Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge flagship phones are finally here. They are beautiful phones (unlike the uninspired Galaxy S5). The S6 Edge, with its unique curved screen, is especially eye-catching.
But
the S6 and S6 Edge have more than just good looks. Both pack powerful
processors, gorgeous 5.1-inch displays, and the best smartphone cameras
on the market.
Throw
in a new mobile payment system that lets you use your S6 anywhere you
can use a standard credit card, and the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are the
new Android smartphone kings.
Handsome handsets
After
years of building the smartphone equivalents of that Pontiac Aztek, the
company has crafted a pair of sleek luxury sedans.
Instead
of the plastic and faux metal of its previous efforts, Samsung covered
both front and back of the S6 and S6 Edge with Corning’s Gorilla Glass.
Sandwiched between the glass is a slick aluminum frame.
These
are easily Samsung’s most attractive devices, though the standard S6 in
particular isn’t exactly original, as it looks like an amalgamation of
the iPhone 4s and iPhone 6, an opinion shared by the majority of the
people I showed the handsets to.
It’s
the Galaxy S6 Edge, though, with its cascading display, that is the
more attractive of the two handsets. Unfortunately, the phone’s unique
screen configuration makes it a bit more prone to slipping from your
hand, as there isn’t a lot of real estate for you to grip with your
fingers.
Both
phones’ cameras stick out from their rear panels a bit (like the iPhone
6 and 6s), which is a little disconcerting. Next to their cameras are
the phones’ flashes and heart rate monitors. Both phones also have much
improved fingerprint readers on the home buttons. Now, instead of
swiping your finger across the reader, you just place your digit on it,
similar to Apple’s Touch ID sensor.
Measuring
5.6 by 2.8 by 0.27 inches and weighing 4.9 ounces, the Galaxy S6 is a
hair thinner but a bit heavier than the S6 Edge, which measures 5.6 x
2.8 x 0.28 inches and weighs 4.7 ounces.
For comparison, Apple’s iPhone 6,
which has a smaller 4.7-inch display, measures 5.4 by 2.6 by 0.27
inches and weighs 4.6 ounces. The 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus not is not only
taller and thicker than the S6 and S6 Edge, it weighs more too.
My
one complaint about the S6 and S6 Edge’s designs is that, unlike the
Galaxy S5, neither of these phones is water-resistant. You could drop
your S5 in the pool, spill beer on it, or take it in the bath, and it
would keep on working like nothing happened. Try the same thing with the
S6 or the S6 Edge, and you’ll need to buy a new phone.
Curves ahead
The
S6 and S6 Edge come with the same 5.1-inch, 2560 by 1440 Super AMOLED
(Active Matrix of Organic Light-Emitting Diodes) displays. They look
fantastic. Colors are absolutely brilliant, and text and fine details in
images are razor sharp.
Beyond
looking futuristic, though, the S6 Edge’s curved screen doesn’t do much
more than the S6’s. Like Samsung’s Galaxy Note Edge, the S6 Edge gives
you access to a handful of apps on either the left or right side of its
display including Twitter Trends, Weather, and Yahoo Finance and Yahoo
Sports, but only when the phone is locked.
You
can also assign up to five people to get specific color codes. When
they call or text the screen’s edges will glow if the the Edge is face
down and locked. It’s a neat feature, and one that’s sure to be helpful
in the office.
Besides
that there isn’t much of an advantage to the S6 Edge’s curved screen.
It’s plenty cool, though, and for a lot of people, including yours
truly, that’s enough.
A Trimmed down OS
Samsung,
like most Android phone makers, uses “overlays” on top of the basic
Android operating system. Overlays are phone makers’ own twists on
Android. Samsung’s previous overlay, called TouchWiz, was far too
cumbersome and bloated with a litany of menus, settings, and alerts.
For
the S6 and S6 Edge, though, Samsung has cleaned up its interface,
reducing the number of menus and alerts so that you can more easily
navigate the phone’s OS. Running on Google’s Android 5.0 Lollipop, the
newest version of TouchWiz is significantly easier to navigate and
understand. Still, it’s not as straightforward as the unaltered version
of Android or iOS.
In
addition to the large number of settings it used to include with its
phones, Samsung is known for preinstalling a litany of apps. And
unfortunately that remains the case.
