The controversial new Samsung Galaxy S6 sheds its plastic construction, removable battery, expandable storage and environmental protection for slicker looks.
Samsung Galaxy S6: Learning a new design language
No two ways about it, the Samsung Galaxy S6 is a stunner, framed in cool-to-the-touch aluminium, and with a coloured Gorilla Glass 4 rear and front, it's a beautiful phone to behold. It's clad in Gorilla Glass 4 front and back, and the way it gleams and glistens in the light is quite entrancing. The S6 is available in "White Pearl", "Gold Platinum" and "Blue Topaz", but we think it looks best in "Black Sapphire", which you see pictured here.
As you'd expect from a modern smartphone, the S6 is extremely slim (6.8mm) and light (138g), and it feels surprisingly compact in the hand, especially considering there's a 5.1in display up front.
In our view, the S6 delivers the perfect compromise between screen size and one-handed comfort – in fact, it's slightly smaller overall than the Samsung Galaxy S5 – and it combines that with impressive build quality and attention to detail. Even the volume, power and home buttons feel like they've been upgraded: everything about this phone feels perfectly on point.
There are some downsides to the design, however. First, in order to produce such a gorgeous work of art, the removable rear panel, replaceable battery and microSD slot for storage expansion have been consigned to the dustbin.
Second, neither the S6 nor the S6 Edge has an IP rating, so they're not not water and dust resistant like last year's Samsung Galaxy S5 was.
And third, the glass rear of the phones picks up fingerprints like they're going out of fashion. It's easy to clean, but if you own one of these phones, you're going to be spending a lot of your time wiping it on your jeans or the hem of your T-shirt to keep it spotless.
Samsung Galaxy S6: Specifications
The fact that Samsung has gone with its in-house Exynos processor for all global versions of the Galaxy S6 signals the company's growing confidence in its ability to compete with top-tier technology firms such as Qualcomm. The Exynos 7420 SoC has four 1.5GHz ARM Cortex A53 cores and four 2.1GHz Cortex A57 cores, allowing the phone to strike a balance between performance and power consumption for all kinds of tasks. There's 3GB of RAM, which is standard for top-end phones now.
With no microSD card slot, Samsung has made the Galaxy S6 available in multiple storage configurations. The strategy and pricing follow Apple's precedents, but the base model comes with 32GB rather than 16GB, which seems like a direct shot across the bow.
Like last year's Galaxy S5, the physical Home button has an integrated fingerprint sensor, but now you don't have to swipe your finger across it - a simple touch will do. The heart rate sensor on the rear is also still around. We found the one on the Galaxy S5 gimmicky and ultimately forgettable. This one is positioned to one side of the camera hump, making less likely that regular usage will become a habit.
OS: Android Lollipop with TouchWiz user interface
16 megapixel camera with LED flash, f1.9, autofocus, optical image stabilisation, digital zoom, UHD 4K video recording
5 megapixel front camera with 1080p HD video recording
Display: Super AMOLED, 16 million colours, 1440 x 2560 pixels (5.1 inches) capacitive touchscreen
Music player
Integrated handsfree speaker
S-Voice natural language commands and dictation
GPS, Glonass, Beidou positioning
Messaging: SMS, MMS, instant messaging, email
Processor: Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & quad-core 2.1 GHz Cortex-A57
Memory: 32GB, 64GB or 128GB, plus 3GB RAM
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth, micro USB, 3.5mm audio jack, NFC, infrared, MHL, ANT+
Sensors: Gesture Sensor, Fingerprint Sensor, Heart Rate Sensor, Hall Sensor, Accelerometer, Geomagnetic Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Light Sensor, Barometer, Proximity Sensor
LTE 4G, HSPA+, EDGE / GPRS
Size: 143 x 70.5 x 6.8 mm
Weight: 138g
Battery: 2550mAh battery with wireless charging
Read more: vietreader.com/tech/page,2,270-samsung-galaxy-s6-review-the-iphone-6s-killer.html
Samsung Galaxy S6: Learning a new design language
No two ways about it, the Samsung Galaxy S6 is a stunner, framed in cool-to-the-touch aluminium, and with a coloured Gorilla Glass 4 rear and front, it's a beautiful phone to behold. It's clad in Gorilla Glass 4 front and back, and the way it gleams and glistens in the light is quite entrancing. The S6 is available in "White Pearl", "Gold Platinum" and "Blue Topaz", but we think it looks best in "Black Sapphire", which you see pictured here.
