The Redmi 3 is the latest in Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi's range of super-budget handsets, which are famed for combining formidable specifications with bargain-basement prices.
It has a 5-inch HD screen, Qualcomm Snapdragon 616 chipset, 13-megapixel camera, 16GB of storage and runs Android 5.1, with Xiaomi's custom MIUI 7 UI skin over the top.
Since the phone isn't officially available in the UK, it can only be purchased by Far Eastern resellers such as TomTop, which supplied our review unit. Remarkably, it retails for around £105, although buyers should be aware that custom charges may apply.
XIAOMI REDMI 3 – DESIGN
Xiaomi has a reputation for creating quality phones that don't cost the earth, and that trend continues with the Redmi 3.
While many other handsets in the same price bracket use all-plastic bodies, the Redmi 3 features a combination of plastic and metal. The top and bottom sections are plastic and allow the antenna to function properly, while the rear of the device is metal with a rather fetching diamond pattern.
The edges of the phone are rounded, which ensure that it sits comfortably in the palm, and physical buttons are kept to a minimum – the volume rocker and power button are both on the right-hand side of the Redmi 3, with the SIM tray (which accepts a nano-SIM and micro-SIM at the same time) being located on the opposite edge.
Related: Best Budget Phones
Also on the rear of the device is the camera lens and single LED flash – both of which sit flush with the bodywork – while near the bottom there's the loudspeaker, which is accompanied by a small plastic ridge that ensures sound isn't blocked when the phone is laying face-up on a flat surface.
On the top edge you'll find the 3.5mm headphone socket and IR blaster (used for controlling TV sets and stereos, for example), and on the bottom there's the micro-USB port (no USB Type-C here, sadly) and in-call microphone. There's no fingerprint scanner on the phone – which is a shame, but hardly surprising given the low price.
XIAOMI REDMI 3 – DISPLAY
The front of the phone is dominated by the 5-inch, 720 x 1,280 pixel IPS LCD screen, which boasts a pixel density of around 294ppi. It isn't the sharpest display around and text has a somewhat jagged edge where individual pixels are visible. It's fine for a phone in this price range, however.
The other good news is that the panel is bright, offers good colour replication, decent contrast and solid viewing angles.
Above the screen there's the front-facing 5-megapixel snapper, and below are three capacitive buttons: Menu, Home and Back. Sadly, these don't light up, so they're quite tricky to pinpoint when you're using the phone in the dark.
XIAOMI REDMI 3 – SOFTWARE
Like so many Android handset makers, Xiaomi stamps its mark on its products by layering a custom user interface over Google's core OS. MIUI is a cut above the likes of Samsung's TouchWiz and HTC's Sense, however; it has its own app store and a myriad of applications that supplant Google's own options.
This is because, in China – the main market for the phone – Android devices don't usually come with Google services installed. However, resellers will often pre-load these apps to make the phone more appealing to Western buyers, and that's exactly what happened with our review unit.
Note that when buying devices from China you're also likely to get a boat-load of useless apps aimed at Chinese users – mercifully, our review unit was free of such bloatware.
The Redmi 3 is running MIUI 7, which isn't the latest version of Xiaomi's UI but is very similar to MIUI 8 – currently available for a select number of devices. Based on Android 5.1, this UI boasts some notable differences to "stock" Android.
For starters, there's no app drawer, which means all of your downloads are dumped directly onto your homescreen, as they are in iOS. There are also badge notifications on apps that show you how many unread alerts they have – another element borrowed from Apple's OS.
There are a few features that are reasonably original, however. The one I like the most is the ability to randomise your wallpaper so you see different images as the day progresses.
It should also be noted that MIUI is incredibly slick in terms of visuals and animations, and it's also possible to customise the theme of the UI, picking from hundreds of lockscreens, icon packs and widgets to create a totally unique look.
XIAOMI REDMI 3 – PERFORMANCE
It may be rocking a Qualcomm chipset – the same brand that powers the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5 – but the Snapdragon 616 isn't in quite the same league as the Snapdragon 820 or 821; the latter of which can be found in the shiny new Google Pixel handset.
This chip has four cores clocked at 1.5GHz and four at 1.2GHz, while graphics are handled by an Adreno 405 GPU. 2GB of RAM is included, which is respectable but not surprising; many Android phones have 3 or even 4GB of RAM these days.
The Redmi 3's specs might make it appear like an entry-level Android device in terms of raw power, but I was pleasantly surprised by its performance during the review.
Moving around the UI is relatively pain-free – largely down to the fact that Xiaomi has done some serious tinkering with MIUI 7 to keep things silky-smooth – and while the phone does sometimes become a little sluggish under heavy load, casual users might not even notice any performance dips.
For the majority of the time the Redmi 3 feels fast, something that's no doubt helped by the decision to use a 720p screen as opposed to a 1080p one, which would have taxed the Snapdragon 616 more.
Benchmark tests back up this viewpoint. AnTuTu returns a score of 38,604, while Geekbench 4 gives it a single-core rating of 649 and a multi-core rating of 2012. Those aren't mind-blowing figures by any means, but they're more than respectable for a device that costs just over £100.
