Dear readers of our blog, hello everyone! The Samsung Galaxy S7 camera has many new technical features that significantly expand the functionality of the mobile device. How many megapixels can this device handle?
How high quality can you shoot photos and videos? What technical characteristics does a cell phone camera have? We will try to talk about this and much more today in a new review.
Camera operation in various lighting conditions and filming controls
In comparison with the best models from such famous manufacturers as IPhone and LG, Xiaomi, HTC and some others, the new Korean has an updated Sony IMX 260 sensor. Despite the fact that the camera resolution has decreased slightly (12 MP new versus 16 MP old), the quality of the photo module is still at its best!
The new sensor uses special “Dual Pixel” technology in its work. It is often used in the latest models of DSLR cameras. All pixels on the surface of this sensor are small photodetectors that capture the flow of light that is reflected from a particular object.
The use of special “Dual Pixel” technology ensures the highest speed and focusing accuracy. At the same time, the image quality remains consistently high. Customer reviews for this camera are excellent. What other camera can convey excellent image detail at any time of the day!
The pixel size itself is only 1.4 microns, and an optical image stabilization system is also used. However, the most important thing is that the aperture of the lens itself has also increased to f/1.7 versus 1.9 of the previous model. This level of aperture is the best among this type of smartphone.
As a result, its characteristics have been significantly improved, and the resolution of the camera lenses is one of the best on the market! Thanks to this, macro and portrait photographs amaze with the elaboration of all the details.
The LED flash matches the camera. Alas, there is only one, in contrast to the numerous “double” analogs in the latest generation cell phones.
The shape of the photographic lens is also well made. It protrudes from the body of the device by only 0.46 mm. Using design features, it was possible to remove the extra millimeter of the camera.
Setting up the camera on the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge is very simple. So, to launch the application you need to pull the lower right corner. You can launch it by clicking on a small icon from the screen, or by double “Tab” on the “Home” button.
The application menu is made classic and very familiar for a device from a South Korean manufacturer. At the top are the settings, where there are flash and HDR control buttons, as well as a shooting timer and a settings menu. If necessary, you can set a timer delay for 2, 5, 10 seconds in order to take pictures with the front camera.
The maximum image quality is 4032*3014 pixels (12 megapixels) with an aspect ratio of 4:3. These proportions are great for professional photography!
As for video, the resolution is VGA (640*480 pixels) to UHD (3840*2160 pixels), there is also “classic” HD or Full HD with a frequency of 60 frames per second. There are also special “tricks”. For example, it is worth noting camera control by voice, viewing images after shooting, geotagging, screen grid and quick launch.
You can select the location where photos or videos of the front or rear cameras will be stored, and also assign a particular function to the keys. If necessary, it is easy to change the shooting mode menu and place mode shortcuts on the main screen.
The front camera is excellent and made at a high level! No worse than it was in last year's flagship! If the weather is good, the camera reveals its full potential: the highest detail, together with the reproduction of natural colors, allows you to produce magnificent pictures.
In addition, it became possible to select the focus point and adjust the image brightness. The quality of the photos is more than enough for use on social networks, as well as for framed photographic portraits. 
Great shooting indoors too! Excellent detail and high-quality blur in the background, as well as precise details in the foreground. Phase detection autofocus with Dual Pixel technology never misses a beat. The flash perfectly highlights and illuminates the subject.
One of the new features of the camera is the so-called live panorama. When you tilt the device, the image begins to move. The quality of all panorama photos is excellent at any time of the day or night, both on a smartphone screen and on a computer monitor.
With the “selective focus” mode, you can select the object on which the camera will focus. This produces perfectly high-quality and clear images.
An interesting innovation in this South Korean flagship is the “Food” mode. In this case, you can use different shades of the shooting color palette. In Pro mode (professional), it is possible to make precise adjustments to exposure and aperture and use effect filters. All images can be saved in JPEG or RAW format.
As for the choice of video, you can shoot in a wide range of modes: VGA, HD, 1:1 (1440×1440), Full HD, Full HD (60 fps), QHD (2560×1440), UHD (3840×2160) . There are also special (slow-motion and time-lapse - accelerated) shooting. Fans of making photo collages also received their own specific shooting mode.
In the dark, you can shoot very well in Full HD mode. Shooting in 4K provides not only excellent detail processing with a resolution of 3840*2160 pixels, but also the ability to zoom the image. For high-speed (time-lapse) shooting, you will need a tripod, and the video resolution will be Full HD.
As a result, the new camera of the Samsung Galaxy S7 can be given a solid five. Everything here is top notch - both the coated optics and the technical component. Now any fashionista or fashionista can take a great selfie, take photos or video of any event?
