Gadgetory

there's a general notion that smartphones should last around two years some people upgrade sooner some try and push their phones as long as they can go for folks using last year's Galaxy s6 has enough changed on the galaxy s7 to get you to part with your cash I'm Juan Carlos back now for Pocket now and we're going to take a quick look at a one-year upgrade this comparison brought to you by deeper and once the s7 was announced there was a general concern that what we would get was more akin to an S series update from Apple improvements to the internals with almost no change to the outward appearance viewed from arm's length it's easy to see why some might have been concerned both phones are made out of metal and glass Samsung seems to have settled on a consistent design language moving away from plastics now we're looking at the third batch of phones to refine this look the s6 had subtle elements recalling the note for flat sides with just a touch of a dimple or flair at the corners not as reinforced as the note or active but more shaped than just rounding a rectangle and that's gone on the galaxy s7 we're fully into note 5 territory with scooped metal sides that showcased the curved glass back panel while the galaxy s7 is one millimeter thicker than the s6 it replaces it's also a millimeter shorter and narrower the difference in hand isn't radical but it does improve the screen to bezel ratio and it's impressive knowing that overall dimensions have shrunk while including a bigger battery and SD card tray the s7 returns with the handy life style feature of being ip68 water-resistant meaning the phone can survive under 5 feet of water for up to 30 minutes it's always a nice piece of mind Edition to include on a phone and the camera module redesign is also impressive the lens cover on the s7 barely protruding from the back panel just for anyone who might be curious I keep a wood cover on my galaxy s6 as the lens cover was cracked early into using it and I often keep my galaxy s6 in a wood panel case hopefully having the lens cover which doesn't stick out as far on the s7 will prevent similar damage battery life is nicely improved with the extra four hundred and fifty mili amp hour battery padding running a movie playback test streaming HD video over Wi-Fi 50 percent brightness the galaxy s7 drained 5% of the battery the Essex landed closer to eight percent we're likely seeing other efficiency improvements on the s7 than just additional battery capacity maybe a more power efficient screen perhaps and speaking of the screens the s7 does seem to perform slightly better in direct sunlight exposure for this kind of test is always difficult in bright California Sun and the Essex is still easily read outdoors but here we can see the s Evan pushes just a touch brighter also it's just nice to have an SD card slot again high speed memory cards are a lot cheaper than paying for built-in storage with 32 gigabytes built into the phone we have plenty of room for installing programs apps games and leaving the memory card exclusively for multimedia content like photos and music files moving to performance it took the Galaxy S six several updates before we saw improvements to sliding through the UI and RAM management thankfully the s Evan has been solid out of the box it's slick while paging around the home screens and handles multitasking well apps load quickly the only area where I see the s6 pull ahead is on the game Marvel future fight using the highest performance settings the Exynos powered s6 plays the game a little smoother than the Qualcomm 820 powered galaxy s7 and less demanding games will play nearly identically between both phones lifestyle elements like launching the camera are quicker on the s7 and this camera comparison is an interesting one low-light sensitivity on the new galaxy is much improved and the dual pixel technology makes for faster and more reliable focusing performance the s7 will lock in situations where the Essex will often just give up we get a few more options to play with while shooting video like white balance fun features like motion photos and panoramas are included and slow motion videos have been improved to almost iPhone like levels still there are some folks out there who will prefer having the higher resolution sensor on the s6 to crop or zoom with and many people have left comments on our videos expressing their disappointment over the s Evans four by three aspect ratio compared to the 16 by 9 aspect ratio found on the s6 whether someone prefers faster performance and better low-light images or would rather have more resolution that will ultimately be answered by each individual of course we'd be remiss if we didn't mention Samsung removing the IR blaster it wasn't the most popular feature on the Galaxy s6 being able to use your phone as a universal remote but the people who used it are often pretty passionate about it lastly speaker playback volume is pretty similar with the galaxy s7 favoring mid-range audio and the galaxy s6 delivering just a little bit more bass but on our review units the galaxy s6 has a louder amp for headphone playback both phones have very similar tone and utilize a fairly flat EQ not exaggerating bass or treble in your audio but the s7 doesn't seem to drive headphones quite as well as its predecessor so let's wrap this up if you're on a Galaxy s5 or older upgrading to the S Evan makes a lot of sense but should s6 owners make the jump gear to your upgrades can often feel a bit underwhelming the galaxy s7 shows us how well Samsung can refine a device and all of these little improvements do add up to a better overall experience but the galaxy s6 wasn't that raw to begin with this question is best answered by looking at your mission critical features low-light camera performance battery life upgradeable storage water resistance if any of those features are make-or-break for you then upgrading to the s Evan might make sense if not then you'll probably be fine with the galaxy s6 for another year anymore for those who want to live on the bleeding edge of mobile technology it might be worth looking at faster carrier upgrades or manufacturer leasing plans for folks who don't care about having the newest tech at launch even waiting two years in between phone upgrades might not feel like a radical improvement anymore for flagship devices for how similar these phones might look though we are happy to see just how much progress has been made in refining what a galaxy phone should be looking for a way to add some grip and eliminate the fingerprints from your Galaxy s7 be 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 like these as we continue to take a look at the galaxy s7 and it's camera performance and how it compares to other flagship devices and hit that thumbs up button for a little extra positive reinforcement for pocket now i'm juan carlos back now you can catch me on Twitter and Instagram and some gadget guide and I will catch you all on the next video they're coming to get you Barbara