Gadgetory

mobile technology cycles quickly Apple's current flagship is almost six months old and it now faces a surge of brand-new Android competitors for many consumers the battle between Apple and Samsung will define the year as folks look to part with their hard-earned money so it's time for a good old-fashioned grudge match between two phone Titans I'm Juan Carlos bag now for PocketNow and here's our smartphone showdown between the galaxy s7 and the iPhone 6s brought to you by D brain the snarky side of this conversation might point out that Samsung is moving towards the familiar tick-tock strategy that Apple is used since the iPhone 3G and that the galaxy s7 in some ways might be viewed as an S 6s and looking at these two phones there are zero surprises in terms of design sure we've gotten new color options over last year but at arm's length the respective styles will look similar to last year's devices it's on closer inspection we see that Samsung has tweaked the galaxy s7 more than Apple ever has for an iPhone S series the s6 flat edges and ever so subtle corner dimples are gone in favor of the scooped back and curved rear glass found on the note height and width have also been reduced bringing the overall footprint of the galaxy s7 with a 5.1 inch screen surprisingly close to the form factor of the iPhone success with a 4.7 inch screen this gives the gs-7 a noticeable advantage in screen to bezel ratio and in my tiny Hobbit hands both devices are fairly easy to use one-handed though I still have a slightly easier time reaching the home button on the success than I do on the galaxy all buttons on both devices are cliquey offering terrific feel and feedback and happily this tactile feel doesn't come with buttons protruding too far from the respective foam bodies we should be able to back off Samsung for design similarities to the iPhone by now especially now that the HTC One a9 exists though the bottom edge could still almost be mistaken for Cupertino x' work if it weren't for the microUSB port sorry Samsung fans maybe we'll get USBC next year for the similarities we find on the front face and sides the rear designs couldn't be more different and each phone brings somewhat unique challenges to the table Samsung's rear Glide is striking if still more prone to fingerprints and it showcases the large 12 megapixel camera module the iPhone 6s maintains the wraparound aluminum shell which has only grown a tiny bit thicker from the iPhone 6 and includes the same protruding camera lens cover Samsung has done a fantastic job of syncing that module and lens into the body of the gs-7 these phones in daily use are almost opposites in terms of hand feel when my hands are cold and dry aluminum feels more slippery when my hands are sweaty glass is super slick compared to phones with textured back plates made of grippy materials investing in a case or maybe a skin probably isn't a bad idea for either device for folks using fingerprint identification apple's implementation still seems to do a more consistent job of unlocking the iPhone though I purposely trained my thumb from the position I hold the phone a side thumb scan can still throw the galaxy s7 and the iPhone 6's seems to do a better job of recognizing different angles from how the print was trained neither device will compare to the ridiculously quick unlocking action found on Huawei phones though there's not much competition between LCD and AMOLED screen tech these days Samsung's AMOLED panel produces a brighter image in daylight the higher contrast ratio also improves clarity of on-screen items in bright conditions happily Samsung has backed off the candy-colored oversaturated look for the UI but to my eye the iPhone screen is still more accurate with warmer colors like yellows and reds switching the screen mode to basic will bring the galaxy closer to the look of an LCD what also hasn't changed since last year is screen resolution the galaxy s7 continues to use a quad HD display of 2560 by 1440 and Apple's Retina display on the 6s is still 1334 by 750 even with the smaller screen size it's difficult to dismiss the advantage of having three and a half times more pixels on the galaxy the iPhones resolution is the bare minimum you can use for a crisp image and arms-length but people who like to get their noses into their phone or who want to start playing with VR gear Samsung offers a significant advantage in debating Android versus iOS last year with the iPhone 6 in the galaxy s6 we credited iOS with having this blur interface out-of-the-box Android still requires a bit more customization for a user to really tailor their phone to how they want to use it whether someone enjoys having a separation between app drawer and home screens or the ability to theme a phone more than just changing the wallpaper can only be answered by that individual and what metaphor they prefer for interacting with that phone touch square get app is pretty easy to understand and remains popular with many smartphone consumers but it doesn't offer the at a glance convenience of user organized widgets of course those widgets don't come set up for you out of the box in the past where we might have credited iOS with smoother UI performance Samsung has significantly minimized that performance gap when the galaxy s7 takes an extra second to bring up multitasking it does so with a fluid menu animation scrolling performance in chrome is slicker than what we currently see in Safari and the RAM management gremlins