To buy this gadget with a great camera, you can use sales systems such as aliexpress or ebay, where devices will cost much less!
This concludes our material about the new Galaxy camera. If you want to continue to receive information about the latest in mobile technology and office applications, then you should subscribe to our blog and advise your family and friends on Facebook to do so, youtube, Twitter. See you again!
Part 2: we study in detail the screen, camera, battery life and other features
We continue the story about the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. In the first part of the article, the performance of the device was tested in detail, and its design was also described. Now we will study other key aspects, first of all, the quality of the screen and camera, battery life. And finally, we will share with you our experience of using a smartphone in extreme conditions.
Screen
As we already noted in the first part of the article, in the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge the manufacturer decided to rely on a medium screen diagonal - smaller than in the Galaxy S6 Edge+, but larger than in the Galaxy S6 Edge. At the same time, the resolution remains ultra-high (2560×1440). And visually the screen really makes a great impression. Instrumental testing of the display was carried out by the editor of the “Projectors and TV” section, Alexey Kudryavtsev. Below is his conclusion.
The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected when the screens are turned off (on the left is Nexus 7, on the right is Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, then they can be distinguished by size):
The screen of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is slightly darker (photo brightness is 103 versus 111 for the Nexus 7; glare from the curved edges of the tested screen is excluded) and does not have a pronounced tint. The ghosting of reflected objects on the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge screen is very weak, indicating that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen. Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, screens without an air gap look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. On the outer surface of the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (effective, better than that of the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much more easily and appear at a lower speed than in the case of regular glass.
When the white field was displayed in full screen and with manual brightness control, its maximum value was 410 cd/m², the minimum was 1.6 cd/m². You also need to take into account the fact that in this case, the smaller the white area on the screen, the brighter it is, that is, the actual maximum brightness of the white areas will almost always be higher than the specified value. As a result, readability during the day in the sun should be at a fairly good level. The reduced brightness level allows you to use the device even in complete darkness without any problems. Automatic brightness adjustment works based on the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker slot). You can make adjustments to the operation of this function by moving the settings slider. Below, for three conditions, we present the screen brightness values for three values of this setting - for 0%, 50% and 100%. In complete darkness in automatic mode, the brightness decreases to 1.6, 7.9 and 7.9 cd/m², respectively (the first is too dark, the second and third - after adaptation of the eye it may be normal), in an office illuminated by artificial light (approximately 400 lux) brightness is set to 1.6, 130 and 405 cd/m² (dark - just right - bright, which corresponds to the specified correction), in a brightly lit environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20000 lux or a little more) - increases to 520, 540 and 540 cd/m². These values are greater than the maximum for manual adjustment and this brightness should definitely be enough for the image on the screen to be clearly visible in any natural conditions. In general, the result of the automatic brightness adjustment function is as expected. Note that even with automatic brightness correction disabled in a dark environment, the smartphone does not allow you to set the brightness above 190 cd/m². At any brightness level there is significant modulation with a frequency of approximately 60 or 240 Hz. The figure below shows brightness (vertical axis) versus time (horizontal axis) for several brightness settings:
It can be seen that at maximum and close to it brightness, the modulation amplitude is not very large, and as a result, there is no visible flicker. However, as the brightness decreases, modulation with a large relative amplitude appears. Therefore, the presence of such modulation can already be seen in a test for the presence of a stroboscopic effect or simply with rapid eye movement. Depending on individual sensitivity, this flickering may cause increased fatigue.
This screen uses a Super AMOLED matrix - an active matrix on organic light-emitting diodes. A full-color image is created using subpixels of three colors - red (R), green (G) and blue (B), but there are twice as many green subpixels, which can be referred to as RGBG. This is confirmed by a fragment of a microphotograph:
For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.
In the fragment above you can count 4 green subpixels, 2 red (4 halves) and 2 blue (1 whole and 4 quarters), and by repeating these fragments, you can lay out the entire screen without breaks or overlap. For such matrices, Samsung introduced the name PenTile RGBG. The manufacturer calculates the screen resolution based on the green subpixels; based on the other two, it will be two times lower. The location and shape of the subpixels in this version is close to the case of the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and some other newer Samsung devices (and not only) with AMOLED screens. This version of PenTile RGBG is better than the old one with red squares, blue rectangles and stripes of green subpixels. However, some unevenness of contrast borders and other artifacts are still present. However, due to the very high resolution, they have a minimal impact on image quality.
