SAMSUNG Galaxy Note 7 Review

Big phones weren’t big until the original Samsung Galaxy Note came along. Its radical resizing of the smartphone was bonkers to some, but a revelation to others.

The phablet was born, people criticised it, but now every manufacturer makes one – even Apple with its iPhone 6S Plus and upcoming iPhone 7 Plus.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 proves that Samsung still makes big phones properly, rather than just stretching a smaller phone to a bigger size.

It’s got stiff competition from the HTC 10, incoming Nexus devices and the Galaxy S7 Edge, but the Note 7 is the one to beat – even if its price can only be described as eye-watering.
for see:
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 vs Galaxy S7 edge
Galaxy Note 7 vs iPhone 6S Speed Test
Galaxy Note 7 vs. Apple iPhone 7

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 7 – DISPLAY

Its size was once the story with the Note series. Its size set it apart. It was huge, unmanageable, basically a tablet. How big was the display on the original Note? It was 5.3 inches. That’s now considered small.

And while the Note’s display has grown to 5.7 inches, it’s no longer the differentiator. Other phones, such as the Nexus 6P, are the same size, and while the iPhone 6S Plus has a smaller display, it has a bigger footprint.

But even though it may not stand out for its size, the Note 7 does so because of its quality – something arguably much more important.

Like all of Samsung’s flagships, and even some of its cheaper phones like the Galaxy J3, the starting point is the Super AMOLED panel. It might not have the viewing angles you get with an IPS LCD, but the oomph and joyous colours more than make up for that. Samsung’s honed this display technology over time and it’s now the best it's ever been.

Colours are strong and vibrant, blacks are dark and there’s no muddiness in the whites. It’s a joy to look at, and its brightness means it’s perfectly viewable even in direct sunlight. This is the brightest phone screen I've ever used, and it’s mightily impressive. There are some minor reflections if you look very closely near the edge of the display, but it doesn’t affect use
Instead of upping the resolution to 4K – something that was heavily rumoured – Samsung has kept it at quad-HD. With a pixel density of 518ppi, individual pixels are impossible to spot, even if you get really close.

While it hasn’t added 4K, it has added HDR (high dynamic range). Well, Samsung calls it 'Mobile HDR', but it works in a similar way to how it functions on an HDR-compatible television. It’s a display tech that improves contrast while retaining extra detail in the brightest and darkest areas of the picture. Many in the TrustedReviews office will tell you that HDR is more important than 4K. It’s a big deal.

Most HDR content comes from a service, such as Amazon Video or Netflix, piped through a dedicated box or supported television. The new Xbox One S, for example, can play both HDR content and games if you’ve got the right television to display them

It works a bit differently on the Note 7, though. Along with streaming actual HDR content, there’s a mode that bursts into life when a supported app is opened. Start up Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime or the dedicated video app and a ‘Video enhancer mode’ will kick in. This simulates the idea of HDR, boosting the brightness and fiddling about with the contrast settings.

It does make a very visible difference, but at times It can be a little jarring. The move from a typical phone screen to one that feels like it’s trying to sear your retinas is odd, but the results are great.

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 7 – PERFORMANCE

The Galaxy Note 7 has the same CPU and GPU as the six-month old Samsung Galaxy S7, but that's no bad thing. The 4GB LPDDR4 RAM and Exynos 8890 CPU is a potent combination that can handle intensive and day-to-day tasks with ease.

During my synthetic benchmarks, the Note 7 scored a respectable 2,118 in the single-core Geekbench 3 test and 5,924 in the multi-core version. That’s pretty much on par with all the flagship phones I've reviewed this year. The Note's 129,729 score in Antutu 6 is also almost exactly the same as the Galaxy S7 Edge's. Its 2,139 3DMark Sling Shot score confirmed its solid graphics performance.

Galaxy phones of old were packed with high-end components, but still lagged due to software issues. Luckily Samsung's fixed the problems on the Note 7. Apps open instantly on the Note 7 and there’s no slow animations or janky scrolling.

