11 ms·

Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge

136 points by devhxinc 11y ago

gcb0 11y ago
wow, this is more like a paid infomercial than a wired article about apple products.
lqdc13 11y ago
> Perhaps the most significant change this year comes in the S7’s new 12-megapixel camera. It’s lower resolution than last year’s 16-megapixel shooter, but Samsung says its larger pixels let in 56 percent more light than before for better low light images. What?
- vinay427 11y ago
  Sounds just like what HTC did with the HTC One in 2013: http://www.androidcentral.com/megapixels-ultrapixels-samsung-galaxy-s4-versus-htc-one-camera-shootout http://www.androidcentral.com/megapixels-ultrapixels-samsung... >The HTC One trades sheer megapixel count for larger (2-micron) pixels on the sensor itself, allowing for improved low-light capabilities when combined with its wide-angle f/2.0 lens. >the HTC One runs rings around the Galaxy S4 in night shots
  - lqdc13 11y ago
    Interesting. TIL.
  - massysett 11y ago
    "the HTC One runs rings around the Galaxy S4 in night shots" Maybe Samsung is doing something right here...but the HTC One had an awful camera. I bought it for the low-light camera performance. But it had some sort of hardware flaw that caused low light photos to have a purple haze. HTC had a replacement program, which would have required me to go without a phone for weeks. So I got Verizon to replace my phone with a refurb, which was actually worse. I just sent the refurb back and kept the purple haze phone. After this I switched to iPhone, not least because if it is defective an exchange just takes a trip to a retail store.
    - kweks 11y ago
      I had the same phone, bought for the same reason, and had the same problem. It was a hugely expensive phone, with terrible, terrible lowlight photos and broken AF. Furthermore, HTC refused to replace it under their replacement policy, as I had placed a custom ROM on the phone. The woman on the phone actually said: this is a known hardware issue, but you changed your ROM, so bad luck. Never would buy another HTC phone again.
      - lqdc13 11y ago
        Should put original ROM back. It's the same with all phones.
- brianwawok 11y ago
  Think of a CPU going from 4 GHz (Pentium 4) to 3 Gz (Core 2) and still being faster, because of a higher IPC. You can do the same thing with cameras to a degree, megapixel is not the end all be all measurement device.
- jonknee 11y ago
  Sensor size and quality are much more important than megapixels. Bigger pixels have a better dynamic range which makes for better pictures in both bright and dark situations (which is a huge boon on a smartphone). There are more pixels in the photo than the display you view it on, you might as well make sure the recorded pixels are the best they can be.
- Bluestrike2 11y ago
  Here's a decent explanation of the phenomenon they're referring to [0]. Marketing departments usually boil it down to "larger pixels = less noise in low light" but that's a really simple explanation. 0. http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/does.pixel.size.matter/#sensorconstant http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/does.pixel.size.matter/#...
tshtf 11y ago
The hardware quality of Samsung's flagship products has always been excellent. However the software issues make the price ridiculous. Good luck getting rapid Android updates for your carrier-modified Samsung Galaxy S7. I'm stuck with a T-Mobile Note 4 with 5.1.1.
- levemi 11y ago
  My Galaxy S5 has been terrible since the 5.1 upgrade. I actually don't want any software updates. My phone used to be a fast nicely functioning phone and now it's a sluggish piece of trash that's unusable. Like just stick with the current phone software and give me security updates and that's it. I've tried factory resetting and uninstalling most apps (and a factory reset is a huge pain with 2-factor set up everywhere by the way). The 5.1.1 upgrade didn't help either. I don't want updates. Leave my phone alone.
  - jonknee 11y ago
    Without updates your phone is even more of a security nightmare than it is already.
    - levemi 11y ago
      I explicitly said that I do want security updates, I don't need the next version of Android though. If the current software I have is broken, please just fix that and not ship me something my phone can't deal with.
      - pasbesoin 11y ago
        I've had the same experience with my 2013 Moto X. Phone used to be sufficiently responsive for my use. Updated to 5.1, and things hang momentarily and lag. And, I'm not talking about browsing and other uses that continue to escalate power demands. The darned phone app/dialer is quite laggy. One difference that might account for some of it, is that the appear to have made it more graphical and to have further animated the graphical elements it displays. Under 4, the dialer popped right up, populated its list displays expeditiously and smoothly, and did things the moment you touched the control. Now, it can take a couple of seconds just to launch. Buttons are harder to hit because they are smaller, move around, and are not positioned at the screen edge as they were before. The also don't respond consistently; often there is a delay, and occasionally a touch doesn't register at all. The recent calls list displays a couple of days with only some jerkiness, but the requires an explicit tap to go further back and quite noticeably delays when first doing so and continues to delay and stutter as one scrolls down. Function first. Then form, or "design." The move from 4.x to 5.x seemed to get this backward, in this regard.
SmallBets 11y ago
Still happy with my S3 and feel I'm not missing any key features. The more generations go on you realize just how incremental the phone upgrades have gotten for quite some time now.
- cpprototypes 11y ago
  The S3 feels like the "core 2 duo" of smartphones. Clearly not as fast as new phones, but still good enough.
  - nevi-me 11y ago
    Talking about Core 2 Duo, you remind me of my slow desktop that I haven't turned on in a few months. I have an S5. I can understand the move back to USB2 in S6 and above, and I don't know if USB3 is the cause, but my S5 battery goes from empty to full in a good short space of time, so I'm not missing out that much on the super charging goodness. Battery life is still good too. I'm also lucky to be in a country where Samsung have 2 free screen repairs over 2 years. Hopefully I'll be able to wait for the S8 or 9. I'm impressed with the S7 on paper, and I'm glad they brought back the things that made me dislike the S6. Now for hoping for better Android upgrades from Samsung :)
