2016/08/02 10:16am PDTAug 2, 2016

With the announcement of the Samsung Galaxy Note7 today, I'm sure many of you are curious about how the newest member of the original phablet phamily stacks up with some of the other jumbo-sized phones on the market. For your convenience, I've thrown together a quick spec comparison.

Here's a rundown of how the Note7 stacks up against the S7 Edge, the always popular Nexus 6P, and, for old times sake, the Note5.

Feature	Samsung Note 7	Samsung S7 Edge	Samsung Note 5	Nexus 6P
Size	153.5 x 73.9 x 7.9 mm	150.9 x 72.6 x 7.7 mm	153.2 x 76.1 x 7.6 mm	159.3 x 77.8 x 7.3 mm
Weight	169 g	157 g	171 g	178 g
Screen/Resolution	Super AMOLED/5.7 inch/2560 x 1440	Super AMOLED/5.5 inch/2560 x 1440	Super AMOLED/5.7 inch/2560 x 1440	Super AMOLED/5.7 inch/2560 x 1440
Battery/Removable	3500 mAh/No	3600 mAh/No	3000 mAh/No	3450 mAh/No
USB Type	USB-Type C	MicroUSB	MicroUSB	USB-Type C
CPU	Snapdragon 820/Exynos 8890	Snapdragon 820/Exynos 8890	Exynos 7420	Snapdragon 810
Software	Android 6.0.1	Android 6.0.1	Android 6.0.1	Android 6.0.1
Memory	4GB	4GB	4GB	3 GB
Storage	64GB	32/64GB	32/64/128GB	32/64/128GB
SD Support	Yes Up To 256 GB	Yes Up To 256 GB	No	No
FM Radio	No	No	No	No
Bluetooth	4.2	4.2	4.2	4.2
NFC	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
WiFi	802.11 a/b/g/n/ac	802.11 a/b/g/n/ac	802.11 a/b/g/n/ac	802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Rear Camera	12MP/ƒ1.7	12MP/ƒ1.7	16MP/ƒ1.9	12MP/ƒ2.0
Rear Camera OIS	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Front Camera	5MP/ƒ1.7	5MP/ƒ1.7	5MP/ƒ1.9	8MP/ƒ2.4
Water Resistant	Yes/IP68	Yes/IP68	No	No
Fingerprint Sensor	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Iris Scanner	Yes	No	No	No
Stylus	Yes	No	Yes	No

Wow, what a spectacular comparison (terrible pun very much intended)! What do you guys think of all that? Are the upgrades the Note7 brings worth paying a higher price over the S7 Edge, or last year's Note5? Is there another monster phone that I should have included in the roundup? Share your opinions in the comments below, and other people will tell you how terrible they are. Isn't the internet great?!

Comments

Starcube

If T-Mobile ships it with a locked bootloader, it's DOA for me.
- jonathan3579
  
  I don't want to be the bearer of bad news but...
  - Starcube
    
    ...but what?
    - jonathan3579
      
      It's locked down same as the S7 siblings.
      - Starcube
        
        How do you know this if the phone is not even shipping yet?
      - jonathan3579
        
        I work for T-Mobile and already got hands on time with it from my Samsung rep.
      - Starcube
        
        Nexus it is, then!
- Nicholas Matranga
  
  What would you need to unlock it for?
  - Starcube
    
    Removing preinstalled carrier bloatware and tracking software (AdaptClient) and installing ad-blocking are my two biggest reasons. There are plenty more.
    - trapchan
      
      yes, this is the only reason to root phone, at least for me. removing bloatwares, shady apps, and installing adaway.
RespawnAnon

Soooo. I should just wait for the next Nexus...
- Heiro78
  
  if it has a microSD slot then yes!
  - Đức Thành
    
    It won't.
    - Felix Li
      
      But you can already store up to 2 weeks of continuous music playing on your phone!
      - 2kool4skool
        
        but what if I wanted to store 3 weeks of continuous music playing ?
      - Prezes Dyrektor
        
        Get two nexuses!
Alfu™

It's a grateful to be honest.
- Andrés
  
  did you mean "graveyard"??
  - Alfu™
    
    Lol 😁 just wanted to say it's a great phone. Thanks for noting.
Fan guy

Should've included the OnePlus 3 IMO
- Artem Russakovskii
  
  That's true, but you can say that about roughly 10 other phones. Maybe Jeff can do more spec comparison posts to follow up with other devices?
  - Jeff Beck
    
    Well, you are the one who pays me Artem, so that's kinda up to you.
    - Quint’s Sharking & Seashells
      
      Dayum!
    - FrankJL
      
      Jerry, jerry, jerry, jerry
    - Artem Russakovskii
      
      You have my blessing.
  - Andrés
    
    And, definetely, ZTE Axon 7.
    
