Earlier this year, Samsung released its two new flagships for the early part of 2016, the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. The reviews for Samsung’s latest efforts certainly painted a smartphone that is “one to beat” this year, with its standout design, great camera, and a tweaked proprietary user interface that continues to be less garish as the years tick by.
For all its strengths, there are some areas that folks needed to point out. While the Galaxy S7 has plenty to like, it’s a recycled design from the Galaxy S6. However, while that may be the case, the changes that Samsung made to the newer handset might standout more than the fact it looks like last year’s model.
Besides, shouldn’t we just be used to that by now?
Those changes include, but are not limited to, the new camera on the back, which, as many have pointed out, is one of the best you can find in a smartphone at this point. Another huge part of the Galaxy S7 is the return of the microSD card slot, which Samsung actually removed from the Galaxy S6 last year.
One thing Samsung didn’t bring back is the removable battery, though. This is one area that has been such a weird element for Samsung. I think in this, and in last year’s removal of the microSD card slot, Samsung may have pulled its biggest “Apple” to date — as far as marketing goes. For anyone that’s watched Apple over the years, the company is not shy about bashing anything it doesn’t think is important at the moment.
Or, more specifically, anything it’s not using.
In the case of Samsung, the company was actually using its removable battery feature for the Galaxy S5 as a knock against Apple, as it had been doing for quite some time. Apple’s refusal to use a removable battery in its iPhone design has always been a talking about for Samsung and its fans.
But then eventually Samsung decided a removable battery wasn’t necessary, either, and here we are. For fans of both the removable battery and microSD cards, the fact that Samsung made the latter have a triumphant return is at least a little bit of good news.
I did see some reviews out there that knocked the Galaxy S7 for not having a removable battery, which is honestly a little weird to me — but that’s just because I haven’t used a phone with a removable battery as my daily driver in quite some time. But I can honestly understand why that’s a feature people want. LG figured out how to make the G5 a standout and interesting device and still offer a removable battery. I imagine other companies can do the same thing.
So my question is to the folks who’ve tried the Galaxy S7 and kept it, or returned it. And it’s also to the people who might have wanted to give the Galaxy S7 a shot but never did. What would you change about Samsung’s Galaxy S7 (and you can throw in the Galaxy S7 edge in there, too)?