Samsung Galaxy E7 review: Easy touch

Super AMOLED 5.5-inch display of 720p resolution

The Samsung Galaxy E7 comes with a 5.5-inch display, the largest in the E-series lineup. Its resolution is 720 x 1,280 pixels and that amounts to about 267ppi - not particularly impressive but still acceptable. After all, a FullHD Super AMOLED panel would have meant a higher price tag and also might have eaten into the Galaxy A7's sales.

5.5-inch SuperAMOLED display

The screen delivers vivid colors, as expected from Super AMOLED, but there aren't different color modes as in higher-end Samsung devices. Most target users will be happy with the default punchy output, though.

The Galaxy E7 lacks an ambient light sensor, and the brightness of the display can only be adjusted manually with a slider. You do get an Outdoor mode, which you have to enable also by hand. The setting overrides the slider and takes the brightness up a notch from its regular maximum illumination. The Outdoor mode remains on for 15 minutes, and if you happen to still be using the phone after that period has elapsed, it'll remain on, until you send the phone back to sleep. It's not an exact replacement of a proper ambient light sensor, but it's something.

Another setting claims to adjust the screen brightness according to the displayed content in an attempt to conserve power. There's also the Smart stay feature which utilizes the front camera to keep the display on while you're looking at it. A glove mode is also enabled to increase touch sensitivity for those cold winter days.

The SuperAMOLED screen on the Galaxy E7 makes use of an RGB pixel arrangement, which features a green and red subpixel plus a taller, but thinner blue subpixel. It's the same pixel arrangement that we've seen on the Galaxy Note II N7100 back in 2012 and on the Galaxy A3 earlier this year. The reason for the different Blue pixel size is that the blue subpixels on AMOLEDs typically have a shorter life and making them bigger balances things out. Being bigger, the blue pixel doesn't need to emit as much light to match the other two, which helps it last longer without affecting color balance.

The Galaxy E7 proved very bright indeed. With Outdoor mode enabled brightness reaches upwards of 500nits, on par with the Galaxy S5 and therefore very bright for an AMOLED panel. The 50% setting is more like 40% of the maximum brightness, pretty good in a world where linear adjustment sliders are getting increasingly rare to come by. Contrast is inherently infinite, as AMOLEDs keep black pixels off.

The Galaxy E7 aced the sunlight legibility test with a record score in the post Nokia 808 PureView era - truly impressive.