The Redmi 3's loudspeaker is positioned on the rear of the phone and is disappointingly weedy. As you'd expect from a mobile phone speaker there's the typical absence of bass notes, but in terms of pure volume, it's a bit feeble and therefore easy to miss in a crowded environment – not ideal when you're waiting for an important call. Thankfully, in-call audio quality is excellent.
While the Redmi 3 has 4G connectivity, it doesn't support the 800MHz band that O2 uses in the UK. If you're with O2 – or one of the network providers that uses O2's masts, such as Giffgaff – then you'll be stuck with 3G; other networks are fine. It might seem like a major oversight but the 800MHz band isn't used in China, the territory for which the phone is intended.
XIAOMI REDMI 3 – CAMERA
The 13 megapixel, f/2.2 rear-facing camera comes with a single LED flash and is capable of capturing good images, considering the budget cost.
Xiaomi ships its phones with a custom camera application that supports features like real-time filters, HDR and a panoramic mode; there's even an option to have the camera guess the gender and age of a person based only on their face, which is often good for a laugh, if little else.
If you want to you can tinker with settings such as colour saturation and contrast within the camera app, but the phone can generally be relied upon to get the settings right for any given shot.
Photos boast good colour replication and brightness, although HDR mode is often needed to really bring the detail out of images. Low light performance is fairly poor, but then even high-end flagships can struggle here and there hasn't yet been an affordable phone yet that performs well.
Lower light shots can often have a yellow tinger
There's a lot of detail in macro shots
There's a surprising amount of detail in the wood, but it loses it in the darker portions
Colours are very bright
The front-facing 5 megapixel f/2.0 camera is suitable for selfies and video calling, but little else. Both cameras are capable of shooting full HD video at 30fps, but the quality isn't exactly earth-shattering.
XIAOMI REDMI 3 – BATTERY
Perhaps the most amazing element of the Redmi 3's spec sheet is the 4,100mAh battery, which is positively huge for a phone with a 5-inch screen. To put things into perspective, phablets such as the Pixel XL and iPhone 7 Plus have 3,450mAh and 2,900mAh batteries respectively – and both are powering much bigger displays, as well.
As a result, the Redmi 3 is top of the class when it comes to pure staying power. Even after a day of fairly intensive use I found that the phone had plenty of juice left in the tank, and on a couple of occasions I even got to the end of a second day before needing to even consider charging the handset.
During our traditional video test – where an HD movie is streamed from Netflix for an hour with the screen brightness and volume both at maximum – the Redmi 3 dropped just 11% of its battery power.
The Redmi 3 comes with 16GB of internal storage, which power-users might find a little limiting – especially when you consider that once OS files and the like are taken into account, the end-user has only 10.96GB to play with.
Thankfully, the phone's dual-SIM configuration means that you can forgo having the additional micro-SIM and have a microSD card instead, dramatically expanding the amount of space you have for saved files.
?SHOULD I BUY THE XIAOMI REDMI 3
If you're trying to stick to a budget but still want a half-decent smartphone for watching videos, playing games, replying to emails and – of course – remaining connected with your friends and family, then the Xiaomi Redmi 3 pretty much blows away all the competition in this price bracket.
Not only does it offer decent power, a good screen, astonishing battery life and an excellent camera – all backed up by MIUI 7, one of the best custom Android UI skins around – but it's also incredibly well built for a phone sold so cheaply.
The lack of a fingerprint scanner is unfortunate, and you'll need to be wary of the various issues that come with ordering a smartphone from China – but ultimately, the Redmi 3 is an excellent low-cost option for cash-strapped mobile users.
VERDICT
The Redmi 3 may be missing some key features – but at this price, it's hard to grumble
The Blu Vivo 6 is the latest in a line of mid-to-high-end smartphones that promise big things on paper – but without the matching high price. At just £239.99, the Blu Vivo 6 is the first handset from the US manufacturer to officially be offered for sale in the UK
Blu, which stands for "Bold Like Us", is offering the Vivo 6 direct to retailers and consumers , so if it takes your fancy then you'll be better off sourcing the handset from Amazon than in Carphone Warehouse
With a solid spec list that promises high performance, and a price tag that puts it somewhere between a Wileyfox Swift 2 and a OnePlus 3T, can Blu's debut UK handset make an impact in this increasingly crowded segment of the market
WATCH: Best phones of the year
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BLU VIVO 6 – DESIGN AND BUILD
The Vivo 6 offers up a full metal chassis in a choice of Gold or Rose Gold. While it won't necessarily win any prizes for original design, the Vivo 6 feels considerably more high-end than its price tag would suggest. On paper, it measures 153 x 75.3 x 7.6mm and weighs 170g. For comparison, the iPhone 7 Plus is 7.3mm thick and weighs 188g.
In reality, it's unlikely that weight difference will be noticeable, but the Vivo 6 is easier to hold than the iPhone 7 Plus, being slightly shorter and slightly narrower. Both phones, of course, offer a 5.5-inch display. That said, the Vivo 6 isn't as comfortable as a device with rounded edges. Samsung has somewhat spoiled Android users there.
Related: Best Budget Phones
Also missing is any form of waterproofing, now a common feature on most top-dollar smartphones – but the Vivo 6 is at least half the price of high-end handsets from Samsung or Sony.
That's not to say that Blu has skimped on the internal specs, though. Also included is the newer USB Type-C standard, rather than micro-USB, so prepare to invest in some new cables.
