Another year, another Galaxy launched in the Android universe! The Samsung Galaxy S7 is the newest flagship phone launched by Samsung, a phone that's inspired the sound of clenching wallets around the world.Around the time of a new launch there's always one question on everybody's mind: should I upgrade?How do you know if you should make the leap and get the new phone? And more to the case at hand, how is the Samsung Galaxy S7 vs S6? If you have 2015's Galaxy, is it worth it to get the S7?We're going to explore some of the main differences between the new phones in areas like design, camera, and battery, then let you draw your own conclusions.
5 ways to tell if you should upgrade from an S6 to an S7
Some years new phones come with a plethora of new features and upgraded specs so impressive the decision is obvious. Other years, it's obvious that keeping the old phone is the way to go - so what's it going to be for 2016?
1. Design (cuz looks matter)
The new Samsung Galaxy S7 brings very few changes from the previous version. The only immediately visible difference is the center button which doubles as a fingerprint sensor - it lost its silver border and is more blended with the rest of the phone.If you take a look at both phones and don't know which is which, it's easy to confuse the two. It seems like Samsung believes in the age old saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" and that's OK with us.On the flipside, the S7 doesn't convince you to upgrade strictly from a design standpoint.
2. Hardware (cuz insides matter too)
Since the outside is so similar, maybe there are more differences between Galaxy S7 and S6 on the inside.The displays are identical for both phones, as the S7 doesn't bring an update in screen size, or model for that matter. Where the S7 shines, however, is in the fact that its screen is always on. It's still a far cry from e-ink displays, but you can still have the most important information available at all times. The AMOLED screen makes only the pixels that are displayed light up, and the rest of the display stays shut, eating none of the phone's battery.The S7 also comes with a microSD slot, supporting up to 200GB of additional storage space, in addition to the 32 or 64 GB of internal space.With the CPU also being upgraded on the S7, the hardware brings quite the improvement, making the scales tip to the newer phone's side.
3. Camera (say cheese!)
This one is hard to top, as the S6 had one of the best cameras ever put on a smartphone. The S7 comes with a 12 MB camera, and taken at face value it's a downgrade from the S6's 16 megapixel camera.That's not taking into account the new camera's dual pixel technology, which takes photos at a higher quality. The f/1.7 aperture makes sure that low light photos are as crisp as they can be, even if you don't use the LED flash. The same aperture is equipped on the front camera, meaning low-light selfies will now look better on the S7.Video recording got an improvement in the new S7, and you can now take 720p videos at 240fps, ten times slower than, well, reality.If you're always taking photos on your phone, then the S7 camera upgrades might be worth making the leap and going for the new phone.
4. Battery (getting down to what matters)
The Galaxy S6 saw Samsung introduce a smaller battery than the one on the S5, and complaints started flowing in quickly. Never the ones to ignore feedback, they've now upped the specs on the S7 battery, which packs 3,000 mAh under the hood.Unlike the Nexus 6P and other competitors though, the S7 doesn't charge via the new USB Type-C port, opting to stay with microUSB for the moment. Have no fear, the device is still capable of fast charging, and with the newest software updates tweaking the operating system, it's likely that the S7 will hold a full day's charge even for moderate to intense use.Conclusion - it's too early to tell here. Every new phone handles great, and it's only after a couple of weeks of use that we see the real average battery life. Judging the Galaxy S7 vs S6 by the specs shows the newer phone as the winner here.
5. Price (what matters most)
At the end of the day, all of these features don't mean as much if the price you're willing to pay is less than the price Samsung is asking for the phone. Right now, the Galaxy S7 is sold by Samsung for $699 - a full $200 more than Google's Nexus 6P, which starts at $499.Also, if you're looking to upgrade from an S6, you should know that a used Samsung Galaxy S6 is going for around $290 on Amazon, which puts your total investment at about $410.
So what's it gonna be?
Specs and features can only get you so far, but at the end of the day the decision is yours. We've put the Galaxy S7 vs S6 head to head, but now you have to ask yourself: is it time for an upgrade? Are the features worth the price? If it were me - and I'm a total gadget freak - I'd probably go for the newer phone.How about you? Does the S7 sound tempting enough for you to make the leap?
photo credit: alphr.com