We recently posted our in-depth review of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and I definitely came away impressed by the device. Even though it has some serious drawbacks (TouchWiz), the device itself is absolutely wonderful. Every time a co-worker or friend picked up the phone, they remarked how cool the curved display of the phone is.
And it definitely is. Until you actually want to do more than just look at it.
The actions you can perform with the curved display are frankly just redundant. There’s nothing you couldn’t do in a tap or two so it isn’t saving you time. You also have to remember what you have set up since it isn’t visible like home screen icons and learn you have to learn new mechanic to get to these shortcuts.
There are currently two different types of screens that Samsung offers exclusively with the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge: Edge Panels and Edge Feeds (we’re going to ignore the gimmicky Edge lighting since no-one in their right mind lays their phone flat on the screen).
Edge Panels is probably the one you’ve seen the most of. When the screen is on, you can swipe in from the right to display one of the several panels that have icons or sports scores. These icons can be app shortcuts, contact, stock scores, a compass, the weather forecast or more. Four come turned on by default, Apps Edge, Tasks Edge, People Edge, and Yahoo News.
Apps edge in theory sounds great. This lets you “access your most frequently used apps quickly via the Edge screen.” This is a redundant feature done in a more confusing way. We have launchers. In fact, you can download a third-party launcher if you don’t like the one that comes on your phone. With these launchers, you place apps on your home screen, you tap them, an app opens. Why would I want to hide them and have to remember the icons I’ve placed in there?
Tasks edge offers a little more functionality but still has fatal flaws. The main idea behind Tasks edge is that you can set shortcuts to perform certain actions, rather than just opening an app. Samsung gives you four examples to get you started: Create contact, Take a selfie, Timer, Create event/task.
There is room for six more options to be added, but when you hit the plus icon to add another you’re greeted with a paltry list of actions you probably would never use anyway. I don’t know of anyone who needs an icon to invite people to your live broadcast using Samsung’s streaming feature. Does anyone actually use Samsung’s live streaming feature anyway? Again, there is a lot of redundant functionality here that could better be accomplished with Google Now voice commands. It’s much more convenient to start a time through Google Now than Tasks edge.
By default, People edge is going to be populated by your favorites (if you have any) from your Google contacts. With a swipe and a tap you’re taken to a screen with three icons, call text, or email. Aesthetically, this may be the most pleasing option of the bunch. I love the blurry background with the contact photo and options display up front and center. It’s a great effect. But is it more convenient than opening my SMS app or dialer and hitting the favorites tab? Is it more convenient than telling Google Now to call my wife? Nope.
Yahoo News delivers three headlines with a headline picture. If you actually wanted to know what was going on in the world, you’d already have an app or a favorite news website on your phone that gave you better and more headlines.
Edge feeds are a bit of a different animal. These feeds turn on when the screen is off and display only on the curved part of the screen. These are a generally black background and white text layout that display things like stock scores, fitness info, sports scores, headlines and missed calls and texts.
To activate Edge feeds you must swipe along the curved edge, as opposed to swiping across is for Edge panels. It’s a weird mechanic that I never really enjoyed. I suppose these are good for a quick check every once in a while, but I still feel like they don’t offer a better way of getting this information than we already have.
I’m not going to continue bashing on Samsung here. I think you get the point. This phone is absolutely beautiful in large part due to the curved edge, but I think that’s where the value ends. Samsung offers nothing in software to make my life any easier by using it. In fact, when I did try to use these features I just got frustrated and quit using them after a while. There are will be some people who swear by these features and call me crazy, but I can’t see the point in them right now.
It’s always difficult to keep up with the things you need to do. Worst of all, to-do apps used to work only on one device, so whatever you did on your phone wouldn’t sync with your computer or tablet. Things have gotten better, and services like Todoist and Any.do have made everything easier. However, you can have everything setup and absolutely no motivation. EpicWin tries to get around this by introducing role-playing game (RPG) elements, such as experience, loot, and leveling up, to your traditional to-do list app. If you are not encouraged to do your tasks by using this app, then nothing will do.
You’ll start seeing the RPG elements right from the start. When launching the app, it will ask you to choose among five built-in characters: Dwarf, Warrior Priestess, Skelly, Warrior and Treeman Berzerker (seriously). There’s no way of making your own character, but at least you can name it however you like. I personally chose the Warrior Priestess and named it Lara (you know Lara Croft, right?).
After configuring your character, the app will show you its main screen populated with some default tasks. It’s a great way to get you started right away while showing how the app works and what you need to do.
Features
Let’s remember that EpicWin was originally introduced on iOS, and, after a successful launch, it was ported to Android. This is reflected in EpicWin’s bottom tab bar. Even though iOS encourages developers to use this element, it really feels out of place in Android.
The top part of the screen is reserved for displaying your name and a button to create a new task. The rest of the screen shows a list of your tasks, sectioned by date. In case you have overdue tasks, they will all appear under the same category to make their completion easier.
To create a new task, tap the previously mentioned button at the top, or tap the + icon that appears beside the date. Here you will be able to choose the date of your task, the hour to remind you and the description.
To the right, you’ll find a circle with the legend Epicness. This can be used to rank the difficulty of your task. If your task is as easy as buying a pencil, you can safely lower this score to 50 by dragging inside the circle towards the center. If you want to increase the epicness of your task (up to 300), drag inside the circle towards the edges. This number will reflect on the score you get when completing said task.
Also, in this screen you’ll be able to categorize your task under five different categories: Strength, Stamina, Intellect, Social and Spirit. Finally, you can schedule a task to repeat itself. The app gives you the option to repeat a task in multiple intervals, ranging from daily to once a month.
EpicWin shows you all tasks grouped by date.
When completing the task, you’ll need to hold the badge that shows you the difficulty level, and the game will show a nice little animation that simulates your character fighting the task until it falls defeated. Just like Digimon absorb their enemy’s data to improve its powers, your character absorbs the task and increases his/her stats depending on the category you chose. You’ll sometimes also get loot after completing your duties. It’s an entertaining mechanic and makes the whole concept a little more believable.
Want to skim through your completed deeds? There’s a tab for that, and it’s call Beaten. This section will display your completed tasks since the beginning of your quest, sorted by date. Also, when touching one, you’ll get an option at the top that says “Do it again,” which lets you create a new task based on the one you selected.