The screen has excellent viewing angles. True, the white color, when deviated even at small angles, alternately acquires a light blue-green and pinkish tint, but the black color remains simply black at any angle. It is so black that the contrast setting is not applicable in this case. When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the white field is excellent. For comparison, here are photos in which the screens of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge (profile Basic) and the second comparison participant, identical images were displayed, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to approximately 190 cd/m², and the color balance on the camera was forced to switch to 6500 K. White field:
We note the excellent uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field (with the exception of darkening and changes in hue towards the curved edges). And a test picture (profile Basic):
Color rendition is good, the colors are moderately saturated, the color balance of the screens varies slightly. Note that in this case, the image occupies the height (at this screen orientation) of the entire area available for image display and extends onto the curved edges of the screen, which leads to darkening and color distortion. Also, in the light, these areas almost always glare, which makes it even more difficult to view images displayed on the entire screen. And even the picture of films with an aspect ratio of 16:9 bends, which greatly interferes with watching movies. The photo above was taken after selecting a profile Basic in the screen settings, there are four of them:
Profile Adaptive display differs in some kind of automatic adjustment of color rendering to the type of output image and environmental conditions, which is obtained by selecting the two remaining profiles shown below.
Movie AMOLED:
Saturation and color contrast are noticeably increased.
Photo AMOLED:
Saturation is still high, but color contrast is closer to normal. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen (profile Movie AMOLED). White field:
The brightness at an angle for both screens has noticeably decreased (to avoid strong darkening, the shutter speed has been increased compared to previous photographs), but in the case of Samsung the drop in brightness is much less pronounced. As a result, with formally the same brightness, the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge visually looks much brighter (compared to LCD screens), since you often have to look at the screen of a mobile device from at least a slight angle. And a test picture:
It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens and the brightness of the Samsung at an angle is noticeably higher. Switching the state of the matrix elements is performed almost instantly, but at the switching edge there may be a step with a width of approximately 17 ms (which corresponds to a screen refresh rate of 60 Hz). For example, this is what the dependence of brightness on time looks like when moving from black to white and back:
In some conditions, the presence of such a step can lead to plumes trailing behind moving objects. However, dynamic scenes in films on OLED screens are distinguished by high clarity and even some “jerky” movements.
For profiles Photo AMOLED And Basic constructed using 32 points with equal intervals according to the numerical value of the shade of gray, the gamma curve did not reveal any blockage in either highlights or shadows, and the index of the approximating power function is equal to 2.14, which is slightly less than the standard value of 2.2, while the real gamma -the curve deviates little from the power-law dependence (the captions in parentheses show the exponent of the approximating power-law function and the coefficient of determination):
For profile Movie AMOLED The gamma curve has a pronounced S-shaped character, which increases the visible contrast of the image, but in the shadows the distinguishability of shades remains.
Let us recall that in the case of OLED screens, the brightness of image fragments dynamically changes in accordance with the nature of the displayed image - it decreases for generally light images. As a result, the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) most likely slightly does not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential display of shades of gray on almost the entire screen.
Color gamut in the case of a profile Movie AMOLED very wide, it almost covers the Adobe RGB gamut:
When selecting a profile Photo AMOLED coverage is adjusted to Adobe RGB boundaries:
When selecting a profile Basic coverage is compressed to sRGB boundaries:
Without correction, the spectra of the components are very well separated:
In case of profile Basic with maximum correction, the color components are already noticeably mixed with each other:
Note that on screens with a wide color gamut, without appropriate correction, the colors of regular images optimized for sRGB devices appear unnaturally saturated. Hence the recommendation - in most cases, watching movies, photographs and everything natural is better when choosing a profile Basic, and only if the photo was taken on an Adobe RGB setting, does it make sense to switch the profile to Photo AMOLED. Profile Movie AMOLED, despite the name, is the least suitable for watching movies or anything else.
The grayscale balance is good. Color temperature in profile Movie AMOLED noticeably above 6500 K, in the remaining two - close to 6500 K, while in a significant portion of the gray scale this parameter does not change very much, which improves the visual perception of color balance. The deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) across most of the gray scale remains below 10 units, which is considered a good indicator for a consumer device, and also does not change very much:
(The darkest areas of the gray scale can in most cases be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)
Let's summarize. The screen has a very high maximum brightness and has excellent anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors without any problems, even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. It is acceptable (and in bright light it is necessary) to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works quite adequately. The advantages of the screen include a good oleophobic coating, as well as a color gamut close to sRGB and an acceptable color balance (when choosing a profile Basic). At the same time, let us remind you about the general advantages of OLED screens: true black color (if nothing is reflected in the screen), excellent uniformity of the white field, noticeably less than that of LCDs, and a drop in image brightness when viewed at an angle. Disadvantages include modulation of screen brightness. For users who are particularly sensitive to flicker, this may cause increased fatigue. However, overall the screen quality is very high. Separately, we note that from the point of view of image quality, curved edges are only harmful, since this design discovery introduces very noticeable distortions of the color tone and reduces the brightness at the edges of the picture, and also leads to inevitable glare along at least one long side of the screen in ambient light conditions .
