Samsung has announced its Galaxy Upcycling at Home, a new initiative centered on its Galaxy Upcycling program.

Designed to limit electronic waste, Galaxy Upcycling at Home enables users to recycle their old Galaxy devices into smart home gadgets via a simple software update available through the SmartThings Labs app.

“Smart home devices are a fast-growing trend for consumer electronics, and we believe that Galaxy devices currently not in use can play an important role in turning every home into a smart home,” said Jaeyeon Jung, VP and head of the SmartThings, mobile communications business at Samsung Electronics.

“The program transforms Galaxy devices into SmartThings devices and demonstrates the power of our intelligent IoT platform to broaden the possibilities of what users can do with their old phones.”

Through the Galaxy Upcycling at Home program, users can repurpose old Galaxy phones’ built-in sensors to alter sound and light-control features. Furthermore, the SmartThings ecosystem allows users to explore broader features and updates without purchasing a new device.

For instance, owners can customize a Galaxy device’s sound sensor to distinguish sounds in everyday surroundings and trigger an alert when a baby cries, a dog barks, a cat meows, or someone knocks on the door. Additionally, SmartThings users can program their devices to switch on the TV or lights automatically if the room becomes too dark.

What’s more, Samsung's Galaxy Upcycling at Home program includes battery optimization solutions to reach the highest battery life possible. “Devices will also be able to connect effortlessly to SmartThings, allowing them to interact with countless other IoT devices in the SmartThings ecosystem,” added Samsung.

“We created Galaxy Upcycling at Home to enable more people to repurpose their old devices into useful tools, allowing both Samsung and our users to be mindful of the impact we have on the environment,” said Sung-Koo Kim, VP of the sustainability management office, mobile communications business at Samsung Electronics.

“We are rethinking how we use existing resources, and we believe the key to upcycling is to enable solutions that transform old technology into something new by adding value. We are committed to integrating sustainable practices into our day-to-day lives, and through Galaxy Upcycling at Home, users can join our journey toward a more sustainable future.”

The Samsung Galaxy S7 has also been a strong flagship from the Korean manufacturer, even now theGalaxy S8 has launched and the Samsung Galaxy S9 is due to launch at the end of February. But taking the newer models into account, can the Samsung Galaxy S7 still compete as a leading Android smartphone, even though it's now almost two years old?

Design

The S7 looks very similar to the S6 with its glass-backed casing rimmed by metal, a far cry from the super-sleek Samsung Galaxy S8 and rumoured Samsung Galaxy S9, with their edge-to-edge, curved screens adorning the front of the device. That doesn't mean it's unattractive, but as is the case with the iPhone 8, it's the last example of old-fashioned smartphone design.

Screen aside, the Samsung Galaxy S7 is available in a variety of colours - the black colouring of our review unit had an attractive pearlescent sheen that sets it apart from other smartphones.

Despite the use of glass, it didn't feel slippery. Some faint scratches accumulated on the screen and fingerprint reader, but these were only visible if we looked out for them under the right lighting. Small scratches on the fingerprint reader were more noticeable.

Samsung upgraded the glass in its Galaxy S8 to Corning's Gorilla Glass 5, from its fourth generation panel, which is said to increase its likelihood of breaking if the device is dropped from a height. It's likely the Samsung Galaxy S9 will include this same version too, making them both more robust than the Samsung Galaxy S7.

While the S7's screen is completely flat unlike its gently sloping counterpart the S7 Edge, the rear of phone is curved at the edges. It's very similar to the curved back of the Galaxy Note 5 and while we were initially sceptical of its value, we came to appreciate this subtle design touch. It narrowed the girth of this 5.1in phone just enough to make it more comfortable to hold and use single-handed than other similarly sized phones.

While the S7 lacks the edge-to-edge 'Infinity Display' that makes the S8 and S9 so appealing, it remains an excellent-looking phone. We prefer the S7 Edge's distinctive curved display, but the regular S7 is still plenty sleek and stylish.

Like the Sony Xperia Z5 range, but unlike the S6 and many other competing Android flagship phones, the S7 is waterproof. It's rated to survive immersion in water of depths no lower than 1.5m for no more than 30 minutes. It survived a half hour dunking in our kitchen sink unscathed, so it should have no trouble with rain, puddles or spilled pints. Of course, it's best to ensure the flap-free ports are fully dried out before plugging anything in.

Display

There are no surprises when it comes to the S7's Super AMOLED screen. It has spot-on colour accuracy and contrast, plus text is pin sharp thanks to the 2,560 x 1,440 QHD resolution. The screen can temporarily boost its already high brightness when outdoors so it's still readable in bright sunlight.

The screen has an always-on' mode so it can display basic information even when asleep, such as the date, time and battery charge. Nokia/Microsoft and Motorola smartphones have had a similar feature for years. It's nice to have and didn't noticeably deplete battery life, but is hardly essential.

Camera

The rear camera in the S7 has come a long, long way from the frankly mediocre cameras of the first few generations of Galaxy S phones. Although it only' has a 12-megapixel sensor compared to the 16 megapixels of the S6, shots are still more than detailed enough for most purposes.

Plus, the bigger pixels and the very wide f1.7 aperture of the lens make for excellent low light photography. The wide aperture lets in a lot of light, although it can also result in a very shallow depth of field. If you want to manually control the aperture to compensate for this then you'll need a third party camera app, as Samsung's default camera app doesn't have manual aperture control.

Landscapes in bright sunshine and portraits indoors under harsh fluorescent lights looked great, with none of the overly aggressive sharpening that has spoiled previous Galaxy S cameras (and indeed cameras on many other Android smartphones). Autofocus was sometimes a bit soft, but always very fast, and this was the only flaw in a sterling camera. The S7 has now been surpassed by the likes of the S8 and the Google Pixel 2, but it remains an excellent camera for day-to-day use.

Performance and battery life

S7 phones in some foreign markets use a quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, but UK units have an eight-core Exynos 8890 instead. Four cores run at 2.6GHz for strenuous tasks, while the other four run at 1.6GHz and only kick in for less demanding tasks to save battery life. It should come as no surprise that it topped the charts in our benchmarks, closely matching the performance of a prototype 820 seen by our sister title Expert Reviews and edging ahead of the A9 dual core processor in the iPhone 6s.

Samsung claims that the S7 has been outfitted with a water-cooling system to keep excess processor heat under control. Samsung hasn't gone into great detail about how it works, but it does seem to be effective. The phone only became uncomfortably warm when we pushed it very heavily, such as gaming for prolonged periods or when used to drive a VR headset.

Battery life was something of a mixed bag. The battery fared very well in our video playback test, lasting just under 18 hours which is a superlative score and still up there with some of the most impressive devices we've tested. However, when connected to O2's 3G network and used in central London for calls, photography, GPS and web browsing, it lasted just over 23 hours. When browsing the web while connected to WiFi and playing MP3s, it lasted just under nine and a half hours these are more mundane scores little different from any other phone. Overall, it's much like any other phone of its size it's likely you'll need to charge it every night.

S7 vs S7 Edge

This year the differences between the standard' model and Samsung's Edge model go beyond just a curved screen. With its rounded edges, the S7 Edge can display shortcuts, notifications and snippets from third-party apps. These notifications still have little practical use, but there's potential for something to happen.

The S7 Edge is also 0.4in larger than the S7, which is 5.1in. Resolution-wise, the two phones are the same, though the curved sides of the S7 Edge do make it susceptible to reflections and some contrast issues.

When it comes to the processor, camera and battery, both phones feature the same components and offer outstanding performance and features. At the time of publication, the S7 Edge is still an additional 70 more than the S7, and really is not functionally different. However, if its curved-screens and larger size appeal to you and you have money to spare, it is an even classier alternative to the already stylish S7.

Verdict

The Galaxy S7 is an excellent phone, even after all this time. However, it's not quite the stand-out it once was. The competition has moved on significantly, and the S7 has been surpassed by better and cheaper devices. The Oneplus 5T, for example, offers an edge-to-edge display coupled with better battery life and performance - and that's almost 100 cheaper than what Samsung is charging for the S7.

Similarly, the Galaxy S8 blows its predecessor out of the water in almost every regard. Although it's still an excellent and highly capable phone, there's simply no reason to blow this much money on a phone when its rivals are this impressive. Either splash a little extra on the Galaxy S8, or save your money and go for the OnePlus 5T.

This review was originally published on 18/3/2016 and has since been updated, most recently on 13/12/2017.

Verdict

Although the Samsung Galaxy S7 is still an outstanding phone on its own merits, cheaper and more impressive competitors like the OnePlus 5T leave it in the shade.

To see, or not to see?

The year 2016 will be remembered for many things, including when humanity was introduced to the world of virtual reality. Following five years of development, and a lot of hype, the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive were released that year and are now available to buy. Sony's Playstation VR was also introduced, another contender to fight for the crown of VR king.

Despite this, these headsets can cost upwards of 350, with the Vive priced at 750 or so. Additionally, Oculus and HTC's headsets also need a powerful PC in order to run, meaning that only hardcore PC enthusiasts will be able to use them properly.