As in all RPGs, you have a profile page where you can check out your stats, your avatar and your current level. It will also show how many experience points you need to level up. There’s another tab called Loot, in which your character simulates some sort of travel across wastelands. Here you can check the items you’ve received throughout your journey. There’s dozens of items to be found in your voyages.
Success!You’d better level up your warrior, for the night is dark and full of terrors.
Finally, there’s an options tab where you can turn on or off special effects and background music, change your avatar name, delete all completed tasks, a manual, information about the developers, configure a weekday reminder, and data backups. They’re local, though, so don’t get your hopes up. There’s no integration with online services yet, and EpicWin doesn’t provide its own.
Graphics-wise, the game tries to maintain a rustic appearance, with different tones of brown used throughout the app. There’s no fancy elements, just to-the-point components. As previously said, the bottom bar is not in line with how interfaces are done in Android. The avatars look good, though, and the animation when completing a task is fun to watch. Likewise, background music and special sound effects are appropriate, but nothing to write home about.
Conclusion
EpicWin’s take on a to-do list app is interesting. By incorporating RPG elements to the formula, it hopes people will do more and have fun while at it. There’s no in-app purchases to make or pro versions to buy, which means you’ll find some ads while using it. Even though I feel like Habitica is more robust right now, it can be overwhelming for newcomers. If you have difficulties in completing certain tasks, and you like games (who doesn’t?), then this app may be for you.
Portable power is something almost all of us need. Some can get through a full day without needing to recharge their devices, but there are many of us power users who need more. Fortunately there is an almost endless supply of portable power packs to fulfill our power needs.
I have been using the incredibly thin 5100mAh EnerPlex Jumpr Slate battery for the past month and have fallen in love with its ultra portability.
Design and usage
What makes the EnerPlex Jumpr Slate 5k different from the rest is its ultra slim build with the integrated micro USB cable. Most battery packs are usually pretty chunky, and also come with USB ports that are designed to plug any compatible charging cable into their port/ports.
EnerPlex opted to integrate a micro USB cable into the side of the rubberized battery, which makes it much more functional than its counterparts. The battery future proofs itself by offering a normal sized USB output plug where you can plug in your USB type A to USB C cable for devices like the Nexus 6P or 5X. Or if you have an iPhone you can plug in your lightning charging cable as well. Since I have the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge, the built-in micro USB cable suits me just perfectly.
At 5100mAh, the EnerPlex Jumpr has enough power to charge my Galaxy S7 edge (3600mAh) 1.5 times which is enough to get me two to three days away from a wall outlet. This battery is perfect for weekend camping trips where a wall outlet is not an option. It’s also enough power to get me through full day trips or all day meetings where I may not necessarily need to bring along a massive battery. There are batteries that offer four to five times the EnerPlex Jumpr Slate’s capacity, but carrying an extra pound of lithium power is not something I want to do most of the time unless I absolutely need to. While portable batteries with 20000mAh of power are great, they usually serve their purpose when I have multiple devices that need recharging, or when I may not see a wall outlet for longer than four days.
The Jumpr Slate is extremely thin at 7.5mm which is the same thickness as the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge. That’s really thin and very nice to have. It’s longer and wider than the S7 edge, but isn’t much bigger than the LG V10. The Jumpr Slate is pocketable if you have large pant pockets, or it fits quite well in laptop bags and purses. It also has holes in the sides for day planners, but seriously, who uses those things anymore? I know there are many people on the road like sales reps who do use folders for taking notes and this battery is perfect for you. It’s also perfect for students who use binders for school. And the battery is just right with its extremely thin build for people who want the perfect power to size ratio.
I call it the Goldilocks of batteries. It’s just right.
Specs
Product Dimensions:
170.0mm(6.69″)/95.0mm(3.74″)/7.5mm(0.3″)
Battery Capacity:5,100 mAh
Battery Type:Lithium-Polymer
Recharge By:Micro-USB
Input:Micro USB
Output:USB Port/Tethered Micro-USB
Power Output:1A/2.4A
Warranty:1 Year
Summary
The EnerPlex Jumpr Slate 5k isn’t the cheapest portable battery with a $54.99 MSRP, but it is one of the thinnest and most portable you can find. It offers a great size to weight ratio, and with the built in micro USB cable, it is one of my favorite batteries I have used to date. While batteries are a dime a dozen, the EnerPlex Jumpr Slate 5k is the Goldilocks of batteries where it isn’t too big, chunky, or too small – it is just right.
Earlier this month Amazon surprised us with the news that it was expanding its Amazon Echo line with the Amazon Tap and Amazon Dot. The Amazon Echo is an intelligent, internet connected, and voice controlled speaker that is one of Amazon’s most successful homegrown tech products to date. As of right now, the $179.99 Echo is backordered until April 6th, and has been on sale since last year.
On Thursday, March 31st, Amazon is releasing its second voice enabled speaker to the masses – the Amazon Tap. Priced at $129.99, the Tap differentiates itself from the Echo by offering portability. The Echo needs to be plugged into an electrical socket due to the multiple microphones that are always listening for voice commands which continually drain power. The Tap on the other hand comes with a built-in battery, with up to nine hours of music playback. Instead of always listening, you “tap” the voice control button on the Amazon Tap to access the wide variety of commands. A short list of things the the Tap can do:
Create a to-do or shopping list in an iOS or Android Alexa App
Ask Domino’s to deliver pizza
Stream music
Provide weather reports
Ask for the latest news
The Amazon Tap also offers Dolby digital sound with 360 degree sound output. The Amazon Echo was one of the best tech items from 2015 and is something you most likely cannot appreciate until you try it in person. I have been using my Echo since early 2015 and is one item I will not give up. My Amazon Tap is set to be delivered on March 31st, and I highly recommend you get your order in now if you haven’t already.
Starting April 1 AT&T is releasing a new rugged Wi-Fi hotspot, perfect for adventurers outside of cell tower range. The device, called Unite Explore starts at $49.99 with a two-year agreement. The Unite Explore is dust-proof, as well as water and shock-resistant.
