Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge review: Plans | Pricing | Specs

The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is an impressive piece of tech, but do you get a premium device for your money?

Where the Samsung Galaxy S7 is intended to be the mainstream but premium device in Samsung’s Galaxy S range, the S7 Edge tweaks it just that little bit further with a larger display, curved edges and an increase in battery capacity. For those improvements Samsung commands an absolute premium outright price, although it’s also perfectly feasible to pick the Galaxy S7 Edge up on contract as well.

Design

• The curved design is comfortable and better offers more functionality than previous Edge handsets.
• Edge-specific applications still don't live up to their potential.

• Read more on the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge design

  

  Whether you like a particular phone’s design is obviously a subjective matter, but having had the time to tweak its curved design through the S6 Edge and S6 Edge Plus, Samsung’s done a lot of ostensibly good work with the S7 Edge. It feels comfortable in the hand without being too slippery, while the curved design gives it the kind of premium look you’d expect at this price point.

  When Samsung first started developing phones with curved sides, it didn’t really have a good concept of what you’d use such a thing for besides looking cool. The new two icon deep app, task and people edges work a little better than previous implementations and the fact that Samsung is more open about app development in this space via an open SDK gives hope for even more refinement from third parties. It’s still not a killer application, though, and Samsung hasn’t made the curved side software of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge a must-have feature. It only really mimics things you can already do with app icons. It’s improved, but we’re yet to see a real reason to opt for it given it’s just a different access method right now.

  Samsung’s approach to Android software used to be a near complete redesign of the Android experience, which was a rather painful matter unless you absolutely adored what it did. The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge doesn’t go down that road much, save for the Always on Display feature, which sips at the power in return for a permanent clock or calendar display. It’s not a vital feature, but if you’re not a fan of wearing a wristwatch, it’s a neat way to quickly check the time without having to fully power up your phone.

  While we're grateful for the return of expandable storage with the Galaxy S7 Edge, it's a little frustrating that it comes at the expense of a second SIM card slot. Samsung does produce a dual SIM model of the Galaxy S7 Edge, but not officially in Australia, where it's single SIM only with microSD expansion. If you want dual SIM you'll have to import one in from overseas, but if you do, this involves a compromise. If you add microSD card storage you can only use one SIM card slot. If you want dual SIMs, you can’t expand the memory.

  Like the S7, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge uses an internal water cooling pipe to keep the device cooler under heavy loads. Neat, although in no way unique technology, but it needs more water internally if our tests are any gauge, because after a heavy load the Galaxy S7 Edge gets noticeably hot in your hand. It is IP68 rated, so you could always splash cold fresh water over it to cool it down, but you shouldn’t have to.

Camera

• Despite a lower megapixel count than its predecessor, the Galaxy S7 Edge delivers superior camera performance, especially in low-light scenes.

• Read more on the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge camera

  
  The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge shares the same camera as the Samsung Galaxy S7, which means a technical drop down to 12MP, but with a faster f1.7 lens with larger individual pixels, it’s a better performer for it, particularly in low light. Yes, if you push it hard you can get grainy pictures as you could with any smartphone camera, but for most uses it will be more than adequate and may even expand your photographic abilities in ways you hadn’t anticipated.

Performance

• Powerful enough to handle pretty much anything you can throw at it.
• Gaming performance is particularly impressive.

• Read more on the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge's performance

  We were seriously impressed with the Samsung Galaxy S7 when we tested it, which meant that the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge really had to work hard to do even better given the price difference. Samsung ships two variants of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge worldwide; one with a Snapdragon 820 processor and one with its own Exynos 8990 processor. It’s the latter we saw on our review samples, which brought with it the prospect of lower performance. We need not have worried, as the S7 Edge performs quickly and admirably both in regular anecdotal app usage as well as our benchmark of choice, Geekbench 3.

  Handset	Geekbench 3 Single Core (higher is better)	Geekbench 3 Multi Core (higher is better)
  Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge	2169	6446
  Samsung Galaxy S7	2156	6240
  Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+	1492	4893
  Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge	1324	4626
  Google Nexus 6P	1251	4597
  Samsung Galaxy S6	1347	4569
  Apple iPhone 6S	2540	4410
  Apple iPhone 6S Plus	2491	4391
  Sony Xperia Z5	1358	4134
  LG G4	1190	3313
  Google Nexus 5X	1188	3198

  Like the Samsung Galaxy S7, we also ran 3DMark’s Ice Storm Unlimited on the Galaxy S7 Edge, although here the S7 actually slightly outperformed it. It’s still an impressive score, however:

  Handset	3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited Result
  Samsung Galaxy S7	28903
  Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge	28402
  Google Nexus 6P	24703
  Sony Xperia Z5	19197
  Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus	17981

  Benchmarks never tell the full story of a phone’s performance, but the practical upshot of these scores is that the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge has a lot of headroom for running just about any app you throw at it.

Battery life

• Packs plenty of stamina to get you through the day.
• Significantly outlasts other premium handsets like the iPhone 6S Plus and Google Nexus 6P.

• Read more on the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge's battery life

  Most phone makers will talk up how much battery life you’ll get out of a new phone, but the practical reality for most of us is that we’ll settle for a phone that you can use moderately hard without having to scurry to a power point during the working day. The Samsung Galaxy S7 had already wowed us with its battery life, being the first smartphone we’d ever tested to break the ten-hour battery mark in Geekbench 3’s battery test. Then the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge stepped up to the plate and went one better.

  Handset	Geekbench 3 Battery Test Duration	Geekbench 3 Battery Score
  Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge	11:55:00	7150
  Samsung Galaxy S7	10:01:20	6013
  Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+	8:24:10	5041
  Apple iPhone 6S Plus	7:48:10	4681
  Samsung Galaxy S6	6:51:30	4115
  Google Nexus 5X	7:14:20	4062
  Google Nexus 6P	6:39:20	3754
  Sony Xperia Z5	5:41:30	3414
  LG G4	5:27:50	3224
  Huawei P8 Lite	4:39:40	2768
  Apple iPhone 6s	3:52:10	2321
  Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3	5:42:00	2276

  It’s likely, although we’ve not been able to test this as yet, that the variants of the Samsung Galaxy S7/S7 Edge that ship with the Snapdragon 820 processor may have slightly better performance but slightly worse battery life. If that’s the case, given the Exynos version isn’t exactly a performance slouch, we know which way we’d be buying.

Verdict

• Smart refinements make the Galaxy S7 Edge a worthy successor to the S6 Edge/Edge Plus.

• Read our full Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge verdict

  

  The Galaxy S7 Edge stands as one of the most impressive smartphones Samsung has made. If you’re an owner of a previous Samsung Galaxy S handset with a budget to match the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge’s asking price, it’s an easy recommendation. Equally, general fans of the Android platform will find a lot to like here.

  At the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge’s asking price, you’ve got your absolute choice of any other handset you’d care to name that you could buy outright and the same is true if you’re keen on getting a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge on contract. That includes models such as the Google Nexus 6P, Sony Xperia Z5 Premium or even the iPhone 6S Plus models. It’s likely that the LG G5 will also fall under the S7 Edge’s asking price.

Pricing and availability

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

Gotta love those curves

Between its sleek curved design, its powerhouse processor and its incredible battery life, the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge has a whole lot to offer.

Buy Now

• You can find the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge at online retailers like Catch and Kogan for around $500 to $600.