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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slyronit - Tuesday, August 23, 2016 - link
Silly question, why do we do Pentile AMOLED displays? Wouldn't an SRGB AMOLED display allow us to use a lower resolution panel, which will save the GPU a lot of processing and hence power consumption and battery life?Is this just an excuse to use 1440p as a marketing gimmick? AMOLED SRGB displays are definitely feasible (My Nokia E7-00 had it 7 years ago).
iRoNeTiK - Wednesday, August 24, 2016 - link
I'm wondering the difference between your 2016 vs 2015 battery benchmarks. I see that in your LG G4 review you were using the "2015" benchmarks and LG G4 got 11.37 hours of battery life for Web Browsing over WiFi but in this, it only gets 6.53. Very significant decrease. This is just one phone for example.Why would there be a need to change the benchmarks? Were the 2015 test not accurate? By that much? 11.37 to 6.53? Almost half, geez! Any clarification would be appreciated, thanks!
n13L5 - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
That bendy glass is just a way to get the corners scratched and well, a matter of taste, I guess. I'd rather do without, I already touch the edges of the screen accidentally when handling the phone sometimes, with usually annoying results.But ok, the rest of the phone is pretty splendid and I was tempted to overlook that -
Until I found out the dual-SIM solution is a "hybrid" solution, requiring removal of your MicroSD card to put a second SIM card in. I guess I wait for Sony's next entry with their splendid noise cancelling, which I've always enjoyed on airplanes...
Bfree4me - Friday, August 26, 2016 - link
Note 5 Owner here and for a while, because of the retail price of the Note 7. But the reviewer was clearly not feeling the Note and it's his opinion. But I have read countless reviews here and each and everytime Samsung was scrutinized for something. Plastic /Polymer Body, Screen Fit and Finish, overall Size etcetera. Now you guys err guy, has a gripe about the 3D glass sandwiching the aluminum as needed to be overhauled on the next generation. Ahem, this piece of KIT rivals anything on the market right now with exception being the S7. No one has a Water Resistant Unit period point blank! And the SPen is not for everyone, but I use my S-Pen each and every day, as a matter of fact several times a day to cut and paste captions. Yesh, a simple screen capture simply cannot compare to its precision. Samsung can do anything you've mentioned, but there is always a cost benefit associated with said options. Here's it from the head Engineering guy, http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/1/12340294/samsung-...Kind regards
ithehappy - Friday, August 26, 2016 - link
Sad to see the review only for SD variant, which will be release in two countries only, but whatever. That line there, where its mentioned that scrolling is still not as smooth as expected, how devices like HTC 10 has constant near 60 fps output when it needs come, makes me to not buy this phone. I just don't know what is wrong with Samsung, that they keep their nuisance TouchWiz, and just have no interest to make it smoother and more polished. If you can't do just switch to AOSP, what's the big deal! S Note and all the other Samsung apps could work without heavily modifying the framework right? Darn it Samsung! You choose loads of features over finesse, being a major manufacturer that's unwise, like you said, and I have been saying for as long as I could remember, moment most people start realising how poor TW is in comparison with vanilla Android, let's see where Samsung stock stands after that. Probably I will still end up buying it just because of its display, but that's not the point.Exynos review should be there though anyway, as that is the "international" variant, and arguably the better unit than SD.
Vagabondjonez - Saturday, August 27, 2016 - link
Htc 10 review...ideamotor - Monday, August 29, 2016 - link
So .... call reception and volume? I've been through 3 Huawei Nexus 6Ps because everyone I talk to hears an echo, using two different cellular networks. Also, why don't you guys do reviews on DACs or at least point to a review?SanX - Monday, August 29, 2016 - link
I immediately stop looking at any phone less then 6".lastunas - Tuesday, August 30, 2016 - link
do you guys have charge time by 25w(12v/2.1a) wall charger?lastunas - Wednesday, August 31, 2016 - link
do you guys have charge test by 25w(12v/2.1a) wall charger?