Unite Explore Features
Rugged design – dust-proof, water resistant, shock resistant (IP65 rating, certified to meet MIL-STD-810G standard)
Guest Wi-Fi with optional timer
Content filtering
Up to 22 hours of battery life on a single charge, with BatteryBoost to keep your smartphone charged
Dual-Band 802.11 ac/b/g/n Wi-Fi technology
LTE Advanced and globally compatible with 4G LTE
Built-in touchscreen to check data usage, battery life and network status
Connect up to 15 Wi-Fi devices (hotspot password required)
Starting this Friday, be sure to visit the AT&T website before heading out on your backpack trip up the mountains.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is here and is undoubtedly one of the most attractive phones ever made. The curved display, or “infinity screen” as my friends have taken to calling it, is one of the most unique features on any phone out there. Samsung has tried to up its game this year by adding in some fan favorite features like expandable storage and water resistance.
But, the question I keep asking myself is this: Is the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge a great phone, or just a spec sheet monster? I’ve spent a little while with the phone, and these are my thoughts.
Specs
Screen: Curved 5.5″ 2560 x 1440p AMOLED display
Processor: Snapdragon 820 (US and China), Exynos 8890 Octa (International)
Storage: 32 GB/64 GB (expandable up to 200 GB)
RAM: 4 GB
Primary Camera: 12 MP, f/1.7, 26mm, with phase detection autofocus and Optical Image Stabilization
Secondary Camera: 5 MP, f/1.7, 22mm
Battery: 3,600 mAh
Dimensions: 5.94 x 2.86 x 0.30 in
Weight: 5.54 oz
IP68 certified – dust proof, water resistant at 1.5m for 30 minutes
The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge matches the LG G5 and Xiaomi Mi 5 for the best specs in a phone currently available. Depending on where you live, you’ll be getting a Snapdragon 820 processor (US and China), 4 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage standard. International (Europe, Middle East, and the rest of Asia) markets will see the phone come equipped with an Exynos 8890 processor.
There have been a lot of questions about the difference between the processors so far, and it seems to break down to this: the Snapdragon has better GPU and single-core performance, where the Exynos has better multi-core performance and better battery life. Both processors are still top of the line, no matter which one you have.
Samsung turned a few heads this year by dropping the megapixel count in its cameras. Low light pictures are the focus this year and by reducing the sensor size, more light should be able to be picked up, resulting in better pictures in less than ideal situations. Has it succeeded? You can make your own decisions in the camera section of this review.
The screen resolution remains unchanged from last year’s Galaxy S6 Edge even though the screen size has jumped up from 5.1″ to 5.5″. But, one of the biggest changes has been the bump in battery life. The 3,600 mAh battery is simply huge. An increase this large indicates that Samsung listened about how bad the battery life was with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge were last year and moved to address it.
Hardware & Physical Overview
To begin the conversation about the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge anywhere else than the display would be crazy. The curved screen is the defining feature of this phone and certainly makes it stand out from any other flagship on the market.
Not only is it curved, but it’s a fantastic size. While the Galaxy S7 might be a bit easier to handle with its 5.1″ screen, the Edge is perfect for those with medium to large hands. Female friends in the past have complained that anything bigger than an iPhone 5 was unwieldy, but I’ve heard nothing but praise for the Galaxy S7 Edge due to its superior screen to body ratio.
Above the display, we find the earpiece for phone calls, the front facing camera, proximity sensor, and a Samsung logo.
The texture feels amazing, and I often find myself just moving the phone around in my hands because it feels cool.
To the south lays Samsung’s famous button layout. A physical home button is flanked by the multitasking button (to the left) and the back button (to the right). Because Samsung has sought to increase the screen to body ratio, these buttons are very close to the screen. More than once, I’ve tapped an icon in my dock when I’m trying to hit back. Not a huge deal, but it will probably happen to you if you own this phone.
Within the generously big home button returns a fan favorite, the tap-and-press fingerprint scanner. It seems that all high-end phones have fingerprint scanners, and Samsung is no different.
The fingerprint sensor this year is improved over last year. While I haven’t had the phone for months on end, my problems with misreads started early with the Galaxy S6 Edge. There are no traces of that with the Galaxy S7 Edge. While it is accurate, it doesn’t get a hit every time and can be a bit slow occasionally. The iPhone is still the leader in scanning speed with the Nexus phones right behind. The Galaxy S7 Edge lags behind both, but unless you’re used to those phones, it probably won’t be an issue for you.
On the back of the phone, we find the camera bump and the flash + heart rate sensor right next to it.
This year, Samsung made the body of the phone a little bit thicker. This has served two purposes. First off, it gave some extra room for a bigger battery. Secondly, the camera bump from last year is almost gone. While there is still a bit of a bump, it’s nowhere as noticeable as it used to be. If you’re buying this phone from Verizon, you’ll be treated to its logo about an inch under the flash, while the “Galaxy S7 edge” branding sits near the bottom.
It’s important to point out here that the back of the phone is curved on the edges as well. While the curve isn’t as drastic as on the screen or like phones from Motorola, it’s definitely noticeable and greatly increases your ability to pick the S7 Edge off a flat surface (which was a big pain for last years model).
Even though the sides of the phone are incredibly thin, you will still find the volume buttons on the left and the power button on the right. These buttons retain their fantastic clickiness. Seriously, this can’t be said enough. For such a small feature, it really makes a world of difference.
The bottom of the phone houses the micro-USB connector, speaker and headphone jack, flanked by antenna strips. Yes, sadly, we’re seeing a return to micro-USB instead of the newer USB type-C. I’m sure Samsung has its reasons for sticking with the older standard (Gear VR support?), but it’s a disappointment, nonetheless.
Unfortunately, the speaker on the bottom of the phone this year is a bit of a letdown. It’s certainly loud, but the sound quality isn’t great. I personally think it sounds a bit tinny and muffled. I have a feeling this is due to Samsung going for the IP68 water and dust resistance rating on this phone and sealing up the charging port and speakers to retain water resistance. It’s certainly a trade-off that I’m happy to make for the long-term health of the phone since I don’t use the speakers a lot anyway.
The top of the phone sees a secondary microphone and the SIM/micro-SD card combo slot. Yes, expandable storage has returned to the Galaxy S line after a one-year absence. The S7 and S7 Edge can take micro-SD cards up to 200 GB for your pictures, movies, and documents. Notably missing from the top of the phone is the IR blaster from last year.
