By Lauren Thom ’18 | Staff Writer

Samsung’s newest smartphones, the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, were officially unveiled on Feb. 21 and will be available for purchase on March 11.

Samsung has made many improvements for the S7, fixing nearly everything that was subpar about last year’s S6. The battery life has increased by 16 percent, from 2550mAh to 3000mAh, giving the S7 up to 16 hours of battery life.  

The standard S7 has a 5.1 inch screen and is covered in gorilla glass on the front and back, weighing 152 grams. It features a unibody hardware design with the screen wrapping over the sides of the device and slight curvature at the back of the phone to increase comfort in the palm of the user’s hand.

The S7 Edge is similar in design to the S7, but has a slightly-larger 5.5 inch screen.  The bezel (metal ring holding the glass) has been reduced to nearly nothing, giving both phones the illusion that the screen falls right off the sides of the device.  Another refinement is the buttons have been smoothed out, which adds to the increased comfort.

One of the most exciting features to return to the S7 and S7 Edge is the water and dust resistance.  The phone can withstand 30 minutes submerged in 1.5 meters of water with no internal damage.

The water and dust proofing has made a reappearance after it was dropped from the S6 model.  The expandable memory microSD card slot is also back. The only disappointing aspect of the S7 is it has minimal design changes from the S6, which is what customers often look forward to seeing the most.

Also included in the S7 and S7 Edge is the expandable memory microSD card slot.  This means someone can buy a cheaper version of the S7 and expand its memory later when more storage is needed.  

The camera on both phones have 12MP, which is fewer pixels than the S6’s 16MP, but each pixel gets more light, so low-light performance is improved.   

Samsung also included a feature that allows the user to download apps onto the microSD card. When the card is inserted, the apps show up on the screen and can be used like any other app.  

If the card is removed while the phone is on, a grey film goes over the app’s icon and is given an “SD” tag to inform the user they can open the app once the card is reinserted.

The cost to preorder for the S7 is $699 and the S7 Edge is $799. Both phones are available in black, white, silver, and gold.

Although the S7 is very similar in design to last years successful model, the newest edition of the Galaxies were able to expand on all of their features, becoming an even more advanced and refiner smartphone.