“I may not be the best public speaker. That’s because my first language is engineering.” – JK Shin, CEO, Samsung
When Samsung said they are going to put us a show, they weren’t fooling around. At this year’s Mobile World Congress, they dropped the ball and how. The flagship Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are finally revealed and it looks that a major shakeup is what Samsung needs, all things considering, since their profits slumped by a 60% drop in Q3 2014, reason being reported “as a result of declines in the mobile business due to intensified smartphone competition.” With the S6 and the S6 Edge launch, Samsung aims to change every perception that consumers and critics alike. It was quite obvious, that Samsung wanted to hit at it’s closest competitor with all guns firing and they may have just delivered after a solid presentation on Sunday.
Metal and Glass
“This stuff will not bend” – Younghee Lee, Head of Mobile Marketing , Samsung
Samsung’s flagship has always been plastic, which in theory worked in a practical way for allowing users to get a spare battery in or use microSD card slot. This year however, the S6 uses a unibody design which will come at the cost of a lack of removable battery or microSD card slot. Aesthetic wise, the S6’s back features an opaque layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 4 and comes in colors including White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, Blue Topaz and Green Emerald and its visual texture is hailed for reflecting natural light. The downside to this is that it’s not water-resistant like the S5. The S6 edge particularly provides a solid grip and a different viewing experience with the world’s first curved display on both sides. It certainly has the chops of looking like a premium device so it’s a way of silencing claims that their flagship looks cheap because this certainly doesn’t.
Samsung promises that with premium device aesthetics, the software will be “complemented by a totally new and lighter interface that greatly enhances usability and functionality” and simplify applications and offers features and settings in a more intuitive way.
Super Charging means you charge your battery less for more.
With fully embedded WPC and PMA certified wireless charging technology, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge are now setting a new industry standard for universal wireless charging. The devices work with any wireless pad available in the market that supports WPC and PMA standards. They also sport incredibly fast wired charging, 1.5 times faster than the Galaxy S5, providing about 4 hours of usage after only 10 minutes of charging and more notably the company announced that the Samsung Galaxy S6 charges in half the time it takes to charge the iPhone 6, they’ve made quite the case for not including an external battery.
A mobile DSLR in your pocket ?
The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge are equipped with an incredibly fast front and rear camera. The F1.9 lenses and high resolution sensors on both front (5MP) and rear (16MP) cameras provide the most superior image quality in a smartphone, even in the dark. In addition, Auto Real-time High Dynamic Range (HDR), Smart Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) and IR Detect White Balance provide advanced light sensitivities and crisp camera solutions. Furthermore, a new “Quick Launch” feature give users fast, direct access to the camera from any screen in just 0.7 seconds* by simply double clicking the home key button. These advanced camera functions enable users to capture their most precious and personal moments in uncompromising quality, however and wherever they want meaning you can now take better selfies especially in low light. However, understandably since the camera is on passively and you can quickly launch it, this could become a battery hog.
Again they chose to demonstrate this by comparing this to Apple’s iPhone 6 plus with technical comparisons which included a shot-by-shot comparison of a night-time video of a couple shot on both the iPhone 6 and the Samsung Galaxy S6 showing that the Galaxy S6 outperformed Apple in several cases, in truth it would be interesting to see it up against Nokia Lumia’s powerhouse of a camera.
Core Technology and Software
The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge is thin (6.8 mm/7.0mm edge) and lightweight (138g /132g edge). Samsung decided to slot in the world’s first 14nm mobile processor with 64-bit platform, new LPDDR4 memory system and UFS 2.0 flash memory provides higher performance and enhanced memory speed with lower power consumption. Moreover, the world’s first 1440P/VP9 hardware based codec enables users to enjoy high resolution streaming video while also using less power. In addition, the 5.1-inch 2560 x 1440 Quad HD Super AMOLED screen offers users the highest pixel density of 577ppi. Enhanced outdoor visibility with a brighter display (600cd/mm) which should let users see the screen in most scenarios with relative ease.
Easy and Protected Mobile Payment
Samsung Pay, a new, easy-to-use mobile payment service that will be compatible with more locations than any competing offering in a single application, will launch on Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge in the United States during the second half of this year. Protected by Samsung KNOX, fingerprint scanning, and advanced tokenization, Samsung Pay works with both Near Field Communication (NFC) and Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology to make it device, merchant and card issuer agnostic.
Enhanced Security
The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge are built on the upgraded Samsung KNOX, end-to-end secure mobile platform, offering defense-grade features for real-time protection from potential malicious attacks. Both of these new devices are also ready for immediate enterprise adoption, with market leading MDMs and KNOX enhancements enabled at launch to simplify and improve mobile device management. Additionally, the Find My Mobile feature secures lost devices and protects personal information through a number of services, including the all new remotely controlled “Reactivation lock.” With an enhanced touch-type fingerprint scanner, it also provides quick authentication and saves encrypted data in secure device storage.
Specs
“I believe Samsung has an important role to play in advancing technology in our daily lives. We push ourselves hard, we take our steps forward. If we get there first, others will follow. That’s how we transform society for the better. By listening to our customers, and learning from both our success and missteps, we continuously push forward new technologies and ideas. With a reimagined design, robust partner network and novel services, the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge offer users the ultimate experience in smartphone options.” JK Shin, CEO, Samsung
Initial Thoughts
“I’ve never been this impressed by a flagship device from Samsung”
Samsung have already have most of us buzzing to see what the S6 and S6 edge really is. I’ve never been this impressed by a flagship device in a long time and it appears likely that the mobile company could change its fortunes upward. Initial reports show that this may be the case since Samsung closed with 66 points up since the announcement.
However there are concerns with the current direction, Samsung is taking, with no options for microSD expansion, no removable battery or water resistance it may find a few detrators. The serious questions stems whether its mobile SSD will work as advertised with TouchWiz. The battery packs about 2550 mAh for the S6 and 2660 for the S6 Edge which again we’ll know for sure how it handles all the processing. Samsung’s conference was definitely notable, considering the amount of shots fired towards Apple, a sign that Samsung isn’t going to back down. The design too isn’t helping since the bottom sound grill matches the iPhone 6 on first glance and Samsung Pay notably proves this. It’s a wonder how gutsy Samsung can get, living to fight another court battle with Apple. Stay tuned for our review as the device comes out here in the Middle East!
Availability
The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge will be available globally starting from April 10, 2015 with 32/64/128GB storage options available in White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, Blue Topaz (Galaxy S6 only) and Green Emerald (Galaxy S6 edge only).
Here’s a quick hands-on we had at MWC 2015 with both the S6 Edge and S6
