Samsung Galaxy Note 7 review – CNET

The Good The Galaxy Note 7 is a beautiful, capable Android phone that showcases Samsung’s best in design, battery life, speed and features. The 64GB base model leaves you plenty of space for photos, videos and games, and it’s a real improvement over 2015’s Note 5.

The Bad It’s pricier than almost every other Android phone, and a little heavy. After seven iterations, there are still minor problems writing with the S Pen stylus. Fine particles, like beach sand, can wedge the stylus in its holder.

The Bottom Line The Galaxy Note 7 is the best no-compromise, big-screen phone you can buy if price is no object. All but the most devoted stylus lovers, however, will do just as well with the cheaper S7 models.

The 5.7-inch, stylus-slinging Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is a damn fine phone. Its sexy wraparound glass, precise S Pen and brilliant screen would impress anyone, but it’s ideal for artists, architects and people who would rather write with their own hand than type on a screen.

It has a gorgeous, symmetrical design that looks particularly stunning in Coral Blue. It takes great photos and has both the water resistance and expandable memory slot that last year’s Galaxy Note 5 lacked (oh yeah, there is no Note 6). Battery life goes on and on — but not as long as the Galaxy S7 Edge — and you can charge up wirelessly.

This is Samsung’s ultimate phone, with all the Edge’s curved-screen goodies and more: 64GB of storage instead of the Edge’s 32GB. An iris scanner for unlocking the phone with your eyes. A good, refreshed take on Android. A USB-C charger port that also charges up your other devices (you should buy a USB 3.1 cable for faster data speeds). New pen tricks to magnify, translate languages and make an animated GIF. A nighttime filter you can schedule to automatically give your weary, screen-staring eyes a break.

Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 looks awesome in…
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The question you have to ask yourself is how much all this is worth to you. Because the Note 7 is one of the most expensive phones you can buy. It’s comparable to Apple’s large-screen iPhone 6S Plus (the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are right around the corner), but costs more than the already pricey Edge, and twice the OnePlus 3, a CNET Editor’s Choice winner for its excellence as an all-round midprice phone. In the US, promotions that bundle a free memory card or Samsung wearable help soothe the sting.

The Note 7 will let you leave the laptop at your desk more often.

Josh Miller/CNET

As much as I loved my time with the compelling, beautiful, functional Note 7 — and I really did — I hesitate to recommend it to anyone who isn’t serious about using that digital S Pen to draw, write and navigate on the phone. The S Pen has some minor issues, too. It isn’t perfect at everything. Sometimes wielding the stylus feels natural; other times tapping and typing make more sense. (Though it does make really great annotated photos, Snapchat snaps and social media GIFs.)

At the end of the day, most people can easily live without the Note 7, especially with the capable S7 Edge a near doppelganger. If you’re ready to move on from the Note 4, switching to the Note 7 gets you more storage and power, an upgradable Android version and a far better S Pen. If you’re happy with the Note 5, wait a year. If not, you get waterproofing, expandable storage and software shortcuts on those curved edges. With its elevated features and fee, the Note 7 is for rarified buyers who delight in details. Buy it and you get an excellent phone — but if you aren’t going to use that pen, forget it.

• Here’s how the Note 7 compares to the S7 Edge, Motorola Moto Z, iPhone 6S and OnePlus 3

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 pricing and availability

August 19	$834-$880 (varies by carrier)	Blue, black and silver
September 2	£580-£630*	Blue, black and silver
August 19	AU$1,349	Black, silver and gold

* = based on conversion

Using the new S Pen stylus: Smooth, precise, tricked-out

Without the S Pen, the Note 7 is just a refined S7 Edge with steeper curved sides. This year’s digital stylus has a fine, precise point and senses 4,096 levels of pressure, double last year’s model. I wrote countless notes and a haiku, doodled all over, even handed the phone to CNET’s art director for his professional assessment. And? It’s very good. But, compared to a 10-inch tablet, the screen is a small for creating fine art, though it handles notes and more casual drawings very well.

You can sketch some really cool things with the Note 7. CNET’s art director, Marc Mendell, put my doodles to shame.

Josh Miller/CNET

A few things bothered me with execution. Including the Note Edge, this is the seventh Note phone ever made, so all S Pen maneuvers should be flawless by now. But I still found it hard to paint an entire canvas without on-screen buttons getting in the way (they’ll move if you get it right). It’s easy to accidentally exit or press unintended controls that mysteriously shift the layout into something you don’t want. That’s frustrating, especially when you can’t get figure out how to resume the original canvas.

Here’s what’s good about the new S Pen:

• Navigating with the pen keeps the screen cleaner and reduces repetitive-stress finger strain.
• There’s now just one Notes app for all your writing, not five separate apps.
• You can jot a note from the lock screen, and pin it there.
• The stylus won’t get stuck in its holder if you put it in upside down (it might actually spring across the room).
• The S Pen worked after we dunked the entire phone in 2.5 feet of water for 28 minutes (it’s rated for 30 minutes in about 5 feet of water).

Here’s what’s not so good:

Using the S Pen helps keep gross, oily prints off the screen.

Sarah Tew/CNET

• You can type faster with your fingers than you can handwrite, keyboard-trace or touch-type with the S Pen. Handwriting mode, where you write with the pen in a specific text field, created many errors, especially if you write quickly.
• You can only see the note you pin to the lock screen when you tap an icon…with your finger. It won’t respond to the S Pen. (Oh, the irony.) It’d be better to see the note ghosted onto the Always On display.
• A few times I worried I’d lose the stylus. Magnetic sides would make it a more loyal sidekick when the S Pen is outside its holder.
• At the beach, grains of sand wedged in between the pen and its holder, and wouldn’t dislodge with fingernails, a slim knife blade or a flat set of Swiss Army Knife tweezers. It’s forever stuck. An outlier case, but it could happen to you, too.

Streamlined Android software, new iris scanner and waterproofing

The Note 7 runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, but will upgrade to Android Nougat down the line. Samsung’s refreshed custom layer is a more colorful, trimmed down take on its TouchWiz software interface, and feels cleaner and easier to read. If you don’t like digging around, simply search the app tray and settings menu for what you need.