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Samsung Galaxy S7 adds water resistance, bigger batteries and a memory card slot.

Samsung just took the wraps off of its brand new Galaxy S7 flagship smartphone at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. I haven’t gone hands on with the device just yet but it looks like they got a lot of things right this time around.

For starters, the devices now have two different screen sizes – the S7 is 5.1 inches and the S7 Edge is 5.5, which makes it slightly smaller than the Note 5. The battery is getting a sizeable boost in the S7 – capacity is up about 17 percent. In the S7 Edge, the battery is 37 percent bigger – so hopefully combined with rapid charging and wireless charging battery issues are a thing of the past in the new models. The battery is not removable.

samsung galaxy s7

Another neat feature is that both new devices are water resistant. They are rated IP68, one of the highest ratings possible for an electronic device. I don’t believe that this means you can go underwater diving with the phone – it’s mainly meant to shield it from accidental drops in the tub, rain and pool.

Fans of the Galaxy line will be happy to know that the memory card slot is back. You can add a card up to a 200 gigabyte card which means you can add a lot of space on your phone for not a lot of money. The phone comes in 32 gigabyte and 64 gigabyte configurations, but I see no reason to spend the extra money on the higher built-in memory when you can just pop in a card. Amazon sells a 128 gig card for about $45.

Oddly, it seems as if the camera is taking a step back since the S7 now includes a 12 megapixel shooter instead of the 16 megapixels on last year’s model. But now Samsung is going with a “dual pixel” format that allows the device to capture more light. It also has an F1.7 aperture, which is just amazing – the best I’ve seen on a phone is 1.8 and for comparison the iPhone has a 2.2. The smaller the number the more light a phone can capture – which means less blurry shots and better low light performance.

The phones are available for pre-order on February 23 and will be in stores March 11. They come in Black Onyx and Gold Platinum while the Galaxy S7 edge will also be available in Silver Titanium.

My pick is the S7 Edge – I have grown to love bigger size screens and the extra battery life that comes packed into the Edge model will come in handy.

For more information:

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via Samsung