In-use
Helping to shape this speed is Google’s Android 6.0 “Marshmallow”, the latest incarnation of Google’s mobile operating system. This is a version that has been cleaned up to be faster, more secure, and designed to help you find things online using Google’s Now and “Now On Tap” service, which will come up with a double click of the home button to look through your email or webpages for terms Google can search for.
Now Samsung is no stranger to Google Android, and like the slimmed down build we saw on Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S2 last year, the implementation of Android and Samsung’s TouchWiz overlay also feels equally scaled back.
Simply put, this is a pretty lean edition of Android, providing multiple home screens, an app drawer and left and right swiping of the menu, a drop down notification bar, and just enough of an operating system that it doesn’t ever feel like you’re being inundated with options.
You can even change the grid size on the home screens, giving yourself 4×4 for larger icons, 4×5 for more height, and 5×5 for total use of the screen real estate.
And hey, if that’s too complicated, Samsung has provided a section in settings called “Samsung Labs” where you’ll get to try an experimental feature that turns the layout of the S7 Edge into something more like that of the iPhone.
We do need to say that while this is Samsung’s best implementation of TouchWiz yet, it isn’t identical to that of stock Android “Marshmallow”.
There is no swipe to the right on the home screen to get Google Now, nor is there commonly used apps at certain times of the day in the app drawer like there is in the current edition of Google’s stock operating system.
But that doesn’t matter, and whether you’re an experienced Androidian or someone just dabbling for the first time, Samsung’s version of Android on the S7 Edge is at a point where it won’t take you long to get familiar, and even less to stay there.
Camera
One area that we’ve found absolutely staggering is the rear camera, which is easily one of the standout features of the S7 Edge.
Last year, Samsung’s flagship phones already featured one of the best cameras you could find, and it gave both the Apple iPhone 6S and LG G4 a good run for their money, but in the S7, Samsung has stepped it up a bit.
Let’s start with the nitty gritty, because you might hear some hullabaloo about how the megapixels are decreased, and this is true, with the S7 Edge’s camera dropping down to 12 megapixels from the 16 megapixels of the older S6 Edge.
That might sound bad, but the tech inside has changed, with a new sensor with larger pixels sizes to increase light intake, faster autofocus via dual-pixel technology, and a lens capable of letting in more light, at f/1.7.
All of this comes together to create what is easily one of the best smartphone cameras we’ve ever seen, and one that is able to find light where very little can be seen by the naked eye, and combine multiple images to create fantastic finished photos.
Indeed, what we’ve found in playing with Samsung’s S7 Edge camera over the past week or so is a collection of images that rivals some of the compacts we’ve seen, and even gives the low-light on some larger cameras a good run for their money.
It’s impressive to say the least, and the speed the camera works at is also something worth noting, too.
We’ve already touched upon the quality of hardware in the S7 Edge, and in Australia, the Exynos processor and 4GB RAM combination likely contributes to the excellent camera shot speeds.
You merely need to double tap the S7 Edge’s home button to launch the phone into camera mode and you’re good to go. No waiting, no excess time needed to sit there and let the phone think: double tap and you’re there, ready to touch the screen to acquire that super fast auto-focus before firing the shot using the camera button below.
And again — just like the speed it takes to launch the camera app — the S7 Edge camera has fired the shot.
Without doubt, this is one of the fastest smartphone camera apps we’ve seen in recent years, because you don’t need to wait at all.
You just take the phone out and take a picture, which is tremendous news if that’s one of your main reasons for choosing a smartphone.
It’s super helpful that the camera itself is solid, too, not just offering great low-light imagery, but also providing great close-ups in macro and decent shots from afar.
In daylight, the camera shines, and at night, it handles its own, too.
In fact, about the only time it might go a little awry is when the auto mode occasionally sets a low shutter speed and captures a blur.
We’ve seen it when people laugh and when dogs move, and the good news is that these random moments are few and far between.
Even the front-facing camera handles its own, with a similarly low-light capable 5 megapixel camera at the front, allowing you to get selfies that are suitable for your social media sharing without problem, even if the detail isn’t quite as spot on as its rear sibling.
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