Playing video
We did not find the MHL interface, like Mobility DisplayPort, in this smartphone, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Methodology for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p), 1920 by 1080 (1080p) and 3840 by 2160 (4K) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps). In the tests we used the MX Player video player in the “Hardware” mode. The test results are summarized in the table:
| File | Uniformity | Passes |
| 4K/30p | Fine | No |
| 4K/25p | Fine | No |
| 4K/24p | Fine | No |
| 1080/60p | Great | No |
| 1080/50p | Great | No |
| 1080/30p | Great | No |
| 1080/25p | Fine | No |
| 1080/24p | Great | No |
| 720/60p | Great | No |
| 720/50p | Great | No |
| 720/30p | Great | No |
| 720/25p | Great | No |
| 720/24p | Great | No |
Note: If in both columns Uniformity And Passes Green ratings are given, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and frame skipping will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with playback of the corresponding files.
According to the criterion of frame output, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the device itself is very good, since frames (or groups of frames) can be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping frames. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen, going to the bends. The clarity of the picture is high, but not ideal, since there is no escape from interpolation to the screen resolution. However, for the sake of experimentation, you can switch to the one-to-one mode by pixel; there will be no interpolation, but the features of PenTile will appear - the vertical world through the pixel will be in a grid, and the horizontal one will be slightly greenish. This is only true for viewing test worlds; the described artifacts are absent in real frames. The brightness range displayed on the screen actually corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - in the shadows and highlights, only a couple of shades merge with black and white, respectively.
The experience of using the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge has shown that the curved edges do not in any way harm the image when watching a movie - you soon forget about them completely, and the headphones do an excellent job of outputting sound: even in conditions of road noise at low volumes, the speech of the characters is intelligible, while your neighbors they don't hear the film.
Camera
On the occasion of the release of the new flagship, Samsung decided to gather journalists and take them to the “nearest Moscow region” so that they could appreciate the smartphone in harsh conditions, without being distracted by work, social networks and other machinations of dark forces. However, the closest Moscow region that corresponded to the required harsh conditions turned out to be the Karelian coast of the Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea - in fact, the Arctic. There, our editor of the “Digital Photo” section, Anton Soloviev, tested the smartphone’s camera. Below is his detailed report.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge has an updated camera module as part of an overall consumer improvement program, as is the case with many other features of this model. The lens is now characterized by an aperture ratio of 1:1.7, the pixels on the sensor have become even larger and reached a size of 1.4 microns (you can even remember the “famous” HTC ultrapixels), while each one has become double for faster focusing. The number of pixels was reduced to 12 million, which is the golden mean in this form factor (just remember the history of the development of compact cameras in the 1/2.3″ format).
However, the hardware innovations had little effect on the camera menu.
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An interesting feature of the camera is the presence of a manual mode, in which it is possible to shoot in RAW. In general, manual mode, like RAW, on a smartphone are far from essential tools. Moreover, the manufacturer tries to hone and maximize the auto mode, and the built-in converter often works much more adequately than third-party ones, so in most cases it is more advisable to use it for shooting.
However, in difficult lighting, problems with white balance may arise, which can be solved by manually setting the temperature.
RAW will also be a nice bonus for those who like to tinker with processing, but don’t forget that to get it you need to turn the corresponding toggle switch in the camera settings, which is active only in Pro mode and is periodically reset after using other modes.
The camera has well-implemented panoramas. Moreover, the power reserve during wiring is enough for more than 360 degrees. In addition, in panorama mode you can get interesting compositions if everything you would like does not fit into the frame. However, it is worth considering that panoramas are less clear than simple photographs. Unfortunately, the HDR mode does not work when shooting panoramas, but it would be very nice.
Keeping IP68 protection in mind, you don’t have to worry about your smartphone if it falls into snow or water. And although the manufacturer does not offer to shoot underwater, it would be a shame to miss such a chance, because we tested it not just anywhere, but on the shores of the White Sea (we will tell you more about our overall impressions of using the smartphone in extreme conditions below). There were a lot of problems when shooting with a smartphone underwater: the sensor starts to go crazy, the volume buttons set to release are not very conveniently located, and the water is cold and salty. The first problem was solved by turning on the display after lowering it under water or by partial immersion, the second and third had to be endured, and the smartphone had to be “desalinated” after swimming in sea water in the snow. He endured all these actions with dignity.