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - icefo 11y ago
    I feel the same with my S2. Spend some time on xda and you have android 6 running on it. It's not even slow except when you're switching between big apps because android have to kill them when they are not in use thanks to the 800mb of ram. I also bought a 3500mha battery and it lasts the day.
  - pmontra 11y ago
    I share your opinion. I'm sticking with the S2, the first Samsung phone good enough to buy (the S was too limited). It still works, it's small and light, I can mount it as a true USB disk, no need to change it. I'll buy some other 4" phone when it eventually dies, maybe a Sony Z* Compact.
emilsedgh 11y ago
I few months ago I lost my 3 years old HTC One, so I had to get a new phone. For the first time I decided to get an iPhone. So I got a 6s. Worst mobile phone I've ever had. The battery life is terrible. Now I understand why people have 'Power banks' with them all the time. The phone also dies with 40% battery! I turn it on, it shows a splash screen meaning low battery, turns on, shows 40% battery, then dies after a moment again.Funny thing is that I try restarting it several times and at some point it starts working for hours (which means it actually does have 40% battery and its not a calibration issue). The user interface (which it was supposed to shine at) is just bad. I can never find items I'm looking for. I had to read an article to find out how I'm supposed to turn on the Hotspot feature (And it actually seemed like editing xorg file!) Viber/Skype start ringing and I cannot respond immediately, as the ringing dialog doesnt even show up until I do to the application. ios has only a few keyboard layouts and misses my language (Farsi) and I have to rely on third party keyboards to type and third party keyboards are so unstable. Sometimes the keyboard just doesnt show up until I close/open the application. My GPRS just started working when I inserted the SIM card to my HTC phone. On ios? I had to configure it manually! Again, felt like Linux +10 years ago! I know this is totally off-topic to this thread but I had to say this rant. iPhone is only a fashion item. Its nowhere as usable as Android. If you want a phone that just works do yourself a favor and give a decent flagship Android phone a try. You'd be surprised. (And I'm not a fanboy of Google/Android, I wish we had a FOSS OS with an open ecosystem, but Android just works, unlike ios)
- yock 11y ago
  > The phone also dies with 40% battery! I turn it on, it shows a splash screen meaning low battery, turns on, shows 40% battery, then dies after a moment again.Funny thing is that I try restarting it several times and at some point it starts working for hours (which means it actually does have 40% battery and its not a calibration issue). Other complaints aside, have you considered that your device might be defective? What you describe is neither common nor accepted by iPhone users at large.
  - anonova 11y ago
    I have an iPhone 5 that has this issue. ~40% battery and if there's a sudden voltage sag like turning on gps or opening the camera, the phone will immediately shut off. This ended up indeed being a defect, so much so that Apple had a recall: https://www.apple.com/support/iphone5-battery/ https://www.apple.com/support/iphone5-battery/
jaxondu 11y ago
Samsung and LG both introduce their annual flagship smartphone so early in the year. Doesn't it give Apple plenty of time to counter them spec wise if any? Just curious, if you're Apple competitor, what's the pros and cons of launching your flagship before and after Apple's launch?
- sz4kerto 11y ago
  Erm, there's around half a year between Samsung and Apple announcements. Is this before or after? Apple introduces their annual flagship smartphone so late in the year. Doesn't it give Samsung plenty of time to counter them spec wise next year? :) BTW, no, the iPhone that's going to be announced in the autumn is likely going through the last phases of testing.
- Bluestrike2 11y ago
  I'd imagine that the specs on the upcoming iPhone would already be more or less finalized by this point. Or moving in that direction, at the very least. Unless Samsung or LG unveiled something groundbreaking that would make upending plans for Apple worthwhile, I don't think it much matters. They probably already have a pretty solid idea on what their competitors are likely to do when they start development in earnest.
- ctz 11y ago
  I don't think it's a strategic question like that. It's more simple: Mobile World Congress starts tomorrow. It's the default venue to launch new devices (assuming you're not Apple or Google).
- criley2 11y ago
  Nah. Apple largely does not care what competitors do, Apple seeks to set trends instead of following them. They're more interested in Google's software than Samsung's hardware, and only so far as to make sure truly necessary features are included in iOS. Plus, Apple buys or has bought chips and screens from Samsung. On the flip side, getting your flagship out months and months before Apple means hundreds of thousands or millions of people walking around with the "latest and greatest" which might just eclipse the last gen iPhone. Still, Apple doesn't compete on specs. They happily put less megapixels (with better quality) or a lower clock speed (with better chip design and operating system efficiency), and have almost always had much smaller batteries.
neals 11y ago
I do love the screen of the Samsung S-line. Not the size, but the actual display, the colors and brightness is why I keep coming back to it. Any other phone with comparable screens?
- EddieRingle 11y ago
  The Nexus 6P is using Samsung panels.
  - dingo_bat 11y ago
    The Nexus 6P display, despite being made by Samsung, is way behind the displays in GS6/7 and Note4/5. Samsung keeps the best for itself.
AndrewKemendo 11y ago
The most important feature of my S5 is the fact that it's waterproof - glad they carried that over to the S7. My kids like to throw stuff in the toilet, including any phone that is not actively being held, or splash on them from the bath, so it has saved me many many times already. That's what sets it apart from the Apple devices for me as a daily device and I'm surprised more phones don't do that - but apparently consumers don't care that much.
- cryptoz 11y ago
