Plenty of people couldn’t wait to get their hands on Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, and when the handsets finally went official, a lot of customers went head over heels for them. However, users encountered little snags here and there, finding out that the anticipated smartphones came with a couple of issues.
Oversensitive Touch Screen
The screen is just too sensitive, causing users to accidentally open an app or select other elements of the interface. This issue isn’t entirely new for Samsung, as the Galaxy Note 5 also bore a similar problem in which the user’s fingers or thumb rest on the phablet’s edges, making other input unresponsive.
Until Samsung tones this down a bit, the only solution right now is to get a case that can provide a better grip on the handset.
Bluetooth Is Always On
The Galaxy S7 and S7 edge came with Bluetooth Low Energy, but unfortunately, it stays on even when Bluetooth is turned off, eating up precious battery life.
Android Developers suggests that users should never scan on a loop, and to set a time limit on the scan to steer clear of this battery-intensive problem.
Bluetooth Connectivity
Another issue that users have reported is how the smartphone can’t connect to other devices such as a car’s audio system and whatnot.
To resolve this, head on over to Settings > Applications > Application Manager. Select More and then Show System Apps. Look for Bluetooth Share, then tap on Force Stop, and clear the cache and data.
No Adoptable Storage
One of the most anticipated features of Android Marshmallow is Adoptable Storage, an option that basically turns both the internal and external storages into one. As everyone can imagine, Galaxy S7 and S7 edge owners were not happy when Samsung decided to drop it.
Unfortunately, there’s no switch to easily turn this on, but Paul O Brien of MoDaCo presented a neat method to do so, although it’s not exactly easy and it involves some risk.
At any rate, the devices still allow users to install apps on the microSD card.
Overheating
Many users have reported that the smartphones in question get warm to an uncomfortable level. For newly bought devices, that’s pretty much expected, as they will download, update and install a slew of apps on the first boot. If the heat persists after that process, then that’s the problem.
A simple reboot could do the trick. To do this, press and hold the power and volume down buttons for 10 seconds, and the device should restart.
Two other things to take note of is to not use the smartphone while it’s charging and to turn off Fast cable charging over at Settings > Battery.
Constant MicroSD Card Prompt
The microSD pop-up message is expected on each reboot, but when it appears randomly, that spells an issue.
There’s no real home solution for this, but do make sure that the microSD card is sitting right on the tray or that the external storage is not faulty itself. If the problem lies in the device, getting in touch with Samsung or the corresponding carrier or retailer is the only option.
Lag
Considering that both the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge are premium devices, lag and stutter must have been at the bottom of the list of anyone’s expectations. Apparently, they should’ve been somewhere at the top.
One fix here is to set the Windows animation scale, Transition animation scale and Animator duration scale in the Developer options to 0.5x or off, which are 1x by default.
This should make things a little faster. For those who haven’t unlocked it yet, head on over to Settings > System > About device > Software info and repeatedly tap on Build number until a message pops up about being a developer. The Developer options tab should be under System at that point.
Another one is to wipe the cache partition. Turn the device off and turn it on by pressing and holding the home, volume up and power buttons at the same time. Once the Samsung logo is in plain view, let go of the power button, but hold on to the other two until the Android logo makes an appearance. This will bring up the Android recovery menu. There, just select the wipe cache partition by using the volume rocker to navigate and the power button to confirm and do a reboot.
If all else fails, then a factory reset might be in order. Needless to say, this will wipe everything out.
Unresponsive Buttons
The home and multitask buttons are reportedly unresponsive at times. A reboot sometimes fixes this, but the issue is said to be caused by an app, so some uninstallations might be required.
Again, the extreme fix here is to do a factory reset.
Slow Wi-Fi
A user at the Android Central forums reports that the S7 edge is causing some Wi-Fi issues, causing the connection to drop or become slow.
“After messing around a bit, I disable Wi-Fi, and the issue instantly goes away. Another hour into messing with things, and I realize it is my phone that is somehow causing the problem. I turn on Wi-Fi on the phone, and the Internet has all sorts of problems, but the moment I disable Wi-Fi, everything is fine,” the user says.
There’s no solid fix yet, but some of the noteworthy mentions in the thread include turning Bluetooth off and to set the Wi-Fi connection to IPv4 instead of IPv6.
Wet Speakers
With an IP68 waterproof rating, there’s no way that users haven’t tried to submerge the smartphone in water yet. However, it’s causing some problems for the audio front.
According to the user reports, the speakers would blast distorted sound after the device gets wet. It’s not a big issue at all, though, as waiting for the handset to dry will take care of it. Just don’t use a blow dryer, as the heat could damage some of the guts of the smartphone.
Camera Failure
Some users have complained that the camera app doesn’t work sometimes, facing the prompt “Warning: Camera Failed.”
A simple reset could fix this, but a hard reset could do better. To do this, just press and hold down the power and home buttons until the smartphone restarts.
If the problem persists, go to Settings > Applications > Application manager and look for Camera. As usual, Force Stop it and clear the data and cache.
Edge Screen Rejection
David Ruddock of Android Police reports that edge screen doesn’t properly reject an input. It looks like the issue is in the device itself, as the Canada variant of one of his colleagues just got an update that fixes it.
Again, there’s no solution here besides wait for the carriers to roll out a patch.
Samsonite has partnered with South Korean tech giant Samsung to come up with a new technology aimed at bringing an end to all your luggage woes. The companies are currently working on the concept of smart luggage – suitcases fitted with microchips, allowing you to track them using GPS.
Elie Chahine 