Samsung Unveils Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge Smartphones with Exynos 8890 or Snapdragon 820 Processor

As Mobile World Congress 2016 is about to start, Samsung has officially announced Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones powered by either Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 in the US, or the company’ own Exynos 8890 in the rest of the world. Let’s see if beside faster and more efficient processors, the company has brought some other innovation, or if it is just another boring smartphone release.

Both smartphones basically share the same specifications, and the main difference is that Galaxy S7 edge has a curved screen.

SoC
- Samsung Exynos 8 Octa (Exynos 8890) octa core processor with four Exynos M1 core @ 2.3GHz + four Cortex A53 cores @ 1.6Ghz, and Mali-T880MP12 GPU, manufactured using 14nm process.
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad core Kryo processor with two cores @ up to 2.2GHz, and two cores @ up to 1.6GHz, an Adreno 530GPU, an Hexagon 680 DSP, and a 14-bit Spectra ISP.
System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4
Storage – 32/64GB UFS 2.0 flash + micro SD slot up to 200GB
Display
- Galaxy S7 – 5.1’’ Super AMOLED Quad HD (2560×1440) 577ppi
- Galaxy S7 Edge – 5.5’’ Super AMOLED Quad HD(2560×1440) 534ppi, dual edge.
Camera
- 12MP rear “dual pixel” camera with smart OIS
- 5MP front-facing camera
Video – MP4, M4V, 3GP, 3G2, WMV, ASF, AVI, FLV, MKV, WEBM
Audio Format – MP3, M4A, 3GA, AAC, OGG, OGA, WAV, WMA, AMR, AWB, FLAC, MID, MIDI, XMF, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA
Cellular Connectivity – LTE Cat.9 (450/50Mbps). Hybrid SIM card for 2 SIM cards, or 1 SIM card + micro SD card
Connectivity
- WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz) MIMO
- Bluetooth 4.2 LE, ANT+
- NFC, MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission)
- Location (GPS…)
USB – 1x micro USB 2.0 OTG
Sensors – Accelerometer, RGB Light, Gyroscope, Proximity, Geo-magnetic, Barometer, Fingerprint, Hall, HRM
Misc – IR Remote
Battery – S7: 3,000mAh; S7 Edge: 3,600mAh.
Wireless Charging – WPC & PMA
Dimensions & Weight
- Galaxy S7 – 142.4 x 69.6 x 7.9mm | 152 grams
- Galaxy S7 Edge – 150.9 x 72.6 x 7.7mm | 157g
Ingress Protection Rating – IP68

Both phone will run Android 6.0 Marshmallow. I’ve highlighted the differences against Galaxy S6 models in bold, and there’s now more memory, the micro SD card is back!, Edge display is larger, LTE Cat.6 has been upgraded to Cat.9 for faster download speed, the battery got more capacity, and the smartphone has a pretty good water and dust proof rating with IP68. The only real new features are the dual pixel camera which should “deliver brighter and sharper images, even in low light”, support for MST for mobile payment, and an Always-on display feature – also found in LG G5 – showing time, missed calls and other notifications without requiring user interaction.

Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge will start selling in the middle of March 2016. Pricing has not been disclosed yet.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.