Samsung Galaxy C7 Pro First Impressions

Samsung's Galaxy C7 Pro went official in China earlier this year and it has now been launched in India priced at Rs. 27,990. It will be available exclusively on Amazon India from April 11. The smartphone is essentially an upgrade over last year's Galaxy C7, and one of its biggest highlights is its slim, premium metal design. We got some hands-on time with the Galaxy C7 Pro at Samsung's official launch event, and here are our first impressions.

Samsung in recent years has tried to offer phones with metal bodies and well-rounded specifications at every price level. The Galaxy C7 Pro noticeably borrows elements from both, the older Galaxy C7, as well as the recently launched Galaxy C9 Pro. As nice as metal body looks, there isn't anything completely new to brag about. At 7mm, this smartphone is marginally thicker than the Galaxy C7, but is still one of the slimmer models in the market today.

The Galaxy C7 Pro comes in two vibrant color options, Gold and Navy Blue. Both look attractive and this is one of the few ways in which this model is differentiated from the Galaxy C9 Pro. The metal wraps smoothly around the sides, and the back has striped antenna lines on the top and bottom. The volume buttons are on the left while the power button is on the right, along with a hybrid dual-SIM tray. On the bottom, you'll find a USB Type-C port with a speaker grille to its right and a 3.5mm jack to its left. The phone fits well in the hand, and at 172 grams, it doesn't feel too heavy. We'll reserve our final verdict on comfort and build quality for the full review.

Moving on to the display, the Galaxy C7 Pro features a 5.7-inch 1080p Super Amoled screen with 2.5D Gorilla Glass 4 on top, which seems just about right for this price level. Samsung is known for its screens' sharp and vivid colours, and this one doesn't disappoint us. The display is bright and holds up well under sunlight, but you will get some amount of reflection.

The Galaxy C7 Pro sadly runs on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow rather than Nougat. The device is powered by a 2.2GHz octa-core Snapdragon 626 SoC coupled with 4GB of RAM. In our brief time with the phone, there seemed to be no lags and the interface was fluid to the touch. Apps opened quickly, and multitasking was as easy as one would expect with a new premium device.

The Galaxy C7 Pro has 16-megapixel sensors for both its front and back cameras. Both also have f/1.9 apertures, which is another thing this phone has in common with the Galaxy C9 Pro, at least on paper. The cameras are capable of recording Full HD videos at 30 frames per second. There is a dual LED flash on the rear, which should help in low-light conditions. Other features include Phase Detection Auto-Focus, a floating camera button, and beautifying effects.

Samsung has fitted the Galaxy C7 Pro with a 3300mAh battery. There is 64GB of inbuilt storage, which is expandable up to 256GB via a microSD card. In our brief time with the handset, we weren't able to test its battery life, so you'll have to wait for our full review for our verdict on that.

Priced at Rs. 27,990 the new Galaxy C7 Pro will be competing against the likes of the Vivo V5 Plus, OnePlus 3T and Oppo F3 Plus. Stay tuned to Gadgets 360 for our in-depth review of the Galaxy C7 Pro's performance, build quality, camera quality, and battery life.