Friday, March 25, 2016

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge – CNET France

7. The figure lucky for Samsung in 2016. The Korean is back after a S6 last year, with the success we know it, are back on the front stage. And what a scene! The firm had put the dishes in large to the presentation of its product in the MWC: Gear VR for everyone, Epic Games, and even a happening Mark Zuckerberg

He had to hit hard because unlike its predecessor, the S7 is not a breaking phone. A simple glance at the device can realize: the design has hardly changed compared to the previous year. If he does not take the name, Galaxy S7 Edge can thus be regarded, to use the name Apple as a Galaxy S6 Edge “S”.

But the clothes do not always the monk and Samsung is not content with a “specs bump” reviewing its copy on many points and reintroducing two missing functions with the S6: the MicroSD port and water resistance. Two absences noticed last year were the main stumbling blocks of the product. Error repaired to serve us, finally the perfect phone that will justify to pay 800 euros? Answer in this test.

it is beautiful, but it marks under the fingers

as we said in introduction and during our first touch, the Galaxy S7 does not really innovates the point of view of design. Aside from the passage at size 5.5 inches, the Galaxy S7 Edge looks just like the Galaxy S6 Edge. Connoisseurs will notice the edges a little less clear for a more comfortable grip, a “home” button a little square and less prominent photo sensor. Almost not even. A good point.

We find however a terminal with glass on both sides and it’s still the most beautiful effect. We feel that Samsung did not want to take risks on design. With Galaxy S6 Edge critical acclaim, including its design, a certain nervousness is understandable. It is not displeasing, but we still noticed once the glass has a significant propensity to score under the fingers. Too bad when you have such a beautiful smartphone.

With its 157 grams, the smartphone takes a little overweight since the S6 Edge Plus, whose screen measures 5.7 inches weighs only 153 grams. Taking a weight difficult to explain, except by the presence of water resistance which forced Samsung to put a few joints. The phone also thickens passing 7.7 mm, against 6.9 previously. Again, the water resistance had to play, as well as the integration of a larger battery. So it was perhaps this that has enabled Samsung to have a photo sensor so little prominent.

clearly, if Galaxy S6 Edge was done relatively easily forget, this will be less if the S7 Edge. Too bad, but we can always greet Samsung happens again to offer us one of the prettiest phones on the market, failing to have really reinvented itself.



Screen always on top, but a little less than before

Samsung countered Galaxy S7 its a 5.5 inch screen with a qHD resolution (2560 x 1440) which gives a density of about 534 ppi. Samsung’s AMOLED technology is always successful and no defects obvious at first. In looking closer … not much noteworthy either.

Samsung we still used once a high-flying display with a well balanced AMOLED, not too saturated, with this almost infinite contrast inherent technology. The screen is brighter, which should make it readable easily outdoors even if the Parisian greyness March has not really possible to test it. Despite these overall findings, we can quibble over angles of visions that could have been better, and color reproduction a bit lower than the S6 (Edge). The screen is in the upper basket, but less than the S6 damage.

with a screen 5.5-inch curved one might have feared that the “input” involuntary on the edge of the screen are even more numerous. We reproached elsewhere in S6 Edge, but Samsung seems he (totally empirically we find it) found a way to ignore certain contacts thenar on the bend. If involuntary actions have not completely disappeared, especially when one uses the keyboard, they are less common. Proof of refinement of the device, all the honor of Samsung.



GPU not so lasting?

As at the time of the S5, S7 is entitled to two different processors depending on the market: the Snapdragon 820 and Exynos 8890. this last chip that is used in the model sold in France. This is a processor with eight cores engraved in 14 nm, four of which are 2.3 GHz and four 1.5 GHz. They are supported by 4 GB of memory. Not surprisingly, we are facing a racing machine that performs all tasks without flinching, and if one believes various tests, the chip is as powerful as the Snapdragon 820 arithmetically.

Part Mali T880 graphics seems however somewhat less efficient than the solution from Qualcomm, at least that’s what show some comparative benchmarks. The numbers are what they are, in practice we have not seen any problems. It’s all perfectly. However, it is possible that as and as the months pass, games increasingly greedy entering the market, the Exynos slightly injured, but difficult to comment at this time on this .

the establishment of a dedicated cooling system additionally allows the machine not to heat excessively. At a time when the chips are growing fast, and where we increasingly regularly finds significant heat generation on smartphones, the Samsung solution is perfect.

32GB of storage capacity only available in France at the moment (and maybe in the future), approximately 8 are reserved for the OS, Samsung offers us an honorable capacity, we would still like to have the choice . This year, the choice is offered by the presence of a microSD port. This is significant, but despite Android Marshmallow, it is not possible to install applications on it. Thus, the card can store the media files. Too bad.



