yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] Vandam500:
Why did you get the S7 and not the S7 Edge though? The Edge seems like the better phone to compare it to the 6P anyways since they are close in size and battery size.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] Dan37tz:
I had the S6 Edge before and I couldn't get used to the curved display, it was a bit distracting when watching movies and you will get "glare bars" on the top and bottom when holding it in landscape (Unless you're in a dark room with not much light source). Also when browsing, some of the texts are wrapped around the sides and you need to move the page around to read all the content. I also never used any of the software extras so to me it was just more added bloat.

The edge designs are beautiful though and the 600 extra mAh's are great, I think this time around though, the smaller S7 is a welcomed relief for my tired old hands which are used to handling 5.5"+ displays.:) I have no issues with the S7's smaller 5.1 which I think is a pretty good compromise in device size and screen real estate. Who knows though, I go through phones like people go through underwear so the S7 Edge might be added to the collection soon. I'll have to play with one in store first to see if I could live with it again.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] ponkz:
Which soc did u have? Snapdragon or exynos? Thanks
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] Dan37tz:
No problem, these are two shots taken in very low light with no flash @ 100 percent crop. As you can see the 6P gets more detail but it looks like the S7 image is a little brighter.

Galaxy S7

Nexus 6P
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] Dan37tz:
I'm US T-Mobile so it's Snapdragon 820.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] kinnesotan:
Have you noticed connectivity isn't as good? At my college I usually get 1-2 bars of LTE on my 6P whereas my S7 edge is struggling with one bar of edge.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] Chaleman:
Thanks for your review. Can I kindly ask you to read this post and give us your opinion regarding the possible delay to wake? Thanks!

http://xdaforums.com/galaxy-s7/help/galaxy-s7-slow-to-wake-t3326304
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] Dan37tz:
What I notice is the 6P's signal bar tends to be more generous than other phones I've had, it was the same compared with my Note 5. Same signal strength but the 6P always shows like it has more bars.

S7 signal strength seems to be on par with my wife's iPhone 6S+ and all my other phones in my house, haven't noticed any connectivity issues.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] Dan37tz:
Doesn't seem to have any issues, I'm also running a SanDisk 128GB Micro SD card with fingerprint unlock set up. It wakes up almost as quickly as my 6P which is pretty fast. I'll report back if I notice any delay with more usage.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] maxpayn02:
Ram management? Does it kill apps running in background?
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] Canard caché:
wow really impressed 4by the 6p!

S7 is beaten
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] dodgebizkit:
If you're in the UK I'll buy the 6p from you!
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] trekage:
Damn! It looks like that Note 4 muddy and purple hue post processing is back. Very saddening as the S6 post processing was almost perfect, they just needed to tone down the sharpness. Thankfully this time around you can shoot in raw. Would it be possible to redo that close up shot in a dimly lit area but in raw instead?
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] daboscovellen:
Thanks for the review. The 6p shot is indeed significantly better - I'm honestly a bit surprised how much.

If you have a set of good headphones, would you be able to comment on the sound quality of the amp+DAC? This has been a weak point for Samsungs in the past and one of the things keeping me away.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] Derpling:
idk what to think, Note 5 and GS6 line camera is near perfect, GS7 seems to be a downgrade, or there is an issue with SD version that does not occur on Exynos, either way i think sammy can fix it and reduce the post proccessing a bit.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] barondebxl:
Man you killed it! Thanks for this thread :cool:
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] Proday:
Love this review...tnx for youre time man!

Can't wait to see battery and sot after few days of use...

Sent from my SM-N910C
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] peachpuff:
Definitely more detail in the text on the 6p, but the round edges of the camera loose all the detail, becomes very grainy. Can you change the iso/shutter speeds on the 6p? Would be nice to see identical iso/shutter speed comparisons.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] N0whereMan:
I believe the S7 shot has some mild camera shake so i wouldn't make any conclusions about detail levels.

The most astonishing fact about this comparison are the ISO values. S7 has ISO 500, 6P has ISO 1400. STILL, 6P shot looks much better. S7's sensor has imploded on that camera's round edges. Nothing but noise at ISO 500. 6P handles the situation better at ISO 1400. S7's mild camera shake can explain some of the difference, but things are starting to look quite bad for S7 image quality-wise.

I still believe the reason for this are the exceptionally small photodetectors (pixel's light gathering elements) that S7's sensor has.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] Macguyver:
Idk what all that means, but the shot from the S7 looks perfectly fine to me. Far from quite bad in my opinion. More than adequate for my needs. But I'm just going mostly snap quick picks of my kids and stuff.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] Dan37tz:
Guys, I think we have a little misunderstanding. The S7 in MOST conditions will match or outperform the the 6P, I have two kids 4 and 3 and taking pictures of them has always been a challenge until the S7. It locks onto focus unbelievably fast and snaps the pic instantly so out of 10 shots, I would say 8 are usable. Makes it much easier. With other phones I would be lucky to get 1 usable shot.

