 Samsung makes the best big phones. It always has since the idea of a phone with a big screen was born and that terrible portmanteau phablet was coined. And with the new Note 7, this is the best big phone that Samsung's ever made. It's the result of years of refinement, design improvements, and performance enhancements. If you're looking for the best phablet you can buy, I can tell you to stop watching right now and just go place your order, because the new Note 7 is the best phablet yet. Earlier Note's stood out not only because they were big, but also because they were powerful and was essentially the most specs you could get for your money. But there's a lot of big powerful phones out now and Samsung's changing its strategy just a little bit with the Note 7. This time around the Note 7's leaning on its unique features, an improved S Pen, the ability to unlock your phone with your eyes, and a design that puts every other phone, including the iPhone, to shame. Design's not always the first thing I talk about with big phones, but what the Note 7 really should be, because this is really a breathtaking design. It's a beautiful object that's comfortable to hold, great to look at, and pleasing to use. The symmetry between the front and the back of the phone not only make it comfortable, but they also make it feel much smaller than it actually is, even though it has a giant 5.7 inch display. Next to a Nexus 6P or an iPhone 6S Plus, the Note 7 almost looks small, and certainly is nicer to look at. This is a big phone that was designed to be a big phone from the start, not a small phone that was stretched out to big dimensions. So let's talk about the S Pen, because aside from the big screen, it's the most defining characteristic of the Note. This year it's better, it's got a finer point and more levels of pressure sensitivity. It's really much nicer to write with. Oh, and you can't put it in backwards, no matter what you do. But the bigger improvements are found in the S Pen software. You can take notes right on your lock screen and pin them there for easy access. You can use the pen to multitask, or magnify parts of the screen, or even use it to translate text. Artists will appreciate the ability to blend colors in the new drawing app. And where Samsung used to provide three or four different apps that worked with the S Pen, now there's just one that actually makes sense. But my favorite new feature is the ability to use the S Pen to make a GIF from any video I might be watching and share it right away. Now Samsung never really convinced me before that the S Pen is a necessary tool, but with the Note 7's new features, at least it has me thinking about it. I'm less impressed with the Note 7's iris scanner, which lets me unlock the phone with my eyes instead of using a fingerprint, or pattern, or pin, or password. It definitely works, but it can be pretty clumsy. I have to hold the phone really close to my face to make it happen. It's often just easier to use the fast fingerprint scanner instead. Between this and the ability to take notes right on my lock screen, Samsung's attempting to remove any barriers that slow me down from what I'm trying to do. But the execution's not quite there yet. Other things that Samsung's done to improve the Note experience is clean up the software, the settings menu is much easier to navigate for instance, and it's improved some of the features that debuted on the S7, like the Always On Display. But there are two complaints I have with the Note 7. It's price and the carrier bloatware that continues to dog Samsung phones down. Now I've been using the T-Mobile version, which is about $850. Other carrier versions are even more, and all of them have apps that you don't want or need. Now the price isn't unheard of, it's directly competitive with the iPhone 6s Plus. But when you have phones like the OnePlus 3 that cost less than half that, it can be hard to stomach. The only way to get around the bloatware is to wait for the unlocked version, but Samsung hasn't yet said when that will be available. Now those complaints aside, the Note 7 is the best execution on the phablet concept that Samsung pioneered so many years ago. The screen is big and bright and sharp, just like you'd want it to be. The performance is fast, the camera is the best you can get on the market, and the battery life will last you all day, and it charges really quickly, whether you do that wired or wirelessly. It has everything you could want in a high-end phone in 2016. But your decision might not end there, because Samsung has another really great phone with almost as big of a screen that came out earlier this year, the Galaxy S7 Edge. And the Note 7 shares a lot with the S7 Edge. It has the same screen resolution, the same specs, the same processor, the same camera, the same water resistance, and the same expandable storage. Its screen is even curved in a similar way to the S7 Edge's. If you were to choose the edge over the Note 7, I wouldn't blame you. It's an excellent device, but if you can spend a little bit more money and deal with a slightly bigger screen, you're rewarded with better design, better software, and more functionality. If you want the best phablet you can get, and you're willing to pay for it, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is the king of the hill. So I think if you go phone farther back and you get the camera closer. I'm going to end the video here.