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| Examples of underwater photography | |||
Since we are talking about convenience, it is worth noting the problems when shooting with one quite standard hand. Since we were using the Edge modification, we had to be careful with sensitive edges. (In general, these “edges” often create some discomfort when using, although if you want, you can get used to them for the sake of design.) If you grasp the smartphone as you have to do with most tablet phones, your fingers often “occupy” the sensor and the shutter button stops responding to presses.
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| Example of a standard one-handed grip |
For such cases, you can use the volume buttons in the settings and use them as a shutter button. However, they are located in such a way that it will not be very convenient for right-handers, and it is difficult to compose a frame across the remaining third of the display. In vertical orientation, problems arise with the fact that part of the index finger periodically ends up in the corner of the frame.
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The last option is to turn the smartphone over, holding it by the top so that the volume button is under your index finger. However, this is inconvenient from the point of view of general use - you still have to connect a second hand to turn it over. In addition, the smartphone is too thin and with such a grip it tends to slip out, and the fingers of the right hand constantly get into the lens.
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Good sharpness across the field of the frame, and car license plates are distinguishable in such twilight hours. |
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Good sharpness in distant shots. |
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There is not much noise in the shadows, although the work of the noise reduction is visible. |
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The camera pays attention to small details. |
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The camera does macro photography well. |
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The camera copes well with details in fairly complex scenes. |
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The camera copes well with night photography, but only in manual mode. |
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The sharpness across the frame is not always uniform, but the area of blur at the top in this case can be attributed to composition problems. |
In addition to testing in real conditions, we tested the camera on a laboratory bench using our method.
The camera turned out to be quite a flagship camera, although a little crude, which, I would like to believe, will be corrected in serial firmware. First of all, the rather obvious sharpening and the presence of blur zones in very unexpected parts of the frame are confusing. In addition, a slight soapiness is noticeable, which, however, we are already accustomed to from Samsung smartphones. Otherwise, the camera behaves very well and allows you to take pictures at the level of a good compact, both from a technical and artistic point of view.
As can be seen from the graph, in terms of resolution the camera is almost at the level of its predecessors, but the overall quality of the images has undoubtedly increased, although not much.
Focusing in a smartphone is implemented so well that you stop paying attention to it. Double pixels essentially implement the principle of phase focusing, and their presence over the entire sensor area ensures good accuracy. It's difficult to say whether the camera focuses much faster compared to other smartphones, but there were no problems with searching for sharpness, waiting for focus, or missing shots during testing. In any case, in this regard, using the camera did not cause discomfort, so we can say that focusing is quite fast.
I would like to note video shooting separately, since this time its implementation in a smartphone really does not raise any questions. The “rolling shutter” effect and other artifacts are practically absent. The image is stable, sharp, without twitching or ripples, despite only 30 fps. Focusing when shooting video is as fast as when shooting photos.
The smartphone features a slow motion mode that allows you to record in 720p format at 240 fps with sound. When viewing, you can slow down a certain fragment. Below is a video made up of various recordings taken on a smartphone during testing.
More examples of shooting with the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge camera are presented below in the gallery.
| Photo gallery | |||
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Software and communications
The smartphone runs on the latest version of Android OS - 6.0.1. On top of it is installed a proprietary Samsung shell, optimized specifically for the Edge modification. We are talking about an auxiliary menu that can be pulled out from the right side, as well as the ability to use curved edges for color alerts.
By and large, there is nothing new here compared to previous Edges, and, frankly, we still think that all these features are more of an artificial attempt to justify the presence of curved edges and make this design find at least somewhat useful, rather than really useful features. After all, hypothetically, the same thing could be done with a regular screen.
A much more valuable innovation is the updated file manager. Now you can easily transfer files from your smartphone to a flash drive and back; unnecessary files can be deleted both from a flash drive and a microSD card.
As befits a flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge supports all the latest technologies and communication standards, including Wi-Fi 802.11ac 5 GHz, LTE Cat.9, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, NFC, ANT+. The latter is valuable because it makes it possible to connect a smartphone with various fitness accessories (for example, chest heart rate monitors) using an energy-efficient protocol.
We also note that the smartphone supports two SIM cards. At least that's what Samsung claims, but we couldn't verify it. In our copy (engineering sample), the slot did not allow inserting a second Nano-SIM; the space for it was slightly less than necessary. Apparently, this should be attributed to the peculiarities of the engineering sample. But if you buy a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge at a dealership, ask a consultant to show you how and where to insert the second SIM card.
Autonomous operation and heating
The smartphone is equipped with a significantly larger battery than the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge - 3600 mAh versus the previous 2600 mAh. Even the larger S6 Edge+ has only 3,000 mAh.
Of course, such an increase had the most positive effect on battery life: the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is one of the leaders in this regard, and it is capable of operating on battery power even with moderate active use for much longer than the standard time of one day.