  Waterproofing isn't as obvious as it seems, though. The previous iterations of Samsung S series that were not waterproof included an amazing array of environmental sensors that they can't seem to add and also have waterproofing. The Galaxy S4 had a hygrometer and a thermometer, which are absolutely awesome and represent a really amazing trend of smartphones and environmental sensing. They removed those sensors for the S5 to be waterproof, and I'm sad to see that continues with the new phones still. At least they are still able to include a barometer, though! That's awesome.
  - AndrewKemendo 11y ago
    I mean this is just about tradeoffs. I'll happily trade a hygrometer and thermometer for being waterproof. The former gives me marginally more information about my environment is some kind of specific niche cases - the latter prevents me from needing to buy a new phone and also allowing me to not worry about it around water. No brainer.
- ryanmonroe 11y ago
  Apple doesn't advertise it, but the iPhone 6 is pretty water proof. In this video it was left in the water with the screen on for >20 minutes and all happened was the speaker stopped working. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uuCXXNtGMQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uuCXXNtGMQ
Geee 11y ago
Samsung has copied Nokia N9 icon style? http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/nokia_n9_review_sg_25-820x420.jpg http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/nokia_n9...
tetraodonpuffer 11y ago
nice to see that sd cards are supported again as well as waterproofing, now if they could figure out a way to removable battery with the same form-factor (because if they had a plastic back they'd be crucified in the press, despite the fact that a plastic back is just as good IMHO) it would be amazing
- pcurve 11y ago
  I have s4 and i love its plastic build. It's a phone with 2-3 year life, with $5 scrap value at the end. No a Rolex.
kozukumi 11y ago
Looks great but no way am I going to go back to Samsung now I have a Nexus 6P. In the past the Nexus phones have always been kinda "nice but not great" but the 6P is easily one of best phones you can buy. The camera is top-notch, the screen is stunning, performance is awesome and battery life is incredible. And stock Android is bliss. I can't really fault it :)
- switch007 11y ago
  Not to rain on your hyperbole parade ;), but how long is the "incredible" battery life? Asking for a friend with an ageing nexus 4, who swore not to spend that much on a phone again...
  - pasbesoin 11y ago
    I've been considering a... is it the "5x", now? Mid-range price. The camera is supposed to be excellent. Somewhat more pocketable. And, being on Verizon, my understanding is that I can pop in the micro-SIM from my 2013 Moto X and it will "just work", despite Verizon not officially supporting the 5x. For that is a primary concern of mine. Due to circumstances, I'm kind of stuck with Verizon (in the U.S.). But I will never again purchase a phone whose updates are under their control. It seems to be either a Nexus that I can get to work on their network, or an iPhone.
    - ageitgey 11y ago
      I have a Nexus 6P and got my wife a Nexus 5X thinking it would be a smaller version of basically the same thing. The 6P has been nice, but the 5X has all sorts of issues with bad performance. For example, opening the camera will often freeze the phone for 10-20 seconds. Google still hasn't fixed this after 4 months [1]. It frustrated my wife enough that we sold it and got a used Galaxy S6 instead. It worked a lot better overall (despite running an older version of Android). It's really disappointing. On paper, the Nexus 5X looks like a great phone. But in practice, basic features like taking pictures don't work reliably. [1] https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/nexus/8D7t6xJVwyU/mCMw87-BAgAJ https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/nexus/8D7t6xJVw...
awqrre 11y ago
nice, microSD is back
- mrmondo 11y ago
  I wonder if it's still stuck on a USB2 bus though...
Urgo 11y ago
I've been a Samsung supporter for a long time. I've had the note 2, 3, 4, and now 5. I really do love the Note 5 but I'm really mad at Samsung for creating another generation with no removable battery. I maxed out the storage in the Note5 when I got it since it also wasn't removable and I've never had issues with that. However, the battery life which was pretty decent at the beginning is now horrible. At home, on wifi, I'm lucky to make it 12 hours with minimal usage before needing to charge. On previous notes about half a year in I swap the battery with a replacement and get full life again. Can't on the Note 5 and looks like the S7 series is going to be the same :/ Really poor choice Samsung. I see why they're doing they're not making the battery removable though. They're pushing portable chargers.....
qznc 11y ago
There is nothing about the Virtual Reality deal with Facebook? Is Facebook a non-removal builtin app with the S7?
- isaac739 11y ago
  Samsung Oculus Gear app is pre-installed. I have a S6 Edge+ and the Gear VR. It's awesome. The Gear VR app has it's own built in app store. It's kind of like a mini OS. You still have to installed Facebook & Messenger App through the Play Store.
mataug 11y ago
Good luck getting monthly security patches on this.
- Pengwin 11y ago
  Considering it is Samsungs flagship device, and Samsung have offerings for business security with KNOX, I have no reason to see why they wouldn't.
  - mrmondo 11y ago
    I'm not going to get into a flame war here but history has made me very cautious of Samsung and from what I've seen they've been one of the worst offenders when it comes to security updates, add to that the large number of custom software they bundle with their devices and you tend to have quite a large attack vector. Reminds me of the time that I was working at a large (5K+) org and we found a virus to be circulating that was spread by custom scanner software that was really just bloatware / trayware that came bundled with various models, it hardly ever got updated and it did crazy things like run a local (custom) http server etc... what a nightmare.
    - Pengwin 11y ago
      Wow, that's a shame. I've had quite a different experience with my devices, so much so that I went from a Nexus back to a Samsung device (note 4) for the extra perks and have been very happy with it.
dharma1 11y ago
Was hoping positional VR with stereo cameras was here as hinted by Carmack, oh well, maybe it's in the next Samsung phone (Note 6)
megablast 11y ago
Thicker device, less megapixels on the camera, a risky move for Samsung. And this is more a S6s than a new device.
