Samsung’s launch event for its next phone, the Galaxy S7, was unusual. The stage was located in the middle of the room, with the press conference conducted ‘in the round’. It meant that the presenters weren’t facing our side for three quarters of the time, but lent itself well to the format.
The second way in which the presentation differed was Samsung’s use of virtual reality. The company is really pushing the technology – specifically with its (relatively) low-cost Gear VR headset ($100), which works with the Galaxy S6 phones, S7 and Note 5. Every seat in the auditorium (several hundred people were in attendance) had a Gear VR sitting on it when we arrived, and they were used throughout the event.
A huge black cube in the middle of the room covered the stage at first – mimicking the invitation that had been sent out prior to MWC. The sides lifted to reveal DJ Koh, Samsung’s president of mobile communications.
Koh has led every Galaxy S launch, and wasted no time in introducing the Galaxy S7 – with VR, of course. Everyone was invited to put on the Gear VR on their seat and found themselves sitting in the same auditorium – even in the same seat – only, this time, no-one else was present. The floor fell away (some people actually screamed at this point, which was a bit of an overreaction) and we had our first look at the phones. This could have all been done with a video, of course, but Samsung really wanted to push VR.
Justin Denison, SVP and head of mobile products at Samsung America, went through the features of the S7 with us. The phone will, of course, be available in two models: regular (5.1″) and Edge (5.5″). Users can enjoy fast access to apps by sliding their thumb down the side of the Edge screen.
In terms of design, the S7 has a slimmer camera module than any previous phone – it sits almost flush with the back of the case. The camera itself has been designed to be optimised in low-light photography, with an F1.7 aperture and large (1.4µm) pixels. More on this later.
Surprising exactly nobody, Denison talked about the ‘Always-on display’ of the S7. This is much easier to achieve with OLED technology than LG’s implementation in the G5, of course (LG Differentiates With Friends). The screen will only turn off completely when the phone is placed face-down or it detects that it is in a user’s pocket.
Denison described the S7 as ‘life-proof’. In the past, waterproof phones have been made so by adding bulk on the outside, like port covers; however, Samsung has (apparently) waterproofed the S7’s internal components. It is IP68-compliant, and will remain operational after being submerged in 1.5m of water for 30 minutes.
Back to that camera! Samsung showed a comparison of images taken on the iPhone 6S+ and Galaxy S7, to show off the effect of the larger pixels. The Samsung shots naturally looked much better, but of course neutral side-by-side tests will reveal the whole story.
Dual pixel is a new feature for Samsung’s smartphone cameras. This is a feature that is found on DSLR cameras, and is based on phase detection. Traditional autofocus adjusts the focus to find the point of maximum contrast, while PDAF (phase detection autofocus) can do this much faster, due to the pixel structure. In a smartphone, the CMOS image sensor integrates the autofocus sensor and separator lens, simplifying the lens design.
In such a sensor, some pixels are used for the PDAF: one pixel is shielded on the right, and one on the left, in pairs, to work as the AF sensor. In each such set, only light from the right/left enters the pixels shielded on the right/left side. A large phase difference occurs when the subject is out of focus (left and right light hit the sensor at separate points). The difference is detected in the signals of the affected pixels. This difference information is used to directly move the lens to the correct position.
The S7 can autofocus “with 100% of its pixels”, said Denison (further implying PDAF – TA), while the iPhone 6S+ can do it with only 5%. The feature enables 0.15 second autofocus in daylight and 0.2 seconds at night. Again, a comparison video highlighted the difference between the phones.
A new camera feature called ‘Motion Panorama’ was announced. This is a way to capture motion in panorama shots. If you pan the camera across a moving subject, their motion will be recorded; scrolling through the photo will replay it. See an example at http://tinyurl.com/gt898ye.
Moving on to specifics, the Galaxy S7 features a 30.4% more powerful CPU and 63.9% more powerful GPU than the Galaxy S6. Cooling technology has also been improved. The battery (3,000mAh on the S7, 3,600mAh on S7 Edge) will enable people to “Watch a whole season of Game of Thrones on one charge”. There are also new power accessories, such as a wireless charging mat and a power pack.
Gaming is a key focus for the S7, and the phone’s new graphics processor means that it is the first handset able to use the Vulkan API. Epic Games founder and co-CEO Tim Sweeney appeared to promote Vulkan. The API can render objects four times faster than OpenGL, and is compatible with Unreal Engine 4.
Vulkan is designed to bring PC-quality gaming to smartphones. It is able to handle real-time 3D graphics and other features such as dynamic planar reflections; temporal anti-aliasing; a filmic tone-mapping curve; and ‘thousands’ of dynamic on-screen objects. See a video below for an example.
Another gaming feature is the Game Launcher: a space to control all gaming functions. For instance, you can block notifications and disable buttons that would take you out of the game using it. The Game Launcher can also be used to minimise a game (a circular icon will appear on-screen, which can be tapped to maximise the game again), or record and upload it. Game partners include big names like Twitch, Sega and Blizzard.
Samsung will launch the S7 on the 11th March, and pre-orders will start soon. When ordering in the US, EU and “other select countries”, customers will also be given a free Gear VR headset.
DJ Koh reappeared to announce that Samsung Pay is going worldwide, before handing over to VP of research Pranav Mistry. He introduced the Gear 360 camera: a 360° camera for use with virtual reality headsets – although it will, at first, only be able to connect to the S7 and S7 Edge. The camera is a way to produce live VR content, for anyone.
We were asked to put the Gear VR back on, and watched another video – this time of people in Barcelona playing football, to demonstrate the live-streaming capabilities of the Gear 360. However, when we took the headset off there was a surprise in store: Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, was on-stage.
Much of Zuckerberg’s talk focused on virtual reality, and how he sees its as the future of social media. He believes that HD 360° virtual reality broadcasting is coming “soon”, but there are challenges to solve – like foveated rendering. He said that this is coming to the Gear VR “in weeks”. He also heaped praise on OLED, as the only display technology with the low-persistence rendering and speed necessary for virtual reality.
