The Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge Review: Part 2
by Joshua Ho on July 5, 2016 8:00 AM ESTSystem Performance Revisited
Now that we’ve covered battery life we can revisit another topic where our testing has changed dramatically for 2016, which is our system performance benchmarks. As previously mentioned this year a major goal of ours was to focus on benchmarks with metrics that better indicate user experience rather than being subject to additional layers of indirection in addition to updating our previously used benchmarks. Probably one of the hardest problems to tackle from a testing perspective is capturing what it means to have a smooth and fast phone, and with the right benchmarks you can actually start to test for these things in a meaningful way instead of just relying on a reviewer’s word. In addition to new benchmarks, we’ve attempted to update existing types of benchmarks with tests that are more realistic and more useful rather than simple microbenchmarks that can be easily optimized against without any meaningful user experience improvements. As the Galaxy S7 edge is identical in performance to the Galaxy S7, scores for the Galaxy S7 edge are excluded for clarity.
In browser/JavaScript performance the Galaxy S7 in its Snapdragon 820 variants performs pretty much as you'd expect with fairly respectable performance about on par with the iPhone 6 at least part of the time, which frankly still isn't enough but a lot of this is more due to Google's lack of optimization in Chrome than anything else. The Exynos 8890 version comes a lot closer but it still isn't great. Subjectively browsing performance on the Galaxy S7 with the Snapdragon 820 is still painful with Chrome, and I have to install either a variant of Snapdragon Browser or Samsung's stock browser in order to get remotely acceptable performance. Even then, performance isn't great when compared to Apple's A9-equipped devices. The lack of single thread performance relative to other devices on the market in conjunction with poor software optimization on the part of Google is really what continues to hold OEMs back here rather than anything that Samsung Mobile is capable of resolving.
PCMark shows that the Galaxy S7 is generally well-optimized, with good performance in native Android APIs, although devices like the OnePlus 3 pull ahead in general, likely due to differences in DVFS, lower display resolution, more RAM, and similar changes as the hardware is otherwise quite similar. In general though unless you get something with a Kirin 95x in it you aren't going to get performance much better than what you find in the Galaxy S7, although the software optimization in cases like the writing test could be better for the Snapdragon 820 version of the phone.
As hinted by the PCMark results, the Galaxy S7 with the Snapdragon 820 is really nothing to write home about when it comes to actual software optimizations, while the Exynos 8890 version is significantly faster in comparison. The fastest devices by far here are still the Kirin 950-equipped phones, but even from cold start launches the HTC 10 is comparable, and pulls ahead slightly when the applications are pre-loaded into memory. The OnePlus 3 and Xiaomi Mi5 are closer to what the S820 GS7 should be achieving, which is really more a testament to just how strangely slow the Galaxy S7 with Snapdragon 820 is.
Overall though, the Galaxy S7 in both iterations are acceptably fast for general purpose tasks. However, with that said the Snapdragon 820 variant is noticeably slower, and the software stack seems to be less optimized for whatever reason even after multiple post-launch OTAs and all the latest app updates. Given that these devices have locked bootloaders it's difficult to really go deep and try to figure out exactly what's causing these issues, but it's likely that Samsung Mobile has the engineering staff to do this and resolve these issues as a 600 USD phone really shouldn't be performing worse than a 400 USD phone. On the bright side, the Exynos 8890 variants perform quite well here, with performance comparable to top devices and often beating out Snapdragon 820 devices, although usually not by a huge margin.
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Ryan Smith - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
"Some battery tests missing Exynos values or Edge values."This is a pretty common misconception, but AnandTech isn't located in a single, central office, which impacts how we do testing. Most tests are done in isolation anyhow, so it's not an issue, but LTE is by its very nature a location-sensitive test. In this case the International (Exynos) S7 is with our international editor, Andrei, which means that it wasn't able to be tested alongside the North American (Snapdragon) S7.
more-or-less - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
Doesn't make up for the fact that even after 4 months, this review looks rushed and incomplete. One of the most underwhelming reviews I have read in this site, and it's obvious that the quality of articles have gone down massively.I now only trust Andrei to give proper articles, others seem to be reading from a old script.
