The power drain is very low as only the pixels that are needed light up, and it’s rated to use less than 1 percent of the battery per hour. Lastly, the screen will turn off when it recognises that it’s in a place like a pocket or purse.
The S7 Edge’s curved screen can now deliver 2 rows of applications along its curve, as well as more information via ‘Edge UX’ such as news feeds and some handy shortcuts to email, selfie mode and panorama mode along with tools including a compass, flash light controler and ruler.
Less is more
The new upgraded camera on the S7 models may raise some eyebrows as the pixels captured drops from 16 million to 12 million compared to the S6.
However, while there are less megapixels, the size of each pixel is larger. This means improved light and colour handling, which is definitely evident in low-light photos, with a much sharper image and less noise.
There’s also a larger F1.7 aperture lens, which lets 25 percent more light in to the sensor, and the world’s first dual pixel sensor makes possible for almost instant auto-focus, even in very dark conditions.
Power on tap
On the performance front, the S7 phones are more powerful, with 30 percent faster CPU processing and 60 percent faster graphics.
This new power is ideal for gamers, but one of the challenges for graphics intensive games is that the phone starts to get quite warm.
The new S7’s are designed to keep cool with an innovative new ‘heat pipe’, which is a water filled copper pipe that runs next to the processor, and draws heat away by vaporising the water, which then moves to the centre and then down the pipe, where it condenses back to liquid again in a continuous loop. Clever stuff.
Also for gamers, the S7 and S7 Edge are the first smartphones to support the Vulcan API for games development.
Pricing and availability
Samsung Electronics Australia can confirm that Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge will be available to pre-order in Australia from 26 February 2016.
Both smartphones will be on sale from 11 March 2016 and priced at $1,149 RRP for the Galaxy S7 and $1,249 RRP for Galaxy S7 edge.
Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge Product Specifications
| Galaxy S7 | Galaxy S7 edge | |
| OS | Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) | |
| Network | LTE Cat.9(450/50Mbps)* May differ by markets and mobile operators | |
| Dimension | 142.4 x 69.6 x 7.9mm, 152g | 150.9 x 72.6 x 7.7mm, 157g |
| AP | Octa core (2.3GHz Quad + 1.6GHz Quad), 64 bit, 14 nm processQuad core (2.15GHz Dual + 1.6GHz Dual), 64 bit, 14 nm process* May differ by markets and mobile operators | |
| Memory | 4GB RAM (LPDDR4), 32/64GB (UFS 2.0) + microSD (up to 200GB) | |
| Display | 5.1” Quad HD Super AMOLED2560 X 1440 (577ppi) | 5.5” Quad HD Super AMOLED2560 X 1440 (534ppi)Edge Screen |
| Camera | Rear: Dual Pixel 12MP (F1.7), Smart OISFront: 5MP (F1.7) | |
| Battery | 3,000mAh | 3,600mAh |
| Fast Charging both on wired and wirelessWireless Charging compatible with WPC and PMA | ||
| Payment | NFC, MST | |
| Connectivity | WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz), MIMO, Bluetooth® v 4.2 LE, ANT+, USB 2.0, NFC, Location |
|
| Sensors | Accelerometer, Proximity, RGB Light, Geo-magnetic, Gyro,Fingerprint, Barometer, Hall, HRM | |
| IP Code | IP68 | |
| Audio | MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA |
|
| Video | MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM | |
UPDATE (February 26): Every telco has release pricing and plans, and we’ve got it all. Check out pre-order information for the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge!
Valens Quinn travelled to the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, as a guest of Samsung Australia.
