Of all the phones appear at Mobile World Congress 2022, Samsung'southward Galaxy S7 Edge was the ane that impressed me the most. It'due south clear Samsung has listened to complaints leveled at last yr'southward flagship and have endeavored to address every one. As a result, the Galaxy S7 serial is an evolutionary step, and one that has resulted in the all-time device always created past the Korean behemothic.

With both the Galaxy S7 and S7 Border retaining the central design aspects of the Galaxy S6, the most obvious change is in the size of the two devices. The Milky way S7 is still a 5.1-inch handset with a 1440p AMOLED display, merely the dual-curved-border Milky way S7 Edge has increased in size to 5.5-inches. This sensibly transforms the Edge from a straight competitor to the Galaxy S6, to a device that sits between the S7 and Annotation 5 in Samsung's production stack.

Most of the Galaxy S7'south other changes are under the hood. Samsung has returned to a mix of Qualcomm Snapdragon and Samsung Exynos SocS, with most markets getting the speedy Snapdragon 820. The camera has inverse from a 16 MP unit to 12 MP, leading to an increase in pixel size and improvements in low light performance. But the about welcome of all changes? Larger batteries, with the S7 getting a 3,000 mAh unit, while the Edge gets 3,600 mAh.

On top of these improvements, Samsung has as well brought back two of the nearly loved features in the older Milky way S5: water resistance (sans annoying flaps), and a microSD bill of fare slot. What you lot're non getting is a USB Type-C port, equally Samsung wants the S7 series to maintain compatibility with the Gear VR, which uses micro-USB. Other than that though, the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are filled with the latest collection of hardware available.

And so far I've had the most hands-on time with the Galaxy S7 Edge, which I've been using for the by few weeks. Information technology'south an Australian model, and so it'southward equipped with an Exynos 8 Octa 8890 rather than the Snapdragon. I'll have further thoughts on the Snapdragon 820 version of the S7 afterwards on when I can test them side by side, even though Samsung likes to say the difference is negligible.

There'southward no denying that the Galaxy S7 Border is a cute handset, and Samsung has put in a lot of attempt into improving the ergonomics of the dual-edge body. Where the S6 Edge wasn't very comfy to hold, the new rounded metal edges of the S7 Border make information technology significantly easier to hold, and it no longer feels similar two thin metal strips are digging into your easily.

The curved display still leads to less metal on the sides to grip, which in turn makes the S7 Border less easy to concur than the regular Galaxy S7. Combined with a smooth glass back, and there is a chance that this smartphone may slide out of your hands more ofttimes than y'all'd like. Still, the improvements to the S7 Edge'southward sides practise make a deviation, fifty-fifty if the pattern is visually similar.

Every bit earlier, the entirety of the S7 Edge's design is made from either metallic or glass. The blackness model I have for review looks fantastic (information technology's actually blackness this time, rather than night blue), with the sleek glass panels on the front end and back giving this handset a premium artful. The metallic effectually the edges looks just as good every bit it did on the Galaxy S6, once again complementing the glass from a visual and textural standpoint.

It's immediately apparent when you hold the S7 Edge that this telephone has been immaculately synthetic. Dissimilar the somewhat sloppy and plasticky Samsung designs from several years ago, the glass and metal seamlessly meet on the Milky way S7's body. The slight bend to the front glass panel on all edges means y'all'll never experience the metallic join, while the curved glass back feels just as proficient here every bit it did on the Milky way Note 5.

The extra rounding that has been practical to the edges of the Milky way S7 serial not only amend its ergonomics, but also aid hide the extra thickness of the device. To adjust a larger battery, Samsung has increased device thickness from half dozen.9mm to 7.7mm, which honestly y'all can barely experience in your hands. The extra millimeter or and so has also allowed the camera bump to shrink to a mere 0.46mm, while the 25 gram weight increase (up to 157 grams total) is generally attributable to a larger torso.

Having just spent a few months with the v.seven-inch Google Nexus 6P, the Galaxy S7 Edge is a very comfortable size for everyday apply. If anything, the smaller screen makes it easier to utilize one-handed, although in this respect it even so falls backside the relatively compact 5.1-inch Milky way S7.

There's no removable battery, but users should be extremely pleased to see the return of the microSD carte slot, which is plant in a tray forth the device'due south superlative edge with a spot for the nano-SIM as well. Expandable storage is nonetheless the best way to increase your device's storage on the cheap, with 128 GB cards retailing for equally low as $35 these days.

Water resistance has also returned as a no fuss feature you probably won't even realize is part of the S7 Edge'due south parcel. At that place are no annoying flaps covering ports, just you lot're still getting IP68 protection that allows the device to exist submerged in up to 1.5m of fresh water for 30 minutes. It'due south likewise completely protected against dust ingress.

As with all IP-rated smartphones, there are some things to be wary of. The Galaxy S7 is non fully resistant confronting common salt or chlorinated water. While you tin can take the phone in a chlorinated pool, it's a good idea to launder the phone in fresh h2o after it'south been submerged. Also you should know that the S7 Edge may refuse to charge if the USB port is notwithstanding somewhat wet, as a safety mensurate against any water damage.

The USB port on the Milky way S7 Edge is standard micro-B so that the smartphone is still compatible with the Gear VR. I'd accept liked to see the S7 Edge support USB Type-C, like the majority of smartphones that are set for release this yr, but I can definitely sympathise why Samsung has opted not to include it this year.

Like the phones that came before information technology, the S7 Edge has a fingerprint sensor located beneath the screen, which doubles every bit a home push button. The performance of the sensor has been improved and now information technology's easily as fast every bit Impact ID on the iPhone 6s. Equally an estimate, the fingerprint reader was around 95% accurate during my time using it, which is a pretty good upshot.

On the back of the S7 Edge is a very sleek glass panel with a slightly raised camera unit of measurement along with an LED flash and a heart rate monitor.

Likewise black, you lot can also go the Milky way S7 Edge in white, gold or silver. The latter ii are extremely reflective due a metal-similar terminate beneath the drinking glass.

Perchance the only major downside to exist establish on the S7 Edge's design is the lack of stereo or front-facing speakers. The handset has a single speaker along the bottom edge, which is reasonably loud, but it lacks the clarity and quality you'd get from dual front-facing speakers. It's also quite easy to block the speaker while gaming, so yous'll need to watch your paw placement.