South Korean company Samsung, on the other hand, has decided to mix things up a bit. After analysing Google's do-it-yourself Cardboard technique, Samsung's Gear VR headsets cost only 119 with a controller (99.17 exc. VAT). Its only requirement is that you have a Samsung smartphone which works with the headset, and in the UK these are the Galaxy S6,S6 Edge, S6 Edge+, Note 5,S7,S7 Edge, Galaxy S8 and S8+.

For this to work, you will have to install the Oculus app and make an account before you get started. Take off the headset's plastic cover, slide in your phone, adjust the velcro straps and turn the wheel on top of the headset to bring your new world into focus. Easy.

Samsung has provided a quick and easy way to impress your family, friends or co-workers. There is no way they won't be wowed by suddenly being transported to a floating apartment in the sky as they sit back and browse the Gear's menu. It is very convincing and after getting the hang of it they won't even notice that the headset is there. It weighs a meagre 500g or so (depending on the phone you use) and we didn't feel any undue pressure on our head when we were testing it out.

The straps are secure, and even the eyes and nose padding is comfortable. It needs to be said that the cushioning could do a better job at blocking out external light, but the device feels just as good to wear as the Vive and Oculus Rift. If you want to pass the Gear VR around to other users quickly, you can always avoid using the head straps and simply hold it up to your face.

We tested the Gear VR with a Galaxy S7. This is arguably the best choice when it comes to delivering a smooth virtual reality experience, as it not only has more powerful components than any of Samsung's S6 phones, but its 5.1in, 2560x1440 screen resolution will also, in theory, provide the sharpest picture, as it has a higher pixel density than the 5.5in S7 Edge.

In practice, you can still see the screen's individual pixels no matter what you're looking at, but this is a problem we've encountered on the high-end headsets as well, so it's certainly not unique to the Gear. The edges of our black-rimmed porthole were also never quite as sharp as objects in the centre of the display, but again this is something we've noticed elsewhere, too. If anything, it's impressive that Samsung has managed to come this close to other VR headsets, which in some cases cost almost ten times the price.

However, the Gear's mobile origins start to become clear as soon as you start moving your head, as the phone's 60Hz refresh rate can occasionally produce a noticeable amount of ghosting. The worst culprit is the menu crosshair showing your line of sight, as this can quite often leave a prominent trail of pixels behind as you move your head. It's not bad enough to immediately make you grasp for the sick bucket, but it can be off-putting, particularly when it's accompanied by regular drops in framerate.

Of course, how much you'll be bothered by these technical hitches will depend on the kind of content you're using. The Gear's most obvious attraction is its virtual reality games. Most can be controlled by simply moving your head, but many require the use of the headset's four-way directional touchpad as well. This is found on the side of the headset, and can be tapped in the middle or used to swipe up and down or left to right. Considering its lack of haptic feedback, it's surprisingly responsive, and we were never left wondering whether we'd tapped or swiped it correctly.

Holding your hand to the side of your head can get tiring pretty quickly, though, so you may want to pair the headset with an optional Bluetooth controller instead if the game supports it. In fact, apps such as the Oculus Arcade won't load without one, so you may need to invest in an additional gamepad if you're absolutely desperate to have the original Sonic the Hedgehog writ large in front of your eyeballs.

However, beyond the type of retro classics you'll find in Oculus Arcade, the vast majority of the Gear's free gaming titles are pretty throwaway. Some are quite impressive, such as the endless flight game Polyrunner, but most, like In Cell or Cerevrum, aren't any more compelling than the average mobile game you'd play to while the time away on your phone.

No one's going to sit down for half an hour to play Temple Run VR, for example, and the games that solely relied on head-tracking made us feel quite nauseous, forcing us to quit after just a few minutes of play.

It's only when you venture into paid VR games that you begin to see where the Gear's magic lies. Puzzle game Esper 2 was particularly brilliant, and it's clear that titles like this have been designed with VR in the mind right from the ground up rather than simply had it tacked on in a quick port.

The 360-degree video experiences are a bit hit and miss, too. For instance, as much as we love the idea of sitting right in the middle of the Saturday Night Live studio, complete with its live audience behind us, the resolution of the video footage in the VRSE video app is so poor and grainy that you can barely see the actors in front of you.

The same goes for some of the sports videos inside the NextVR app as well. It's a great idea putting viewers right in the middle of the Youth Olympics ski jumping, but when each jumper quickly descends into a mere blur of grainy pixels, the awe and wonder of the experience becomes disappointingly underwhelming.

There's also Netflix to enjoy if someone else is using the TV. Here, you're placed in a virtual living room, and watching films on its virtual big screen really does make it feel more impressive than bending over a real-life phone or tablet. That said, our eyes got quite tired after a while, and we found that 30 minutes was about all we could take before we had to take a break.

All this poses some big problems for the Gear VR. As with any new platform, more (and hopefully better) content is undoubtedly on its way, but the sheer number of problems we experienced does call into question the headset's overall longevity.

For instance, outside of its entertainment possibilities, the Gear could be a useful tool for virtual meetings or professional simulation and training experiences, such as medical procedures or military situations. But unless the footage resolution becomes a lot sharper, we're not sure it will provide any more benefit than traditional videos and demonstrations.

The Gear VR's micro USB connector is used for communication between your Galaxy phone and the headset's various sensors. It also has a passthrough socket for charging your phone while in use - essential as VR can quickly drain your phone's battery.

Likewise, the Gear is inherently limited by the hardware inside Samsung's smartphones, from the processor and GPU to the display's refresh rate. This is possibly why the Gear's initial selection of apps feels very much like the worst side of the Google Play Store as opposed to an enticing glimpse into the future, but there is some good stuff there if you're willing to hunt for it and, more importantly, pay for it.

This lack of quality experiences is perhaps understandable when the headset is so much cheaper than its rivals, but whereas other headset demos have continually blown us away with their ingenious use of VR technology, our time with the Gear left us feeling distinctly unimpressed.

What's more, we can't help but think this is the type of experience Oculus founder Palmer Luckey might have been talking about when he said that 'really bad VR is the only thing that can kill off VR'. The Gear VR might surprise us by becoming a mass market hit, but we fear its novelty factor will be pretty short-lived.

Previous news

01/08/2016:The next Gear VR headset will support older Samsung phones, as well as this year's Note 7.

This is according toNowhereelse.frandOnLeaks, who published a leaked photo, purportedly real, of Samsung's next VR device.

Rumour has it the new Gear VR will hit the shops in August, meaning it could well get a preview alongside the Note 7 at Samsung's Unpacked event on 2 August.

The new headset will support phones as old as the Galaxy S6, and its 96-degree range of vision will be extended to 100 degrees.

23/05/2016:Samsung is offering anyone who purchases the Galaxy S7 an opportunity to pick up an exclusive Gear VR content package.

This includes a collection of games such as Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes, Darknet, Drift, and Starchart, along with an unspecified discount on purchasing the Gear VR itself.

"The smartphone is already so fundamental to our lives," said David Lowes, chief marketing officer at Samsung Electronics Europe, "but connecting it with a product like the Gear VR opens up incredible new experiences that are often as emotional as they are immersive."

"With this new incentive, we're encouraging broader VR adoption so that more people can experience this amazing new technology for themselves."

The news follows the announcement of a first-party Google competitor to the Samsung Gear VR, known as Daydream.

Rather than a fully standalone headset with its own screen (as was rumoured), Daydream will be a housing allowing users to use any high-end Android handset for mobile VR, rather than just Samsung flagships.

Verdict

Samsung's virtual reality headset is a fun entry point for VR novices, but its technological flaws and lack of compelling content limit its long-term appeal

Requires: Samsung Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+, S7, S7 Edge, Note 5, Glaxy S8 or S8+ handsets

Weight: 500g approx. inc. handset

The iPhone 7 and the Samsung Galaxy S7 are two models which many people look at when they want to upgrade their phone. Here we compare them both, looking at their features and specifications to help you decide whether Apple or Android is best for you.

Display

iPhone 7: 4.7in, 3D Touch, 1334x750 pixel resolutions, wide colour gamut

Samsung Galaxy S7: 5.1in, 2560x1440 pixel resolution, AMOLED

Apple has opted for 3D touch in the display again and raised the brightness by 25%. There are more rumours that the iPhone 8 display will be OLED which is why the iPhone 7 has the same IPS LCD Retina screen.

Samsung has gone with a Super AMOLED display for the Galaxy S7, which promises deeper blacks and is meant to be more power efficient. Although the S7 has a wider colour gamut than the iPhone 6s, this difference is a lot smaller when compared to the iPhone 7.

Design

The iPhone 7 mostly follows the same stylign as its two predecessors. There are two notable differences: the antenna bands have been moved back to the upper and lower edges in order to make them more discreet. Also the colours Black and Jet Black have replaced Space Gray as a colour option.

