[Closed] Samung S7 Edge - tough enough for MTB'ing?

I've got an S8 and although I don't actually ride it (I tend to use my bike) it's proven to be absolutely fine for my own brand of XCgnarcorelite shredding.

I've just got one of those gear4 D30 cases on it

Don't bother with the edge, its a gimmick. Get a standard S7, excellent phone.

I've got an edge, but probably not the best choice for rough and tumble as it's glass front and back. Standard S7 is normally to be found much cheaper too. Only real difference is the edge has a slightly better battery.

My OH has one, although I'm the serial phone smasher in our house and she doesn't do mountain biking.

I just go cheap and often with chinese phones. Currently on my 2nd Ulefone S8 Pro*.

*£55 from china, externally you'd struggle to tell it apart from any other more expensive smartphone, runs Android 7.0 and apps just fine, battery comfortably lasts two days (3000mAh battery, and not a high performance phone) only negatives are it takes a while to charge, the location sensing isn't the smoothest (it probably lacks accelerometers, compass etc to supplement the GPS) and I suspect some of the bigger and more popular apps get optimised for the latest phones and sometimes have quirks when when run on different versions of android (it's no worse for this than my old S5).

I too am the serial phone smasher in our house. From (costly) experience, almost all smartphones are unsuitable for riding with regardless of the 'tough' case.  Look in your odds n' sods drawer. There will inevitably be an old non-smart nokia. Put a £10 payg sim in and you're sorted.

This is probably not the answer you are looking for 😉

Samsung S7, no edge, in an Otterbox symmetry case - bombproof and a great phone.  I drop mine a lot, hence the case.

<span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> https://www.otterbox.co.uk/en-gb/galaxy-s7-edge - might be helpful.  </span>

Don't get an edge, if you break the screen it will cost you literally £100s to fix

S7 or S8 yes, Edge is a pointless gimmick as Trailwagger says.

I too am the serial phone smasher in our house. From (costly) experience, almost all smartphones are unsuitable for riding with regardless of the ‘tough’ case. Look in your odds n’ sods drawer. There will inevitably be an old non-smart nokia. Put a £10 payg sim in and you’re sorted.

Only problem with that, is it's only good in an emergency to make outgoing calls, useless if someone actually needs to contact you.

That said, I'm sure there must be an app that would fwd texts/missed calls from a phone left at home to another one.

useless if someone actually needs to contact you.

Exactly - great isn't it!

However I have since had to hand over the riding phone number to the school after I was caught out riding on a work day and my son was poorly.

Thanks for the replies, good to see the non-edge-gimmickery one wins the popular vote.

I have a (Chinese) One Plus One currently which has been really good tbf, but the battery is dying and keeps crashing so thought I'd go back to Samsung. I think all brands seem to play up after around 2-3 years though, so the Ulefone is very tempting.

I have an S7 (not Edge) and the screen is all smashed to bits. It's about £170 to repair (nearly the cost of a second hand replacement).

don't phones still offer a divert service?

thanks. looks like it would be worth me insuring it if I get one then.
I normally moan you often can't get things fixed - but at that price!!

S7 edge here and I put in in my camelback in the bladder pocket so there are waterproofs cushioning it just in case. I just use the Samsung thin flip case. Wouldn' have it in a jacket or pocket.  I wouldn't with any smart phone though.

Get an edge if you want a bigger screen and battery. It's also useful for subtle notifications when it is face down.

My S7 Edge lived in an Alpkit stem cell and happily survived being bounced all the way from Canada to Mexico on the Tour Divide.

It only had a screen protector film and the Samsung battery case to protect it.

Brilliant phones.

My screen smashed just from dropping it out of my office drawer (knee high btw) onto the carpet in the office, I couldn't believe it! cracked all down one side and a 3rd across the screen, once you get a crack on that sort of screen, any kind of pressure on the phone (be it from being in your pocket or clipping it back into a hard protection case etc) it then just seems to make the cracks spread, wouldn't have another, I'll be going back to an iphone next time when I upgrade.  The picture quality is good on them, but that's about all I really like about it to be honest.

S7 edge as others have said cracks in a heartbeat . .

Another S7 edge user ..love the phone ..never use the edge ..glass back shattered on its first mishap prior to getting a protective case .

Having said that it goes on every mtb trip as I use it as my main camera & also with Viewranger .

I haven't had it repaired and it still works perfectly two years on ...

Wife's got an edge, I've got a "standard" S7.

Edge is a gimmick, has already cracked, and was never used for a purpose in the first place.  It also makes using the screen a bit tricky on the edges, ironically.

For a next phone we'd both go non edge Samsung (or HTC, they're very underrated with cracking alu frames).

Looks great though.

...when it's not broken....

