The Samsung Galaxy Note7 (S820) Review
by Joshua Ho on August 16, 2016 9:00 AM ESTIC Design Wins
While we normally allude to the various things that we find in a phone in the interest of providing some extra depth for posterity I went ahead and dug through the software to find all the various peripherals that are present in the Galaxy Note7. For example, the Wacom digitizer identifies itself as the W9010 over i2c, which is interesting considering that this digitizer is the same one found in the Galaxy Note 3. In various briefings it was explicitly said that the digitizer supports double the number of pressure levels, so I’m not sure how this is achieved or if it really has any changes at all besides the smaller tip.
Moving past the Wacom digitizer we can see that there are a number of supporting ICs for power management and things like the battery charger. I’m not going to spend a ton of time talking about this but a huge number of these are Maxim Integrated ICs such as the MAX77838 switching regulator/PMIC, although I’m not clear on exactly what this PMIC supplies. There’s also the MAX77854 which functions as a PMIC, as well as a MAX98506 class D audio amplifier for the codec, which is likely used to drive things like the earpiece, speaker, and 3.5mm jack. This is shared with the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge and it looks like it uses the same WCD9335 audio codec so I wouldn’t get my hopes up about improved audio quality for the Snapdragon variants. If you want better audio you’re going to have to look towards the Exynos variant or the HTC 10.
Moving to slightly more boring but critical parts of the Note7 there are ICs like Cypress CapSense PSoC which enables the capacitive buttons and a TI BQ25898S battery charger IC which supports 9V and 12V charging voltages for adaptive fast charge. There’s also an NXP PN547 NFC controller and an NXP P61 secure microcontroller that seems to be for payments and similar applications. It should also probably surprise no one that there’s a Validity/Synaptics VFS7xxx fingerprint scanner here, although I found some mention of an Egis Technologies ET320 fingerprint scanner which makes me wonder whether Samsung is dual sourcing here.
The more esoteric ICs here include a Richwave RTC6213N FM radio tuner and a CEVA DBMD4 DSP which seems to be for always-on voice commands which are visible on i2c and SPI respectively. The only IC that I can’t identify at all is something called the SX9320 over i2c, which officially has zero mentions on the internet unless you count a Shacman trailer that is manufactured by Shaanxi Automobile Group in China or NGK spark plugs. At any rate, looking at these kinds of details it’s much more apparent just how critical economies of scale are as these are parts that seem to be shared across the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, which surely helps to drive down cost due to the sheer volume of these devices. There are also things like FM tuners which aren’t necessarily going to be a point of advertising for a phone but are neat to have anyways.
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polbit - Wednesday, August 17, 2016 - link
So it's an honest review because they criticize the phone? That's an interesting honesty test.Pdajah - Wednesday, August 17, 2016 - link
Like many other reviewers, i don't think you really appreciate whu the Note devices are so popular. It not about comparing hardware or size or software features etc. It is about the complete package and no other device offers this package and therefore your comparators and not helpful nor relevant to the millions and millions of Note users who need a highly productivity focused device. I can easily justify $200 as I'll achieve that in productivity in 2 weeks of using the Note 7 over the S7 Edge.vidal6x6 - Wednesday, August 17, 2016 - link
Why not compare xiaomi redmi note 3 pro i have one and play 7 8 hours to drain the batery samsung biased review! f&^&^anandtech!Ian Cutress - Wednesday, August 17, 2016 - link
You mean the review we posted a couple of weeks ago?http://www.anandtech.com/show/10463/xiaomi-redmi-n...
HollyDOL - Wednesday, August 17, 2016 - link
But but, can in serve as an emergency oar?BrokenCrayons - Wednesday, August 17, 2016 - link
With a 5.7 inch screen? Yes, you can tape it to the end of a stick and row your boat with it. :)winjay - Wednesday, August 17, 2016 - link
I expected a section on PenTile subpixel image rendering, considering how DisplayMate was gushing about it. Apparently there are algorithms which convert RGB subpixel rendering to RGBG. Oculus rift aparently uses subpixel rendering for VR on its Pentile dislay, though I'm not sure about that fact.Also, no attempt at covering HDR and the (possibly gimicky) app-agnostic "video enhancer" option?
Tylanner - Wednesday, August 17, 2016 - link
Bravo on the opening pictures. They plainly shows the appeal of this device without a single word.I want one
polbit - Wednesday, August 17, 2016 - link
Your reviews are usually what I anticipate the most, as they tend to be well done. I have to say however that I am shocked at your 'merely acceptable' comment about design, because as a 6S Plus owner, after playing with Note 7 at a Verizon store, I find it to be the best looking phone I've ever touched. It is truly beautiful, and makes my 6S Plus look pedestrian by comparison.I think pretty much every other review supports the design aspect of Note 7, Anandtech being the lone wolf in talking it down. Maybe it's time for someone else at Anandtech to evaluate the aesthetics from now on? I have to say that this review has definitely soured my trust of future commentary here...
henrybravo - Wednesday, August 17, 2016 - link
Agreed. The Note 7 and S7 Edge are the best designed phones out there by far. Even The Verge who many claimed to have an Apple bias said so. To read the comment, "Overall, the design of the phone is acceptable, but honestly at this point it’s nothing really special." is pretty funny."We can argue about how Apple uses a plastic liner or whatever minute detail in the design is 'better' ” - LOL no one is arguing that.