The Home key has been upgraded from a physical button to a touch-sensitive one which includes haptic feedback. Of course, it still utilises the Touch ID fingerpring scanner.

An additional benefit is that the iPhone 7 is somewhat waterproof but not completely. It is IP67 water and dust proof, but this is only up to 30 minutes submerged in water.

The S7 also looks like its predecessor thanks to the glass overlaid on top of a coloured backing with a metal trim. Despite this, the back is a little different, with curves either side to make it more comfortable in your hand. It is also IP67 water and dust resistant, unlike the S6.

Camera

The iPhone 7 has a 7MP front-facing camera with wide-angle lens, 12MP rear-facing camera with optical image stabilisation, f1.8 aperture, new 6-element lens, new image signal processor, quad-LED flash with flicker sensor, and 4K video recording. The iPhone 7 Plus goes a stage further with a dual-camera setup, one with a wide-angle lens and one with a telephoto lens.

The Galaxy S7 has a 12MP camera at the rear but an f1.7 aperture compared to the iPhone 7's f1.8. The front-facing camera is 5MP, so 2MP less powerrful than the iPhone 7's. The phone is also capable of capturing 2160p at 30fps and 1080p at 60fps with dual Video and HDR.

Connectivity

The iPhone 7 has infamously ditched the headphone jack in a way that only Apple can describe as "courageous", instead using the Lightning port for its EarPods, though it also ships an adaptor so your wired 3.5mm headphones can fit into the port. This means you can't use wired headphones and charge up at the same time. This seems to be a move to encourage the use of Bluetooth headphones, with Apple releasing its own AirPods (below) for exactly that purpose.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 still has the headphone jack, but has stuck with the micro-USB 2 port instead of moving onto a USB Type-C connector.

Both smartphones have Bluetooth 4.2, 802.11ac and NFC. However, on the iPhone 7, NFC is only supported for Apple Pay, whereas the S7's NFC can be used for other things such as quickly connecting to Bluetooth speakers. Mobile tap payments by Samsung Pay aren't yet supported in the UK, but Google Pay is now rolling out.

Performance and battery life

The iPhone 7 uses a quad-core Apple's A10 Fusion chip with 64-bit architecture, and an embedded M10 motion coprocessor. The A10 chip uses about a fifth the amount of battery life compared to the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus' A9 processor, if Apple is to be believed, while offering a 40% increase in CPU and GPU performance.

Meanwhile, the S7 uses a Samsung Exynos 8890 chip is an eight-core processor, but only half of the cores ever run at any given time. Four cores running at 2.6GHz take on the most strenuous tasks, while four slower cores running at 1.6GHz take over the less demanding work, and thus save battery life too.

The S7 has a huge battery rated at 3000mAh, while the iPhone 7 battery is rated at 1,960mAh. The S7's large battery and dual quad-core design helped it last just under 18 hours in our video playback test compared to the iPhone 6s's score of 11 hours and 18 minutes.

Storage, price and colour options

iPhone 7: 32GB (599), 128GB (699), and 256GB (799) in Silver, Gold, Rose Gold, Black and Jet Black

Galaxy S7: 32GB (529) in Black, Gold, White, Silver and Pink Gold

While the iPhone 7 is available in different storage options, the Samsung Galaxy S7 has a base 32GB of storage and extra storage can be added using a Micro SD card. This means that a 200GB of storage can be easily added to the phone. The iPhone 7 finally sees the end of the 16GB base model, which left very little room for storing anything.

The new Samsung Galaxy S7 launched in February this year alongside the Galaxy S7 edge. Here we round up all the latest news on the Samsung Galaxy S7, including release date, price, rumours, and features.

You can also click here toread our full, in-depth review of the Samsung Galaxy S7.

Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge: at a glance

• Samsung Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge launch date 21 February
• Galaxy S7 and S7 edge on sale in the UK 11 March
• Galaxy S7 UK price from 599 inc VAT
• Galaxy S7 edge price from 639 inc VAT

Samsung Galaxy S7: latest news

15/07/2016: Samsung's smartphone shipments have overtaken the iPhone in the US, thanks to strong sales of the Galaxy S7.

According to research from Kantor World Panel, in the three months up until May this year, Samsung accounted for 37 per cent of smartphone sales and Apple 29 per cent.

However, among flagship phones, it was a closer call with the Galaxy S7/S7 Edge accounting for 16 per cent of sales and the iPhone 6s/6s Plus at 14.6 per cent.

The research also found only five per cent of Samsung purchases came from those moving from Apple, while 14 per cent of Apple purchasers moved from Samsung.

In the UK, it is a closer thing with each accounting for 36 per cent of sales in this market.

11/07/2016:Samsung's ruggedised Galaxy S7 Active model has failed a water resistance test, despite holding an IP68 water-resistance rating.

This certification supposedly guarantees a device can survive full immersion in up to five feet of water for up to 30 minutes, but the S7 Active failed to live up to these claims when subjected to trials by product testing organisation Consumer Reports.

After being placed in a tank pressurised to the equivalent of five feet of water for 30 minutes, the display became "obscured by green lines", with moisture bubbles visible within both camera lenses, the group said.

After the first device failed, technicians submitted a second unit to the same test. The second device also failed, with neither model returning to full functionality.

"The Samsung Galaxy S7 active device is one of the most rugged phones to date and is highly resistant to scratches and IP68 certified," the company said in a statement to Consumer Reports, but admitted "there may be an off-chance that a defective device is not as watertight as it should be", and said it is investigating the matter.

Waterproofing has been a major selling-point of Samsung's Galaxy S range, particularly after it was reinstated for the latest generation. It is a particularly important feature of the S7 Active, as it is designed for use in harsh, outdoor environments.

Consumer Reports noted that of all the current Galaxy S7 models, the S7 Active was the only one to fail its immersion test, with both the S7 and the S7 Edge passing.

28/06/2016:Samsung is set to release a limited edition Galaxy S7 Edge in time for the 2016 Olympics taking place in Brazil next month, Trusted Reviews reports.

An image allegedly showing the new editions was leaked by Evan Blass (@evleaks), with the phones depicted featuting the Olympic rings logoat the bottom of the rear along with gold/blue detailing around the home button, earpiece and camera module.

As the report notes, the reveal was previously predicted by SamMobile, based on Samsung's previous Olympics tie-in wiht the Galaxy S line.

08/06/2016: The Samsung Galaxy S7 has just received a new addition, in the form of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Active.

For those who haven't come across Samsung's Active line, they're ruggedized versions of its flagship line, designed for to be used in all weathers and environments.

This means that in addition to the S7's regular IP68 water and dust-proofing, the S7 active also comes with a reinforced, rubber-edged shell that's drop-proof to a height of five metres. The screen is also supposedly shatter-proof, although we wouldn't necessarily want to test that out.

The biggest upgrade, however, is to the battery. The S7 Active's battery is one-third bigger than the standard S7, bringing its total capacity to 4,000mAh. This means that not only can you take it kayaking or drop it down a ravine, the S7 Active is capable of powering through at least a full day in the wilderness.

There is one slight problem, however - it's only available in America, and only through network carrier AT&T. Samsung has not revealed when or if the S7 Active will be coming to other territories, but based on the poor sales of previous Active devices, we'd be surprised if it made it to Europe.

02/06/2016: Samsung has announced a new Batman-inspired version of the Galaxy S7 Edge. Dubbed the "Injustice Edition", the phone comes in black with trimmings of gold. There is even a Batman symbol on the back.

In an unboxing video, the phone comes with headphones, a Batman armour-style protective case, and a virtual reality headset. The user interface has been changed slightly to give it more of a Batman theme. IT also appears to include a video game featuring the Gotham superhero.

The phone commemorates the third anniversary of the popular mobile game, Injustice: Gods Among Us. The game features a collectable card mechanic and engages players in 3-on-3 tag team combat that feature many of DC's most iconic characters.

The phone will be available from 13 June. No price has been set for the smartphone. It will appear exclusively in select territories, including China, Singapore, Korea, Latin America and Russia. There is currently no word on a UK launch.

17/05/2016: Samsung will offer new Galaxy S7 and S7 edge customers an exclusive Gear VR content package, meaning they can get their hands on the Samsung Gear VR headset for a discounted price, alongside a free bundle of games and experiences to make the most of the virtual reality headset.

Content included in the package is Anshar Wars 2, Darknet, Drift, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, Ocean Rift and Starchart, although neither Oculus nor Samsung have announced how much the 'discounted price' will save customers on the retail price.

"Our Galaxy S7 and S7 edge are performing extremely well, demonstrating continued strong demand for our premium flagship devices,"David Lowes, chief marketing officer at Samsung Electronics Europe, said.

"The smartphone is already so fundamental to our lives but connecting it with a product like the Gear VR opens up incredible new experiences that are often as emotional as they are immersive. With this new incentive, we're encouraging broader VR adoption so that more people can experience this amazing new technology for themselves."

Samsung has sold 300,000 Gear VR headsets in Europe so far this year, with the virtual reality market set to grow 168 per cent year-on-year in 2016 according to CCS Insight.

