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Everyone agrees that the Samsung Galaxy S7 is incredible

Reviews of Samsung's new Galaxy S7 smartphone started coming in on Tuesday morning, and they're overwhelmingly positive. 

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The S7 sees the reintroduction of old fan-favorite features like water-resistance and a microSD card slot for expandable storage. Samsung also improved a few things from the previous Galaxy S6 line, and tech journalists couldn't sing loud enough praises.

samsung galaxy s7 and galaxy s7 edge
Antonio Villas-Boas/Tech Insider

Here's what everyone is saying:

It's a beautiful phone

Tech publications have been praising the Galaxy S7's looks, especially the S7 Edge model. The Verge's Dan Seifert said the S7 Edge "is the most impressive piece of smartphone hardware [he's] ever held." 

CNet's Jessica Dolcourt was also enamored with the S7's design, and found the edges around the display "damn nice, giving the phone a far more luxe and contoured appearance than most."

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Tech Insider's Steve Kovach also noticed how the S7 Edge  "is much more svelte and easier to hold than Apple’s unwieldy [iPhone 6s Plus]," and that it fit better in his pockets than his iPhone, even though both phones have the same size screen. 

galaxy s7
Antonio Villas-Boas/Tech Insider

They all love the camera

The 12-megapixel shooter on the S7 boasts quick-focusing and seriously impressive low-light photography, and it beats the iPhone 6s Plus' camera, which is no small feat.

Tech Insider's camera expert Rafi Letzter said in his iPhone/S7 camera comparison that "Samsung's new smartphone camera is amazing ... [it] outperforms Apple by every objective measure." 

Gizmodo's Darrent Orf had nothing bad to say about the S7's new camera, "From launching to using to shooting, the S7 nails it every step of the way ... Seriously. This camera is amazing."

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It seems like the word "amazing" is being thrown around a lot to describe the S7's camera, but SamMobile's Abhijeet M chose a different term: "To sum it all up: the camera on the Galaxy S7 edge is insanely good."

Galaxy S7 camera Samsung
Rafi Letzter/Tech Insider

Even the software has improved!

One of the main gripes tech journalists have with Samsung phones is the extra layer of software, or "skin," that Samsung adds on top of Android to make it look more "Samsung-y." It's called TouchWiz, and it rarely, if ever, gets any positive vibes.

But it seems that Samsung is finally starting to get it right. Engadget's Chris Velazsco said "after hearing us all complain about TouchWiz for ages, Samsung has spent over a year trying to streamline that bane of my existence. So far, the work has been surprisingly promising!"

galaxy s7 notification shade touchwiz
Antonio Villas-Boas/Tech Insider

Minor complaints

Bloatware, those apps from both Samsung and your carrier that you can't uninstall and take up space on your phone, look ugly and don't work well. It's a complaint we have every year with Samsung smartphones, and yet it keeps making its ugly way into Galaxy S smartphones.

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The worst offenders are usually from your carrier, but the phone makers' hands are unfortunately tied, as carriers in the US have overwhelming power over the devices sold on their networks.

Writing for The Verge, Walt Mossberg said "the needlessly confusing software bloat and clumsy Edge settings I found on the Samsung devices still leaves Apple in the lead, in my opinion."

galaxy s7 verizon bloatware
Verizon needs to stop forcing phone makers to include apps people will never, ever use.
Antonio Villas-Boas/Tech Insider

Samsung galaxy s7 edge
The Edge features on the Galaxy S7 Edge.
Antonio Villas-Boas/Tech Insider

The "Edge" settings Mossberg is talking about are the Edge features you only get with the S7 Edge. They're OK, but not really a must-have feature, and you can easily disable it and never think about it again.

But overall, deeply impressive

We'll let PCMag's Sascha Segan conclude this roundup: "It's the best-crafted, most powerful smartphone on the market, with the biggest battery, and the most cutting-edge components you can get. That's enough to make it our Editors' Choice."

Samsung Smartphones Reviews
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