Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge are Android smartphones manufactured and marketed bySamsung Electronics. The S6 and S6 Edge jointly serve as successors to the Galaxy S5. The smartphones were officially unveiled in a press conference at Mobile World Congress on 1 March 2015. Alongside the S6, Samsung also unveiled the S6 Edge, a variant whose screen is wrapped along the sides of the device; the curvature is usable for several additional features. The Galaxy S6 was released on 10 April 2015 in 20 countries.[5]
Although the Galaxy S6's overall design still features some similarities to prior models, the construction of the device itself was revamped, with a metal unibody frame and glass backing instead of plastic. The devices also introduced an improved camera, a streamlined user interface, support for both major wireless charging standards, and support for amobile payments platform that allows the device to emulate the magnetic strip from a credit card. The S6 features other hardware improvements as well, including a 1440p display, a new in-house system-on-chip that utilizes a 14 nmFinFET manufacturing process, and an improved fingerprint scanner.
The Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised the devices' upgraded build quality over prior models, along with improvements to their displays, performance, camera, and other changes. However, Samsung's decision to remove the ability to expand their storage or remove the battery was panned as being potentially alienating to power users, and the S6 Edge was also panned for not making enough use of its curved display to justify its increased cost over the standard Galaxy S6.
Development
Rumours surrounding the Galaxy S5's successor began to surface in January 2015, it was reported that Samsung would be using an in-house Exynos system-on-chip rather than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 on the S6 due to concerns surrounding overheating.[6][7] Later that month, Qualcomm affirmed in an earnings report that its products would not be included in "[a] large customer's flagship device".[6] Fellow competitor LG Electronics disputed the allegations surrounding the 810; although demo units of the 810-equipped LG G Flex 2 at Consumer Electronics Showexperienced signs of possible overheating, the company emphasized that they were pre-release models.[6][7]
In early-February 2015, Bloomberg News reported that the S6 was to have a metal body, and was to be produced in a normal version, and a version with a screen curved along the left and right sides of the device, similarly to the Galaxy Note Edge.[8] The S6's design was officially teased in a promotional webpage released by T-Mobile US on 22 February 2015, which showed a curved body and carried the tagline "Six Appeal".[9]
Samsung officially unveiled the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge during the Samsung Unpacked event at Mobile World Congress on 1 March 2015, for a release on 10 April 2015 in 20 countries.[5] In an effort to improve its market share in the country, Samsung elected not to use its name on S6 models sold in Japan, branding them solely with the Galaxy brand and removing the Samsung logos from the devices' exterior.[10][11]
The Galaxy S6 models are designed to address criticisms and feedback received from prior models, and target the majority of users; during its unveiling, Samsung stated that it had placed a particular focus on design, its camera, and wireless charging. As part of these goals, a number of features and capabilities seen on the Galaxy S5 were removed, such as its waterproofing and USB 3.0 port.[12] The S6's new design approach is the culmination of a shift in practices that began with 2014's Galaxy Alpha, which was the first Galaxy smartphone to feature metal as part of its construction. A new reflective coating was designed in-house to give the devices' backings a "jewel-like" appearance.
The device's software was also simplified; a Samsung representative stated that 40% of the features in TouchWiz were removed or streamlined in comparison to the S5.[5][14][15] Additionally, the Galaxy S6's battery is no longer user-replaceable; Samsung had been a major holdout from the trend against removable batteries, but argued that due to the S6's fast AC charging and its support of both major wireless charging standards, it no longer needs to provide the ability for users to remove and replace the battery.