"At Oculus, we want people to experience anything, anywhere through the power of virtual reality and we're starting to see that happen with Gear VR," said Max Cohen, Head of Mobile at Oculus. "Together, the hardware and software provide the absolute best VR experience on mobile available today and we're looking forward to continuing to excite and engage European consumers."

13/05/2016: The Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are set to lead the US smartphone market in the second quarter of 2016, according to new data.

Kantar Worldpanel has released data highlighting the ongoing success of Samsung's Galaxy S7, which accounted for almost 6 per cent of smartphone sales in the US during the first quarter despite only being released on March 11.

This makes the S7 and S7 Edge the fifth best-selling smartphone during this period, and Samsung's ranking is set to climb still higher in the second quarter.

Amongst those who bought the device in March, battery life, camera quality, storage capacity and processing speed were all heavily cited as incentives.

07/04/2016:Samsung hopes sales of its Galaxy 7 smartphone will fuel a 10 per cent leap in operating profit for the first quarter of 2016.

The South Korean phone manufacturer predicts its operating profit to reach 6.6 trillion Korean won (3.9 billion) between January and March this year, compared to six trillion won in the same period last year.

It comes after the Galaxy S7 launched in late February to good reviews (including our own), with the model breaking records in smartphone displays, such as highest colour accuracy highest peak brightness and highest screen resolution.

The device is widely believed to be selling well, and Samsung will release its first quarter results later this month.

04/04/2016: The Samsung Galaxy S7 has undergone a price cut of around$150 in the US. According to CNN, Walmart is holding a "Rollback" promotion on these handsets and $100 on all Apple iPhones until the end of June.

The discounts apply tothe iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, new four-inch SE, and the Samsung Galaxy 6 and 7.

01/04/2016:The release date for one of the Galaxy S7's main competitors - the HTC 10 (probably) - has been announced as Tuesday, 12 April.

There is a live stream taking place at 1pm London time for the device, which could be called the HTC 10 or HTC One M10, depending on which rumour you listen to.

Leaks suggest the HTC 10 will have a new chassis design, 5.1in 2K resolution screen supporting Super LCD, not AMOLED, a 12-megapixel rear camera and come in a variety of colours. Inside, it is expected to feature a Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GB RAM, 32GB internal memory with microSD support, and a 3,000mAh battery.

With an anticipated May launch, following the April announcement, HTC is quite late in launching a new phone this year, with rivals LG and Samsung - and even Apple - having already released handsets in 2016.

On paper, these specs are also quite similar to the Galaxy S7, from screen size to storage to camera specs, so HTC will need to pull off something quite special in order to compete.

Samsung Galaxy S7 release date and price

Pre-orders for the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge opened on 23 February, directly following its announcement at MWC, and has been available in shops since 11 March.

With the Galaxy S7, Samsung has more or less stuck to the same pricing structure as with the Galaxy S6. The basic S7 costs 569 inc VAT sim-free, while the S7 Edge is charged at a slight premium and costs 639 inc VAT sim-free (prices correct as of 1 April 2016).

Samsung Galaxy S7 features

The big news in features is that Samsung has listened to fans and brought back two of the Galaxy range's most beloved features - expandable storage and full IP68 water and dust-proofing.

Both the S7 and S7 Edge come withAndroid Marshmallow out of the box and while the TouchWiz interface is still overlaid over the top of it, it is significantly more user-friendly than it was in previous generations. The S7 should also be near the front of the queue for an update to Android N when it launches.

Samsung Galaxy S7 camera and photos

The Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge both feature a 12-megapixel rear camera with Samsung's Dual Pixel technology and 5-megapixel front camera, both with f1.7 aperture. It's by far the best Android camera around, and it's the equal of Apple's superlative iPhone 6s camera in basically every way.

Samsung Galaxy S7 Display

The Galaxy S7 has stuck with the same 5.1in display (5.7in for the Edge) and QHD resolutionas the Galaxy S6, which is no bad thing. While there are a couple of oversaturation issues, the S7's screen is one of the best around.

Samsung Galaxy S7 specs, hardware and battery

The chips used in the S7 range will depend on the region, but the UK version comes fitted with Samsung's own-brand eight-core Exynos 8890.

For other geographies,the S7 will run on an octa-core (2.3GHz Quad + 1.6GHz Quad) 64 bit 14 nm processor, while others will get a quad-core (2.15GHz Dual + 1.6GHz Dual) 64 bit 14 nm chip.All versions will come with a minimum of 32GB of storage and 4GB of RAM.

Samsung has made sure to pack big batteries into both the S7 and the S7 Edge, which clock in at 3000mAh and 3600mAh respectively. This should be enough to power you through a full day with charge to spare, assuming you use it wisely.

Despite the titanic struggle between Apple and Samsung for control of the high-end smartphone market, they're probably only fighting over a handful of undecided buyers. Most people have by now, in all likelihood, already picked their mobile platform of choice and are sticking with it for the long term.

That means that the majority of Samsung Galaxy S7 buyers will be owners of older Samsung Android phones, rather than first-time buyers and iPhone switchers. Even so, it's worth looking at how the new Galaxy S7 stacks up against the iPhone 6s Samsung certainly will have done in its constant race to one-up the iOS competition.

Casing

While Apple has long since moved away from the glass back and metal rim casing first pioneered by the iPhone 4 in favour of a HTC-style metal-backing on the iPhone 6s, Samsung has gone in the other direction.

The S7 retains the same overall look of the S6 with glass overlaid on top of a coloured backing with a metal trim around the edges. The rear of the S7 casing, unlike the S6 before it, is now curved on the left and right hand sides. This makes it feel surprisingly comfortable in the hand for a phone of its size.

The S7 brings back a feature not seen on a Samsung flagship phone since the S5 water and dust resistance. The S7 is IP67-rated, so it should be able to survive immersion in shallow depths for up to 30 minutes. This gives it an immediate advantage over the 6s.

Although Apple has allegedly improved the water resistance of the iPhone 6s too, it has done so silently and not made any public claims about the extent of its durability leaving it to customers to discover this supposed enhanced water resistance on their own.

We wouldn't deliberately expose any smartphone to water unless absolutely necessary, but it's good to know that the S7 will be more durable than most.

Another plus is that the S7 has a Micro SD slot so you can easily add more storage as you need it, or just transfer files without relying on slow, congested or non-existent WiFi or 4G connections. No iPhone has never had micro SD, so the iPhone 6s is reliant on slower and fussier wireless storage devices if you need more non-cloud based storage.

Winner: Galaxy S7. Although we have concerns about the long-term durability of the S7's potentially shatter-prone glass back, its water resistance and expandable storage give it the edge here.

Display

The S7's 5.1in screen has a resolution of 2560x1440 pixels. On paper, this dwarfs the iPhone 6s' 4.7in 1334x750 pixels, but in practice the difference in sharpness is actually quite modest at typical viewing distances. It's only readily apparent if you're looking at both phones very closely side-by-side.

The AMOLED technology behind Samsung's screen means deeper blacks compared to the IPS LCD used in the iPhone 6s. Although AMOLED is allegedly also more power efficient, battery life is dependent on so many other factors that an AMOLED screen isn't an automatic guarantee of longer overall battery life. In theory, AMOLED screens have a shorter useful life span than an LCD, but this isn't a critical failing given that most people replace their phones every couple of years.

The 6s' screen is much brighter than the S7's, but the latter has a slightly wider colour gamut for improved colour accuracy. The modest difference isn't as dramatic as Samsung would have you believe though.

Winner: Tie. It's swings and roundabouts in this category.

Camera

Samsung has recently caught up with Apple when it comes to high quality cameras in flagship smartphones. Like the 6s, the S7 now has phase detection autofocus but neither was noticeably faster than the other at auto focussing. We found we did have to manually readjust the focus a little more often with the S7 than we did with the 6s, but this wasn't often enough to be a bugbear.

Samsung has recently caught up with Apple when it comes to high quality cameras in flagship smartphones. Like the 6s, the S7 now has phase detection autofocus but neither was noticeably faster than the other at auto focussing. We found we did have to manually readjust the focus a little more often with the S7 than we did with the 6s, but this wasn't often enough to be a bugbear.

Both the S7 and the 6s have 12 megapixel cameras, but the S7 has a much wider f1.7 aperture compared to the iPhone's increasingly antiquated f2.2. It therefore edged ahead at low light photography with better lit, better exposed scenes. The 6s wasn't far behind and both did well at keeping noise, which often mars low light shots on lesser phone cameras, to a minimum.

Winner: Galaxy S7. The 6s has an excellent camera, but the S7's shooter is just that little bit better.

Processor and battery

Both flagship phones use custom-made ARM processors made by Apple and Samsung themselves, rather than using off-the-shelf chips from manufacturers such as Qualcomm.

