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Durban - Every year the birth of a new model in the Samsung Galaxy S series is momentous occasion - no different was the launch of the S7 and S7 Edge.
Officially announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year, the device saw pent-up hype globally along with the announcement of the Galaxy Gear VR and Galaxy Gear 360 camera which opened up new avenues for Virtual Reality in mobile.
Of course Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg was present at the launch to talk about how he endorsed the new technology by the company as the social network recently introduced VR capabilities.
Aside from all the tech functionality boasted by the company the Galaxy S 7 Edge can be seen as the benchmark for the premium smartphone of the 2016 market. The device encompasses the essential trademarks of what a high-end smartphone user looks for.
It’s hard to find a smartphone in the market that also looks as good as the S7 Edge does, while it’s design is the only factor that sets it apart from the “Edgeless” version of the device.
The S7 Edge is a neat and impressively designed device that embodies sophistication.
The curved edges of the screen give the device a more three-dimensional appeal.
When faced down, an underglow on the device activates during an incoming call. It also allows for a separate quick menu from the side on the device when operating it.
The device features an always-on display which consumers very little battery and offers a quick time, date and notifications view.
The antennas are positioned at the top of the device to avoid interference from thumbs or index fingers on them while making a call, while many manufacturers position them on the sides of the device.
The mic is situated at the bottom of the device and sim card door at the top next to the antenna.
Many manufacturers boast high megapixel cameras, which shoot images of a large file size but often the quality of the images tend to suffer - leaving them grainy and blurry when zoomed in closer.
The S7’s rear camera is not the largest megapixel camera on the market but the images captured by the device are of a high quality.
The camera features a Pro shooting mode which allows for manual adjustment of the aperture, ISO and white balance.
It also has a quick auto-focus and is able to create a better depth-of-field than many other smartphones.
It can also shoot video in 4K and save images as RAW files, which tends to use up more memory on the device, but is great for professional photographers.
It has a 5 megapixel selfie camera that helps retain sharper and brighter images. Even though the quality of images produced by a selfie camera is important to many smartphone users, using the facing camera to capture images of a high file size is not necessary as many images captured using it are often used for social media uploads and profile pictures. However, the S7 could have been produced with a better selfie camera.
The S7 is fitted with a fast 2,15 GHz Snapdragon 820 processor, 4 GB of RAM, and comes out the box running the Android Marshmallow operating system.
The device features a 5.5 inch display with a 1440x2560 pixel resolution. Many users might be skeptical about how the curved screen might affect video playback - but it doesn’t, if anything it just makes videos look more immersive.
It is also protected by Gorilla Glass 4 for prevention of slight scratches and abrasions.
Navigating the device is simple and more reminiscent of a purer version of the Android operating system. It is also fairly easy to use for first-time smartphone users, but efficient enough for experienced users as well.
The S7 Edge is definitely one of the best devices launched this year but with the quality and sophistication comes a slightly higher price when compared to other smartphones.