tempestn 11y ago
I love the Samsung hardware, and own an S6 - mostly because I was excited about Gear VR - but I really wish I could root my phone without forever tripping some "Knox" bit that might theoretically have repercussions in the future, and at the very least would affect resale value. In an ideal world, root would be a built-in feature, which can only be accessed through some obscure code, like the developer settings. It would show a big scary warning, and it would have su app controls included. Rooting the phone could trip some bit, sure, but a full factory reset should reset it. The only reasons I can see not to do this are 1) extra work supporting people who've messed up their phones. Easy enough to fix: we don't support phones while they are rooted. 2) allows removal of built-in apps. But really, just because you can't uninstall the stuff doesn't mean you have to use it, so is there really a benefit there? And 3) it would take a bit of development effort to add the feature. Perhaps the demand just isn't sufficient to justify it. But I find that hard to believe. Unless there's a 4) that there's a segment of the buying public that would actually be scared to learn a phone could be rooted or something?
- soared 11y ago
  The actual reason to not do it: They don't want you to. We sold you this, don't fuck with it like that. You technically own it and can root it, but then if it slows down you don't blame the root you blame the phone. When your friend sees your non-factory clean S6, he associates all those custom features with an S6, and not a rooted S6. They made a product and want everyone to use it and see it as they intended, rooting detracts from that. You have every right to, they just don't want you to.
  - userbinator 11y ago
    When your friend sees your non-factory clean S6, he associates all those custom features with an S6, and not a rooted S6. Wouldn't the fact that "you can do all these cool things once it's rooted" increase the perceived value and help drive sales and push towards manufacturers making it easier to root? IMHO the big selling point is all the apps, not just what software came with the hardware.
jacobsenscott 11y ago
Samsung has good hardware, but their software is so bad. I didn't mind because I could root it and install cyanogen. But they made that impossible to do on the S4. That's just malicious. I'm convinced their software engineers have a competition to see who can write the worst code without getting fired and get it shipped. Clearly nobody has ever been fired at samsung. Their awful software combined with their pathological paranoia about people rooting their phones means I'll never buy a samsung product again.
- Pxtl 11y ago
  I always find Samsung devices have more consistent performance on weaker hardware than the pure-google alternatives, and I assume their choice to trail Google's releases is part of that. For example, I don't blame them for maintaining the stock browser over Chrome.
- jayceekay 11y ago
  i had a galaxy s6 for the past 5 months and it was a nightmare. i made the mistake of not doing my research, approving an OTA upgrade to 5.1.1 and made it impossible to root my phone. recently got a nexus 5x and i am so happy to have a stock google phone again.
  - adamweld 11y ago
    I'm going back to my Nexus 5 after upgrading the internal battery by 30% [1], the S6 had great hardware but the memory management and overall software experience is horrible. Just give me AOSP! I'm going to miss the camera and Samsung Pay, though. [1] http://www.adamweld.com/2016/01/nexus-5-battery-capacity-upgrade.html http://www.adamweld.com/2016/01/nexus-5-battery-capacity-upg...
- barbs 11y ago
  What exactly is so bad about their software?
  - Spivak 11y ago
ChuckMcM 11y ago
I was pretty amazed at that last beauty shot of the S7 edge next to the iPhone, to my taste it looked better. I have mixed opinions about the software issues, on the one hand if the stock software is good enough, well its good enough, but when it isn't the lack of choices is always painful. My current phone is a Moto-X 2nd Gen which is good enough, not great.
gulpahum 11y ago
Samsung Galaxy S7 will be shipping with Android 6.0 and Vulkan API support. Exciting to see how Vulkan performs on mobiles. https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Galaxy-S7-Launch-Event https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Galaxy-S...
ohthehugemanate 11y ago
It never ceases to amaze me the price Samsung pays for sticking with shitty software. The main criticisms of the s6 and S6 Edge were: * poor battery life * you can't uninstall all the bloatware. As someone who is running a custom rom on an s6 edge, I can confirm: the software us also the reason for the poor battery life. I regularly get 10 hours usage time out of my phone. It easily survives 24 hours of light use. My rom isn't anything special or battery oriented; it's just a version of TouchWiz android with all the S-features removed. Imagine what Samsung could do if they shipped that way. Their 2015 offering would have been one of the best built phones on the market, also leading the pack in performance AND battery life. Imagine the S7 series if they didn't have to pack extra battery into the enclosure. Their business plan must hinge on selling the extra data collected through S-crap. But I can't imagine it's worth more than, say, raising the price by $20 per unit. Hell, they could offer a "vanilla" version of the phone for $100 more and get plenty of takers... And silence the critics.
- throwawaymsft 11y ago
  It's the 90s all over again. Dell, hp, compaq destroying the experience for Windows users. Apple holding the line on what is acceptable. Let's see how it plays out...
chmike 11y ago
I stopped considering Samsung's phones because we don't get timely OS upgrades and security fixes. I now bought an iPhone. There is a significant price overhead but at least I get software updates and security fixes. No deceptive surprize of defective device when receivîng it like some had with nexus phones. The apple phones are so expensive because all other phones sucks.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
neverminder 11y ago
I am very disappointed by the lack of USB Type-C which is clearly the new standard. Compatibility with their Gear VR is surely not good enough reason since it will only affect minority of the users, besides there's always an adapter.
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136 points by devhxinc 11y ago