The iPhone 6s uses Apple's own in-house 1.8GHz A9 dual core processor, while the S7 uses a Samsung Exyno 8890 chip. It's an eight-core processor, but only one set of four cores ever run at any given time. Four cores running at 2.6GHz take on the most strenuous tasks, while four slower cores running at 1.6GHz take over for less demanding work and thus save battery life too.

Given all that, it's easy to expect that the 8890 would outperform the A9, but our benchmarks revealed a more nuanced picture. The 8890's extra cores unsurprisingly gave it an edge in heavily optimised multicore scenarios, but the A9 sped ahead in single-core and 3D graphics tasks. The A9 also fared better in our JavaScript benchmark.

The S7 has a huge battery rated at 3000mAh, while the iPhone 6s has a much smaller 1715mAh battery. Once again though, sheer numbers aren't the end of the story. The S7's large battery and dual quad-core design helped it last just under 18 hours in our video playback test compared to the iPhone 6s' score of 11 hours and 18 minutes.

The situation was reversed in our less-controlled but more representative moderate usage everyday test though. Both phones were connected to O2's 3G network in central London and used for a mix of photography, calls, web browsing and GPS. The S7 managed just over 23 hours, while the 6s lasted just under 30 hours.

Winner: iPhone 6s. Both phones are very fast, with neither having a clear, overall advantage. The S7's longer-lasting battery when it comes to media playback will please movie fans, but the 6s' otherwise better showing means it just wins this category.

Connections

Samsung once tried to push the state of the art forwards when it came to smartphone ports. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 was the first phone to have micro USB 3, but ended up being one of the last. Samsung has been more conservative with the S7 which sticks with the ubiquitous micro USB 2 instead of the more advanced but less widespread USB Type-C.

The iPhone 6s doesn't have USB-C either, but instead uses Apple's proprietary Lightning connector. This has many of the same benefits as USB-C, mainly its reversible design so it doesn't matter which way up you plug it in, but isn't quite as easily found in the wild as micro USB.

Lightning doesn't have the fast charge capabilities of USB-C though. Samsung has built its own fast-charging technology into the S7's micro USB port, although the technical details of how it differs from the Qualcomm-based fast charging in other Android phones is hard to come by. Fast charging typically shortens the useful life span of a battery, but this isn't a critical flaw if you replace your phone every couple of years.

It's worth remembering that fast charging doesn't work if you charge the S7 using its built-in inductive wireless' charging features. Although not truly wireless and it doesn't reduce the number of cables you need, inductive wireless charging can still be useful if you have poor eyesight and reduced dexterity in your fingers due to, for example, arthritis. Plopping a phone down onto a charging pad is easier than fiddling about with a small cable tip and port.

Both smartphones have Bluetooth 4.2, 802.11ac and NFC. In the case of NFC, it's worth remembering that iOS currently only supports it for Apple Pay whereas the S7's NFC can be used for other things such as quickly connecting to Bluetooth speakers. Mobile tap payments by Samsung Pay aren't yet supported in the UK, but Google Pay is now rolling out.

Winner: Galaxy S7. The Samsung phone's fast-charging and more flexible NFC capabilities give it a modest but useful edge ahead here.

Conclusions: the overall winner

It's no surprise that this head-to-head was a tight race, closely fought Apple and Samsung are bitter global rivals with fans on both sides that are even more committed. If you're willing to switch or you're the rare, uncommitted first-time buyer then you can't go wrong with either phone.

While the differences between the two are increasingly razor-thin, these are still just enough to tip the scales if you're willing to switch. The 6s is very fast, with a great camera and arguably better overall battery life, but the S7 has water-resistance, a more comfortable shape, more flexible connections and storage as well as an excellent camera of its own.

This might all change with the iPhone 7 (or it might not), but for now the Galaxy S7 is king.

This article was originally published on 19/2/2016 and has since been updated, most recently on 25/5/2016

Samsung has launched the Galaxy S7, the latest iteration in its flagship smartphone line. It takes a few design cues from the black sheep of the Galaxy family, the Note 5, so it makes sense to compare the two.

Despite being one of the most anticipated phablets of last year, the Galaxy Note 5 was only officially released in a handful of countries. Die-hard fans can import one from overseas, but the Galaxy S7 is now vying for their affections.

Latest News

03/05/2016: The Galaxy Note 6 will reportedly add a new USB-C port with reversible connector, new rumours suggest.

The report comes from SamMobile, which claimed the new device will be the first Samsung handset to ditch the microUSB in favour of the new port, following similar moves from the company's main rivals with their own flagship devices.

Though the rumours are unconfirmed, the reversible USB-C port allows for much faster device charging and the ability to carry HDMI or Display Port video signals, and so it makes sense for manufacturers to begin to switchover.

It has already been stated that the Galaxy Note 6 will be water and dust-resistant, as well as potentially sporting an iris scanner.

Display

After pushing display technology forward for the past few years, Samsung's screens have now apparently plateaued.

The Galaxy Note 4 has a 2560x1440 resolution, as did the Note 5, the S6, and now the S7. They all use Samsung's Super AMOLED technology, and generally have a pixel density of around 500ppi.

Samsung has apparently decided that QHD is the optimum smartphone resolution. Both the Note 5 and S7 have excellent displays with fantastic detail and clarity, although the Note 5 has a slight tendency towards colour over-saturation.

One of the only real differences is the screen size. While the Galaxy S7 is, at 5.1in, slightly pocket-stretching, the 5.7in Note 5 is truly mammoth. This gives it a vast amount of screen real-estate for productivity tasks, but the larger area does result in a slight drop in pixel density while its sheer girth makes one-handed use all but impossible.

The S7 also has an 'always-on' display, which will display widgets such as date, time, notifications and calendar appointments at all times, even while the phone is in sleep mode.

Neither phone has a curved screen, interestingly. Although the 'Edge' moniker and technology was first debuted on the Note range, it's since been adopted by the flagship S7 Edge and vanished from the Note 5 altogether.

Casing

While neither the S7 nor the Note 5 has a curved screen, both have curved rear shells. The design first appeared on the Note 5 last year, but has now been adopted by the S7.

The frame is still slim, lightweight aluminium, with a sheet of Gorilla Glass 4 on the front. The S7 has a slight edge in terms of thickness, where it looks to beat the Note 5 by just under 1mm.

The S6 was similar to the Note 5 already, but the new S7 has deepened the comparison even further. That's nothing to complain about, though, as the Note 5 is a very attractive device.

Stylus, waterproofing and storage features

One of the biggest points in the Note 5's favour is the device's signature S Pen. This nifty little stylus slides out from a housing on the bottom of the device, allowing users to make quick drawings or notes on their phone.

It's a feature that's specific to the Note range, meaning the S7 doesn't benefit from it. It's a shame, as the ability to annotate basically anything on the fly can be incredibly useful.

However, the S7 has some tricks up its sleeve. Samsung has reinstated the IP68 water and dust-proofing and the expandable storage, both of which were fan-favourite features axed from previous devices. The MicroSD card slot in particular gives the S7 a major advantage over the Note 5.

Performance

Sticking with the trend established by last year's releases, Samsung has fitted the Galaxy S7 with its own Exynos 8890 CPU, rather than a Qualcomm processor.

This will almost certainly provide a performance increase over the Exynos 7420 found in the Note 5. Samsung is citing a 30 per cent boost, as well as a 10 per cent bonus to power efficiency.

Both chips are octa-core models, with two sets of four cores, clocked at different speeds. The Note 5 has four 1.5GHz cores and four 2.1GHz cores, while the S7's processor is a shade faster on paper at 1.6GHz and 2.3GHz respectively.

Both have 4GB RAM allocations though, so the difference between the Note 5 and S7 may not be as stark as with other last-generation devices. We'll know more when we can test the S7 in laboratory conditions, however.

Battery

The Note 5 is fitted with a 3,000mAh battery, which powered it to an impressive 15.5 hour result in our battery test.

Samsung has now upped the S7's battery size to match the Note 5, and combined with the Exynos' power-efficiency claims, this could see it equal - or even beat - the Note 5's score.

Both devices also have quick-charge capabilities, as well as inductive wireless charging. The Note 5 was one of the first Galaxy phones to not have a removable battery and Samsung has stuck by this decision with the S7 which also has a sealed battery.

Camera

One of the main areas that Samsung has been focusing its improvements on is in the camera. The S7's snapper now has an aperture size of f/1.7, as opposed to the Note 5's f/1.9.

This means the S7 lets in 25 per cent more light, which alongside bigger pixels on the sensor results in better low-light photography. It also has the world's first dual-pixel smartphone camera sensor, and the housing itself has been slimmed down to a protrusion of just 0.46mm.

Preliminary conclusions

The Note line is designed to be Samsung's top-performance range, for niche customers and those that get very particular about their devices. As such, they're generally better-specced than the equivalent flagship model.

However, in the absence of a new Note 6, the Galaxy S7 has bridged the gap with better internals and a more robust feature-set. The only areas in which the Note 5 has its younger sibling beat is in sheer screen size and the inclusion of S Pen support.