As you'd expect from a modern smartphone, the S6 is extremely slim (6.8mm) and light (138g), and it feels surprisingly compact in the hand, especially considering there's a 5.1in display up front.
In our view, the S6 delivers the perfect compromise between screen size and one-handed comfort – in fact, it's slightly smaller overall than the Samsung Galaxy S5 – and it combines that with impressive build quality and attention to detail. Even the volume, power and home buttons feel like they've been upgraded: everything about this phone feels perfectly on point.
There are some downsides to the design, however. First, in order to produce such a gorgeous work of art, the removable rear panel, replaceable battery and microSD slot for storage expansion have been consigned to the dustbin.
Second, neither the S6 nor the S6 Edge has an IP rating, so they're not not water and dust resistant like last year's Samsung Galaxy S5 was.
And third, the glass rear of the phones picks up fingerprints like they're going out of fashion. It's easy to clean, but if you own one of these phones, you're going to be spending a lot of your time wiping it on your jeans or the hem of your T-shirt to keep it spotless.
Samsung Galaxy S6: Specifications
The fact that Samsung has gone with its in-house Exynos processor for all global versions of the Galaxy S6 signals the company's growing confidence in its ability to compete with top-tier technology firms such as Qualcomm. The Exynos 7420 SoC has four 1.5GHz ARM Cortex A53 cores and four 2.1GHz Cortex A57 cores, allowing the phone to strike a balance between performance and power consumption for all kinds of tasks. There's 3GB of RAM, which is standard for top-end phones now.
With no microSD card slot, Samsung has made the Galaxy S6 available in multiple storage configurations. The strategy and pricing follow Apple's precedents, but the base model comes with 32GB rather than 16GB, which seems like a direct shot across the bow.
Like last year's Galaxy S5, the physical Home button has an integrated fingerprint sensor, but now you don't have to swipe your finger across it - a simple touch will do. The heart rate sensor on the rear is also still around. We found the one on the Galaxy S5 gimmicky and ultimately forgettable. This one is positioned to one side of the camera hump, making less likely that regular usage will become a habit.
OS: Android Lollipop with TouchWiz user interface
16 megapixel camera with LED flash, f1.9, autofocus, optical image stabilisation, digital zoom, UHD 4K video recording
5 megapixel front camera with 1080p HD video recording
Display: Super AMOLED, 16 million colours, 1440 x 2560 pixels (5.1 inches) capacitive touchscreen
Music player
Integrated handsfree speaker
S-Voice natural language commands and dictation
GPS, Glonass, Beidou positioning
Messaging: SMS, MMS, instant messaging, email
Processor: Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & quad-core 2.1 GHz Cortex-A57
Memory: 32GB, 64GB or 128GB, plus 3GB RAM
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth, micro USB, 3.5mm audio jack, NFC, infrared, MHL, ANT+
Sensors: Gesture Sensor, Fingerprint Sensor, Heart Rate Sensor, Hall Sensor, Accelerometer, Geomagnetic Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Light Sensor, Barometer, Proximity Sensor
LTE 4G, HSPA+, EDGE / GPRS
Size: 143 x 70.5 x 6.8 mm
Weight: 138g
Battery: 2550mAh battery with wireless charging
Read more: vietreader.com/tech/page,2,270-samsung-galaxy-s6-review-the-iphone-6s-killer.html
