Gear: Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge
The number one Android smartphone maker, Samsung, is not giving up and has put together a fine pair of devices with the new S6 and S6 Edge.
If you’re considering one of the new Sammies and wondering which one to go for, I’d pick the Edge. I mean, why not? The rounded screen is a technological tour de force that sets the Edge apart from anything else.
Compared with the standard S6, the Edge isn’t as comfortable in your hand (both devices are moderately sized). Truth be told, the wrapped display doesn’t add all that much in terms of functionality and isn’t really worth the $200 premium over the standard S6. It does look cool, though. Speaking of the screens, they are very hi-res and pretty amazing on both devices.
Samsung loaded both phones with new technology, including a fingerprint sensor that actually works (unlike the Korean company’s earlier effort), nearfield communications with tap and go mobile payments, wireless charging and an Exynos processor with no fewer than eight cores. Four of them run at 2.1GHz, and four at 1.5GHz, and there’s 3GB of memory and 32GB of storage (28GB was free after system files).
Oh yes, there’s a heart rate monitor, barometer and an altimeter too, plus the usual collection of movement sensors. Phew.
Both phones are very nicely designed but be careful not to drop them — lots of glass in the case could make for an expensive fumble. The Galaxy S6 can be had for $1100 and the S6 Edge for $1300 outright. They are premium devices.
As with iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, the camera lens juts out. Samsung put the camera in the middle top part of the S6s, and the lens poking out makes the phone wobble when you tap on it on a desk. Annoying, but a third party case will fix that. Both the front five-megapixel and especially the rear 16Mp unit are excellent for both stills and video, with sharp images and lots of control over the photography.
Shooting at 4K (30 frames per second max) and 1080p 60fps are both possible, but you lose image stabilisation, high dynamic range, tracking autofocus and colour effects. Those features work only at 1080p 30fps. There’s also a 120fps slow-motion mode which is fun.
Imaging geeks DXOMark tested the S6 camera, and found that it edged out Apple’s iPhone 6 unit even, which is high praise (tinyurl.com/ samsungtop). Some things had to go
to make space inside the case and to work with the new design. I wouldn’t miss the lack of a memory card slot, or being able to swap batteries, but this could be a deal breaker for some, along with the lack of water resistance and dust proofing.
All the processing power inside the S6 devices takes its toll on battery life. Both devices drain their batteries faster than I’d like, and never lasted a whole day for me.
What’s more, they can get uncomfortably hot. This seems to happen when the 802.11ac or Cat 6 LTE 4G, which maxes out at 300Mbps downloads, are active and not while watching video. The camera made them both heat up as well. This could be fixed with software updates which should improve battery life too, but the heat is very noticeable and it’s surprising Samsung shipped the rather expensive S6 and Edge without fixing that.
Samsung put the latest Google Android 5.0 on the S6 and Edge. This is good because both devices should be up to date with security patches, and you get the ability to split the phone in work and personal partitions either with Google at Work or Samsung’s easy-to-use Knox tools.
The company’s TouchWiz user interface layer has been dialled down, but it’s still a jarring experience when its buzzing and beeping and applications launch unexpectedly. It needs to be toned down even more.
I’ve never been a fan of having two app stores to deal with — there’s the usual Google Play and Samsung Apps, and you have to sign in to both. Just one will do, thanks.
Niggling flaws aside, Samsung’s new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are arguably some of the best Android handsets on the market for now, at a premium price.