[Samsung Galaxy S7 Active Questions & Answers] br0adband:
1: It's a rugged phone in most respects, the IP68 rating ensures the dust and water-resistance (not water-proof as so many people get wrong) will keep it working in some environments where other devices might just cough up a dustball literally and die when dunked. ;) There are cases for the Active which make it even bulkier but some aren't so bad - SUPCASE once again makes their Unicorn Beetle case and they're very useful overall. I'd get one for my GS7A but I like the camo green look to it and they aren't making a yellow/black Beetle case so that's that.

As for scuffs and scratches, it's bound to happen if you actually make use of the device in various environments but that will happen to any device - think of the Active as an S7 with a few extra features and a built-in case, if you will.

2) The 4000 mAh battery in the Active consistently gives me 2+ days of battery life since I've had it and that's about 2 weeks now. I typically get at least 2 days and some hours before it gets to the 2-3% point and that's with screen brightness about 40-45% most of the time (if I'm outdoors I just set it for Auto brightness so I don't have to fiddle with it as I'm moving from place to place). Screen on time has been averaging about 6.5-8 hours depending on usage for me.

I only use cellular service when I'm out and about moving around but if I'm within range of actual Wi-Fi service that works I have Tasker set to disconnect and switch over - at home I don't use cellular at all. For the record I barely use my cellular service to be honest, I never give out my carrier number and I use Google Voice for all phone calls and SMS usage. Only 2 people know my carrier number, my Wife and a family member in case of emergencies and that's it (well my carrier knows it of course but they don't have any reasons to call me).

I have zero complaints about the battery life, so that's my position on it, and of course it's a Snapdragon 820 which is damned fast. I have an LG G Flex 2 (Wife uses it) and it's a Snapdragon 810 and the best Antutu score I've had on it running pretty cold to start was about 92K - I tested the Active the other day and got just shy of 142K which is damned impressive to me. So considering the Snapdragon 810 is an 8-core device (big.LITTLE) and the Snapdragon 820 is a 4-core device (still big.LITTLE) Qualcomm made some rather outstanding architecture changes to have such a remarkably higher score with half the number of cores is stunning.

My usage is not typical, mind you, with me not using cellular 24/7; I only use it when actually needed aka not connected to Wi-Fi someplace. Other people will have vastly different experiences and battery life so again, I don't consider my usage typical in any respects. I made a thread here talking about the battery life I've been achieving:

http://xdaforums.com/s7-active/how-to/battery-life-simply-amazing-t3469942

3) Yes the Exynos can be found for less and the GS7A is obviously carrier locked to AT&T as the only seller but it can be unlocked for GSM carriers worldwide after purchase (especially if you buy it outright you can get the unlock code the same day from AT&T). The Exynos models are also the only ones that have root right now iirc, I might be wrong on that but I think I'm correct. And there are some custom ROMs out as well but I might be wrong on that one too - I don't do much poking around in the Galaxy S7 forum here since I know the Active will more than likely never get root or custom ROMs, it's just not a popular device overall.

Having said that if I had to choose for myself I'd still get the Active but that's just me. I prefer it over typical "consumer" models meaning the pretty shiny glossy slick slippery S7 models including the Exynos-based ones. I don't care about 8 freakin' cores - on the G Flex 2 my Wife is using I have it rooted and use EX Kernel Manager to enforce a quad core setup (2 big cores, 2 LITTLE cores) and she gets damned impressive battery life - not nearly what I can get with the Active but even so, it lasts much longer than having all 8 cores enabled.

Yes there's a price premium on the Active but I personally think it's worth it. Be aware that the GS7A does have Gorilla Glass 4 but the actual part you touch to use it is a polycarbonate layer on top of the GG4 that protects it and helps increase the shatter-resistance. Because that top layer is not Gorilla Glass 4 itself it is more prone to scratching but Samsung does offer replacements if necessary. My advice: if you do get the GS7A, get a nice screen protector of some kind for it whether you get something made from a plastic composite or whatever or tempered glass and it'll protect the polycarbonate later.

Basic gist for me: I don't care about the looks of the device, really. The G Flex 2 has a damaged glass surface to it, actual pieces of glass are missing in the lower left hand corner but the digitizer still works 100% and my Wife has zero issues using it. It has a few cracks in it too but the damage is almost entirely contained in the lower left hand corner and not directly over the IPS LCD panel itself so, just a crack or two that stretches from one corner to the other but you really have to be looking for it to notice it.

The Active is a damned fine device but if the price is too much for what it offers, grab the Exynos and he happy I guess.