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Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Review: Big, Bold, and Beautiful

Samsung is undoubtedly one of the most acknowledged players in the smartphone market and holds a remarkable position with a wide range of smartphones targeting different customer segments. From basic phones to high-end smartphones, it has footprints in every market segment. The brand’s signature Galaxy series has brought Samsung on the leading edge by capturing a large section of the market.

At a time when big screen phones are in trend, Samsung has launched the much awaited Galaxy Note 7 to let people enjoy its features. For a majority of users, big phones are not less than a burden as they are just an extended version of smaller phones. But this time Samsung has managed to strike a dynamic change with Galaxy Note 7.

Galaxy Note 7 is the best big phone ever made for a number of reasons, but typically it feels like a device that was designed to be a big phone from the beginning with features that alleviate the trade-offs intrinsic with big devices.

The Note 7 is Samsung’s best phone ever, and perhaps the best big phone ever created. If that’s all you’re looking to know, you can stop reading right now and go make your order. Here is a detailed review of the same considering each & every aspect. Let’s start.

Design

Its massive 5.7 inch screen gives you a crystal clear display of whatever you wish to see. But frankly speaking, it feels much smaller than that. From design perspective, you will just get the incredible finesse and elegance every time you hold it. Its front and back panels are Gorilla Glass 5, and they bend toward the central aluminum band symmetrically. Thus, it makes it easier for you to hold the phone.

Galaxy Note 7 is slightly wider than Galaxy S7 Edge which has 5.5 inch display and it has water-resistance capability. You won’t like such a high-end machine gets perturbed by water. Yes, you may notice slips in its fingerprint magnet, but that’s not considerable enough for your decision. The ridge around the perimeter awards it excellent tactility.

The fingerprint sensor is embedded right into the home button which is not new. But on its responsive capability, it is slightly lower than Nexus 6P,  HTC 10, or even the One Plus 3. The Note 7 is highly sensitive in response to the angle you hold your finger at, and it reads your fingerprint in not more than a second.

On the back, there are lots of similarities between Note 7 and Galaxy S7. With camera unit flushing to the back, the device is slightly thicker than previous version. This makes enough space for a bigger battery. You will also get a heart rate monitor in the flash module.

On the bottom, there is a new USB Type-C port, a speaker, and the S Pen. You get an A-C cable in the package, as well as a few adapters for old cables. A lot of sound comes out of that little grille, but you won’t notice much bass. It’s a nice speaker for voice, but not really great for music lovers.
One great feature on hardware front in Galaxy Note 7 is its new iris scanning tech. Awaited since years; this has finally become a reality. The phone utilizes an IR pulse to lighten up your face for the front-facing camera to get a fabulous look at your eyes.

This technology works even in the dark, and with glasses on. You can use iris scanning feature to unlock the phone and access Samsung’s special Knox-infused features like Secure Folder. The iris scanning UI will appear at the top of the screen whenever it’s active.

You will see two large circles, where you want to focus your eyes on. The phone needs to be approximately 18-inches or nearer to your face, with the ideal distance being about a foot. The scanner is generally flexible about the angle; it needs to be right in front of your face. If you’re in that area and your eyes are open, iris scanning is really fast—so fast that the iris scanning UI doesn’t even show up. It takes a bit of practice to make it in the right area and angle steadily, though. Iris scanning more of a luxury feature, but it’s good.

Display

Display is one aspect of smartphones where Samsung largely dominates. However, in Samsung galaxy Note 7, display is really outstanding among all its rivals. With superb 1440p resolution, Samsung has delivered more on brightness from the Note 5 and even from the GS7. When in outdoors, you can read the screen much better on Note 7. The preset calibration knocks the colors up to look a bit richer than real life, but there are various different screen modes that you can choose from. The Note7’s screen is really better in every respect compared to other smartphones.

Samsung has brought up the curved AMOLED display to its Note serious of smartphones and this will continue in Note 7. But there is a slight change. As stylus doesn’t work feasibly on a curved screen, there is a less bit of curve on Note 7 as compared to Galaxy S7 Edge. This leads to more flat writing space on the display. Though you may notice, its display is a bit lesser than GS7 but overall it gives a more precise and clear results for your eyes only.

As there’s basically no bezel around the display, touch rejection tends to make the Note 7  usable. It was not of much use on the Galaxy S7 Edge, and it’s pretty much the same on the Note 7. It doesn’t spoil the experience, but it sometimes end up activating the wrong thing on occasion because the phone considers it someone tapping the curved section while holding it.
There are no issues with viewing angles with no color casting and loss of brightness at off-angles.

Camera

The truth is that the camera unit in Galaxy Note 7 is similar to that of Galaxy S7. It encompasses 12-MP camera with image stabilization and larger pixels for enhanced low-light performance. Its focusing speed is simply supernatural. The device is quicker to capture the subject and grab a photo than any other phone (except GS7).

Samsung’s HDR mode is really effective as it takes really no extra time to click a photo compared to non-HDR. It is simply great how Google’s HDR+ photos look, but they take so long to capture as to be almost useless for moving objects. Samsung’s HDR mode is almost as good and it’s far effective than others.

The camera exhibits precise exposures even in the bright light, even when there is an extremely bright background with an eerie foreground. In indoors, it is the best camera in its league. No extra noise and unmatched color reproduction. The white balance and clarity are strikingly better than what you get from other phones. There’s also no shutter lag in such conditions, which is quite notable. A lot of other phone cameras get very slow in improper lighting.

Performance and Battery

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is powered by a Snapdragon 820, similar to other Note devices. You can be rest assured about amazing performance. But it’s not? This is a slow phone, but it doesn’t feel as slower as the LG G5 or HTC 10.

The Note 7 feels as responsive as the Note 5 in typical conditions. Nothing lags, but you might notice the delay of a second or longer for an app to launch or a web page to refresh. This isn’t the kind of thing you’ll always notice, but you can tell if you’ve got another phone side-by-side to compare. Bottom line is Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is simply a superb smartphone but it is not the king. Its 3500 mAh battery lasts long and non-removable and gives enough power to make it perfect for a day usage.

The verdict

With Samsung continually striving to lead in the smartphone arena, Samsung Galaxy Note 7 really pays off.  HTC 10 is a good phone, OnePlus 3 is a solid phone, and the same goes for many other devices you can buy right now. But they’re not close to Samsung Note 7 in terms of performance and feature. Not only is the Note 7 shockingly contented to hold for a 5.7-inch display, it’s water resistant. No port covers and no rubber gaskets—it’s just an amazing piece of hardware. So you can go for it.

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