which plagued the galaxy s6 early on seem to have been sorted out here though we do see some difference in gaming performance checking out Marvel future fight the Qualcomm 820 powered galaxy s7 doesn't play as smooth as the Exynos powered note 5 and is noticeably choppier than the iPhone though we don't know exactly what kind of scaling might be employed considering the resolution differences the Android and iOS app ecosystems are well mature and while developers still might favor iOS 4 bleeding edge services no one can build a winning app strategy these days if they ignore Android for too long you really can't pick a winner between Android or iOS if you're just looking at the number of apps in the store now the galaxy s7 might frustrate some Android fans though as there still doesn't seem to be any option in the app drawer to automatically alphabetize your apps for less commonly used services it's nice to know where to look based on spelling but Samsung requires users re-alphabetize manually with each new app installation and I'm still going to be a cranky old man about the fact that we can't get a single column settings menu anymore what's interesting coming from last year's comparison is watching Apple expand how you can interact with the iPhone by incorporating pressure gestures we can't rightfully Claire that the iPhone offers simpler navigation through the UI anymore Android remains consistent with dedicated home back and multitasking keys but to fully use the iPhone 6s a user has to rote memorize which apps can interact with 3d touch and whether those options are even worth interacting with it's nice that we can take some of the pressure off of the home button by multitasking through a gesture but this prescient slide doesn't work as consistently as a home button DoubleTap it's tough to reach when holding the phone right-handed and just isn't as easy to trigger as having a dedicated multitasking key Samsung also offers the superior one handed mode pulling the screen down on the 6s won't always help when you have to reach across the screen to hit a back button this mini screen on the Galaxy s7 can help those with even the most petite hands access the full device with a minimum of repositioning it in your hand the two company philosophies remain unchanged customization versus consistency but the early transition of adding more controls to iOS without adding more buttons hasn't been particularly graceful moving to cameras it's exciting watching Apple increase sensor resolution and Samsung reduce sensor resolution to meet at 12 megapixels 40 32 by 30 24 while those resolutions match the sensor size advantage and inclusion of optical image stabilization provides for noticeably better low-light sensitivity and a softer blur to background elements in the photos taken with the galaxy s7 Samsung still exposes brighter than Apple in most situations brighter than they need to but the difference is narrower than in previous years and Samsung sensor exhibits fantastic dynamic range not surprisingly the iPhone now uses a more aggressive noise reduction profile for indoor lighting situations fine details will be splotchy err this is a byproduct of not having as much surface area for larger pixels to soak up light both phones shoot natively in a four by three aspect ratio but Samsung uses a slightly wider lens a 27 millimeter equivalent over Apple's 29 millimeter equivalent delivering a wider field of view Samsung's dual pixel focusing tech does seem to provide faster responses than Apple's system Apple's animation for focus lock is a bit more pleasant but react juez ition is noticeably quicker on the galaxy samsung also scores a victory for front-facing camera performance the wider lens is easier to nail that selfie which also shows off the location behind you it's surprising to see Apple implement the more aggressive color on indoor lighting situations exaggerating the pigment of my skin and if you ever want to shoot video or do some vlogging Apple will only let you shoot 720p video while Samsung can deliver four times that resolution from the front camera quad HD to match the phone screen resolution for actually controlling the camera Apple has been extremely conservative and adding features to the iPhone camera app this creates a somewhat bizarre situation where you have to completely leave the app to change settings like video resolution also in maintaining this sliding action to move between photos and videos we still have a square crop option but there's no widescreen crop option we can add filters to photos but this area is deactivated for any controls or filters and video and toggling HDR and flash settings the app moves the control target on you tap here to get options then move over to your composition window to find tiny yellow texts to change the setting if you miss that tiny text the camera thinks you're trying to focus this app really hasn't aged very gracefully and is in need of an overhaul as consumers rely more and more on their phones for content creation Samsung on the other hand is managed to maintain a fairly simple to use auto mode while including a pro mode with full manual controls for those who want them resolution and aspect ratio are easy to alter from your composition window HDR and flash settings toggle in place they don't move the target on you filters work for both Stills and 1080p video and while it's frustrating that video options block your composition window at least altering these settings don't require