    By the way, guys, there've been a few reviews of Axon 7, but they are all very brief. In some comments on the other website, i remember readers were counting or your review, saying that Android Police reviews are always exemplar.
    
    For example, we'd like to see in-depth power consumption tests, comparison with Note 4, S7, maybe this Note 7... If you could pay more attention to the Axon 7 please, and make an in-depth one??
    
    Assuming it's reasonable price (450 EUR) and similar specs to Note 7 (especially, amoled QHD screen, very important for some), this phone is getting a lot of attention now.
    
    thanks!!!
    - Artem Russakovskii
      
      We have 2 Axon 7 units, 1 for video and 1 for Ryan's text review, so you'll definitely be seeing those reviews up when they're ready.
      - Andrés
        
        hopefully soon! there's a thread on ZTE USA where people are hunting for good reviews with little luck: https://community.zteusa.com/thread/1478?start=0&tstart=0
      - Heiro78
        
        What do you guys do with your devices after you're done with the reviews? do you ship them back to the sender? If not, how about doing a quick rundown review of the device after 6 or 12 months?
      - Artem Russakovskii
        
        That depends, but usually, they eventually end up back with whoever sent them. I don't review devices anymore though, so I'm not even sure what happens to each. I know the Axons will need to go back after like 30 days.
    - Heiro78
      
      i like AP's method of taking a bit of time to review a device. The other sites that have reviews out are good but are mike like a hands on version than a full review. I hope David does the review since he is super harsh on devices and will tear it apart. I'll mostlikely still like the A7 unless it has a critical flaw.
Chris

It's bigger in every dimension than the S7E and has a smaller battery... I can't even
- JamJamBoom
  
  I said the same thing, but you have to realize they are targeting Note users and maybe S series folks of last year.... not those who have had their phones for ~5 months or less. S7E came out in mid-March, they aren't expecting those users to upgrade so soon.
  
  When put in that perspective, this is the best note ever and has the biggest battery of them all along with additional features and enhancements. 100mah is probably negligible compared with everything else.
  - Andrés
    
    The best note ever? Could hardly agree with it.
    The best was Note 4, with non-glass back, and the removable battery...
    - JamJamBoom
      
      Really? So you would choose that over today's Note? You can't believe that yourself.
      
      If you mean respective to the available competition at the time? You're absolutely right. It was a beast comparatively. Now the margin isn't as wide.
      
      But... today's note compared with the 4? Landslide victory.
      - Andrés
        
        Of course, easily. If Note 7 cost up to 500 EUR, i could consider it (despite the non-replaceable battery), if we forget about the curved edges for a while.
        
        But at 850 EUR, it's just throwing out money.
        The only good thing about Note 7 is the new platform (faster CPU, fast flash memory vs slow EMMC in note 4, more power efficient chipset, more modern modem with more bands). The rest are gimmicks.
        
        Better screen? that's hardly noticeable. The screen is the most important part for me (maybe more important than anything else). In Note 4, it's just perfect. i cannot complain about it. Yes, maybe it uses more energy comparing with the new generations, but that's marginal.
        
        Lags, that some users complain about? I do not use stock rom: the phone is rooted, with the optimized custom kernel and custom rom. No lags, everything is instant, with many tabs in chrome and a lot of apps.
        
        I could change it to ZTE Axon 7, as it costs 450 EUR (and has the same harwdare like Note 7), but for 850 EUR, no thanks.
        
        If you think it's ok to throw away almost 1000 EUR on a phone, then fo for it. In my case, i have a brain, and can compare, and make my decisions myself. If one REALLY REALLY needed the stylus, i'd still recommend buying note 4 today: perfect screen + decent performance + removable battery + decent price.
  - Andrés
    
    The best note ever? Could hardly agree with it.
    The best was Note 4, with non-glass back, and the removable battery...
  - Andrés
    
    The best note ever? Could hardly agree with it.
    The best was Note 4, with non-glass back, and the removable battery...
- james fuston
  
  Samsung has always done behind the scenes tuning to make sure the Notes pull better screen on battery life than the S models of their gen. I had a S6 Active that had a smaller screen and 17% more battery than the Note 5 and the battery life on the Active was only slightly better than the Note 5.
  