Neither of these are compelling enough reasons to opt for the Note 5 over the Galaxy S7, we'd argue. Even taking these into account, though, the biggest obstacle remains the fact that Samsung is not going to sell the Note 5 in the UK.

Once one of the most popular Android brands around, HTC has fallen out of favour with smartphone users - many of whom have opted for Samsung's sleeker, shinier flagship devices.

However, the company is hoping to reverse this trend with the new HTC 10, its latest attempt at reclaiming its position as a top-tier Android manufacturer.

Casing

HTC has maintained a unique aesthetic style throughout its One portfolio, with a distinctive curved rear shell and brushed aluminium finish. The HTC 10 still has a curved back, but the effect of it is dramatically lessened by a massive chamfer on the rear, lending it a distinctive look.

HTC has also gone for a semi-gloss finish, as opposed to the glossier 'bare metal' look of previous One models. The result is a sleek and professional-looking device. Both phones have fingerprint readers built into their Home buttons.

Aesthetics are in the eye of the beholder, but the HTC 10 looks far less distinctive than the Galaxy S7's glass-and-metal body. The S7 is one of the most attractive and well-built handsets on the market, and the HTC 10 still lags behind.

It's also slightly chunkier than the S7, coming in at 1.1mm thicker and almost 10g heavier. It's not overweight by any metric and we'll have to wait and see for a final review unit to see how they compare in-hand.

Display

The HTC 10 has a 5.2in '2K' screen, which may fool some potential buyers into thinking it's closer to a 4K resolution than other display standards. It is, in fact, the same 2560x1440 pixel resolution as the 5.1in Samsung Galaxy S7. The difference in pixel density is negligible at less than 15 pixels per inch.

What is different is the technology behind the display - the HTC 10 uses a Super LCD 5 display, rather than the Super AMOLED panel adopted by Samsung.

The HTC 10 has also bought back capacitive buttons, after opting for software buttons for previous iterations of its flagship line.

Performance and storage

Anyone with half an eye on current smartphone trends won't be surprised to learn that the HTC 10 comes with 4GB of RAM and a Snapdragon 820 CPU, as it's fast becoming standard issue for new flagships.

It's also basically the same setup found in the Galaxy S7. The only difference is that in some territories, the Snapdragon 820 has been switched out for Samsung's own-brand Exynos 8890 processor.

The Exynos uses eight cores with Big.Little architecture, while the Snapdragon 820 is a quad-core model. Both are clocked at similar speeds, however - 2.2Ghz for the HTC 10, compared to 2.3Ghz for the Galaxy S7.

Both phones come in 32 and 64GB variants with the ability to add more storage using micro SD cards.

Battery

Both devices come equipped with a 3,000mAh battery, which powered the S7 through 18 hours worth of video playback in our battery benchmark. HTC are making strong claims, touting a full two days of battery life on a single charge.

The HTC 10 can ostensibly charge faster than the S7, although the two companies are claiming the same charge time - 50 per cent battery from 30 minutes charge.

The HTC 10 has also moved to USB Type-C, a charging standard that's becoming more and more common, while the Galaxy S7 still uses MicroUSB.

Camera

Camera technology appears to be the area that an increasing number of manufacturers are prioritising for their new devices, HTC and Samsung among them.

HTC has evidently spent a lot of time and effort on beefing up the 10's camera, packing in a 12MP Ultrapixel 2 camera, second generation laser autofocus and a larger aperture.

The HTC 10 has the same number of megapixels as the Galaxy S7's camera, but has physically larger pixels - 1.55m, versus 1.4 m on the S7. This means that the 10 should be able to capture more light, theoretically resulting in better low-light photos.

However, this is offset by the S7's larger f/1.7 aperture size, which should let in more light compared to the HTC 10's f/1.8 aperture. The S7 also features phase-detection autofocus, a method used by many DSLR cameras - although not necessarily better than laser autofocus.

Both cameras also feature the ability to capture photos in the RAW format, frequently used by professional photographers and editors, as well as fine-grained manual camera controls and optical image stabilisation.

Software

Both HTC and Samsung have listened to criticisms of their custom Android overlays - Sense UI and TouchWiz, respectively - and scaled them back, bringing them more in line with Google's Material Design.

HTC has even worked directly with Google to "reboot the Android experience", removing duplicate apps which should result in a more streamlined experience. This means that some of the default apps, such as music and gallery software, will be from Google, and some will be from HTC.

Underneath the overlays, both phones run Android Marshmallow 6.0, meaning they have all the latest features of Android's current operating system.

In an unusual move, Apple updated its iPhone line mid-cycle this year. It introduced the iPhone SE, a lower-cost and compact alternative to the iPhone 6s that directly replaces the iPhone 5s.

It's a smaller, more affordable iPhone than the lead models. It may also entice buyers who wouldn't have considered buying the iPhone 5s because it was old'.

Like any iPhone, the iPhone SE is not a budget phone, though. But then neither is the Samsung Galaxy S7, the latest Android smartphone from Cupertino's arch rival. Oddly, Samsung hasn't offered a mini' version of its Galaxy flagship range since the S5 Mini leaving us to compare Apple's small, single-handed phone against Samsung's bigger, two-handed titan.

Pricing and availability

There's quite a disparity in price when buying SIM-free. The iPhone SE starts at 395 inc VAT, the Galaxy S7 569 inc VAT. It's not an entirely fair comparison, though, because at that price the Galaxy S7 has 32GB of storage while the iPhone SE has 16GB.

There's also a 64GB version of the SE available for 439, still cheaper than the 32GB Galaxy S7.

Casing and screen

These phones do not have entirely brand-new casings. Both use a predecessor's blueprint. The iPhone SE looks a lot like the iPhone 5s and the Samsung Galaxy S7 looks very similar to the Galaxy S6.

Even so, they are both expensive-feeling devices. The iPhone SE's casing uses mostly aluminium while the Galaxy S7 uses aluminium alloy for its sides and Gorilla Glass 4 for its front and back panels.

Even though the iPhone SE is based on a casing from 2012, with a relatively wide screen surround and chamfered edges, it is still much smaller than the Galaxy S7. The width and thickness of a phone largely determine how big it feels in the hand, and the iPhone SE is smaller in both respects.

It's 7.6mm thick and 58.6mm wide. The Galaxy S7 is 7.9mm thick and 69.5mm wide, more than a centimetre wider. The SE's smaller dimensions are no surprise as Apple was looking to update its smallest iPhone.

Like the iPhone 5s, the iPhone SE has a sharp 4in IPS LCD display with a 1,136 x 640 pixel resolution. It's a small-screened phone aimed at people with small hands.

The S7 has a much larger 5.1in screen using a Super AMOLED panel. This has a resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels. While the difference in sharpness will be imperceptible to most, the S7 should have far better contrast.

Unlike the more expensive iPhones, the iPhone SE does not have a pressure-sensitive "3D Touch" screen. It's also not water resistant like the S7 which has full, flap-free IP68 waterproofing. Both phones have a fingerprint scanner as part of the Home button.

Both phones have 802.11ac Wi-Fi and NFC. However, while the Samsung Galaxy S7's NFC can be used to pair with compatible headphones and wireless speakers, the iPhone SE's NFC chip is currently only used for Apple Pay.

Apple has the advantage on this particular point: Apple Pay is accepted fairly widely in the UK while Samsung Pay and Android Pay are launching soon' in Britain.

Battery, storage and performance

The Galaxy S7 brings back the microSD slot missing from the Galaxy S6, letting you augment the 32GB/64GB internal storage cheaply. This is doubly beneficial now that 128GB microSD cards are cheap (from 40), while 128GB phones are certainly not.

As ever with iPhones, the SE's storage is non-expandable, with a still-fairly-weighty 80 difference between the two 16GB and 64GB models.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 in the UK has an octa-core Exynos 8890 CPU with four cores clocked at 2.3GHz and four lower-power cores at 1.6GHz. In other territories the phone uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, which is a slightly less powerful quad-core processor.

The iPhone SE uses the same processor as the iPhone 6S, a dual-core Apple A9. The S7 has 4GB RAM, where the iPhone SE probably has 2GB. The A9 in the 6s is far more powerful than it looks on paper, keeping up with the Exynos for the most part. Even so, we'll have to wait and see how the SE's A9 compares in our benchmarks.

One of the key claims made of iPhone SE is that it lasts longer than the iPhone 5s between charges. Just as Apple doesn't talk about RAM much, it doesn't reference mAh figures. However, the SE is almost certainly in the 1600-1700mAh range. The Samsung Galaxy S7 has a much larger 3000mAh battery.

We'll have to wait for an iPhone SE review unit to run our benchmarks, but comparing the battery life scores of the S7 and 5s in our tests give us an idea of what to expect. The S7 lasted just under 18 hours in our video playback rundown test, while the 5s managed a shorter but still respectable 14 and a half hours.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 supports inductive Qi and PMA wireless charging standards. We don't think this is of much use, unless you have a physical impairment in your fingers that would make cable plugging and unplugging difficult, as you still need a cabled charging plate.

