One of the most attractive and powerful models of the new season
Along with the updated model of the flagship smartphone Galaxy S6, the Korean company Samsung introduced last spring its more unusual modification called the Galaxy S6 Edge. This model is unusual precisely for its screen: developing the theme that was once started in Samsung Galaxy Note Edge, there is also a side bend of the display and, accordingly, the front glass itself. Only, unlike its predecessor, here the curvature is present on both sides, the glass in this case is symmetrical. At the same time, the back side, also covered with a glass panel, remains absolutely flat, which brings a little dissonance, but at the same time some freshness to the design.
In addition to the eye-catching design, the new members of the flagship Galaxy S6 line-up boast in many ways the most advanced hardware platform of Samsung's own production, demonstrating the highest level of performance not yet achieved by competing solutions. All in all, the new Galaxy S6 series smartphones are a great combination of beauty and power. We have already analyzed the main and more familiar "flat" version in detail in the corresponding review, now it's time to carefully examine its "curved" modification. It should be noted that the two Galaxy S6 models are similar in most parameters and characteristics, so much of this review will seem familiar to our readers who have not missed the Samsung Galaxy S6 review.
Video review
To get started, we offer you to watch our video review of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge smartphone:
Now let's look at the characteristics of new items.
Key Features of Samsung Galaxy S6 (Model SM-G925F)
| Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge | HTC One M9 | Meizu MX4 | LG G4 | Nexus 6 | |
| Screen | 5.1″ Super AMOLED | 5″ S-LCD 3 | 5.36" IPS | 5.5" IPS | 5.96" AMOLED |
| Permission | 2560×1440, 577 ppi | 1920×1080, 441ppi | 1920×1152, 418 ppi | 2560×1440, 538 ppi | 2560×1440, 493 ppi |
| SoC | Exynos 7420 (4x Cortex-A57 @2.1GHz + 4x Cortex-A53 @1.5GHz) | Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 (4x Cortex-A57 @2.0GHz + 4x Cortex-A53 @1.5GHz) | Mediatek MT6595 Octa-core (4x Cortex-A17 @2.2GHz & 4x Cortex-A7 @1.7GHz) | Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 (2x Cortex-A57 @1.8GHz + 4x Cortex-A53 @1.5GHz) | Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 (4x Krait 450 @2.7GHz) |
| GPU | Mali-T760 | Adreno 430 | PowerVR G6200 | Adreno 418 | Adreno 420 |
| RAM | 3 GB | 3 GB | 2 GB | 3 GB | 3 GB |
| Flash memory | 32/64/128 GB | 32 GB | 16/32/64 GB | 32 GB | 32/64 GB |
| Memory card support | — | microSD | — | microSD | — |
| Operating system | Google Android 5.0 | Google Android 5.0 | Google Android 4.4 | Google Android 5.1 | Google Android 5.0 |
| Battery | non-removable, 2600 mAh | non-removable, 2840 mAh | non-removable, 3100 mAh | removable, 3000 mAh | non-removable, 3220 mAh |
| cameras | main (16 MP; video 4K), front (5 MP) | main (20.7 MP; video 4K), front (2 MP) | main (20.7 MP; 4K video), front (2 MP) | main (16 MP; video 4K), front (8 MP) | main (13 MP; video 4K), front (2 MP) |
| Dimensions and weight | 142×70×7 mm, 132 g | 145×70×9.6mm, 157g | 144×75×8.9mm, 147g | 149×76×9.8mm, 155g | 159×83×10.1mm, 184g |
| average price | T-12259971 | T-12259334 | T-11036319 | N/A | T-11153512 |
| Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge (32 GB) deals | L-12259971-10 | ||||
- SoC Exynos 7420 (64-bit), two clusters of four processor cores: ARM Cortex-A57 at 2.1 GHz and ARM Cortex-A53 at 1.5 GHz
- GPU Mali-T760
- Operating system Android 5.0 Lollipop
- Touch Dual Edge Super AMOLED display, 5.1″, 2560×1440
- Random access memory (RAM) 3 GB LPDDR4
- Internal memory 32, 64 or 128 GB
- No microSD card slot
- Communication GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
- Communication 3G WCDMA 850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz
- Data transfer rate max 4G LTE Cat6 up to 300Mbps
- Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz) HT80 MIMO, Wi-Fi hotspot
- Bluetooth 4.1, NFC
- IR port, USB OTG
- GPS/A-GPS, Glonass, BDS
- Position, proximity, lighting sensors, barometer, fingerprint sensor, Hall and heart rate sensors
- Camera 16 MP (F1.9), optical stabilization, autofocus, LED flash
- Camera 5 MP (F1.9), front
- Battery 2600 mAh, non-removable