On the rear of the device is a 13-megapixel camera; at the front you'll find a wide-angle 8-megapixel unit. Embedded into the home button is an incredibly sensitive fingerprint sensor. Again, in comparison to the sensor the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, the Vivo 6's proved more reliable and faster to unlock.
BLU VIVO 6 – SCREEN
The 5.5-inch panel offers a Full HD, 1,920 x 1,080 pixel display with a 401ppi, meaning it offers exactly the same resolution and pixel density as the iPhone 7 Plus. This translates to a sharp image on the display and pixels that are tough to spot.
While colours appear fine in everyday use, in terms of brightness the Vivo 6 falls short of the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, even on maximum settings. As a result, you might struggle to see it on the brightest of days – but if you live in the UK, that's probably only about 10 days a year.
Screen viewing angles are good, but when pictures are compared side-by-side with more expensive handsets, they lack "pop" when playing games or watching a movie.
On the whole, though – and when viewed alone – you're unlikely to be overly disappointed at this price.
BLU VIVO 6 – PERFORMANCE
The Vivo 6's hardware is ample to deal with your daily challenges. You're won't experience any problems switching between multiple apps quickly or watching videos. The Octa-Core 1.8GHz MediaTek Helio 10 processor is accompanied by 4GB of RAM, 64GB of on-board storage and room to expand it via microSD.
With the microSD integrated into the SIM slot, it's easy to expand the on-board memory – although 64GB will probably keep the average user happy for quite a while. If you play a lot of graphically intensive games, these can often take up a lot of space, as will high-resolution videos and photos.
Aside of the slight dullness to the screen, the Vivo 6 is well suited to gaming, and didn't miss a beat in the many hours spent on Micro Machines. Don't cover the speakers at the bottom of the phone with your hands if you're playing a game or watching a video without headphones, though.
Provided you're not blocking the speakers, they're actually pleasingly loud. However, as it often the case with smartphone speakers, getting any decent music output, particularly bass, from the handset is an impossibility.
The Vivo 6 is unlikely to blow you away in the benchmarks. The AnTuTu benchmark provided an overall score of 31,282, which puts its just below the Meizu M3 Note and about 3 notches below the iPhone 5s.
In the Geekbench 4 tests it performed similarly, scoring 687 for single-core performance and 2,465 for multi-core. That puts it around the same level as the OnePlus One for multi-core performance, and ahead of devices such as the Nexus 5x and 6. It scored significantly worse against high-end devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S7 in single-core tests.
BLU VIVO 6 – SOFTWARE
While the Vivo 6 runs on Marshmallow out of the box, it isn't an entirely vanilla affair. Thankfully, the tweaks have been well thought out and kept to a minimum. Existing Android users won't feel lost, but a few things will look different.
For example, the Vivo 6 uses the standard Android notification bar at the top of the display. However, rather than also displaying access to the quick tools, these can be found with a swipe up from the bottom of the display. It's a minor change, but one that makes sense on a phone with a 5.5-inch display, since it means you don't need to stretch your thumb to the top of the display to change settings.
The majority of the obvious changes to stock Android come in the form of additional customisation options and tweaked menus, rather than delivering completely overhauled apps and service. The Theme Park app, for example, lets you quickly apply different themes and wallpapers across the phone in only a few taps, and change the appearance of the Blu clock.
Similarly, the Chameleon feature styles different elements of your phone and theme to specific colours that you set using a colour-dropper. You can pick any image or background to use as the source of the colours and the rest of the OS will be themed around your choices. Moving apps around and cleaning up all the icons in one tap is possible by long-pressing anywhere on any of the homescreens.
One thing that's likely to annoy dedicated Android users is the removal of the app drawer, which means you'll need to keep your apps organised on the desktop. One thing you won't find on the Blu Vivo 6 is an excess of bloatware or niggling prompts to install other Blu (or partner) apps, which is refreshing for a customised UI.
What you will get, however, are a couple of additional battery modes aimed at making the device last longer, plus some additional screenshot tools.
In my experience, "extreme" battery-saving modes often disable too many options but are a viable option if all you need to do is make sure your phone stays alive long enough to receive or make that important call. As you'd expect, enabling this on the Vivo can extend battery life dramatically, depending what you choose to turn off.
Related: Best Android Phones
BLU VIVO 6 – CAMERA
On the rear of the Vivo 6 is a 13-megapixel, f/2.0 aperture, Sony sensor-equipped camera that doesn't sit quite flush with the rest of the chassis if you're not using a protective case. However, our review unit came with a transparent case in the box, which stopped the worry of scratching the sensor each time you put down the phone.
A few additional tools are included on top of the standard shooting modes, including a "magic focus" option that lets you refocus an image after shooting, some "beautification" options that smooth your skin on selfies, and a smattering of live filters that can be applied to an image pre-shooting.
The camera can even capture HD video, although we wouldn't attempt this in anything but well-lit surroundings – it's still a budget snapper.
Still photos do better than video in most conditions, and phase detection autofocus and laser focus ensure that images are captured quickly; there's no lag between pressing the shutter button and capturing the image.
As is the case with the majority of smartphone cameras, in bright conditions the Vivo 6 can deliver some decent images with excellent colours and shadow detail. In less ideal conditions, however, images become noisy.
