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  • lilmoe - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    No...................... (wiping eyes)
  • lilmoe - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    OK, now that I've read the whole review (and some parts twice), I can come to two conclusions.

    1) The author is sort-of unhappy with Samsung's decision to dual source the SoC.
    2) Lots of testing metrics (and data) don't match my personal experience with the phone (Edge, Exynos version), nor the hundreds of videos and reviews online. The only significant issue I have is with the front facing camera compared with other new hardware; it could be a LOT better (but I'm not a huge selfie person).

    The Exynos variant is significantly better than the SD variant this time around, probably because Samsung's software leans more to higher core count, but also because it takes advantage of the *better* co-processors on Samsung's silicon. The Exynos variant has better image/video post processing, better audio, better and more sustained performance, better RAM management and significantly better battery life compared to the SD variant. Too bad all the hype Qualcomm has been selling for the additional parts didn't live up.

    That being said, I do agree, to some extent, about the radios. They're definitely better than previous models (after the migration to metal design), but my wife's Note4 has noticeably better reception. Not huge, but noticeable. In that regard, nothing beats good ole' plastic designs.
  • cknobman - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    The Apple bias you get from this site is annoying at best.

    Everything in this review is laced with a undertone of how iPhone is just as good or better.

    Camera on the S7 is actually pretty danged amazing and easily better than what iPhone has right now. Other sites and reviews have posted their figures and results and they all show it but for some reason here the camera is just ok?

    Battery life on the S7 is actually quite amazing and noticeably better than past Galaxy iterations.

    The design is well executed and I did not see any mention of the water resistant feature which is a nice inclusion most other manufacturers dont even have.

    I'm a Windows phone user but I did recently upgrade my son to the S7.
  • ikjadoon - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    While Anandtech is getting better at moving away from esoteric benchmarks to show "in the lab" performance...these reviews were not holistic.

    How can you write a review comparing the iPhone 6s to the Galaxy S7 and NOT mention water resistance?

    I think it's because, in the end, performance is what matters to Anandtech above all else. If the device doesn't perform well in day-to-day use, then whatever other benefits it may have are always painted against that background.
  • ikjadoon - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Why can't we edit? Yeesh. "Doesn't perform well compared to its equally-priced peers"...
  • DERSS - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    iPhone 6s/Plus already has water resistance, Apple covered the mainboard with special foam, and there are other measures. It is tested in videos, and it works. So the degree here is that SGS 7/Edge has better water resistance. The practical difference, though, is debatable.
  • pablo906 - Friday, July 8, 2016 - link

    I dropped my 6s in the sink full of water. Pulled it out shook it off, sucked the water out of the speaker holes, charging port holes, and headphone holes and it was fine. I've never had an iPhone survive that. They're not water proof, but their water resistance is certainly far better than it used to be and can survive day to day spills and accidents unlike the older models. That's nowhere near as good as the waterproof Samsung phones I've seen go underwater fully submerged for more than a few seconds in videos and come out alive, but it's an improvement. I agree with you here. If you want to compare water resistance among phones, then you have to take the non water resistant Android and get it wet measure the effects and then do the same with the Apple phones. I think that's a pointless road to go down. It's better to just mention the water proofing in the description or not at all and move on.
  • theduckofdeath - Saturday, July 9, 2016 - link

    I hope you don't live by that belief, DERSS. most mainboards has a protective coating, including the one in your PC. Mostly for dust and humidity protection. The ports, camera, sensors and most other things on the iPhone aren't water resistant. So... You might get lucky to survive getting it wet, but it most likely won't work properly after it.
    My previous (wireless) keyboard survived a glass full of Coke spilled all over it once. No issues, I just rinsed it off and let it dry off for a couple of days. Somehow I managed to spill another glass on in a month later (yay! I guess I subconsciously wanted a new keyboard) and it instantly fried.
  • theduckofdeath - Saturday, July 9, 2016 - link

    *it
  • Bigbank - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link

    Boo
    Go get wet sinker
  • invinciblegod - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Apparently by your metric nothing can ever be compared to an iphone. "You can't compare a Lexus to a Mercedes, that will be BIAS!!!" The only thing annoying about this site is the complainers who have no valid arguments screaming BIAS.
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    How about when the iPhone 5s came out. Any other flagship gets 1, maybe 2 article. That day the iPhone 5s had 14 articles on it... 14 articles. That in itself shows the bias and that continues to this day, even after Anand left to go work at Apple. Reading the article above I see it clearly. Reading their iPhone reviews I see it clearly. There is an obvious reluctance to say anything negative about Apple and an obvious reluctance to say anything glowing about a product that competes with Apple. If you dont see that at Anandtech you simply arent paying attention.
  • michael2k - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    15? I can only find 9 articles for the 5S spread across 5 days, and one appears a month later.

    They had a hands on, and a video of the hands on, rather than combining the two. They had their announcement article as well as an availability article; they could have combined those as well. They also had separate articles on camera, battery, and CPU that could have been combined with the review.

    That said, that isn't a sign of bias, that's a sign that Apple articles pay the bills. People read them and generate the prerequisite clicks necessary to get page impressions.
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    It is possible it was hte iPhone5 release date... But it was 14. I recall it, because I commented after 11 that they had 11 bloody articles already and then 3 more came afterward, all that same day. That includes the main articles and the pipeline articles. Not sure how they archive them and that isnt the point. The point is the site is clearly biased. I remember you as well m2k, you are an old timer at this site as well and a well known apple defender. You are the target market and you are right , that is where their money lies. The only thing you are not right on is the bias it shows. When the site is reluctant to say anything too heavily negative about Apple and too positive on competing products, its a bias and this site has it, and has had it for many years now even years before Anand wen to work for Apple (if that isnt a clue already). If you dont see it, you simply aren't looking.
  • michael2k - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    There is something wrong with you if you think of people as with you and against you (Apple defender, Apple biased, etc). Yes, this site does favor Apple, they get a lot of coverage.

    You think it is wrong, yet the article lays out some of the reasons why they get so much coverage. Look at the CPU performance and you see that the 820 and Exynos both struggle to hit the top of the charts. Anandtech has performed multiple reviews over multiple iPhone releases to explain why that is the case; it isn't bias, it really is that Apple made a remarkable series of CPU designs.

    We also see the same thing doesn't occur in the GPU, but we did have multiple articles talk about the PowerVR because sometimes Apple did have a range topping SoC. As previously discussed, the user base reads these CPU and GPU articles.

    You can look at sales figures to see why Apple gets more attention than Samsung. In three days the iPhone 6S sold 13m units. In three months after the launch of the Galaxy S7 sold 25m units. There are really many more people reading the iPhone articles; that is the bias of the world, not the site, you're working against.
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    " if you think of people as with you and against you" Where did I say anything like that? I am simply pointing out a bias - not about taking sides. Like I said, if you are looking for unbiased reviews, Anandtech is no longer the site to check on. If you already like Apple and aren't looking to change, and you want in depth articles on Apple products, its a great site. If you want somewhat less than complete articles on say, Samsung products 4 months after launch, it's a good site too. Get the point? You and I are both pointing out that the site has become Apple-centric. You just like it because you are an Apple fan - not that there is anything wrong with that. ;) I do not like it becasue I am a fan of tech in general, so the site I "grew up on" has sold out to clickbait. Anandtech from 1997- (maybe) 2012 wasnt like that. It used to be about the tech. Now it's about the clicks and catering to one particular companies products. If you dont see that, then you are the new target audience and are happy with it. No worries dood.
  • fanofanand - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    The bias is obvious. Josh spent several months with an iPad Pro before he could give it his review, I am not aware of him spending that kind of time with any other devices being tested. I think the Apple fans are dwindling in number, maybe people are figuring out that electronics aren't their friend, nor are the corporations that make them. I can't recall seeing anything negative said about any Apple product reviewed here since......ever. There's your bias, the implication that any product from a particular corporation is flawless. Retro I have read your comments for years and have always been entertained. Seems you don't post as often anymore :(
  • retrospooty - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    Thanks... Yeah, I dont post too often because I dont come here too often anymore due to the issue being discussed. It's just not about the tech anymore its about the clicks and the money.
  • akdj - Monday, July 11, 2016 - link

    You guys are hilarious.
    The extent that this crew has gone to improve the objective testing and measurements, the two part, in depth and all encompassing review of the s7/s7 (both variants; SD/Exynos) and the well written and 'time spent' using the devices put a WHOLE helluva lot more 'meat' in to the review & their conclusions.
    As an ambidextrous user of both Android and iOS, I usually skip gens of Android and trade out annually for the latest iPhone. I still have my Xoom and the first iPad. The Nexus 7 & iPad 2 as well as a Note 4 and S6 Edge, I have the 6s+ as well and I enjoy all of them as smartphones. That said, and as an owner since day one ... I have too come to the same conclusions year in and out. iOS especially when you figure in its ecosystem of apps/& cross platform development so you're able to also enjoy the experience on your tablet ...an area Android STILL hasn't figured out compared with the iPad & Surface ...as well as Apple's understanding of SoCs and performance characteristics, updates, post purchase support and resale values ...you're truly insane (doing/buying the same thing while expecting different results) with your declarations of bias and conclusions about other sites that rushed their review out four days after it dropped. Insane!
    The review clearly and objectively presents a whole lot of inarguable data and 'author time' spent with the piece they're reviewing.
    If you go back and read Apple reviews, any of them, you'll find areas of the review favoring Android implementation or design. From the display and cameras to the 'off the shelf' SoCs everyone with exception of Samsung is using to power their devices.
    Apple simply knows WTF they're doing and speaking from experience now nearing a decade using both - iOS and their dual/tri-core silicon designs, speedy memory(storage) and phenomenal memory management to keep battery longevity up as well as camera tech and understanding the whole 'package' - radios, security, durability, support and the largest library of software in history because developer monies ....how do you convince yourself the same bullshit year in and year out? Is that TechCrunch/Giz or CNet "review", in your opinion and published just hours or a couple days after release and minus the measurements and time spent somehow more 'valid' in your opinion? I honestly can't believe how the ignorance and blatant disregard for these amazing reviews you can read for free and than hide behind your goofy screen name and keyboard to bash the author who's soooo much more intelligent and knowledgeable than you, ALL of you will EVER be when it comes down to reality and mobile development

    It also seems the masses agree. Apple sold 1/2 as many 6s & + models in 72 hours as Sammy did in three months, and it was the biggest 'down quarter' Apple's had since the iPhone dropped. Same thing on the tablet front. I also own each iPad including the two sides of Pros. Anand's reviews on both are incredibly spot on.

    *I own and operate a business and have been waiting for the day iPad would replace the laptop or AIOs we use in the field. They are always connected, durable, reliable, and maintain incredible stamina when 'live'. I'm not blowing smoke as I have been extensively testing them and Air2 was the one ....even if a bit small. The 12.9" iPad Pro/256 is the best piece of gear I've ever purchased and at 1/2 the price of a MacBook Pro or Surface Pro - I'm saving money and don't have pre-event concerns about wifi access.

    My take as an S6 Edge owner and reading the two reviews of the S7, I'm happy to skip that gen of Android. While I'll still purchase a Note 6/7 or S8 - it's not for pleasure but support and knowledge ...as iOS clearly and not subtly blows Android out of the water with the perfect phone -tab/lap or desktop integration and aggregation using Handoff ....there's a continuity that exists both vertically and horizontally that can't be matched. Period.

    To argue and piss and moan about free and well written journalism is fruitless. Just. Go. Away. I can't understand why you would still be here, with the "Apple Bias" so prevalent. Like last year and the year before that, and the year....