2 days of autonomy looking good

After a Galaxy A5 with a rarely seen autonomy smartphone could be expected at best to the S7 (Edge) we unfortunately must admit a little disappointed. The autonomy of the S7 proves random enough after two weeks of daily use

Both say input. Galaxy S7 Edge pass without any problems heading the day of use. It is on the second day things get complicated. As part of the economic use will be qualified, we managed to hold two days of use. However, sometimes the Galaxy S7 Edge discharges in sleep fairly quickly, conversely, at times, the phone hardly discharge

suspect that the screen “Always On” will be for something. Although only lit pixels consume, it is characteristic of (AM) OLED, we see an impact on consumption. If you value your battery, we recommend you leave the phone on the front during the night, which will effectively disable screen Always On.

On average, without really making attention to its consumption, we take about a day and a half of use. This remains in the high average smartphone, but after a Galaxy A5 if autonomous, we expected a little better. Battery 3600 mAh S7 Edge is doing its work, but is not the expected miracle. She charges completely in two short hours.



Smart Border (but still perfectible)

Exclusivity for the S7 Edge (which could very well not be), an intelligent edge offering various features, significantly more than the ‘last year. The S6 Edge was satisfied indeed some dispensable functions, which frankly does not justify the investment relative to the basic model. The story is a little different this year since Samsung adds first shortcuts to their favorite applications. One option that is not unlike that found on the Galaxy Note Edge. It had hit us at the time, it’s still much the case.

However, applications regrets that are not directly accessible. It will pull down the menu from a small tab displayed on the aircraft, a little less direct than the Edge Note screen. Reserved for applications that are often used, but not enough to place them on the smartphone home screen. The border can also display other things: favorite contacts (as before), Twitter feed, weather, ruler / compass, news, calendar, etc. Some borders will be downloaded, and there has even paid.

in use, we mainly used the contacts and applications. The other appearing more anecdotal. We can in any case salute Samsung for its investments in this border to which more easily find a utility before. The border is more highly customizable since such will place the drawer on the right or left of the screen, adjust its height and even adjust the transparency.



TouchWiz still not ideal

in addition to that border, TouchWiz also take some improvements with changes of colors, clearer for readability. It’s a little better, but do not misunderstand: TouchWiz, it’s not that. Especially because of overloaded enough icons that begin frankly to age at a time when everything tends to be purified.

We appreciate the manner in hand “hand” which is now easier to access with a triple tap on the home button. It’s better than before, since it was necessary at the time to use two hands to go to a fashion hand … go find the logic in that. Unfortunately, this is not ideal because often leaving its application unintentionally. We would have preferred a double or triple tap on the fingerprint sensor like what Apple does.

finally, there is the addition of a fashion game for amateurs. This results in the display of a small button, discreet, to place in a corner of the screen. It opens a menu to access various functions. Let us remember two: Disabling sensitive keys, and the ability to record sessions

Since few mobile games are capable of being registered (and we see qu’Hearthstone Vainglory for. their competitive aspect), the thing seems dispensable. Disabling buttons is a bit more interesting on paper, but is not strongly in practice since the placement of the buttons is not too error factor. Still, it proves once again the care taken by Samsung in its product.



What is the light

We have already dealt at length photographic qualities of the Galaxy S7 in our comparative face iPhone 6S and S6 Edge. We refer to it for details on this. We summarize here by saying sensor performance 12.2 mpx are simply impressive in low light. We must however recognize the pixels are less lose some detail. Still, the Edge S7 is probably currently the best cameraphone market if we put aside the “exotic” products


Galaxy S7. Original format. iPhone 6s: original format

Submarine

In terms of sound, the speaker has the merit to be powerful … but saturates. So we can not push the volume to maximum. Again and again, this is an extra solution that will serve mainly for watching videos on YouTube and put a call on speakerphone.

The fingerprint sensor is always present on the “Home Button “physics. This is quick and efficient with relatively few errors. so it fills perfectly his office. No more no less. Do not forget to say that the phone supports 4G Cat.9 / LTE-A (and even Cat.12, but it is useless for now).

The last “little more” is the IP68 certification. The phone will therefore remain submerged in one meter of water for 30 minutes without taking damage. It’s always nice to avoid the dramas at the edges of pools or bathtubs. We do not entertain still using it underwater. The idea is simply to reduce the risk of damage, not to make an underwater camera.

Transition

Not the beating around pot: the Galaxy S7 Edge is the current reference Android. Point. It is said. However, at the end of this test and the image of an iPhone “S”, the S7 remains a transition smartphone and nothing really justifies replacing the S6 by S7. If tightness and supports SD are more undeniable, as the imaging performance in low light, it lacks a real S7 Killer Feature as the 3D Touch is Apple on 6S. Failing to be truly useful, the latter technology has the merit of being flashy and talking to potential buyers.

In reality, S7 Edge is a refinement of the S6 Edge, it is more filling gaps S6 adds real new features. It is finally to wonder whether Samsung has not missed a little ambitions. The firm has listened to the critics, it is to his credit, but was not really able to go further, visibly shivering. If Samsung’s ambition is however to apply the Apple model with a true renewal every 24 months, the S7 can only predict the best for the future, it already look forward to discovering the S8.

LikeTweet

No comments:

Post a Comment