Samsung UK has unveiled a new promotion for buyers of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge smartphone: the South Korean giant is offering the new Samsung Gear VR free or charge. The offer is available for customers buying the Galaxy S7 Edge between now and the end of October 5 and is supported by the main retailers for the smartphone, including the main carriers and a number of online stores but interestingly enough, Amazon is excluded from the deal. After purchasing the Galaxy S7 Edge, customers must wait thirty days before claiming their free Gear VR, but must lodge the claim inside sixty days – here, Samsung recommend customers use the myGalaxy app from Google Play in order to receive a reminder that their purchase is eligible.
As a refresher, the British Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is based around a 5.5-inch, QHD or 1,440 by 2,560 pixel Samsung Super AMOLED panel, 4 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal storage backed up by a microSD card. The phone uses the Samsung Exynos 8890 chipset and has an internal 3,600 mAh battery, which features rapid and wireless charging. There’s an optically stabilized, 12-megapixel rear camera complete with a number of clever technologies, such as very fast auto-focus thanks to Dual Pixel focusing and a brighter F/1.7 lens than many competitor devices. The Galaxy S7 Edge was released running Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) but Samsung will be updating the device to Android 7.0 (Nougat) in due course.
The original Samsung Gear VR was introduced with the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 but the included version with the Galaxy S7 Edge offer is the very recently revised model. This is blue rather than white and includes better padding to make it a more comfortable headset. Samsung’s other design improvement is to enhance the compatibility with Samsung Galaxy smartphones: the device works with all Galaxy S and Note flagship models from the Galaxy S6 and later thanks to having an interchangeable microUSB and USB Type-C adapter in the box. The original device featured a microUSB port for charging the phone in the unit, which has been replaced for a data-enabled USB Type-C port, which opens up the possibilities of a gaming pad. The lenses have been increased in size and this has widened the field view from 96 degrees to 101 degrees and the external control pad has been improved with the addition of a home button for easier navigation. All up, the newer Gear VR is a useful improvement over the original device and for the customer interested in experimenting with virtual reality and in buying a high end Samsung smartphone, this looks like a good offer.