The Samsung Galaxy S7 & S7 Edge Review, Part 1
by Joshua Ho on March 8, 2016 9:00 AM ESTGPU Performance
On the GPU side of things, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 is equipped with the Adreno 530 clocked at 624 MHz. In order to see how it performs, we ran it through our standard 2015 suite. In the future, we should be able to discuss how the Galaxy S7 performs in the context of our new benchmark suite as we test more devices on our new suite to determine relative performance.
At a high level, GPU performance appears to be mostly unchanged when comparing the Galaxy S7 to the Snapdragon 820 MDP. Performance in general is quite favorable assuming that the render resolution doesn't exceed 2560x1440.
Overall, the Adreno 530 is clearly one of the best GPUs you can get in a mobile device today. The Kirin 950's GPU really falls short in comparison. One could argue that turbo frequencies in a GPU don't make a lot of sense, but given that mobile gaming workloads can be quite bursty in nature and that gaming sessions tend to be quite short I would argue that having a GPU that can achieve significant levels of overdrive performance makes a lot of sense. The A9 is comparable if you consider the resolution of iOS devices, but when looking at the off-screen results the Adreno 530 pulls away. Of course, the real question now is how the Adreno 530 compares to the Exynos 8890's GPU in the international Galaxy S7, but that's a question that will have to be left for another day.
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Belard - Friday, March 11, 2016 - link
What I find shockingly stupid is the release of these new $600~900 phones, including the latest Moto X, that DO NOT include USB-C connector?! Its been available since last year.Apple does things quickly, they come out with technology and release it: such as with the iPhone 5 with its reversible port. How hard is it to do with other companies?
Motorola (Lenovo) could have done this with their New X to make a bold statement on how they are going to run their business.
theduckofdeath - Friday, March 11, 2016 - link
Probably because Samsung has usage data on what we actually use the USB port for these days. And I guess it's used almost exclusively as a charger. Why force the consumers to buy a bunch of new cables and chargers just because there is a new port out there? I know Apple would do that in a heartbeat, like you said, as they simply see it as a new way to increase earnings on licensing accessories.Azurael - Tuesday, March 15, 2016 - link
Because USB-C is much easier and quicker to connect? (I certainly find the 5X and 6P much easier to connect in a darkened room - good thing since Google nicked Qi charging.)Because USB-C cables and sockets should be (probably too early to say, but by design) far less prone to failure than Micro-B? (Micro-B cables, and not cheap ones - OEM LG/Nokia/Sony/Moto cables, die on me on a weekly basis. About half of the cables I own only work for charging now.)
I don't know, why don't we still connect our keyboards with the AT connector or PS/2, and our digital video cameras by firewire?
You don't need new chargers. If you've got dozens of USB-A power supplies, just use an A-C cable.
theduckofdeath - Tuesday, March 15, 2016 - link
I'm not suffering from long connection times when connecting my mobile to the charger. Sure, it would be nice with a more uniform connector, but, if it comes at the expense me having to throw away all old cables, having to bring adapters and generally making life more expensive, I can easily live with a micro USB connector until connectors are entirely a thing of the past.Physical connectors for data transfer is really not essential these days. These phones has wifi and LTE connectivity at speeds close enough to any USB connection to make us not bothering transferring anything by wire any more.
Belard - Tuesday, March 15, 2016 - link
Uh, just need to replace the cable or it comes with the phone... not difficult. A flip-able cable is VERY handy, especially in the dark. Unless the end is marked or molded a different shape - you have to LOOK which side is up. Apple changed the cable ONE time, because they wanted a much smaller and better connector.So for a top end phone, I want a state of the art connector too. hence, I bought a new Moto G for $220... I lose the stereo speakers, but I saved $200 and have two free color covers I switch out for when I'm in the mood. So maybe I'll stick with the Gs.
Bruce Dunn - Friday, March 11, 2016 - link
For the average cell phone buyer, most of the information in this review goes right over their heads. I hope that part 2 of the review will address in simple language the following:Can I read the display in direct sunlight (giving me the number of nits emitted by the display does not tell me this).
What happens if I drop the phone into a sink full of water.
What happens if I drop the phone onto a concrete floor.
peedroo - Saturday, March 12, 2016 - link
http://www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_S7_ShootOut_1.ht...Maximum screen brightness in high ambient light results
s.yu - Thursday, March 17, 2016 - link
Anandtech is not for the "average cell phone buyer". It's for people who *really want to know*. If there were more of us there would be less rip-off products on the market and everything would be easier, more money would be devoted to R&D instead of marketing and more will be achieved.peedroo - Saturday, March 12, 2016 - link
Loved the review till nowBut here
http://www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_S7_ShootOut_1.ht...
...they have tottaly diferent results about screen brightness levels when we compair it to the S6. It's better
karthik.hegde - Sunday, March 13, 2016 - link
I think what article needs to highlight more is that the Kirin 950 handily beats SD820 is most of the tests. ARM Cortex-A72 is a great core, released quite sometime ago still doing pretty well. I am sure ARM has new CPUs in the pipeline which will be released soon.I wonder if it makes sense for Qualcomm from business perspective to continue designing their own cores, while ARM already offers stock cores with great performance.