you to completely leave the camera app overall Samsung maintains a healthy lead over Apple for camera prowess even with the two producing the same resolution images will have a separate video reviewing the galaxy s7 camera in excruciating detail but early usage is pointing to this being a formidable performer taking a listen to audio the fight is fairly close for speaker playback the iPhone is about 2 decibels louder on average but it produces a thinner duller sound the Galaxy s7 isn't quite as loud but the audio produced is fuller with better separation between instruments in a little more bass you the iPhone 6s will likely perform better for ringtones alerts and speakerphone situations the galaxy s7 wins when listening to music watching films and playing games however the iPhone scores a decisive victory for headphone playback in producing a substantially louder signal with the same noise floor the signal-to-noise ratio means your music will be louder and noise created by the iPhone will be quieter than what the galaxy s7 can produce it's a shame we don't have a more powerful amp in this phone as it falls behind what the note 5 can produce for headphone playback more subjectively I prefer the flatter EQ of the Samsung as Apple subtly boosts the bass and treble on the iPhone occasionally higher pitched instruments will sound shrill or brittle the bass can overpower audio in the mid-range but the differences between these two out of the box are not extreme depending on what headphones you use the more powerful amp on the iPhone will likely impress more than the conservative EQ on the galaxy both of these phones were testing here are 18 t versions and both seem to perform well on big blues network around my neck of the woods the Galaxy would report a four to six decibel reception advantage over the iPhone these tiny bands on the galaxy rim don't have as much surface area as the iPhone antenna bands but we're possibly seeing the aluminium shell Blackmore signal than Samsung's glass back early battery testing on the galaxy s7 is proving positive this phone is only starting its third full recharge so you'll have to check out our full review for more in depth stats but our video playback test 30 minutes of HD video streaming over Wi-Fi at 50% brightness resulted in 5% battery drop making it a top performer in this benchmark my iPhone 6s at launch sipped 7% battery but almost 6 months later it now drains 8% on the same test it's clear that the iPhone is still more efficient per tamp but the galaxy s7 combats this by including a 40% larger battery using the chargers which came in the box the galaxy s7 managed a 25% recharge after 20 minutes plugged in while the iPhone topped off around 22% over the same period of time a smaller battery not delivering any advantage for charging the phone faster Samsung also built wireless charging into the galaxy s7 for more flexibility in how you recharge your phone so let's wrap this up first of all it's always tough comparing the iPhone launched towards the end of one year against the galaxy which comes out the beginning of the next year they'll always be leapfrogging each other but his apple doesn't stage their releases between flagship and phablet Apple and Samsung intend for these two phones to compete against each other here and now whether you think a phone needs it samsung devices just come with more stuff 40% more battery twice as much storage with the ability to add more twice as much RAM three and a half times more resolution on a brighter screen a bigger camera sensor a heart rate monitor water resistance wireless charging and even this nifty little USB OTG adapter in the box now that Samsung has refined the build quality and aesthetics for their phones the pricing tables have turned the base model galaxy s7 sells between $20 and $50 more than the iPhone 6s depending on carrier Apple has the louder headphone jack a hardware mute switch a reversible cable and 3d touch iOS is a familiar operating system but we see some of the challenges in adding new features to the simpler UI making it not as simple as it used to be for the last couple generations of phones it's been getting more difficult to point to an area where Apple really truly excels for most consumers people will likely stay with whatever ecosystem they started using in the first place and we're not likely to recommend people switch sides over one phone but as a consumer where is your money actually going here we're sure you have thoughts and we want to hear them can Samsung sway iOS users over to Android with more features and better Hardware can Apple bring increasingly complicated new technology to iOS without disrupting the ease of use and is the flagship battle even worth fighting anymore as lower cost mid rangers are becoming more attractive drop us a comment below and hopefully we can get into some fun debates our review coverage of the galaxy s7 is brought to you by D brand looking for a way to add some grip and eliminate the fingerprints from your shiny new s7 or s7 edge D brand has you covered check out D brand comm slash Galaxy or visit the link in the description below to customize yours today as always thanks so much for watching be sure to subscribe to this channel for more reviews and comparisons hit that thumbs up button to help us out with a little extra positive reinforcement for pocket now I'm Juan Carlos now you can chat me up on Twitter and Instagram is some gadget guy and I will catch you all on the next video