Among Samsung’s many different product series, the C series has introduced some powerful new variants. The Galaxy C7 Pro has been launched in the price segment dominated by OnePlus’s OnePlus 3 (Review) and OnePlus 3T (Review). Motorola’s Moto Z Play (Review) also offers similar specifications at a lower price. Will the Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro be able to challenge these smartphones? Find out in the review.
Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro design
We have to admit that the Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro is a good looking device. The design and build quality of this Samsung device is great. The phone is available in gold colour but we would prefer the navy blue finish variant that we got for review. We wish Samsung had offered a black variant as it would have looked good with a black front panel. When you use the phone in an air-conditioned room, you do miss the aluminium unibody. The body of the phone is 7 mm thick and the curved edges and corners make the phone comfortable to hold.
The glass on the front of the Galaxy C7 Pro comes with curved edges. The front camera, earpiece, proximity sensor and hidden notification LED are placed together and below them is Samsung’s branding. There is a metal mesh on the earpiece and the grey finish around the home button is the same color as the rear panel, which looks clear. The fingerprint sensor is integrated into the physical home button and there are backlit capacitive buttons on both sides of the home button.
The phone has volume buttons on the left and power button on the right and a hybrid dual-SIM tray. The phone can use two nano-SIM cards or one SIM card and one microSD card simultaneously.
Samsung has provided antenna lines on the top and bottom of the rear of the phone. It looks similar to Samsung Galaxy C9 Pro and Oppo F3 Plus. The primary camera and dual-tone LED flash are placed in the middle on the rear. The camera is slightly raised on the outside and is surrounded by metal which will help prevent scratches. The Samsung branding on the rear has a reflective finish which shines when light is thrown on the matte back panel.
The Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro has a USB Type-C port, loudspeaker, microphone and a 3.5mm audio jack at the bottom and a secondary microphone at the top. Samsung has bundled a micro-USB to Type-C adapter with the phone that can work with your existing accessories. The phone weighs 172 grams and fits comfortably in the hand. We have to say that the phone slips a bit in the hand and the entire screen cannot be used with one hand.
Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro Specifications
The Galaxy C7 Pro sports a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display that comes with full HD resolution and thin borders. We must say that the display is fantastic. The phone is easy to use in all lighting conditions with good colours and decent viewing angles. Users can select from a number of pre-defined display modes.
The phone has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 processor and Adreno 506 GPU for graphics. The processor has Cortex-A53 and the clock speed is 2.2 GHz. The Galaxy C7 Pro has 4 GB RAM and 64 GB storage. The phone’s storage can be expanded up to 256 GB. For connectivity, the phone has features like Bluetooth 4.2, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n, GPS and NFC. The Galaxy C7 Pro has a 3300 mAh non-removable battery and comes with a quick charger.
Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro software
Samsung has given Android 6.0 Marshmallow instead of Android 7.0 Nougat in Galaxy C7 Pro. The UI given by Samsung is polished and we have seen the same UI in Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge before. If you have used Samsung smartphones before, then you will find this UI better and familiar. Apart from this, there is also an option to customize the theme according to your choice. Samsung has given the option to choose theme and icons by going to the settings. And users can choose from many types of free and paid apps.
The UI has an app drawer, and you can sort apps alphabetically. Swiping left on the homescreen will bring up Flipboard’s news feed briefing. You can choose the type of news and the news source as per your requirement. Samsung has provided a blue light filter with a schedule and customisable intensity. This feature is very useful at night and in low light conditions.
Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro has an Always-On display mode that lets you view the time, date and notifications only when the phone is in standby mode. Power saving options help extend battery life by lowering the brightness and limiting the device’s performance. At the highest power saving level, the software only shows selected pixels on the AMOLED screen. S Power is also a separate feature for the battery, which allows the phone to be used only for calling.
The Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro comes with a number of apps preinstalled and you can find more in the Galaxy Apps store. The phone also has Samsung’s S Health app that allows users to store sleep, running and water intake data. You can lock private data using the S Folder, but you will need to create a Samsung ID for this to work.
Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro camera
The Galaxy C7 Pro sports a 16-megapixel camera on the front and rear. There is a dual-tone LED flash on the rear, but there is no selfie flash. Pressing the home button twice opens the camera app. Apart from this, users can choose from a number of modes before taking pictures. These include Continuous Shot, a Food mode. The Pro mode gives better control over individual settings but lacks aperture and shutter speed control. There is also an option to download several other modes from Samsung’s store.
The phone focuses quickly and captures images quickly and the images are sharp and colour accurate. Photos taken with the primary camera are good in daylight, but some of the photos we took show ghosting in HDR mode. There is a lack of detail when the object is far away and there is also noise. Switching to night mode does not change much. Focusing takes time in low light, colours are not accurate and the edges of the subject are not very visible. The Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro can record videos up to a maximum of 1080p. Focus can be locked during recording on the phone.
Photos taken with the selfie camera are good enough to share on social media. Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro has a Beautify mode to enhance skin and face, which is not turned on by default.
Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro performance
The overall performance of the Galaxy C7 Pro impressed us. It didn’t take us long to get used to the 5.7-inch screen. The slippery body means you need to hold the phone carefully while unlocking and using it. The Snapdragon 626 processor is powerful and we didn’t face any issues. Samsung has also provided 4GB of RAM. We always had 1.5GB of RAM free on the phone.
We ran benchmark tests on the Galaxy C7 Pro and got a score of 7,717 on AnTuTu and 931 and 4498 on Geekbench in single-core and multi-core tests respectively. There were no issues while playing games and the phone never got heated up.
Battery life is good and the device lasted a day with moderate usage and some gaming. In our HD video loop test, the phone lasted 16 hours and 8 minutes before the battery died. The bundled fast charger fully charges the phone in about 90 minutes.
Our verdict
Samsung has managed to strike a good balance between performance and battery life with the Galaxy C7 Pro. The premium build quality and crisp display are great. Yes, the price is on par with the OnePlus 3 (Review), but the C7 Pro is not in the race. The phone competes with the Moto Z Play, which is priced at Rs 24,999. The Galaxy C7 Pro has a better processor, more RAM and a thinner body than the Moto Z Play.
If you are looking for a phone that offers all-day performance, the Galaxy C7 Pro is a better choice than the Moto Z Play (Review). There may be deals on the Galaxy C7 Pro during sales or deals. However, the OnePlus 3T (Review) is still the most powerful smartphone.
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