After throwing every conceivable feature into the Galaxy S6, there couldn’t possibly be anything left to impress us with the Galaxy S7, right?

Fortunately for Samsung, that’s not the case. The Galaxy S7 isn’t particularly revolutionary, but it does improve upon what made the Galaxy S6 so great. You can expect features like a bigger battery, a faster processor, better low-light performance from both rear- front-facing cameras.

Samsung also appears to have finally resolved how big to make its ge line of smartphones. The Galaxy S7 ge is now a phablet device, it’s especially geared towards those looking for a productivity device with a chassis design that sts out from all the other flat, black rectamgles making the rounds.

More curves than you bargained for

They say if It ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Samsung reprised the Galaxy S6’s metal glass design for the Galaxy S7, though it shaved a few millimeters off the edges dramatically rounded the corners so that the phone is almost an oblong shape. The company also implemented the same curved back glass featured on the Note 5 the end result is a phone that feels slightly thicker in the h. And perhaps it is: there’s a bigger battery inside less of a bulge around the camera, after all.

That’s not to say it isn’t a beautiful device. I like holding the Galaxy S7, its 5.1 inch screen size reminds me of why I like wielding smaller phones. They’re easier to use with one h fit into a variety of pockets purses. However, unlike last year’s design, I don’t find the Galaxy S7’s curves rounded edges to be particularly striking. If anything, it feels like Samsung is attempting to differentiate itself from Apple in the design department, especially since last year’s Galaxy S6 looked too much like the ione.

The Galaxy S7 ge has officially gone full-blown phablet. It comes with a 5.5-inch display all the same curves as the Galaxy S7, in addition to a curved panel on the front. Samsung mentioned that it paid particular attention to ergonomics with this year’s devices, as a result the S7 ge is seriously comfortable to hold. so, while I typically prefer smaller devices, I am reminded of how much more productive I am with a larger screen.

Speaking of productivity, you can bring the Galaxy S7 Galaxy S7 ge everywhere you go. Both phones are I8 certified, which means they’re both water dust resistant. The expansion slot also makes a glorious return, Samsung future-proofed the devices, allowing them to take MicroSD cards up to 2TB in size. For now, you’ll have to settle for up to 200GB, in addition to the 32GB or 64GB of storage space that comes with the device.

Qualcomm’s back in the fold

The Exynos was fun while it lasted, but Samsung’s back to using Qualcomm’s chipset in its devices. The Galaxy S7 runs on the Snapdragon 820, which I’m expecting will blow its predecessor out of the water in our benchmarks. The system-on-a-chip is built on a 14nm process uses four custom Kryo C cores, along with a new G image processor. Samsung says this year’s phones are 30 percent faster in C performance compared to the Galaxy S6, 64 percent faster in G performance.

can also expect better battery life. The Galaxy S7 sports a larger 3000 mAh battery pack, up from a 2550 mAh, while the Galaxy S7 ge takes the biggest leap to 3600 mAh, up from 2600 mAh. Annoyingly, Samsung did not spring for a B Type-C port on the Galaxy S7, though it does offer both Quick Charge 3.0 fast wireless charging.

Bigger pixels better low-light performance

I was thoroughly impressed with the Galaxy S6’s camera performance didn’t think Samsung could outdo itself, but lo behold: The Galaxy S7 Galaxy S7 ge both feature 12-megapixel camera sensors  with Duo xel technology, which is similar to the dual-photodiode sensors that some DSs use. It’s said to great improve the speed quality of phase-detect autofocus, so you can quickly shoot a photo in any kind of setting. so, both the front-facing rear-facing cameras feature a wide, f/1.7 aperture, which helps immensely in low-light environments. That’s the widest aperture we’ve seen on a smartphone.

Samsung even provided a demo comparing the low-light capability of the Galaxy S7 compared to the ione 6S. I took advantage of this setup swapped out the ione for the Nexus 6 which also boasts a 12-megapixel sensor with relatively capable camera in low light.. I took a test shot with the Nexus 6for comparison purposes , based on the results shown above, the Nexus 6s f/2.0 aperture simply isn’t enough. 

The Galaxy S7 S7 ge’s rear-facing camera is still deliriously fast. Both phones offer the ability to quickly launch the camera by double-pressing the Home button, there’s even a few new camera modes to choose from. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to dive into the manual features on the Galaxy S7, but I’m looking forward to seeing how it shoots photos in the real world.

Software for the niche

It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of Samsung’s Touchz overlay, but at least the Galaxy S7 Galaxy S7 ge run on Android Marshmallow. You’ll have access to the granular application permissions featured on stock Android, as well as Doze mode, improved copy paste, Now on Tap.

At the very least, Touchz’s notifications shade has been renovated. It’s now a transparent white with blue accents, rather than a stark blue with yellow accents. Samsung’s applications haven’t changed since their revamp for llipop, however, each phone still comes bundled with Microsoft’s mobile Office applications.

Samsung also took some of the features from several of its stalone applications, like its Game Tuner, implemented them directly into the operating system. en you start playing a game, there’s a little pop up that indicates your phone is in a “game mode” of sorts. You can choose to do things like shut off notifications so they don’t interrupt your game, adjust the frame rate so that the app isn’t using up too much power, or even record your game play to upload to Twitch or YouTube later. These are definitely features catered toward the gaming crowd, though you don’t have to use them if you don’t want to.

Android’s glance notifications are certainly helpful, but the Galaxy S7 S7 ge’s always-on notifications are even better. You can customize what shows up when the screen is off, you can even select a design to the background for a bit of added flair. 

ke its predecessor, the Galaxy S7 ge comes with a helping of new improved ge panels. To access them, you simply swipe in from the right or left side of the display to reveal a launcher overlay. From there, you can swipe again for Tasks ge, which offers up quick shortcuts to commonly-used functions, or swipe again for quick access to your most frequented contacts. You can add up to nine ge panels in all, including a Yahoo News ticker My aces, which displays your most frequently used apps based on your location.

en can I buy it?

The Galaxy S7 Galaxy S7 ge are both expected to go on sale h 11. en they do, we’ll have a full-blown review of each device, complete with benchmarks, beauty shots, a lab test with the Galaxy S7’s newly refined 12-megapixel rear-facing camera, as well as more details on the software features of both devices.