More useful is fast charging using the bundled Samsung Fast Charge plug. This charges the phone to 80 per cent very quickly, in well under an hour, by increasing voltage from 5V to 9V. Apple currently offers no similar tech for its phones, but the relatively small battery cells in the SE should keep charge times reasonably short.

Camera and sensors

2016 has seen several phone-makers actually reduce the sensor resolution of their rear cameras as part of efforts to improve low-light performance. 12 megapixel sensors are used in both the iPhone SE and Samsung Galaxy S7.

The Galaxy S7 has an on-paper advantage when it comes to camera sensors, even though the iPhone SE uses the same sensor as the more expensive iPhone 6s. First, its sensor is larger, at 1/2.6 inch to the iPhone's 1/3 inch. It sensor pixels are therefore larger too. The S7's are 1.4 microns across, the iPhone SE's 1.22 microns. With the iPhone 6s, Apple claimed a variety of techniques help compensate for the smaller sensor and the 6s camera does, for the most part, hold up against the S7's. It'll be interesting to see if this is also the case for the SE.

Samsung's lens has a wider aperture of f/1.7 to the iPhone's f/2.2 and optical image stabilisation. This will further increase the light that reaches the sensor. The iPhone SE has "Auto Image Stabilization", but it is software and accelerometer-based, not hardware that actually moves the lens/sensor to compensate for movement. Only the much larger iPhone 6 and 6s Plus phablets have true OIS.

While both phones have on-sensor phase detection autofocus, the S7's phase detection covers the whole sensor, the whole field of view, while the iPhone SE only offers PDAF at certain (unspecified) points.

The iPhone SE's selfie camera doesn't match the iPhone 6s forward facing camera. It uses a basic 1.2-megapixel sensor where the Galaxy S7 has a larger, higher-resolution 5-megapixel sensor with a fast f/1.7 lens.

Both phones have a display flash feature, which drives the screen's brightness to its limits in order to act like a near-field flash.

Preliminary Conclusions

The Samsung Galaxy S7 is better specified than the iPhone SE on paper in some areas, most notably when it comes to the camera.

However, the iPhone SE is a much more pocketable and easier to hold phone, which is its whole reason to exist beyond its sub-iPhone 6S price. Plus, for the most part, its specification's are mostly on par with those of the 6s.

This year's MWC conference in Barcelona was unusually interesting: alongside the more predictable iterative upgrades to flagship models there was some genuine and truly exciting innovation in handsets and their accessories.

For a good illustration, look no further than the contrast between the new high-end Android phones from South Korean rivals Samsung and LG. Launched at the show, the Samsung Galaxy S7 is a clear step onward from the S6 it replaces, but it's hardly revolutionary.

LG's new G5, on the other hand, isn't just a radical change to last year's G4: it's quite unlike anything we've seen before in a smartphone, supporting modular, pluggable components that add extra features. Between them, the two phones offer plenty of contrast. Here's how their features and specifications compare in detail.

Pricing and availability, casing and screen

Samsung offers the Galaxy S7 in two models; the 569 Galaxy S7 and the 639 S7 Edge. Both go on sale in the UK on 11 March and have quad HD (2,550x1,440) Super AMOLED screens, but while the S7 measures 5.1in diagonally, the S7 Edge is 5.5in.

LG is yet to confirm the launch date or price of the G5, but it's thought that it will go on sale in April, priced around the 500 mark. At 5.3in its QHD screen splits the two Samsungs on size and uses IPS Quantum technology - more efficient than a regular LCD panel, but slightly less so than Samsung's organic LED alternative.

When locked, both have always-on displays (AOD) which show important reminders or messages while the screen remains largely powered down. From what we've seen so far, the quality of both screens is spectacular.

As you might expect, the phones' dimensions are dictated by their screens: the Samsung S7 is smallest at 142.4 x 69.6 x 7.9mm, the S7 Edge biggest at 150.9 x 72.6 x 7.7mm, and the G5 splits them at 149.4 x 73.9 x 7.3mm. LG is yet to announce the weight of the G5, but we'd expect a similar figure to the Galaxy S7 models, which weigh in at 152 and 157 grams.

The Galaxy S7 series inherits the gorgeous and glossy aluminium alloy and glass casing of the S6 with few changes: as before, the screen of the Edge variant is curved on each side of the phone, but the rear of the standard S7 now also curves at the edges. The G5 has a new and a similarly swish metal and glass design, yet LG has opted for a matte finish to the rear for extra grip. That's a good thing: while the Galaxy S7 is dust and waterproofed to IP68, the G5 isn't, so you don't want to drop it into your drink.

Battery, storage and performance

Judging solely by specifications, the Galaxy S7 should have the most grunt. UK models are powered by a new Samsung Exynos 8890 processor with eight-cores, four of which are clocked at 2.3GHz and four at 1.6GHz. There's a new 12-core Mali-T880 graphics processor, too, and water-cooling to keep everything from burning a hole in your pocket.

The G5 gets a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, which has four cores clocked at 2.1GHz - it's likely to prove slower, but it should still be more than adequate - we'll know for sure when we've had the chance to test both phones.

To prevent battery life suffering, Samsung has packed in more powerful cells rated at 3,000mAh in the S7 and 3,600mAh in the S7 Edge. These aren't replaceable, however: the G5 may get only 2,800mAh, but when its battery goes flat you could swap it for another one and keep going.

Both the S7 and G5 support fast charging, with Samsung claiming 100 minutes or less for a full charge on a wired connection. The G5 can fast charge too, but while you can top up the S7 on either a Qi or PMA inductive wireless charging station, LG's phone has to be cabled up.

Both phones launch with 32GB of onboard storage and have 4GB of RAM, and both have microSD slots for expansion. While the Galaxy S7 takes a maximum 200GB card, the G5 can handle a colossal 2TB.

Camera and sensors

Both phones get significant camera upgrades from their predecessors. The new 12 megapixel (MP) rear camera on the Galaxy S7 gets larger pixels, for less noise in low light photography, and both it and the 5MP front camera move from f/1.9 to a wider f/1.7 aperture, which lets about a quarter more light reach the sensor.

LG has gone in an altogether different direction, doubling up the G5's 16MP rear camera with a second 8MP wide-angle rear camera with a 135 field of view. You can switch between the two, as needed, in LG's camera app. At the front, there's a standard 8MP camera.

Both handsets also have the NFC chip necessary to support Android Pay when it finally reaches the UK, while the S7 also has Samsung's proprietary MST - used by the equally elusive Samsung Pay to emulate the magnetic strip on a credit card if the point-of-sale terminal doesn't support contactless. Each has a fingerprint sensor to help secure payments and protect access to the phone.

Preliminary Conclusions

The G5 looks broadly competitive on paper and its modular design is intriguing, adding greatly to its appeal. For launch, LG announced only a handful of modules, or 'Friends', and only two of these actually use the G5's modular slot.

The first is a photography-focussed plug-in with a hand grip, physical camera controls and bigger battery. The second is a Bang & Olufsen-designed high-definition audio device.

Other friends include a two-lens camera module for recording 360 video, a VR headset and a bizarre, rolling ball home security/pet-watching device. It's not clear exactly which other modules, made by whom, will be available, but it's certainly an idea with great potential. Much will depend on how much marketing, technical and commercial strategic muscle LG puts behind these swappable modules. If they're too expensive, hard to find, unreliable, made only by LG or LG changes the design so you can't use them with future LG G phones, then it will all be little more than a gimmick.

While a final verdict will have to wait until a full review, it's already clear that the Galaxy S7 and LG G5 are like chalk and cheese. The former takes a thorough but iterative step forward as a mainstream, high-end Android phone, while the latter heads off in an imaginative and intriguing direction that could prove foolhardy, or the start of something quite brilliant.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 is set to be one of the hottest items on this year's release calendar, following the highly praised Galaxy S6.

But how does it stack up against the latest in long-time rival Sony's Xperia range, the Xperia Z5? We face them off against each other to see who comes out on top.

Display

Samsung hasn't changed too much about the display from last year's Galaxy S7 -- a sensible choice, given that it was one of the best around. It's still a 5.1in screen, with a QHD resolution of 1440 x 2560, presumably still using Samsung's Super AMOLED technology.

By comparison, the Xperia Z5's is marginally bigger at 5.2in with a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels. The almost imperceptible difference in pixel density isn't as important as brightness and contrast. Samsung's display will likely trump Sony's screen here.

Casing

As with the display, Samsung hasn't changed a great deal about the S7's casing. While there have been some tweaks to the chassis of its stablemate, the S7 Edge, the standard model hasn't seen much alteration.

It's still glass (most probably Gorilla Glass 4), and it's ergonomically rounded. It's also curved on the back though, much like the Galaxy Note 5. This should make it more ergonomic to hold in the hand, but we'll have to wait for proper testing.

One big plus is that the camera housing now protrudes a scant 0.46mm from the phone's back, meaning we can kiss goodbye to the unslightly camera bulge from the previous Galaxy S6.

