My Simple Review of the S7 Edge

[Nr123*123]

I'll keep it very simple. I have had an iPhone since 2007. Recently I have become annoyed with Apple's poor customer service, lack of development and bugs in the apps I use mainly (reminders, calendar).

I decided to try the S7 Edge. It's now 7 months since it was released, so not a new phone to people by any counts. But I will give my view as an iPhone owner.

I purchased the black version. I would've preferred silver, but this wasn't available.


Positives

• Looks stunning - with the edge to edge display, just sitting there it looks amazing
• Amazing screen...obviously. When going back and forth to my iPhone (6S), the iPhone seems washed out and grainy.
• Cool features like fast charge, fast wireless charge
• Water resistant - gives peace of mind. But to be honest, I haven't ever dropped my phone in water.
• Amazing camera
• Clean and easy to use UI
• Seems to have less bugs - This may be because I am using Google for most things. Everything just works.
• Always on display and LED indicator are very useful
• Great battery life
• And again, that screen!

Negatives

• It is huge, making it difficult to use one handed - typing one handed can be a challenge, leading to inadvertent touches. It isn't that much bigger than the 6S, despite have a screen that's 15% bigger. It is one of the best phones to hold in the hand (next to the 5S). There aren't actually many false touches from the edge.
• Return and multi-tasking keys are always hit accidentally.
• Can lag a bit weirdly. Things are snappy, but not consistently.
• Micro-USB port feels like I'm about to kill it every time I plug it in.
• Double features, there seem to be two apps for everything - one Samsung and one Google. On the whole, the Google ones appear to be better. This can be confusing for a novice.

On the whole, I really like it. I will play with it for another week to see if I'm sold on it. If I don't like it, I will buy a Nokia 3310.

 

[5105973]

Size wise the S7 non edge is more comparable to what you are used to. The Edge compares better to a Plus. I've had both and prefer the Edge version.

I was quite shocked that my husband, who was happy with his iPhone, decided to try a Note 7 on a BOGO deal when I did. He has never had one good word to say about Android or Samsung since trying them a few years ago for developer testing. The next thing I knew he made his Note 7 his primary phone. When that got recalled he went to the S7 Edge and has barely used his 6Splus. Like me, he originally had plans to get the new iPhone. We upgrade annually to the new iPhones when they are released. I still like them. But the S7 Edge has worked too well for us.

I also still use an iPhone SE. I loved it at one time but since it's gone to iOS 10 the battery drains faster and it's clunky for me to use. I love the form factor but regret updating the OS.

For me, the major drawback with the S7 and S7 Edge is their glass backs. I need a tougher phone. I would probably be a good candidate for the S7 Active, but I have not read good things about that phone. Disgruntled owners on Android Central were actively steering prospective buyers away from it. It's oddly fragile in its own way.

 

[5105973]

Dammit. So much for my praise of my S7Edge. One of the things I most prized about the Note7's and my loaner S7 and my new S7Edge was their ability to record lovely stereo audio sound for video recordings.

Well I'm on a trip, and was just taking some videos. I went to play my videos back and found out one of the mics on my S7Edge is borked. Sound will play through one ear on the different headphones I've tested, but not the other and then suddenly break into stereo sound and then stop again, and make a weird noise. All these oddities happen on the same places in the videos so I know whatever went wrong, went wrong during recording. Between the overheating problems I've had with the loaner S7 and my second Note7, and now THIS...let's not even talk about the Note7 recall, I think Samsung has some serious quality variance issues.

Unfortunately I'm past the return and exchange period. I am out of town anyway. I didn't do extensive testing of the video because it didn't occur to me to test the sound through the headphones just for the sake of testing. I did record videos during the return period, but played them back through the speaker on the phone, and when you do that it is not easy to tell the sound isn't what it should be. The camera has been amazing, the best performing of them all so far for still pictures. I'm really bummed about the sound.

My Apple Music and Google Play music widgets are acting weird, too. The apps are fine but the widgets aren't working correctly. I've rebooted and done the usual prelim fixes.

Everything else seems to be working. I did 4K recording and other than the sound being borked, it looked great and the phone kept reasonably cool and the battery held up well. When I recorded ANY kind of video on my second Note7 the thing heated up hot enough to hurt.

Grr. 2016 is not the best year for phones for me so far. I hope I have better luck with the Pixel. It doesn't do stereo audio though. The Google rep said it did but reviews say it doesn't and I can hear for myself it doesn't on review videos.

