Earlier today, Samsung unveiled the new Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones. These two new devices are similar in many respects but are of a different size. The Galaxy S7 has a QHD, or 1440p resolution, 5.1-inch Super AMOLED screen and a 3,000 mAh internal battery. The Galaxy S7 Edge has a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED panel and a 3,600 mAh battery. Both devices will share the same chipset, either a Qualcomm Snapdragon or a Samsung Exynos, supported by 4GB of RAM and at least 32GB of internal storage. There’s a MicroSD card slot, water proofing technology, fast wired and wireless charging, a 12MP rear camera complete with large sized pixels for great low light performance.
It’s the camera that may well sell the Galaxy S7 family: the Galaxy S6 had a very good camera but for the S7, Samsung have improved it. Although the number of pixels has been reduced, the pixel size has been increased to 1.4um and there’s a wider f/1.7 aperture, plus a dual-pixel sensor with full phase detection. Phase detection is a way for a digital camera assembly to focus on an object and was introduced into smartphone cameras with the 2014 Galaxy S5 and iPhone 6. It’s main advantage compared with older focus detection systems is that it is faster at focusing and refocusing; the Galaxy S7 family camera contains a new camera sensor with phase-detection pixels, which should enhance how quickly the device can focus on fast moving images and in low light levels.
In addition to the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, Samsung have today revealed a number of new accessories including the Lens Cover for both models. This accessory is, as one would expect, designed to improve the device’s camera: the accessory attaches to the back of the smartphone and puts a lens over the camera assembly. Because the lens protrudes quite a bit from the back of the device, this is not an accessory that is going to be worn on the handset all of the time but instead applied when needed. The Galaxy S7 Lens Cover may be designed for macro shots or may provide the camera with “proper” camera optical zoom functionality, but it is not clear how customers can keep the lens free of dust when not in use, other than carefully stored in a dust-free environment. At the time of writing, Samsung has not announced pricing or availability for the Lens Cover.