Sunlight contrast ratio

• Nokia 808 PureView
  4.698
• Samsung Galaxy E7
  4.485
• Samsung Galaxy A3
  4.241
• Samsung Galaxy S6
  4.124
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  4.033
• Apple iPhone 5
  3.997
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3
  3.997
• Samsung Galaxy A5
  3.895
• Apple iPhone 6
  3.838
• Motorola Moto X (2014)
  3.816
• Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
  3.799
• Samsung Galaxy A7
  3.679
• Oppo R5
  3.678
• Samsung Galaxy K zoom
  3.675
• Nokia Lumia 930
  3.567
• Apple iPhone 5s
  3.565
• Samsung Galaxy S5
  3.549
• Nokia Lumia 735
  3.547
• Motorola Nexus 6
  3.543
• Alcatel Idol X+
  3.527
• Apple iPhone 5c
  3.512
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  3.509
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo
  3.487
• LG G Flex2
  3.465
• YotaPhone 2
  3.453
• Motorola RAZR MAXX
  3.42
• Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III
  3.419
• Samsung Galaxy S5 Active
  3.406
• Nokia Lumia 925
  3.402
• Gionee Elife S5.5
  3.386
• Samsung I9505 Galaxy S4
  3.352
• Samsung Omnia W
  3.301
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  3.174
• Samsung I9000 Galaxy S
  3.155
• Samsung Ativ S
  3.129
• Samsung I9190 Galaxy S4 mini
  3.127
• Samsung Galaxy S4 zoom
  3.118
• Nokia N9
  3.069
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  3.023
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  2.97
• Samsung Galaxy Premier
  2.958
• Sony Xperia Z1
  2.95
• HTC One S
  2.901
• Lenovo S90 Sisley
  2.892
• Samsung I8730 Galaxy Express
  2.861
• BlackBerry Q10
  2.856
• Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II
  2.832
• HTC Desire Eye
  2.815
• Gionee Elife S5.1
  2.812
• Samsung Galaxy S II Plus
  2.801
• BlackBerry Z30
  2.79
• Meizu MX4 Pro
  2.765
• Sony Xperia ZR
  2.672
• Huawei Ascend P1
  2.655
• Sony Xperia Z3
  2.618
• Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
  2.616
• Sony Xperia T3
  2.609
• BlackBerry Passport
  2.595
• Nokia Lumia 900
  2.562
• Motorola Moto G 4G
  2.546
• HTC One Max
  2.537
• Nokia Lumia 720
  2.512
• HTC One
  2.504
• Motorola Moto G
  2.477
• vivo Xshot
  2.465
• Sony Xperia Z
  2.462
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  2.424
• Samsung Galaxy S III mini
  2.422
• Lenovo Vibe Z2 Pro
  2.416
• LG G Flex
  2.407
• HTC Desire 820
  2.372
• HTC One (M8)
  2.371
• Meizu MX4
  2.366
• Motorola RAZR i
  2.366
• Meizu m1 note
  2.362
• Sony Xperia ZL
  2.352
• HTC One M9
  2.334
• HTC One (M8) for Windows
  2.291
• Oppo Find 7a
  2.279
• Alcatel One Touch Hero
  2.272
• Apple iPhone 4S
  2.269
• HTC Desire 600 dual sim
  2.262
• Nokia Asha 311
  2.25
• Xiaomi Mi Note
  2.234
• Motorola Moto G (2014)
  2.233
• LG Nexus 5
  2.228
• Nokia Lumia 820
  2.193
• HTC One (E8)
  2.185
• Oppo N3
  2.181
• Nokia Lumia 920
  2.17
• Huawei Honor 6
  2.169
• HTC One X
  2.158
• Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML
  2.149
• LG Aka
  2.145
• Nokia N8
  2.144
• Nokia Lumia 620
  2.142
• Archos 50 Diamond
  2.134
• Nokia 515
  2.134
• HTC Desire 500
  2.129
• Sony Xperia C3 Dual
  2.12
• Xiaomi Redmi Note
  2.119
• Sony Xperia acro S
  2.119
• Nokia Lumia 1020
  2.103
• Oppo Find 5
  2.088
• Sony Xperia SL
  2.078
• Nokia Lumia 630
  2.056
• BlackBerry Z10
  2.051
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  2.024
• Samsung I9295 Galaxy S4 Active
  2.022
• Apple iPhone 4
  2.016
• HTC One mini
  2.003
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  2.001
• Huawei Ascend P7
  1.992
• LG G2
  1.976
• Sony Xperia E4g
  1.972
• OnePlus One
  1.961
• Oppo R819
  1.957
• Sony Ericsson Xperia ray
  1.955
• Lenovo Vibe X2
  1.952
• Sony Xperia Z2
  1.944
• Sony Xperia E3
  1.943
• Nokia Lumia 1320
  1.941
• HTC One mini 2
  1.94
• Samsung Galaxy Camera
  1.938
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime
  1.935
• Sony Xperia J
  1.932
• Acer CloudMobile S500
  1.931
• ZTE Blade S6
  1.927
• LG Nexus 4
  1.926
• LG G Pro 2
  1.922
• Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3
  1.913
• Nokia Asha 308
  1.911
• HTC Butterfly 2
  1.905
• Sony Xperia T
  1.894
• Nokia Lumia 830
  1.887
• HTC Desire X
  1.878
• HTC Windows Phone 8X
  1.873
• HTC Butterfly
  1.873
• HTC Butterfly S
  1.867
• Huawei Ascend P6
  1.865
• Huawei Ascend Mate
  1.845
• LG G2 mini
  1.838
• LG G3
  1.82
• Nokia Lumia 1520
  1.813
• HTC Desire 616 dual sim
  1.797
• Sony Xperia V
  1.792
• HTC Desire 816
  1.783
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  1.772
• HTC Desire 700 dual sim
  1.769
• Sony Xperia U
  1.758
• Meizu MX3
  1.754
• LG Optimus G
  1.753
• Sony Xperia T2 Ultra
  1.74
• Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact
  1.735
• Acer Liquid Jade S
  1.734
• Sony Xperia SP
  1.733
• Oppo Find 7
  1.691
• LG Optimus 4X HD
  1.691
• HTC One V
  1.685
• BlackBerry Q5
  1.682
• LG Optimus Vu
  1.68
• Xiaomi Mi Pad 7.9
  1.672
• LG Optimus GJ
  1.666
• LG Optimus 3D Max
  1.658
• HTC Desire V
  1.646
• Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2
  1.632
• Samsung Galaxy Ace 3
  1.622
• Jolla Jolla
  1.605
• Sony Xperia Z Ultra
  1.578
• Sony Xperia go
  1.577
• Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 I8160
  1.566
• Samsung Galaxy Core
  1.563
• LG Optimus G Pro
  1.552
• Motorola Moto E
  1.545
• LG Optimus 3D
  1.542
• Nokia Asha 302
  1.537
• Samsung Galaxy Core Prime
  1.507
• BlackBerry Curve 9320
  1.488
• Sony Xperia M
  1.473
• Oppo N1
  1.47
• Sony Xperia E4
  1.467
• Meizu MX 4-core
  1.462
• Nokia Lumia 610
  1.432
• Samsung Galaxy S Duos
  1.4
• Sony Xperia M2
  1.393
• Samsung Galaxy Grand Neo
  1.393
• Microsoft Lumia 535
  1.393
• Samsung Galaxy Grand 2
  1.38
• Sony Xperia E1
  1.372
• Nokia Lumia 625
  1.371
• Gigabyte GSmart G1355
  1.361
• Sony Xperia L
  1.351
• Xiaomi Redmi 1S
  1.35
• Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8
  1.35
• HTC Desire 510
  1.34
• Sony Xperia M2 Aqua
  1.331
• Sony Xperia miro
  1.324
• Samsung I9082 Galaxy Grand
  1.321
• Samsung I8530 Galaxy Beam
  1.315
• Xiaomi Redmi 2
  1.311
• HTC Desire C
  1.3
• Nokia X
  1.291
• Sony Xperia C
  1.283
• Nokia Asha 503
  1.281
• Nokia Asha 501
  1.27
• LG Optimus L7
  1.269
• Nokia Lumia 510
  1.268
• Samsung Galaxy Fame
  1.245
• LG Optimus L9
  1.227
• Meizu MX
  1.221
• Samsung Galaxy Young
  1.22
• Sony Xperia E
  1.215
• Nokia XL
  1.204
• Sony Xperia E dual
  1.203
• Asus Memo Pad 7 ME176C
  1.198
• Samsung Galaxy Pocket
  1.18
• Nokia Asha 305
  1.178
• Nokia Asha 306
  1.175
• Sony Xperia neo L
  1.169
• Sony Xperia tipo
  1.166
• Nokia Lumia 520
  1.161
• Samsung S6802 Galaxy Ace Duos
  1.148
• Samsung Galaxy mini 2
  1.114

