So you bought arguably the flagship phone of the Android world, the Samsung Galaxy S7. What next? There are a host of S7 accessories out there to customize your mobile life, whether you're a music fan after top quality and/or wireless music, or a videographer looking to experiment in 360-degree and virtual reality capture.
If you want to use the S7 while you're working, there are also accessories around that push productivity and convenience, add extra storage and even allow for wireless charging. Here are 10 accessories to make your S7 a standout smartphone.
Note: we've ranked these from cheapest to most expensive according to prices at time of writing.
Fiddling with your phone while driving is dangerous and illegal, but who doesn't use Google Maps (which now offers downloads so it can work offline anywhere in the world) to navigate?
Keep navigating and keep safe with this clever in-car dock for the S7, which suckers to the windscreen and moves around a ball joint for pin-point positioning. This good value mount holds phones up to 83mm wide, which includes the S7.
Yes, you can use your S7 for work, but when it comes to typing fast and accurately, even the finest thumb-twiddlers can't compete with a dedicated keyboard.
Offering well-spaced tactile keys as well as plenty of shortcuts and hot keys, this full-size, ergonomic QWERTY keyboard is all about productivity, but it also adds some protection. A great accessory if you're on a business trip and you need to travel light.
Fast wireless charging has been talked up for years, but it's only with the arrival of the Galaxy S7 – and this nifty Samsung-made stand – that it's become a reality. It's rated as about 60% as fast as plugging in the old fashioned way, which makes this stand great for a worktop or bedside table for when speed isn't a big need.
Propping-up the phone so it's easy to use – and in either landscape or portrait orientation – this stand takes under three hours to completely refuel an empty S7.
Designed for the gym and general activity, these sweat-proof, water resistant earphones have a magnetic appeal. Hooking up to an S7 via Bluetooth, these neckband-style earphones' buds stick together, turning the Level U Pro into a necklace that isn't going to fall off. Available in blue, white, black or bronze, they isolate noise and also deliver hands-free calls.
There's really only one reason left for the existence of the DSLR camera among casual photographers, and that's smartphones' fixed lenses. While the S7 has fine optics, this clever case with detachable lenses offers a choice of either telephoto or wide-angle images.
The telephoto lens offers some valuable zoom, while the wide-angle is great for landscapes. However, do bear in mind that adding any kind of glass to an existing camera lens means less light and less sharpness; use with caution.
A distinctly passive, first-gen stab at virtual reality it may be, but for now Samsung's S7 add-on is the best we have. Affordable (though there are some much cheaper alternatives) and with impressively low latency and high resolution, Gear VR secures an S7, then is controlled either by a swipe-based touchpad or an optional Android controller.
It's no Oculus Rift, but the future for mainstream VR is likely smartphone-based and mobile, which makes the Gear VR a gadget to watch.
The S7 sees the return of the microSD card slot on Samsung's flagship phone, and since the advanced camera on the S7 can shoot in low-light and capture in the storage-hungry RAW format, a beefy microSD card might just come in handy.
Cue this generous 200GB option from SanDisk, which can record HD video and deliver 90MB per second transfer speeds. Perfect for photographers and videographers who quickly use up the S7's 32GB of built-in brains.
Decent standalone full size wireless cans they may be, but these headphones feel very much an S7 accessory. The UHQ audio codec used by the Samsung Level On Pro is best served by music from an S7, while the noise-cancelling feature is excellent (it works for ten hours!) and the faux-leather ear pads comfortable for long durations. They also fold up nicely for storage; perfect for long-haul flights.
With the arrival of completely wireless earphones unconnected to each other, a new era in wearables seems to have begun – and Samsung is leading it. While Apple has prepped a pair of wireless earpieces, Samsung got there first with these minimalistic cable-free and even button-free buds.
The Gear Icon X ships with a cylindrical charging case and automatically connect first to each other, then to the S7 via Bluetooth, while changing volume and skipping tracks relies on taps and finger slides.
How about adding some cutting-edge VR capture tech to your S7? This dual lens camera ball creates 360-degree photos and video by using two fish-eye lenses; its data gets passed to the Gear 360 Manager app on the S7, which can then be inserted into the Samsung Gear VR headset for viewing.
This camera is not waterproof and nor is it pocket-sized, but the Samsung Gear 360 – best used with its included tripod – can capture 3840 x 1920 pixel 360-degree video and 30MP still images.
These are ordered by price at the time of writing - however, some variation may occur over time!
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