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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nyonya - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
What display mode were the display tests done in?JoshHo - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
This was done using Basic mode.lilmoe - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
It would be nice if you'd also post tests for AMOLED Photo in your final review.Some other things I'd love to see in the final review (if possible please):
- Your personal thoughts about battery life and not just your standard tests, especially for standby and how much % the phone consumes overnight while not charging. I feel that Anandtech reviews are too dependent on numbers and leave out a lot of subjectivity. A balance of both would be nice.
- Did Samsung include an option to set the resolution at 720p in dev options?
- We need a more professional look at the camera and its various modes under various conditions. One issue from my observation of online videos and smaples, it seems that the lens (though with great aperture) tends to "bleed" light in some *video* samples from bright sources (if that's the right term, like light rays from sunsets and direct car lamps), or is this issue mitigated with HDR? Most videos on youtube are done by amateurs who refuse to know the difference. I've actually thought it might be that some forgot to take off the plastic cover on the protective glass. These issues are only present in video, but not in still images.
mkozakewich - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
"We subjectively feel that the battery drains in 6 hours at 2 watts."There's really not much to talk about, subjectively. The battery drains at a certain rate when it's sleeping, and a certain rate while reading webpages, and a certain rate while playing games. That's what they seek to measure. They could possibly rethink their testing methodology for web browsing to stay in line with the ways people today use their phones, but historically they have updated their benchmarks like that.
lilmoe - Friday, March 27, 2015 - link
Battery life is one of the aspects of mobile devices that's impossible to accurately measure with absolute certainty, because your mileage differs by each and every use case. Total number of apps installed, signal strength, preferred screen brightness and user habits among various other things are never the same for each and every user. There's a LOT to be said.One could have better understanding of what to expect with more input. A Combination of synthetic tests, use case, standby time, and user opinion are great. It would also be nice to see the effect of installed apps on battery life (IE: with lots installed VS minimum amount of apps).
It's well known that low signal strength and having too many apps installed on Android devices affects standby time dramatically. This issue isn't as bad in iOS and Windows Phone because apps aren't as free to do background tasks compared to Android. "Project Volta" is Google's answer of sorts to this problem, but most apps (if any of the top 100) aren't taking advantage of that just yet, so one would assume it would only get better with time.
HaB1971 - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
I'll pass on Samsung this time.. styling change and a slightly better screen... not worth upgrading from an S5danbob999 - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Why people keep saying that.It's never worth it to upgrade every year. These days even 3 year old smart phones run just fine for more people.
Refuge - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Still running my One M7. I love the screen and the speakers are really great too.Batter lasts me a day of heavy use still, but it isn't quite as fast as my girlfriends LG G2, but hers is three gens ahead of mine, and the differences are barely noticeable. That and I run 8 different widgets, compared to her one (clock).
kspirit - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
I know right? I'm still using my 925, and it works good as day 1. As long as they keep getting software updates, why upgrade every year?XororovX - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
The one m7 and the lg g2 are both from the 2013 crop.