The Samsung Galaxy Note7 (S820) Review
by Joshua Ho on August 16, 2016 9:00 AM ESTSystem Performance
As previously mentioned this year a major goal of ours was to focus on benchmarks with metrics that better indicate user experience rather than being subject to additional layers of indirection in addition to updating our previously used benchmarks. Probably one of the hardest problems to tackle from a testing perspective is capturing what it means to have a smooth and fast phone, and with the right benchmarks you can actually start to test for these things in a meaningful way instead of just relying on a reviewer’s word. In addition to new benchmarks, we’ve attempted to update existing types of benchmarks with tests that are more realistic and more useful rather than simple microbenchmarks that can be easily optimized against without any meaningful user experience improvements. With that said, let's get into the results.
Browser performance here is pretty much in line with expectations as pretty much every OEM using Snapdragon 820 is going to be using the same basic BSP and most of the optimizations here are going to be done by Qualcomm rather than the OEMs.
Again, performance is in line with expectation in PCMark, although there are some improvements here and there that are primarily centered about web browsing performance which is almost constantly being improved as developers figure out new optimizations for browsers. With that said we can move on to Discomark, which is a true high level benchmark designed to show exactly how quickly a suite of common Google and OEM applications load from NAND or from RAM.
Here the Galaxy Note7 shows some improvement on hot runtimes relative to the Galaxy S7, but the cold runtimes have dropped for some reason. It looks like much of the delta here is due to Dropbox which is now running significantly slower on the Galaxy Note7. I suspect that this is related to possible changes in Dropbox or its interaction with TouchWiz rather than any significant underlying difference in system performance relative to the Galaxy S7. Overall, the Galaxy Note7 performs about where you'd expect from a Snapdragon 820 device from Samsung given the performance of the Galaxy S7.
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CloudWiz - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
Yes, I know it has a Qualcomm modem. I also understand that the S820 versions of the GS7 have comparable Wifi/LTE results because of Qualcomm's modem prowess. However, this has nothing to do with the SoC. The Samsung S820 implementation is still far more inefficient than the Exynos implementation or other OEMs' implementations.The GS6 had a Samsung Shannon modem that was notoriously inefficient on LTE. That is a fact. And your comment forgets that the Note 7 also has a 30% larger battery, and in no way does 50% extra PenTile pixels translate to 50% increased battery drain.
CloudWiz - Thursday, August 25, 2016 - link
Addendum: The Note 7 also comes with an updated modem, further helping reduce battery drain. Coupled with the fact that the S820 is more tightly integrated than A9 with respect to the modem, it really isn't that surprising that the Note 7 is able to last a bit longer.StevoLincolnite - Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - link
Having Glass on the back AND front of the Phone is just asking for trouble... Wish Samsung would employ more durable materials.It wasn't a great material choice when Apple did the same years ago... It's still not a great material choice in 2016 either.
I had a Note 5 for a whole 2 days, slipped off the desk once and that was the end of that, the Note 7 is just more of the same.
My old Nokia Lumia took more abuse than that and I had it for almost 4 years, without a cover. Heck, I even purposely dropped it a few times and it just bounced without any damage.
jayfang - Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - link
Agreed. Does not matter how nice something looks when you have to put it in cover for grip and protection.lilmoe - Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - link
Brah.... As painful as it is, let it go. We never wanted crappy glass backs, but the world has voted with their wallets. They don't want "durable" materials, they want design and features.That being said, glass is still better than metal since it allows better radio and wireless charging. Until you design an alloy or mag-field that can support that, glass is here to stay.
I want my plastic backs back....................................
StevoLincolnite - Wednesday, August 17, 2016 - link
Voted with their wallets? Not really.If a company deserves criticism for various aspects related to their products, then I implore people to criticize, otherwise companies become complacent.
I personally prefer the rubbery polymer materials that some Phones use, it's matte so it doesn't attract fingerprints, it has a good texture that assists with grip and doesn't reduce signal reception and it allows for wireless charging (A feature I have loved for years now with my old Lumia).
Samsung can shove their Glass where the sun doesn't shine, I won't be buying another Samsung device until they change their materials.
lilmoe - Wednesday, August 17, 2016 - link
And how many of you are there? How many of us are there? When samsung made what we liked their sales tanked. Don't blame Samsung, blame the online community.StevoLincolnite - Wednesday, August 17, 2016 - link
Samsung kinda' ignored what the people wanted with the Note 5.* Glass back.
* No MicroSD.
* No replaceable battery.
And then sales tanked.
jospoortvliet - Thursday, August 18, 2016 - link
They nailed it with the S7... including the glass back... and yes I also would have preferred metal.TheinsanegamerN - Wednesday, August 17, 2016 - link
We should crowdsource our own phone, with a plastic back, removable battery, ece. Make a truly durable piece of equipment.