Samsung Galaxy S7 review

Product Samsung Galaxy S7
Specifications 5.1in 1440x2560 AMOLED display at 577ppi, octa-core Samsung Exynos 8890 processor (four 2.6GHz cores and four 1.59GHz cores), Android 6.0 Marshmallow, 4GB RAM, 32GB built-in storage expandable up to 200GB via microSD, 12MP rear camera with LED flash and OIS, 5MP front camera, 3,000mAh battery, 142x70x7.9mm, 152g.
Price From £569

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WE DECLARED the Galaxy S7 Edge the out and out Android king of 2016 when we reviewed it earlier this month. Well, we hope there's room on that throne for one more, as Samsung has gone for the double with the Galaxy S7.

If you're not one for flashy looks and flattering curves, but instead want a phone that stuns with its screen, camera and endurance, the Samsung Galaxy S7 could be the handset for you.

DesignSamsung ushered in a new era of design with the Galaxy S6. Gone was the plasticky look and feel of old and endless revisions of the same, mid-tier handsets.

Refinement must be the buzzword of 2016 as, just like the S7 Edge, the Galaxy S7 builds on the successes of last year.

Its back arches in a smooth curve like the Galaxy Note 5 and, while the screen isn't as effortlessly cool as its edgier sibling, there's the smallest of bevels that gives it a style all of its own. It's not as in your face as the S7 Edge, but rather a tiny detail that shows Samsung has thought about how to differentiate the two.

The S7 measures 142.4x69.6x7.9mm, so if you look at it side-by-side with its predecessor you'll notice it's shaved off a cool 1.1mm. Things get interesting when it's compared with the S7 Edge, however. Obviously the larger screen accounts for the jump in length and width to 150.9x72.6mm, but the 7.7mm girth is a whisker thinner than the Edge-less S7.

It's notably heavier than the S6 at 152g, but lighter than the 157g S7 Edge, so swings and roundabouts.

We'd probably say it's more pocketable than the Edge, leading to fewer of those heart-in-the-mouth moments. We didn't feel like we were going to lose grip during our testing.

Like the gorgeous S7 Edge, the Galaxy S7 is damn near impossible to keep clean and smudge-free, an unfortunate consequence of the shiny black aluminium and Gorilla Glass design. Can we have a micro-fibre cloth thrown in next time please?

As with the S7 Edge, the Galaxy S7 is IP68 certified. No finicky caps or covers, as Samsung has made sure that exposed ports are completely sealed off from the internals.

PerformanceWe touched on the differences between the UK-centric Exynos 8890 CPU and the Snapdragon chip that powers the US models in our S7 Edge review. Suffice to say our review unit has the 8890 with four cores running at 2.6GHz and another four at 1.59GHz. Again the trusty Mali T880 GPU takes care of graphics, plus there's 4GB of RAM.

Strangely our S7 Edge narrowly pipped the S7 in all but one of the performance tests when put head-to-head.

Kraken 2551.9 (S7 Edge - 2557.5)
Sunspider 313.2 (S7 Edge - 316.2)
PCMark work performance score 4758 (S7 Edge - 4670)
3DMark 2155 (S7 Edge - 2185)
Antutu 126092 (S7 Edge - 126904)
Geekbench single-core 2092 (S7 Edge - 2155)
Geekbench multi-core 6292 (S7 Edge - 6505)

As if there was ever any doubt, the handset coped ably with everything we threw in its direction. It blazed through graphical workouts like N.O.V.A. 3 and Rayman Adventures, shrugged off multiple open webpages and documents, and coped perfectly with a Netflix Breaking Bad marathon.