gcb0 11y ago

wow, this is more like a paid infomercial than a wired article about apple products.

> Perhaps the most significant change this year comes in the S7’s new 12-megapixel camera. It’s lower resolution than last year’s 16-megapixel shooter, but Samsung says its larger pixels let in 56 percent more light than before for better low light images. What?

vinay427 11y ago
Sounds just like what HTC did with the HTC One in 2013: http://www.androidcentral.com/megapixels-ultrapixels-samsung-galaxy-s4-versus-htc-one-camera-shootout http://www.androidcentral.com/megapixels-ultrapixels-samsung... >The HTC One trades sheer megapixel count for larger (2-micron) pixels on the sensor itself, allowing for improved low-light capabilities when combined with its wide-angle f/2.0 lens. >the HTC One runs rings around the Galaxy S4 in night shots
- lqdc13 11y ago
  Interesting. TIL.
- massysett 11y ago
  "the HTC One runs rings around the Galaxy S4 in night shots" Maybe Samsung is doing something right here...but the HTC One had an awful camera. I bought it for the low-light camera performance. But it had some sort of hardware flaw that caused low light photos to have a purple haze. HTC had a replacement program, which would have required me to go without a phone for weeks. So I got Verizon to replace my phone with a refurb, which was actually worse. I just sent the refurb back and kept the purple haze phone. After this I switched to iPhone, not least because if it is defective an exchange just takes a trip to a retail store.
  - kweks 11y ago
    I had the same phone, bought for the same reason, and had the same problem. It was a hugely expensive phone, with terrible, terrible lowlight photos and broken AF. Furthermore, HTC refused to replace it under their replacement policy, as I had placed a custom ROM on the phone. The woman on the phone actually said: this is a known hardware issue, but you changed your ROM, so bad luck. Never would buy another HTC phone again.
    - lqdc13 11y ago
      Should put original ROM back. It's the same with all phones.
brianwawok 11y ago
Think of a CPU going from 4 GHz (Pentium 4) to 3 Gz (Core 2) and still being faster, because of a higher IPC. You can do the same thing with cameras to a degree, megapixel is not the end all be all measurement device.
jonknee 11y ago
Sensor size and quality are much more important than megapixels. Bigger pixels have a better dynamic range which makes for better pictures in both bright and dark situations (which is a huge boon on a smartphone). There are more pixels in the photo than the display you view it on, you might as well make sure the recorded pixels are the best they can be.
Bluestrike2 11y ago
Here's a decent explanation of the phenomenon they're referring to [0]. Marketing departments usually boil it down to "larger pixels = less noise in low light" but that's a really simple explanation. 0. http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/does.pixel.size.matter/#sensorconstant http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/does.pixel.size.matter/#...

tshtf 11y ago

The hardware quality of Samsung's flagship products has always been excellent. However the software issues make the price ridiculous. Good luck getting rapid Android updates for your carrier-modified Samsung Galaxy S7. I'm stuck with a T-Mobile Note 4 with 5.1.1.

levemi 11y ago
My Galaxy S5 has been terrible since the 5.1 upgrade. I actually don't want any software updates. My phone used to be a fast nicely functioning phone and now it's a sluggish piece of trash that's unusable. Like just stick with the current phone software and give me security updates and that's it. I've tried factory resetting and uninstalling most apps (and a factory reset is a huge pain with 2-factor set up everywhere by the way). The 5.1.1 upgrade didn't help either. I don't want updates. Leave my phone alone.
- jonknee 11y ago
  Without updates your phone is even more of a security nightmare than it is already.
  - levemi 11y ago
    I explicitly said that I do want security updates, I don't need the next version of Android though. If the current software I have is broken, please just fix that and not ship me something my phone can't deal with.
    - pasbesoin 11y ago
      I've had the same experience with my 2013 Moto X. Phone used to be sufficiently responsive for my use. Updated to 5.1, and things hang momentarily and lag. And, I'm not talking about browsing and other uses that continue to escalate power demands. The darned phone app/dialer is quite laggy. One difference that might account for some of it, is that the appear to have made it more graphical and to have further animated the graphical elements it displays. Under 4, the dialer popped right up, populated its list displays expeditiously and smoothly, and did things the moment you touched the control. Now, it can take a couple of seconds just to launch. Buttons are harder to hit because they are smaller, move around, and are not positioned at the screen edge as they were before. The also don't respond consistently; often there is a delay, and occasionally a touch doesn't register at all. The recent calls list displays a couple of days with only some jerkiness, but the requires an explicit tap to go further back and quite noticeably delays when first doing so and continues to delay and stutter as one scrolls down. Function first. Then form, or "design." The move from 4.x to 5.x seemed to get this backward, in this regard.