The body is comprised of two pieces of beautiful glass sandwiched around a metal frame. But, something is different. Recently I stood holding my friend’s Galaxy S6 in one hand and this Galaxy S7 Edge in the other. The S7 Edge feels so much better. While it is still slippery, it’s not nearly as bad as the S6.
The texture feels amazing, and I often find myself just moving the phone around in my hands because it feels cool. I wish Samsung could have done something about fingerprints as the S7 Edge collects them religiously.
What sets this year apart is Samsung’s design choice to make everything black. There are no silver outlines to show off the edges of the home button or ear piece. It’s just black. And it looks amazing. The Black Onyx color with the glass body of the Galaxy S7 Edge makes it the most attractive phone I have ever laid eyes on. It’s sleek, it’s sexy, and it’s beautifully curved.
Screen
We’ve established how beautiful the screen is by this point. But, there is more than just how it looks.
One of the first things you notice when using the S7 Edge is that your palm is probably going to rest on the edge of the screen (unless you have long fingers). It’s just unavoidable at first. This leads to a lot of accidental touches and accidental taps until you re-learn how to hold your phone.
It took me a few (extremely frustrating) days to consistently get it right. There were times when I just wanted to put the phone down and walk away. Now that I’m used to it, I still press the side on accident from time to time, but not nearly as frequent. I really feel like these issues could be fixed by better palm rejection. I’m by no means a software engineer, but this seems like one of the first things you’d want to do on a screen that’s going to replace bezel.
There is still some green discoloration at the screen curve (much better than last year), and the keyboard buttons can be a bit of a pain to hit, but you really get used to it quickly. The screen may a bit overly sensitive. I will occasionally run into the phone registering a tap when I’m trying to scroll. I feel like Samsung could probably fix this with a software update. No big deal.
But, it’s not all bad. There are many reasons I believe this is the best screen on the market.
The biggest of which is how vibrant these colors are. Sure, there is some oversaturation in places, but it looks beautiful throughout. In the settings, you can change the scenes between Adaptive Display, AMOLED Cinema, AMOLED Photo, and Basic. All have their different focuses, but I love AMOLED Cinema for how vibrant the colors are on the AMOLED panel.
In addition to how beautiful the colors are, the screen is incredibly bright. The ability to read the display comfortably in direct sunlight is a huge plus for this phone. Auto-brightness does a great job of keeping the phone at an adequate level. I never see it inch above 50% unless I’m in an extreme situation. Turning the brightness all the way up in a normal light situation almost hurts my eyes because it’s so bright.
Galaxy S7 Edge vs. Nexus 6P 100% brightness
Minimum brightness is another strength of the Galaxy S7 Edge. Reading in bed is comfortable and free of any kind of eye strain due to how dim the display can get. The real issue with reading at night are the back and multitasking buttons lighting up. Fortunately, there are third-party apps in the Play Store to rectify this.
The screen is so good it overshadows a lot of little flaws with the phone.
Performance
This section of my review may be a little bit different than others. I don’t focus on scores at all. I think benchmarking is only important pre-release to give people a frame of reference for what kind of device we’re talking about. Instead, I focus on real world performance. What the phone feels like, where it stutters, where it frustrates, where it shines.
One of the biggest things I like to focus on are graphical stutters and dropped frames. These two things indicate that the CPU or GPU is unable to keep up with whatever task you’re trying to complete and must render fewer frames in order to have the power to get it done. In previous Samsung devices I’ve owned (Almost everything in the Galaxy S and Note series), I’ve always had issues with dropped frames and stuttering.
Most people refer to this as TouchWiz lag.
With a brand new top-of-the-line processor, GPU and 4 GB of RAM on board, nothing should slow this phone down, right? Well, not so much. I must say, performance, for the most part, has been excellent. But, the lag is still there. It shows up in the weirdest places as well. I’ve noticed it the most when scrolling through apps in my app drawer and through the Google Play Store. While these issues aren’t game breaking, they do take you out of the experience. They make you think about what you’re doing instead of it being effortless.
When the Galaxy S7 Edge is humming along, it is an absolute joy to use. For the handful of times it stutters, it frustrates. These instances are few and far between, and however annoying they may be, they aren’t a reason to pass up this phone.
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 that powered the last generation of flagships (the exception being Samsung’s who used their own Exynos chips) had a bad reputation for running hot. A processor that puts out excessive heat gets thermal throttled more often, and that leads to a loss of performance and operational efficiency. Samsung was so worried about the thermals in the Galaxy S7 Edge that it put a liquid cooling pipe in the phone.
It helped. But there are still issues.
During set-up, the phone became extremely hot. I could still hold it, but it was uncomfortable. I believe that while installing apps after the initial set-up the phone thermal throttled to such a degree that it took HOURS to download about 100 apps from the Play Store on a moderately fast connection. This was a bad first impression, but things did get better. I don’t play many games but for the purpose of this review, I did try out Asphalt 8, a notoriously power hungry game as a sort of real-life benchmark.
Results were pretty great. The phone ran smooth at high frame rates and with little heat displacement. It definitely became warm, but not uncomfortable enough to put the phone down. I was impressed after the initial misstep during set-up. The phone runs cool almost all of the time unless you really push it, a big win for Samsung and Qualcomm.
Multitasking is great. The problems that the Samsung Galaxy S6 faced are gone. For the unfamiliar, the Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+, and Note 5 would only hold four or five apps in memory at a time. That is staggeringly low for a phone released in 2015. I did a test and loaded up 10 applications of varying sizes and had zero issue with the OS killing them in the background. This was one of the most frustrating issues (along with battery life) with the Galaxy S6, and I’m glad to see that Samsung made a huge leap in performance here.
The last metric I use to determine performance is battery life. During the review period, all the radios were on except for WiFi, location was set to high accuracy and auto-brightness was turned on. We started off strong, but it has sure been a struggle recently.
My average seems to be between four and four and a half hours of screen on time, with about 20 hours on battery. I sleep odd hours because of my job so I take the phone off the charger about 1:30 AM and it goes back on the charger between 9 PM and 10 PM. That’s a lot of standby time and that’s one of the areas where problems crop up. Something or some things that identify under the “Android System” category are ruining the battery life on this phone. Every day I’ve used it, Android System has been at the top of the list with between 35% – 50% of the battery used.
Some days are better than others, though. There have been a few days where I could only get about three hours of screen on time before the low battery reminder kicked on.