Specifications
Hardware and design
The Galaxy S6 line retains similarities in design to previous models, but now uses a unibody frame made of aluminium alloy6013[17] with a glass backing, a curved bezel with chamfered sides to improve grip, and the speaker grille was moved to the bottom.[12][15] The devices are available in "White Pearl", "Black Sapphire", and "Gold Platinum" color finishes; additional " Blue Topaz" and "Emerald Green" finishes are exclusive to the S6 and S6 Edge respectively.[12][14][15] The S6 carries some regressions in its design over the S5; it is no longer waterproof, does not contain a MicroSD card slot, reverts to a USB 2.0port from USB 3.0, and has a non-removable battery.[5][15]
The Galaxy S6 line is powered by a 64-bit Exynos 7 Octa 7420 system-on-chip, consisting of four 2.1 GHz Cortex-A57 cores, and four 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 cores, and 3 GB of LPDDR4 RAM. The processor is Samsung's first to use a 14 nm FinFETmanufacturing process, which the company stated would improve its energy efficiency.[12][18] It will be available with 32, 64, or 128 GB of non-expandable storage, implementing Universal Flash Storage 2.0 standards.[12][18] Both devices feature a 5.1-inch 1440p Super AMOLED display; similarly to the Galaxy Note Edge, the S6 Edge's display is slightly curved around the horizontal sides of the device, although not as aggressively as the Note Edge.[5][15]
For its rear-facing camera, Galaxy S6 uses the same image sensor with optical image stabilization as the Galaxy Note 4, albeit with a f/1.9 aperture, object tracking autofocus, real-time HDR, and using the infrared of the heart rate sensor for calibrating white balance. Samsung claimed that the camera upgrades would allow it to have better low-light performance. The front-facing camera was also upgraded to 5 megapixels with a similar aperture.[19] The fingerprint scanner in the home button now uses a touch-based scanning mechanism rather than swipe-based; double-tapping the Home button activates the camera app.[15] Galaxy S6 includes a 2550 MAh battery, while the S6 Edge includes a 2600 MAh battery. The Galaxy S6 line supports both the Qi and Power Matters Alliance wireless chargingstandards.[12]
Software
The devices run Android 5.0.2 "Lollipop" with Samsung's TouchWiz software suite. TouchWiz has been streamlined on the S6 with a refreshed design and fewer bundled applications.[12][15][20] Several Microsoft apps are bundled with the S6: OneDrive, OneNote and Skype.[12][15] On the S6 Edge, users can designate up to five contacts for quick access by swiping from one of the edges of the screen. The five contacts are also color-coded; when the device is face down, the curved sides will also glow in the contact's color to signify phone calls. The Night Clock feature from the Galaxy Note Edge was carried over to the S6 Edge.[21][22] The heart rate sensor can also be used as a button for dismissing calls and sending the caller a canned text message reply.[21]
The S6 and S6 Edge are the first devices to include Samsung Pay, a mobile payments service developed from the intellectual property of LoopPay, a crowdfundedstartup company that Samsung acquired in February 2015. Samsung Pay incorporates technology by LoopPay known as "Magnetic Secure Transmission" (MST); it transmits card data to the pay terminal's swipe slot using an electromagnetic field, causing the terminal to register it as if it were a normally swiped card. LoopPay's developers noted that its system would not share the limitations of other mobile payment platforms, and would work with "nearly 90%" of all point-of-sale units in the United States. The service will also support NFC-based mobile payments alongside MST. Credit card information is stored in a secure token and payments must be authenticated using a fingerprint scan. Samsung Pay will not immediately be available upon the release of the S6, but enabled in the middle of 2015.[20][23]
The Sprint, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile versions remove some features available on the unbranded and unlocked version, like Smart Manager, Simple Sharing (only AT&T) and Download Booster (only Sprint and AT&T).[24]
Reception.
Critical reception.
The Galaxy S6 received a generally positive reaction from early reviewers, noting its higher quality design over previous Samsung devices, along with refinements to its camera, the high quality of its display, and the significantly smaller amount of "bloat" in the device's software. Anandtech believed that the S6's new fingerprint reader was comparable in quality to Apple's Touch ID system.[12][20][21] The Verge concluded that the S6 and S6 Edge were "the first time I’ve felt like Samsung might finally be grappling with the idea of what a smartphone ought to be on an ontological level."[25] Some critics raised concerns over the S6's regressions in functionality over the Galaxy S5, particularly the lack of removable battery or SD card, arguing that it could alienate power users who were attracted to the Galaxy series due to their inclusion.[26][27]
Wired felt while its dual-sided curved screen was better-designed than that of the Galaxy Note Edge, the S6 Edge's use of the curved display was a "dramatic step backwards" due to the limited number of edge-specific features available in comparison to the Galaxy Note Edge. As such, Samsung was criticized for providing no true justification for purchasing the S6 Edge over the non-curved S6, explaining that "it doesn’t do anything beyond the base model, but it’ll be worth the money to some people because of how it looks and the air of exclusivity it communicates."[28] The Verge was similarly critical, arguing that the additional features were "very forgettable".[25] In regards to performance, The Verge felt that the S6 was the "fastest Android phone I've ever used", and that the company "solved any slowdowns you might experience in Android with brute force."[25]
Some users reported issues with the flash on some S6 devices, remaining dimly lit even if the camera is not in use or the device is turned off. Samsung was made aware of the problem, which affects both the S6 and S6 Edge, but has not specified when it will be fixed.
