Design
Ultra-premium, high-end, glass – these are not the first things that come to mind when you think about the Galaxy S series. We are all used to plastic, plastic, and more plastic. But with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge, Samsung have surprised me in a way that I (and probably a few million others) didn’t think was possible.
The first time you lay your eyes on these phones you will be totally amazed, and would be forgiven for thinking that Samsung isn’t capable of building these beautiful high-end phones. From the colors to the materials used, these phones ooze high quality. Especially the Galaxy S6, which is something truly different, with a design that we have never seen before. It’s unique, beautiful, and something only Samsung can do thanks to the technological prowess and resources. Samsung has opted for a unibody design with Gorilla Glass 4 on the front and back of the devices. If we take a look at the sides, Samsung has added matte aluminium.
So let’s have a look at what we’re dealing with here in terms of the physical design. I will discuss both phones, starting with the Galaxy S6.
Screen
Sharp. Sharper. Sharpest. The Galaxy S6 and S6 edge use a 5.1-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display. The Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge had the same resolution as the S6 devices, but had larger screens and hence lower resolution. The Galaxy S6/S6 edge have a pixel density of 577. Usually, the higher the better is the motto, but unfortunately the naked eye cannot notice the difference. But this is good news for the Gear VR (Samsung’s virtual reality headset), as the higher the pixel density on the phone that drives it, the sharper your VR experience will be. The viewing angles on the displays are truly sublime as everything remains perfectly sharp and visible. Watching videos and viewing photos is a joy on these phones, naturally because of the AMOLED technology, which is also economical for the battery life.
Yet the Galaxy S6 edge has a slight disadvantage. If you’re watching videos (or even viewing pictures), the content wraps around the edges as these edges are part of the main display, which can give the content a somewhat quirky look. It’s nothing too major, but it could certainly turn into an annoyance for some. Also, the standard Galaxy S6’s screen performs slightly better outdoors because it hasn’t got any of the glare that the edges on the Galaxy S6 edge produce in direct sunlight.
Software
TouchWiz. For many, TouchWiz on top of Android is a happy marriage, and for others it’s a reason to immediately file for divorce papers. I have to say I am positively surprised about Samsung’s new interface. From the first time you turn the phone on, it’s easy to see how clean everything has become. In six simple steps, you’re on the homescreen. What’s new? First, everything looks flatter than what we saw even on the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy S5. Everywhere you look, Samsung has taken many elements of Google’s Material Design. The icons are somewhat squarer and Samsung has updated many of its apps with a new interface. A nice touch are the clock and calendar app icons. These icons are now interactive – for example, the calendar icon will show the number 10 on top if it’s the 10th day of the month. It’s also good to see that you can disable most of Samsung’s own bloatware, which can save a lot of memory and irritations in the overall user experience.
Camera
One thing you can say about Samsung phones is that their flagship devices always have great camera, and it’s no different on the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge. Both come with the Sony IMX240 sensor like the Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy Note Edge, with Samsung’s home-brewed OIS (optical image stabilization) unit. The Notes had an aperture of 2.2 and hence produced underwhelming low-light shots. On the S6 family, Samsung has opted for a different lens with an aperture of f1.9, and these phones capture way more light as a result.
Battery Life
With rather small battery capacities (2,550/2,600 mAh on the S6 and S6 edge respectively) and a high-resolution display, people have naturally been concerned about how well the two phones would perform in terms of battery life. Thankfully, there’s not much to worry about in this regard, as both phones last admirably long despite their small batteries. I constantly managed to get around 13 to 14 hours of battery life with normal usage, with 3 hours of screen time very often. On days that I constantly used the phone at a stretch, the total endurance was naturally lower, but overall the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge should offer you slightly above-average battery life.
Things could have been better with larger batteries though, and it’s sad to see the battery capacity took a hit because Samsung was aiming to make devices that are very thin. Thankfully, you get wireless charging and quick charging support out of the box, with the latter offering up to 4 hours of usage time in 10 minutes of charging (in actual usage this hovered around three hours for me.
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