There’s not a huge style difference between the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the Samsung Galaxy S6, so it’s easy to see where the design DNA of the latter has bled through into the former. The slightly rounded back does make it easier to hold in the hand, which is a common issue for full metal body phones. The Samsung Galaxy S7 feels very solid in the hand, which is exactly what you’d want from a premium device. That said, while Samsung made big design changes for the Samsung Galaxy S range in 2015 with the Samsung Galaxy S6, with the S7 it has fundamentally played it safe. If you wanted a phone that was a radical departure from the S6’s design or some genuinely new form factor, this isn’t it.

One neat feature Samsung has integrated is a handy lock screen clock. This isn’t a unique trick, the LG G5 also features an (optional) "always on" display screen for clock or calendar with a claimed low power draw. That was certainly our observation during testing. If you’re the type who consistently pulls their phone out of their pocket to check the time or date, this could be a godsend.

Though the return of expandable storage is much appreciated, it comes with a notable caveat: individual models of the Samsung Galaxy S7 can have either a microSD card slot or a slot for a second SIM card, but not both. This is a common story for phones with a single SIM/microSD card slot. You can opt for dual SIM (although not with 4G connections on both), or you can add storage via microSD. The Australian official model opts for single SIM with microSD, but it's likely direct importers may offer the dual SIM variant at a later stage.

While the overall design of the S7 is smoking, Samsung may have taken the notion a little too far: the phone literally gets hot to the touch if you push it too hard. Samsung has integrated water cooling in the S7 in the same way that Sony did with the Xperia Z5, but the results are also similar. Push the S7 heavily with gaming, VR or video and you’ll feel it heat up in your hand. Not to scorching levels, but it is noticeable.

It's also worth mentioning that the Galaxy S7 became a magnet for fingerprint smudges during our testing. This may have been a specific quirk of the silver Samsung Galaxy S7 we were sent for review, but it’s not one that we can ignore. After only a short period of time, the shiny silver back and front bezel of Samsung Galaxy S7 were utterly covered in very obvious fingerprints. A big draw for a premium phone is that it looks good and the Samsung Galaxy S7 generally does, except when it’s covered in fingerprints.