While the S7 has softer, rounded edges, the Z5 is much more stark and angular. Despite the ever-so-slight curve to the phone's sides, it feels boxy in the hand, and the lines are sharp and precise.

Like the S7, it's also glass-backed, but it's frosted and doesn't use Gorilla Glass. Although we like the more sedate frosted finish on the Z5, the fact that it's not Gorilla Glass means it's more prone to shattering, which is a shame.

In terms of weight and dimensions, the two handsets should roughly be on a par.

Processor

Samsung hasn't revealed the internal specifications of its device, but it has boasted that it will be 30 per cent faster than the S6. The claims are strikingly similar to the 30 per cent performance boost advertised by its Exynos 8890 CPU, indicating that Samsung has opted to include its own processor in the S7.

If so, it'll be an octa-core chip with big.LITTLE architecture, including four 2.3GHZ cores, and four cores clocked at 1.6GHz. It will also support high performance gaming and 600Mbps download speeds.

The Z5 is outfitted with the Snapdragon 810 processor. It's also octa-core, but is clocked at slightly slower speeds -- 2GHz and 1.5GHz for its respective core clusters. It performed well in our benchmarks, but was let down by issues with overheating. To try and head off any overheating issues, Samsung has taken the drastic step of using watercooling in the S7 - a bizarre first for any leading smartphone.

In terms of RAM, all signs point towards the S7 getting a 4GB allocation. The Z5 has 'only' 3GB, and while that's still no mean amount, that extra 1GB in the S7 should make a noticeable difference to multitasking and future-proofing.

The Z5 was outperformed in our benchmarks by the S6, so we'd expect the S7 to better it considerably. A new generation flagship phone typically brings more sophisticated internals and better optimised software, so we'd be surprised if Samsung's new device doesn't leave Sony in the dust.

The Samsung S7 also uses the newly released Vulkan graphics API -- the first smartphone to utilize the new standard. It promises higher graphics performance and image quality, while limiting the heavy lifting done by the CPU.

Waterproofing

One of Samsung's most controversial decisions with the S6 was the removal of IP68 water and dust-proofing and expandable storage. As two particularly beloved features, their loss was a sore point for many Galaxy fanboys.

Thankfully, Samsung fans can rejoice in the knowledge that the company has listened to its user-base and reinstated both waterproofing and expandable storage, up to a maximum of 200GB.

Sony has continued to support both features on its flagship range for a number of years, and has leaned heavily on the water-resistance in the past.

However, numerous reports of waterproof Xperia devices turning out to be not quite so waterproof after all has led to Sony significantly revising its marketing. It now frames the Xperia range as 'splashproof' rather than fully submersible.

With that in mind, we'd be slightly more confident getting Samsung's phone wet than we would the Z5. However, it's safe to say that it's not a particularly good idea to take either of them swimming.

Battery

The S7 has a 3,000mAh battery, beating its predecessor by almost 500mAh. This should push the battery life back up to the levels seen in the Galaxy S5, after the last version took a little bit of a dip.

Battery life is usually one of the Xperia range's strong suits, but the Z5 was a little disappointing in this area, possibly due to the Snapdragon 810's aforementioned overheating.

The Z5 only lasted 11h 29m in our battery tests, whereas the S6 lasted over two hours longer. Taking into account the S7's larger battery, the new device is likely to match this figure at the very least.

On the other hand, the Z5 has a suite of excellent battery-saver modes at its disposal. They have much more granularity than Samsung's, allowing users to fine-tune their battery consumption to eke out their power for longer if they need to.

The S7 does have more charging options. It retains the S6's wireless charging, via the Qi and PowerMat standards, as well as its adaptive fast-charging. The Z5, by contrast, just has fast-charging.

Camera

Camera quality is one of the major ways smartphone manufacturers attempt to differentiate themselves from the competition. By and large, Apple is the undisputed leader of the smartphone photography space, but its competitors are quickly catching up.

Leading the charge against the iPhone are Sony and Samsung. Both the Z5 and the S6 had absolutely superb cameras, with excellent levels of detail and sharpness, although the S6's sensor was better at noise reduction.

For its newest device, Samsung has made some improvements in one main area - low light photography. It's upped the aperture size to f/1.7, as opposed to f/1.9 on the S6 and f/2.0 on the Z5.

This allows 25 per cent more light to reach the sensor, resulting in much higher quality shots in poor lighting conditions. The sensor itself has also been retooled. The number of megapixels has been reduced, but they're now bigger so they can absorb more light.

The S7 also has a dual pixel sensor, which should improve autofocus speed and accuracy.

Preliminary conclusions

The Sony Xperia Z5, while not a bad phone by any stretch of the imagination, lost out to the Samsung Galaxy S6 last year, when they were both new. Compared to Samsung's next-generation flagship, it should be no surprise that the Xperia Z5 is hardly any competition.

There's still a fair amount we don't know about the S7, and we can't run a full comparison until we test it in lab conditions. However, if what we've seen so far is any indication, Samsung's latest smartphone is going to trump Sony's Z5 on almost every level.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 range was wildly popular, but that didn't stop many long-time Sammy smartphone fans from grumbling. While the S6 jettisoned cheap-feeling plastic in favour of more premium-feeling materials, it also did away with the micro SD slot and removable battery. The new Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge have addressed some of these flaws, while also pushing forwards the mobile state of the art.

Casing and screen

The Galaxy S7 Edge and S7 both retain the same overall appearance of their predecessors using a glass and metal-rimmed casing. The biggest difference is that the rear of the plain S7 now curves at the edges, similar to the Galaxy Note 5. As with the Note we suspect this won't make much difference to comfort, but it certainly looks classy.

Even the S7 Edge is a little curvier than before, with both the top and bottom edges of the phone curved in addition to the left and right hand-side edges. It's a much more subtle effect than the already gently curved sides though.

The refined casings have other, more practical benefits. Both flagship phones will be water and dust resistant, rated to survive immersion in shallow water for up to 30 minutes. Although batteries remain sealed, the micro SD slot is back which will please hoarders of huge files. Micro SD cards will slot into the same tray as the SIM card.

One big point that's easy to overlook is that Samsung has taken the opportunity to simplify its flagship range. The S6, S6 Edge and S6 Active have 5.1in screens, while the S6 Edge Plus measures 5.7in.

The S7 range will be more straightforward. The S7 will have a 5.1in screen. If you want a curved screen then you'll only have one choice the phablet S7 Edge will only come in a single 5.7in size with the Plus variant consigned to history. Both screens will have a resolution of 2560x1440 pixels.

Camera

The cameras in the S6 range were the first Android phone cameras to not only give the famed Apple iPhone cameras a run for their money, but exceed them for image quality in some cases.

Although we still need to put the S7 cameras through our range of tests, on paper the new S7 phone cameras sound very impressive indeed. Although the resolution of the sensor is down from 16 megapixels to 12, each megapixel should be bigger. Combined with a wider aperture of f1.7 compared to the S6's f1.9, it should excel in low light.

Autofocus should be faster too, as the S7 and S7 Edge support phase detection autofocus. This kind of autofocus technology is usually confined to DSLRs, but has started appearing on more and more smartphones.

Water-cooled processor and battery

As with previous Galaxy phones, the processor will vary by geography with some S7s getting an octa core (2.3GHz Quad + 1.6GHz Quad) 64 bit 14 nm processor, while others get a quad core (2.15GHz Dual + 1.6GHz Dual) 64 bit 14 nm chip instead. Samsung didn't confirm which specific chip models it's using.

Update: according to information provided Vodafone, the processor in the UK version of the Galaxy S7 will be the eight-core Samsung Exynos 8890.

Bizarrely, Samsung did confirm that the processor would be water-cooled a technique previously confined to high-end overclocked gaming PCs. How this will work in practice and whether it will have any effect on durability, battery life or in-hand comfort remain to be seen. There will no doubt be plenty of RAM at 4GB, possibly even more.

Both the S7 and S7 Edge will have big batteries at 3000mAh and 3600mAh respectively. Huge capacity batteries are by no means a guarantee of long battery life software optimisations and the tuning of all the other components play a big part too but we'd be surprised if Samsung didn't improve upon the battery life of the S6 series, or least maintain it at the same level.

Inductive wireless' charging as well as wired fast charging will both be supported by the S7s, as with the S6 series.

Android and extra features

Both the S7 and S7 Edge will come with Android 6.0 Marshmallow pre-installed. We didn't get the chance to dig too deeply during our hands-on, but Samsung's much loathed but also much improved TouchWiz interface looked largely untouched from its S6 incarnation.

One definite change is that the curved sides of the S7 Edge can now be set so that it's always on displaying basic information such as the time, calendar or date. The slide-out edge interface has also been tweaked with two columns of bigger icons and panels of information. This tweaked edge interface will also be available to S6 Edge owners in the upcoming Marshmallow update.

Price and availability

Exact pricing and release dates for the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge haven't yet been confirmed, but we'd expect both phones to cost roughly the same as their S6 predecessors.