Samsung unleashes the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge and they are gorgeous
Gadgets March 2, 2015 Jason Dayrit 0
It seems like Korean tech juggernaut Samsung has learned a thing or two from the Galaxy S5. The newest flagship phone from the Galaxy line are sleek and sexy, but may run into some issues.
Rumors that milled around since the better part of 2014 about the new Galaxy flagship have been more or less confirmed, as Samsung has just announced the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, the newest smartphones from the Korean tech company. The Edge has a curving display on both sides of the device, which give it a bit of wiggle room when it comes to features. And while the S6 may be a redemption handset from Samsung, it’s the S6 Edge that’s got everyone talking.
The Galaxy S5 was not the best flagship for Samsung. Amid the criticism for that particular flagship, it seemed like the company decided to build a new design language for the S6 Edge. It is truly a phone we’ve never seen before, and the excitement does not stop with aesthetics.
Both phones have 16 megapixel rear and 5 megapixel front shooters, with better low-light capabilities and real-time HDR. Under the hood, both Galaxies run a Exynos 7420 64-bit octa-core processor, 3GB RAM, and up to 128GB of memory. It does not have a detachable battery, and the S5’s waterproofing is absent in the S6 and S6 Edge. However, this might be good things, as both Galaxies are thinner, have Gorilla Glass 4 front and back panels, and an aluminum body.
The TouchWiz UI has also been reworked, with as much as 40% of the featured apps (also called ‘bloatware’) are now gone. This allows Android Lollipop’s Material Design to shine through the UI overlay, which in turn makes the whole experience sleeker and cleaner.
The S6 Edge’s advantage over other flat-screened flagships lies in its – well – edges. The 5.1 inch display tapers off to the sides, which allow for a few nifty features to the phone, including the ability to color-code your contacts, so their color shows on the edges when they are calling, even when the phone is placed facedown.
There’s no word yet on when the actual units will be available in the country, but Samsung has announced an April availability. With the S6 and S6 Edge, it seems like Samsung is poised for a comeback.
Potential issues?
Sure, the S6 and S6 Edge are cool-looking with an impressive stats across the board. However, there may be a few issues down the line. First of all, there may be a pain point when it comes to battery life. At around 2,500 mAh, these flagships may require more than one power bank for the times when you’re bereft of an outlet. Sure, they have wireless and fast charging, but the main issue is the QHD screen and the hardware that runs these devices. A quad-core 64 bit processor is not the thriftiest of chips when it comes to drawing power. If Samsung just made the back panel curve downwards a bit, a denser battery may be added, addressing the smaller (for Android flagship standards, at least) battery capacity.
Then there’s the issue of the curved edge screens. Sure, the tech is there and it looks cool, but aside from making notifications personalized and manipulating the device easier, what other ground-breaking innovation does it bring to the table? And how will phone case manufacturers like Otterbox make a protective cases for the S6 Edge?
Lastly, we come to heating. A thin phone plus a metal body plus next-gen hardware will come across heating issues, and while the Gorilla Glass 4 back panel may mitigate this a bit, there’s still that factor looming at the back of our heads.
While we wait for actual stress tests and reviews to hopefully address the issues we brought up, check out the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge announcement video from MWC 2015:
http://youtu.be/CnYtWWDor2s
Jason Dayrit
Jason is a gadget junkie, a gear head, and an aspiring Internet Supervillain. He is also the EIC of twenty8two.com.
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