Samsung Galaxy A7 review: Alpha leader

Browser and Google Chrome

The Samsung Galaxy A7 comes with both the stock Android browser (heavily customized by Samsung) and Google's Chrome. Both support multiple tabs (including incognito ones) and an option to go straight to the desktop version of a page.

Internet browser with Firefox sync • saving pages for offline viewing

Both apps can work with Multi Window and feature tab syncing. The good news here is that Firefox users can sync tabs with the Internet app (which can also sync with your Samsung account). Chrome users can sync between all versions of the Google browser.

Google Chrome with data saving features

Chrome has another trick up its sleeve - it can reduce traffic by compressing web pages on Google's servers before they are sent to the device, similar to how Opera's Turbo mode (and Opera Mini) work.

Other preinstalled apps

S Planner is the default calendar. It features five different views: daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and agenda. The Month and agenda view uses a split-screen interface to conveniently show all events on a given day, for any day of the month. Multiple online calendars are supported, complete with color coding.

S Planner

The Memo app is fairly powerful, you can add images and voice notes in each memo and sort those in multiple categories. Notes are synced with a server, which is handy if you have several Samsung devices.

Memo

The clock app has an alarm clock, World clock, stopwatch and timer modes. Smart alarm can wake you gently by starting a quiet sound that builds over a few minutes before the raw ringer kicks in.

Clock app: alarm • world clock • stopwatch • timer

My Files sorts files by their type (video, document, downloaded files etc.), but can browse the internal and microSD storage in full. There's built-in support for Dropbox too, which simplifies handling files in the cloud.

File manager with Dropbox support

The Voice recorder app is pretty advanced. It can tag recordings with your location and features several modes that make the most use of the two mics. The Conversation mode, for example, records sound equally from the bottom (your voice) and the top (the other person's voice). There's a voice transcription option too. Noise-reduction is built-in.

Voice recorder with advanced features

Aside from the Google Play store you get Samsung Galaxy apps - the store for exclusive content for Galaxy smartphones. Much like Amazon, Samsung is pushing its own app store with free promos.

Google Play • Galaxy Apps