The Samsung Galaxy Note7 (S820) Review
by Joshua Ho on August 16, 2016 9:00 AM ESTCamera Architecture
In general, camera has become probably the single biggest point of differentiation between smartphones at this point. As smartphones are often the only camera that most people carry on a day to day basis, the rear camera on a smartphone really cannot be a disappointment relative to the competition. While we can talk about how much a front-facing camera matters in terms of quality, it’s pretty safe to say that for photos and videos that are worth saving will be taken with the rear-facing camera.
While post-processing and a number of other factors are going to have a huge impact on the overall camera experience, the foundation that makes it possible to deliver a great camera is always going to start at the hardware.
| Samsung Galaxy Note Cameras | ||||
| Galaxy S6 Galaxy Note5 |
Galaxy S7 Galaxy Note7 |
|||
| Front Camera | 5.0MP | 5.0MP | ||
| Front Camera - Sensor | Samsung S5K4E6 (1.34 µm, 1/4") |
Samsung S5K4E6 (1.34 µm, 1/4") |
||
| Front Camera - Focal Length | 2.2mm (22mm eff) | 2.1mm (21mm eff) | ||
| Front Camera - Max Aperture | F/1.9 | F/1.7 | ||
| Rear Camera | 16MP | 12MP | ||
| Rear Camera - Sensor | Sony IMX240 Samsung S5K2P2 (1.12 µm, 1/2.6") |
Sony IMX260 Samsung S5K2L1 (1.4 µm, 1/2.6") |
||
| Rear Camera - Focal Length | 4.3mm (28mm eff) | 4.2mm (26mm eff) | ||
| Rear Camera - Max Aperture | F/1.9 | F/1.7 | ||
It’s probably not any surprise that the Galaxy Note7 has the same exact camera setup as the Galaxy S7, but in case it was ever in doubt it shouldn’t be now. Given the similar camera setup I don’t think that there’s a ton of difference to be expected between the two phones but things like software algorithms can and do change with time so it’s important to not just immediately write off the Galaxy Note7 or assume it’s immediately going to be award-winning. It’s worth reiterating here that the dual pixel system likely incurs a sensitivity penalty as in order to implement the dual pixel system each pixel must have a physical light barrier as you need a microlens and a barrier to make light from the same object converge on two separate photodiodes so the amount of light collected is inherently going to be less than no barrier and a single photodiode per pixel. I’m also curious to know whether any quantum effects appreciably change sensitivity here as if a single pixel is a 1.4 micron square then each photodiode has area similar to a 1-micron pixel. With that said we can move on to the one major change highlighted by Samsung, namely the user experience.
Camera UX
One of the major points highlighted in the launch event was that the camera application was completely redesigned. In addition to a fairly subdued icon that better fits the color palette for Android in general, the UI itself is a bit cleaner out of the box.
Right away when you open the camera app the most apparent thing is that the number of icons has been reduced. Instead of a dedicated mode button it’s now a swipe, and the same is true of the effects button. There’s also no more timer or resolution button on the screen by default, and the button to hide the various settings buttons has been eliminated entirely. It’s also worth mentioning that the button to change between cameras has been moved and a gesture to do the same thing has been added so you can simply swipe up or down to switch between cameras. Samsung also continues to shut off the camera after a few minutes automatically which is good if you’re a normal user but annoying if you’re trying to set up a shot of an ISO chart with a tripod.
Other than these changes almost nothing else really changes. There are some extra toggles like shape correction in the settings overflow and RAW output is now hidden under Picture Size for the rear camera but nothing else is really notable. I don’t really have anything else to say here that’s new, and I would refer to the Galaxy S7 Part 2 review if you are otherwise unfamiliar with Samsung’s camera application. As both perform identically as far as focus and capture speed goes subjectively we’ll temporarily forgo these results in favor of timeliness for this review.
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Cygni - Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - link
I would like to see Anandtech stick to its guns and go back to calling "USB 3.1 Gen1" what it really is, USB 3.0. I remember a previous AT article announcing that the site wouldn't be supporting that marketing crap.TheinsanegamerN - Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - link
nice phone, but not worth anywhere near the money samsung is asking, between the fragile construction and the sealed battery. Note 4 is a much better buy, even at this point.keg504 - Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - link
Is the Galaxy Note 5 stylized as Note5 or is just an error on the first page? I have seen this in other places as Note5, so it's gotten me curiousPolizei608 - Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - link
Thanks Joshua for the review, greatly appreciate it and the timing! I'm a big HTC fan because of the smoothness of their sense experience, and this seems to be overlooked in every smartphone review. I was about to pull the trigger on the note 7 after doing endless review reading, and then I read your final words regarding real world use and was extremely happy I didjhoff80 - Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - link
So the USB-C port uses Samsung and Qualcomm's fast charge, making it not actually compliant with the USB specification? Why wouldn't they just use USB-PD other than 'because Samsung'?vLsL2VnDmWjoTByaVLxb - Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - link
You say:"Looking at the overall charge time the Galaxy Note7 performs respectably as it reaches full charge in under an hour and takes basically as much time as the Galaxy S7 edge, which is probably not a surprise given their similar battery capacities."
But your chart shows the shortest charge time at 1.33 hours (Galaxy Nexus 5X)? And the Note 7 at 1.85 hours? Am I reading this wrong?
Which is strange, because my S6 has never taken more than 1h20s to charge, and I'm pretty sure many phones beat my S6 on charging...
lilmoe - Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - link
With all due respect, this review provides NOTHING additional to what's been said and written online about the Note7/GS7 series. We come here for deep dives, SoC comparisons, software features that affect performance, etc......This review is nothing but personal opinion.
"The S-Pen continues to work well although I very rarely have any use for it"
Really? Like REALLY? Is that all you have to say about the absolute hallmark of this particular device??? No mention of the actual hardware improvements/regressions/whatever? No mention of its responsiveness or lack thereof? You think anyone gives a rat's ass about force touch? But you all still wrote paragraphs about a freagin' iGIMMICK.
Also Again??? No mention of throttling? No mention of the new power saving features? No mention of Game Tuner? No deep dive of the different SoCs???? Not a single attempt at tinkering with the kernel/governor to get a freakin' glimpse of what the heck is going on?????????
What's wrong with you guys???
amdwilliam1985 - Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - link
Well, get use to it.If it's a feature that iPhone has, then it will get mentioned.
If it's a feature that iPhone doesn't have, then it's "irrelevant".
Just wait till iPhone 7 Pro gets a stylus and iPhone 8 gets a iris scanner, then you will get paragraphs after paragraphs about how amazing they were.
As a reader, we can do selective reading as well. When it's about 3D-touching, my mind goes blah blah blah, irrelevant. Coming up to live phones, blah blah blah, irrelevant, next paragraph.
whiteiphoneproblems - Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - link
This is the sixth Galaxy Note with a stylus. I have no doubt that when Anandtech reviews the sixth iPhone model with 3D Touch, they will say little more beyond it "continues to work well."Oyeve - Wednesday, August 17, 2016 - link
I hear ya. Its like the reviewer was intentionally looking for something NOT to like. He goes on about mic hole placement and useless crap like that. Ironically this site waxes on the iphone symmetry so much like its an amazing feature. If it wasn't for the forums I wouldn't even come here anymore.