Oh well between my S7Edge and my husband's, mine was free on BOGO. I guess you get what you pay for. I'm so frustrated with Samsung right now. They make these gorgeous phones with fabulous features but they can't seem to keep up a consistent quality level.

 

[Roadstar]

I got an S7 Edge on Friday and so far it's been mostly a good experience. Waterproofing is comforting especially during this time of the year. "Oh, it's starting to rain, better put my phone away. No wait, with this one I don't have to give a single **** about that rain. Neat.". The camera is also really nice and especially in low light it murders my iPhone 6s, although in some situations it has actually made the scene look more lit than it was in reality. However, so far I've tested only the automatic functionalites. I need to give the pro mode a shot as well.

I'm not totally convinced about the usefulness of the curved display, but let's see how it turns out after using the phone a little bit more. There have been some accidental touches from the edges especially when using the phone one-handed, but putting a case on the phone has improved the situation a little bit. Micro-USB is another annoyance as I never get it the right way on the first go, but at least the bundled charger does fast charging and wireless charging is supported, so I don't have to deal with that connector too often if I don't feel like it.

So far the S7 Edge has been snappy and I've liked the extra functionality Android offers over here. Mobile payments are nice and my bank's subsidiary has a nice app that I can use for them. Apple Pay, on the other, is still nowhere to be seen here, so if I want to do pretty much anything NFC, I'll need to go to the S7 Edge. Same goes for voice controlling music and podcast apps I really use. Currently I'm hoping that I won't run into any dealbreakers as this one seems like a really nice phone.
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Unfortunately I'm past the return and exchange period.

Isn't it still under warranty anyway? I know that the customer protection laws are different in the US compared to Finland, but I'd be surprised if you were stuck with a broken relatively new phone after missing the return and exchange window.

 

[The Game 161]

I enjoyed having the S7 edge. A great phone. Sadly performance and lag was still there at the end. I loved the camera on it and how you could use widgets. I only sold it to fund my note 7 which was a big mistake in the end.


Got the 7 plus now and will stick with apple going forward but the S7 edge is a great phone. Didn’t use the edge features much though. How warm it gets during fast charge did worry me but it never caught fire luckily.

 

[5105973]

I am definitely within the warranty period. I just can't do anything right now because I'm traveling. My husband surprised me with a mini vacation. I'm just bummed because the Samsung takes beautiful videos and normally with wonderful sound. It really let me down by being faulty on this trip.

The Note 7 was my 50th birthday gift and that turned out badly. The loaner S7 they gave me was almost unusable because it overheated so badly. I was almost relieved for the second Note7 recall because that Note7 started badly overheating frequently just as the return period ended. I mean really, how many times am I going to put up with Samsung letting me down just outside my return period. One good unit out of FOUR is not good odds.

Sorry, I'm whining aren't I. Oh well, I'll get it fixed. I am more fortunate than other people this sort of thing has happened to because I did keep my iPhones and they are still in good working order for videos. The Sammy works fine otherwise.

 

[Klyster]

You're entitled to whine

My first replacement S7 edge went back as the touch keys were gammy and 4G reception was too.
I took it in to the shop, swapped the sim into another phone and bingo, it was sweet as.
Got the CSR to play with the touch keys, she agreed they were dodgy so she opened another platinum box and I walked out with a new phone.

I'd be whining too if my issue wasn't resolved easily and quickly but I usually won't leave the store until it is sorted.

So, whine away, it helps vent your frustration.

 

[5105973]

You're entitled to whine

My first replacement S7 edge went back as the touch keys were gammy and 4G reception was too.
I took it in to the shop, swapped the sim into another phone and bingo, it was sweet as.
Got the CSR to play with the touch keys, she agreed they were dodgy so she opened another platinum box and I walked out with a new phone.

I'd be whining too if my issue wasn't resolved easily and quickly but I usually won't leave the store until it is sorted.

So, whine away, it helps vent your frustration.

Thank you, you're very kind and it does help to vent. I am just so frustrated with Samsung QC right now. They make these gorgeous phones with exactly the specs and features I want, but it's so hard to get one that's in normal working order. Or at least it's been challenging for me. My husband's first Note7 had a somewhat dim tinted screen but so far all four of his Samsungs (we each ended up with a total of four to use because of the Note7 recalls) have been fine...keeping fingers crossed for him.