    Serious, those of you that still enjoy Android, this is a great phone. Just maybe not as great as Gizmodo or TchCrnch reported the day after it was released ;) --- and may NOT be the best Android choice for others.
  • Savanah - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    I heard iphone sales are an all time low. Are you suggesting Apple is still selling more iphones than Samsung is selling their Galaxy series?
  • phexac - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    "I heard iphone sales are an all time low. Are you suggesting Apple is still selling more iphones than Samsung is selling their Galaxy series?"

    Yes, by a lot.

    Not to mentioned, that "iphone sales have declined for the first time quarter over quarter" does not mean "iphone sales are an all time low," which would imply that iphone sales are zero since there were no iPhones pre-2007.
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    "Yes, by a lot."
    - that is not correct. Samsung sells more phones than anyone. Samsung outsells Apple by a HUGE margin, not just a little. Apple sells the most of a single model, because they only have a few each year, but Samsung vastly outsells Apple in total, consistently every year without exception.
  • michael2k - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    The question was Galaxy vs iPhone, not Samsung vs iPhone. In terms of Galaxy S, their flagship phones are selling far fewer than flagship iPhones, per quarter. Not entirely sure about their entire Galaxy range, but Samsung doesn't sell many more phones than Apple in some quarters:
    http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3215217
  • retrospooty - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    m2k, what are you even arguing here? Samsung outsells all other makers, consistently every quarter - always, without fail. They are huge. They are the Toyota of phones. FWIW, I dont think that is a good thing, but it is what it is and no amount of debate will change it.
  • KoolAidMan1 - Saturday, July 9, 2016 - link

    "Samsung sells more phones than anyone. Samsung outsells Apple by a HUGE margin"

    The majority of those phones are low end models, just like the rest of the Android ecosystem. If we're only comparing high end models like the GS6 and GS7 it is still far outsold by the iPhone. This is reflected in higher app revenue, higher web traffic, higher ad revenue, and so on coming from iOS as it always has.

    You are being intellectually dishonest as usual by omitting important information.
  • Ratman6161 - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Not really true that they are "at an all time low". See: http://www.statista.com/statistics/263401/global-a...

    Growth rate is at an all time low but that's true of smartphones in general. Its the same reason that PC sales leveled off a couple of years ago. PC's became fast enough/good enough to the point where there was just no reason to replace the one I already have. Example: I've got an i7 2600K system I built when that CPU was new in 2011 and its still overkill for most of what I do. Likewise, when I got my Galaxy Note 5 last November, I finally had a phone that was fast enough for anything and everything I do. Unless what I do with a phone changes radically (which I doubt will happen any time soon) I'll have no reason to replace it until the hardware dies.

    As far as Apple selling more phones than Samsung, that has really never been true unless you only consider the US market. Globally, Samsung has always sold more. Even in the US, Android overall has greater market share than iOS. Apple is the largest single company because its got a lock on iOS where Android is spread out among many companies.
  • HardwareDufus - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Huge Apple Bias. Evident by the fact there is not a single review of the Lumia 1520, the 'flagship' Windows phone for the better part of two years.

    However, I understand that and don't fault them for it. I just read each article predisposed to the idea that the writers are predisposed to favor the apple version of whatever they are reviewing. So be it.

    Anandtech objectivity slid about 2 years before Anand himself actually left. They're just mirroring the rest of the tech blogosphere.... writers/reviewers/editors have mouths to feed. Everybody is beholding to whoever is writing the check and each piece of content will reflect that. Our modern enlightened world. Same greed. Same game.
  • fanofanand - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    Anand (who I still admire) showed the way, shill long enough and you will land a cushy job in Cupertino.
  • dsumanik - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Actually no.

    This site, like many other review sites, receives money directly, or indirectly for writing positive apple coverage, especially in the the articles of their fiercest competitors.

    Then marketing shills like you come on here and quote sales figures in the comment sections, again paid for directly, or indirectly by apple.

    Oh and instead of just making statements to justify your argument...heres proof:

    http://www.ibtimes.com/apples-ios-still-getting-cr...

    IOS is just a drop in the smartphone bucket, theres no internet BIAS, it's the author 100%.
  • michael2k - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    I wish Apple paid me for my posts.

    What you're seeing, as retrospooty correctly surmised, is that Anandtech is in fact biased, but not towards Apple or away from Samsung, but towards the readers that pay their bills via ad impressions and click through. What he wishes is that the site cater more towards him, even if he is a smaller part of the readership.
  • retrospooty - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    Close... I wish Anandtech would get back to the "tech" part. It used to be about tech and now as you even agree, its about clicks and paying the bills.
  • BurntMyBacon - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    @dsumanik: "heres proof:

    http://www.ibtimes.com/apples-ios-still-getting-cr...

    I kinda see what you're getting at here, but these numbers are from October of last year. Though, I couldn't help but note that according to these numbers, Windows is actually persisting in most markets. The numbers aren't great, but enough to be a significant presence. Even the U.S. is 3.5%. I thought we were seeing articles around this time period about how the Windows market share was sub-1%, insignificant, and dead to rights. Question is, are we sure these numbers are accurate? Or is it that tech review websites are preaching Windows doom and gloom to generate clicks? I suppose the second option would fit the mold that M2K is suggesting.
  • Byte - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Apple rules the mobile roost right now. Just look at the sales, app ecosystem, users. Why aren't you crying that Apple has all of that? Don't even get started at tablets, there isn't even any contest. One day though, maybe soon, it will come crashing down, just like what happened to Blackberry, what will you cry about then?
  • Geranium - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    Apple's CPU performs better running Apple optimized benchmark.
  • jlabelle2 - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    - There is something wrong with you if you think of people as with you and against you -
    I think it is pretty clear that the editorial line has changed since departure of Anand (...to Apple "cough").
    For instance, when speaking of the camera, there is a mention that the resolution of the 12Mp S7 is not better than the 12Mp iPhone 6S (strange?) but when speaking of low light, as the iPhone is not anymore a contender (as the images show), then we mode the reference to LG or HTC. And this is constant all around Apple products review just to make the Apple shine when they should and when they are not, just move the discussion elsewhere.

    I mean, qualifying the S7 design of average? Really?

    - Look at the CPU performance and you see that the 820 and Exynos both struggle to hit the top of the charts. -
    This is the ONLY area where iPhone are constantly shining. The iPhone 6 CPU was the best thing after slice bread here on this site: "the A8 SoC performs admirably ... It remains to be seen if other SoC manufacturers will catch up in their CPU architecture at one point or another, but for now Apple seems to be quite far in the lead in CPU performance".
    But now that the S7 is having the same performance, you have: "the Galaxy S7 in its Snapdragon 820 variants performs pretty much as you'd expect with fairly respectable performance about on par with the iPhone 6 at least part of the time, which frankly still isn't enough ..." and "I have to install either a variant of Snapdragon Browser or Samsung's stock browser in order to get remotely acceptable performance".
    So the performance is not enough and not remotely acceptable when it is not an iPhone?

    And then come the GPU where it is very competitive and of course... the iPhone is nowhere to be seen.

    Honestly, those kind of reviews are a reference for journalist school as the bias is becoming quite too much.
  • KoolAidMan1 - Saturday, July 9, 2016 - link

    "There is something wrong with you"

    retrospooty and his brand obsessiveness in a nutshell
  • pablo906 - Friday, July 8, 2016 - link

    Have you thought that maybe it's because Apple is doing amazing things with their hardware currently. They have the highest performing underlying storage of any phone by a wide margin, they have the fastest mobile SoC's out right now, and they have a very tidy app ecosystem with a very cohesive GUI that receives focused improvements in usability and performance. The other phone makers are measured in many categories against the bar that Apple sets. That's just a fact at this point. It's also impossible to discuss smart phones today without talking about iPhone vs. Android as that is literally the competition in the space today. iPhone vs Android.
  • MonkeyPaw - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    The iPhone 5s came out almost 3 years ago. I think we can move on.
  • The Garden Variety - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Nope, some people apparently cannot. For retrospooty and a huge number of other regular visitors to Anandtech, ferreting out their bias boogeymen are an all-consuming passion. They honestly believe it's a "justice" issue—right and wrong, good and bad. It's instills the same feeling in them that religion or politics does in others.

    Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs at work.
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    No, its not justice, its like i said in another comment below "That is OK, it's not like there aren't other Apple-centric sites out there and it is perfectly within the sites rights to run things the way they want to... But if you are looking for unbiased reviews on any products that compete with Apple, this site is no longer one of them, so browse accordingly." - It's just sad that this once well respected tech site is no longer trustworthy. I kid you not, Anandtech was my homepage, my first stop every time I launched my browser from 1998 to 2014. That is how often I was here. Now it is just another page in my feedly feed. Still pop in now and then to see whats up, and still sad to see the site has lost it's heart.
  • mrochester - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    The problem with this assessment is that it means there's not a single tech website out there that isn't biased towards Apple, as you put it. I've actually seen Android Authority being accused of being biased towards Apple. My conclusion based on what I've witnessed is that some Android users just have a massive inferiority complex.
  • mrochester - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/tonybradley/2014/09/23...
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Your premise is nullified by pointing out the difference between "some" and "all". The fact that some people are spastic does not mean all are. I am simply pointing out the difference between the first 15 years at Anandtech and the past few years.
  • KoolAidMan1 - Saturday, July 9, 2016 - link

    Yup, Android is their god.
  • benzosaurus - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    That's mostly just an artifact of how Apple releases things— most other vendors let details about new products come out in stages over a couple weeks, whereas Apple goes from "we can neither confirm or deny that product even exists" to "here, get your grubby paws on one" in about two hours. I suspect the total number of articles is similar.
  • retrospooty - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    You must have been asleep the past 3-4 years
  • Psyside - Saturday, July 23, 2016 - link

    Please explain the absence of comparasion of the S7 to the iPhone in the charging section, while there is a negative "the iphone is clearly better" in every other section?

    Put off your glasses.
  • Frenetic Pony - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    The i-phone has almost the exact same camera module. I'm so glad you, oh mighty lord of vision that can see things others can't and ignored that all data points and etc. are here to correct everyone. Or maybe you and everyone else on the internet could drop the retarded tribalism. Could replace 99% of internet commentary with caveman grunts and "uhhh... duuuuhhhhh... Team A better. Team B dumbwit! Derrrrr...."
  • Psyside - Saturday, July 23, 2016 - link

    If anyone is having any doubts about the huge BIAS, you might missed the fast charging page.

    While, there is an comparasion and downplaying of the S7 in every way imaginable and ALWAYS compared to the iPhone 6s + (which is not the phone to be compared to, it should be the S7 Edge) the insane bias is clearly showed in the charging part, when there is NO SINGLE comparasion with the iphone, because its 2x worst in charging times, and would lose to every single android phone as well, this approve the clear bias and no one can deny it after it.

    Josua Ho, i'm very disappointed and will ignore all of your future reviews!
  • Bigbank - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link

    Rock and roll bro!
    S7 is quite amazing
    Let's smash the iPhone to the junk pile😂
  • 10basetom - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    I would say the Exynos model is a little better than the SD820, but not significantly so.
  • lilmoe - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    No. It's a lot better. Almost generational. I went on a weekend trip with a friend who has a SD variant, the differences were too significant to the point he bought the Exynos variant....