Don't want to jinx it, but I've been really happy with my Sony z5 compact. I've just got a minimal case and a tempered glass screen protector on it and it's surviving well a year or so into my contract. Seems tough and waterproof is a blessing. Not sure you can still buy em though and latest sonys aren't all waterproof I don't think...

I've never smashed a phone screen in all the time I've had a mobile phone.

My S7 Edge now has a broken screen for the second time after being dropped from no more than an couple of feet onto a carpeted floor. I won't be getting it fixed this time as it's no longer insured so I'll just wait until it dies completely and replace the phone as it's cheaper.

My iPhones were dropped loads of times and never had any breakages, I'm actually tempted to go back to an iPhone next time round.

I have a now cracked edge s7. I wouldn't get another curve edge screen again. It's pointless and is too exposed as cases don't cover above the edge.

It's also quite large. The s7 is a better pocketable size, equal spec, especially camera and I find the flat screen lends 0itself to better cases.

Anyone got a Huawei phone or rate them for MTB-ing? I'm due an upgrade and they seem to be pretty tough, IE aluminium back, Gorilla glass on the front.

I got a Samsung A8 which is a scaled down S8 without the edge screen. Seems fine for MTB stuff, but need to get some decent BT earphones so it can live in my Camelbak.

Having been an iPhone user for many years, I'm loving the extra functions of android as iOS 11 was simply awful.

Edit: just discovered the A8 has a swipe keyboard as standard.... this thing just gets better!

OP , you've been used to a Chinese phone (probably where all the big brands have theirs assembled anyway) how about a Black view BV series phone .

The latest is a BV9000 and can be had for around £350 on Amazon or cheaper of you go through Gearbest or one of the other Chinese sites. I've been using a BV6000 for nearly 2 years and it's the only phone I haven't managed to break for the last 10/12 years.

How the hell do you break a phone MTBing?

I put mine in a Camelbak in the top pocket.  I'd have to have a serious crash to damage it in which case I'd be far more worried about my neck.  You don't dangle them from your bars on a leash do you?

I put mine in a tough case, then into my jersey pocket, then crash.... and the phone is toast.

What made you think it was safe in a jersey pocket?  Saddlebag minimum if youi've no camelbak.

My own misguided conviction that I don't crash. 😁

There are some clumsy twonks about it seems!

😉

Try not to wear a pack unless in the mountains, saddle bags? Eh, no. 500 quid worth of phone in a wee pack that you can't see.

I keep mine in the phone pocket of my various Madison shorts, touch wood no breakages yet. Great for quick access for the instabangers, a big part of mtb for me is taking pics.

What I see in our mountain bike group: all which start with fancy stuff like Samsung S7 are very happy for a very short time.

Couple rough downhill stretches and the expensive fancy stuff is broke. No matter which "case" you use...

For emergency stuff I put a cheap 15 bucks phone into the backpack.

Had an s7 edge for 2 years now and its been on all my mountain bike trips, dropped it a good few times as well and its totally fine. Either ive been lucky or the other users have been very unlucky but my experience is that its a great phone and fine for mountain biking. I got a spigen cushion case which wraps round the edge of the phone but still renders the edge function useable... might have been a factor.

'What I see in our mountain bike group: all which start with fancy stuff like Samsung S7 are very happy for a very short time.

Couple rough downhill stretches and the expensive fancy stuff is broke. No matter which “case” you use…'

Nonsense, had mine for 2 years now, in my shorts pocket as above, same as my riding buddies, no issues.

Have an S7 Edge since launch,  Dropped quite a few times but was fine thanks to Spigen Tough Armor (?) case, however it didn't survive a face down drop on a bobbly concrete driveway.  First phone I've broken. Screen is "lightly" shattered - cracks all over but still perfectly useable.  I don't think any phone would have survived that fall without a front cover of some sort

I don’t think any phone would have survived that fall without a front cover of some sort

I usually get those leather wallet style cases, protects the screen in your pocket and at least offsets the added bulk of the case by not having to carry a wallet as well.

Eh, no. 500 quid worth of phone in a wee pack that you can’t see.

I use a camelbak normally but I'm after a drybag saddlebag for phone and tools.  I'll put the phone in something safe and soft inside the saddlebag, think it'll be ok.  Don't want it in my shorts, don't always have a back pocket.

I've  smashed 3 s7 edge handsets- replaced through EE insurance - I even pleaded to no avail to switch models to a potentially less fragile phone - but EE wouldn't budge - so im stuck on a cracked phone until contract is up - i will not get another glass backed phone . .

Another for the standard S7 here. Cant praise Otterboxes enough too. Had one on my last 3 phones never cracked a screen yet, had plenty of drops, take it on my MTB rides in my backpack etc and so far so good (touch wood).

Not really what I meant Molly sorry, I've had a couple of saddle packs come off during rides, and not noticed til it's too late, and you're miles away.