That comparison pic was probably the only time the S7 will fall flat, no flash and in extremely low light (which the 6P happens to excel at), also the post processing that it has will makes the photo muddy and not that pleasing.

Again let me iterate, due to the S7's amazing focus and shooting speed, you will end up with a lot more usable pictures most of the time. While the 6P does great pics, the consistency of the S7 would be my choice if I needed to get overall good quality usable photos.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] Derpling:
In theory S7 should blow S6 and 6P out of the water, the fact that 6P is better at low light photos is not right, as S7 made specially for it, idk there might be a bug in the software.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] N0whereMan:
I am not saying S7's camera is a complete disaster in terms of image quality. It's clearly not. However, especially low-light performance seems to be lacking. Also S7 sensor's dynamic range seems to be lacking. I still haven't seen any controlled tests, so i am still going to wait before making a final judgement on this.

As you say, S7's focusing and overall shooting performance seems to the best ever on a smartphone. That will certainly make the camera easier and more enjoyable to use. I think this fact alone will make S7's camera better than S6 for most people.

I believe it's the Dual Pixel technology that is causing this perceived drop in image quality. Dual Pixels are responsible for the greatly improved focusing performance. Just like the name of the technology (dual) implies, every pixel has been divided into two separate light gathering elements (photodetectors). This means that S7 has the smallest photodetectors of any flagship smartphone (smallest ever manufactured by Sony). These exceptionally small photodetectors might well be the reason for the reduced noise and dynamic range performance.

I want to emphasize, this is only my educated hypothesis. I have no idea how Sony has engineered the Dual Pixels. I just don't see how sensor's signal-to-noise ratio wouldn't take a hit with these unusually small photodetectors.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] Derpling:
While fast autofocus is super have for all cameras, camera quality should not be forfeited for it, never. S6 camera is close to perfection, S7 should take it steps further not backwards.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] mr_stoosh:
Good review and thanks for taking the time out to do the comparisons. In terms of smoothness and UI I'm not surprised that the S7 is as smooth as the 6P but then again it has a newer SOC and 4GB of DDR4 RAM compared to the 6P which has last year's SOC so you really can't compare the two. Touch wiz has always been resource hungry and I would have liked to see it run on the same confgut as the 6P to see how TW would have run. It just goes to show how Vanilla Android runs on any given chipset. The Nexus 5 OG was the smoothest phone I came across and it had lesser specs than flagships back in the day.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] treehugger38294:
The Nexus 5 did not have lesser specs than flagships back in the day. It was one of the first devices with the Snapdragon 800 and was cutting edge at the time compared to the other flagships which still had Snapdragon 600 CPUs.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] mr_stoosh:
And your point is?? As your comment doesn't exactly address my post.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] ga9213:
The pictures in low light for the S7 and the 6P definitely show the 6P as the winner, but I wonder how well it would look with the PRO mode, using appropriate settings.

That's a big plus on the S7, having the option to manually adjust aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, etc. The softness is done post processing and utilizing the pro mode, I suspect you'd get a RAW image that would better rival that of the 6P, given you're basically stuck with what the camera app decides to do for you. It's not quite apples to apples for that reason alone.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] ChronoReverse:
The Nexus 6p supports RAW output too so it's hard to say in the end. The 6P has physically larger sensor pixels after all.

I suspect Samsung just overdid the software processing though.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] King p1n:
I dont think it should "blow" the 6P out of the water...

6P still has the advantage of a larger sensor and larger pixel size.

One things clear is Samsungs noise reduction is aggressive, although from what I can see it was similar on the S6 and therefore reduces detail as can be seen in the comparison.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] N0whereMan:
As i said earlier, in that situation, with those exposure values, S7 should blow 6P out of the water. S7's ISO value is 500. 6P is at ISO 1400. You can see my reasoning for S7's bad image quality in my previous post.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] Canard caché:
it's sooooo strange. Its the captor?
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] js0uth:
Thanks for the review. I was looking for a fingerprint scanner comparison.

I'm currently rockin the 5x and I became very used to the fingerprint scanner for unlocking. Its quick and easy. And from your review I don't think I'll be to happy with the s7 fingerprint scanner. Damn it.

My gf m8 is messed up. Was going to give her my 5x and I get this badboy. Trying to justify this purchase right now. Lol.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] N0whereMan:
Do you mean by captor the photodetectors (the light gathering elements on the sensor)?

Yes. That's my hypothesis for this perceived S7's bad image quality. S7 has the smallest photodetectors ever released by Sony.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] Canard caché:
so no software update can change anything?
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] N0whereMan:
Well, if my hypothesis is correct, a software update can't fix it.

