Published in Mobiles

Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are official

by on01 March 2015


64-bit 14nm Exynos with 5.1-inch 577ppi screen

Samsung has just officially announced the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge phones. Both phones share the same DNA and the only difference is that the S6 Edge has a dual-side curved screen. 

Samsung is finally done making plastic flagships, so a new metal and Gorilla Glass 4 design debuts with this generation, and we have to admit that this is the best looking Samsung Galaxy S ever. In the process Samsung has killed off removable battery, as well as the microSD expansion slot. We can live without a removable battery, but we think that ditching microSD is lame move, since many Samsung fans are quite fond of expandable storage.

14nm Exynos, LPDDR4, faster storage

The phone is powered by an eight-core 64-bit Exynos processor that should offer 20 percent higher performance than the 20nm Exynos 5433 in the Note 4. At the same time, the new 14nm octa-core should also offer 35 percent lower power consumption. Four out of eight cores works at 2.1GHz, and the remaining four work at 1.5GHz. The phones come with 3GB RAM, but that's not all.

Samsung is using LPDDR4 memory, as well as Universal Storage 2.0 that is a bridge technology between SSD and eMMC storage. The universal storage uses less power too, while offering superior storage performance. LPDDR4 should end up about 60 percent faster than previous DDR3-class chips.

The display is a 5.1-Quad HD, 2560x1440 Super AMOLED with 577 ppi and the main difference is that the screen pm the Edge version is warped at the edges. The S6 has 77 percent more pixels than the S5 and Samsung rolled out a new Galaxy Gear VR virtual reality set too. The set is compabile with both phones. 

Since the screen is smaller than on the Note 4, you get an 11-percent increase in pixel density, and this should boost display quality on the new Gear VR.

Supercharged battery and new f/1.9 cameras

Samsung claims that its enhanced processor offers 12 hours on battery life on wireless, 11 hours on LTE, 13 hours watching movies and 49 hours of music playback. When it comes to charging, Samsung also claims faster than any battery in the industry today. The company said that it takes only 10 minutes to get enough power for an additional 4 hours of everyday use. The Galaxy S6 charges from 0 to 100 percent in half as much time as the iPhone 6. Sounds impressive, but let's wait and see.

The battery is built in, and so is the Wireless charging that supports both WPC and PMA standards. The phone is 6.8 millimetres thick and the 16-megapixel camera can record 4K. The camera protrudes out of the body, but there are a few redeeming features, such as a speedy f/1.9 aperture, optical image stabilisation (OIS), as well as some cool camera software features. The front-facing 5-megapixel camera also features a fast f/1.9 lens, but that's not all. Pixel count is not everything - the camera uses a 43 percent bigger sensor. Coupled with the faster lens, the sensor captures much better images in low light. The same goes for the main camera, as it delivers superior quality compared to previous Galaxy models, and the iPhone 6 Plus.

As usual, TouchWiz sits on top of Android 5.0 Lollipop, but the Samsung skin has been redesigned and looks better, but we only saw what Samsung wanted to show us. It looks like a major TouchWiz overhaul, but we need to see more. The curved screen S6 Edge is not just for show, as it offers fast access to contacts and other functions, and a few other nifty features. 

The phone comes in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB and it will be available in 20 countries on the April 10th slightly less than six weeks from now. Both phones looks better than the S5, but it's really the hardware that stands out. If Samsung prices the phones at normal rate, both could be a huge success. We do like the Samsung Pay, that sounds like something that can by popular among other Android users too. 

 

 

Last modified on 01 March 2015
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