On the flip side, the screen seems to be extremely power efficient. To be able to get almost five hours of screen on time with auto-brightness and not have it be the top power user is very impressive. Well done, Samsung. If Google or Samsung can figure out what is going on with Android System, they could have a two-day battery on its hands. Until then, you’ll be reaching for that charger before bedtime.
Unfortunately, the screen shots didn’t capture the remaining battery. On day 1, I had roughly 25% left and on day 2 I had roughly 40% left
Camera
In an effort to raise the quality of pictures taken with their phones, Samsung for the first time in memory dropped the megapixel count in their cameras. This year we see a 12 MP main shooter with f/1.7 aperture, phase detection autofocus, optical image stabilization paired with an LED flash. The camera has the ability to simultaneously record 4K video and take 9 MP pictures.
The front facing camera is 5 MP with a f/1.7 aperture and features auto HDR.
The improvements in low light are real. The details picked up in full auto mode are fantastic. Below you can see a comparison I took of the anchors at the station I work at. In the first photo I used our professional lighting grid. The second photo is just the house lights that barely light the room. I think the detail is still great.
The improvements don’t stop with just low light. This camera is seriously fast, almost instantaneous. Phase detection autofocus helps with quick moving objects, and while it doesn’t get everything right every time, it’s pretty reliable. The colors are not just vibrant on the beautiful screen of the phone, but everywhere else too. Below are five pictures I took at varying light levels.
Lighting conditions: Well lit to low light
In the two well-lit pictures, you see everything. Every detail. There is very little to no artifacting or blurriness.
Outside on an overcast day, the camera does a good job of not blowing out the sky for the sake of everything else in the picture. It’s balanced and gets most everything right.
The two low light pictures show off, again, how well the camera can do with varied light levels in the picture. You have very bright monitors along with a dark coffee cup from Starbucks. While the cup isn’t perfectly in view, you can make out what it is and some small details. Most cameras would make that a black hole of nothingness because of the light being emitted from the monitors behind it.
What makes taking great pictures easy is a great camera application and Samsung delivered one on the Galaxy S7 Edge. The application is easy to use and intelligently laid out. It’s as simple as you want it to be with more powerful features like setting the ISO and white balance a tap away.
You’re offered many, many modes within the app. Auto, Pro, Selective Focus, Panorama, Video collage, Live Broadcast, Slow motion, Virtual Shot, Food and Hyperlapse all come standard on the phone with the ability to download more from Samsung’s market.
There has been a lot made about the Galaxy S7 Edge’s camera. Many are stating that it has passed the iPhone 6S Plus in quality. No matter if it has or not, you simply aren’t going to go wrong with using this camera. It’s more difficult to take a bad picture than the other way around. Color me impressed.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge comes running Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out of the box. On top is Samsung’s skin, TouchWiz. TouchWiz has been notorious over the years as one of the heaviest Android skins out there. It’s also synonymous with bloat.
I’ve seen a lot of praise being thrown around by owners and reviewers alike for how much Samsung has “paired down” TouchWiz. I don’t understand why people are saying that. TouchWiz is just as heavy and bloated as it’s ever been. The biggest change I can really identify over years past is that the color scheme is more pleasing now.
One of the biggest offenders is the settings application. This is a central hub for everything you’d want to change about your phone and needs to be as easy to navigate as possible. In past versions of TouchWiz, there were a million brightly color coded categories. Now there aren’t as many categories, but more settings hidden in each option.
What used to takes two or three clicks now takes four or five. While that doesn’t sound like a lot, burying options and settings that far down makes it significantly less likely that the average user will ever find them.
There has been a rumor going around that in the next version of Android the app drawer will be removed. Further rumors around MWC 2016 pointed to the LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge doing away with it NOW to get ahead of the game. Fortunately, that isn’t the case. Unfortunately, Samsung’s choices regarding the App Drawer are some of the clearest of examples of an OEM changing something just to change it and making it worse.
The app drawer button is locked to the bottom right corner of the screen, unable to be moved. Once you get into the app drawer, the first thing you see are folders for Amazon, Google, and Samsung (and Verizon if you have that variant) holding multiple apps. These apps no longer show up in the rest of the list so you have to know exactly what’s in those folders or you’ll be scrolling back and forth forever. Lastly, and most frustratingly is that the default sorting is by newest app last, and there’s no way to change it. You can hit the A – Z button to re-arrange them, but as soon as you delete or install an application, your order is screwed up again.
Why, Samsung? These are awful choices. Pre-defined folders in the app drawer? An icon that can’t move? Awful sorting? None of these save time and that’s one of the biggest advantages of HAVING an app drawer in the first place. You know exactly where everything is and can get there quickly.
This is what my app drawer looked like after deleting and installing a few apps. Horrible.
Samsung could do everything else right in their software and this alone is so frustrating that it sometimes makes me want to put the phone down. Stop changing things just to change them. There is no improvement here.
The bloat on this phone is simply outrageous. 8 pre-installed Verizon apps, 5 from Samsung and 3 from Amazon, and if you consider some of Google’s extraneous apps bloat, there are a lot more. The two gigs or so of space I could get back if these apps simply could be uninstalled instead of disabled is invaluable. I feel bad for AT&T customers who have it even worse than Verizon customers.
Samsung, LG, Sony, HTC, Huawei, Xiaomi, Apple, you guys need to listen. Some of you are better than others but stop forcing us to keep apps we don’t want on our phones. People are paying upwards of $800 for these devices and to tell them that they MUST keep Verizon’s Message+, NFL Mobile or Slacker Radio on their phone at all times is ridiculous. It’s 2016. Get it together.
Some of you are better than others but stop forcing customers to keep apps we don’t want on our phones. People are paying upwards of $800 for these devices and to tell them that they MUST keep Verizon’s Message+, NFL Mobile or Slacker Radio on their phone at all times is ridiculous. It’s 2016. Get it together.
I’ve beat up Sammy a little bit here, and I do believe it deserves the criticism for some of these awful decisions, but not everything it did to the software is bad.
Quick toggles are back in the notification shade and I absolutely love that. Sure, it does take some screen real estate, and it can get a little crowded when you have multiple notifications, but those instances don’t present themselves often enough to be a big annoyance. Making these settings easier to get to just makes the choices in the settings app even more head-scratching. It seems like Samsung gets it in some places, but not others.