    Even the camera processing is better. The Samsung sensor is even better than Sony's as well.
  • Ratman6161 - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    As I read the article, I was sort of wondering at Samsung's rational for having two different versions. The Exynos seems to win a lot of the benchmarks and overall seems like the better SOC. I know I've been very happy with the 7420 in my Note 5.
  • MonkeyPaw - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    They may not be able to produce enough of them, so they dual source.
  • adramaleck - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    From my understanding the radio is part of the SOC on both chips. The US (Verizon and Sprint) is the only major market where CDMA is still in use. So in the rest of the world Samsung can sell one model which supports GSM frequencies and their own SOC. However, since Verizon (and I assume Sprint) require CDMA support in order for them to allow the phone on their network, Samsung probably find it more cost effective to use the Qualicom chip instead of adding support to the Exynos or producing their own.
  • lilmoe - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    What I was hoping for is a comprehensive deep dive of the differences in hardware of the GS7 series.

    The "true" GS7 models are equipped with Exynos SoCs and all-made-by Samsung parts (including camera sensor). The rest are mix and match units that are comparable to the rest of the "generic" premium flock of devices (including the G5 and HTC 10), in which share common components and only differ in design.

    I seriously wouldn't have minded a review that craps all over Samsung for this deliberate variety in handset hardware, but instead we get a rather lazy attempt of a review where the author is trying really hard to be underwhelmed. Totally not worth the wait...
  • SunnyNW - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    This^. I visit the site quite often but have to agree "Totally not worth the wait..." I was under the impression that the delay might be to give us a detailed deep-dive into the different SOC architectures, you know the Kryo core and the new custom M1 from Samsung. Instead I am having a hard time understanding why it took so long to deliver this review, considering it as a whole...
  • lolipopman - Tuesday, October 4, 2016 - link

    Are you just going to disregard the GPU benchmarks? Or the fact that the throttling on Exynos is far more horrendous?

    Amazingly delusional.
  • zeeBomb - Saturday, July 9, 2016 - link

    Holy crap. About time...
  • rohanneo - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    OH MY GOD!! I can't believe it. Been waiting for this article since months!!
    Really unprofessional of you guys to take TWO months for TWO parts of ONE REVIEW!! Be better next time.
  • 255BB - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    actually it's almost 4 months (the 1st part was out on March 8th.)
  • Infy2 - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Well its still better than AnandTech Galaxy S4 Review Part 2 which was never published.
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Yup, the site is clearly in "coast mode" for several years now.
  • TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Yup. Refusing to hire more writers/full time writers and touting the finals/part time excuse for almost four months lets you know their dedication to their articles on anything that isnt apple.
  • The Garden Variety - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Gentlemen! We have identified the problem and contributed our thoughts. But what do we do? We already know that our conclusions—all of them—are correct here, but how do we enforce action upon Anandtech? How do we make sure they know this continued bias and inattention to anecdotes will not go unpunished? We are in charge, we hold all cards, therefore we must set a course of action and punishment. I await your directives.
  • Ratman6161 - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    "Enforce Action"? What for? As with everything you read online, take it with a grain of salt, add your own experiences, and check multiple reviews/comparisons on multiple sites before purchasing. And if you don't like a site, the best solution is to stop contributing clicks to their count. When clicks go down, advertising revenue goes down.
  • Meteor2 - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Lol ;-)
  • KoolAidMan1 - Saturday, July 9, 2016 - link

    You're my new favorite, Garden Variety.

    These Android Justice Warriors are a riot
  • chrone - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    What is APL workload? :O
  • victorson - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    I have to confess that I usually come in the comments to the to nag about some small detail that you did not cover properly or some small error, but this time it's all praise.
    FINALLY, a proper review that talks straight about the real camera issues with the Galaxy S7 and that terrible post-processing. In a world of tech reviewers that all seem to echo 'the Galaxy S7 is the best camera EVAH' with no attempt at explanation and analysis, it's so refreshing to see you guys speak about all these issues. Thank you for a well-researched and well-written article!
  • LuoSKraD - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    So you agree because they are bad mouthing a company and a phone you don't like? They didn't cover macro shots or anything at all it was preference. It just seemed like another iPhone biased review, undersaturation poor depth of field, bad low light quality. These are just a few examples where Iphones fail at, this was not a thorough review at all it was just focused on being biased towards making a phone look worse than it actually is. There are much better wrote and explained camera reviews out there for instance.
  • victorson - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Don't know about AnandTech, but sure seems like you have a certain bias.
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    I have been coming to Anandtech since 1998, and have always enjoyed it's great reviews... But for the past 3-4 years, they have become very Apple-centric. The comment from LuoSKraD above is pretty correct. It all made sense when Anand himself left the site to go work for Apple, but the clear bias exists, and this review shows it. That is OK, it's not like there aren't other Apple-centric sites out there and it is perfectly withing the sites rights to run thigns the way they want to... But if you are looking for unbiased reviews on any products that compete with Apple, this site is no longer one of them, so browse accordingly.
  • The Garden Variety - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Action, man! You're uncovering a great truth here, but we need action! Our opinion matters more than others—how do we make sure our anecdotes and opinions are enforced in all future reviews? We must keep visiting here, so how do we make sure this community only reflects our opinions? I think this is essential and I need your guidance here.
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    I dont know if we can. The site was sold to "Purch" in 2014. The same parten company that owns Toms hardware. LOL. suffice to say they arent interested in the tech, but the clicks.
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    damn typeslexia... Same "parent" company.
  • Meteor2 - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    You're being trolled :)
  • victorson - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    AT is one of very few websites that tests phones and bases its opinion on rigorous testing than most reviewers. You are entitled to your opinion about bias (as always, without any factual backing), but it's extremely irritating how all of the popular blogs praised the Galaxy S7's camera without mentioning any of its obvious flaws. That's what I call bias: ignoring the objective reality, so that an opinion of the 'best camera ever' can be manufactured and repeated to infinity. The truth, however, is different: the Galaxy S7 has a very fast camera with amazing auto-focus, but the quality of its images suffers as a result.
  • lilmoe - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    The dual pixel focusing system alone makes the GS7's camera leaps and bounds better than the competition. If a reviewer ever so slightly undermines this aspect about the GS7's camera (or any camera in that regard), or believes it's just "OK" needs to work more on their photography skills and overall knowledge.

    There are DSLR and mirrorless manufacturers out there that release sequels to their "pro" line cameras with the only significant upgrade being the focusing system, and pro photographers actually upgrade to that new product.

    The focusing system, in short, either makes you take the image, or end up with a blurry shot where no post processing can ever help.

    If you're THAT worried about post processing, then you need to be shooting RAW. I'm perfectly happy with the post processing on my GS7, and when I KNOW I need all the detail I can get (portraits, landscape, sports) then I simply launch pro mode.
  • jospoortvliet - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    Well, I am fascinated by how different people rate the extreme sharpening Samsung employs. I find it horribly ugly and I keep hoping for either a fix or a setting to disable it on my S7. the HTC one I owned before (m7) made it configurable... please Sammy, copy that.

    I was surprised how undersaturated that night pic was, mine look nice and I agree the fast focus is super important.

    But I do appreciate the test of the radio, that is interesting.
  • Impulses - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    Eh... It's not like Samsung's focusing makes it a particularly great camera for shooting hardcore action (no smartphone within the current climate is gonna manage that)...

    So I'd actually argue that AF doesn't really take such top billing, in fact depending on what you're shooting it can be somewhat irrelevant. On a technical level it's super interesting tho.

    The fact that they've got a dual pixel arrangement working at such a high level almost makes it puzzling that they haven't implemented it on a larger sensor and never tried carrying it over to their now dead camera division.
  • lilmoe - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    Yea, fanboys would have an argument like yours too... Tim Cook knows exactly how important the autofocus system is.
  • Impulses - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    Not sure what brand I'm supposed to be a fan boy of, heh... I've never bought neither a Samsung nor an Apple phone, and probably never will unless Samsung drastically changes their software strategy or GPe comes back.

    My point was coming from a snobbish "I wouldn't use a phone for THAT" (vs a dedicated camera) pov. ;)
  • lilmoe - Friday, July 8, 2016 - link

    Snob... Fanboy... All the same.

    Case in point, you don't need to be shooting fast action to realize the benefits of great autofocus. If you're taking pictures of your kids or buddies on a trip, then it means either getting the shot or not. If it's blurry, then all that snobby pixel peeping won't help you much.
  • FourEyedGeek - Saturday, July 9, 2016 - link

    Judgemental dickwad.
  • johnnohj - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Exactly, how much better was the performance on the browser benchmarks with the Snapdragon browser or the Samsung stock browser? Why didn't you include them?
  • ikjadoon - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Snapdragon Browsers are great; I use one on my OPO and it's a huge boost in scrolling, page loading, and overall speed. Using Chrome vs Tugabrowser on my OPO is like using Firefox vs Chrome on my PC. It's not even close.

    But, they don't ship with the device. It's a 3rd-party app you have to download onto your phone.

    --

    Samsung Browser...yeah, no idea why they didn't include that. That should've been in there. They test Safari on iPhones, why not test SB on Samsung phones?
  • kurahk7 - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Samsung sent everyone Verizon versions which until a couple months ago didn't support the Samsung browser. But since this review was so late, they should have included it and talked about the functionality of it.
  • JoshHo - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    I tried shortly after the Samsung stock browser was made available and a number of our benchmarks wouldn't complete or performed worse than Chrome so I didn't include those results.
  • asfletch - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Hmm that is odd. On my Note 4 Exynos, the Samsung Browser runs Jetstream, Vellamo, Kraken et al just fine, and way faster than Chrome (esp now Adblock Plus is officially available for it - so good). Feels far faster in use too, as mentioned in this review. Maybe it's the SD820 - could Andrei test the 8890 version with Samsung Browser please?
  • realbabilu - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    Yes, Rbrowser is very fast, since it optimized for snapdragon, but still doesn't have cpu internal Javascript decoder like nitro.
  • lilmoe - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    Well, JetStream says that my Core i7 4700MQ is only 15% faster than Apple's A9.

    Just ignore browser benchmarks bro. They're just here to make reviewers feel better about their iPhone...
  • TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    HOLY @#*% FINALLY!

    *goes to read article
  • TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Alright, after reading the review I can say:
    Still not worth $600-$700. Battery life is improved, but man junkwiz is an issue. Its too bad there is no longer a GPe store, as the s7 would make a nice contender. Still a non starter due to the sealed battery, but would be better if stock android was installed. Will be interesting to see what the CM community cooks up for it.
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    " too bad there is no longer a GPe store"
    - That would be great to see... The hardware is really great, but the lousy Samsung software kind of gives is a black eye IMO. Seriously Samsung, just lay off 95% of your software devs and release stock Android phones. You are spending ridiculous amounts of money to make your phones worse. Software is NOT your strong-suit - use your strengths and stop wasting time with your weakness.
  • ph00ny - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Do you guys actually use the latest samsung devices? I'm on Note 5 and i don't have any issues with the TW at all. In fact when i occasionally use my spare Nexus 4 for plex in the bedroom, it feels very spartan. I haven't felt the need to root or install custom firmware in many years and i was a habitual custom firmware flasher back in the days
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Yes, I have had the S7 Edge since March and love it. Day one, I disabled every single Samsung app and every single Verizon app (except for a few that you cannt without root) and the phone is great, battery life is absolutely amazing. The screen is amazing. I love this phone, but Samsung software is absolute crap. I never had an issue with TW, it's the bloatware that sucks. Useless poorly written apps that do nothing but slow you down.
  • ph00ny - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Like which samsung app? When i got my AT&T Note 5, first thing i did was disable dozen or so AT&T bloat but large portion of the samsung apps were left as is. I have samsung pay, all the note related apps, samsung app store, s-health (i actually use this over google fit)
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    All of them. The email app, the VR apps and services, s-health, s-voice, app store, and many many many others. All crap that collectively slow you down. I know some people use some of it, like you say you use s-health. Wouldn't it be nice if the device booted up clean and you had the option to load only s-health and the ones you want instead of having them all shoved onto your ROM and running, consuming memory ? Is it just me?
  • jospoortvliet - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    It isn't just you, I hate all of it too. Turned off what I could, did my best to limit the abilities of the rest but - what a stupid pita. Points for HTC getting rid of that stuff, almost thinking I should've waited for the HTC 10. These apps really are annoying. And yes, uselessly eating ram and battery... sjees.
  • phoenix_rizzen - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    No, it's not just you. That's one of the reasons I like custom ROMs, as most of them just include the OS, the apps needed to make it work as a phone, and to connect to the Play Store. Everything else is up to you. It's quite telling that most of the custom ROMs are around 250 MB, while the TouchWiz version of Android is 2 GB!!