There's also a tendency in some cases for the white balance to be slightly off, resulting in an "overblown" sky in some shots. Colour reproduction – in this case of some fruit – is good, however.
White balance can be off, resulting in overblown skies
There's good colour production
Bright shades look good
The 8MP selfie camera is good, if not excellent
On the front, the 8-megapixel camera for selfies and video calling works particularly well thanks to the loud speakers on the phone, providing you're in a quiet space.
BLU VIVO 6 – BATTERY LIFE
With the inclusion of the slightly duller than desired display, reducing power drain, the Vivo 6's battery shouldn't struggle. In my testing, however, the 3,130mAh battery didn't last as long as I'd expected.
For example, watching an episode of Narcos on Netflix (on Wi-Fi), sapped around 11% of the battery, and 30 minutes of Spotify (with the screen off) reduced it by a further 5%.
?Related: What is USB-C
For average everyday use, the Vivo 6 should get you through the working day, but if you're a demanding user who does everything via their phone, you'll probably wish it lasted a little longer.
Playing relatively demanding games such as Micro Machines or Hitman for half an hour used the same amount of battery (11-12%) as less demanding games, suggesting the screen time accounts for nearly all the battery usage – as you might expect.
Charging to full took around two hours, with about 70% of that coming in the first hour or so. It's a USB Type-C connector on the bottom, rather than a micro-USB, but the retail units bound for UK customers ship with a cable and UK plug in the box.
SHOULD I BUY THE VIVO 6?
If you're looking for a solid – if not stellar – Android smartphone that won't break the bank, it's hard not to recommend the Vivo 6.
Sure, the camera isn't going to blow anyone away – but is remains perfectly acceptable for everyday shots. The slight dullness of the screen could put off some people, but for a handset costing less than £240, it's hard to find competitors that offer the same level of specs.
For those happy to opt for a phone announced over a year ago, the OnePlus X is a relatively similar device. Or, if you want to spend even less money, the Wileyfox Swift 2 could also be in the running, although this would mean taking a cut in screen size – as well as a maximum screen resolution of 720p, instead of Full HD – plus storage and RAM.
The audio performance, impressively accurate fingerprint scanner and ability to quickly modify the handset with some well thought out changes to the Android OS is a boon for a £240 smartphone. If you want an above average camera, however, you'll need to spend a bit more.
VERDICT
The Vivo 6 offers an attractive value-for-money package to UK buyers, with its 5.5-inch HD display, strong hardware lineup and thoughtful OS tweaks. It isn't perfect, though.
The Libratone Too is a small wireless speaker that belongs to a class where price, portability and sound quality converge. Little "tube" speakers such as this are often great buys.
This model is another strong contender, but one that favours style and a clean sound over the sort of room-filling bass you get with the Bose SoundLink Mini II and others.
Related: Best Bluetooth Speakers
Libratone Too – Design and Features
The Libratone Too is a cute little tube speaker. There are plenty of rivals sporting a similar shape, but few have the sheer charm of this one.
First, there are no hard edges to the Libratone Too. The smooth weaved grille curves into the soft-touch rubberised plastic of the base, with the rubber carry-handle popping out of the end. Nothing looks out of place here, and all its parts are colour-matched.
The controls on the Too’s top have plenty of Libratone special sauce, too. The lightly indented power button all-but blends into the shell and the light-up Libratone logo is actually a smart touch-sensitive panel that lets you control playback with a tap, or alter volume with a circular sweep.
Among small wireless speakers it stands out, but in use I’ve found it a little annoying at times. When you carry the Libratone Too around, it’s far too easy to accidentally knock the touch panel, which will result in pausing your tunes. I’ve done this a lot, more times than I’ve actually used the touchpad deliberately. It doesn't help that's positioned so close to the carrying handle.
Since the Libratone Too uses a relatively hard rubberised underside rather than a full rubber foot, the speaker tends to transmit far more vibration than much of the competition. This means it can actually use the surface it's on to improve the bass; unfortunately, it also results in some unwanted noise if you rest it on the wrong object.
These are niggles rather than big problems, however, and the Libratone Too has both a microphone for calls and a solid battery life of up to 12 hours. It has splash-proofing too – it’s certified to IPX4, meaning it will handle the odd splash but not being submerged in water. Other than the water-resistant grille, it’s the rubber clasp covering the micro-USB charge socket and 3.5mm input that make this possible.
LIBRATONE TOO – SOUND QUALITY
The Libratone Too’s design is largely a success. It’s prettier than the competition, without upping the price or sacrificing many important features. However, sound quality is a little more mixed.
Positives include that the sound is nicely balanced and that it has “360-degree” dispersal. What this really means is that, contrary to what you’d guess, the drivers actually face upwards, the sound then being routed through both sides of the grille.
Most speakers of this type have front-facing drivers. There are two 1.5-inch active drivers and a passive radiator, used in little speakers like this to increase bass power.
This is precisely what the Libratone Too lacks, however: bass. Playing next to the Bose SoundLink Mini II, the Too sounds meek and reserved, without anything like the fun low-end punch of the Bose speaker. It’s a much smaller sound that doesn’t get close to the room-filling capabilities of the best at the size.
On a surface that won’t resonate sympathetically to improve the low-end, the Too sounds like one of the less exciting speakers in this class. For example, the Jam Heavy Metal has more crisp treble, and bass somewhere between the Libratone and the Bose.
