Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) review

Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) review :

Introduction

Samsung reinvented itself last year and that gave the A-series a chance for a coup. It took the great new design from the S-phones and parred it down to a mid-range price.

The Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) is essentially an A5 (2016) stretched to 5.5" screen size. This sort of size has turned into somewhat of a sweetspot for a phablet - any bigger and the phone becomes unwieldy, any smaller and you lose the benefit of the big screen .

While the A5 (2016) competed with the company's flagship - the Galaxy S6 - the A7 (2016) is placed somewhat differently - it can't even hope for taking on the Galaxy S6 edge+ or the Note5, so it's instead targeting a market populated by a number of Chinese-made phablets.

Key features

• Available with a hybrid dual-SIM/microSD slot
• Metal frame sandwiched between 2.5D Gorilla Glass 4
• 5.5" Super AMOLED of 1,080 x 1,920px resolution, ~401ppi
• Octa-core Cortex-A53 processor, 3GB of RAM, Adreno 405 GPU; Snapdragon 615 chipset (also available with an Exynos 7580 chipset)
• Android 5.1 Lollipop with TouchWiz, theme support
• 13MP camera with f/1.9 aperture and OIS; 1080p video recording; 5MP front-facing camera, 1080p video
• 16GB of built-in storage; 11GB user available; microSD slot (same as SIM2 slot)
• LTE Cat. 4 150Mbps, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, GPS, GLONASS, Bluetooth 4.1, ANT+, NFC, FM Radio
• 3,300mAh battery

Main disadvantages

• No 4K video or 1080p@60fps
• Limited storage out of the box, no 32GB version
• No MHL (but USB OTG is supported)

Compared to original Galaxy A7

• Same screen size, resolution
• Same chipset, but more RAM (3GB vs. 2GB)
• Same camera specs, but has OIS
• Bigger battery, 3,300mAh vs. 2,600mAh
• 2.5D Gorilla Glass 4 on the back

The relationship between the old and new Galaxy A5 and A7 is strange. The original A5 left to be desired and the new one is a great upgrade... except it's priced too high. The A7 was pretty solid and so the new A7 (2016) isn't a huge improvement, but it's pricing is on point.

      
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) official images

And the new features, while few in number, do a great job of transforming the phablet into a true premium mid-ranger. The Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) brings a first-rate fingerprint reader and Samsung Pay support.

It also looks to have some impressive photography chops on paper - with a bright f/1.9 aperture and OIS. Not to mention the AMOLED screen with perfectly calibrated colors.

We'll check up on that later, first let's have a look at the new design, which features 2.5D Gorilla Glass 4 on the back, just like on the front.

Unboxing the Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)

The retail package stocks all necessities. There's a Quick Charge 2.0 charger and a microUSB 2.0 cable to go with it. You also get an in-year headset with a three-button remote.

  
Galaxy A7 (2016) retail package

Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) 360° spin

The Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) is marginally smaller than the S6 edge+ and the Galaxy Note5. In terms of thickness it falls between the two and it weighs as much as the Note5. Compared to its sibling, the Galaxy A5 (2016), it's slightly taller and wider. Unless you have both side by side, you can't really tell which phone you're seeing.

Hardware

Samsung design - indeed smartphone design in general - doesn't allow for much variety, so the devil is in the details. We're glad to say, the Galaxy A7 (2016) has nailed the details.

   
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) and A5 (2016)

It's the combination of the sculpted 2.5D Gorilla Glass 4 on the front and back and the chamfered metal frame that bring along a great premium feeling. For one, these are some high-quality materials, for another, the rounded edges make the phone very comfortable to hold even with its 172g.

Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) next to the Galaxy Note5

The Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) has not changed much from its predecessor. It weighs more and is a millimeter thicker too, most probably due to the bigger battery (2,600mAh to 3,300mAh).

Improvements start at the front. The Home key is now a fingerprint reader that secures your phone and Samsung Pay transactions. Also, the selfie camera above the screen has a brighter aperture, though a slightly narrower field of view (FoV).

  
New selfie camera • Fingerprint reader home key

The camera on the back shows a much bigger improvement. For starters, it doesn't protrude as much. It also adds Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) and a brighter aperture for better-looking videos and better night shots.

   
The camera barely protrudes from the back

It does not go as high as 4K video or 1080p@60fps video and it uses the same chipset as the 2015 model. There's an extra gig of RAM, more on performance later.

Also, it has a single LED flash (again) with no sign of the biometric sensors that the S-series and the Notes boast.

Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) next to the Galaxy Note5

The large card slot is on the right side of the A7 and on our unit it can house two nanoSIM cards or one SIM and one microSD. This means you can't have all three cards at the same time. Note that there's a version of the phone, SM-710FD, where SIM1+microSD go on one tray and SIM2 is on a separate tray. That solves this issue, but not all Galaxy A7 (2016) dual-SIMs have two trays, so watch out.

And there's a single-SIM version, of course.

Anyway, also on the right is the Power key. Like the volume keys on the left, it's rather small and thin, making it not very comfortable to use.

   
Right side • Card tray • Left side • Volume rocker

The bottom holds the remaining items of interest. The 3.5mm audio jack and the microUSB 2.0 are right next to each other, as are the single loudspeaker and one of the mics (there's another one on top).

   
3.5mm audio jack and microUSB 2.0 port on bottom • A close-up • the top side

The Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) comes in Black, White, Gold and Pink. The metal sides and the material behind the glass on the back are painted the same color while the front is black on all but the White option. Yes, the front is black even on the Pink one.

In the hand, the A7 (2016) carries its weight much better than the A5 (2016), even though the difference in physical size isn't that big. In fact, we had both at the same time (both in Gold) and they were really hard to tell apart.

Display

The Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) comes with a 5.5" Super AMOLED display, which has 1080p resolution (that's 401ppi). All this sounds familiar to owners of the original A7, but the matrix has been improved, leading to better image quality.

For one, it's brighter. On manual you can get up to 425 nits, a healthy upgrade over the old one. In Auto mode, however, the maximum jumps up to 536 nits, almost 200 nits better than the original. At the minimum setting the display puts out less than 2 nits - even the sleepiest eyes can look at the screen without getting blinded.

The Galaxy A7 (2016) suffers from the same flicker issue as the A5 (2016). The effect isn't noticeable to the naked eye, but it's definitely there and may cause headaches in people who are susceptible. The effect grows stronger when you reduce the brightness (especially under 40%) as it's part of how AMOLED displays are dimmed.

Display test	100% brightness
	Black, cd/m2	White, cd/m2	Contrast ratio
Samsung Galaxy A7	0.00	349	∞
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)	0.00	425	∞
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) max auto	0.00	536	∞
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+	-	410	∞
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ max auto	-	540	-
Xiaomi Redmi Note 3	0.42	403	953
Meizu MX5	0	346.00	∞
Meizu m1 metal	0.50	390	780
Motorola Moto X Play	0.41	620	1520