During active photo and video shooting, the smartphone sat down by about 50% in one busy day, working in “airplane” mode and with automatic screen brightness. Under the same conditions, watching an MP4 movie loaded into the internal memory drains the battery by about 10% per hour.
In addition, we tested the battery life of the smartphone using our method, with the brightness set to 100 cd/m².
As you can see, the less stressful the scenario, the better the smartphone performs. Thus, in the gaming scene it is inferior to the iPhone 6s Plus in terms of operating time, but in video playback it is superior. And finally, let's pay attention to the excellent results in reading mode. By the way, among the Android smartphones that we have ever tested, in this scenario the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge has no competition!
Below are thermal images of the rear surface taken after 10 minutes of running the battery test in the GFXBenchmark program (the lighter, the higher the temperature):
It can be seen that the heating is highly localized above the center and close to the right edge, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat camera, the maximum heating was 44 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), which is higher than the average value in this test for modern smartphones.
Separately, it is worth noting the charging speed of the smartphone. Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge supports QuickCharge fast charging technology and, when using the included power supply (9 V 1.67 A), is fully charged in about an hour and a half. The device charges up to 50% in 40 minutes, half an hour is enough to fill the battery by 38%, and 15 minutes - by 22%.
During charging, both the smartphone and the power supply heat up noticeably, but this does not go beyond comfortable values, that is, you won’t burn your hands.
In general, despite the situation with load conditions, we can recognize the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge as one of the best (if not the best) Android smartphone in terms of battery life. And, of course, the charging speed is a very big plus compared to the iPhone, since there are cases when you urgently need to charge your smartphone, but you only have a few minutes, especially when traveling or if you forgot to charge your smartphone at night.
conclusions
Well, we carefully got acquainted with one of the main smartphone innovations of this year, tested it both in the laboratory and in real life (and in extreme conditions). Based on the results of studying the device, we can safely admit that at the moment this is the real pinnacle of “smartphone manufacturing”. The device combines innovation, practicality and uncompromisingness in almost all respects. For the fourth model in the Edge line (and the third among the S Edge), Samsung found an almost ideal ratio of screen diagonal and body size, equipped the smartphone with support for memory cards and two SIM cards, and was also able to implement full-fledged moisture protection without sacrificing the dimensions of the device or external view (no plugs - hello Sony!). On top of that, the battery capacity has increased significantly, and now it is one of the best smartphones in terms of battery life.
The curvature of the screen and its functional use, of course, still remain controversial points (for the convenience of everyday use this is more of a minus than a plus), but one cannot argue with the fact that this feature makes the Samsung smartphone unique, which is perhaps truly valuable in our time of clones. And advanced photo capabilities and high performance make the new product an ideal choice for enthusiasts. Of course, all this could not but affect the price: the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, with a price tag of 60 thousand rubles, occupies the highest price category. However, it is also cheaper than the iPhone 6s Plus even with the smallest amount of internal memory. And therefore, this is a very, very formidable competitor to the flagship of the apple company.
Finally, we bring to your attention a video review, where we share our main impressions of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and clearly demonstrate some of its features (including water resistance).
P.S. For the excellent combination of appearance and design functionality (above all, the implementation of water resistance), we award the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge our editorial Original Design award:
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Open the left navigation bar in the camera app. To do this, click on the arrow in the upper left corner (if the smartphone is in a horizontal position) or in the upper right corner (in a vertical position). Here you will find a huge number of settings that you can explore and experiment with. We will discuss many of them below. Also tap on "Mode" on the bottom right side of the screen to see the available shooting modes.
2. View your photos
When you click on the camera settings icon we mentioned in the first tip, look for the “Photo Viewer” option that you can turn on. Just like on a DSLR or compact camera, this feature allows you to quickly see how your photo turned out. This function is useful in order not to store a million unnecessary photos on your device.
3. Shoot like a pro
By selecting "Mode", you can select the "Pro" option to turn your smartphone into a professional camera with manual control over the settings. Pro mode is a paradise for photography enthusiasts. When enabled, the main camera screen is configured to show a second navigation setting on top of the camera app's main screen, plus changes options in the regular navigation bar. You can manually adjust autofocus, change white balance, change optical image stabilization (in auto mode, ISO is 1250), adjust the speed of shots and compensate exposure. The navigation bar has been redesigned to add some context-sensitive functionality. You can choose between multi-point autofocus or center autofocus, three metering modes (center, matrix and spot). You can also select RAW shooting in the settings menu.
4. Ctake noteRAW
You can enable RAW shooting using the camera settings menu. With this option enabled, the S7 automatically saves each photo in two types - as uncompressed and raw RAW .DNG and JPG files. To view images in RAW format, you will need additional software, such as Adobe Lightroom. Such files cannot be viewed on the device itself, and they can quickly take up precious memory. However, with RAW files you get so much information about the image that many poorly taken photos can be easily saved with the help of an image editor.
