Samsung Galaxy S7 in the house

[jdandy]

I brought the new Samsung Galaxy S7 home this afternoon. It is the Gold Platinum edition and it is a gem. The box contained a small micro USB to USB adapter that allowed me to plug my Samsung S5 directly into the S7 and transfer all my files, photos, videos, and apps without a hiccup. It took less than five minutes. The 32GB provides a nice helping of internal memory and everything I moved over, plus the new Android operating system, only consumed 9.2GB. I slipped a 64GB micro SD card in it for external encrypted storage. The S7 will support up to 200GB in the micro SD slot. That is astonishing storage capacity for a cellphone. It took me a few hours of playing with it to clean up my contacts and email addresses, cull my photos, set up several email accounts, get signed into other apps, arrange icons the way I want, set up my fingerprint security and the many other setting available to customize the S7 just the way you want it. Naturally, I downloaded the AA app and got that icon on my home page.

The Galaxy S7 is lightning fast. The new processor flexes it muscle without breaking a sweat. I had five apps open at once and moved between them without so much as a seconds delay moving between them. The phone supports split screen so you can manage two apps on the screen at the same time, including resizing. The fingerprint scanner is superb. Once set up you simply place your finger on the home button and the phone opens immediately. No more dragging your finger across the reader. Very nice indeed. There are so many unique and useful features available it will take me some time to master the ones I want to use but it is great fun to play with this phone. Oh, did I say it's a beauty? Well it is. It is crafted to a higher degree of fit and finish with premium materials than my Galaxy S5. It feels wonderful in your hand, and the narrower width makes holding it and carrying it in a pocket much more comfortable. It also comes with a fast charger which charged the phone from 24% battery to 100% battery in just over an hour and a half. It might have even been quicker than that but I was outside for awhile. It was fully charged when I came back inside. The S7 also supports fast wireless charging which has me considering the Samsung Wireless Fast Charger Pad.

This is going to be a fun phone to own and use. I took a few photos inside the house tonight and they look excellent. The S7 camera and it's cache of special control features are simply amazing for a cellphone. Having owned and used the Samsung S5 for two years it was intuitive to come up to speed on the new S7 without having to read the Owner's Manual. I downloaded it for future reference and will eventually dig into the manual to see what other goodies I might be missing. So far I could not be happier with the new Samsung Galaxy S7. It is a remarkable product. I've already placed my order for the new Spigen Neo Hybrid case, too. Color me a happy camper.

[mchydro]

Excellent review Dan! As usual! I'm due to upgrade my S5 as well!

[Masterlu]

Congrads Dan... remember when this was cool?

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

Congrads Dan... remember when this was cool?

Ivan.......I don't know how cool it was but it got the job done. I carried a Motorola brick phone for nearly two years back in the early 90's on a large AT&T project in Jacksonville, Florida. That phone would pull your pants down. Here's a photo of me and one of my foremen in 1992. If you look close you can see that big Motorola phone in a black leather case hanging off my belt on my left hip. It was a beast.

[Masterlu]

Yeah, but look at how important it makes you appear!

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by mchydro

Excellent review Dan! As usual! I'm due to upgrade my S5 as well!

Mike.......Thank you. I have had the phone turned on since 9:30 AM. I've been playing with the Galaxy S7 for hours today. I downloaded a few apps from the Google Play Store and have been on and off the web throughout this time. I have had the screen on for over four hours total and I just looked at my battery percentage. It's 58% remaining. That's pretty good for 9+ hours on and over four hours of continuous screen time with the screen set to 75% brightness. The 3000mAh battery in the S7 is going to last longer than my S5 before needing to be recharged. Power management seems to be good on the new S7.

I do notice that under heavy use with the screen on for extended periods, the phone gets slightly warm. It is not hot by any stretch, but I can feel it get warm with continuous use over extended time. Other than that the S7 is cool as a cucumber when on.

I have chosen not to use the Always On feature where the sleep screen displays a clock, or digital time, or calendar that remains dimly visible on the black screen. I wear a watch and just don't need this feature. Samsung reports that the Always On feature uses minimal battery, and no doubt some will find the feature interesting and/or useful. I prefer to save the power for actually using of the phone.

I ordered my new Spigen Neo Hybrid case last night and already received an email this morning letting me know the case shipped. That's quick. I hope to have it be Friday if I am lucky. In the meantime I am being ultra careful to grip the phone when I use it. It's a beauty and I want to keep it that way.

[mchydro]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Mike.......Thank you. I have had the phone turned on since 9:30 AM. I've been playing with the Galaxy S7 for hours today. I downloaded a few apps from the Google Play Store and have been on and off the web throughout this time. I have had the screen on for over four hours total and I just looked at my battery percentage. It's 58% remaining. That's pretty good for 9+ hours on and over four hours of continuous screen time with the screen set to 75% brightness. The 3000mAh battery in the S7 is going to last longer than my S5 before needing to be recharged. Power management seems to be good on the new S7.

I do notice that under heavy use with the screen on for extended periods, the phone gets slightly warm. It is not hot by any stretch, but I can feel it get warm with continuous use over extended time. Other than that the S7 is cool as a cucumber when on.

I have chosen not to use the Always On feature where the sleep screen displays a clock, or digital time, or calendar that remains dimly visible on the black screen. I wear a watch and just don't need this feature. Samsung reports that the Always On feature uses minimal battery, and no doubt some will find the feature interesting and/or useful. I prefer to save the power for actually using of the phone.

I ordered my new Spigen Neo Hybrid case last night and already received an email this morning letting me know the case shipped. That's quick. I hope to have it be Friday if I am lucky. In the meantime I am being ultra careful to grip the phone when I use it. It's a beauty and I want to keep it that way.

You're giving me the itch to get one. The gold is really sharp. The Spigen case does not detract from the looks which is impressive.

I'm on the fence about the edge model. Not that I value the edges. I'm just wondering if I want the larger screen. When I would see Note users, sometimes I was wishing my screen was larger, however, the additional size will certainly make it harder to hold. It's a tough call.

[jdandy]

Mike.......Just stop by your preferred carrier and play with both of them. The S7 Edge is cool, too, just larger than I want to carry.

[Vintage Pete]

Very Nice review, as always Dan. The S7 looks like a very nice device indeed. I'm still plugging along with my Galaxy Note 2....this summer I'll be three years with it. I better not look at this thread too long or I might start getting the itch!

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by Vintage Pete

Very Nice review, as always Dan. The S7 looks like a very nice device indeed. I'm still plugging along with my Galaxy Note 2....this summer I'll be three years with it. I better not look at this thread too long or I might start getting the itch!

Pete.......As a Galaxy Note 2 user you are a prime candidate for the new Galaxy S7 Edge with the bigger screen. You would fall for it immediately so you better stay out of the cellphone stores and Best Buy cellphone kiosks. If you played with the S7 Edge for 10 minutes you would come home with it.