Things That Suck About The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge
Don't get me wrong. The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is brilliant smartphone. Started off as a 'me too iPhone', Samsung's Galaxy series now gives Apple's latest and greatest a run for its money. Especially, the Galaxy S7 edge is the most refined handset made by the Korean tech giant. Despite that though, the phone has some shortcomings. If you are planning to get yourself an S7 edge, here's what you need to know:
TouchWiz Aesthetics (or the lack of it)
Lets face it, Samsung's TouchWiz UI looks puerile. 'Garish' made love to 'gaudy' and Samsung's UI elements were born. The icons have no uniformity — they come in all size and shape. There are more colours than you would spot in a rainbow. The quick setting toggles are so crowded that it feels overwhelming. Overall, the interface looks fragmented with no sense of cohesiveness. I wonder how difficult it is to design a UI that does not make you cringe. This is definitely not what a user deserves from a high end device.
Bugs
Despite packing in a powerful Snapdragon 820 chipset, the Galaxy S7 edge does run into performance issues. For instance, every time you swipe to the Briefings pane, there is a noticeable stutter. Then, there are some silly restrictions such as not letting you change the position of the app drawer icon. No matter what you do, it sits there on the bottom right side of the screen. I would have preferred it somewhere in the middle.
Another thing worth mentioning is the organised icons. There is an option to arrange the icons alphabetically. However, installing a new app breaks this order again.
Muffled Speaker
A phone's loudspeaker performance gets a mention only if it is absolutely brilliant or downright disappointing. In the Galaxy S7 edge's case, it is the latter. When listening to music, I always plug in the earphones. However, for games and web videos I prefer the on-board speaker. The downward-facing loudspeaker is under-powered and sounds muffled. This could probably be the result of an effective waterproof design. To make things worse, the speaker is badly positioned. Hold it in the landscape mode, and you end up blocking the speaker.
Lacks FM Radio
Before telling me how FM radio is irrelevant in 2016, think of it as a backup. No matter how modern your car is, you don't let go of a stepney right? Similarly, FM radio comes in handy when for some reasons you are unable to access the mobile network. Lets not forget that it can can be your only source of vital information in an unlikely event of calamity that may take out most of the modern means of communications. So, make fun of this point as much as you want, but the terrestrial radio receiver is going to remain the most essential feature for years to come.
Fingerprint Magnet
The Galaxy S7 edge's glass back panel sure looks fancy. However, it doubles up as a fingerprint sampler. No matter how careful you are, the S7 edge's back gets smudgy every time you touch the phone. What's worse is that the shiny glass highlights the smudges in all its glory. It is not really a deal-breaker, but if you have an OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) for cleanliness, better carry a microfibre cloth with your brand new S7 edge.
