Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge: Unboxing and First Impressions

Samsung recently launched two new flagship phones for 2016, Galaxy S7 and and its larger screen counterpart Galaxy S7 Edge. The phones will be launched in Pakistan later today for an expected price of PKR 90,000 but we have managed to get you the unboxing pictures first hand to show you the retail packaging of the smartphone and of course, the flagship handset itself. Here are our first impressions and the unboxing images of Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge.

S7 Edge Unboxing

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Galaxy S7 Edge comes in premium packaging, with the colors of the packaging and phone kept uniform, which gives a nice first impression. Moreover, the box feels different since it has a textured feel to it, which adds more points to the premium packaging chart.

The box opens in a unique manner, as you can see in the image above. While the company no doubt spared no expense in the accessory department, there is nothing like getting into a good mood such as getting to see one of the greatest Android smartphones being removed from its packaging in front of your very own eyes.

As stated earlier, after you remove the smartphone, you get a whole array of add-ons:

• Set of Quick Start guides
• SIM ejector tool
• Pair of Samsung earphones
• MicroUSB cable
• USB connector
• Adaptive Fast Charging adapter

The accessories in the image are pretty standard, but what really caught our eye was the small USB connector. This is possibly the first time that we are seeing Samsung package something like this with its flagship smartphone and we highly doubt that it is going to be the last.

S7 Edge First Impressions

Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is no different from its predecessors in the sense that it’s an absolute looker. Kudos to Samsung’s design team for rolling out yet another cleanly designed handset. There are almost all design elements from the previous flagship smartphone family that the company incorporated into it and we feel that it is not really a bad thing.

One notable that we have seen in Samsung smartphones is the large physical button present at the bottom side of the device. This is trait that we have seen from the company’s handsets for a very long time and we highly doubt that it is going to be omitted from future devices. For one thing, it has an integrated fingerprint scanner that can be used for other things other than verifying your identity. I’ve been using S7 Edge for more than a day now and I can tell you that it feels quite good in my hands.

Before we forget, S7 Edge has very thin sides due to the curved edges of the front and back glass panels, but on this occasion, the improved Galaxy S7 Edge has a much better grip. However, if you are going to be using a smartphone with a curved edge screen for the very first time, then it will definitely take some getting used to.

The phone is made mostly out of glass, but that does not mean that the Galaxy S7 Edge does not feel sturdy in the hand. After all, if you are going to be paying a premium price for it, you are supposed to get what you pay for right? However, there is one little thing that did bother me and that has to do with the cheap tick sound that the home button produces and that is a kind of disappointing.

We are not sure if this is the kind of thing that you would prefer, but compared to other physical home buttons that I have used, I was expecting something different. I am hoping that this sound might eventually wear off as the phone gets a bit old but this shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

If you have a keen eye, you will also notice that the camera hump at the rear side has been reduced, showing that Samsung is definitely trying its level best to reduce the overall form factor of its premium smartphone family while improving the performance of the camera sensor as well. Let us hope that this camera hump reduction does not result in adverse effects in our video and image capturing.

Galaxy S7 Edge Specs

• Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) with TouchWiz UI
• Dimensions: 150.9 x 72.6 x 7.7 mm, Weight: 157g
• 5.5-inch (1440 x 2560 pixels) Super AMOLED, ~534 ppi pixel density
• Exynos 8890 Octa-core CPU (Quad-core 2.3 GHz Mongoose + Quad-core 1.6 GHz Cortex-A53)
• 32/64 GB Internal Storage, 4GB RAM
• microSD support upto 200GB
• 12 MP primary camera, f/1.7, 26mm, OIS, autofocus, LED flash and 4K video recording
• 5 MP secondary camera, f/1.7, 22mm, 2K video recording
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, AGPS/GPS, Bluetooth v4.2, NFC
• Li-Ion 3600 mAh battery
• Price: PKR 90,000 (expected)

Overall, the smartphone looks very impressive and in more than one ways, it will surpass its predecessor. I’m really looking forward to using the S7 Edge as my daily driver for the next few weeks, so please stay tuned for the in-depth Galaxy S7 Edge review that’d be out in a while.

With additional input from Omar Sohail