The last test ran right up to the phone's water-resistant limits, and no, we don't really think there's any real-world scenario where a phone would happen to sit below 5 feet of water for such a long time. It's much more likely that you forget the phone in your pocket when you jump in the pool, or want to take a photo of your friends in the hot tub without worrying if you're killing your device. Or maybe you're taking a short swim beneath a waterfall to get that really knockout shot. Samsung doesn't intend for much long, watery exposure to happen either, and there's plenty of fine print that the company lays out online to help set your expectations. The language pasted below refers to the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, but it also applies to the S7 Active, which is part of the S7 family and shares the other two phones' water-resistant rating.
You can make out water droplets in the camera lens, So the question then is, is the Active somehow less "active"? Can you trust a phone that might not do what it promises? We think yes -- and no, On the one hand, we have a high level of confidence in the S7 Active's ability to withstand daily splashes and short-term baths, On the other, the fact that we iphone 6/6s iridescent compact mirror case now have two dead phones makes us worry about repeated dunkings over time, Samsung also says that repeated drops (which the phone is also certified against) could break the water-resistant promise, What if this time is the one that overwhelms the Active?..
A day after this story originally posted, Samsung says it's found and fixed a manufacturing issue that caused the waterproofing failures. Samsung emailed CNET the following statement. "We discovered an isolated issue to a production line that exclusively manufacturers the Galaxy S7 Active. The issue has been resolved. We have received very few customer inquiries and any owner with water damage will receive a replacement under our standard limited warranty."If yours meets a watery death, returning a phone can be a hassle, especially because you may be without one while you're waiting for the new device to arrive, but there's some peace of mind knowing that Samsung is on the hook for replacements if something goes wrong with yours. Samsung offers a year-long warranty, which you could extend with Samsung, or through your carrier, if they offer it.
Even iphone 6/6s iridescent compact mirror case if Samsung's problems don't completely dry up, it's a good bet that any S7-family phone will probably roll with the ordinary waterworks of your daily life -- so long as you don't press your luck by falling asleep with it in the tub, That said, we had lowered the S7 Active's rating from 4.5 stars to 4, because the phone should measure up to Samsung's advertised endurance specs -- and in our testing, it didn't, This story originally published on July 19 and updated July 20 at 4:13pm PT with Samsung's statement that it has resolved the problem, It most recently updated on August 10 at 11:15pm PT with the results of the retest..
The phone catering to active lifestyles failed two of our four submersion tests. UPDATE: Since this story originally posted, we tested a fresh Samsung Galaxy Active, S7 and S7 Edge that Samsung gave us after fixing a flaw that caused some of the water-resistant phones to drown in water. All three phones survived the pool, which puts Samsung's water-resistant claims back on the upswing. What follows is our original story about the S7 Active dramatically failing an underwater pool test. Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic. We delete comments that violate our policy, which we encourage you to read. Discussion threads can be closed at any time at our discretion.
