The much awaited Samsung Galaxy S7 Active has finally joined the growing list of Galaxy S7 variants in the market, with experts starting to predict that Sprint might also join the race soon with a Sport version of the S7.
But how do the current versions in the market – Samsung Galaxy S7 Active, Galaxy S7 Edge, and Galaxy S7 – compare against each other in terms of specs, features, and prices?
Design and display
While Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is the tallest and slimmest of the three phones, it is lighter than the Galaxy S7 Active. The former has a height of 150.9mm and is 7.7mm thick while the latter is 148.8mm tall and 9.9mm thick. With the S7 Active weighing a massive 185g, the S7 Edge weighs 157g. These two have the largest form factor since the standard Galaxy S7 only manages a height of 142.4mm, thickness of 7.9mm and a weight of 152g.
You also find further differences in the smartphones’ build material, where the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge have metal and glass while the Galaxy S7 Active has a durable polycarbonate chassis that features rubberized edges to make the device shock resistant, among other capabilities. In place of the capacitive buttons you see on the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, Samsung Galaxy S7 Active went for physical buttons. In addition, the phone has a unique and customizable Active button on the left side that comes in handy when it comes to launching apps. As for the Home button, all three phones have a physical one with a fingerprint scanner embedded.
Samsung went back to last year’s IP68 certification for water and dust resistance that was used on the S6 Active, in turn using it on the standard versions as well as the S7 Active. However, the AT&T exclusive adds more to its build, coming in with MIL-STD-810G standards that make it resistant to salt, rain, humidity, solar radiation and a wide variety of falls and shocks. This is the same military-grade standard used on the S6 Active.
As for the color variants, you will get the S7 Active in three options of titanium gray, sandy gold, and camo green. On the contrary, you get black, gold, white, pink gold and silver color variants for the S7 and S7 Edge.
Coming down to the display, you get the same quality on all three handsets. But the sizes vary, where Samsung Galaxy S7 Active has a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED panel with QHD resolution, similar to what the standard S7 has, but the S7 Edge has a larger 5.5-inch panel with the same resolution. You will also get Gorilla Glass 4 protection on all three handsets’ screens.
Performance, camera, and storage
As for the internals, all three phones carry the same specs. The latest Snapdragon 820 SoC has been used on all three in addition to a RAM of 4GB. You will also be getting storage options of 32GB, which can be expanded via a microSD card of up to 200GB. In select markets, you can get 64GB versions of the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge as well as models of the same phones powered by an Exynos 8890 SoC rather than the Qualcomm chipset.
All three handsets come with the same software on board – Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out of the box with Samsung’s TouchWiz on top. As for the photography, you will also get nothing different on the S7 Active. There is a 12MP snapper on the rear and 5MP selfie camera on the trio.
Battery capacity and price
Since Samsung Galaxy S7 Active is made with people who like hiking, camping, safaris and a wide variety of outdoor adventure in mind, it comes with a massive battery unit that will ensure you stay connected for the longest period possible. The phone packs a 4000mAh battery compared to the 3600mAh you get on the Galaxy S7 Edge and 3000mAh on the S7.
Still, the three phones have kept faith in microUSB ports instead of the trending USB Type-C that is said to offer faster data transfer and charging services.
If you are willing to trade beauty for durability, AT&T has your back, but you will be set back a massive $750 to get a new Samsung Galaxy S7 Active. The Galaxy S7 happens to be on the lower end with its price tag of less than $700, but you will need about the same amount as the S7 Active to get a new Galaxy S7 Edge.