If we had some RAW-files to compare, we could make more definite conclusions. I predict we would clearly see reduced dynamic range in S7's RAW files compared to other flagship phones.

It's still possible that this is a software issue and Samsung has decided to trust a complete incompetent ignoramus for post-processing algorithms.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] Canard caché:
yep i was saying that in another topic: Why nobody gives raw file to compare... we can be fixed.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] gekkehenkie11:
I've been CM maintainer for the Note 4 and I rebuilt the Samsung Lowlight shot mode in CM. How the lowlight mode works in the Note 4 is that it shoots 3 photo's in a row and then they use a 3rd party noise reduction algo to combine the 3 photo's into one. This software noise reduction algo actually works quite well, cause I dumped the 3 original RAW photo's and they contained always tons of artifacts/noise, which were gone in the final picture. I dont know how that noise reduction algo exactly works but I can imagine that it tries to cut out the artifacts/noise by comparing the 3 pics and when a pixel is quite different in 1 of the 3 photo's that might be an artificat and then it goes with the other values from the other pics. Probably also favouring pixel colours similar to the surrounding ones over greatly contrasting ones.

Anyway, the result of this would always be kind of what you see in the photo in this thread: a 'smoothened' picture with light that doesnt really resemble the original situation.

BTW, the noise reduction algo used in the Note 4 is this one, which Arcsoft licensed to Samsung: http://www.arcsoft.com/support/lowlightnr/faqs.html

Seeing the photo here I'd say they're using the same algo in the S7 cause it has that same typical 'smoothened' effect and a kind of weird colour/lightning over the whole photo.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] gekkehenkie11:
Here I'd like to add that if you use a Samsung a while, they always become slower/less responsive, at least that's my own experience. My 6p has been flying since day 1 and still is flying like that day 1. I do wonder if the S7 still flies after a month with 0 lag. Who knows, they might have gotten it right this time but I'm really skeptical of Touchwiz in general ;)
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] N0whereMan:
Thank you for the interesting information.

I have tested Note 4 previously, and if i remember correctly, images taken in Night mode (low-light mode) don't have any Exif exposure information available? In this case, Exif information is intact.

Anyway, i don't think these image quality issues i am talking about are caused by noise reduction algorithms. In this particular photo, my main attention is at the cameras dark round edges, where S7's image has completely disintegrated. Nothing but noise. On the other hand, Nexus 6P has managed to reproduce the round edges quite nicely. Based on this picture, it seems like S7 has greatly reduced dynamic range compared to 6P. And 6P is at ISO 1400, S7 is at 500. As we know, higher ISOs reduce dynamic range.

Of course it is possible that the compact cameras surface has reflected light differently in these shots, as the perspective is a bit different between the shots. However, this isn't the only photo where dynamic range seems reduced on S7.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] Derpling:
So can we say that S7 camera is not impressive at all, and don't hold a candle to 6P in terms of image quality?
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] N0whereMan:
Based on the few comparison shots between S7 and 6P that i have seen, S7 is nowhere near 6P in terms of image quality, especially in challenging situations (low-light or high dynamic range).

As i have repeatedly pointed out, i am not going to make final conclusions about S7's image quality before we have some controlled tests in RAW. I mean comparison shots in challenging, especially high dynamic range situations. Also low-light and high ISO performance comparisons.

It's still possible that these issues are fixable by software updates. Personally, i believe this is a hardware issue (the small photodetectors), which software updates can't fix, but i might be wrong.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] PunishedSnake:
Mine was the opposite during the initial install and update got very hot

M9 hot
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] Derpling:
S7 was designed around low light, if it can't beat 6p from last year, let alone S6 then the camera is a flop, there is no way around it.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] NaimC:
I know you're likely trolling, but if you really believe that you're out of your mind. It's clear to me that the S7 shots compared to the 6P are not only considerably brighter, but retain more overall detail, dynamic range and have less noise.

Open images in a new tab and click to view them 1:1 pixel mapped. They have not been resized in any way, only cropped from the original shots.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] xxaarraa:
I have to agree. I am not sure since when everyone agreed that 6P photos were better. They look underexposed to me, I like the S7 photos better.

Still waiting on Pilz for his response - he said he had a test at school and was going to respond to my post earlier.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] Derpling:
I guess the only answer to this would be to test it by myself when i get it, worse case scenario it can be always sold.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] N0whereMan:
Well, let's analyse the images then. You asked for this.

Playground image:

First of all, S7 (1/4s, f/1.7, ISO 1250) has gathered over four times more light than 6p (1/16s, f/2, ISO 937), so the image ought to look a lot better. S7 has been on spot metering mode (center weighted for 6P) so it's no surprise that S7 exposed the scene more.