Another huge improvement comes with gaming. I’m not a huge gamer, but I can appreciate the improvements Samsung made for hardcore gamers here. Game Launcher and Game Tools are great additions to Android.
Game Launcher is a central hub to keep track of all your games. This is one of those features that keeps you from going into your app drawer or creating a special folder just for games. They’re organized and easy to get to. It will identify some weird apps as games occasionally (my Barclays app is definitely not a game), but it lets you add “unlisted” applications as well.
Within Game Launcher, you can set some additional settings like power saver or not receive alerts while you’re playing which is really handy. There are some ads for other games and videos that will appear at the bottom of Game Launcher, but I suppose we can give it a pass on this one.
Game Tools is a floating chat head-like icon that pops out options without taking you from your game. In the pop-out menu, you’re given the option to turn off all alerts during the game, lock the recent and back buttons to avoid accidental presses, minimize the game while putting it in a save state, take a screenshot or record the screen.
I don’t know how useful recording gameplay on a phone or the screenshot option will be (you can take a screenshot by holding down the home button and hitting the share icon too), but the first three options are very, very nice to have.
One feature that was prominently displayed at Samsung’s announcement event was the addition of an always-on display. This is a software feature that keeps your screen on at all times with a black background and a graphic of your choice. I personally have a clock with the date, time and battery percentage with a nice blue design behind it. You can choose between a clock, calendar or an image always displayed, and since it’s an AMOLED panel, only the pixels in use are lit up. This is great for battery life since you don’t have to constantly turn on the entire screen to check out what’s going on with your phone.
If you want the curve of your screen to be more than just something pretty to look at, Samsung includes some software features to make the most out of it. Edge panels and Edge feeds can both be customized to your liking.
By default, you’ll have four Edge panels on. These swipe in from the right side of the screen (there’s a white tab to indicate where to swipe from) to display quick links to tools, applications, contacts, and news. You can also enable other panels like stocks, sports scores, and a compass. Samsung has opened this functionality up to third parties and lets you download more options from their store, both free and paid, to customize the phone even further.
Edge feeds is a bit more simplistic than the Edge panels. These black background and (mostly) white text graphics display notifications like missed calls and emails, news headlines, sports scores, fitness information, and stocks. You can download more of these as well from Samsung’s store. Edge feeds are activated by a swipe long ways along the curve, rather than swiping in from the side.
Edge lighting is the third option here and it lights up the edge of the screen when you’re getting a call. I don’t know how many of you are going to set your phone face down on a table, but the option its there.
For some reason, the option to set the Night Clock isn’t in the same menu as the previously mentioned features, but it’s my favorite use of the Edge. I often times wake up in the middle of the night and I always check what time it is so I know how much longer I have to sleep. The Night Clock displays the time and my next alarm in a dim light that doesn’t wake me up (or keep me up) but lets me know the vitals.
The curved screen of this phone looks great, but almost every feature that it has come up with feels like a gimmick.
Evolution, not Revolution
Consumer Reports recently came out and said that the Samsung Galaxy S7 was the best smartphone ever made. I can see how anyone could come to that conclusion, it truly is a tremendous phone, but I don’t think I can sit here and call it the best phone ever.
I don’t have an answer to “the best phone ever made” question, but I do have a while of use under my belt with this phone and I wouldn’t go as far as Consumer Reports did. There are still some really big flaws with this phone that need to be overcome in order to lay claim to that title.
Samsung does deserve a lot of credit. IP68 water resistance and dust proofing, a microSD card slot, the best screen I’ve ever seen, a better fingerprint reader and an Always-On Display make this phone much better than the Galaxy S6 Edge. That doesn’t even take battery life into account. While it’s not great this year, it is far improved and will get most through an entire day.
But, it’s frustrating to see the best hardware on the market held back by subpar software. The lack of better touch rejection on the curved display hampers the phone and frustrates me as much as any phone ever has. TouchWiz lag, as much as we hoped it would be gone with a new processor, is still alive and kicking. It may be on life support, but it shows up and reminds you of the missed potential with this phone.
I can’t in good conscious sit here and say this phone is worth $800. I know I have to return this phone at the end of the review period so I’ve kept my eyes out for deals, and even though I’ve found some, I haven’t pulled the trigger. That tells me a lot about the value of this phone.
It’s a tremendous phone, but a few fatal flaws keep it from greatness.
Just like looking for an Android phone, it can be a pretty daunting process to find a decent speaker. The Internet is filled with a vast amount of speakers available for purchase. Fortunately, there are several reputable brands out there for you to choose from, even in the budget range.
The MagicBox II Speaker in this review is made by DKnight. DKnight does not happen to fall under these well-known brands on the web. I have never heard of them and neither have any of my fellow AndroidGuys writers. This being said, I was unsure what to expect from this $35 portable Bluetooth speaker when I came across it online. Interestingly, it is rated as the #1 bestseller in marine speakers (although it is not waterproof).
I decided to give it a try to see just how well it could perform.
Design
The MagicBox II has an attractive compact design. It’s a little bit smaller than I imagined it to be, especially when you use online pictures to gauge some idea of how it sizes up. A little bit longer than my LG G4, it can fit comfortably in my hand.
The speaker is like a plain box at 6 x 2 x 1.6 inches. Six sides, one for the top and bottom and the four that wrap around it. No unique or special design here. The top and bottom surfaces are made of rubber, and almost feel identical to your typical stationery eraser. The rubber is very durable despite this is and is really suitable for keeping the speaker nice and firm on the surface on which it’s on.
The meshed metal that houses the main speaker body wraps around three of the remaining sides, and meets almost seamlessly at the edges of the fourth one. This fourth side is made of hard plastic and houses the On/Off button, the MicroUSB charging port and the 3.5mm audio jack. You can connect to the speaker through this 3.5mm jack or via Bluetooth, granted that your phone is running Bluetooth version 2.1 or higher.
A short male-to-male audio cable comes included in the package.
The top of the speaker houses the six control buttons placed on the top, which consists of the same non-slip premium rubber material as the rest of the top and bottom sides. You have the options to turn the volume up (1), down (2), pause/play the song (3), go to the next track (4), the previous track (5) and answer or end a call (6). The buttons are nice and clicky and require a fair amount of pushing power. Nothing too strenuous, of course.
