Review: Samsung Galaxy S7

- Samsung is the one to beat when it comes to Android phones. The company is the most successful manufacturer in terms of sales numbers, but has been criticized in the past the gimmicks used to differentiate. With the Galaxy S7, however, the company hefty return on that strategy.

Hardware

Let's start by saying that the exterior design of the Galaxy S7 is the best of all Android high-end devices that are currently available. The device, with a glass back, not only looks nice, but is also very comfortable to hold thanks to the slightly rounded sides and also on the sides rounded screen. The device just feels good. In addition, it is waterproof in water up to one and a half meters deep. If your device so your beer (or lemonade) are, then you do not immediately run to the store for a new one.

Below the screen that has a resolution of 1440 by 2560 pixels, is a home button with built-in fingerprint scanner. It works smoothly and allows you to unlock the device quickly.

Samsung makes the S7 using a proprietary quad-core processor that can compete without any problems with the Snapdragon 820 from competing devices. There is standard 32GB of storage available, but can be expanded with a microSD card.

The 12 megapixel camera on the back uses what Samsung 'called dual pixel' technology. In practice, that means better low-light performance and indeed the Galaxy S7 takes excellent snapshots themselves indoors. The complete list of specifications can be read here.

Software

The unit is version 6 operating system Android. Samsung obviously here has its own TouchWiz software layer also overlaid again, though it is less intense than in previous years. The system is largely the same as the standard version of Android, with here and there some extra features and buttons. Most Samsung apps are easy to remove or otherwise hide in a folder.

A nice addition is the Game Launcher, a piece of software that keeps all games in one place and with which you can record game pictures and share on social media. It is unfortunate for Samsung that the latter can now also via the YouTube Gaming app- and then you have more options as well. Like most other Android makers Samsung adds therefore not very much to the Android experience with its TouchWiz.

Unique

Samsung was the past master of gimmicks. The company invented constantly crazy new features to stop in its phones, so the Galaxy S7 will also have a bizarre news, right?

Surprisingly, the company has decided to move away completely from this philosophy. The S7 is waterproof, and that's actually the biggest differentiator compared to other high-end devices.

But is that bad? No not at all. It seems that the phone maker could better focus on the basic features that really matter now do it decided to pick out any crazy things.

Conclusion

The Galaxy S7 (€ 650) is without doubt one of the best Android phones currently on the market. It's a shame the proprietary software layer that Samsung still deemed necessary again, but the exterior design is great, that the phone is fast and powerful, and with the camera are amazing pictures. It is the 'gimmick'- the fact that the device is waterproof- actually useful.