- Support wireless charging
- Dimensions 142×70×7 mm
- Weight 132 g
Appearance and usability
You can praise or scold the new design of the updated line of top Korean smartphones, someone liked it (and there are really many such people), someone is not happy with such drastic changes (and they can also be understood), but the fact remains: the company's designers have made a giant qualitative leap and managed to raise the image component of their products to a completely different level. By clothes, as they say, they meet, and this very “clothes” of the new smartphones of the Korean company is now, if not chic, then certainly expensive and catchy for sure. From glossy plastics and metal-look plastics, the developers have finally moved on to really respectable premium materials, such as tempered glass and real metal, and I must say they succeeded.
If we ignore the obsessive thought that the design option, which implies two glass halves of the case, connected by a metal rim, is not only not new, but even very beaten and hackneyed (before Samsung, it seems that most manufacturers from Sony to Huawei), then such changes in the appearance of the popular line of smartphones can only be welcomed. Smartphones Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge definitely began to look more solid, expensive, impressive, and even somewhere noble. In any case, now these devices look quite worthy in any, even the most expensive environment.
As for ergonomics, in this case it fades into the background and modestly falls silent - now they did not give her the floor. Against the backdrop of admiration for the beauty and workmanship, users try to somehow not think about the fact that glass is a rather fragile material that easily cracks when dropped on a hard surface, and that thin metal edges, coupled with smooth glass panels in the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is so slippery that the smartphone is even scary to take out of your pocket on the street. Perhaps it is the S6 Edge with its curved glass and thin sidewalls that can rightly be called the most slippery smartphone of our time.
Afterwards, it is also worth noting that everyone who first picked up the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge (in the off state) wanted to turn it over in their hand, turning the device with the flat back wall up, and take the curved front panel with sloping sides in the palm of your hand, because that would be more convenient.
Otherwise, there are no complaints about the external structure of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge case: the smartphone is not so large in size compared to many modern tablet phones, it easily fits in an average-sized hand, the weight and thickness of the case are comfortable. The assembly does not raise any complaints, everything is qualitatively adjusted, although perfectionists have already noted the fact that all the elements on the case, such as buttons, microphone holes, speaker grilles and card slots, the developers managed to place crookedly relative to the central axis. The fact that most of the surface, not counting the thin metal side frame, turned out to be extremely branded is not delightful either - the glass on both sides is instantly covered with fingerprints, which annoys many. On the other hand, hiding such beauty in a case is somehow blasphemous, you have to put up with it, at least at first.
As for the mentioned hardware controls, their location on the case is as follows: the power and lock button logically took its rightful place in the upper half of the right side face, the volume keys are symmetrically placed on the opposite face. It should be noted that for the first time in Samsung, they discarded the last constraints and broke the same volume rocker into two separate buttons - now Korean smartphones are indistinguishable from the Apple iPhone on this point.
The grille of the main speaker is made in the form of an array of round holes and is logically moved to the bottom end. This part of the case is loaded with elements to the eyeballs: in addition to the speaker grille, there are also Micro-USB connectors and an audio output for a headphone minijack (3.5 mm). These elements, as mentioned above, unlike the iPhone, for some reason turned out to be displaced relative to the central longitudinal axis, which looks somehow sloppy and unfinished.