There’s also 64GB of extremely speedy UFS 2.0 internal storage. Samsung isn't offering any other storage options, but there’s a microSD card slot that can be used to add a further 256GB of space.

Past Samsung phone speakers have always been a little disappointing, and this hasn't changed on the Note 7. The downward facing speaker is loud and fine for YouTube, but it’s poor compared to the HTC 10.

Call quality is absolutely fantastic, with the mics picking up clear audio and managing to block out any irritating background noise. 4G/LTE signal, on both Three and EE's UK network, is also strong and steady.

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 7 – SOFTWARE

Samsung’s approach to software has always been strange. The company has traditionally taken a very heavy approach skinning Android. The end result is a unique looking user interface that's radically different to stock Android.

The UI on Note 7, which runs atop Android 6.0.1, is the sleekest and starkest version Samsung has ever made. It’s whiter, with pastel shades and less in your face colours. But, it’s still recognisably Samsung software and looks nothing like Marshmallow on a Nexus 6P. Samsung pushes you towards its own apps, its own services (it still has its own app store and cloud backup) and Google’s versions are hidden away in a folder.

To give Samsung credit, the software is so much better than it was even two years ago, but I still prefer Google’s alternatives for browsing the web, email and so on.

There are a couple of Samsung software tweaks that I really like, though. Split Window – having two apps side by side – might be coming to Android in Nougat but Samsung has been doing it for years and manages to make it work without any sort of slow-down or dodgy behaviour.

A new Blue light filter mode reduces blue hues and turns the screen orange, making it better for late-night reading. Like Apple’s Night Shift, it can be scheduled so it kicks in at the same time every night.

Instead of having Google Now on the leftmost homescreen window, there’s Upday. This is a basic news aggregator that works in a similar way to Flipboard, pulling in the latest articles from your favoured topics. The feature is a little hit and miss with its recommendations, during my time with the Note 7 it seemed to think I love celebrity gossip, but I generally found it useful nonetheless.

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 7 – HARDWARE

The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 features a 5.7-inch display with a curved AMOLED screen at a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels. It is available with 64GB of internal storage (around 53GB available to the user) and includes a microSD card slot that can use microSD cards up to 256GB. iris scanner, which can be used to unlock the phone. The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is also Samsung's first smartphone to feature a USB Type-C. In the version for Korea there is a TV-tuner. No IR port or radio receiver.

The inclusion of this port is a response to the criticism Samsung faced in 2015 when it omitted the port from the Galaxy Note 5. The Galaxy Note 7 is the first Galaxy smartphone to feature an

The Galaxy Note 7 is powered by an Exynos 8890 Octa SoC internationally, while U.S.A Chinese variants will ship with a Snapdragon820 SoC.^[6] The device is also equipped with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM.

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 7 – CAMERA

The Galaxy Note 7 features the same camera module as the Galaxy S7 series of smartphones. It has a 12 megapixel sharp shooting rear camera with f/1.7 aperture. The camera is capable of capturing 4K (2160p) at 30FPS, 1080p at 30/60fps and 720p slow-mo @ 240fps. The secondary front-facing camera is a 5 megapixel ISOCELL sensor with f/1.7 aperture and wide angle lens. Both cameras have Auto HDR capability.
Here are some of the images captured by:

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 7 – STORAGE

The Galaxy Note 7 is equipped with 64GB of storage as well as a micro-SD slot.

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 7 – RELEASE

Pre-orders in South Korea already broke records with 200,000 plus units pre-ordered within 2 days. Samsung Canada stated that pre-orders in Canada were "outstanding". The demand also forced countries like Malaysia, Netherlands, Russia and Ukraine to delay their releases to September due to shortage in supply

SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE 7 – Battery

The 3,500 mAh – still non-removable – cell tucked inside the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has impressive stamina, but it’s not going to redefine how long a smartphone can last for. The Galaxy S7 Edge has a 100 mAh bigger battery, but I didn't see any discernible differences between the stamina of the two phones.

I can comfortably go from morning to bedtime with 25% of the Note 7's charge left. From there, if I leave it unplugged overnight I can get to between 2-3pm without reaching for the charger.