The
S6 and S6 Edge come with an array of Google’s basic apps, several
proprietary Samsung apps including Milk Music and Milk Video, as well as
Facebook, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp, and a variety of
carrier-specific apps.
Also onboard: Microsoft’s OneDrive, OneNote, and Skype, though at least you get 100GB of free cloud storage with OneDrive.
The camera to beat
For
years, Samsung has been playing catch-up with Apple when it comes to
its smartphone cameras. With the new 16-megapixel cameras on the Galaxy
S6 and S6 Edge, though, Samsung has taken the lead.
The
S6 and S6 Edge have the same camera; we used the S6 to take our test
photos. In side-by-side shots, the S6 repeatedly outperformed the iPhone
6. What’s most impressive is that the S6 actually took better images
than the iPhone in low-light situations, something that Samsung has
struggled with for years.
A
picture of a bottle of fruit juice taken with the S6 in a dimly lit
room was far clearer and offered more vibrant and accurate colors than
the iPhone 6’s image did.
A
portrait of a handsome man taken with the S6 under office lights was
equally colorful, while the iPhone 6’s shot was a bit too white. The
iPhone, though, offered slightly more detail.
What’s
more impressive is how much better the S6’s camera is than the S5’s.
Put two images taken with the S6 and S5 side-by-side, and it’s no
contest, the S6 is on a whole other level.
Mobile payments
Samsung
is going head-to-head with Apple’s new Apple Pay mobile payment system
with a payment solution of its own called, appropriately enough, Samsung
Pay. Like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay will use special near-field
communication (NFC) chips built into the S6 and S6 Edge that will let
you pay for items at participating stores by tapping your phone on a
specialized payment terminal.
The
problem with NFC-based mobile payment solutions is that not many
retailers use NFC-compatible payment terminals. The majority still use
regular magnetic credit card scanners. And that’s where Samsung has
Apple beat.
In
addition to using NFC, Samsung Pay can also be used with standard
magnetic card reader terminals. To do this, the S6 and S6 Edge have to
be placed close to the reader. The phones then simulate the magnetic
field created when you swipe your credit card through the reader.
The
problem? We still haven’t seen Samsung Pay in action. In fact, we
haven’t even seen what the Samsung Pay app will look like. Here’s hoping
Samsung can get it up and running in relative short order after the S6
and S6 Edge are released.
Performance
The
S6 and S6 Edge are absolute beasts in terms of performance. Sporting
64-bit, 8-core processors and 3GB of RAM, the handsets are more than
capable of handling anything you can throw at them.
Apps,
like the camera, open in an instant, and you can snap off photos
without any delay. That’s a huge improvement over the S5, which lagged a
bit between photos.
The
S6 and S6 Edge each come with your choice of 32GB, 64GB, or 128GB of
storage. They don’t, however, come with microSD card slots. So you can’t
expand their storage capacity. Instead, you’ll have to rely on cloud
storage, which is where that 100GB of free Microsoft OneDrive storage
comes in.
The
Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge come with large batteries that will get you at
least a full day’s worth of use. Running low on juice? The S6 and S6
Edge come with Samsung’s Power Saving and Ultra Power Saving modes which
cut down on the handsets’ performance in order to save battery life.
Unfortunately,
to make the S6 and S6 Edge’s frames unibody, Samsung had to make the
phones’ batteries non-removable, reversing something that Samsung fans
have been able to hold over iPhone users for quite some time.
Wireless charging
To
make up for the fact that the S6 and S6 Edge’s batteries aren’t
removable, Samsung has given both phones the ability to charge
wirelessly. That means, as long as you have a wireless charging station,
you’ll be able to place your S6 or S6 Edge on the charging mat and let
it charge without having to plug it into a wall.
But
the only time this will be really useful is if you go to a place like
Starbucks that has wireless charging pads built into its tables.
Otherwise, you’ll still need to plug your own wireless charging pad into
a wall.
The new smartphone king?
Samsung’s
Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge are the best smartphones the company has
ever produced. They are gorgeous, speedy, have excellent cameras, and
are bursting with helpful features. Sure, both phones look similar to
the iPhone, but that doesn’t make them any less attractive.
If
you’re in the market for a new Android smartphone, the Galaxy S6 and S6
Edge are the ones to get. For what it’s worth, I’m more partial to the
S6 Edge and its futuristic design, but both handsets are easily the best
around and should even sway more than a few iPhone fans.
source: yahoo.com by
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