If you’re a regular reader of this column you’ll know I was smitten with Samsung’s new Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge smartphones when I got to try them out, all-too-briefly, at their launch in Barcelona, Spain in February.
Now they’re available in South Africa and I’ve had a chance to spend some quality time with the more pricey and, in my opinion, better looking of the two, the Edge.
Did familiarity breed contempt, or did my initial love-at-first-sight blossom into a full-blown romance?
You be the judge as I detail six reasons you’ll fall hard for the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.
Beauty and brains
When its predecessor, the Galaxy S6 Edge, was launched last year, I declared that work of high tech-art, crafted from steel and curved glass, the most beautiful phone in the world. That title now goes to the S7 Edge which is, if possible, even more stunning.
It now also feels great in the hand, thanks to the design wizards at Samsung smoothing out the sharp edges and adding a subtle, but reassuringly palm-fitting curve to the back.
This goes beyond aesthetics and ergonomics. Thanks to the extra space afforded by the rear curve, there’s room to squeeze in new components that make the S7 Edge arguably the most powerful smartphone on the market, starting with…
A bigger battery
One of the big disappointments of the S6 line was its mediocre battery life, a problem exacerbated by the fact that Samsung had done away with the removable battery Galaxy power users had come to know and love over the years, eliminating the option of popping in a fresh one when caught short between charges.
While it didn’t re-introduce this feature with the S7 line, it did endow them with bigger, better batteries. The S7 comes with a 3000mAh battery, up from the S6’s 2550mAh, while the S7 Edge, a bigger phone, boasts a beefy 3600mAh battery, a full 1000mAh bigger than the one in last year’s Edge.
I battled to get through a busy work day with its predecessor, but the S7 Edge easily achieved this with enough juice to spare for watching videos and browsing the web well into the wee hours – a delightful experience thanks to the 5.5-inch quad HD Super AMOLED display.
If that’s not enough, there’s a range of aftermarket battery packs and wireless charging attachments available.
Expandable storage
Another feature absent in the S6 that makes a welcome return in the S7 is the Micro SD card slot.
The Edge comes with either 32GB or 64GB of onboard storage (the 32GB version is the one most widely available in SA).
Thanks to the SD card slot, that’s now expandable by up to 200GB (the size of the biggest cards currently on the market), great news if you’re someone who likes to carry their collection of favourite movies and music around with them.
Water and dust-proof
One of the things I really liked about Samsung’s long-discontinued Galaxy S5 was its water resistance.
Although its ingress protection level of IP67 meant it was only guaranteed to guard against brief immersion, it was enough to save the phone from a temporary dunking like a drop in the loo or a poolside fumble.
I wasn’t alone in my disappointment when Samsung removed even this mild level of protection with the S6 line. But now it’s back and better than ever.
With an IP68 rating, the S7 and S7 Edge are now both totally dust tight and will withstand submersion in a meter-and-a-half of water for 30 minutes.
I tested this in a variety of ways with my Edge review phone, in rock pools, under a running tap, in the shallow end of a swimming pool and in the shower, all without incident.
Impressively, Samsung’s managed to achieve this level of protection without having to resort to fiddly flaps to cover the charging port and headphone jack.
Better low-light pictures
Samsung’s done an at-first-glance puzzling thing with the main camera on the S7 range, dropping the megapixel count from 16MP on the S6 to 12MP. It’s billed this as an upgrade because they’ve upped the pixel size, allowing more light into each snap.
I’ve long believed raw megapixel count isn’t a reliable gauge of a digital camera’s capabilities and Samsung may just have achieved the perfect balance with the S7 and S7 Edge.
Daytime pics were crisp and clear, if not quite as detailed when zoomed in close as those snapped with the older S6.
But low light pics were a revelation, rich, warm and surprisingly clear in conditions that produced only fuzzy smudges from the selection of high-end competitors I compared them with, thanks to the large f/1.7 aperture lens.
The 5MP front-facing has the same lens, so selfie fans can snap on well into the night.
Virtual reality
If you were one of the thousands who ordered the S7 or S7 Edge before March 20, you’ll have received a free GearVR virtual reality headset. If not, buy one for around R1 600.
Unlike the more expensive Oculus Rift and HTC Vive which need to be paired with a PC, to use the GearVR you simply slot a recent model, high-end Samsung smartphone into the headset.
For now these are the S7, S7 Edge, S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+ and Note 5, although Samsung has hinted that it may soon bring some of its more affordable phones into the VR fold.
There’s already a good selection of video content and games available with more being added all the time, including the cult open world game, Minecraft.
Watch this space for a full review of the GearVR.
A few niggles
All smartphones, however impressive, have their flaws and the S7 Edge is no exception. While the curved glass screen makes it beautiful to behold, it made the phone a little tricky to use one-handed. I regularly found myself touching the screen accidentally with my palm while shifting my grip and activating one feature or another, a minor irritation but one nevertheless.
More serious are reports I’ve had from various people, fellow tech journalists among them, that S7 Edge, with curved glass on the back and front, is prone to cracks, even from relatively minor drops. My advice would be to buy a cover, though it seems a real pity to hide something as pretty as this away.
It’s pricey, around R16 000 on prepaid, but then so are other high-end handsets, thanks to our battered rand.
These quibbles aside, if you’re in the market for a premium smartphone and nothing but the best will do, both in terms of looks and performance, look no further than the S7 Edge.
Follow Alan Cooper on Twitter @alanqcooper.