Battery life test

The Samsung Galaxy E7 is quite heavily equipped in the battery department. Its cell packs 2,950mAh worth of juice, as opposed to the Galaxy A7's 2,600mAh. That one managed rather good numbers in the battery autonomy tests, and with less than half the pixels, we should expect the Galaxy E7 to perform even better.

It didn't quite turn out like that. While the 15 hours of video playback are remarkable, the 8 or so hours of web browsing are only average. At around 20 hours, 3G voice calls are also on the positive side.

We do measure standby times as part of our battery test routine, and while they're not explicitly stated on the scorecards, they are taken into account in the overall score. With a single SIM inside, the Galaxy E7 managed about 12 full days, and that dropped by a day when we popped in a second SIM card.

Dual-SIM support and LTE

Dual-SIM capability is a key feature of the device. A second phone line is a must-have for some, but everyone else isn't losing anything - they can just put a microSD in the extra slot and go about their business as usual. Even they may find themselves using the second SIM slot though, say a local card while traveling abroad with the main phone number remaining active for emergencies.

Anyway, you get LTE-Advanced Cat. 4 for mobile data, in other words 150Mbps worth of downlink and 50Mbps of uplink. You can select a preferred card for calls and which card is used for data, but only SIM1 has 4G and 3G connectivity, SIM2 is limited to 2G only. Mind you, the differentiation is made in software, and it doesn't really matter which card is in which slot.

The Galaxy E7 is a dual-SIM, dual-standby device so you can receive calls on one card even while talking on the other. It's not exactly dual-call, as it works by forwarding the call from the inactive to active card, but it has its use cases. This feature can be disabled to help with battery life.

Moving on, the phone supports single-band Wi-Fi b/g/n (but no 802.11a/ac) with Wi-Fi Direct and hotspot and Bluetooth 4.0. There's also ANT+ for use with sports sensors, if they don't support Bluetooth. Easy pairing is enabled with NFC support. The Samsung Galaxy A7 supports GPS and GLONASS for positioning.

The microUSB 2.0 port on the bottom of the phone does not support MHL so there's no TV out. You do get DLNA support for wireless connectivity with nearby compatible devices, and you also get screen mirroring. USB On-the-Go is supported, for connecting peripherals. A standard 3.5mm audio jack can accommodate the headphones of your choice.