6P image has clearly more fine detail, evident in the steps of the jungle gym. S7 has most likely lost the details in aggressive noise reduction.

The top of the jungle gym is practically black on S7's image. From 6P's image we can clearly see that top is actually violet. S7 has failed to reproduce that color. How on earth it's possible that after collecting over four times more light, the colors on 6P are still much better and true?

Overall, S7's image has also tons of more noise visible.

Miniature figures:

S7 (1/4s, ISO 250, f/1.7) still on spot metering mode compared to 6P's (1/21s, ISO 1236, f/2) center weighted, so the slight difference in exposure is no surprise. This time S7 has gathered over five times more light than 6P, so the image must look much better. 6P has countered this by raising the ISO sensitivity much higher.

6P image has more noise visible, which is no surprise since 6P's ISO is 1236 compared to S7's 250.

When looking at the front of the orange figurine, 6P's color reproduction is better. The colors are better defined on 6P. Around the black heart the yellow color is slight darker than the yellow color of the flames on the outer side. S7 has almost blended these colors together. On the shadowed (right) side of that orange figurine, 6P has preserved the detail levels better overall, although some parts are better on S7's image. The white figurine in the background has a white round eye, which is more visible in 6P's image. Overall, S7 might have a slight advantage in detail levels.

Parking lot:

S7's image is again brighter but 6P has captured the colors of the sky much better. Overall, 6P has much better details.

How anybody can say S7's image quality in these pictures is better than 6P's, is beyond me.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] xxaarraa:
I'll play this game.

Don't really care about any of that. But let's keep going...

The only detail you can see on the steps of the 6P photo that you can't see on S7 photo is on the very last step and it looks like somebody's foot prints. And I'd trade that obscure detail for the overall better illuminated photo of the S7. I am pretty sure real life illumination from a spot light in the dark looks more like the S7 photo than the dim candle light illumination of the 6P. The 6P has a tendency to underexpose all photos and its clearly evident here, where it feels like the shot was made in a cave when it wasn't.

Also, white cedar wood that is used to make jungle gyms look like the S7 photo. They don't look yellow like in the 6P photo. Hence the name "white cedar"

You and I must be looking at completely different images. ARe you kidding me? I can't even make out there is a top to the jungle gym by looking at the 6P photo because it is so dark! I have to look over on the S7 photo to even see that the jungle gym has a top. Notice the 3rd green square / box between the top one and the bottom one on the S7 photo? Now look over on the 6P photo and tell me if you can see it. Its barely visible. Entire objects in the composition seem to disappear into the darkness.

You are correct. However, I can't even make out there is a green figurine in the 6P photo, its lost in the darkness. Neither can I see the figurine all the way in the back with the gold antenna. Again, if the trade-off is losing the fine detail between two RGB shades and not seeing whole parts of an image, most people would (and should) pick Option A. The S7 seems to also capture the reflections on the glass a lot better. The green figurine has a green reflection - look at the 6P photo and it's a dark shade of black. That is NOT accurate.

Dude, this photo is the worst one for the 6P. I don't care what color the sky is when the rest of the image is barely visible. I can't see any of the buildings or the cars going by on the bridge in the background on the 6P photo. You can't tell in the 6P photo what color the saturn parked in the back is. Its much clearer detail on the S7 photos.

I just explained to you how. Not to mention I can shoot the S7 photos displayed here with very minimal effort (due to fast focus and OIS) and get the same results predictably 95% of the time. The 6P without its OIS would need several retakes to even reproduce the 3 photos we are analyzing here.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] peachpuff:
Can you see the swings in the 1st 6p photo? Can you see the brown background in the 2nd 6p photo? Can you see the noise on the white car on the right in the 3rd photo on the 6p? Oh that even i can see... this stupid little game can go on forever.
[Samsung Galaxy S7 Guides, News, & Discussion] gtg465x:
The 6P shot looks so detailed and noise free because it's not a single shot like the S7 shot. The 6P automatically uses HDR+ in low light, which isn't just HDR (hence the +). HDR+ uses algorithms to intelligently combine multiple photos to reduce noise and increase details in low light. Most people think that HDR+ is just what Google calls their HDR, but it actually does a lot more than just HDR and in fact helps a lot even in scenes that do not need traditional HDR, so it's really a misnamed feature.

From the Google research blog (http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2014/10/hdr-low-light-and-high-dynamic-range.html):

Try turning HDR+ off on the 6P and I think you'll find that the S7 compares a lot more favorably.

edit: For comparison, I took two low light shots with my Nexus 5X. One without HDR+ and one with. Note the difference in quality and also the difference in ISO.

Nexus 5X, HDR+ off (one exposure), ISO 3762

Nexus 5X, HDR+ on (multiple exposure), ISO 4685