  I'd be very surprised if the Note 7 didn't have equivalent battery life to the S7E. We're talking about a .2" screen size increase and a sub 3% battery size decrease.
  - Chris
    
    Why use inches and percent? You have a 3.6% increase in screen size and 2.8% decrease in battery. That obviously equates to 6.5% less battery life.
    - james fuston
      
      No, it doesn't "obviously" equate to 6.5% less battery life because the screen and battery are not the only components that comprise the phone.
      - Chris
        
        You just add the percents duhh
      - james fuston
        
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b280349e1af1d0deb5b565c3260d33f91c9ba6002b72af7c8257fa9e9f37ef82.jpg
- magnamentis
  
  according to the spec sheet the display is 5.7" against 5.5" and that explains the bigger and it's obvious that the stylos slot takes a away about 5mm in total (approx) and that space is missing for the battery. makes all sense and wining doesn't change anything, especially without thinking things to their end beforehand.
- Stefan Kamer
  
  S7 Edge doesn't have an S-Pen so all that space is left over for battery. Note 7 has an S-Pen so they had to make a sacrifice somewhere. I imagine that the difference will be negligible as there are likely system level optimizations in place.
  - Christopher Robert
    
    The battery is a different type too, Not that it has a better usage, but Samsung went with a Li-Po which is basically a battery in a bag instead of a hard case. They should have been able to fit a bigger batter with that setup, but my bet was it was too expensive.
  - Heiro78
    
    then how about implementing those same system level optimizations to the S7E? if a difference is stated as software base, then it's not really a difference since it can be implemented from both sides. this is why people are harping about the N7 battery being smaller than the S7E.
    - Stefan Kamer
      
      I don't see why they won't. They likely will given how software updates tend to work when new devices are released.
      
      But again, the main reason why it's smaller is simply the S-Pen (and all of the requirements needed to seal the device with IP68 rating with a giant hole in the device).
      - james fuston
        
        You raise a very interesting point. My assumption is that the phone wouldn't be waterproof when the S-pen is detached. I'm curious to hear Samsung's answer on that
      - Stefan Kamer
        
        It is in fact water resistant even without the S-Pen inserted. The device is IP68 and the S-Pen is IP68 independent of each other
      - james fuston
        
        Do you have a source for that?
      - Stefan Kamer
        
        I work for Samsung. I'm a Level 2 Technician. Given that I fix these phones I know a thing or two about them :)
      - 2kool4skool
        
        In some videos I saw they write with s-pen on the note while being submerged. Yeah it's pretty much confirmed that both the phone and the s-pen are IP68 independently.
nikolas

Galaxy s7 Edge it is then....
- pantagruel
  
  You won't be disappointed. Bear in mind though that it has very thin, sharp and slippery edges, making it a challenge to hold onto. It's great in Ringke slim or Spigen thin fit.
  - 2kool4skool
    
    maybe you're talking about s6 edge here. I don't personally own an s7 edge but I have a friend who does and I've held his phone and it's quite comfortable in hand, no sharp feeling whatsoever. S6 edge on the other hand feels like razor blade in hand.
    - pantagruel
      
      I'm sporting S7 edge. You are quite right, edges are not sharp in typical sense, they are very thin and narrow though.This plus slippery aluminium and glass make it feel like you are holding onto a bar of soap. Still bearable though.
BubbleCloudWidgets+WearLaunchr

How about including the iPhone 6+, just for the comic relief
- Andy Webber
  
  There will be a lot of "NO"-s in that column :-)
- Max Johnson
  
  How about including update frequencies and unlock bootloader?
  
  Okay maybe not.
- Tres
  
  How about including price? People should know if the upgrade will be worth it for the price
james fuston

Have they confirmed that the Note 7 is actually more expensive than the S7 edge? I'd expect them to be roughly the same price.
- Stefan Kamer
  
  Most carriers have announced their pricing. Varies by carrier T-Mobiles is around $849 total
  - james fuston
    
    Ok, so about $50 more than the S7 edge.
    - Christopher Robert
      
      you can get an S7e for a ton less than that now. Best Buy has an unlocked model for about $650.
      - james fuston
        
        Best Buy sells the unlocked S7E for $749
    - Heiro78
      
      if you buy it from a carrier yes, but from other sources you will see a $200 difference. sometimes more.
      - james fuston
        
        Only for a short time following release. I'm sure the note will be down to $600ish in no time on sites like swappa, especially once the new iPhones are made available.
Phillipe Viana

