How many times have you hesitated before handing your phone to your child? I can always tell by the smudges on the screen whenever my son has used my phone to watch Netflix or to play a game. Dirty hands aren’t the worst of it, of course, as I’ve lost count of the number of times he has dropped my phone.
For most parents, the best solution has been to use a beefy protective case. That usually protects against the occasional drop, but it won’t save your phone if it tumbles into the toilet (it has happened twice in our household).
I was invited to stop by the AT&T store in Bellevue, WA for an unveiling event for the Samsung Galaxy S7 Active smartphone. I was interested to check it out, and AT&T said there would be free food, so I made the short drive over to the Lincoln Square Mall.
The store was a great venue and looked like it was someone’s living room, not your typical retail space. AT&T calls it the “store of the future” which seemed fitting. The only thing missing was Lily from the commercials.
I learned a few things at the event. First, and most important, was that bacon wrapped dates are the best. Second, I got to try out the Samsung Galaxy S7 active before it is available to the public on June 10 and was impressed with the improvements Samsung made in this latest design. It didn’t have the bulk you would expect from a typical rugged smartphone and they had some nice, new designs.
They named the three colors Sandy Gold, Titanium Gray, and Camo Green. I called the camo design the Minecraft phone because of its pixelated pattern. The titanium gray looked really sharp and the gold color looked like something my wife would love.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 active has a 5.1 inch Super AMOLED display that is built from three layers of glass to make it shatter-proof. The phone has a bigger battery over the standard Galaxy S7 that provides up to 32 hours of talk time.
The Active shares a lot of the premium features that you would find with the standard Galaxy S7: a 12 megapixel camera, fingerprint sensor (a new item with this year’s design), and a Snapdragon 820 processor. A new feature with this year’s design is the microSD slot that let you add up to 200 GB of additional storage.
After checking out the phones, I spent some time playing with one of the store’s Sphero BB-8 toys (that you can control from a smartphone) and finally got my hands on an iPad Pro. The store has a great design and a surprising number of gadgets that you can try out. It is worth stopping by the next time you are in the area.
You can buy the water and shatter-resistant Samsung Galaxy S7 Active exclusively through AT&T beginning on Friday, June 10. Through AT&T Next, it is priced at $26.50 for 30 months or through AT&T Next Every Year for $33.13 a month for 24 months when you have eligible service. This weekend only (June 10-12) AT&T has a deal where you get a $50 prepaid AT&T gift card when you buy the Galaxy S7 Active from the AT&T store in Lincoln Square Mall.
