After all the leaks and rumors, Samsung made the Galaxy S7 lineup official at MWC ’16 today. While the design philosophy remains pretty much identical to its predecessor lineup, we’ll be going over the few things that have changed.
Apart from having less of a bulge, the Galaxy S7 now boasts a 12MP camera, and while that number may sound like a downgrade on paper, lets not forget the innovation that has gone into this camera module. Due to its larger f/1.7 aperture and Dual Pixel technology, which takes advantage of the larger pixels on board, the low light capability of the smartphone should be significantly enhanced coupled with a faster auto-focus time. While the smart OIS feature from the S6 stays on board, a new feature called “Smart Panorama” is added, that enables the user to bring their panoramas to life taking advantage of the wide-angle sensor on the Galaxy S7. Oh, and did I mention the funky lens covers?
Last year, the Galaxy S6 decided to ditch the IP67 certification from its predecessor for a much better design, but with the Galaxy S7, Samsung has decided to step it up a notch by featuring IP68 certification made possible by sealing components from potential water damage in the inside. That way, the sleeker design is maintained and at the same time durability is added. This certification is by no means an open invitation to toss your Galaxy S7 into lakes and expect it to survive but is more of a precaution for when things do get… a little wet.
Of course, with the Galaxy S7 comes the newly updated processing power in the Snapdragon 820 or Exynos 8890 Octa chipset making the S7 30% more powerful, as well as the upgrade to the Adreno 530 GPU improving graphic performance by 69%. All of this processing power also means the Galaxy S7 will be capable of rendering games at PC quality thanks to their partnership with Vulcan. To store those games, the micro-SD card has returned.
With all of this, it is likely you’re thinking how Samsung plans to stop the Galaxy S7 from overheating. By integrating a closed water cooling system within the smartphone, the Galaxy S7 should not give you any problems the S6 may have given in terms of overheating, even when running graphic intensive tasks and games.
Lastly, it all comes down the battery life on a phone in the real world. The Galaxy S7 boasts a larger 3000mAh (3600mAh on the Edge) battery capable of faster wireless charging. Sadly they do not feature a USB-C port but rather the trusty ol’ microUSB port. While Samsung has also introduced an “Always-On Display” function on the Galaxy S7, it is said that it will not impact battery life in a majorly negative way.
Even though the S6 and S7 share external resemblances, their internals are really what separates them — I don’t know why people didn’t feel the same way for HTC last year. The Galaxy S7 is looking like a solid option for 2016. Pre-orders start from the 24th of February, where you’ll also receive a Gear VR unit as a gift in select regions for pre-ordering, while sales in shops commence from March 11th. Has the Galaxy S7 done enough to tempt the upgrade from your current phone? Personally, it has, but I’d like to hear your opinions down below!