    Sony and Motorola were on a nice path where the default OS install was quite small, and everything else was pre-installed from the Play Store, meaning you could uninstall them normally if you didn't want the app, and you could update the apps via the Play Store without upgrading the whole OS. HTC kind of started down that road, but never went very far.
  • Impulses - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    I'd buy a GPe S7 in an instant, even at $700. As it is now, I'd rather have the HTC 10 but I'm waiting to see what the next Nexus models bring.
  • Ratman6161 - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    No phone is worth $600 to $700. Personally I've never paid more than $100 for a phone...yup still on the two year contract treadmill. But I got my note 5 for $50 because of it.
  • michael2k - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    If you're on the 2 year contract then you're absolutely paying $700 or so for your phone.

    I switched to the Next plan because after I pay off my phone my monthly bill drops by $30/m. Over the 24 months we are paying then is $720 spent on our phone.

    With the 2 year contract, the difference is that your monthly payment doesn't go down after 24 payments.
  • fanofanand - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    Stop lifting the curtain, the man behind it does not want to be seen.
  • Geranium - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    @Anandtech,
    Why you guys are putting Android and iOS benchmark in same table. Aren't they are two different platforms and running on different runtime and APIs?
  • michael2k - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Does it bother you that Apple created their own OS, CPU, and GPU API that makes it difficult for others to compete?
  • The Garden Variety - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    BIAS ALERT. I have flagged michael2k's post for clear Apple bias. Can someone supply me with some anecdotes I can dispatch against his verisimilitudes?
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    I can add that he has been here a long, long time, and is a well known Apple defender. It's one thing to like a company or their products, but totally another do do nothing but defend them year in and year out. m2k is the latter of those 2.
  • michael2k - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Are you saying I'm wrong and the A9 SoC isn't one of the more powerful parts out there? Or are your biases showing?
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Apple has consistently made great CPU's (at thier times) for their iPhones at least since the iPhone 4 if not longer. The CPU is great and the integration makes it even faster. Now getting past that one single measure of a phone that really matters very little anymore (its like saying my Lamborghini si faster than your Ferrari). The OS is outdated, you still dont have alt key mappings in 2016, the battery life on many of them is lacking (of course not hand picked review samples). , the Bezels are huge, the screens are still low res except for the 5.5 inch models, You still cant have more than 4 icons in a row... Even on the immense 12+ inch iPad pro, you have only 4 icons. Still a default app issue, still limited in many ways. None of that is ever mentioned. Nor is the MASSIVE list of missing features that IOS lacks. In the past 3-4 years they have "borrowed" many features from Android, Web OS, and others, but still many are missing.
    - Uh oh, I said negative things about Apple, waiting for the rebuttal because I know its unacceptable to say anything negative about Apple. /shrugs
  • felipecn - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Sure, there are lots of reasons to dislike iOS, but it's still faster on some stuff.
    More icons on the home screen wouldn't change the benchmarks, would they?
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    No it wouldn't. I am just saying the fastest CPU in a benchmark isnt the only measure of a good smartphone. They are all fast. Even a snapdragon 800 from 3 years ago is plenty fast. Comparing the A9 , SD820 and Exynos 8890 is like comparing a Lamborghini, Ferrari and Maserati. They are all fast and all good - once tested, one would eventually be the fastest, but that doesn't make it the best car overall... More to point it doesn't mean a car enthusiast site should favor one over the other.
  • mrochester - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    What you're basically demanding is that everyone should think the same as you. You don't get to demand that.
  • fanofanand - Monday, July 11, 2016 - link

    Try reading it again, he demanded nothing, he simply pointed out that raw CPU speed does not solely define the user experience, just like top speed does not solely define the experience of driving a supercar.
  • Geranium - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    What do you mean??? I am telling that comparing two platform is unfair. And cross platform benchmark don't give accurate results.
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Wow, and only 4 months in the making. This would have been great to read 3 1/2-4 months ago. Its almost fun to come back to Anandtech every so often just to see how late the reviews are. looking forward to the Note 7 review in January 2017 - marked my calendar already ;)
  • 10basetom - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Maybe the S7 got slow after four months of heavy usage ;).
  • Geranium - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    Different browsers on same hardware gives different results, let alone different operating system.
  • Razzy76 - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Weird. I have a regular S7 - Chrome is quite fast - not painfully slow. Facebook is smooth as it can be. And other sites as well. Overall the phone is snappy to me.
  • ikjadoon - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Have you compared it to a Snapdragon browser? I used Chrome and thought it was the fastest...then I downloaded Tugabrowser. It was night & day on my SD801 device (OPO).
  • Razzy76 - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    No never used it. I compared it to my old Lumia Icon I had before this phone.
  • Michael Bay - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Does it mean 960 review is coming shortly? ^_^
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    HA, forget that, I am waiting for the 1060 review to come in 2018.
  • TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Nah, already been delayed to 2019, the 1080 review has to come out in 2018 to make way for the 1160 review in 2020.
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Dammit, I fell asleep and missed all of the changes that will eventually have had taken place. LOL
  • asfletch - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Re: UI failings, I recommend Samsung Good Lock. Have been using it for a couple of weeks on my Note 4 and it's a marked improvement. Of course I have to sideload it because Samsung doesn't want Australians to have it for some reason....

    Oh and the screen protector issue is really a big one for me...after the Note 4 halo saga I'll be seeking out a phone with a flat screen next time (if they still exist).
  • CoolDeepBlue - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Ever since Anand Lal Shimpi left and joined Apple, it is questionable if Anandtech could still review anything related to Apple or their competition.
    Officially there are no ties, but this article does raise eyebrows...it's a pity!
  • Ryan Smith - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Officially, there are no ties.
    Unofficially, there are no ties.

    I cannot control what Anand does (obviously), but we made very sure that there would be no ties to AT once he was gone. Editorial integrity is paramount; without it, we have nothing.

    The opinions you see here are our own opinions, backed by the data we've collected and our experiences in testing a device.
  • Alexey291 - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Yes yes your integrity is indeed paramount. Or rather it was around 2008. Since then? You guys have been running a clickbait site that's notoriously slow on delivering reviews.
  • Ryan Smith - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    I won't argue about our timeliness. It's something we're working on.

    However this is the first time I've ever heard anyone say that they felt we were clickbaity. Could you please elaborate? I personally abhor clickbait, so if we're coming across like that, then that would be extremely helpful feedback.
  • wolfemane - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    click·bait
    ˈklikbāt/
    nouninformal
    (on the Internet) content, especially that of a sensational or provocative nature, whose main purpose is to attract attention and draw visitors to a particular web page.
    "these recent reports of the show's imminent demise are hyperbolic clickbait"

    Shall i point out the retarded PROMOTED STORIES that sprout out. Every time an article is clicked, the page loads straight to them.

    Full page adds with video that drag the site load down (specially on mobile)!

    Ads that load several seconds after the main page loads very close to a link or relevant title. On slower systems or mobile this forces a miss click on those damn adds, and then the whole process of backing up and reloading all that shit again.

    POP UP ADDS.

    Yeah, you're site is now full of this stuff. I don't care about long review times on high demand items, or instant articles on low demand items. There are plenty of reviews out there for me to get the gist of a product. I LOVE the drama that spews forth in the comments and lately is the main reason I visit this site! But most of all I thoroughly enjoy every writer that posts an article to this site.

    What I can not stand is for you to make a post in user comments about how you don't feel your site is clickbait. Do we need to create a thread on the forums and upload every click bait piece of trash that comes up on this site. If you are truly unaware, I think you would be appalled by what would be posted.
  • Michael Bay - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    Nothing you described is a clickbait.
    Beautiful.
  • wolfemane - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    By definition, everything I described is clickbait.

    Here it is again: (on the Internet) content, especially that of a sensational or provocative nature, whose main purpose is to attract attention and draw visitors to a particular web page.

    Promoted Stories with ridiculous titles pulling you to 8 other websites. Clickbait? CHECK

    Giant add on front page "DO YOU NV ME?" by Toshiba taking up a 3rd of the screen. Clickbait? CHECK

    Ad by Rockspace claiming no one supports microsoft exchange like they do, loads 5 seconds after page finishes loading, and becomes header ad damn near forcing a miss click (and on mobile). Clickbait? CHECK

    There's three right off the bat. Thanks for contributing!
  • erple2 - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    I still don't see anything as clickbait that you've described. Poor advertising choices, yes (Ryan, please add me to the list of people that despises anything taboola related, and has concerns over the usability of the site as a result). But not clickbait.

    So far all of the promoted stories have been ... sketchy at best and pretty awful. As wolfemane correctly points out, they make the site seem more like sites that tend to be more clickbait like. Though that gawker is going g under, what does that mean for taboola?
  • Ryan Smith - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    Hi wolfemane,

    Thanks for the feedback. To get right down to business, clickbait is typically a description reserved for editorial. i.e. do I make the title of this review "The Samsung GalaxyS7 and S7 edge Review: Part 2" or the "You won't believe this amazing Samsung Galaxy S7 review"? It goes without saying that we avoid the latter, as I don't believe sensationalism does anyone any favors. Descriptions need to be accurate, and content needs to be meaningful.

    Advertising on the other hand is a different matter. As you may be aware, advertising is handled by our publisher, Purch. Which is to say that it's not AnandTech's content and editorial has no control over it.

    That said, while I don't directly control advertising, the feedback is very useful all the same. All of this feedback gets passed on to Purch, and I have made them aware of your concerns. If you have any concerns about the advertising, please continue to provide feedback, and I'll be sure it gets passed on.
  • Impulses - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    I'm not seeing any of these full page ads, videos, or pop ups, like at all... I do browse mostly on mobile. The promoted stories I do see and I'd agree they're kinda beneath AT, but they don't take up any more space than a standard square ad would.
  • Alexey291 - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    Thank you sir.
  • KoolAidMan1 - Saturday, July 9, 2016 - link

    Anandtech has consistently been the most thorough, honest tech website around. Reality doesn't match up with your personal brand bias so you call them out for being shills.

    Give me a break.
  • h0007h - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Did you compare the still image peformance between 820 and 8890 variants? It is said that in low light, images thaken by 8890 is much better than 820.
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    I saw no difference in image quality.
  • h0007h - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    I just saw some photos in a forum, which indicates that the 8890 version has better noise control. If they have no difference, the low light performance of S7 is too bad, even Note 4 is better than that...
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    I currently have the 820 disassembled but once I put it back together I'll double check the the variant's camera perf.
  • ph00ny - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    That could be due to the fact that Samsung is using their own sensors as well as Sony sensors.
  • Eden-K121D - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Samsung is using their own C3 image signal processor
  • ikjadoon - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Maybe a typo or I haven't had enough coffee:

    "If you subtract out an estimated display power of display power the delta that can be attributed to non-display factors is something like 30% here."