We did check these phones out in the store to a certain extent, but this issue with the bad mic wasn't something I would have caught without making a video and testing the audio through stereo headphones. That's not something I do very often, except of course to record special occasions, and so I discovered this all a bit late.

I'm hoping they can fix it without otherwise messing anything else up or giving me a refurb replacement because it is otherwise flawless. The screen is gorgeous and it takes great photos. It never runs hot and it gets good battery life. I would simply get a plug in stereo mic for it, but the only good one I can find is for the iPhone's lightning connector.

 

[I7guy]

Thank you, you're very kind and it does help to vent. I am just so frustrated with Samsung QC right now. They make these gorgeous phones with exactly the specs and features I want, but it's so hard to get one that's in normal working order. Or at least it's been challenging for me. My husband's first Note7 had a somewhat dim tinted screen but so far all four of his Samsungs (we each ended up with a total of four to use because of the Note7 recalls) have been fine...keeping fingers crossed for him.

We did check these phones out in the store to a certain extent, but this issue with the bad mic wasn't something I would have caught without making a video and testing the audio through stereo headphones. That's not something I do very often, except of course to record special occasions, and so I discovered this all a bit late.

I'm hoping they can fix it without otherwise messing anything else up or giving me a refurb replacement because it is otherwise flawless. The screen is gorgeous and it takes great photos. It never runs hot and it gets good battery life. I would simply get a plug in stereo mic for it, but the only good one I can find is for the iPhone's lightning connector.

i think that's a hint from above.

 

[5105973]

i think that's a hint from above.

That noisy family staying one floor above us, whose members apparently wear wooden clogs and participate in Irish dance at odd hours of the night? What could they be hinting at to me?

 

[ryanwarsaw]

That noisy family staying one floor above us, whose members apparently wear wooden clogs and participate in Irish dance at odd hours of the night? What could they be hinting at to me?

I have an S7E and couldn't stand the thing. Have to admit loved it at first but after 4 months I was desperate for the 7+ to be released over here in Thailand. Got mine on the first day it came out. I am no longer bored of the iPhone. Even though it hasn't changed much I don't have to constantly fight with it. I found the Edge curves awkward to hold and really began to dislike them.

You seem to be going through a lot of stress to stick with Samsung. i see from your posts you don't have fan boy or hater mentality towards Apple. Can I ask you what the killer feature is on Samsung's that keeps you from getting an iPhone?

I won't go into what is better on Samsung vs iPhone in detail because that's been done. The one grudge I have with Apple right now is you can take the headphone jack and that is no problem. However having no wireless charging feature seems inexcusable at that point. No big deal but it seems like a glaring omission. That being said I like the stereo speakers.

So you seem to be swimming upstream to make Samsung work and I am just wondering why? You don't have to get into every detail but what is the game changer here for you?

 

[5105973]

I have an S7E and couldn't stand the thing. Have to admit loved it at first but after 4 months I was desperate for the 7+ to be released over here in Thailand. Got mine on the first day it came out. I am no longer bored of the iPhone. Even though it hasn't changed much I don't have to constantly fight with it. I found the Edge curves awkward to hold and really began to dislike them.

You seem to be going through a lot of stress to stick with Samsung. i see from your posts you don't have fan boy or hater mentality towards Apple. Can I ask you what the killer feature is on Samsung's that keeps you from getting an iPhone?

I won't go into what is better on Samsung vs iPhone in detail because that's been done. The one grudge I have with Apple right now is you can take the headphone jack and that is no problem. However having no wireless charging feature seems inexcusable at that point. No big deal but it seems like a glaring omission. That being said I like the stereo speakers.

So you seem to be swimming upstream to make Samsung work and I am just wondering why? You don't have to get into every detail but what is the game changer here for you?

Actually I wanted the Note 7 for the stylus. Once I got it, I fell in love with the AMOLED display, Samsung Pay was great, the wonderful stereo audio on videos was so much better than the flat lifeless monoaural sound on my iPhone videos. The S7/N7 camera was also great. The selfie lens is a nicer more functional wider angle that lets me get more people into the photos.

And I'm one of the weird people who actually liked Touchwiz for the features and customization. My husband far and away prefers Samsung smart watches to Apple watches.

Honestly for user interface, I prefer Android now. I really dislike iOS 10 but am unable to articulate why. It seems to have changed my SE from a reliable friend into a battery hog and clunky stranger.

