The Samsung Galaxy S7 comes without the proprietary Voice Recorder app preinstalled out of the box, which puzzled some users. Fret now, the app is now live in Google Play.
Samsung's TouchWiz UI suffered a lot of changes in recent years, stirring mixed reactions among users. Some loved a few features, some hated others, some appreciated the user interface as a whole, while some hated it altogether.
For the past few years, Samsung has been trying to streamline its TouchWiz UI and figure out just what users want. It may still have a way to go, but the latest flagships are definitely a major step forward.
In fact, the Samsung Galaxy S7 is considered the best smartphone ever, according to Consumer Reports, because it offers a great mix of hardware, software, features and functionality that aim to cover all bases.
When it comes to software, the Galaxy S7 takes up a hefty 8 GB of storage from the get-go, filling it with preinstalled system apps, TouchWiz and others such. Nevertheless, Samsung did try to lighten the burden of its proprietary software, and replaced some of its TouchWiz applications with alternatives from Google. One of the apps that go the boot is the Samsung Voice Recorder, but it's not as dramatic as it may sound.
Users who were disappointed to see the app off the list are now in for some good news. Although it's no longer preinstalled, the Samsung Voice Recorder app is now available for download from the Google Play Store.
For now, it seems that the app is compatible only with the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, but it will likely gain support for more Marshmallow-powered Samsung devices in the future.
This Samsung Voice Recorder app goes beyond just standard voice recording, as it has several other neat features. For instance, the Voice Memo feature allows users to convert their voice recordings into on-screen text for easier reminders. At the same time, users can also link their voice recordings with NFC tags for instant playback.
"If you set a certain voice to specific NFC tag, it matches and plays the voice when the tag is read," notes the app description.
The Voice Recorder was not the only one missing from the preinstalled apps list, but at least users can download them separately. Other apps ditched from the latest TouchWiz version on the Galaxy S7 include Music and Video Player, and Samsung launched those on Google Play as well.
If you want to download those apps, but you don't want to overburden your smartphone's internal storage, the Samsung Galaxy S7 lets you install apps on microSD.