In the Libratone Too’s favour is that it's £60 cheaper than the Bose SoundLink Mini II, but alternatives from Creative and Jam Audio aren’t weighed down by the same price difference.
A few years ago the Libratone Too would have seemed like a bit of a revelation. Nowadays, sonically, it’s a middleweight – if one that’s still perfectly satisfying.
The scenarios in which it will flourishe are when you’re not having to deal with a sound “sweet spot”, or you don’t want to disturb people nearby too much with your tunes.
A picnic in the park is native ground for the Libratone Too. Bung it in the centre of your spread and everyone sat around it will be able to hear properly, where with most speakers of this style, one side get a better deal than the other.
?SHOULD YOU BUY THE LIBRATONE TOO
The Libratone Too scores better on design than sound quality; it's a sensibly priced and pretty portable speaker, with no glaring feature gaps.
Alternatives tend to sound bigger, bassier and more energetic, so if you’re out to fill your kitchen or living room with music that you’re going to want to dance to, consider the options.
These include Libratone’s own Click speaker, although it suffers from bass that isn't quite as tight and well controlled as some. Other favourites worth a look include the seriously beefy-sounding Bose SoundLink Mini II, the crisp Jam Heavy Metal and the Creative iRoar Go.
None of them quite have the colourful style of the Libratone Too, though – so if a fun, low-maintenance speaker is what you’re after, you’ve found one here.
Update: Samsung has officially halted sales of the Note 7 after multiple reports of some rather extreme battery malfunction. There's also a global recall in effectstarting in the US, so those who have already purchased the new phone are asked to send it back.
Here's how to get a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 replacement
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is the large-screen phone for 2016 that Android power users have been anxiously waiting to upgrade to, and it takes several cues from the Galaxy S7 Edge.
Sure, the S7 Edge already stretched our fingertips into near-phablet territory with a 5.5-inch display in March. But it didn't have two Note-series staples: a 5.7-inch screen and the S Pen.
The Note 7 maximizes the screen space, while minimizing its body, and it includes a small stylus that slides right into the phone – no matter which way you put it in this time.
All of this makes it larger and heavier than most of today's phones. But it's a worthy trade-off if you can wrap your meaty paws around its elegantly curved glass and aluminum frame.
Returning features include a microSD card slot for extra storage, absent from last year's Galaxy Note 5, and an IP68 water-resistance rating, normally limited to the S range, which makes this first Note phone that's both waterproof and dustproof to a point.
New in the Note 7 is an iris scanner, Samsung's latest novelty act and your next party trick. You never knew you needed to unlock your phone with your eyes – and, truthfully, you really don't. The fingerprint sensor is still here and works just fine.
This now-launching Android phablet is especially anticipated in the UK and Europe – the S Pen upgrade is long overdue there. Samsung made the bizarre decision not to launch the Note 5 outside of the US and a few other countries.
Skipping over the Samsung Galaxy Note 6 name, the Note 7 is meant to bring it into line with the Galaxy S7 series – and steal the thunder of Apple's iPhone 7and iPhone 7 Plus.
It's certainly among the best phones available right now, big or small. Let's take a look to see if the sizable Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is the right fit for you.
The S Pen works no matter which way you slide it in now
Release date and price
August 19 in the US for about $33 a month
August 19 in Australia for AU$1,349
September 2 in the UK for £749
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 release date is August 19 in the US and Australia, and September 2 in the UK. Don't worry, it's coming this time. Pre-orders In the UK launch earlier last week, August 16.
In the US, it costs between $33 and $36.67 a month on device payment plans with AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile or Sprint. That's basically the full price spread out over 24 months. Without a contract, it's anywhere from $850 (T-Mobile and Sprint) to $880 (AT&T). Sprint is the only one offering old two-year contracts in exchange for $350 upfront. Samsung is likely to wait four months for a SIM-free unlocked Note 7, just like it did with the S7 Edge.
The Note 7 UK price is simpler, but still expensive at £749. In Australia, it's pricey, too, at AU$1,349. But if you pre-ordered in certain stores, you'd receive a bonus: either a Samsung Gear Fit 2 fitness tracker or a Samsung 256GB microSD card, your choice. Shop around to see if that's still available.
Design
Stylish curved glass design with Gorilla Glass 5
Hot new Coral Blue shade is one of four colors
USB Type-C, microSD card slot and IP68 waterproof
You best like futuristic-looking edge-to-edge displays, because this screen wraps around the left and right sides of the handset with space-age curved glass. No, there's no flat Note 7, grandpa.
It's a lot like the equally-stylish S7 Edge, only this phone has a slightly bigger 5.7-inch display. It comes together in a rich-looking, glass-and-metal-fused design that's going to really wow people who are upgrading from those old, plastic-clad Note 4 and Note 3 handsets. Next to the similarly designed Note 5, it's less breakable, too, thanks to an upgrade to Gorilla Glass 5. It's still heavy compared to Samsung's flagship S series, but it's a tad lighter and noticeably slimmer than the Note 5.
What really makes the Note 7 superior is its gentler dual curved sides. Both the front and the back of the phone slope inward toward its frame, meeting at its metal band apex. The curves aren't as pronounced as the S7 Edge's one big curve, which boldly slopes the front glass all the way to its nearly flat back. But with a more dramatic curve comes more drama in the way of more false touches.
