Anyone who knows me, knows that I can sometimes be a little bit hard on my cell phone. In the past, I have dropped my phone from cliffs, sent it flying off a rollercoaster, thrown it out of a car window, gone swimming with it more than once, and attempted to flush it down the toilet. My husband, Ryan, isn’t much better with his, recently he ran his over with his pick-up truck.
I was due for an upgrade and my old Galaxy S4 had certainly seen better days so I went on the lookout for a new phone. My son, Andrew, recently got the Motorola Droid Turbo 2 and has been pretty happy with it so far. The shatterproof screen was appealing and the 21 MP camera is definitely a nice feature for someone like me who likes to take pictures of everything.
For some reason though, I kept coming back to Samsung. I really like the galaxy phones, they are easy to use, offer great features and have so many accessories available for them. The new Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge had just been released and I was excited to see what it had to offer. When I checked with Verizon, they were offering some good deals, but were all sold out of the phone and said they weren’t going to be able to ship the phone until March 31st at the earliest. Well that just doesn’t work for me. I’m an instant gratification kind of girl. So I headed to the nearest Best Buy and got hooked up.
The price point wasn’t bad when you consider with the specials they were offering it was the same price for the Galaxy S7 as the Galaxy S6. And, we essentially got two phones for the price of one. The Galaxy S7 Edge was a little bit more, but the expandible memory (up to 200GB micro sd), the better battery life and the sleek design make this phone very attractive. While the Galaxy S7 Edge camera is not anywhere near the 21MP of the Droid Turbo 2, they tout their new dual pixel technology and improved low light sensors. So far, the pictures seem to be pretty crisp and clear. The flash on the selfie cam is a nice touch too!
The phone is reported to be water resistent up to 5 feet for up to 30 minutes. Although the Samsung representative made sure to tell me that is in clean fresh water, not salt water, pool water, or algea infested lakes and rivers. I haven’t tested that feature out yet, mostly because I really like the phone and don’t want to destroy it just yet. Although if Samsung wants to send me one to put to the test, I would be more than happy to help.
The screen isn’t shatter proof, so I am hoping that does not become an issue for me. I have a ZAGG InvisibleSheild HD screen protector for it, but I should probably invest in a tempered glass screen protector. They weren’t available at the time I got the phone and I needed some protection before heading to San Diego for spring break. I also got a Speck candy shell clear case for it, but would really love something customizable with my own photo.
I did participate in one of the skills workshops offered at Best Buy by the Samsung representative. He helped me to set up Samsung Pay on my phone and when I made my first purchase using it I got to take advantage of this special offer for a $30 gift card. I keep forgetting about it, but when I do use it, it makes shopping quick and easy. And the fingerprint security feature works pretty well so far.
The other fun feature that came with my new phone was a free Samsung Gear VR. I haven’t really had much of a chance to play with it yet. I’m not really into gaming, but it I do enjoy watching videos and looking at photos on it. I just have to make sure I am sitting down, so I don’t fall over. I’m thinking it might be a fun toy for long plane rides when Ryan and I aren’t able to sit together.
What I would really like to get is the Samsung Gear S2. I like that you can add service to it, access music and apps, and use it when you don’t have your phone with you. I think this would be nice for running or hiking with dogs. If anyone has one, let me know what you think of it. I’m interested to know your opinions.
