We're going to be talking about all the features of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge before they are official later this month. If you expect the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge to be radically different than their predecessors, you're going to be disappointed. The only major physical differences will be with the home button, volume rocker, and proximity sensors. The home button will be more rectangular or longer in shape. The volume rocker will shift to the right hand side of the device and the proximity sensors will also shift to the right hand side of the speaker grill on the front of the device. The camera bulge should also be reduced ever so slightly on the back and the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge should also feature more subtle curves along all four edges of the device. So previously, we had subtle curves along the left and right hand sides of each phone. But on the top and bottom sides, we should see some more subtle curves to kind of help create a more round and uniform experience or just feel in the hand.
Samsung may very likely include a microSD card slot for expandable storage in the S7. It kind of helps users forget about the lack of removable battery and lack of microSD card slot in the previous version. So that will be a very welcomed feature. Samsung may even bring back IP67 and IP68 water and dust resistance, which we saw on the Galaxy S5. But I would say for the most part, the S7 and S7 edge will greatly resemble the S6 and S6 edge in terms of overall appearance. It's the sheer size of the Galaxy S7 edge that I think will truly stand out the most. It'll be much larger than its predecessor as it will feature a larger and more durable 5.5-inch display. Samsung may even offer some sort of promotion for screen repairs for the first year after your purchase.
The displays themselves will measure in at about 5.1 inches for the Galaxy S7 and 5.5 inches for the Galaxy S7 edge and there will be two QHD displays. You know if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it or don't break it. Samsung displays are absolutely beautiful. There's really no need for them to feature more pixels at the sacrifice of performance or battery life in my personal opinion.
In terms of performance, they'll be packing a Snapdragon 820 processor or Exynos 8890 octa-core processor with 4GB of RAM. It really depends on your region if you're in North America or Europe. We can certainly expect to see the latest Qualcomm processor. But to be honest, both processors will not slug you down. They're super fast, blazing fast as indicated from the leaked benchmarks, which you might see here or a link down below.
So I mentioned the camera sensor may be thinner and/or it may be protruding less from the phone so we don't know if the camera sensor itself will be thinner or the device will be thicker. We don't have all the details as of yet but we can expect there to be a 12MP rear-facing camera sensor with an f1.7 aperture that should deliver excellent low light photos and super milky Depth of Field shots. And I had the idea that Samsung may use the Sony IMX300 camera sensor as well as its own ISOCELL sensor for the S7 and S7 edge. Both devices could feature one of the best smartphone camera sensors on the planet.
One of my biggest complaints with the S6 and S6 edge was the battery life. The battery life was pretty awful. The device would last me anywhere from 2-3 hours of screen on-time, which is certainly not up to my standards. I use my phone way more than that; way more than I should. What's exciting with the new generation is that Samsung should include a much larger 3000mAh battery with a slightly thicker build so I did reference the thicker build earlier. We'll probably see a slightly thicker build, which I'm totally all on board, totally fine with that. There will be fast charging via a USB Type-C cable which will be certainly nice to have.
The S7 and S7 edge will be running Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box. That is a given. I don't expect the speakers of each device to be radically improved. They should remain in the same position and feature a similar sound quality as in the S6 and S6 edge. What we may see though is actually a high quality Stereo D/A converter from ESS Technology for audiophiles. So it would feature a 129 dB dynamic range and -120 dB harmonic distortion.
But on the software side of things, we can expect TouchWiz to be further refined and further improved. Samsung actually hired several Google engineers to help optimize TouchWiz to help it better compete with iOS. So I think the most significant new addition will actually be with its software and hardware implementation of Force Touch Technology. There's actually a rumor saying that Samsung will pack a piece of tech called ClearForce from Synaptics which is much like 3D Touch or Force Touch found in the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus as well as in many other Apple devices.
With that said, don't expect these devices to be cheap. These are flagship premium devices. They're going to be upwards of (I would say) $600-$700 off-contract. The Galaxy S7 and S7 edge will be officially announced on February 21st, one day before MWC (Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona. The information I have provided is based off reliable leaks and rumors but none of it is entirely confirmed so please keep that in mind.
Do you plan on purchasing the Galaxy S7 or S7 edge? Yes or no? I'd love to hear your thoughts in a comment down below.
