Back to the horizon: Samsung's Over the Horizon theme needs to get better with the Galaxy Note 7

Opinion

I love Samsung's Over the Horizon brand theme. Actually, I loved Samsung's Over the Horizon brand theme. I don't love it anymore. In fact, I don't even like it anymore. The fully orchestrated classical version of the theme that debuted with the Galaxy S5 (or was it the S4?) was my favorite. For the Galaxy S6 edge, Samsung gave the theme a futuristic update that matched the phones' beautiful and eye-catching design. With the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, it all fell apart.

The Galaxy S5 version of Over the Horizon was nice as a track to listen to, but it didn't make for a great ringtone given its regular music-like nature. This was fixed with the Galaxy S6's more modern take on the theme, but on the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge, Samsung decided to turn the theme into something worse. It's more like the polyphonic tones from the feature phones of days past- Samsung even added vocals to the mix, although these vocals will never come up when the theme fires up as the ringtone during an incoming call.

When Samsung said it had spruced up the theme for the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge, I was impressed by how the company was putting so much focus on what its brand theme sounds like and how it matches the direction its smartphone design had taken. The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge brought refinement to the Korean giant's new design language, but it seems Over the Horizon got the opposite treatment and basically turned into a something you would expect to hear on those toy phones that kids carry around (well, kids today have the actual deal, but you get my point).

The Galaxy Note 7 will soon be upon us, bringing a drastic change to the lineup in terms of the design and marking the first time Samsung will be releasing only a curved flagship. I really hope Over the Horizon gets an overhaul as well, or that it at least goes back to what it was before the S7 and S7 edge. I would hate to hear the current version of the theme play on the Galaxy Note 7, a phone that is going to be a beauty to behold judging from what we have seen of the device so far.

What do you think? Do you like Over the Horizon on the Galaxy S7 or S7 edge, or do you think the previous versions were better?

Abhijeet Mishra - Editor-in-Chief

[email protected]

First Samsung device: SGH-D500

Abhijeet's writing career started with guides for custom firmware for Samsung devices (including the original Galaxy S), and he moved to SamMobile in mid-2013 and worked up the ranks to Editor-in-chief. In addition to phones and mobile devices, his interests include gaming on both PC and console, PC hardware, and spending countless hours on YouTube watching videos on tech, movies, games, politics, and internet dramas.

Opinion Galaxy Note 7

Back to the horizon: Samsung's Over the Horizon theme needs to get better with the Galaxy Note 7

Abhijeet Mishra - Editor-in-Chief

[email protected]

First Samsung device: SGH-D500

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