On the opposite, upper end, in addition to a small IrDA window and an auxiliary microphone hole, there is a Nano-SIM SIM card slot. The slide for the card, which is somehow undignified made of plastic, is habitually removed by pressing a secret button with a key or a paper clip. The slot for a second SIM card, as well as for a memory card, is not provided in the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge smartphone.
The front of the smartphone is completely covered with Gorilla Glass 4 protective glass. To the left of the speaker grille, you can see the LED notification indicator, its large dot shines in different colors, informing about the charging status and incoming events. The operation of the indicator can be controlled through the corresponding settings section.
In the lower part, under the screen, there is an oval mechanical key and two touch buttons on the sides of it. The touch buttons have a bright white backlight. A fingerprint scanner is integrated into the central key, which has undergone some changes for the better. Now you do not need to swipe your finger over it - a simple touch is enough, it is more convenient than the option implemented in previous models of the series.
The device supports wireless charging compatible with WPC 1.1 (output power 4.6 W) and PMA 1.0 (4.2 W) standards. The smartphone is not protected from dust and moisture, there is no fastening for a strap on the case either.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, like its “flat” counterpart, the regular S6, comes in several bright body colors, and, unlike the regular S6, only the curved version has a green color option in the range, which has received the brand name “Noble Emerald” . Perhaps the element of novelty and surprise plays a role here, but it was this iridescent greenish tint that attracted the most attention from the public. Many of those who liked the regular version of the Galaxy S6 more even regret that the green version is not available to them. In addition to green, the Galaxy S6 Edge smartphone is available in black (navy blue), white and gold color options.
Screen
The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is equipped with a Super AMOLED touch screen protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4, specially shaped with curved edges (Dual Edge). It should be noted that despite the physical curvature of the screen, there are, however, no separate beveled side matrices, as was implemented in the case of the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge. That is, the display here is a single unit, although with the help of software, the curved edges of the screen can really carry additional load, acting as separate side mini-displays.
The physical dimensions of the display are 63 × 113 mm, the diagonal is 5.1 inches. The screen resolution in dots is 2560×1440, so the dot density is very high at 577 ppi.
The frame around the screen is quite thin: the distance from the edge of the case to the edge of the screen from the sides is about 3 mm. It should be noted that it is this frame that accounts for most of the curved glass surface - the screen itself bends quite a bit, only a couple of millimeters along its edges. The concern of some users about accidental clicks on the curved edges of the display that are right under the fingers has not been confirmed. You can feel some inconvenience and achieve accidental clicks only during special experiments, and in ordinary life there were practically no unforeseen clicks.
The brightness of the display has manual and automatic adjustment, the latter is based on the operation of the light sensor. There is also a proximity sensor that blocks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear. Multi-touch technology allows you to handle 10 simultaneous touches.
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A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the "Monitors" and "Projectors and TV" sections Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the test sample.
The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, resistant to scratches. (However, in addition to the bend to the edges, we also note some smoothed unevenness of the outer surface.) Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the off screens (on the left is the Nexus 7, on the right is the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, then they can be distinguished by size):
The screen of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is slightly darker (the brightness in the photos is 93 versus 96 for the Nexus 7, the glare curved edges of the tested screen are excluded) and does not have a pronounced tint. Note that the reflection from bright objects on the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge has a pale bluish halo more pronounced in the transverse direction. The ghosting of reflected objects in the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is very weak, which indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen. Due to the smaller number of borders (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, screens without an air gap look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be changed. The outer surface of the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge has a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (effective, but seems to be a little worse than the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much more easily, and appear at a slower rate than in the case of ordinary glass .