Thankfully, falses touches haven't been as much of a problem on the Note 7, despite its larger size. It usually worked the opposite way in the past – bigger phones made our hands creep up on the non-existent bezels and we used to hit all sorts of crazy keyboard interference. If you're still having issues touching the side, we recommend searching for a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 case.
We did still run into the issue of accidentally hitting the very sensitive capacitive buttons that no case can fix. The back and recent buttons flank the physical home button, and pretty much everyone we hand this phone to touches them only to immediately exit the screen we were trying to show off. It's rather annoying, but present on all Samsung Galaxy phones except for the S6 Active and S7 Active, which use physical soft buttons.
There are four Note 7 colors that vary by region: Black Onyx, Titanium Silver, Gold Platinum and the hot new color, Coral Blue. The UK, for example, is only getting Black and Blue initially. Samsung made a point that every phone has a 3.5mm headphone jack, a not-so-subtle jab at Apple, as the iPhone 7 andiPhone 7 Plus might not have the ubiquitous audio port.
Samsung did make one important switch at the bottom of the Note 7, however: it's using the reversible USB Type-C connection instead of the insufferable, non-reversible micro USB port. This makes life easier when plugging in the phone, except you're going to have to carry around a micro USB cable for many gadgets that won't upgrade to the new standard for years. GoPro is the best example, as they only recently made the switch from USB mini in the GoPro Hero4 Session variant. Even Samsung's own fast wireless charging pad sent to us along with the Note 7 uses micro USB. It's going to be a while for USB-C to fully to kick in.
Display
Spacious 5.7-inch AMOLED screen is the world's best on a phone
Mobile HDR future-proofs the display with expanded contrast ratio
Fewer false touches, but sensitive capacitive buttons are annoying
The Note 7 has a larger screen as the S7 Edge to go along with that same color-rich Super AMOLED panel and pixel-dense 2K resolution. It's perfect for the new Samsung Gear VR and also supports Mobile HDR.
The world's best display on a phone
Let's be honest, 0.2 inches of additional screen space doesn't make a tremendous difference in a world where the 5.5-inch S7 Edge exists. It's just a hair better for reading a few more words without scrolling, gaming with a smidge more room for on-screen controls without dying, and watching a 12-hour Netflix binge without feeling as badly for not stopping. It's not your fault, it's the immersive screen!
Mobile HDR, on the the hand, allows for darker blacks and brighter whites, and it's more meaningful than any size increase or jumping to a 4K resolution. It'll be up to Netflix, Amazon Prime and other popular services to deliver more content with the expanded contrast ratio. Right now, movies and TV shows with HDR are extremely limited and hard to find (often without proper labels). In the case of Netflix, HDR costs $2 a month on top of your current subscription. So the screen isn't just futuristic-looking, it's future-proof.
What you can enjoy right now from the screen are off-screen memos using the S Pen and an always-on display that shows the time, date, battery life and notification icons, even when the rest of the screen is asleep. An always-on display is new to the Note series and was a big hit on the S7 and S7 Edge. A few improvements have been made in the past five months. There are more color options and background choices, and more notification icons are supported.
S Pen and GIF maker
Samsung's stylus embeds right in the phone for easy carrying
Off-screen memos can capture thoughts, even if the display is unlit
Can create and edit animated GIFs from non-DRM videos
There's another reason the Note 7 edges don't slope so dramatically: this phone is designed to use the tiny Samsung's S Pen stylus, which has always made the Note series business-friendly. On occasion, drawing on the sides did mess up our critical business memos (aka our Snapchat game), but those instances were few and far between. It's a happy medium between fashion and functionality.
Want a phone with a stylus? This is the one (and pretty much the only)
We relish the fact that Samsung chose to roll all S Pen notes into one S Notes app, unlike the splintered apps on the Note 5, and that off-screen memos return for jotting down notes on the unlit screen as soon as the embedded pen is unshethed, just like the Note 5. That's great for penciling in a quick groceries list without ever opening up an app or your phone.
And now the S Pen is for more than for taking quick memos. New to the stylus' capabilities is a GIF maker. It allows you to record just about any moving image and turn it into an animated GIF. You can't record copyright-protected footage from streaming services like Google Play or Netflix (we tried), just like you can't take a mid-movie screenshot. But we were able to pull off an animated GIF of The Simpsons care of an episode uploaded to YouTube. We then edited the GIF frame by frame (to axe the frames that had the YouTube pause button overlaid on top of it in the beginning) and sent it to a TechRadar colleague. It elicited the intended hahahaha response. That's four ha's! Perfect.
There's a new GIF maker that's fun to use
Other S Pen capabilities include Screen Select for clipping portions of the screen with lasso tools, Screen Write for annotating screenshots, and newcomers Translate and Magnify. Hovering over foreign text word-by-word with the S Pen's Translate is a letdown when the far more comprehensive Google Translate exists, though we did find uses Magnify when photos and text were too small. Old people who whip out a magnifying glass to look at receipts will love this on their phone.
Iris scanner
With your eyes, unlock your phone and specific apps, files and photos
Second security layer allows you to share lockscreen code with kids
Doesn't replace the more reliable home button fingerprint sensor
The iris scanner won't, or shouldn't, sell you on the Note 7. It's not the breakthrough eye scanning technology that replaces the fingerprint sensor home button like you may be thinking at first pass, and to be fair, Samsung isn't marketing it as such.