5. Manual shutter speed adjustment (especially in low light conditions)
In Pro mode, manual adjustment can be especially useful for minimizing image blur. And that's why. Smartphone cameras often slow the shutter speed down by 1/5 to 1/15 of a second in low light conditions to maximize the amount of light entering. If you and your subject are stationary, you can get a good image, but these photos often turn out blurry. If you manually set the speed in the range of 1/30-1/60, you will have a better chance of getting a clear image. This tip will be even more useful if you shoot in RAW, as these images have more data and can be adjusted to compensate for poor exposure.
6. Turn on the lines
In the camera settings, turn on "Grid Lines" to get two options for the image. The first one allows you to use "Grid Lines" to follow the "Rule of Three". It means that you must place the object at the intersection point of the grid, since the viewer's eye will focus on them first.
The second option is for Instagram lovers with almost imperceptible square areas formed by superimposed lines. You can view the resulting image in its entirety, or you can select a square photo optimized for a social network.
7. Browse your compositions
While you are aligning the image to attract the primary attention of the viewer to the subject, keep an eye on what is located in its background. Avoid foreign objects, tangled wires, cutlery, or even people passing at the wrong time. Feel free to move elements around or ask those you're filming to move to the desired location. Cleaning up the background and optimizing the composition will help your subject fit perfectly into the frame and make the image itself more convincing.
8. Lock exposure and focus
For more exciting photos, lock exposure and focus by pressing and holding on your point of interest. This allows you to adjust the composition while you adjust the exposure. Pro mode gives you manual focus and fine-tuning for macro photography, as well as features that add versatility to the camera.
9. Take advantageHDRAuto
When you turn on HDR Auto, you get all the benefits of high dynamic range images. One click automatically takes the best of the bright and dark parts of the scene to create a balanced image. If your subject is backlit, this is a great way to enhance the image without using flash.
10. Turning off the flash
You may actually need a flash for some shots. But in most cases, a flash on a smartphone is not the best solution and very often it produces light that is too bright for the given environment. This is especially true if the distance to the subject is small, for example, when photographing food. The Galaxy S7 has a relatively wide-open f/1.7 lens, meaning it's able to handle low light without resorting to flash. This is better than even the Apple iPhone 6s/6s Plus, which have f/2.2 lenses.
11. Experiment with focus and background
Photo enthusiasts have long exploited the lens's ability to create images with the subject sharply focused and the background blurred. Samsung lets you take advantage of this option by prompting you to take a photo, choosing a focus point, and changing the background. To select this feature, tap Mode and select Selective Focus.
12. Avoid digital zoom
You should avoid using digital zoom on your smartphone: it has the effect of cropping the photo so that when you zoom in, you lose clarity and detail. If there's a need for digital zoom, use your fingers to zoom or the S7's volume buttons when shooting. If you cannot do without magnification, use an additional case for an external lens. It has threads on the back to attach a wide-angle or telephoto lens. At around $120, the dual external lens makes photo scaling a viable option.
13. Take photos in motion
14. Create a moving panorama
15. Capture action with burst mode
While burst mode is interesting on other devices, the S7 comes in handy thanks to its blazingly fast autofocus. Press and hold the Volume Up button to start burst shooting. Keep in mind that this mode only works in good lighting; it will not work in a darkened room.
16. Take photos and videos simultaneously
Sometimes while shooting a video you notice something that you would like to save in the photo. Now you can take a photo of this frame without interrupting the video by clicking on the round camera button located under the video stop button.
17. BChoose your photo proportions and resolution
On the left navigation panel, next to your image at the bottom, above the gear sign, you will find an icon with the aspect ratio and resolution of the photo. Samsung lets you choose from six preset options, representing two photo resolutions and three aspect ratios: 4:3 (standard 35mm photo), 16:9 (widescreen photo), and 1:1 square. The latter is intended for those who like to post their photos on Instagram.
Changing the video resolution is also hidden in the settings menu. By default they are 1,920 by 1080 at 30fps, so if you want UHD 4K 3840 by 2160 video, you'll need to change that in the settings.
18. Take easy selfies and choose your selfie type
If you want to take a selfie, then you will need to switch to the front camera. Tap "Mode" in the lower right corner to choose from 4 options available for the front camera. We have already mentioned these shooting mode options to change the photo modes of the rear camera. A wide selfie allows you to take a panorama from left to right. But in low light conditions, you may end up with a blurry image. You can use front-facing flash, but this may affect the final color, so you'll need to experiment in different environments with the flash on and off. To take a selfie, place your finger on the heart rate monitor on the back or hold your smartphone upright. You can also choose one of the effects if you want to make your selfies unusual. For example, you can customize the shape of your face and eyes. The effects may be subtle, but they can benefit the final photo.
