Samsung Galaxy S6 & S6 Edge Review: Samsung finally delivers on design

Scorpus

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samsung galaxy s6 android samsung smartphone galaxy s6 galaxy s6 edge

The launch of the Samsung Galaxy S6 is one of the most important for Samsung in a long time. The company’s smartphone revenues are slipping, profits are down, and competition is stronger than ever. Apple’s strong launch of the iPhone 6 heaped a particularly large amount of pressure on the company, especially after the relatively tepid launch of the Galaxy S5.

This time around there’s not just one flagship from Samsung, but two: the company has released a curved-display Edge variant that carries mostly the same hardware as its standard flat-screen brother. Both come with a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED display with a top-end 1440p resolution, a brand new Exynos 7 Octa 7420 SoC, and a 16-megapixel optically stabilized camera. Unlike with the past three generations of Galaxy flagships, there’s no Qualcomm model in sight.

Read the complete review.

 
Yet again a good phone from Samsung but is it worth upgrading from a S4 4G LTE+ with 64GB SD card and extended battery?
 
Yet again a good phone from Samsung but is it worth upgrading from a S4 4G LTE+ with 64GB SD card and extended battery?

Yes. S4 battery life is worse than S6 battery life out of the box by the way, especially after 2 years.
 
The reviewer is much more knowledgeable with these devices then I will ever be so take his opinion WAY over mine, that being said:
I see no reason to upgrade from my S4, the SnapDragon 600 rips, the 1080p screen is all you need on 5" phone IMO and the battery is replaceable for cheap. It's hard to judge my battery because I've played so much Clash of Clans on it but it does leave a little to be desired.
What happens when 18 months go by and your S6 battery has lost much of its luster? Your screwed.
Now, I like this S6, It's very aesthetically pleasing. I also like the CPU, I am not sure how similar it is to the Exynos™ 5 Octa 1.9Ghz Quadcore + 1.3 Ghz Quadcore in my SM-T800NTSAXAR but I would imagine its just as impressive, if not more.

Overall it looks great and is a nice jump from an S4, but I won't be rushing to upgrade anytime soon. Again, just my take.
 
The only reason I can see anybody choosing the Edge over the Plain Jane is for aesthetics only. If I was choosing either one I'd opt for the S6. There's no sense in paying more than you need to.
 
The reviewer is much more knowledgeable with these devices then I will ever be so take his opinion WAY over mine, that being said:
I see no reason to upgrade from my S4, the SnapDragon 600 rips, the 1080p screen is all you need on 5" phone IMO and the battery is replaceable for cheap. It's hard to judge my battery because I've played so much Clash of Clans on it but it does leave a little to be desired.
What happens when 18 months go by and your S6 battery has lost much of its luster? Your screwed.
Now, I like this S6, It's very aesthetically pleasing. I also like the CPU, I am not sure how similar it is to the Exynosâ„¢ 5 Octa 1.9Ghz Quadcore + 1.3 Ghz Quadcore in my SM-T800NTSAXAR but I would imagine its just as impressive, if not more.

Overall it looks great and is a nice jump from an S4, but I won't be rushing to upgrade anytime soon. Again, just my take.

Galaxy S6 is 120% faster on the CPU, and 250% faster on the GPU, compared to a Snapdragon 600 device like the S4. NAND will also be astronomically faster. Display is also significantly better, not just in resolution, but also color quality/accuracy, and brightness. Camera is much better. Battery life will be slightly better.

Compared to the Exynos 5420 in your Galaxy Tab S 10.5 you'd be looking at performance improvements in the 60-80% range.
 
Galaxy S6 is 120% faster on the CPU, and 250% faster on the GPU, compared to a Snapdragon 600 device like the S4. NAND will also be astronomically faster. Display is also significantly better, not just in resolution, but also color quality/accuracy, and brightness. Camera is much better. Battery life will be slightly better.