The iris scanner won't replace your fingerprint
Instead, it's a supplemental way to unlock your phone or password protect folders, apps and photos behind a second layer of security. This is a great idea for parents who are forced (read: guilted and/or tortured) into giving their kids their password for playing game apps (read again: Pokemon Go). They won't have full access to your Secure Folder.
Here are the rare, but actual uses of the iris scanner:
You often exit a swimming pool or shower with incredible pruny hands and desperately need to check your phone
Your fingers are grasping the middle of this really big phone, unable to make it down to the home button
You want a second biometrically controlled way of accessing certain files and folders, far from your phone prying, Pokemon Go-playing kids
Your friends want you to unlock the phone from the bar stool next to you
You want a new party trick because no one fancies your smartwatch
The iris scanner worked well enough for us and even worked in the dark. It's not faster than putting your finger on the home button, but it's close enough and it can be a neat party trick. Only, be warned, the scanner shows an unflattering, low-resolution sliver of your face in black-and-white when it tries to read your eyes. It can be (and was) a party trick gone wrong when we tried it the first time at a party. Phone number not acquired.
The phone managed still to unlock our sad face, so that's good news
The Galaxy Note 7 is a powerful performer with top-of-the line specs, and just as importantly, it's software is easier to use than ever.
Interface, reliability and compatibility
Redesigned new TouchWiz menus are more seamless than you remember
Misses Android 7.0 Nougat by a month, but has many of its feature already
SMS and video calls are hobbled in the US, but Google Allo and Duo will help
Anyone who tells you Samsung's TouchWiz interface (which is the software that sits on top of the Android operating system) is slow and messy has been using the Galaxy Note 4 or earlier. Samsung has cleaned up its act in the last two years, with the Note 7 benefiting the most from our years of complaints. It's just that (most of) TouchWiz's most ardent critics have abandoned ship to LG or another phone maker, or haven't upgraded yet.
Gone is the bloatware like Smart Scroll and Smart Pause that never really worked well anyway. Yes, there are still carrier imposed apps in the US, but Samsung's software suite has reduced dramatically. Even its Video Editor app has to be downloaded separately.
What's left is an easier-to-navigate interface that makes finding apps, widgets and settings a breeze. It's the little things, really. We can now move apps by piling them into a temporary dock at the top (we call it the app train), then slide them all along to our many home screen panes (all aboard). No one else is doing that. You always have to drag a misplaced app, one at a time, several panes (more like pains), accidentally dropping it along the way.
The settings menu is streamlined, and in case you go looking for something like Smart Stay in the Display submenu, at the bottom it says "Are you looking for Smart Stay?" Clicking the link will whisk you away to the proper submenu (Advanced features).
What's missing is a competent messaging app and a seamless video calling experience. That's a universal problem among Android devices and a bigger deal in the US, where SMS is still a king, and WhatsApp and WeChat are not. Give someone your digits in the US and the texts will land in Samsung's barebones SMS app or another app you installed that accepts SMS. But coaxing them to the non-SMS side of your chat client is difficult. The iPhone does it better with iMessages by overlaying an internet messages client on top of SMS. If both people have an iPhone, it's sent as an iMessage. SMS is just a backup plan.
HD video calls are also troublesome in the US. You have to be on the same carrier and own a newer Android phone to make this happen (otherwise it's greyed out). This is why iMessages and FaceTime are so powerful, and it's really unfortunate. No one uses the same messaging app on Android, and there's a power struggle that splinters everyone. Hangouts was little little too late. Our hope is that the forthcoming Google Allo and the new Duo app make this a problem of the past on Android phones and tablets.
You aren't getting Android Nougat out of the box. The Note 7 is missing Google's big operating system refresh by mere weeks, with the debut said to be on the LG V20. But it really doesn't matter, as far as we can see it. Samsung phones already contain many of the new Nougat features and have for years: split screen apps, a clear all button on the recent menu and movable quick settings. The only thing it's missing out on are lockscreen quick replies and Doze Mode 2.0 battery enhancements.
Samsung actually goes beyond what Google is doing in some cases, adding a blue light filter to rival Apple's Night Shift mode on iOS 9.3, and its keyboard is more customizable and resizable (but not necessarily smarter with predictions and autocorrect than Google's keyboard). Its wallpaper even has a neat dynamically color mode depending on your viewing angle, taking parallax to a new level. The only thing sorely missing is the Mobile Hotspot from the quick settings notification shade. Don't worry, it's still buried within the regular settings menu.
Unique to Samsung's curvy phones is the Edge UI that lets you reveal a hidden side panel that mostly act as shortcuts. People Edge gives you faster access to your most frequent contacts, Tasks Edge lets you jump into your favorite apps and new third-party options include a Facebook Messenger panel (created by someone outside of Facebook) that costs $1.99. Third-party developers are finally expanding on the idea.
Movies, music and gaming
Big, bright and colorful for watching movies and playing games
Gamers may run into occasional issues with the curved design
The single speaker is this phone's multimedia weak point
Enjoying any sort of multimedia on the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is fantastic with a side of caution. Samsung's 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display provides a vibrant-looking picture that no other phone can match right now. Mobile HDR is only going to make that better when content players catch up with more movies and TV shows filmed with high-dynamic range imaging.