19. Organize a live broadcast
In the era of live video, you can use your smartphone to stream using the rear or front camera. Click the "Mode" button to select this function and organize direct posting of your content to YouTube.
20. Create video collages
The video collage feature can be used with both the front and rear cameras. It allows you to create short videos (3,6,9 or 12 seconds) that can be easily published on social networks. You can choose one of 10 layouts. The final result can be saved and published as an MP4 file. The settings for this mode are located in the left navigation bar, where the timer button becomes contextual, showing length options and aspect ratios in the layout.
21. Use a timer
The timer button can be customized depending on your needs. Preset options are 2, 5 and 10 seconds, as well as 3 shots in a row. The last option is a guarantee that in at least one of the photos everyone will have their eyes open and look at the camera, or at least in its direction.
22. Use a virtual photo to get a 360-degree view
Well, not quite 360 degrees, but pretty close to it. Virtual Capture mode is available for the rear and front cameras and allows you to rotate the subject, which creates a live image of the selected subject. The effect you get will depend on how long you take the panoramic photo around the subject.
23. Choose your filters
If you want to add effects while shooting, the S7 makes it very easy. Click Effect at the top of the left navigation bar and choose from nine default filters. Other effects can be downloaded additionally. If you are in Pro mode, you get a different set of effects, but they are not available in the left navigation bar, but at the top of the right Pro mode navigation bar.
24. Use the buttons
To quickly access the camera, go to the camera app's settings menu to enable quick access by double-clicking the Home button. This is one of the most convenient ways to turn on the camera on smartphones that you have ever seen. You can take pictures by pressing the volume up and down buttons. This way, you can take pictures much faster, catching good moments. If you want to change the settings of these keys, for example to start shooting video or use them to zoom in on an image, you can change this in the camera settings.
25. Use built-in editing tools
The Gallery app for S7 has many editing tools built into the system. Some of them are quite standard, such as contrast, brightness and color tone changes. But there are others, in particular, the photo cropping tool allows you to cut out part of the photo and move it to another environment. I especially liked the drawing tool, which allows you to take notes on images.
Much has been written about the excellent cameras of both the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge flagships. They are capable of taking great pictures, and are able to offer the user a lot of really interesting features, like Hyperlapse, which we have already talked about on our website. But what does it take to create impressive images without all the fuss?
First of all, the Galaxy S7's camera is great without any user intervention. Samsung made sure that the automatic mode copes with most of the tasks assigned to it. The user thus only needs to press the shutter button. This is not everything you should know about the new camera, so we suggest you familiarize yourself with the basics.
Quick start
Both the Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge have a feature that can quickly launch the camera by double-clicking the Home button. The camera app will be ready to take pictures in less than one second. This feature is enabled out of the box by default, but there have been cases where users had to enable it manually.
Tap the gear icon in the top left corner of the Camera app screen and make sure Quick Launch is turned on.
HDR
There was a time when HDR (High Dynamic Range) mode on phones was slow, rendering it virtually useless. Now, with the release of the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, this mode has become truly useful, and there is no reason not to use it by default.On the Camera app toolbar, click on HDR to activate this mode.
Using the volume buttons as a shutter release
Another typically included feature out of the box is the ability to use the volume rocker as a shutter button. There is no need to press the shutter button on the screen. When you hold the smartphone horizontally, the volume buttons are either on your thumb or under your index finger, and are actually comfortable to press lightly.
Of course, you can use these buttons to zoom in and out. Open the camera settings, scroll down and set the desired value next to the volume buttons.
Quick exposure adjustment
The camera app on the new Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge lets you adjust exposure almost instantly. There is no need to use a slider anymore. Just swipe down or up on any area of the screen, just like you would to adjust the brightness in a video player.
You can also lock the current exposure value by holding your finger on the screen for a few seconds. This is the simplest way to manually overwrite automatic exposure settings without having to get familiar with the complex Pro mode.
Viewing Images
If you're familiar with Galaxy devices, you might have noticed that many of these features aren't just available on the new Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge flagships. They have appeared on various models of Galaxy devices. And even some exclusive features are available on last year's Galaxy S6 and Galaxy Note 5 after updating them to Android Marshmallow. One of these functions is “Image Viewer”.
For those who prefer speed over quality, “Image Viewer” is best left turned off. But if you often run into the problem of your gallery being filled with multiple versions of the same photo, then this feature will be more useful than ever. Open the Camera app settings again and turn on Image Viewer.
