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Get busy gaming on the Galaxy S7
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Samsung’s Galaxy S7 is more than a mere phone, it’s a gaming machine. No, it’s not going to replace your PlayStation or Nintendo 3DS, but for gaming on the go, it’s got all the features you could need or want.
Inside, there is liquid cooling and powerful processors for smooth gameplay. On the surface, there are several features that you can manipulate to customize your experience. Let’s dive into the new game-focused tools that come with the S7 and S7 Edge.
Games all in one place
With the S7, Samsung introduced the Game Launcher, a special folder that organizes your games in one place. But it’s more than just a folder, Game Launcher also includes two settings that improve gameplay. Before you start a game, you can turn off alerts so app notifications won’t interrupt you. The Save power settings adjust the game’s graphics and resolution to save battery while you’re playing.
Game launcher also finds you new games to play. Tap Top Charts to see the most popular games by play time, total number of players and more. The Featured Videos section shows popular gaming videos from YouTube and videos based on the games you have installed.
Game tools
The other killer gaming feature of the S7 and S7 Edge is Game tools. It’s a floating menu that hangs out while you play and offers several tools while playing. Here’s a breakdown of each Game tool:
- No alerts during game: Toggles phone alerts and notifications on or off while you’re playing.
- Lock Recents and Back keys: Disables the recent apps and back buttons on the bottom of the phone so you don’t accidently hit them while playing.
- Minimize game: Pauses the game and shrinks it into a small floating icon so you can do something else on your phone. Tap the icon to return to the game.
- Screenshot: Take a screenshot of your gameplay, which saves to the Gallery app.
- Record: Create a video of what’s on your screen while playing. You can also record game audio or your own voice to narrate what you’re doing.
- Settings: Opens the Game Tools options in the Settings app.
Built-in screen recording is a big deal on the S7 and S7 Edge since they are the first phones to have the official feature as part of the operating system (Android 4.4 KitKat had a screen recording option, but you need the Android SDK to use it). Watching others play games is widely popular and Samsung’s giving mobile gamers an easy way to record and share from their phones.