    What does sentence mean? "an estimated display power of display power"? Was there supposed to be a number in there, maybe?
  • JoshHo - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Definitely a typo, late-night editing can lead to things like this at times.
  • ikjadoon - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    No worries; I just realized the typo in my own comment "What does sentence mean?" though I could've swore I wrote a "this" earlier this morning, heh.
  • Buk Lau - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    It's funny there's seems to be an obvious disagreement between AT's reviewers on G5 vs S7.
    http://www.anandtech.com/show/10217/the-lg-g5-revi...
    Matt seems to favor S7's camera heavily over G5's, claiming inconsistent performance on still images while here Josh thinks G5 wins in most cases. Any explanations for the discrepancy here?
  • JoshHo - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    For the most part it's a difference of opinion regarding what kind of noise is acceptable, or if it's acceptable at all. I tend to favor preserving fine detail even if there is luminance noise. However I find color noise to be strongly distasteful.
  • Buk Lau - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Then do you think there'll be a second opinion review on these two? Because now there's a clear divide among AT's reviewers on how to evaluate the quality of still images. Either you guys can conform to a more uniform standard or it should be noted that the evaluation of these are still quite heavily subjective. I just don't think there's should be that many inconsistencies if you guys are only publishing one cumulative review for each device
  • fanofanand - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    Excellent, honest answer. People need to keep in mind that a LOT of stuff when it comes to tech (GUI etc.) comes down to subjective preference. Josh clearly likes Apple products and it shows in his reviews. Some won't like it, others will. It's near impossible to have a 100% objective review. I abhor the time to publish as of late, but for the most part their reviews are still second to none. For the most part.
  • ikjadoon - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    "Given that these devices have locked bootloaders it's difficult to really go deep and try to figure out exactly what's causing these issues, but it's likely that Samsung Mobile has the engineering staff to do this and resolve these issues as a 600 USD phone really shouldn't be performing worse than a 400 USD phone."

    And this is the crux of the problem Android market in 2016! A 50% increase in price...means maybe a 10% decrease in performance?

    We talk about the Android ecosystem giving choices (and I've benefited from that choice, having owned 4 Android devices from 3 different manufacturers)....price and performance should be related.

    At a certain point (certainly when you get closer to $1,000), these devices should be making meaningful upgrades over cheaper brethren.

    Otherwise...what are we paying for? Maybe Samsung's relatively good update support? Water-proofing?
  • theduckofdeath - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Just in time for the Galaxy Note 7 release!

    By the way. Has this site ever delved into the extreme energy usage accompanied by excellent performance numbers when benchmarking apps are running on the iPhones? Or is that kind of cheating only an issue when it's done by a random Android OEM?
  • MonkeyPaw - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    As an LG G4 owner, I find it odd that its wifi browsing battery score is worse than the LTE. My experience has been the opposite for the many months I've operated the device.
  • theduckofdeath - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    I guess the reviewer screwed this up like most other things when reviewing non-Apple products. Samsung phones use LTE and Wifi simultaneously by default when you enable Wifi.
    I mean, the review just reeks of nias with a natural negative stance to anything not Apple. Hopefully this will be the last review posted by Joshua. If not for his persistent bias towards anything not-Apple but for the disgracefully delayed post of this review. The phone is almost six months old and it's the biggest selling phone of the year....
  • theduckofdeath - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    *bias
  • Matt Humrick - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    The purpose of these specific battery tests is to measure the difference in battery life when using WiFi vs. LTE, which is why we do not run it with them on simultaneously.
  • Matt Humrick - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    I've updated the G4's LTE battery life. The first time I ran the G4 was before we established our target value for signal strength, and the value I used was too strong. I need to rerun the Nexus 6P too.
  • Bonedatt - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    "I’m left wondering what Samsung would be capable of if they cared about getting things right even if no one would notice the extra frame drop or 50ms of roam latency".... This is how I feel about Samsung too. I've never owned an iPhone but I just have this feeling that Samsung continues to hold back. Either that or they don't do a good job in showcasing their efforts
  • The Garden Variety - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    From now on, Anandtech should first conduct a comprehensive survey of people's anecdotal experiences with a given product, and compare those anecdotes against their completed (but unpublished) review. Any instance where the anecdotes disagree with the un-published findings, those un-published findings should immediately be removed, or changed to reflect agreement with the consensus of anecdotes. Any refusal to do so, or immediately acknowledge the veracity of those anecdotes is a sign of bias, and the likelihood that great sums of money are changing hands behind the scenes becomes self-evident.

    There's no place for technology reviews that do not reflect consensus. None. To believe otherwise means you are part of the conspiracy and your opinions on all subjects are invalid.
  • MonkeyPaw - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    I see what you're saying, but sometimes you have to question testing methodology. In my case, the LG G4 scores lower battery on wifi versus LTE. That goes against my personal experience, but it also goes against the long-standing expected results. By nature, wifi shoukd be better, as the phone is closer to source and disables mobile data to boot. Pointing this out should hopefully provide insight to AT.
  • whiteiphoneproblems - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Haha -- um, I'm almost certain TGV is being sarcastic (as in their other great comments here).
  • name99 - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Where's the usual comment complaining about one month and still no GTX 1080 review?
    Someone is slipping up!!!
  • Michael Bay - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    I don`t see you shilling for crapple either!
  • vyis - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    I feel that this new review is a degradation compare to previous method.

    First of all, why do a in-lab like battery life measurement while disabling all the background services? There's a fare share of background service that should be left running to show differences in manufacturer control of background service (and samsung is particular bad at this)

    On the GPU side, it's not an accurate statement for say SD820 won't do as well in game as A9. It depends on Game API and GPU design bias on type of raw processing core. On android, game developer may not code to harness the full potential of SD820 processing power. Apple did have upper hand as they straight down hardware to software control.

    There's a mistake at camera section. "There is nothing out there that can realistically match the dual pixel AF system in the Galaxy S7, especially once you get into low light scenarios where traditional PDAF systems are overwhelmed by noise" Instead of PDAF, it should be contrast detection AutoFocus that struggle in low light.

    For daylight still, samsung do have more sharping processing, however, 6s plus is not light on post-processing. In good lighting condition, 6s plus process away too much details. Without raw file i can't be sure type of processing being done. More over, s7 lens element is of sharper focus compare to 6s plus.

    For low light still, i'm interested in all the 6s s7 comparison mention all over the article, just click into original file and see for yourself. For s6 and s7 comparison, it's hard to say without raw file. A different direction of post processing is being used.

    Regardless, i can't agree that samsung have gone the direction of stronger noise reduction and sharpening. I can obviously see a much stronger noise reduction used on s6 low light still.

    Video wise no comment. Sony digital image stabilization is best implementation on smartphone. Those tiny OIS on smartphone just making viewer sea sick.

    Battery life, i do agree s7 is just ok. Sammy software have a problem in control background activity.
  • Impulses - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    Dunno whether you can really make any generalisation regarding PDAF vs CDAF in low light... If you go look at high end cameras, the best DSLR out there tend to AF pretty great in low light but not necessarily across the whole frame and not all high end DSLR are equally adept at it.

    Then you look at mirrorless bodies which traditionally rely on CDAF more heavily and there's a lot of them (even with smaller sensors like Panasic/Olympus) that can absolutely nail low light AF regardless.

    Most of the mirrorless bodies are going with a hybrid approach anyway (largely for C-AF purposes, which falls well beyond what any phone is capable of), so yeah, I dunno... Seems like a pointless generalisation.

    On a technical level Samsung's dual pixel AF seems pretty interesting, it's odd that it never saw the light of day in their larger sensors and NX system before they killed it off.
  • joex4444 - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Huawei, Xiaomi, and OnePlus are priced the way they are because they have next to no brand recognition. If they can start to prove a track record of quality phones that have demand, I would expect them to start selling for $600-$800 not $400.
  • UtilityMax - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    If Oneplus, like a decade later, finally earns a widespread brand recognition so it can charge some premium prices for its products, then some other startup manufacturer will take their place. In fact, sooner or later we're going to see a collapse of the prices of the big brand smartphones. We have already reached a "peak iPhone" in the sense that a LOT of people who are owning a three year old flagship smartphone will no longer be compelled to shell out 600-800 bucks for this years latest model. 200-300USD is already new normal for the mid-range smartphones. I just saw a brand new Moto G4 test phone at Best Buy, and that's how they're priced already.
  • fanofanand - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    This right here. Commoditization is taking place like in the PC space, and while there may be a few remaining "high-end" phones out there, the VAST majority of sales will come in the sub $400 space. With subsidies disappearing, fewer and fewer people will shell out $700-1000 for a new phone every year, or even every other year. Just taking a look at the mid-range phones in the $200-300 space, as you mentioned, yields a huge number of competent phones that will meet the majority of users needs. Apple is going to need a new trick to maintain it's profitability, which is probably why they are flinging things at the wall in desperation, i.e. the watch, the Apple Car, etc.
  • lilmoe - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    Does support and availability ring a bell? Sure, the high-end is overpriced, but companies like Samsung and LG have WAY more overhead and licensing to pay for than Chinese companies. This isn't only about brand recognition.
  • Impulses - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    I dunno that any of these companies really have great support, as in customer support, none are doing great at updates tho I'll grant you the Samsung and HTC of the world (maybe not LG) are probably doing better than OPO and Huwaei at long term updates...

    You're probably right about availability, but will that matter in the long run? I could care less about whether the phone I buy is available in Best Buy or the carrier store. I surely represent a minority in that regard but that could change...
  • lilmoe - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    "I dunno that any of these companies really have great support"

    Good support > NO support.

    Consumers don't care about updates, what they care about is repairs and returns. When it comes to updates, Samsung is delivering security updates on a monthly basis. I personally stopped caring for the "latest and greatest" version of Android.

    You probably wouldn't care until your device starts acting up. For most people, just walking in to fix their phones is a lot more appealing than mailing them in (if the latter was even available).
  • Impulses - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    Repairs and returns... Doesn't everyone that care about that just pay the carrier for insurance? I guess the extended warranties the likes of HTC have been providing lately are nice too... I'm not really sure the mass market cares a ton about that tho, mostly out of cluelessness, if anything they go for the easiest option (insurance)...

    You talk about walking in for a fix, but that comes down to carriers, not really Samsung, at least in the US... And the vast majority of the time they just hand out replacements because it's quicker and involves less work and staffing on their part.

    If Samsung or some other big OEM has walk in service centers elsewhere in the world that's need to me. If anything, you're making a case for things like Apple Care... And before you accuse me of being a fan boy again, the only piece of Apple hardware I've ever owned was an iPod touch 2nd gen.
  • Impulses - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    These's news (not need) to me rather.
  • lilmoe - Friday, July 8, 2016 - link

    Here's another piece of news for you, there's a vast new world abroad.
  • ph00ny - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    As a long time reader of the site, i miss Brian. His analytical style of writing fit the site perfect back in the days
  • vyis - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    His nexus 4 review is the first i read here, and make me stay here
  • ph00ny - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    I remember offering to send my international Note 1 to him so that he can review it since they didn't release one for another four months and that was released with snapdragon
  • more-or-less - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Frankly speaking, hugely dissapointed with the review and the effort put by the editor. Some battery tests missing Exynos values or Edge values. What on earth took 4 months for this review??
    I am sincerely waiting for a deep-dive article by Andrei F. Otherwise, this review is just a dissapointment on every level.
    If you release a review after 4 months, make it worthwhile. I am 'sure' this review could have been finished within 1 month, if someone wanted to.
  • Ryan Smith - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    "Some battery tests missing Exynos values or Edge values."

