Samsung spent an awful lot of time on its new Vulcan gaming API at Mobile World Congress on Sunday, February 21st, with the company stressing how much of a gaming powerhouse the new Galaxy S7 and S7 edge are. We can tell that gaming is becoming yet another top priority for Samsung to improve its user experience, taking its devices above what Google intends to give Android users when it comes to gaming.
Now, we have yet another piece of evidence that explains Samsung’s emphasis on the gaming experience last Sunday: a CPU cooling system in the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge. Russian tech site Hi-Tech@mail.ru got its hands on the Galaxy S7 immediately after the announcement, and discovered that Samsung has placed a CPU cooling unit into the device to help reduce the overheating that occurs when gaming, for example: “For the first time Samsung has established within the smartphone heat-conducting copper tube for cooling. The new chip Exynos 8890 is not only powerful, but also hot!” (the response comes via Google Translate).
We can tell from this statement that the Russian tech site was able to test an international (or even Canadian) version of the Galaxy S7, since the US received a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset in its Galaxy S7 and S7 edge. The Exynos 8890 may prove to be hot, but the truth of the matter is that most processors on the market overheat when it comes to the gaming experience. Gaming tends to be the one activity that drains the battery quickly, even faster than video playback — and yet, Samsung says the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge can get you through an entire season of Game of Thrones on a single charge. Impressive!
Samsung’s in-built CPU cooling system will not only benefit those who want on-device mobile gaming to take off, but also those who are early adopters of Samsung’s Gear VR headset. Gear VR, unlike LG’s 360 VR headset, doesn’t mandate a VR display but uses your Samsung smartphone as the headset’s display. The end result, however, is that a device such as the Galaxy S6 edge Plus or the Galaxy Note 5 can quickly overheat. In my own testing with the Galaxy Note 5 and Gear VR, it only takes 30 minutes before you’re told to power off the device and let it cool before continuing.
With the new CPU cooling system for the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, however, it’s likely that gaming will last longer because the device will stay cooler than before — which will also improve the battery performance (since overheating leads directly to battery drain). The end result is that users will use their new Galaxy S7 and S7 edge longer, and that Samsung’s Gear VR headset (which the company is now giving away for free with the purchase or lease of either S7 device) will spend far more time on the faces of consumers.
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