Samsung Galaxy S 6 and S 6 Edge: Preview
by Joshua Ho on March 26, 2015 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Samsung
- Mobile
- Galaxy S6
- Galaxy S6 Edge
Initial Thoughts
With the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge Samsung claimed that they wanted to completely rethink how they designed and made smartphones. On the surface, it seems that Samsung has delivered on this promise as the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge are unlikely any other Galaxy S phone they have made previously. There is no removable battery, no microSD slot, or even a removable back cover. I would’ve liked to see a microSD slot, but I personally wouldn’t be affected by being limited to 32GB of internal storage. The removable battery issue is a bit concerning for me though, as it’s likely that disassembling this phone to replace the battery will require extensive use of a heat gun to loosen glue that may not adhere properly when reassembled. The materials are now aluminum and glass, which dramatically affect in-hand feel. I definitely like the move to the aluminum and glass design for the improved look and feel of the phone, but the use of the glass back is a bit annoying as the phones have a tendency to slide off pretty much any table. The edge variant of the phone also feels quite sharp in the hand and almost too thin to hold, but this is generally quite subjective.
Outside of design, there is a lot to talk about in the SoC and display. The Exynos 7420 SoC appears to be class-leading in performance, although there is the obvious question of power consumption that still has to be answered. Samsung’s first 14LPE SoC seems promising, although we’ve yet to validate whether big.LITTLE is more efficient than when we last tested it in the Exynos 5433. The GPU is generally quite close to the Adreno 430, with about a 10-20% advantage in performance depending upon the workload, although at the same clock speed it probably wouldn’t have any advantage. The 1440p display can also reduce performance compared to a 1080p display.
Speaking of displays, Samsung has integrated an incredible display into both versions of the Galaxy S6. I’m really blown away at how far AMOLED has come in the past few years, as the Galaxy S6 is one of the best displays we’ve tested for luminance and overall color accuracy. The only real problems I can see are color shifts with viewing angles, and white point tending to be a bit green depending upon the unit we’re looking at. There are some edge-specific issues, namely uneven luminance and odd color shifting towards green hues on white at the edge of the display. Other than this, the display of the Galaxy S6 is relatively perfect with its dark, inky blacks and amazing color.
Obviously an SoC and display aren’t the only issues to discuss in a smartphone, but given the limited time that we’ve had with the device this was all that could be tested. We hope to have our full review for both devices completed in the near future, and to be able to provide the full picture of the Galaxy S6 line at that time. Pre-orders for the US Galaxy S6 variants will begin on March 27th, and the phone will go on sale on April 10th throughout the US with 32, 64, and 128 GB SKUs in Black Sapphire, White Pearl, and Gold Platinum. The S6 edge and S6 will be available on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, and US Cellular, but on Boost Mobile, Cricket Wireless, and MetroPCS only the S6 will be available.
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steven75 - Friday, March 27, 2015 - link
Apple Pay uses NFC too. ;)Most of the world is already on chip and PIN and the US is moving to that this year. Magnetic strips is targeting the past.
hrrmph - Friday, March 27, 2015 - link
"...They decided to rip off the iPhone 6 in both design and features..."Exactly. Samsung had a superior functionality product - even it it was wrapped in high-quality plastic. Now they have downgraded themselves to making an iPhone.
Just like Apple, Samsung is now killing off functionality. All in a quest to make jewelry instead of computing machines.
Instead of getting 128GB hardwired and 200GB expandable = 328GB storage (plus future upgrades beyond 512GB) we are stuck at 32, 64, or 128... just like iPhone.
Instead of being able to justify buying at the high-end of the market and then keeping a device in great condition for the long-term by occasionally popping in a fresh new battery, we are stuck tossing the device away... or sending it off to a hack shop for a dodgy "service center" battery replacement... just like an iPhone.
Samsung is being unusually quiet about how many and which LTE bands they will support. So I'm guessing that out of the 44 LTE bands available worldwide, Samsung is in no position to give us a world-phone that will work on every continent... just like an iPhone...
(but watch out next year though when Apple implements the new 29 LTE band Intel modem chip that *should* be enough to cover all bands currently in use on all continents)
So let's face it... Samsung shat themselves here. There is no long term investment to be made in an S6. Samsung has downgraded us to buying an iPhone knock-off.
And the iPhone is gradually improving. Maybe in another generation or two, the iPhone could surpass the S5 Duos in functionality. Apple only needs to add a removable battery, a Micro-SD slot, and a 2nd SIM slot.
With Samsung hellbent on making iPhones, the only upgrade path from the Galaxy S4 now *IS* to the Galaxy S5. Forget the S6.
ama3654 - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Please use Stock browsers next time, OEM's don't have optimization on chrome. Or use chrome for iOS devices as well. ThanksAzurael - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Stock browsers give another venue for OEMs to cheat, not the best idea... And Chrome has hamstrung Javascript performance on iOS, so no good there. You'll have to live with it!Drumsticks - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
So far the S6 seems to have come through with everything we figured it would.Better performance than the 810, Great display, better materials. To me, The MicroSD and the removable battery aren't huge, but I AM worried about the smaller battery size overall. Battery will be the most important test for this device, so we'll have to see just how well it does. Presumably, it could make or break it just like the Camera (in a way) makes or breaks the One M9.
If I can get a solid day and then some (to handle battery decaying later on to get a full day in a year), with the rapid charge and all that it all brings, I think I'll be happy. Samsung Pay as well seems pretty interesting.
Overall, Android has gotten interesting enough to make me think about coming back. I had a Lumia for the last two years and was actually perfectly happy with it, but I like bouncing back and forth between Android and WP. I've used an iPhone 5 the last 3 months or so because of switching to AT&T (928 doesn't work there), but I haven't been very impressed. At this point, I'm just waiting on some reviews of the S6 that I trust (namely Anandtech and Ars), and possibly waiting to see what the G4 has to bring to the table. Unfortunately, unless something huge changes, I think I'm skipping the One M9; there are just too many side steps to consider to me.
Shadowmaster625 - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
I do not understand. For what purpose or for what app is a 1080p display not adequate? Even if using multi-window multitasking, is it really that important? Multi-window multitasking will drain a battery twice as fast, so do you really want the added drain of such a ridiculous display?darkich - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Well, Samsung’s virtual reality headset is the only good reason I can think oflilmoe - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
I really wished they stuck with 1080p... But Samsung is a business; they're trying to compete in the spec sheet AND they're trying to create a new market with VR.At least give the non-resolution-happy crowd like me an option to lower the res back to 720p (1:1 vs 1440p). 8-12 subpixels per pixel would be nice on that display (and the Note 4's).
SydneyBlue120d - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
In the final review I ask You to dig as deep as possible about the Samsung (or Intel?) modem used especially against HTC One M9 (e.g. take a look at this article http://goo.gl/TwDMkm ), audio quality and HEVC encoding/decoding support (if it will be added in the future or if the SOC doesn't support it). Thanks a lot.Andrei Frumusanu - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
The SoC has HEVC encoder and decoders but Samsung again doesn't expose it to the OS.