SmallBets 11y ago

Still happy with my S3 and feel I'm not missing any key features. The more generations go on you realize just how incremental the phone upgrades have gotten for quite some time now.

cpprototypes 11y ago
The S3 feels like the "core 2 duo" of smartphones. Clearly not as fast as new phones, but still good enough.
- nevi-me 11y ago
  Talking about Core 2 Duo, you remind me of my slow desktop that I haven't turned on in a few months. I have an S5. I can understand the move back to USB2 in S6 and above, and I don't know if USB3 is the cause, but my S5 battery goes from empty to full in a good short space of time, so I'm not missing out that much on the super charging goodness. Battery life is still good too. I'm also lucky to be in a country where Samsung have 2 free screen repairs over 2 years. Hopefully I'll be able to wait for the S8 or 9. I'm impressed with the S7 on paper, and I'm glad they brought back the things that made me dislike the S6. Now for hoping for better Android upgrades from Samsung :)
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- icefo 11y ago
  I feel the same with my S2. Spend some time on xda and you have android 6 running on it. It's not even slow except when you're switching between big apps because android have to kill them when they are not in use thanks to the 800mb of ram. I also bought a 3500mha battery and it lasts the day.
- pmontra 11y ago
  I share your opinion. I'm sticking with the S2, the first Samsung phone good enough to buy (the S was too limited). It still works, it's small and light, I can mount it as a true USB disk, no need to change it. I'll buy some other 4" phone when it eventually dies, maybe a Sony Z* Compact.

emilsedgh 11y ago

I few months ago I lost my 3 years old HTC One, so I had to get a new phone. For the first time I decided to get an iPhone. So I got a 6s. Worst mobile phone I've ever had. The battery life is terrible. Now I understand why people have 'Power banks' with them all the time. The phone also dies with 40% battery! I turn it on, it shows a splash screen meaning low battery, turns on, shows 40% battery, then dies after a moment again.Funny thing is that I try restarting it several times and at some point it starts working for hours (which means it actually does have 40% battery and its not a calibration issue). The user interface (which it was supposed to shine at) is just bad. I can never find items I'm looking for. I had to read an article to find out how I'm supposed to turn on the Hotspot feature (And it actually seemed like editing xorg file!) Viber/Skype start ringing and I cannot respond immediately, as the ringing dialog doesnt even show up until I do to the application. ios has only a few keyboard layouts and misses my language (Farsi) and I have to rely on third party keyboards to type and third party keyboards are so unstable. Sometimes the keyboard just doesnt show up until I close/open the application. My GPRS just started working when I inserted the SIM card to my HTC phone. On ios? I had to configure it manually! Again, felt like Linux +10 years ago! I know this is totally off-topic to this thread but I had to say this rant. iPhone is only a fashion item. Its nowhere as usable as Android. If you want a phone that just works do yourself a favor and give a decent flagship Android phone a try. You'd be surprised. (And I'm not a fanboy of Google/Android, I wish we had a FOSS OS with an open ecosystem, but Android just works, unlike ios)

yock 11y ago
> The phone also dies with 40% battery! I turn it on, it shows a splash screen meaning low battery, turns on, shows 40% battery, then dies after a moment again.Funny thing is that I try restarting it several times and at some point it starts working for hours (which means it actually does have 40% battery and its not a calibration issue). Other complaints aside, have you considered that your device might be defective? What you describe is neither common nor accepted by iPhone users at large.
- anonova 11y ago
  I have an iPhone 5 that has this issue. ~40% battery and if there's a sudden voltage sag like turning on gps or opening the camera, the phone will immediately shut off. This ended up indeed being a defect, so much so that Apple had a recall: https://www.apple.com/support/iphone5-battery/ https://www.apple.com/support/iphone5-battery/

jaxondu 11y ago

Samsung and LG both introduce their annual flagship smartphone so early in the year. Doesn't it give Apple plenty of time to counter them spec wise if any? Just curious, if you're Apple competitor, what's the pros and cons of launching your flagship before and after Apple's launch?

sz4kerto 11y ago
Erm, there's around half a year between Samsung and Apple announcements. Is this before or after? Apple introduces their annual flagship smartphone so late in the year. Doesn't it give Samsung plenty of time to counter them spec wise next year? :) BTW, no, the iPhone that's going to be announced in the autumn is likely going through the last phases of testing.
Bluestrike2 11y ago
I'd imagine that the specs on the upcoming iPhone would already be more or less finalized by this point. Or moving in that direction, at the very least. Unless Samsung or LG unveiled something groundbreaking that would make upending plans for Apple worthwhile, I don't think it much matters. They probably already have a pretty solid idea on what their competitors are likely to do when they start development in earnest.
ctz 11y ago
I don't think it's a strategic question like that. It's more simple: Mobile World Congress starts tomorrow. It's the default venue to launch new devices (assuming you're not Apple or Google).
criley2 11y ago
Nah. Apple largely does not care what competitors do, Apple seeks to set trends instead of following them. They're more interested in Google's software than Samsung's hardware, and only so far as to make sure truly necessary features are included in iOS. Plus, Apple buys or has bought chips and screens from Samsung. On the flip side, getting your flagship out months and months before Apple means hundreds of thousands or millions of people walking around with the "latest and greatest" which might just eclipse the last gen iPhone. Still, Apple doesn't compete on specs. They happily put less megapixels (with better quality) or a lower clock speed (with better chip design and operating system efficiency), and have almost always had much smaller batteries.

neals 11y ago

I do love the screen of the Samsung S-line. Not the size, but the actual display, the colors and brightness is why I keep coming back to it. Any other phone with comparable screens?

EddieRingle 11y ago
The Nexus 6P is using Samsung panels.
- dingo_bat 11y ago
  The Nexus 6P display, despite being made by Samsung, is way behind the displays in GS6/7 and Note4/5. Samsung keeps the best for itself.