    This is a pretty common misconception, but AnandTech isn't located in a single, central office, which impacts how we do testing. Most tests are done in isolation anyhow, so it's not an issue, but LTE is by its very nature a location-sensitive test. In this case the International (Exynos) S7 is with our international editor, Andrei, which means that it wasn't able to be tested alongside the North American (Snapdragon) S7.
  • more-or-less - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Doesn't make up for the fact that even after 4 months, this review looks rushed and incomplete. One of the most underwhelming reviews I have read in this site, and it's obvious that the quality of articles have gone down massively.
    I now only trust Andrei to give proper articles, others seem to be reading from a old script.
  • Chris_m1296 - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    how did the exynos version manage 2800 on the slingshot es 3.1 unlimited test? mine only manages 2200 and even futuremark lists the exynos version at 2200.
  • Newair - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    The S7 edge is without a doubt the worst phone I have ever owned.
    1st of all, it's texture is very slippery
    In fact if I hadn't dropped it within 5 minutes of buying it and doing some damage, I would have returned them by now. Yes them. Bought 2.
    Constantly charging battery
    Perhaps it's just the way I hold the phone, but constantly touching something on the screen with a finger and off it goes in a different direction
    Keyboard is miserable. More often than not, when I press 0 I get 9. Have never had this much trouble typing.
    In all, if I could afford it, I would through thing out the window.
  • dawheat - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    This might be one of the worst reviews I've read on Anandtech and the slide though gradual, is persistent.

    The S7 Edge is the more exciting device and one of the few genuinely unique Android devices but the review generally ignores it outside of a few token areas.

    For example, how many times does the writer have to state that battery life is good only due to size? Who really cares how it accomplishes class leading battery life, considering that it's still much more compact AND lighter than the 6S Plus. Yet the S7 Edge gets incredibly faint praise for battery life - only one of the most important aspects of a device.

    And with the comment about it being a heavy phone, I'm befuddled how a 10% heavier phone in the 6S Plus gets a free pass.

    The camera review also ends up showcasing nerds in basements where only perfectly still photos matter- in the real world for example, trying to get pictures of your moving kids is hugely dependent on focus speed and the difference between a mushy blur and actually capturing a memory.

    Oh and of course, not actually running browser benchmarks on the stock browser that comes with the device...again.

    But all together just bleh - compared to someone like Andrei, this writer is just balls.
  • more-or-less - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    "But all together just bleh - compared to someone like Andrei, this writer is just balls."

    -- Agree on this entirely. Compared to deep-dive articles that Andre produces, this review is just worthless. How someone could approve this review after 4 months of 'investigation' is beyond my understanding? Better get another reviewers, this Joshua guy doesn't insipre any level of confidence.
    How did he manage to get a post in Anandtech to review phones is still a mystery.

    They took 4 months to publish this, SMH :(
  • retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Yup. Totally agreed.
  • msh - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Hi

    This snapdragon browser you write you need to install to get acceptable performance on the SD820 variant, where is one able to obtain that?

    I cant find it in google play.
  • variab1e - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    While I greatly value these reviews. They lack what every review I've found lacks , a test of the radio's RF performance. First and foremost these are phones, or in the broadest sense, wireless communications devices; what could be more important than its ability to send and receive data?! I really respect Anandtech for its technical accuracy, and think that adding this component to its reviews would help to differentiate it from other vanilla sites. A lab setup to a standard candle signal source and then real world tests would be nice, but even the latter alone would be useful!
  • anactoraaron - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    hmmm...

    "The Galaxy S7 and S7 edge are still great phones, but the difference between a $400 phone and a $700 phone are these details when phones like the OnePlus 3 are providing almost the same product at a dramatically reduced price. There are clear points of differentiation between the Galaxy S7 and OnePlus 3 or Mi5 in terms of features, but I don’t think it’s enough to be worth the $300"

    Unless you like looking at a 1080 pentile amoled and think that Samsung Pay, a wildly better display, VR capability (not mentioned in this review - although just about everyone who got this device got a VR headset for free) and water resistance isn't worth $300. After owning the G4 and the ridiculously terrible panel on it for a year I was REALLY happy paying just north of $100 more than I did for the G4 at launch time for the S7 Edge.

    Seriously I feel betrayed that we all had to wait this long for this review and even given all this time, it feels rushed and as if the reviewer didn't really want to do it, especially the tone at the end. It's like he's saying, "yeah it's the best phone for android - if that matters at all - but it still feels 'meh' to me just like everything else these days. You are better off with the iPhone."

    What exactly has apple done to innovate and drive this industry forward the past 2 years? Force touch? Squeeze identical components into a smaller device?

    Seriously I don't know how a review like this would be published on Anandtech. It's reviews like this for what has been clearly the best android phone of the year is how this site gets constantly called out for bias. And this time for good reason.
  • OscarK - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    This is a great article Joshua. It's strange that people would complain, thinking that it is bias simply because you stated the truth and didn't blindly praise it's camera like other reviewers whom somehow have become the embodiment of the likes of Steve McCurry. They might as well say it's bias towards the g5 which you stated is a better still camera (maybe they have some enmity with apple. I don't know). I for one like properly exposed natural photos. I will be getting the one plus 3 though. Loved the review on it.
  • barn25 - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    I don't know how you all wasnt able to test the 8890 version when pretty much all variants of it support almost all US LTE bands.
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    Because I have that unit and I'm on a different continent and I can't achieve good signal conditions to be able to do a apples to apples comparison to other devices. I'll do 820 vs 8890 comparisons under my network but the values will not be representative to other devices.
  • SunnyNW - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    Just a question...but could you guys realistically not ship it back and forth within the four months or so that it took for this review?
  • Jodiuh - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    I usually never post about this and I OWN an iPhone, but FOUR MONTHS for a review when you guys only took one week for the last iPhone?

    I don't know what has happened to this site, but it seems to take forever to get reviews out now if we even get them.

    And it's not just cell phones, there's still no 1080/1070/480 reviews either.

    :-(
  • DCide - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    "... as soon as I start looking closer at everything I start to see cases where Samsung just doesn’t seem to care enough. Everything about the phone seems to be targeted towards being a great experience for the first week or two of ownership ..."

    Spot on! This is exactly how I've seen Samsung mobile devices for a number of years now - I've just never seen it in print before!

    This is exactly why I ultimately exclude Samsung from consideration whenever shopping for an Android device.
  • TheITS - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    This review managed to find only metrics in which the S7 can be directly compared to every other phone and then tells us that the phone as a whole is average. Where is the testing of the unique features it brings to the table like VR and water resistance? The camera is so fast why isn't there a comparison to see if it can capture lifes more transient moments than the rest of the phone market? People want to know whether it's a phone worth buying and living so please next time explore everything the phone can do and not just where it overlaps.

    I can see that there is a lot of content in the review but it's a shame that the reviewer doesn't seem to have identified what Samsung were trying to do as a whole with the total experience and whether they hit the mark.
  • theduckofdeath - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    That is unfortunately what Anandtech has been about for about a decade.
  • raptormissle - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Takes 3 months to review an Android phone yet iPhones get the red carpet treatment around here at anandtech. The old boss must be still calling the shots. Even mechanical keyboards have a higher priority around here.
  • watzupken - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    "The Galaxy S7 is clearly packed with features and ticks all the right boxes, but as soon as I start looking closer at everything I start to see cases where Samsung just doesn’t seem to care enough. Everything about the phone seems to be targeted towards being a great experience for the first week or two of ownership"

    Despite the review turning up very late, i.e. at least 4 months late, I still appreciate the objective reviews from the site. I have to agree what is mentioned in the conclusion based on my experience with Samsung products over the years. I was actually contemplating to try out the S7 to see if anything changed, but I think I will skip it.

    One honest feedback to folks at Anandtech: Objective reviews are highly appreciated, but they need to be fast as well. Using this article as example, 4 months into the product launch means most people have purchased the product, which greatly diminishes the value of the review.

    Thank you folks.
  • sevenmack - Wednesday, August 10, 2016 - link

    Not for me and not for many people who buy phones on contract. My two-year contracts usually end in October, months after many phones are released. Knowing how well phones are peforming out of the box matters no matter when they come out. So the review is timely for many of us out there.

    Additionally, as I have experienced latelywith two LG G4s dying bcause of motherboard issues, you may find yourself in the market for a new phone at an unexpected time. Again, the review is timely for me and for other people.

    Finally: Testing a phone properly takes time. The reality is that the reason that so many other outlets released their reviews so quickly is because they aren't doing much of anything to put the phones through the paces. The average smartphone review is shallow, superficial and uttlerly devoid of objective data.

    Anandtech does it differently -- and I appreciate that. You may not. That's your problem and you can take your eyeballs elsewhere.
  • virtuastro - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    Front Camera Aperture Size is F/1.7 not F/2.2. Might be typo. Or maybe is it on international phone? Anyway not bad review but I still keep my GS6 for great camera at low-light no pixels issue just a bit over-saturated but it can be do quick editing.
  • hans_ober - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    No Soc /Exynos deep-dive?
  • JoshHo - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    It should be coming but I'm not sure when Andrei will finish it.
  • Mark W 52 - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link


    Read this article about these two phones, your conclusions and characterized poor battery of the Nexus 6P is definitionally NOT CONSISTENT with the findings of this other write up.

    http://www.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s7-ed...
  • Mark W 52 - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    I would definitely rather have and recommend a "pure vanilla Android experience" over the bloated touch wiz skin that Samsung puts on their phones. I had an old S3, and had to drop it over two years ago when it couldn't be updated and got stuck on 4.3 Android. Samsung and T-MOBILE could not agree on the terms and conditions even though Google told me that the the phone could have gone to 4.42. And, Samsung takes forever to update their devices. On the other hand, updates from Google have recently been monthly. Big difference,. I'm sticking with Google phones from now on.
  • fanofanand - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    The monthly updates are security updates. Important, no doubt, but they are not OS updates. I would never buy a non-Nexus phone because I value the security updates as well as the OS updates, but don't be confused on what is being updated.
  • erple2 - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    True, but the security updates are actually the important ones. OS updates are nice and all, but the reason I've been nexus only since the Nexus 4 is for security updates.
  • InspectHerGadget - Sunday, July 31, 2016 - link

    I agree. I think waiting for the latest OS update is frustrating. The fragmentation of Android is a major issue especially if you are waiting for a bug fix. I had one on my Note 5 on the photo app where it went into the digital zoom rather than taking the photo. I had to close then reopen the camera app before I could take the photo. It did this only occasionally but often enough just the same.
  • pav1 - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link

    This review is too late. Too darn late, to be precise. I bought the s7 for the camera and am disappointed.
  • virtuastro - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    Exactly. My friend bought the S7 for the camera. We tested together between the S6 16mp F/1.9 (my phone) and S7 F/1.7 12mp 1.4 µm. Autofocus is indeed faster on S7 than the S6. Still Image quality and Low-Light still better on S6 for the most part. The LG G4 and G5 both still use 16mp and great in low-light as well. I am not going to upgrade GS7 but waiting for next year. Hopefully Samsung need to back at 16mp F/1.7 to F/1.9 might add more faster autofocus. P.S. English is not my first language.
  • lilmoe - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    Provided sensor technologies are similar, the size of individual photosites don't matter really, what ultimately matters is the size of the sensor (the total amount of light captured) and the speed of the lens.

    Lower resolution images are better for faster and more fine-tuned post processing.
  • Impulses - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    Buying any high end phone largely on the basis of it's camera, particularly if you already have a decent 1-2 yr old flagship phone, is a huge waste of money IMO. The same kind of money gets you so much more in a dedicated camera, whether it's a P&S, DSLR, or compact mirrorless ILC.