Compared to the Exynos 5420 in your Galaxy Tab S 10.5 you'd be looking at performance improvements in the 60-80% range.
Great information!
The battery life is similar and over time it will be worse with nothing the user can do about it, the S4 wins there considering how cheap and easy they are to replace. Performance comparisons by percentage never really mattered to me, only seconds or actual frames.
I can't argue against that much of a performance increase though, its simply too impressive. But enough to make me upgrade now? Hell no.
My S4 loads webpages/programs quickly, has a great screen and games fine with the little Adreno 320. It simply performs too good for me personally to persuade me to consider upgrading until my contract expires in 2016.
(and just to gloat, I got my tablet new through an IGN deal for $280 shipped [Amazon have it near $500 still] so I couldn't pass it up! ebay Item # : 141400560417).
I always appreciate the facts Scorpus.
 
May be a nice phone, but no replaceable battery means no sale here. I'm not keen on a manufacturer holding my wallet hostage by controlling the life span of the non user-replaceable battery in an expensive device.
 
Before announcement of S6, I was thinking of replacing my S3 with S6.
However, once I know that there is no replacable battery, I drop my upgrade idea.
I really don't want my phone to be dead when battery is dead. Or, wait a long time sending the phone to Samsung to repair for replacing a dead battery. I am really disappointed with Samsung for producing this phone which has the same disability as iphone.
 
Before announcement of S6, I was thinking of replacing my S3 with S6.
However, once I know that there is no replacable battery, I drop my upgrade idea.
I really don't want my phone to be dead when battery is dead. Or, wait a long time sending the phone to Samsung to repair for replacing a dead battery. I am really disappointed with Samsung for producing this phone which has the same disability as iphone.

I'm in the same situation, my S3 contract ran out this past Monday. I'm now more interested in the LG G4. It has comparably specs across the board and a removable battery and microSD up to 128gb. Is it as pretty? I'm looking for a phone/mini-computer, not an accessory.
 
I recently got the HTC One M8 and love it. It was between it and the S5, and I liked the HTC better. Also keep in mind I upgraded from an old Motorola Milestone X, so I thought it was like a Cadillac when I held the M8. I think this is a great review, and sounds like Samsung has sold a ton of these new phones. But I won't be replacing my M8 for at least 2 years since it is a fantastic phone. To bad Samsung didn't add a MicroSD slot. I appreciate that HTC keeps it in their designs. I also like the metal body, and the phone doesn't slip in your hand like the the Samsung phones.
 
I should have clarified that my S4 4G LTE+ has a snapdragon 800, would it still be worth upgrading to S6?
 
Sweet, my S4 is getting the Lollipop 5.0 update today!
Can't wait, my tablet should get it too!
 
Surely the S6 is quite a good phone but except for the price (that I will never pay) is the lack of an Micro SD slot that binds you to have a portable drive if you travel without a proper photo camera thanks to the huge video file dimension of the 1080p and 4k (I hope that none say save them to the cloud).
I don't get why talking of the great photo that the 16MP camera can do you show us 2MP (1920x1080) downscaled photos edited with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.0 (do you think that no one will see the image properties?) instead of 16MP DNG raw photo without any software manipulation; the only reason I find is that you have been paid to fake the camera quality review.
 
I hate how Samsung and Apple are going for thinness over battery life... No one cares if their phone is 7mm vs 7.1 mm... just give us a battery that can last for more than a day of use...
 
I have owned Samsung smart phones since their first incarnation of Andriod. I currently own a Note 4. If Samsung keeps on trying to make their phones into iPhones, I will be forced to buy from another company. Why in the heck would anyone want a solid metal phone which never flexes and is garanteed to break the glass when you look at it cross eyed? Worse yet, I can never replace the batter with a new or extended battery? I can never add storage space? Samsung please stop trying to imitate all the BAD ideas from other makers.
 
I hate how Samsung and Apple are going for thinness over battery life... No one cares if their phone is 7mm vs 7.1 mm... just give us a battery that can last for more than a day of use...

Preach on... I really don't care how thin something is, give me a MASSIVE battery to cut the stress of my daily life. Same goes for all the current laptops. Stop trying to make them waffer thin and give me a massive battery and more storage.
 
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