Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Vs Huawei Nexus 6P Smartphone Comparison

The premium handset range is about to change this year. With the introduction of lots of flagships at MWC in Barcelona, it’s going to be a heated debate among consumers. Samsung Galaxy S7, S7 Edge, LG G5, Sony Xperia X Performance, LeEco Le Max Pro and Xiaomi Mi 5, these are some of the devices that we would see in the coming weeks. But Currently, Samsung is the only brand out of above that has announced their Galaxy handsets in India, and now that we have got our units. You can expect detailed comparisons and reviews in the coming days.

To get started, we are putting the bigger sibling, the Galaxy S7 Edge with the bigger Nexus 6P that was launched last year. It’s the perfect showdown between what is touted as the innovative handset and a premium Nexus device. Let’s get both of these into the ring.

Design

They both sport a full metal construction unibody design, but Samsung handset is rather shiny with its Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection on both the sides, rear, and front. With curves in back and front, the S7 Edge is quite the attractive and compact handset despite its 7.7mm thickness over the 7.3mm on the Nexus 6P. The ideal size for me is 5.2-inch, but the 5.5-inch as far as I can stretch my fingers while operating in a single hand. So, that’s a yes in terms of usability for the Samsung Galaxy S7 while using a 5.7-inch sized device is not a practical measurement. It all depends on the personal choice, though. Both devices feel sturdy, as they offer a solid build quality. You may not like the camera bump, and that’s why it’s kind of a flat out on the both handset. But you can experience a little bump on the S7 Edge once you place it on the desk. The fingerprint sensor is present on the physical front button in S7 Edge while the Nexus 6P has it on the backside. Again, it’s a personal choice, but I like it on the front.

Display

The display is the most intriguing part of a device for me, even more so, if it’s a premium handset, then I expect it to be certainly quite good. Such is the case with latest Samsung handset with the always-on feature, Super AMOLED display, and a Quad HD resolution it is something of a kind of the displays. Moreover, the dual edge screens extend the display a little on both the corners. We have been seeing these displays on a couple of Samsung handsets for the last two years, and this is by far offers the smoothest edge operation. Of Course, both sides don’t work at a time, but that’s what interesting. You can opt to go with a right edge or left edge according to the needs. While coming to the display on the Nexus 6P, it is a bit larger at 5.7-inch against the 5.5-inch on S7 Edge, although, they both have Quad HD resolution the pixel density is lower on the 6P due to its larger screen size. Meanwhile, it doesn’t support always-on function despite having AMOLED display; thus our hearts are won by the S7 Edge. But there’s no doubt that display on 6P can’t handle the sunlight legibility and other viewing experiences, since it is an AMOLED display.

Software

They both comes with Android Marshmallow out of the box, but where Nexus runs on the stock Android, as you should know while the Samsung runs on the TouchWiz UI, which is company’s Android skin. I haven’t always liked the TouchWiz experience, but that changed a lot when I was using Galaxy Note 5 as my primary device. Samsung has cut down on the bloatware that uses to be its main issue while there was also the issue of lags. It wasn’t pleasing to use the custom skin made by Samsung. I’m sure many still wouldn’t agree that with Note 5 the software experience has improved a lot. But it has if one is not being biased. On one hand you have a custom UI with everything else totally different from a stock experience. And on the other hand, it’s a pure stock Android experience; it is the way I like my software. Both offers smooth experiences, but if you’re more inclined to use the default apps and functionality then Nexus is the choice. While if you’re open to the different experiences, then S7 Edge promises to offer that with tons of customization features. You can find the third-party launchers like Nova, Apex, but that wouldn’t change the whole UX – Settings, Notification panel, etc. Or you could opt the S7 Edge as your next flagship. Well, of course, then there comes a question of frequent updates, which you wouldn’t get on the Samsung handset, whereas the Nexus phone is built for getting the latest software updates quickly.

Hardware

One is powered by the Exynos 8890, a Quad-core chipset, which is the successor to the last year’s Galaxy S6 that sported the Exynos 7420 while the other handset is powered by Qualcomm’s flagship chipset for last year, the Snapdragon 810. Last year Samsung opted out to offer an SD 810 processor and only used their in-house chipset. There was a reason for doing so; the Qualcomm chipset has been taking a lot of heat, literally. It has been reported throughout the year that devices are sporting that processor is heating up a lot. But company tackled that by introducing a second version of the SD 810 chipset. We have been using the Nexus 6P for quite a long time, and we have experienced a lot of heating. You can’t really games or continuously watch videos for more than 15-20 minutes. It would heat up a lot. Even with few apps running in the background, it would considerably heat up. While on the other hand, our experience with Exynos 8890 chipset is pretty fine, no heating while using 4-5 apps on the background, while we expected some heat during the gameplay of 15 minutes duration. Regarding the RAM and storage, the Samsung handset comes with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, which can be expanded via microSD card slot. Whereas the Nexus doesn’t offer to expand storage, it rather gives you two options; purchase 32GB or 64GB model. And sports 3GB of RAM. The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge wins this round pretty easily.

Camera

For the last couple of years, Samsung’s iteration of premium handsets has one thing in common, the camera module. The 16MP camera module has been a constant number of all the premium handsets company launched in its S and Note series. With this year’s models, it has changed; the company has rather reduced the resolution to 12MP, but only to use the larger pixel lenses; Dual Pixel to be precise. As well as the aperture number is ridiculously high at f/1.7, it’s not just for the rear module, but the front module as well. Our initial tests revealed that low-light camera outputs have been improved in comparison to last year’s models. While talking about the comparison with Nexus 6P, it is pretty much the tie in low light outputs, if we take everything into consideration; the details, noise, color reproduction and white balance. Sure, they don’t produce the same outputs, but they are close enough in overall technicals. The 12.3MP on the 6P have an aperture number of f/2.0, but it does still have a large pixel size of 1.55 µm, which helps in absorption of more light even in dimmest conditions. While if we talk about the camera app, the stock Google Camera app may have some interesting tricks up its sleeves. But it isn’t as feature rich in terms of modes for photo and video recording. It’s a tough competition here, but I think the winner should be the S7 Edge.

Battery

Both the handsets have large Quad HD displays, so we expected them to offer at least a large capacity to start with. In comparison, the Nexus 6P falls little short at 3450mAh against the 3600mAh on the S7 edge. Well, of course, the S7 Edge has an extra display to light up, but with Super AMOLED technology and always-on feature, the display would consume less power than a 5.7-inch AMOLED on the 6P. We can’t comment on the Samsung handset’s battery life yet, but the first day’s usage has revealed all good about it. While what we can easily establish after using Nexus 6P for a long time is that it doesn’t have a great battery life. Here as well, Samsung can be announced as the winner. But you should stay tuned for our full review of the Galaxy S7 Edge if you’re planning to purchase the device.

Verdict

If you’re looking for your next flagship to be invincible, and moreover you don’t look to compromise to get the best just because it’s priced high, well, then you should probably get the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. But if you have any doubt how much you want to spend on your next handset and are on a tight budget, then you should get the Huawei Nexus 6P. Now comes our conclusion about whichever is the winner despite the high price difference. It’s the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. The device has a lot to offer, attractive design, sturdy build, glass protection on both sides, stunning display, impressive camera package and a great battery life that should easily last for a day.