    Smartphones killed low end small sensor P&S cameras, that market was essentially gutted (and with good reason as it was quite stagnant), but they're still far far behind anything else.
  • beginner99 - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    "There are clear points of differentiation between the Galaxy S7 and OnePlus 3 or Mi5 in terms of features, but I don’t think it’s enough to be worth the $300"

    True but it's war from $300 if you look at real prices at which you can buy the phones especially international version. I was very interested in the Mi5 but now that it is finally available here much less so. The 64 GB variant is about $30 cheaper than the 32 gb S7 (international). The later however is water-proof, has an sd-slot and more importantly also more LTE bands, better screen and camera plus it's less risk in general and higher resale value because Samsung. (The 32 gb mi5 has a slower SOC). Even though it kind of hurts me to go Samsung which everyone else has here that doesn't have an iPhone, it's the phone that suits me best. What also concerns me, is that benches you show here don't show the whole truth. Look at below comparisons. The S7 is just way faster in real-life:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR2zq5I3i4g
  • tansnhands66 - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    I never had the 6 but there were a lot of little things I miss from the 5 and the Note Edge. Texting lost a lot like no delayed sending, no "send now" on scheduled texts, no editing scheduled texts,and no repeat timed notification reminder . And for the calendar, no timed snooze setting (10,15, etc. minutes) and no "go to date" option. And don't get me started on the ONLY tone for the timer. It sounds like "Bedonkadonk, Bedonkadonk". Very annoying.
  • Meteor2 - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    For some reason I decided to read the comments before the article and... are we reading the same review? Joshua, this is a well-balanced, accurate and fair review. I don't like iOS but bottom line is top-drawer Android is well behind Apple. I love my Nexus 5X for its display, UI, and value. Flagship Android phones are poor value right now.
  • KoolAidMan1 - Sunday, July 10, 2016 - link

    Anandtech always has been and remains one of the most unbiased, objective sites out there.

    Some people see that a GS7 gets BTFO by even the iPhone SE and their brains break. It just doesn't compute that "Crapple" continues to deliver with the best hardware so they have temper tantrums and call AT biased shills.

    Its so childish. If these people would use empirical data instead of their personal emotional bias they might learn something.
  • darkich - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    "when themes can have noticeable effects on performance and battery life".. WHAT KIND OF BS IS THIS, AT!?!?
  • Michael Bay - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    Surprised by this?
    Try using your head then, it helps.
  • darkich - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    Oh really..
    Themes affect the performance and battery life in such minor extent that pointing it out on a supposedly the most professional tech site is utterly ridiculous.
    I used themes on my phone since Symbian OS! And even then the effect on battery endurance and performance has been unnoticeable.
  • Michael Bay - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    Somebody hasn`t lived in the nexus times then.
  • more-or-less - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    What has nexus got to do with themes?? your statements make no sense at all.
  • Impulses - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    I don't get it either, and I have a Nexus 5... Shouldn't a theme just be a replacement of a series of textures and color profiles that are basically static and loaded just the same regardless of how they're tweaked?

    I found the comment by Joshua kinda suspect too, maybe I'm missing something, BUT I don't see how themes really help with Samsung's UI foibles either.

    You might get rid of their color choices, at best, but it does nothing for all the substituted apps and extra UI elements you can't alter (never mind background processes and optimizations); those are the bigger issue with TouchWiz.
  • JoshHo - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    I'm not sure what exactly was done in the Android theming system but somehow some third party themes have noticeable effects on performance.
  • Artmi$$ - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    excuse me but where is the HTC 10 complete review ???
  • retrospooty - Friday, July 8, 2016 - link

    HTC 10 review? That isnt made by Apple, it wont come until 2017, if at all.
  • lopri - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    How AT can publish this low quality review after such a long wait is beyond me. It is almost as if the author, after many (justifiable) criticism directed to him, had decided to stick it up to readers in defiance.

    So very disappointed. Sort of editing and quality control by a seasoned reviewer is warranted, IMO.
  • R. Hunt - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    Anandtech is slowly fading into irrelevance, this review being perfect proof of it: too late to matter, content not really warranting the long wait.
  • ntp - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    The Gear VR received no mention even though it's the best mobile VR and games like Anshar Wars 2 are insanely fun in multiplayer.

    The Vulkan API deserves at least some words, since it will increase performance significantly when proper implementations will come out.

    Waterproofing adds considerable value also, since it can make the difference between buying a working phone or a brick.

    And regarding cameras, how can you even compare Apple's F2.2 with F1.7?! They are in completely different leagues yet I see no mention of the advantages Samsung brought by having the fastest lens of any phone: lower exposure times (less handshake) or less noise. If you'd have used a DSLR camera you'd know that the F number is basically what you pay for in a lens, all other things being the same.

    This is not a biased review. It's just... unprofessional. Too bad it took AT so long for something so incomplete.
  • Impulses - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    There's a heck of a lot more to a DSLR lens than aperture, specially if you're not chasing shallow DoF (which a phone can't manage in most circumstances).

    f2.2 vs f1.7 is actually 3/4ths of a stop, which isn't nothing but it's not like night and day either... It means shooting at 1/40 vs 1/80 or less than one ISO stop higher.

    Nevermind that very often the f stop lies and it's not a true measure of light transmission, since it's merely and literally a ratio representing a physical iris measurement.

    Glass coatings and other factors can affect actual light transmission, which is why cine lenses have more accurate T stops... Then you gotta figure in sensor size and efficiency, etc etc.
  • realbabilu - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    If we bought for performance. The lags or the speed of apps is quite small than last one or two years ago oneplus one s801, you can't fell it big difference unless on benchmarking apps.
    The photos can tell different story, you can know it good or bad than last year mobile or other features like ois
  • ntp - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    That's a very thoughtful reply, Impulses, thanks. But with the small sensors of smartphones I think 3/4ths of a stop is a significant advantage, more so than in the case of large sensor cameras, since we'd care about the F number in low light scenarios, where the ISO will be high. I'm just saying it should be better emphasized so people understand the real world advantages it gives.
  • Impulses - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    It's a valid point, I'm just saying you can't look at that in a vacuum, specially since you're not looking at an ILC anyway... If you can't swap any parts, then the end result is all that really matters and that includes sensor efficiency, post processing (unless you're shooting RAW, a rarity on phone users), the presence of OIS, effectiveness of the latter, and even things like how smart the auto mode is...

    That last bit is probably beyond AT's more data driven evaluation, but a phone that relies to heavily on OIS for instance (or HDR) might take more blurry shots under real life conditions... That actually does favor a faster aperture but the point is emphasising specs in a vacuum is pointless.
  • mavsaurabh - Tuesday, July 12, 2016 - link

    I just wish to reply regarding aperture , you rightly said that f no causes cost to skyrocket in case of lslr ens all else being equal, the catchphrase is all being equal ! In case of constraints of mobile photography, lens stack size & weight limitations, heat produced etc leads to various compromises like plastic lens which coupled with bigger apertures leads to higher corner aberration, diffraction etc etc. in end as Impulses wrote what matters is the end result which is fine tuned balance of various compromises made !
    I am a pixel peeper and street, landscape photgrapher by hobby with 25 years of film and digital shooting through Slr's , mobiles , compacts, Fuji X100.
    My observation is that samsung uses hard sharpening and over saturated colors which "creates" pleasing photos on phone screen but if you display it on decent monitor and zoom to even 50% you will see various artefacts and no latitude for post processing. Now most of casual photographers will like larger than life portrayal or smearing of face pimples etc by clever use of face detection but hey any one who loves photography will differ!
    I completely agree about fast focussing advantages but honestly i am yet to use a mobile camera with lens fast enough to freeze pet/ child movement in indoor light to take advantags of fast focussing.
    Only phone which was able to do that with use of proper flash though is Nokia 808 Pureview and kudos to its mazing manual controls plus superb post processing which bettered apple even in natural post processing !
  • beggerking@yahoo.com - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    please just stop those BS apple biased benchmarks at 10x lower resolution... just take them off the chart! its not even a good comparision and serves no uses.
  • realbabilu - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    What you see on your screen mobile is what you get. Offscreen just measuring the gpu can do,basically it useless for user because you can't see it.
  • lilmoe - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    "The one notable shortfall here is that Samsung only allows 800 ISO max in manual ISO mode when the true maximum is 1250"

    I had that number in mind when I read it last night, and was too lazy to test. I've tested it now and my unit can go up to 1600 ISO. Is that also a variable difference in Samsung's sensor (mine is Samsung made), or is the extra third stop on mine extended?
  • Chris_m1296 - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    Joshua ho, how did the exynos 8890 manage this score on slingshot es 3.1 unlimited? mine only got 2223 and even 3dmark themselves list the exynos version at 2223.
  • UtilityMax - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link

    Some people complain that the review is too harsh. But my personal view is that if this is a +650USD smartphone that _also_ happens to be carrier locked, it'd better be not just good, but _excellent_ in every respect. Otherwise, it's not clear what exactly justifies the price premium over a phone like Oneplus 3 or why a typical shopper should choose this over an apple product.
  • Impulses - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    I kinda agree... I still feel some areas could've been better tested given how long the review date got dragged out, but there was still content here that's pretty unique to AT. I think the market, overall, is definitely giving the high end OEM too much of a pass given the prices phones are now commanding.

    A $1,000+ laptop with performance sapping bloat that the user can't remove (that aren't part of the core OS) would get ripped to shreds. It's time $700+ phones were held to the same standards.
  • realbabilu - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    I wish AT can check the touchscreen latency between these mobile. Sometimes you got powerful chip but still some lags noticeable.
    I want to see where the real apps excluding the benchmark app that can utilize all Cores and where the cpu can use smart management where the app need use all power and which not. Simple that sometimes a 2D games like
    Air attack 2 could raise temperature very high. Smart management cpu may decrease the power that doesn't needed for those apps.

    Good review. And nice to review high end to cheap Chinese phones, so we can now where it pays..
  • Magicpork - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    So it took them 4 months to write up an Apple Biased review... no wonder the reputation of anandtech has fallen so much recently..
  • KoolAidMan1 - Sunday, July 10, 2016 - link

    This comment section taught me that reality is biased.

    Instead of being mad at Anandtech that a GS7 got BTFO by an iPhone SE, maybe you should demand more from Google and OEMs to improve their hardware and operating system.
  • Ihabo - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    Galaxy S7 Edge Wins In:

    +IPS68 Water & Dust Resistant
    +Quad HD Super Amoled Screen ( brighter under sun light ) and immersive
    +Dual Pixel New Technology Camera - Very Fast in Auto Focus & Low Light
    +3,600mAh Battery last one day easily of heavy usage
    +Exynos8890 Better than SnapDragon 820 in Battery Performance.
    +Wireless Charging
    +No Heat while fast charging

    Phone of the Year no Doubt
  • beggerking@yahoo.com - Monday, July 11, 2016 - link

    now only if they'd bring removable battery back... then i'd be all over it.

    still keeping my s5 for the time being.
  • AJP - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    Regarding the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge Review, when comparing benchmarks please take into account the APPLE Iphone screen resolutions are much lower. That will bias the results in their favour and should be considered before making any comments.
  • blackcrayon - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    Did you even read the review? For as long as I can remember, they've been showing both onscreen and offscreen GPU benchmarks for this very reason. And they specifically mention it in the review that the iPhone GPU keeps up on-screen because of the lower resolution.
    As for the CPU benchmarks, it comes down to Apple's really high single core performance and optimized browser engine. One advantage of designing both the hardware and all of the software in tandem.
  • JoeDuarte - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    Does anyone know what the author means by Google's optimizations - or lack thereof - for Chrome on Android? What optimizations? Does Google normally do something special? I don't understand what he's referring to.

