Samsung and AT&T will tag team to release their Dolph Lungrenesque (rugged) version of the flagship Galaxy S7 smartphone, the Galaxy S7 Active.
As per usual, the specs for this water- and dust-resistant cell phone are quite similar to those of its mainstream linemate.
The design of the S7 Active has very few changes from last year’s Active model.
But if you look closely, its measurements are slightly larger across all three dimensions, including an increased thickness of 9.9 millimeters — over a millimeter thicker than the 8.6-millimeter Galaxy S6 Active.
There’s also been a 15-gram weight gain, from 170 grams to 185 grams.
That increase is likely due to the S7 Active’s significantly larger battery, whose 4000mAh capacity is almost 15 percent greater than the prior model’s 3500mAh pack.
Even with all this the screen remains the same as the last model. Its 5.1-inch, 1440 x 2560-pixel Super AMOLED display is identical as both the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S6 Active.
So while the surface is very similar, under the hood is a whole new universe. The S7 Active is powered by a Snapdragon 820 system-on-chip from Qualcomm, and features 4GB of RAM (1GB more than last year) and 32GB of internal storage. Out of the box, the new Active will run Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
The S7 Active features a 12-megapixel camera, down from the 16-megapixel resolution found in the S6 and S6 Active. But like the Galaxy S7, the S7 Active benefits from a so-called dual pixel sensor that improves low-light image capture.
Once again, the front-facing selfie cam offers a five megapixel resolution.
Finally, like last year’s Galaxy S6 Active, the S7 Active will be exclusive to AT&T when it launches in June.
