Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Review

Design and build The Galaxy S6 looks pretty similar to the regular Galaxy S6, as you’d expect. However, it has a curved screen which wraps both sides of the phone and we’ll talk a lot more about those in a bit. For a large smartphone, the Galaxy S6 Edge is very light, just 132g and it’s not exactly thick at 7mm (a tiny bit thicker than the regular model but strangely lighter). Note that the measurement doesn’t includes the camera, which sticks out a bit. We’ve been criticising Samsung for putting out premium phones with a plastic build for a long time and this is the fi rst time the fi rm has really eradicated that horrible stuff .

The S6 uses a nice metal frame around the edge which does look remarkably similar to that of the iPhone 6. Similarities aside, the front and back use Gorilla Glass 4 which fi nally makes the S6 feel like the premium phone it should be. Both the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge feel great in the hand and can compete with the likes of HTC and Apple on design and build. This is a massive win for Samsung and will really help it this year in the fi erce smartphone market. Although we’re awestruck by the design, there are a couple of downsides as a result. The fi rst is that the battery is no longer removable which fans may be disappointed with. This is a necessary change to get the design like it is, though while the second downgrade isn’t. Apart from the Galaxy Alpha, Samsung has always off ered expandable storage but the S6 Edge lacks a microSD card slot which is a real shame and moves Samsung towards the Apple style of less freedom.

Another big design change from the Galaxy S5 is that Samsung has dropped the dust- and waterproof credentials which unavoidably makes it more like the iPhone 6. While the Galaxy S6 Edge looks great in either black or white, there are other colours available. There’s gold and a new green colour which is exclusive to the Edge (the regular S6 will come in gold and blue). Colour options are great but they use a chromed/mirrored fi nish which won’t be to everyone’s taste.

Not only does it look a bit naff , fi ngerprints and smudges show up like never before. Hardware The Galaxy S6 Edge is identical to the regular model apart from the screen. They are both 5.1in and Quad- HD, but the Edge has the dual edge feature which is the main thing to talk about. For starters the screen looks amazing with the usual SuperAMOLED technology and the curved sides give it a bezel-free look. The upgrade to Quad- HD (1440x2560) means an incredibly crisp image. A pixel density of 577ppi is the highest we’ve ever seen on a smartphone, outpacing the LG G3.

The Galaxy Note Edge has an edge screen down the right-hand side, and while the S6 Edge is similar it’s also very diff erent. For a start it’s down both sides so you can choose, based on whether you’re left or right handed, which side you use for the features. It’s worth noting that the edge screen isn’t as big as that on the Note Edge, so there isn’t a bar showing icons and information all the time. Instead you use it occasionally for a handful of things. Like the Note Edge, you get notifi cations and a clock. The main feature touted is People Edge, so if you swipe in from the side you get quick access to contacts.

These can also be grouped with a colour assigned to each group so that when the phone is face down, you can see which group is calling via the edge. However, it only lights up the side which you’ve selected which seems a bit silly and who places their phone face down anyway. With a great deal more functionality on the Note Edge, the S6 Edge seems a bit of a let down. We hope Samsung can add more in the future. We’re waiting for offi cial pricing so can’t say yet whether it’s worth the extra compared to the S6. As expected, Samsung hasn’t gone for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, instead opting for its own Exynos 7420 which is also octa-core (quad-core 1.5GHz Cortex-A53 and quad-core 2.1GHz Cortex-A57). There’s 3GB of RAM and a Mali-T760 GPU.

Performance seemed exemplary during our hands-on time but we’ll test this further when we get a review unit. There is no microSD card slot for adding more storage, which we’re disappointed about and will no doubt anger fans. While the regular Galaxy S6 comes in 32-, 64- and 128GB capacities, the Edge only comes in 64- or 128GB. Wireless and additional hardware remain strong with dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1 with atpX, NFC and an IR blaster. There’s also Cat 6 4G LTE support with Samsung’s Download Booster which combines 4G cellular and Wi-Fi connections. Samsung still provides a heart rate monitor, which is located on the back next to the LED camera fl ash and still doesn’t take a reading fi rst time.

The fi ngerprint scanner is still embedded inside the home button and gladly Samsung has changed it so you only need to touch it rather than swipe. We’ve only has a quick play with it but it seems a lot better than the last iteration. Battery size has dropped compared to the Galaxy S5 from 2800mAh to 2600mAh (even lower at 2550mAh on the regular S6). However, Samsung has added wireless charging with WPC and PMA standards. The fi rm also touts fast charging with 4 hours usage from just 10 minutes worth. We’ll test out battery life fully in our fi nal review. The main camera remains at 16Mp but there are improvements elsewhere which new auto real-time high dynamic range (HDR), Smart Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) and IR detect white balance.

You can also now launch the camera in as little as 0.7 seconds, according to Samsung by double tapping the home button. We’re not sure if it quite hit this mark but it certainly does it speedily. At the front is an upgrade to a 5Mp snapper for selfi es and the results of our hands-on photos were very impressive but we’ll test it more when we get a review unit. Software Moving on from hardware and the Galaxy S6 Edge is running on Android 5.0 Lollipop with Samsung’s own TouchWiz user interface. The software isn’t massively changed from the Galaxy S5 despite rumours of a move to a much more vanilla look. That said, the software is slick and easy to use with Samsung using its own notifi cation bar rather than Lollipop’s but going for Google’s card-style recent apps menu.

Flipboard still sits to the left of the main homescreen for your newsfeed and we found a Themes part of the settings menu which will let you change the look of the interface. Samsung was touted to install less apps outof- the box and while there seems to be less, the phone now comes with Microsoft apps preinstalled including OneDrive, Skype and OneNote. A new feature which will launch in the US later this year is Samsung Pay, an NFC payment system to rival Apple Pay.