Further S7 reportage.
The camera is absolutely the tits, review after review does big it up large style but having used it a bit now it is indeed fantastic, especially in low light conditions. It's also got some fancy new shit going to make it focus super-quick and I can confirm this is the case. The video it shoots is remarkably good too. Loads of examples out on the wibbly wobbly web if you care to look.
S7 Camera SamplesI know the Nexus 5 was never much well regarded for its camera so it's probably not a fair comparison, but I'm genuinely impressed with the camera on the S7.
Beyond that the always-on display is proving to be marginally useful, it's handy being able to see the time at a glance at all times, but the customisation options for what appears on the always-on screen are limited and effectively amount to about seven variations of the same thing. It does hit the battery a little bit as well, around 1% per hour by my reckoning, to the extent that overnight the S7 will lose a bit more battery than my Nexus 5 did. The always-on screen can be turned off (SO NOT THAT ALWAYS-ON, eh?), but on balance I'll retain it.
Other things, it has an RGB notification LED like the Nexus 5 had. I'm a big fan of LEDs on the front of phones to indicate various notifications, charging yes/no, and other such stuff - so I am pleased by this. Apparently not all phones have them and/or they're not RGB? The multi-colour thing I find really handy as I can tell what it's indicating just by the colour and pulse pattern, and as such if I want to just ignore it for a bit.
The fingerprint reader is something I've really grown to like despite being somewhat ambivalent about it before purchase. It's really fast and accurate and I've given it several fingers in several orientations (fnaar), so I can unlock the phone with either hand and always in a way that's convenient and comfortable. This is an example of GOOD TECHNOLOGY I think, unlike a lot of technology which I find to be POINTLESS.
Other than that it's a smartphone innit, and it does smartphone stuff. I haven't tested the water resistance and I have no intention of doing so, I am far happier with the Google Launcher installed than the Samsung one, even though the Samsung one was a lot less horrible than their previous fuck-ups of the lovely Android UI.
Oh yes it pumps out surprisingly decent sound through its single speaker, I mean, you won't be replacing your home cinema setup with it but still, impressive for a tiny speaker in a phone.
The wireless charging works fine and it seems to charge quicker than my Nexus 5 did on the same pads, which is curious. However, one of the pads is on an angle and the S7 just slides down it, it still charges OK because its fall is broken by the bottom end of the phone hitting the table, but it'd be nice if it sort of stuck to it like the Nexus 5 did. It's only had a wire plugged into it once (when I first got it and wanted to get it up to 100% ASAP), but I imagine I'll be doing all my charging wirelessly going forward. (This feature alone was enough for me to put the S7 above the 6P in my desirability ratings.)
Overall, I like it and am content to recommend it to others even though it is STUPIDLY EXPENSIVE for a fucking phone.