There is however a small problem or two here with the design. Firstly, the mesh. It has holes that are perfectly sized to pick up your average sized crumbs, dirt, or even hairs. The rubber naturally also has the tendency of picking up small hairs and dirt particles. They are not a total magnet, however, and the offending material can be quite easily removed with a few swipes.
I should also mention that the speaker comes in a variety of colors – blue, red, black and grey. The color of the mesh stays black but the rubber bottom and top changes accordingly.
Overall, I really enjoyed the design of the speaker. With a slight premium feel and a compact size, anyone could quite easily mistake it for a more high-end accessory. In the design compartment, at least.
Sound
This is where the MagicBox 2 again surprised me. The sounds it reproduces are by no means top of the range or outstanding, but you could easily pick up a $100 speaker and hear minimal sound differences between the two. In other words, it again goes far beyond with what you expect in a $35 package.
But why? What hardware does it pack inside?
We aren’t quite sure of specifics, to be honest. What we do know however, is that it has two 5W 40mm speakers to make up a total of 10W output sound. This goes alongside a specially designed passive radiator that improves and increases the bass and quality. It sure pumps out some quality sound.
The subwoofer is faintly visible through the mesh
Starting with the bass: it’s awesome. Not excellent, but awesome. On bass heavy songs, it can be seen rattling its way across my desk, something which makes me almost wet myself with pure satisfaction. That’s just me, and you may not like bass as much I do. Again, it could be a tad better. It was a bit drowned out some of the time, but not anything particularly bad. Facing the subwoofer side down on the desk increased the overall bass a bit.
As a side note, there is a bass pad included to help immobilize the speaker and prevent it from moving around.
Moving on to the highs and trebles, it is not anything to write home about. Still, it managed to produce voices and instruments mostly fine. Just don’t expect anything good when the volume is almost max. Taylor Swift’s Wildest Dreams was the perfect test for this and it worked pretty decently, until, again, you turn the volume up. The highs get overtaken by the bass when extremely loud. Nevertheless, we were rather impressed by what it could do.
Expanding on the volume: this speaker can get really loud. Definitely loud enough to use at a small party, for example. We’d say we kept the volume on around 30% volume just listening to music around the house.
Does it offer the best sound on the market? No. In its price range? Certainly, and maybe even the range above it.
Everyday usage, battery and more
The MagicBox II comes with some nifty features. Once you switch it on, the LED light behind the mesh turns on in the color blue, flashing until it gets connected to a music source. If you plug it in to charge, another red LED turns on and stays on until fully charged. It’s not the most visible positioning, but we’d prefer for it to be here and to be less intrusive.
MagicBox II LED light
Fortunately, you won’t be seeing that same red charging light often. The advertised battery life is 10 hours, and while I did not play with it extensively for prolonged periods of time, I can confidently say that the life is indeed around 10 hours. I play my music probably twice a week through it and it lasted me over a month before beeping to tell me the battery was low. It has a 2,000mAh built in battery.
You can play music while charging it through a standard MicroUSB charger from your phone charger, or, preferably, your laptop.
As there is a microphone built in, you can use it to chat with over phone and video calls, as the dedicated call button would suggest. I used it several times while FaceTiming and the person on the other end could not notice a difference between my iPad and the speaker microphone, although they did mention my voice was a bit softer.
Another thing that I noticed is that the previous iteration of this speaker had a slot for a MicroSD card while the second edition (this one) does not. Not a big deal for me, but it may be a dealbreaker for some. Not quite sure why DKnight decided on this.
Summary
The DKnight MagicBox II speaker is an outstanding offer for $35. We have little objections to both the design and sound quality, and everything that we don’t like is justifiable by the price tag. The sexy black rubber and grill is somewhat nice on the eye,while the sound is almost just as soothing to your ears.
But this brings us to the question: who is DKnight and how are they making such affordable hardware? We may not know, but what I can tell you is that they sure make some damn fine accessories.
You can browse and purchase a DKnight MagicBox II via Amazon with the following link:
Setup is as simple as possible. Install the game from the Google Play store and launch the application. The Google Play Games integration is automatic and it takes you directly to the starting screen, with an advertisement in the way of course.
Impression –
Have you ever thought that sitting by yourself in a room, methodically tapping the screen of your smartphone would be something you would want to do for more than 2 minutes? Neither did I; nevertheless, I found myself picking Stack up over and over again to tap my screen to the beat of colorful squares sliding across my screen. Stack is one of the simplest, most addicting games I have ever played.
Stack is a timing-based, tapping game with the objective being to build the tallest tower possible. You start with a base block and when you press play another block begins sliding over the first one. When the screen is tapped the block stops moving and any piece that is not on top of the block below falls off (with some fantastic gravity mechanics). Don’t worry, you can make them “grow” by matching eight consecutive blocks. To make the gameplay more challenging the blocks also begin to move faster the higher you get.
One of the things I like the most about Stack is the lack of in-app purchases. I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to download a game and not have someone sticking their hand out for money. There is, however, a monetary aspect to the game. One diamond is received for every 10 blocks you are able to successfully stack in a game, and every third game you get the option to watch an advertisement for 20 diamonds. This is the games form of a reward for excelling at gameplay. These diamonds can be used to “purchase” additional skins for the blocks and add a little flavor to the repetitive, yet surprisingly addictive, gameplay.
One of the ways this game grasps you is with its graphics; they are simply stunning . Every block is a slightly different color and they magnificently transition through every wavelength. I lost focus more than a few times in awe of the beautiful colors coming from my screen.
Likes:
Beautiful colors and graphics
Skins to spice things up
Gravity mechanic is spot on
Addicting gameplay
Dislikes:
I wish there was another layer of complexity
Conclusion –
Stack encourages players to invite friends and see who can get the highest tower; my high score is 99. I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing and I think it will stick in my rotation for some time. Place your scores below and we will see who can make the highest tower.
Alto’s Adventure puts you in the bindings of Alto, a shepherd that must chase his herd of alpacas down the mountain on his snowboard. It’s an endless-style adventure that sees you collecting coins, powerups, and alpacas to beat your best score.
Truly free-to-play (IAPs and ads are 100% optional).
Crisp, clean endless gameplay.
Setup
Setup is like the rest of the game; simple. Download. Log in to Google Play. Enjoy.