    Also, what does he mean by Samsung's lack of optimization of the UI? Is there a standard set of optimizations that OEMs do on Android phones? Is he talking about low level C code, or ARM assembly or something?
  • Impulses - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    In the case of the browser, there's optimizations other browsers can and have done for specific SoC, it used to be a lot more common before Chrome for Android being the stock browser tho it's still prevalent... I'm guessing for whatever reason Google has never implemented such hardware specific optimizations.

    In the case of the UI, there's a lot of Samsung elements added atop the base OS that do drag performance down, other OEM have scaled back their OS customizations or fine tuned then over time (namely Moto and HTC to an extent)... Samsung's approach is still pretty heavy handed.
  • UltraWide - Thursday, July 7, 2016 - link

    "Samsung is better than anybody else at learning from its competitors. "A market reader is sort of the classic fast follower," explains Barry Jaruzelski, senior partner at Booz&Co and the co-author of the Global Innovation 1000. "It doesn't mean they ignore their customers, but they're very attuned to what competitors are doing and what other people are bringing to market first and observing what seems to be gaining traction, then very rapidly coming up with their own version of that innovation."

    http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-corporate-s...

    That's always been Samsung's strength, it will take time to change the whole corporation's mantra.
  • ray_cheeno - Sunday, July 10, 2016 - link

    Dear Joshua, it's very fine that you point out that the Samsung S7 too expensive compared to One plus 3 and Xaomi Mi5. I have not seen a comment to your favored Apple IPhone 6 and 6S. Therefore I would like to see a Part 3 and more objectivity. Thank you.
  • Lau_Tech - Sunday, July 10, 2016 - link

    I feel that going forward Josh should do the Iphone reviews and Andrei should do the Android phone ones.

    I don't doubt the objectivity of either writer, but Josh's tendency to downplay and undersell android phones and features, as well as to produce late reviews, has undoubtedly contributed to Anandtech's reputation as an pro Apple site.

    Splitting up the phones (perhaps android phones require 2 writers, given their volume) will allow for faster and greater variety in reviews.
  • Ranger1065 - Tuesday, July 12, 2016 - link

    Now taking bets on whether Anandtech will have a proper Geforce 1080 review within 6 months of release...
    My bet is NOT.
    Even if they do who will care?
    As the clicks decrease....
    Bye Bye Anandtech.
  • _Aaron_ - Tuesday, July 12, 2016 - link

    --- Anandtech Galaxy S7 Review: "Although the G5 seems to have started an AF run in the middle of the capture, the areas where the photo is actually focused are arguably better than what the Galaxy S7 can put out. Even next to the G4, the Galaxy S7 falls short. I’m honestly not sure why LG doesn’t get more credit here, because next to Apple they seem to have the best image processing algorithms in the industry.
    Unfortunately, the Galaxy S7 is just a bit disappointing here. The LG G5 is just clearly better here as noise reduction is better in pretty much every way and it looks a lot more natural due to less obvious sharpening halos. I would also argue that the HTC 10 is also better here due to its better texture detail and better handling of shadow detail, even if edges are softer.
    However, with that said the output of the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge’s camera is not that impressive. I would argue that while it’s not worse than the iPhone 6s Plus, it is basically comparable. The real competition in this space comes from the HTC 10 and LG G5, the two of which manage to deliver arguably better still image output ".

    --- Anandtech LG G5 review: " When it comes to noise in bright outdoor conditions, the G5 sits about in the middle of this pack the G5 sits about mid pack, with the iPhone 6s Plus, Huawei P9, and Galaxy S7 edge all performing just a little better.
    In both scenes, the Galaxy S7 edge takes the brightest picture despite using the fastest shutter speed. The G5’s images are a little darker than the G4’s because it favors a shorter exposure, but it still produces brighter images than the Moto X and Nexus 6P.
    The Galaxy S7 edge shows no vignetting, while the Nexus 6P suffers from this issue to a mild degree. All of the other phones, including both of the G5’s cameras, show negligible vignetting.
    In bright daylight, the G5 equals the Galaxy S7 edge, producing excellent looking photos. When there’s less light available, like on cloudy days or when moving indoors, the G5 starts to struggle. It still does pretty well setting white balance and exposure, although the iPhone 6s Plus consistently does better. Image noise, however, is a serious problem for the G5. Its images show significantly more noise grain than other flagship devices, degrading image quality ".
    Ok, now, I'm confused: should I follow Anandtech's words, or Anandtech's words?
  • isik - Tuesday, July 12, 2016 - link

    www.egemenweb.com thanks
  • peterApinto - Tuesday, July 12, 2016 - link

    The whole review spells "NOT BIASED!" in every part.

    Why? Because the author is actually able to document his allegations, transforming them into arguments.

    In fact, this review is really close to being an actual analysis, where the author breaks down all the relevant parts of the S7 and its functions, in order to produce a solid evaluation. And he does this by using solid test tools and techniques, so the results can be recreated by others. This is as close to science as I imagine any tech site is able to get.

    So - you can disagree on his conclusion, but calling this review biased just shows that it is you who is biased. Really.
  • KoolAidMan1 - Thursday, July 14, 2016 - link

    Reality is biased for emotional ideologues who worship Android as their god.

    IDGI
  • StimulatedBoy - Wednesday, July 13, 2016 - link

    Thx, Joshua. This kind of analyses, eye for details and objectivity is what has drawn me to Anandtech for the last 10-15 years. Keep up the good work!
  • Aaight - Thursday, July 14, 2016 - link

    Lol, er du her og grupperunker også :D Synd du bommet på 3 av 3, hehe!
  • pukemon1976 - Wednesday, July 13, 2016 - link

    I see the comments mention bias a lot. Me? I think the author is trying to get a job at apple like Klug and Shimpi. Geez. Can you not make it anymore obvious? I think some of us that are fanboys of android pretty much know that apple makes a good all around overpriced phone. Cpu? Winner by efficiency and architecture. GPU? Not necessarily winner but powerVR uses different method of drawing graphics and that is drawing what is only shown. Nonetheless, powerVR makes a damn good efficient GPU. A lot of things are just details. Like battery life? Author gets away with mentioning but x phone has a bigger battery. What about iPhone uses less lines of resolution in both their models so battery life comparison is just details. Cameras? I can't comment really on quality of s7/s7 edge but do know they focus really fast and process fast. Especially exynos version. Iphone camera? I've seen some really.bad pictures from my friends as of late. And some admittedly know their camera isn't all it's cracked up to be. If I'm taking pictures with my note4 at some memorable event usually my friends and family want copies of my pictures, no matter what phones they have. And work just issued us iPhone 6+ a few months ago. Geez. Impressed with sunny day shots. But I work in dark environments often. I'm pulling out my note4 camera or somebody is asking me to take an important picture if only iphones around most of the time. And I wish author and company would take a better approach to wifi and lte battery tests. My note4 with the first modem to use power enveloping for LTE is noticeablyore efficient than WiFi. I've proven it over and over and over. Even my geek friends are befuddled by it. And how come author never mentions iPhone dropping frames or lagging? I do admit though iPhone does have great memory management, not to mention noticeably faster internal storage. My micro SD though... oh wait... have to pay super premium for extra storage. Really wish author and friends were less biased. I'm fine with opinions. Anand wrote great articles and his iPhone bias didn't ruin it for me. Methinks, the reviews take so long because anandtech isn't anandtech anymore. Me also thinks author and friends so jealous they meticulously spend a ridiculous amount of time making apple proud of their review so they too can go work in Cupertino one day. Unbelievable how shoddy this review was. Really? When you couldn't say apple was the best bar none in a certain department you digressed to other Android phones, probably meaning apple isn't even close to the top, since you have to resort to that. And some of you apple fanboys need to lay off the apple look aid. It has been so obvious as of late. I know apple does a lot of things well. And some they don't. And then there's so much customization in amdroid, especially with root, even moreso with unlocked bootloader. I think some of you guys never read Klug's and shimpi's reviews. Even though they showed their apple bias, they did some really good reviews. Reviews I would come back for. Even read the iphone reviews. I know why I've hardly been coming to anandtech lately but this review I know I'll be coming even less. No more bookmarks or waiting g for the other stuff l liked to read about like Intel, nvidia, and, ssd tech. Until next time, might be awhile, and hopefully better reviewers, peace out.
  • shm224 - Thursday, July 14, 2016 - link

    any idea why Anandtech is still using web/javascript benchmarks that are intended to measure software/javascript engine performance to measure the system / SOC performance?
  • ozmick1 - Saturday, July 16, 2016 - link

    The material (Samsung has told me plain glass and plastic) used over the rear camera lens if too fragile. Many owners are starting to complain of it breaking for no apparent reason as reported on Samsung's US Community website. Buyer beware with the S7 as it made from not-fit-for-purpose material. Samsung even told me that to prevent the rear lens from breaking - to leave the phone on the desk. Buyer beware with the S7.
  • FourEyedGeek - Monday, July 18, 2016 - link

    I just got the phone and I really like it. I used the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge for a couple of months and wasn't a fan, this is better in all the little things.

    The phone is snappy, interface moves smoothly and opening up applications leaves me with minimal load times. Mine has 32GB but is backed up with 200GB, I move large applications over to the SD card as a way of keeping the inbuilt a free as possible.

    It takes high quality pictures, not as nice as my DSLR but still good for a smartphone. The games I run play very smooth, much faster than the S6 Edge, my model uses the Exynos 8890.

    I've set up finger print scan, but isn't consistent enough for my liking, haven't used Samsung Pay and I'm not sure I will either but ny favourite cool feature is the water proofing. Used my phone under water for brief moments with my son and we love it. Make sure it is fully charged before dunking as the excellent moisture detection feature prevents charging until it is dry.
  • BuddyRich - Monday, July 18, 2016 - link

    Im rocking the S7 (not Edge - didn't like the cureved edges), while I disagree with some of review, one thing I have noticed, and you are the only other review to mention it, is the Camera lens flare issue with bright light sources at night. Not sure whats going on but I have the same issue with mine (Canadian S7 with the Exynos and different camera senor than 820s I believe, but same issue.) For an otherwise good camera this ruins it for me. Not everyone mentions it, but did you ever get a comment from Samsung on this, is it a defect perhaps? Its almost like they didn't put an AR coating on the lense or something.
  • InspectHerGadget - Sunday, July 31, 2016 - link

    I owned an S6 then the Note 5 and now the iPhone 6S Plus. I had previous to these, a Nokia 1520. All are great phones. The stand out feature of both the 1520 and 6S Plus is the battery life. The S7 will have the same issues with battery life that the S6 had, just slightly longer due to the larger battery. It isn't good enough and even the Note 5 battery life was only just adequate.

    I think that the review is outstanding and I appreciate the thorough approach to testing and reviewing. These phones are complex devices and every component needs to be analysed and tested. If you are going to shell out lots of money, you need to be sure of what you are buying.

    If a manufacturer such as Apple are shown to put together an outstanding device where every aspect of the device is exemplary, then the accolades are deserved. This doesn't happen by chance but is the result of blood, sweat and tears and thorough testing also.

    It is fair enough that Anandtech point out where Samsung have fallen short and why. It will put Samsung on notice to do better. Samsung are sloppy with what they do and they can't afford to be when up against Apple who make very few mistakes.
  • Bigbank - Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - link

    You need to have field experience.
    S7 is the best,  most versatile,  best  ROCKING audio on video playback.
    I'm sure the HTV will do a goid job, but if u can, u should.
    I'm sad because I can't allocate enough memory to 1080p, much less 1920p.
    Nice site

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