However, its curved screen can be irksome, especially for gamers who make mistakes near the edge of the display. It's not as frequent as it was on the S7 Edge, but it can still be an easy way for you to excuse yourself for dying in a game so stupidly. That said, being able to turn off the capacitive buttons while gaming is a huge win for gamers. No excuses there.
Music sounds fine (and by fine, we mean the passive aggressive fine: "Yeah, not great, but not horrible"). It pumped out Google Play Music tunes as a normal volume, but pales in comparison to the front-facing speakers we've been appreciating on other phones. The HTC 10, Moto Z and ZTE Axon 7 have gotten in right. It's time for Samsung to catch up. It's phone is so much better in every other area. We're hoping that happens with the redesigned Samsung Galaxy S8 next March.
Specs and performance
The same fast chipset as the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge
64GB of storage and microSD card slot give you ample space
Doesn't support UFS cards for faster read and write speeds
The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is the tale of two phones, all dependent on where you are in the world. Some regions (like the UK) have a faster phone than others (like the US).
We tested out both for our review. In the US, that means we used the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, while the UK team, benefited from Samsung's own Exynos 8890 processor. Don't worry too much. The differences on paper are greater than they are in real life.
Neither configuration is slow. Each comes with 4GB of RAM, skipping out on the opportunity to give users 6GB of RAM and a little more overhead when it comes to running many apps at once. The OnePlus 3 and Asus Zenfone 3 have 6GB of RAM, but truthfully, the Note 7 is isn't necessarily slower than either of its number-focused rivals.
It did come up short in our Geekbench 3 benchmark tests, trailing the top-performing Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge at times. In the US, this meant an average multi-core score of 4,635, and in the UK using the Exynos chip, it averaged 5863, once breaking the 6,000 multi-score ceiling.
Reflecting these scores in real life, we did experience rare slowdown when pushing the phone to the limit: re-downloaded all of our apps, using GPS and playing music at the same time. You're probably not going to be juggling that much in everyday use.
The Note 7 isn't any faster than the S7 and S7 Edge, but here's how it is built for power: it includes more internal space than other entry-level Samsung phone. It has 64GB of internal storage instead of providing a cheaper 32GB model. That's both good and bad when you think about it. In the long run, Samsung is betting you'll be thankful in the long run.
If you do need more storage than that, the Note 7 supports microSD cards again, with a slot for the tiny memory card format tucked inside of the nanoSIM card tray. It's good for holding photos, movies and music as a spill over space or for easy transferring. However, newly launched UFS microSD cards are not supported, which is a shame. Samsung's memory card division touts the faster read and write speeds of UFS for things like 4K video recording, but it's not on its top-billed phone.
The US also drew the short straw when it comes to getting an unlocked phone. It took the S7 and S7 Edge about four months before Samsung started selling the phone at full price without all of the carrier restrictions. Moving between networks on the Note 7 isn't possible without paying a hefty early termination fee or a much higher full price.
Battery life
3,500mAh battery capacity is 17% bigger vs Note 5
Lasted a day-and-a-half with normal use
The best battery life menu we've seen offers estimates, power saving tweaks
Samsung is really smart about the Galaxy Note 7 battery life, and that's good news because the capacity is actually smaller than that S7 Edge. Fitting that stylus into the phone cost it 100mAh.
But you won't really notice the difference between the new Note's 3,500mAh and S7 Edge's 3,600mAh. In fact, you're more than likely going to observe a big gain compared to the Note 5 and Note 4 if you're upgrading within the Note series. This one doesn't just go all day, it's more like a day and a half. Welcome to 2016 on most Androids.
During our real-life battery life tests, we found that the Note 7 went just shy of a day and a half with steady, normal usage (reading and sending messages, browsing the web, playing music and a few uses of the GPS for Google Maps). The S7 Edge mustered about two hours more. The always-on display was on because it's a great feature we don't want to live without, but be warned, our phone lost 8% of a 100% battery overnight. That adds up in a 24-hour span.
TechRadar's lab tests proved that Samsung's 2016 smartphone batteries are about even in longevity. Running the same 90-minute video loop, the Note 7 lost 12% of a full battery, while the S7 and S7 Edge in the US dropped 14% and 16% respectively at launch in March (meaning when we had a fresh battery out of the box, not four months into a weaker battery).
Helping the Note 7 eke out a win are really deep battery life settings. The new battery menu gives you an bold estimate of how much time is left before you scramble for a charger and offers ways to length than time. There's a Power Saving mode that can be set to Off, Mid or Max, and, best of all, the menu reveals totals on how much extra time each mode will earn you. Tapping them also tells you the changes made to the phone (limiting the max brightness, changing the resolution to Full HD or HD).
The are a bunch of neat tricks that really make this battery life sustainable. Yes, the battery is nonremovable now, just like it was on the Note 5, but it's a significant change from when the S6 and S6 Edge debuted with non-removable batteries and were dead before the day was through. It's worth giving this one a chance if that's your one and only gripe.
Lower light shots can often have a yellow tinger
There's a lot of detail in macro shots
There's a surprising amount of detail in the wood, but it loses it in the darker portions
Colours are very bright