Which "quick charge" spec does the Note 7 use? I could not be sure of this information from what I read around. (Maybe it's a suggestion for the roundup as well)
- Andrés
  
  qualcomm quickcharge 3.0 via USB-C, if i remember correctly.
  - Heiro78
    
    you sure about that? the snapdragon 820 is rated at QC 2.0 and david was saying in another articles comments that its most likely going to be QC 2.0 since samsung hasn't clarified yet.
    - T4rd
      
      Huh? 820 definitely supports QC 3.0.
      
      https://www.qualcomm.com/news/snapdragon/2015/09/14/introducing-quick-charge-30-next-generation-fast-charging-technology
      
      The only SD 820 devices that don't support QC 3.0 right now are the S7/S7E (seemingly because micro USB) and OnePlus 3 (because they have their own proprietary Dash charging).
      - Heiro78
        
        ah my bad, since the S7 and S7E didn't support QC 3 i figured it was the 820 was not enabled. Thanks for correcting me!
camillo777

The new fast solid state technology from Samsung ?
Is it inside?
E-sim?
Apart from iris scanner nothing new I guess?
Charbel Aoun

I hope that Note7 usb type C cable and adaptors will be great for Nexus devices, especially when you can't find a working cable in your country, even in big malls :(
Christopher Robert

just as an FYI the Galaxy S7 Edge DOES have the FM Radio Tuner! @Jephri:disqus
- Bruce Kraft
  
  Are you serious? Have any source links for that?
  - Kenneth Heidger
    
    I don't have a source, but I have an s7 edge, and next radio works just fine and picks up local radio channels. Just tried it out when he said they have the fm tuner. Definitely is a thing.
  - Mi Ke
    
    http://www.androidauthority.com/t-mobile-galaxy-s7-s7-edge-gained-fm-radio-latest-update-690893/
  - Christopher Robert
    
    I own an S7e SM=935T (tmobile version) 2 updates ago it was activated. There is an entire thread on XDA related to it. I have tested it and used it many times. works great. Don't know why it's not common knowledge yet.
C Lo

Well nothing exciting to see here. Waiting on the new Nexus phones.
- Pez Smith
  
  Don't wait on SD Card and Stylus though.
  :)
  - C Lo
    
    I won't miss them while I save $350USD
    - Pez Smith
      
      Agree. I won't pay for it as the S7 is much cheaper.
      But people needing those feature will pay for it.
      - C Lo
        
        Yes you're right.
drcaveman

3600 to 3500mah battery change is less than a 3% drop in battery capacity not a big deal. What I would have liked to see is the rumored 4000mah battery. My concerns are also with the snapdragon as Samsung has proven it's battery usage at the OS levels is not optimal using the sd820. Really would have like seeing the exynos again in the US. That being said definitely ordering one.
- Bruce Kraft
  
  TOTALLY AGREE. That, and the s7 edge has a tendency to over heat. The note 5 does not. Even after 1 year of maxing out the RAM.
Alex Quinteros

Next nexus it it.
- Jeremy Corbyn MP
  
  Why? This has way more features than a nexus with much better specs?
erikiksaz

I can't wait for all the Sammy nut-swingers to tout this stupid iris scanner as the next best thing.

I'm sure it works great for those who routinely wear gloves, but it's bordering on gimmick.
- Stefan Kamer
  
  I've tried it. It works amazingly fast. Definitely not a gimmick. Why would another method of security be a gimmick?
  - trapchan
    
    haters gonna hate
  - erikiksaz
    
    Because sooo many people complained that fingerprint recognition needed fixing.
    
    Iris scanner = face unlock from half a decade ago.
marcusmarcus2

Per http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_note7-8082.php
USB 3.1
Glad to see this is getting to more used for these Type C ports. I hope the next Nexus moves on from USB 2.
King_Android

Definitely is not a worthy upgrade. And I was eyeing this device. Guess Ill wait a few more months on the Nexii and the V20.
TriguyRN

The new note is very similar to the S7E. I guess thats why they skipped a number this year and made it more of a brother than a cousin to the S line.
brkshr

How things have changed, when the speed of the processor is no longer listed as a spec.
quatermass

Why aren't you comparing the Note 7 with the Note 4?
Dan Lynch

Stop whining about the battery. They clocked the Note 7 CPU down by 7% vs the S7 Edge. They're both 820 CPUs, but the S7 Edge runs at 2.3 GHz and the Note 7 runs at 2.15 GHz.
rap

I really would have liked to see a 128 gb version. Sd csrd helps but rather have it all internal.

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