AndrewKemendo 11y ago

The most important feature of my S5 is the fact that it's waterproof - glad they carried that over to the S7. My kids like to throw stuff in the toilet, including any phone that is not actively being held, or splash on them from the bath, so it has saved me many many times already. That's what sets it apart from the Apple devices for me as a daily device and I'm surprised more phones don't do that - but apparently consumers don't care that much.

cryptoz 11y ago
Waterproofing isn't as obvious as it seems, though. The previous iterations of Samsung S series that were not waterproof included an amazing array of environmental sensors that they can't seem to add and also have waterproofing. The Galaxy S4 had a hygrometer and a thermometer, which are absolutely awesome and represent a really amazing trend of smartphones and environmental sensing. They removed those sensors for the S5 to be waterproof, and I'm sad to see that continues with the new phones still. At least they are still able to include a barometer, though! That's awesome.
- AndrewKemendo 11y ago
  I mean this is just about tradeoffs. I'll happily trade a hygrometer and thermometer for being waterproof. The former gives me marginally more information about my environment is some kind of specific niche cases - the latter prevents me from needing to buy a new phone and also allowing me to not worry about it around water. No brainer.
ryanmonroe 11y ago
Apple doesn't advertise it, but the iPhone 6 is pretty water proof. In this video it was left in the water with the screen on for >20 minutes and all happened was the speaker stopped working. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uuCXXNtGMQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uuCXXNtGMQ

Geee 11y ago

Samsung has copied Nokia N9 icon style? http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/nokia_n9_review_sg_25-820x420.jpg http://cdn.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/nokia_n9...

tetraodonpuffer 11y ago

nice to see that sd cards are supported again as well as waterproofing, now if they could figure out a way to removable battery with the same form-factor (because if they had a plastic back they'd be crucified in the press, despite the fact that a plastic back is just as good IMHO) it would be amazing

pcurve 11y ago
I have s4 and i love its plastic build. It's a phone with 2-3 year life, with $5 scrap value at the end. No a Rolex.

kozukumi 11y ago

Looks great but no way am I going to go back to Samsung now I have a Nexus 6P. In the past the Nexus phones have always been kinda "nice but not great" but the 6P is easily one of best phones you can buy. The camera is top-notch, the screen is stunning, performance is awesome and battery life is incredible. And stock Android is bliss. I can't really fault it :)

switch007 11y ago
Not to rain on your hyperbole parade ;), but how long is the "incredible" battery life? Asking for a friend with an ageing nexus 4, who swore not to spend that much on a phone again...
- pasbesoin 11y ago
  I've been considering a... is it the "5x", now? Mid-range price. The camera is supposed to be excellent. Somewhat more pocketable. And, being on Verizon, my understanding is that I can pop in the micro-SIM from my 2013 Moto X and it will "just work", despite Verizon not officially supporting the 5x. For that is a primary concern of mine. Due to circumstances, I'm kind of stuck with Verizon (in the U.S.). But I will never again purchase a phone whose updates are under their control. It seems to be either a Nexus that I can get to work on their network, or an iPhone.
  - ageitgey 11y ago
    I have a Nexus 6P and got my wife a Nexus 5X thinking it would be a smaller version of basically the same thing. The 6P has been nice, but the 5X has all sorts of issues with bad performance. For example, opening the camera will often freeze the phone for 10-20 seconds. Google still hasn't fixed this after 4 months [1]. It frustrated my wife enough that we sold it and got a used Galaxy S6 instead. It worked a lot better overall (despite running an older version of Android). It's really disappointing. On paper, the Nexus 5X looks like a great phone. But in practice, basic features like taking pictures don't work reliably. [1] https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/nexus/8D7t6xJVwyU/mCMw87-BAgAJ https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/nexus/8D7t6xJVw...

awqrre 11y ago

nice, microSD is back

mrmondo 11y ago
I wonder if it's still stuck on a USB2 bus though...

Urgo 11y ago

I've been a Samsung supporter for a long time. I've had the note 2, 3, 4, and now 5. I really do love the Note 5 but I'm really mad at Samsung for creating another generation with no removable battery. I maxed out the storage in the Note5 when I got it since it also wasn't removable and I've never had issues with that. However, the battery life which was pretty decent at the beginning is now horrible. At home, on wifi, I'm lucky to make it 12 hours with minimal usage before needing to charge. On previous notes about half a year in I swap the battery with a replacement and get full life again. Can't on the Note 5 and looks like the S7 series is going to be the same :/ Really poor choice Samsung. I see why they're doing they're not making the battery removable though. They're pushing portable chargers.....

qznc 11y ago

There is nothing about the Virtual Reality deal with Facebook? Is Facebook a non-removal builtin app with the S7?

isaac739 11y ago
Samsung Oculus Gear app is pre-installed. I have a S6 Edge+ and the Gear VR. It's awesome. The Gear VR app has it's own built in app store. It's kind of like a mini OS. You still have to installed Facebook & Messenger App through the Play Store.

mataug 11y ago

Good luck getting monthly security patches on this.

Pengwin 11y ago
Considering it is Samsungs flagship device, and Samsung have offerings for business security with KNOX, I have no reason to see why they wouldn't.
- mrmondo 11y ago
  I'm not going to get into a flame war here but history has made me very cautious of Samsung and from what I've seen they've been one of the worst offenders when it comes to security updates, add to that the large number of custom software they bundle with their devices and you tend to have quite a large attack vector. Reminds me of the time that I was working at a large (5K+) org and we found a virus to be circulating that was spread by custom scanner software that was really just bloatware / trayware that came bundled with various models, it hardly ever got updated and it did crazy things like run a local (custom) http server etc... what a nightmare.
  - Pengwin 11y ago
    Wow, that's a shame. I've had quite a different experience with my devices, so much so that I went from a Nexus back to a Samsung device (note 4) for the extra perks and have been very happy with it.

