It took me until Wednesday afternoon before I finally got round to having a look at the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge and when I did actually approach the Samsung stand it was with some apprehension. I have used Samsung products since the Galaxy S2, which at that time was a “Premium Design”, despite being entirely made of plastic, after the S2 I skipped all of the Galaxy S devices thanks to the plasticy build and the launcher that everyone likes to moan about and I made the jump to the Galaxy Note range tempted by the higher specs and the slightly better build quality. Up until recently I had decided not to bother with Samsung devices as the Note and Galaxy ranges just seemed to be getting more and more bloated. So when I finally worked out how to get into the press area of the Samsung stand I wasn’t expecting the best.
Leigh was at the event on Sunday and covered both of the devices, but today I got into the fancy press area and they let me have a good old play with them, so I thought I’d take a few pictures and I came across the Galaxy S6 Edge first and here it is.
Galaxy S6 Edge
The Galaxy S6 Edge has a curved 5.1″ QHD display that is really quite something, the launcher, web browsers and apps open up stretched around the display. The first time you see an image or a webpage curved around it you have to take stock for a second.
The rest of the phone is nice, don’t get me wrong. It’s just the Galaxy S6 Edge is all about those curves. In the hand the narrow strips of metal along each side give you something hold onto and they make the S6 Edge feel surprisingly solid. The green one isn’t quite as green as most of the Samsung promotional material shows it, it is more of an understated dark green. The green and blue backplates are ridiculously reflective and I had quite a laugh trying to focus on it properly.
Samsung seem to have refined exactly what they want these devices to do with the curved edge, the software implementation on the Note Edge is totally different. Gone is the weird app shortcut dock and in its place are glorious looking full screen immersive apps like the web browser or the gallery. This is one phone I really can’t wait to buy/review in the coming months. In the meantime I’ll just have to make do looking through my pictures and reminisce a bit.
Galaxy S6
I felt a little bit sorry for the S6, side by side with the Galaxy S6 Edge I would make a grab for the S6 every time. It basically shares exactly the same specs but it has a more “normal” design. None the less it is a great looking device, with what one could call a “neccessary” increase in build quality compared to previous years. It just doesn’t feel as nice as the S6 Edge, I guess that’s as because the Edge is rather unique. No doubt the S6 will make a lot of people happy.
I was allowed access to a big old pile of S6 and S6 Edges, so I felt obliged to film them. Here is my quick hands on video with them.
http://youtu.be/1bdkLzGRYGQ
So overall I was really impressed with both the S6 and the S6 Edge, the build quality and design has been ramped up compared to the Note 4 and the Galaxy Alpha, the software has been trimmed and refined and lastly more than anything else the specs have been bumped up to +11. For now Samsung will lead the spec race.
As regards the camera, it was quite hard to test it out in the super bright press room. For me that is the only unanswered question, so it leads me to say again “this is one phone I really can’t wait to buy/review in the coming months” and that’s all I can say at the moment.