The Samsung Galaxy Note7 (S820) Review
by Joshua Ho on August 16, 2016 9:00 AM ESTVideo Performance
For this portion of the review we can take a look at video performance, which provides an extra test of encode block performance in addition to ISP, sensor, and optic performance. In the interest of not wasting time on retreading topics that are basically unchanged relative to the Galaxy S7, I would redirect readers interested in an in-depth exploration of this subject and comparisons to other devices to the Galaxy S7 Part 2 review as this part of the review will be almost entirely focused on just comparing the Note7 to the Galaxy S7 to see what’s changed.
| Samsung Galaxy Note7 Video Encode Settings | ||||
| Video | Audio | |||
| 1080p30 | 17 Mbps H.264 High Profile | 256 Kbps, 48 KHz AAC | ||
| 1080p60 | 28 Mbps H.264 High Profile | 256 Kbps, 48 KHz AAC | ||
| 4K30 | 48 Mbps H.264 High Profile | 256 Kbps, 48 KHz AAC | ||
| 720p240 | 76 Mbps H.264 Baseline | 256 Kbps, 48 KHz AAC | ||
Starting with encode settings, we can see that the Note7 retains the same exact encode settings as the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, which probably isn’t a surprise given that we’re probably seeing the limits of what the Snapdragon 820’s encode blocks can handle in cases like slow motion video, although 1080p30 is likely not encode-limited at this point.
Galaxy Note7
Galaxy S7
In 1080p30 video the Galaxy Note7 and Galaxy S7 look basically identical save for some slight differences in color rendition. The Note7 seems to be slightly more accurate here as the sky is closer to the color of blue that it should be but detail and most other colors look fairly comparable and both still have some jerky OIS reset behavior.
Galaxy Note7
Galaxy S7
In slow motion video the Galaxy Note7 again seems to have slightly improved color rendition but detail and pretty much everything else is identical. I don’t think this is a reason to go out and buy the Note7, but hopefully these improvements to color rendition come to future OTAs for the Galaxy S7.
Overall I don’t think video results appreciably change the Galaxy Note7’s results here. The camera is great from a speed perspective and it’s good for video but in a lot of cases HTC really does have them beat with the camera on the HTC 10. I think the major win for the Note7 continues to be speed and consistency as the one major weakness of the HTC 10’s camera relative to the Note7 is somewhat unreliable contrast AF in low light, although in better conditions PDAF has no issues achieving perfect focus.
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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?