dharma1 11y ago

Was hoping positional VR with stereo cameras was here as hinted by Carmack, oh well, maybe it's in the next Samsung phone (Note 6)

megablast 11y ago

Thicker device, less megapixels on the camera, a risky move for Samsung. And this is more a S6s than a new device.

tempestn 11y ago

I love the Samsung hardware, and own an S6 - mostly because I was excited about Gear VR - but I really wish I could root my phone without forever tripping some "Knox" bit that might theoretically have repercussions in the future, and at the very least would affect resale value. In an ideal world, root would be a built-in feature, which can only be accessed through some obscure code, like the developer settings. It would show a big scary warning, and it would have su app controls included. Rooting the phone could trip some bit, sure, but a full factory reset should reset it. The only reasons I can see not to do this are 1) extra work supporting people who've messed up their phones. Easy enough to fix: we don't support phones while they are rooted. 2) allows removal of built-in apps. But really, just because you can't uninstall the stuff doesn't mean you have to use it, so is there really a benefit there? And 3) it would take a bit of development effort to add the feature. Perhaps the demand just isn't sufficient to justify it. But I find that hard to believe. Unless there's a 4) that there's a segment of the buying public that would actually be scared to learn a phone could be rooted or something?

soared 11y ago
The actual reason to not do it: They don't want you to. We sold you this, don't fuck with it like that. You technically own it and can root it, but then if it slows down you don't blame the root you blame the phone. When your friend sees your non-factory clean S6, he associates all those custom features with an S6, and not a rooted S6. They made a product and want everyone to use it and see it as they intended, rooting detracts from that. You have every right to, they just don't want you to.
- userbinator 11y ago
  When your friend sees your non-factory clean S6, he associates all those custom features with an S6, and not a rooted S6. Wouldn't the fact that "you can do all these cool things once it's rooted" increase the perceived value and help drive sales and push towards manufacturers making it easier to root? IMHO the big selling point is all the apps, not just what software came with the hardware.

jacobsenscott 11y ago

Samsung has good hardware, but their software is so bad. I didn't mind because I could root it and install cyanogen. But they made that impossible to do on the S4. That's just malicious. I'm convinced their software engineers have a competition to see who can write the worst code without getting fired and get it shipped. Clearly nobody has ever been fired at samsung. Their awful software combined with their pathological paranoia about people rooting their phones means I'll never buy a samsung product again.

Pxtl 11y ago
I always find Samsung devices have more consistent performance on weaker hardware than the pure-google alternatives, and I assume their choice to trail Google's releases is part of that. For example, I don't blame them for maintaining the stock browser over Chrome.
jayceekay 11y ago
i had a galaxy s6 for the past 5 months and it was a nightmare. i made the mistake of not doing my research, approving an OTA upgrade to 5.1.1 and made it impossible to root my phone. recently got a nexus 5x and i am so happy to have a stock google phone again.
- adamweld 11y ago
  I'm going back to my Nexus 5 after upgrading the internal battery by 30% [1], the S6 had great hardware but the memory management and overall software experience is horrible. Just give me AOSP! I'm going to miss the camera and Samsung Pay, though. [1] http://www.adamweld.com/2016/01/nexus-5-battery-capacity-upgrade.html http://www.adamweld.com/2016/01/nexus-5-battery-capacity-upg...
barbs 11y ago
What exactly is so bad about their software?
- Spivak 11y ago

ChuckMcM 11y ago

I was pretty amazed at that last beauty shot of the S7 edge next to the iPhone, to my taste it looked better. I have mixed opinions about the software issues, on the one hand if the stock software is good enough, well its good enough, but when it isn't the lack of choices is always painful. My current phone is a Moto-X 2nd Gen which is good enough, not great.

gulpahum 11y ago

Samsung Galaxy S7 will be shipping with Android 6.0 and Vulkan API support. Exciting to see how Vulkan performs on mobiles. https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Galaxy-S7-Launch-Event https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Galaxy-S...

ohthehugemanate 11y ago

It never ceases to amaze me the price Samsung pays for sticking with shitty software. The main criticisms of the s6 and S6 Edge were: * poor battery life * you can't uninstall all the bloatware. As someone who is running a custom rom on an s6 edge, I can confirm: the software us also the reason for the poor battery life. I regularly get 10 hours usage time out of my phone. It easily survives 24 hours of light use. My rom isn't anything special or battery oriented; it's just a version of TouchWiz android with all the S-features removed. Imagine what Samsung could do if they shipped that way. Their 2015 offering would have been one of the best built phones on the market, also leading the pack in performance AND battery life. Imagine the S7 series if they didn't have to pack extra battery into the enclosure. Their business plan must hinge on selling the extra data collected through S-crap. But I can't imagine it's worth more than, say, raising the price by $20 per unit. Hell, they could offer a "vanilla" version of the phone for $100 more and get plenty of takers... And silence the critics.

throwawaymsft 11y ago
It's the 90s all over again. Dell, hp, compaq destroying the experience for Windows users. Apple holding the line on what is acceptable. Let's see how it plays out...

chmike 11y ago

I stopped considering Samsung's phones because we don't get timely OS upgrades and security fixes. I now bought an iPhone. There is a significant price overhead but at least I get software updates and security fixes. No deceptive surprize of defective device when receivîng it like some had with nexus phones. The apple phones are so expensive because all other phones sucks.

deleted 11y ago

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neverminder 11y ago

I am very disappointed by the lack of USB Type-C which is clearly the new standard. Compatibility with their Gear VR is surely not good enough reason since it will only affect minority of the users, besides there's always an adapter.

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