Mobile World Congress officially starts on Monday, but the biggest, most highly anticipated reveal of the show took place at a special Samsung event on Sunday. The Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge are now official. Here’s what you need to know about Samsung’s two new flagship smartphones.
Samsung announced great new tech at their press conference in Barcelona Spain today.
Check out the details in this video
Samsung Galaxy S6: Metal, Quad HD
Consumers have been asking and Samsung listened. When the handsome, metal-framed Galaxy Alpha appeared late last year, I had hope that the next Galaxy smartphone would also make the leap. Samsung’s flowing metal teaser videos made it seem likely.
The Galaxy S6 revealed in Barcelona doesn’t disappoint. This is a very attractive smartphone design that makes extensive use of premium materials—metal and glass— measuring just 6.8mm thick. Making it even more stunning to look at is the Quad HD Super AMOLED display, with ultra-thin side bezels. Samsung says it’s leveraging its TV experience with this display and that’s a good thing—Sony has done that for years with its Bravia displays and the results have been fantastic. The new Galaxy S6 display is 5.1-inches with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels.
As you would expect, this is the most powerful Galaxy yet. Under the hood is Samsung’s own 64-bit, Exynos octa-core processor (with 3GB of RAM on tap) and the smartphone runs Android Lollipop. Among other things, the combination of that big, bright display and the wicked fast CPU are expected to make the Galaxy S6 a mobile gaming powerhouse…
The camera is also significantly improved, including Auto HDR and 0.7-second Quick Launch. Selfie fans will appreciate the front camera’s massive 5MP sensor and wide-angle lens. The primary camera is a 16MP number with optical image stabilization.
Fast Charging gets four hours of run time in just 10 minutes or 50% of a full charge in just 30 minutes, while wireless charging is an option.
Samsung is also continuing to champion mobile security with its KNOX security technology, a fingerprint sensor, NFC and a new chip that supports mobile payments by generating a temporary “magnetic strip” similar to those used by credit cards. The company is also launching its answer to Apple Pay mobile payment in Samsung Pay—stay tuned for Canadian availability.
Onboard storage options are 32GB, 64GB and 128GB, but this time around there is no microSD card slot for expansion.
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge
The real star of the show is the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.
If you’ve seen the Galaxy Note Edge phablet, you know how striking the curved display that wraps over one edge is.
With the Galaxy S6 Edge, Samsung has incorporated a similar wraparound effect, but on both sides. The result is visually stunning and unlike any smartphone you’ve ever seen. At 7mm thick, it’s still a very svelte smartphone and like the Galaxy S6, the Galaxy S6 Edge is all metal and glass.
Besides taking the Galaxy S6 Edge design to a whole new level, those curved edges can display information independently using features like the bedside clock (key information like time, weather conditions date and battery life are displayed horizontally along the edge for easy access at a glance without having to power on the main display).
Beyond the curved display and a slightly higher capaciity battery (2600 mAh compared to 2550 mAH), the rest of the Edge features and specifications match those of the Galaxy S6.
Software
While it’s hard to get past the visual impact of the hardware, Samsung also made significant improvements on the software side, including:
- Smart Manager simplified, single-glance dashboard
- Multi Window multitasking
- Ultra Power Saving mode to go up to 25 hours on a 10% charge
- Android 5.0 (Lollipop) with TouchWiz
When Can I Get My Hands on These Things?
If you’ve been waiting to upgrade from an older Galaxy smartphone, or considering making the switch from another brand or mobile operating system, but haven’t been a fan of the polycarbonate faux leather look of the Galaxy S5—the wait is over. The Galaxy S6 is a premium design smartphone with a spectacular display and the Galaxy S6 Edge is easily a contender for the best-looking smartphone on the market.
You can pre-order now in Best Buy stores. Check back later for online pre-order information.
