Samsung didn't take this task lightly, beginning almost completely
from scratch and replacing key members of its design team to make sure
it created a standout phone.
Perhaps the S6 is a little too
similar to the rest of the competition (it looks stunningly like an
iPhone at the bottom) but at least there's the Galaxy S6 Edge for those that want a really unique-looking device.
The
big issues are price and battery life: the former initialy being
wincingly high. It's dropped in price a fair bit now though, with
Samsung offering the 32GB variant for £379 ($599, AU$899), the 64GB for
£539 ($700, around AU$999) and the huge 128GB variant for £599 ($800,
around AU$1,149).
The iPhone 6S
has a different pricing structure in the UK, in that the 16GB option is
£539 (with obviously less storage), the 64GB model is £619 and the
128GB model is £699. In the US, it's always $50 cheaper. Samsung could
alter this match-up at any moment with an expected Galaxy S6 price drop.
Why
the comparison? The main reason is that Samsung was finally starting to
charge a higher premium than the iPhone, where traditionally the
undercut has been one of its key selling points in the Apple vs Samsung
debate consumers go through.
Thankfully, as you can see above, the
price of the S6 has now dropped considerably, especially if you shop
around, giving it back that edge. Though it will still set you back as
much as the iPhone 6, it's cheaper than the Galaxy S7.
And
there's a smaller battery on board than last year, which instantly
makes me worry when the screen resolution has been bumped up to give us
the sharpest display on the market.
But Samsung's been at this
smartphone game for a while now, so can it justify that high price tag
by cramming in loads of amazing technology… and make the battery last
more than a day?
It certainly has its work cut out with the Galaxy S6 joined by the iPhone 6S, LG G4 and HTC One M9 at the top of the smartphone tree.
Design
Samsung's
gone bold on the design of the Galaxy S6, taking away the usual plastic
covering that festooned previous models and finally stepping into the
world of metal for its flagships.
It's dallied with a more premium design ever since the Galaxy Alpha
was brought out in the middle of last year. But with a higher price and
lower spec, that model didn't really catch on, despite feeling really
premium in the hand.
So this time Samsung's gone one step further,
adding an all-metal band to a strong glass case and, really, making a
phone that couldn't be much further from the Galaxy S5.
That's
not to say the brand hasn't kept some of the design heritage in there -
after all, Samsung is a company that's big on tradition. The front of
the phone harks back to the Galaxy S4 days, with a rounded and bland
fascia combined with the lozenge home button.
The biggest shame is
that I didn't get to fully review one of the colored variants rather
than 'White Pearl' that you can see above.
The other colors have a
jewel-like sheen, reflecting the light in a luxury way. The white is
just rather boring, and looks like older devices again.
The
reason for sending reviewers the white version first is pretty clear
though: this thing is a fingerprint magnet. I know I've said that before
about other devices, but it's never been truer than on the Galaxy S6.
The
rear of the phone will just become marked and smudged within seconds of
handling it, so like a silver car the white chassis on the S6 serves to
hide those ugly blemishes.
In
the hand the Galaxy S6 is a very nice device to hold, with the 5.1-inch
screen taking up most of the front. It's compact yet elegant, with a
clear feel of premium quality when you're holding it.
That said,
it doesn't feel like the most expensive on the market - whatever reason
Samsung is giving for charging this high premium, it's not coming
through in the design - but it does feel like a device that can be
mentioned in the same breath as the HTC One M9 and iPhone 6S in terms of
build quality.
The metal band around the side is split by strips
of plastic to allow the antenna and other radios to make their
connections - and if it looks familiar, well, it's a very similar design
to that used on the iPhone 6S.
These strips are needed as metal
is very inefficient at letting phone signal pass through, and Samsung
isn't alone in including them. However, with the glass front and rear I
was surprised to see them make an appearance.
Combined
with the fact the bottom of the phone, where the speaker and headphone
jack live, looks almost identical to what Apple is doing, this seems to
be a risky line Samsung is treading.
The general layout of the
phone is well designed though. The volume buttons on the left-hand side
and the power button on the right are perfectly positioned, and the home
button has been massively upgraded to deliver a very solid click.
That
might not sound important, but it's not been the case with previous
Galaxy phones so I'm pleased to see Samsung finally step up.
