I’ve been using my new Galaxy S7 for a little over a week now, and I've gotta tell you… I was pretty wrong about a lot of things going into this device. Not only did I manage to not completely hate my phone after applying a screen protector and case (Skinomi wet screen protector, Bear Motion case) but I'm pleasantly surprised at the fact that I actually ended up installing some of the apps from Samsung’s Galaxy App Store.

First, I installed a couple of additional settings for my camera. Some were extra filters, and the best additional setting I've found so far is the rear-facing selfie feature. The front-facing camera is pretty good for selfies, but the rear-facing camera is a much better option. It took some getting used to, but the app works very well. It basically just detects your face in a designated box, and after a few seconds it will automatically take a photo. Prior to installing this, you'd have to blindly hope you aimed the phone correctly, and just as blindly hope you hit the camera button on the front of the screen – unless you’re fortunate enough to have a dedicated physical camera key, which seems rare these days.

The next app I downloaded only came after a recent update to the app called Good Lock. Good Lock completely changes your lock screens, notification shade, status bar, and recent apps menu. I have no idea what the app was like before the update – from what I read, there were a lot of issues - but issues that Samsung seems to have addressed in this newest update. I've been able to make my status bar and notification area dark themed like the rest of my phone, and overall I find it very well designed.

I tried out the Kids Mode app, which works excellently if you're brave enough to hand over your phone to your kids. They can't access the important parts of the phone, and there is enough content there to keep them occupied for a while with PBS videos, kid-specific apps and games, even restricted use of camera and phone calls (where you can select which contacts are okay for your child to connect with, if any).  In-app purchases are also unavailable in Kids Mode. I'm less generous with my phone these days with the kids now that they have the Amazon Fire tablet, but occasionally I let them use it. I've used a lot of “kid mode” apps in my years as a parent, and I have to say this is a very good one.

I was a little surprised to see duplicates of apps in the Galaxy App Store that also exist on Google Play, but apparently some of these duplicates, when downloaded from the Galaxy App Store, offer free promo credits. I didn't find any I was particularly interested in, but it was cool that the offers were there. It reminded me a little bit of Amazon Underground’s “Actually Free” apps.

There really weren't a ton of apps that I downloaded from Galaxy Apps, but the few that I grabbed ended up making a big difference in my Galaxy S7 experience. Between Good Lock and Nova Launcher (grabbed from Google Play, not Galaxy Apps) I'm quite pleased with my new set-up, especially knowing that I'll probably never be able to root this phone because I did not realize until later that choosing the AT&T variant was not my best move (which is a topic for another day). I guess I'm just pleasantly surprised that Samsung has a few apps that work really well for me. Previously, I always considered most of what they had to offer gimmicky. Samsung has been buckling down on making their Android experience cleaner and smoother lately. If things keep heading in this direction, I wouldn't be surprised if the overall Samsung experience was viewed more favorably in the near future.

Samsung users, what are your thoughts on Samsung’s Galaxy Apps store? Have you ever used it, or do you find it completely useless? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!