It’s easy to say not much has changed between the SGS6 and the SGS7 models. For the regular handset that’s certainly true, and in some ways that’s played out for the Galaxy S7 edge too. But this is Samsung finding the sweet spot in terms of size: measuring 150.9 x 72.6 x 7.7mm, weighing 157g, the S7 edge cuts between the size of the 5.1-inch SGS6 edge and the 5.7-inches of the S6 edge+ .
The result is a phone that’s competitively sized and let’s not underestimate how well Samsung has crammed the display in: the footprint is smaller than Apple’s iPhone 6S Plus, despite having the same screen real-estate.
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There’s a lot going right with Samsung’s design too. Even though it’s not a huge shift from 2015’s devices, visually at least, it’s still fresh enough and, for the moment, unique. The big shift for the Galaxy S7 edge design, however, is around the sides and back.
Firstly, the S7 edge is thicker than the S6 edge and S6 edge+, both of which sit around 7mm. But it doesn’t feel thicker, because of the curve to the back edges. This avoids the upside down feeling of the previous handsets which were pretty much flat across the back. As a result the Galaxy S7 edge feels like less of a slab. Secondly, the camera is no longer so prominent on the rear, which means there’s less wobble when you put the phone down flat on a table.
The quality of the build puts Samsung up there with the best of its rivals, which couldn’t be said a few years ago. Gone is the plastic of Galaxy devices old, giving way to a now-familiar fusion of metal and glass.
Another addition for the SGS7 edge is an IP68 rating, giving protection against dust and splashes of water. But it’s been achieved without adding bulk to the device, ensuring peace of mind when you’re out in the rain, checking your directions or sending those messages.
Samsung isn’t avoiding the bling either: with a glossy gold version and a silver version, the latter which carries a mirrored finish like the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium. Sadly, the silver model isn’t thought to be coming to the UK. These finishes are all well and good in principle, but one thing is clear: the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge is a fingerprint magnet and you’ll be spending most of your time cleaning this flagship handset to keep it looking its best.
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Samsung Galaxy S7 edge review: Hardware and performance
The performance of the Galaxy S7 edge very much matches that of the regular SGS7. It’s a slick, powerful and fast handset.
There are two hardware loadouts for the S7 family and this has attracted some attention. For the UK we have the Exynos 8 Octa, an eight core chipset of Samsung’s own development. Other territories will have it powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, said to be slightly more powerful - but in the real-world that’s not something anyone is likely to notice.
Both carry 4GB of RAM, however, and whichever chipset your device has, you’ll be rewarded with a great performance. This is one of the slickest handsets to arrive on Android so far, and importantly the company’s TouchWiz software re-skin doesn’t seem to stand in the way. There’s an immediacy to actions, whether that’s restarting the phone, switching apps, or getting into more intensive gaming.
There’s 32GB of internal storage on the Galaxy S7 edge, about 24GB of which is available for use - a pretty typical offering. A big step forward for the S7 over the S6, however, is the return of microSD card support. The microSD card sits in the same tray as the SIM card which is tidy from a design point of view and gives you the flexibility to easily expand the storage available to you. Although this is an Android 6.0 Marshmallow device, it doesn’t support the adoptable storage feature that Marshmallow introduced.