The
back of the phone yields one of the less aesthetically pleasing elements
though, with the camera protruding quite significantly from the rear of
the Galaxy S6.
The reason is obvious: to allow for a higher power
optical system and you'll see in the camera section that this was very,
very much worth it.
But
again, I'm left wondering what Samsung is doing here. In the
desperation for a flat phone, the battery capacity is reduced and the
camera left sticking out, exposing it to possible scratching.
Why
not slightly round the rear, make it sit more nicely in the hand and
improve the space for a battery? HTC does it to terrific effect on the
One series, but it seems other brands are obsessed with a flat phone. As
a result the S6 doesn't even rest comfortably on the desk, with a
little wobble when tapping it at work.
But don't let the above
make you think this is anything other than a great phone design. It's
not up there with the very best - the HTC One M9's
craftsmanship puts this head and shoulders ahead of the Galaxy S6 in
terms of feel in the hand - but Samsung has finally offered what we've
been hankering after for years, and it's done it well.
Screen
Samsung
has always had brilliant screen technology, and once again, that's the
case on the Samsung Galaxy S6. The Super AMOLED display offers clear,
crisp whites against pure blacks, meaning even dark scenes are shown off
perfectly.
The 5.1-inch display now packs more pixels than ever before - 1440 x 2560 in fact, which matches the Galaxy Note 4
but with a higher PPI of 577 - which means you're looking at one of the
sharpest displays on the market. Though it's now been beaten by the
ludicrous 806ppi Sony Xperia Z5 Premium.
The QHD level of screen was started by LG in 2014 with the G3,
but as that was based on LCD technology it left the screen a little
dark and power hungry, as each pixel caused a heavier strain on the
battery.
Then the Google Nexus 6
came along, and that really impressed with its larger screen. Despite
the wider display it still looked great, and when the aforementioned
Note 4 came along with the same resolution, the bar was set.
So
combining the pixel count of the Note 4 with a smaller display should
yield an exquisite display, right? Sadly, no. That's not to say the
screen on the Samsung Galaxy S6 doesn't look brilliant - it really,
really does - but I'm not sure the QHD resolution really adds that much
to the mix, especially given the higher power drain it commands.
Watching
some optimized video does look nicer, and held side by side the screen
is clearly sharper than a normal Full HD display.
But we've gone
way past the point of needing any more sharpness in our phones, and even
720p resolutions don't look terrible (a point well made by Matthew
Hanson in his piece on the myths of screen resolution) so I'm wondering why Samsung bothered here.
The
Super AMOLED technology can make 1080p screens look phenomenal, and has
been for years. And with bigger screens, the improved pixel count helps
make them look next generation. But at 5.1-inch, this seems more
gimmick than anything else as Samsung looks for anything it can throw
into a new flagship to grab headlines.
(Admittedly the improved resolution is needed for the Gear VR
headset, where the phone is the screen and so more pixels are better.
But that's not going to be a real world use for this phone for many).
The
screen on the Galaxy S6 is superb. It does still have all the real
benefits of Super AMOLED, as I've mentioned, with outdoor visibility
particularly strong.
There's nothing that doesn't look amazing on
it - but it does come at the cost of battery life and, well, actual
cost, and I'm not sure it adds enough to warrant those sacrifices
And
there's a smaller battery on board than last year, which instantly
makes me worry when the screen resolution has been bumped up to give us
the sharpest display on the market.
It's dallied with a more premium design ever since the Galaxy Alpha
was brought out in the middle of last year. But with a higher price and
lower spec, that model didn't really catch on, despite feeling really
premium in the hand.
BlackBerry Q10 review
Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom review
Pros
An excellent camera with 10x zoom
Useful camera scene modes
Comes wit
Xiaomi Mi 5 review
Price when reviewed
£263.75 (plus import duty)
Xiaomi Mi 5 revie
lg g5 review
LG G5 review in-depth
Alongside the Galaxy S7,
the LG G5 is one of th
:)
:(
hihi
:-)
:D
=D
:-d
;(
;-(
@-)
:P
:o
:>)
(o)
:p
:-?
(p)
:-s
(m)
8-)
:-t
:-b
b-(
:-#
=p~
$-)
(y)
(f)
x-)
(k)
(h)
cheer