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First impressions: The Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge

One of the more anticipated smartphone launches of this year, here’s what Samsung showcased at the onset of the Mobile World congress 2015 currently underway

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Samsung's CEO, J.K Shin, unveiling the Samsung Galaxy S6 | Image source: Samsung
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Fresh off the Mobile World Congress expo floor, Samsung has just spilled the beans on their new flagship phones: The Galaxy S6 and the S6 Edge. From the rumours swilling over the past several months, there was much speculation on their specifications, features and one-up innovations.

From the moment Samsung’s CEO J.K Shin walked on to the stage and said, "I may not be the best public speaker; that's because my first language is engineering", he clearly had people’s attention. From all that was announced from then on, it seems that these phones are more evolutionary than revolutionary--beefier versions of current-gen specifications, with several enhancements thrown in.

From new bits of hardware to its cameras to purported enhancements with its battery and charging systems, there was a fair bit to be wowed by, but the proof will of course be in the eating. That’s for another day though. So until the time we get our hands on these devices, peel back the layers and actually get a more exacting sense of whether these phones put their money where their mouthpieces are, here are the most important announcements that defined these these two new phones.

The build quality finally counts: With Samsung’s previous flagships being largely panned for having less-than-stellar construction (despite their top-dollar price tags), these new phones are clearly out to change that reality. Both the Galaxy S6 and the S6 Edge are predominantly built using metal with glass front and back panels, lending them a far more solid demeanor. The glass being used is now Gorilla Glass 4, supposedly 50 percent stronger than its predecessor.

It has a better display: The screens used are a 5.1-inch 1440x2560 Super AMOLED display (that’s a very dense 577 pixels per inch), making it the sharpest you could possibly find in a phone to date. For general users, this higher number would be irrelevant; any normal human would be incapable of registering any difference compared to a screen with, say, 300ppi. But this specification takes on new significance given Samsung’s foray into the virtual reality space with their Gear VR, which uses their phone as the primary display. The increased pixel density would contribute to a more effective VR experience.
Of course compared to the S6, the display of the S6 Edge, has an… edge. But unlike the current Note Edge, the S6 Edge now has both the left and right edges of the screen gently curved. It was demonstrated glowing configurable colors that could indicate specific people from your contact list calling, showing notifications and the like.

There’s faster hardware: Powering each of these phones is a 64-bit 8-core Samsung Exynos processor (for the international versions; it’s yet to be see whether the same chip will be used in the one sold on our shores). There is 3GB of DDR4 memory (a faster type of RAM that should make for a snappier user experience). And even with the new hardware, the phone is supposed to be 35 percent more efficient than its predecessor.



There’s are enhancements in battery life:
There seems to be new capabilities with the phone’s battery charging system (while there is a in-built 2550 mAh Li-Ion unit). Through the MWC presentation, Samsung insisted the battery in this phone charges faster than any in the industry. While we’ll warily take that at face value for now, it does have wireless charging built in, and can apparently charge from empty to full in half the time it takes to charge the iPhone 6. We’ll reserve our take on these numbers after we’ve had a chance verify them ourselves though.


 

There are better cameras: As imaging devices, these phones seem to have what it takes to reset the bar: both the front and rear cameras are based on a F/1.9 lens (which let in more light, and would make for better low-light shooters) with 5MP and 16MP respectively. Also the rear camera has optical image stabilization. A key feature is the camera’s ability to do ‘real-time HDR’, a capability that results in more balanced and clear photographs even in challenging lighting situations. Also the camera can be activated by double-tapping on the phone screen, and it wakes up in under a second; lesser instances of missed photo ops.

While there appear to be numerous enhancements across the board, biggest downers were the absence of expandable memory, no level of water-, dust- or dust-proofing and the non-removable battery.

Both the Galaxy S6 and the S6 Edge will be available in 20 countries (it isn’t clear if India is included in this list, but it is very likely to be), and will be available in 32GB 64GB 128GB options.

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