Impressions
I am not a fan of endless-runners. I find them to be repetitive, their mechanics too simple to be interesting, and the core gameplay to be silly. That being said, Noodlecake has made me a huge fan of Alto’s Adventure. It’s a beautiful, beautiful game. From the way Alto’s scarf grows the longer you play, to the minimalist style of the artwork, to the way such a simple game has a dynamic day-and-night style that completely changes the aesthetic of the game as you play it, it’s stunning; easily the prettiest game I’ve seen in the Play Store in a long time. For this reason alone, I’m a fan. Anything else is extra on top.
As beautiful as Alto’s Adventure is, the gameplay never feels particularly innovative or rewarding. The general setting is a downhill trip on a snowboard, dodging rocks and grinding rails (in the form of ruins, cords, and other grindable objects), and catching big air off ramps. There are a number of power-ups to collect that alter the gameplay somewhat – coin magnets let you collect coins from a distance and force fields let you bash through rocks, and when you’ve gotten far enough an angry old man on a horse will chase after you – but generally speaking, there’s very little variety.
Unlike many endless runners, Alto gives you objectives in the form of “goals” in which the game offers you three objectives to achieve before moving onto the next three. I am currently on level four, for instance, and my objectives are as follows:
That, in and of itself, gives the game some replay value other similar games lack. In addition, Alto also gives you a rating at the end of each run and tracks your global statistics in the options menu (also seen above). As far as ad-structure and in=app purchases go, Alto’s Adventure is as beautiful as its graphics. There are no mandatory ads, nor in-app purchases that break the game. You can watch a short video in order to revive Alto when he falls (up to twice per run), and you can buy a single power up that permanently doubles the amount of coins you pick up ($3.99). That’s it, as far as ads and IAPs go. Very modest, very effective.
In the end, Alto’s biggest draw is it’s beauty and it’s sound design; the gameplay is perfectly adequate for an endless runner, but suffers from the same drawbacks as do all others of its kind. That being said, Alto’s Adventure is an amazing experience in all and should not be missed under any circumstances.
What I like
Beautiful aesthetic.
Real free-to-play.
What I don’t
Mechanics aren’t particularly complex.
Would have liked to see more uses for coins.
Conclusion –
Alto’s Adventure is a Triple A title in everything but price. It implements true free-to-play gameplay with premium graphics and gameplay.
Spoiler Alert and Full Disclosure: I love this little gadget. I backed the JUMP Cable Kickstarter way back in January of 2014, received the product in August of that year, and it lasted me a good year and a half before I broke it in a tragic “rolled-over-it-with-my-car” accident. The second they have a Type-C version for my Nexus 6P, I’m buying a new one.
Overview
Battery life is one of the great discomforts of owning a smartphone. Unless you’ve gone out of your way to purchase a phone that has an obnoxiously large battery, you probably have problems keeping your phone out of the red. Native Union aims to minimize this problem with the JUMP Cable, a combination external battery and charging/data cable that fits in your pocket.
Native Union’s JUMP Cable is unique among a sea of external batteries and charging cables. JUMP crams a Micro-USB (Type A) or Lightning charge cable with an 800mAh battery into a frame easily small enough to fit into the tightest of pockets. The cover that encases the battery is firm, solid-feeling hard plastic – matte, not gloss – and the cable itself is braided cloth – very fancy. It has grooves along each edge to wrap the cable and an indentation on either flat side to store the two plugs.
The entire unit is only about 2″ by 2″ square, and about 0.5″ thick – small enough to fit into the change pocket of your jeans. Completely unwound, the cable measures 19″. There are LEDs on one side that denote 25% of a charge – so three lights, for example, means there’s 75% of the battery power left in the JUMP – and a button on the other side so you can check the charge remaining at will. 800mAh may not seem like a big boost in power, but when you consider that even the Nexus 6P only has a 3400mAh battery, you can get an extra 25% out of it – about 5 more hours.
Usage
The JUMP Cable mitigates three problems that every smartphone user is well-familiar with; battery power, charger availability, and cable tangling management. It also serves three functions; data cable, charging cable, and external battery. The fact that it all fits into such a low-profile case is really impressive.
Actually using the JUMP is as easy as plugging in any other data/charging cable – plug the USB end into a port, plug the other end into your phone, and watch as it charges first your phone, then the external battery. I mean, it’s that simple. Literally the hardest thing about this gadget is training your muscle memory to wind and unwind the cables, and prying the ends out of the case without breaking a nail. It’s that easy.
From Native Union itself:
“JUMP Cable is very different to traditional power banks. It’s more of a replacement for your charging cable than a replacement for power banks. External batteries required you to charge them as an extra device, and also require an extra charging cable for the battery itself. It becomes a burden to use because you must remember to charge it, and must lug two tangled cables around (one for your device, one for your power bank). JUMP does all the charging for you, automatically.”
What’s not to like?
Okay, there is one thing. It’s minor, and I already mentioned it – prying the USB side from the case can be a pain, occasionally. I’d rather it be a tight fit than a loose one, so it’s very forgivable. It really feels like Native Union thought of everything in their design process; JUMP charges your phone before it charges the battery, the battery discharges quickly and efficiently, and everything fits well and where it should. At $50, the price can also be a bit steep, but in my opinion, well worth it.
Likes
Small, compact frame.
Insanely convenient.
Solid, aesthetically pleasing design.
Dislikes
Indents for the USB and Micro USB/Lightning Cable can be a little snug.
“Only” 800mAh battery.
$50 is pricey for a glorified (if glorious) charging cable.
Summary
Native Union’s JUMP Cable is an excellent, if a touch pricey, addition to its already excellent line of cables and smartphone accessories. If you’re looking for a pocket-bound charging solution, this is the one for you.
One of the biggest offenders is the settings application. This is a central hub for everything you’d want to change about your phone and needs to be as easy to navigate as possible. In past versions of TouchWiz, there were a million brightly color coded categories. Now there aren’t as many categories, but more settings hidden in each option.
Quick toggles are back in the notification shade and I absolutely love that. Sure, it does take some screen real estate, and it can get a little crowded when you have multiple notifications, but those instances don’t present themselves often enough to be a big annoyance. Making these settings easier to get to just makes the choices in the settings app even more head-scratching. It seems like Samsung gets it in some places, but not others.
