First Impressions – 2 New Samsung Galaxy S7’s

As I mentioned last week I ordered 2 new Samsung Galaxy S7’s (32GB). They were buy one get one free via rebate (BOGO). So, 2 for $672 or $336 each.
These phones replace my wife’s 4 year old iPhone 4S and my 3+ year old Motorola Droid Razr Maxx HD.
This isn’t a “review” just a tale of my experience so far. If you want a good review see:
iVerge – Samsung Galaxy S7 review: on the edge of perfection
last updated 27MARCH2016

The Rebate
Rebates can be a PITA. In this case it is a royal PITA. First you have to download your Device Payment Agreement FOR EACH PHONE from your Verizon account and upload that. The rules require that the Device Payment Agreement include that phones number. I ordered 2 phones, one gold and one black. They had no way of knowing which phone was for which line so they DID NOT put a phone number on the invoice. So I also had to scan and upload the invoices that came with the phones. The invoices DID include the number and actually got the number/phone right so I or they got lucky there. Next I had to scan the phone UPC’s separately and upload those.
For this BOGO you had to choose the monthly payment. So now, I am making monthly payments on each phone to the tune of $56 per month ($28×2). Fortunately it is 0% financing. I must use the phones for 45 days before they will finish processing the rebate. Then and only then will they send a $672 pre-paid Visa card. I reckon this is to prevent folks from buying the phones at 1/2 price and then reselling them. Still, it kinda sucks.

Unboxing
The phones came with the SIM card pre-installed and included:
– Fast charging cable (and it is fast)
– micro-USB to USB adapter
– Lame earphones

The 2 phones are pictured below with the accessories and the phones they are replacing.
For storage I went way, and I mean WAY overboard by getting 2 Samsung PRO+ 128GB microSDXC Class 10 Memory Cards. They were on sale at Best Buy for $90 each, in stock and free pickup option. This is $60 off the BB price and this card is currently $122.49 at Amazon. These cards are about as fast as they come right now and most likely faster than I “need” but what the hell.

Setup
I spent the first couple of days setting up my phone first. Samsung has a setup guide here so you can RTFM. The first go round I tried the Android switching thing. I forget what you call it but you use NFC to transfer stuff between phones. Maybe it is because the old phone is too old but it did not go well so I did a stock restore and manually setup everything. I prefer this anyway. After loading three of my Google accounts all contacts and apps were restored. There was one system update initially and another today.
After finding the best settings and stuff I setup my wife’s phone rather quickly. The only adjustment I needed to make was exporting her contacts from her iPhone and importing them to her Gmail account ahead of time. Instructions on switching from any phone to Android can be found here.

Problems

#1 – The first problem is the screen not auto rotating. Not the home screen, not a single app, nothing. I find the auto-rotate setting and it is enabled. So I do a Google search. “Fixes” include “smacking the back of the phone” and my personal favorite “drop the phone about a foot“. A couple of folks suggested toggling the auto-rotate setting a few times and rebooting. That worked except the home screen will not rotate. Everything else will so I skip that for now.

#2 – Stupid me. Before connecting the phone I downloaded and installed drivers from Samsung on Windows 7. I see the phone but could not access it. Hmmm… Switched to a USB 2 port. Same issue. I rebooted into Win10 and installed Samsung drivers and plug up the phone. Still can’t access it. Well crap, I roll the computer out of it’s hole and plug into the rear USB 3.0 port. No joy. Next I plug the phone into another Windows 7 machine with no drivers installed. Windows finds and installs it’s own drivers and everything is peachy. So back on the first machine I uninstall the drivers and plug into USB 3.0 ports on the front of the case. Still no joy. Then I plug into the rear USB 3.0 ports and it works. Bottom line, don’t bother with Samsung’s drivers and if you have issues try another USB port.

#3 – I use a car dock and that feature is very important to me. Currently I am using this one from iBolt. I connect the car dock directly to my stereo (aux input). The app I use is Car Home Ultra. I’ve used it for years and the hands free and auto-reply functions are awesome. Combine that with Voice Search (OK Google) and it rocks. I say take me to “XYZ: location and nav fires up. I say call “Xyz” and it does. So, the problem came about during calls. There is terrible background noise. It was a static like hiss. Almost like a satellite call way back when. It is not a issue with the cable or stereo because the old phone worked fine. The issue is not present on media playback either. More Google searching turns up no fixes. I may try another phone app later.

#4 – Cases. The money I spent on these phones is significant to me so I wouldn’t even take these phones out of the house without protection. Kinda of like “wrapping that rascal”, you may not like the feel but it’ll save you money and problems in the long run 😉 I bought a Otterbox Defender for my phone and a Unicorn Beetle Pro (white) for my wife till she finds something she likes. With both of these cases the position of the raised edges makes swiping and using the edges of the keyboard difficult for my pudgy fingers.

Not So Final Thoughts
I like the S7. It is definitely a better, faster phone with a better faster OS. But, in the end it is just a phone. It isn’t going to change my life significantly vs the old phone. The fingerprint reader is cool, the phone is faster and more responsive in every way. Android Marshmallow is an improvement over KitKat/ iOS 8. IMHO $672 is a lot of money for a phone. I did my shopping and got some good deals but if it weren’t for that I was gonna go with a $299 Moto X Pure Edition.
I should note that as of now there is NO ROOT for the U.S. version of this phone and many folks opine that there may never be.
Does anyone out there have an S7? What are your thoughts?