Chris_m1296 - Wednesday, July 6, 2016 - link
how did the exynos version manage 2800 on the slingshot es 3.1 unlimited test? mine only manages 2200 and even futuremark lists the exynos version at 2200.Newair - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
The S7 edge is without a doubt the worst phone I have ever owned.1st of all, it's texture is very slippery
In fact if I hadn't dropped it within 5 minutes of buying it and doing some damage, I would have returned them by now. Yes them. Bought 2.
Constantly charging battery
Perhaps it's just the way I hold the phone, but constantly touching something on the screen with a finger and off it goes in a different direction
Keyboard is miserable. More often than not, when I press 0 I get 9. Have never had this much trouble typing.
In all, if I could afford it, I would through thing out the window.
dawheat - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
This might be one of the worst reviews I've read on Anandtech and the slide though gradual, is persistent.The S7 Edge is the more exciting device and one of the few genuinely unique Android devices but the review generally ignores it outside of a few token areas.
For example, how many times does the writer have to state that battery life is good only due to size? Who really cares how it accomplishes class leading battery life, considering that it's still much more compact AND lighter than the 6S Plus. Yet the S7 Edge gets incredibly faint praise for battery life - only one of the most important aspects of a device.
And with the comment about it being a heavy phone, I'm befuddled how a 10% heavier phone in the 6S Plus gets a free pass.
The camera review also ends up showcasing nerds in basements where only perfectly still photos matter- in the real world for example, trying to get pictures of your moving kids is hugely dependent on focus speed and the difference between a mushy blur and actually capturing a memory.
Oh and of course, not actually running browser benchmarks on the stock browser that comes with the device...again.
But all together just bleh - compared to someone like Andrei, this writer is just balls.
more-or-less - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
"But all together just bleh - compared to someone like Andrei, this writer is just balls."-- Agree on this entirely. Compared to deep-dive articles that Andre produces, this review is just worthless. How someone could approve this review after 4 months of 'investigation' is beyond my understanding? Better get another reviewers, this Joshua guy doesn't insipre any level of confidence.
How did he manage to get a post in Anandtech to review phones is still a mystery.
They took 4 months to publish this, SMH :(
retrospooty - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
Yup. Totally agreed.msh - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
HiThis snapdragon browser you write you need to install to get acceptable performance on the SD820 variant, where is one able to obtain that?
I cant find it in google play.
variab1e - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
While I greatly value these reviews. They lack what every review I've found lacks , a test of the radio's RF performance. First and foremost these are phones, or in the broadest sense, wireless communications devices; what could be more important than its ability to send and receive data?! I really respect Anandtech for its technical accuracy, and think that adding this component to its reviews would help to differentiate it from other vanilla sites. A lab setup to a standard candle signal source and then real world tests would be nice, but even the latter alone would be useful!anactoraaron - Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - link
hmmm..."The Galaxy S7 and S7 edge are still great phones, but the difference between a $400 phone and a $700 phone are these details when phones like the OnePlus 3 are providing almost the same product at a dramatically reduced price. There are clear points of differentiation between the Galaxy S7 and OnePlus 3 or Mi5 in terms of features, but I don’t think it’s enough to be worth the $300"
Unless you like looking at a 1080 pentile amoled and think that Samsung Pay, a wildly better display, VR capability (not mentioned in this review - although just about everyone who got this device got a VR headset for free) and water resistance isn't worth $300. After owning the G4 and the ridiculously terrible panel on it for a year I was REALLY happy paying just north of $100 more than I did for the G4 at launch time for the S7 Edge.
Seriously I feel betrayed that we all had to wait this long for this review and even given all this time, it feels rushed and as if the reviewer didn't really want to do it, especially the tone at the end. It's like he's saying, "yeah it's the best phone for android - if that matters at all - but it still feels 'meh' to me just like everything else these days. You are better off with the iPhone."
What exactly has apple done to innovate and drive this industry forward the past 2 years? Force touch? Squeeze identical components into a smaller device?
Seriously I don't know how a review like this would be published on Anandtech. It's reviews like this for what has been clearly the best android phone of the year is how this site gets constantly called out for bias. And this time for good reason.