Despite all that, by the time our second Note7s were recalled, I was going to take an iPhone 7 and my husband might have been persuaded to take a 7 Plus. But there were no 7pluses to be offered even if he could be persuaded away from Samsung. We were told it might not be until the last few days or December that we would be able to have one! So that one is on Apple for their continuing inability to match supply to demand.

They did have an iPhone 7 for me. I turned it down at the last minute because my husband was staying with Samsung, and we could get our original BOGO deal reinstated and get me the S7 Edge for free.

By this time I had seen so many posts about iPhone 7 QC issues and my husband's friend had returned a badly hissing 7 Plus, I decided I may as well give the S7 Edge a go. And I was thrilled with it until I discovered the bad mic yesterday.

Just a few minutes ago my husband was snapping pictures of the sunrise and HIS S7Edge crashed! He lost the few photos he tried to take and had to reboot. I think it was because he accidentally hit burst mode and it was still recording the bursts when he was trying to move on and take other pics.

I'm researching Nikon new line of ruggedized wide angle action cameras for him and small hi def stereo audio camcorders for me. I've reached the conclusion I should have reached long ago that I expect way too much from one device.

 

[ryanwarsaw]

Yeah I don't like Android for reasons it is hard to explain. I do love the Samsung display as well. Well probably use my S7E as a media consumption device occasionally. Thanks for the thoughtful reply. It is painful to really like something so much to have such frustrating results. Hope your experiences are better in the future.

If you prefer Android then for sure the S7E is better hardware. I just couldn't get used to it and it was a breath of fresh air going back to Apple for me. Best of luck.

 

[Radon87000]

Actually I wanted the Note 7 for the stylus. Once I got it, I fell in love with the AMOLED display, Samsung Pay was great, the wonderful stereo audio on videos was so much better than the flat lifeless monoaural sound on my iPhone videos. The S7/N7 camera was also great. The selfie lens is a nicer more functional wider angle that lets me get more people into the photos.

And I'm one of the weird people who actually liked Touchwiz for the features and customization. My husband far and away prefers Samsung smart watches to Apple watches.

Honestly for user interface, I prefer Android now. I really dislike iOS 10 but am unable to articulate why. It seems to have changed my SE from a reliable friend into a battery hog and clunky stranger.

Despite all that, by the time our second Note7s were recalled, I was going to take an iPhone 7 and my husband might have been persuaded to take a 7 Plus. But there were no 7pluses to be offered even if he could be persuaded away from Samsung. We were told it might not be until the last few days or December that we would be able to have one! So that one is on Apple for their continuing inability to match supply to demand.

They did have an iPhone 7 for me. I turned it down at the last minute because my husband was staying with Samsung, and we could get our original BOGO deal reinstated and get me the S7 Edge for free.

By this time I had seen so many posts about iPhone 7 QC issues and my husband's friend had returned a badly hissing 7 Plus, I decided I may as well give the S7 Edge a go. And I was thrilled with it until I discovered the bad mic yesterday.

Just a few minutes ago my husband was snapping pictures of the sunrise and HIS S7Edge crashed! He lost the few photos he tried to take and had to reboot. I think it was because he accidentally hit burst mode and it was still recording the bursts when he was trying to move on and take other pics.

I'm researching Nikon new line of ruggedized wide angle action cameras for him and small hi def stereo audio camcorders for me. I've reached the conclusion I should have reached long ago that I expect way too much from one device.

Sounds like you have had your share of bad luck with Samsung just like I had with Apple with my iPhone 6 lol

 

[5105973]

I think I'm just having one of those years. I have a similar story about our family's recent misadventures with purchasing our first new automobiles in over a decade. Before we left for our trip, we got a safety recall notice on my new (but preowned) 2015 car. Apparently the airbag is programmed to kill me. Sigh. The hand me down car my husband gave me prior to that died within two weeks of my having it. We got it fixed but it's got too many years and miles on it to be anything but backup.

My original car is literally a zombie, as in risen from the grave. It's almost 25 years old, seemed to die a hideous death by the sounds it made one afternoon, so we stuck it in the garage to be dealt with later, and my husband gave me the hand-me-down I mentioned. But when we drove my old car out to test it, it had apparently fixed itself and is now the best it's ever been. It sounds and handles even better than new. It's like it was visited by car fairies who fixed it. And no, I'm sure nobody sneaked it out to have it repaired. It's like it had a bad car flu and recovered. It's been a weird year for technology.