The last couple of Galaxy S flagships had iterative designs (much like the HTC One M9 that was announced today). But with Apple now making big-screened phones, the pressure is on Samsung – and it just launched two phones that mark the biggest physical changes to the Galaxy S lineup: the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge.
Long known for plastic builds, Samsung has stepped up its game of late in the materials department. First several Samsung phones like the Galaxy Note 4 added metallic edges, and now the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge lose the plastic altogether, instead using metal frames with glass backs (Gorilla Glass 4, to be exact).
Both handsets have 5.1-in Quad HD, Super AMOLED displays. That's the same screen size as last year's Galaxy S5, but with a big jump in resolution (these two have an insane 577 pixels per inch).
The Edge's display continues the trend we saw with last year's Galaxy Note Edge, which had a sloped curve on the right side of its display. The Galaxy S6 edge, though, has a similar curve on both sides.
The GS6 and GS6 edge are also both compatible with Qi wireless chargers out of the box. They also have fast-charging technology, juicing up for about 4 hours of use in just 10 minutes (as usual, this should only apply to when the phone's battery is already low).
As far as specs, both phones (as rumored) ditch Qualcomm in favor of octa-core Samsung Exynos processors, and have 3 GB of RAM along with 32/64/128 GB storage options (they do, however, lose the microSD card slots that were nearly universal in older Samsung phones). They have 16 MP rear cameras and 5 MP front cameras, along with 2,550 mAh (GS6) and 2,600 mAh (GS6 edge) batteries. Both run Android 5.0 Lollipop skinned with the latest version of Samsung's TouchWiz UI.
As you can see above, both phones are incredibly thin, measuring 6.8 mm (0.27-in) thick for the Galaxy S6 and 7 mm (0.28-in) for the Galaxy S6 edge. They're also very light, at 138 g (GS6) and 132 g (edge).
We'll have to wait for review units to say anything definitive here, but, at the very least, these show a Samsung willing to acknowledge the biggest criticisms of its brands and reinvent its flagship product line.
The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge are set to launch on April 10. They'll be sold in White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, Blue Topaz (Galaxy S6 only) and Green Emerald (Galaxy S6 edge only) color options.
For a refresher on the first version of Samsung's Edge Display, you can hit up Gizmag's Galaxy Note Edge review from late last year.
Product page: Samsung
But in compensation the case is prettier. :-(
Innovation would have been a better way. There are a number of new ideas, laser food analyser to determine calories and content, the scope there for use with a mobile phone is limitless. A sniffer chip for medical, biological and chemical uses (fire detection, illness, chemical spill, gas detector, explosives). Laser charging for wireless phones that looks like a promising direction for solar powered phones that can be quickly charged by laser. 3D imaging would have been an interesting path, with so many 3D printers coming out how about using a mobile phones cameras, gps, to produce accurate 3D imaging. Two cameras on the back would have been yet a boost for Virtual Reality headset they are pushing with mobile phone owners making their own content for viewing later.
Instead Samsung have come out with a shiny fragile phone that would last a month with me before I dropped it on its edge or in the water.
Well they lost me. Unless the price gouging for internal memory is a fraction of the cost that is normally charged this means the Galaxy line just died as far as I'm concerned. External storage is an essential component of any device I own.
And: NO REMOVABLE BATTERY: 'wireless charging' UnFeature .. a coil in the back cover? Who cares! Losing very important functionality cuz of a little-used feature is terrible design..period!
For me, a removable battery is required now and then to reboot a phone that's caught in a sys lock ... In fact , my old Google Nexus, with it known-to-be faulty 'Power' button REQUIRES battery removal (and several rapid reinsertions) to trick it into booting at all!! Mod'ing ,eg, with Cyanogen, often can require yanking battery to reboot!!
oh and the lil 'SMARTTV' privacy issue .... Add this all up and SAMSUNG can go pound sand at the beach!!!