When displaying a white field in full screen and with manual brightness control, its maximum value was 340 cd/m², the minimum was 1.4 cd/m². You also need to take into account the fact that in this case the smaller the white area on the screen, the lighter it is, that is, the actual maximum brightness of the white areas will almost always be higher than the specified value. As a result, readability during the day in the sun should be at a fairly good level (we didn’t have a chance to check the possibilities). The reduced brightness level allows you to use the device without any problems even in complete darkness. Automatic brightness control works according to the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker slot). You can make adjustments to how this function works by moving the adjustment slider. Next, for three conditions, we present the screen brightness values for three values of this setting - for 0%, 50% and 100%. In complete darkness in automatic mode, the brightness decreases to 1.4, 6.5 and 15 cd / m², respectively (the first and second are too dark, the third is normal), in an office lit by artificial light (about 400 lux), the brightness is set to 50 , 130 and 250 cd/m² (dark - just right - slightly bright, corresponding to the specified correction), in a bright environment (corresponding to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) - rises to 340 cd/m² regardless of slider position. This value is equal to the maximum for manual adjustment. If you increase the brightness of ambient light (near the light sensor) somewhere up to hundreds of thousands of lux (corresponding to direct sunlight), then the screen brightness rises to 550 cd / m². Such brightness should definitely be enough to ensure that the image on the screen is well distinguished in any natural conditions. In general, the result of the automatic brightness adjustment function is as expected. At any level of brightness there is a significant modulation with a frequency of 237.5 Hz. The figure below shows brightness (vertical axis) versus time (horizontal axis) for several brightness settings:
It can be seen that at maximum and close to it, the modulation amplitude is not very large, and as a result, there is no visible flicker. However, as the brightness decreases, modulation with a large relative amplitude appears. Therefore, the presence of such modulation can already be seen in the test for the presence of a stroboscopic effect or simply with a rapid eye movement. Depending on individual sensitivity, such flickering can cause increased fatigue.
This screen uses a Super AMOLED matrix - an active matrix on organic light emitting diodes. A full-color image is created using subpixels of three colors - red (R), green (G) and blue (B), but there are twice as many green subpixels, which can be referred to as RGBG. This is confirmed by a fragment of a microphoto:
For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.
On the fragment above, you can count 4 green subpixels, 2 red (4 halves) and 2 blue (1 whole and 4 quarters), while repeating these fragments, you can lay out the entire screen without gaps and overlap. For such matrices, Samsung introduced the name PenTile RGBG. The manufacturer considers the screen resolution based on green subpixels, on the other two it will be two times lower. The location and shape of the sub-pixels in this variant is close to the case of the Samsung Galaxy S4 screen and some other newer Samsung devices (and not only) with AMOLED screens. This version of PenTile RGBG is better than the old one with red squares, blue rectangles and stripes of green subpixels. However, some uneven contrasting borders and other artifacts are still present. However, due to the very high resolution, they have minimal effect on image quality.
The screen is characterized by excellent viewing angles, although the white color, when deviated even at small angles, alternately acquires a light blue-green and pinkish tint, but the black color is just black at any angle. So black that the contrast setting is not applicable in this case. When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the white field is excellent. For comparison, here are photos in which the screens of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge (profile AMOLED movie) and the second comparison participant, the same images were displayed, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to approximately 200 cd / m², and the color balance on the camera was forcibly switched to 6500 K. White field:
Note the excellent uniformity of brightness and hue of the white field (with the exception of darkening and changing hue towards the curled edges). And a test picture (profile Basic):
The color reproduction is good, the colors are moderately saturated, the color balance of the screens is slightly different. Note that in this case, the picture occupies the height (with this screen orientation) of the entire area available for displaying the image and goes to the curved edges of the screen, which leads to darkening and color distortion. Also, in the light, these areas almost always glare, which makes it even more difficult to view images displayed in full screen. And even the picture of films with an aspect ratio of 16:9 comes to bends, which greatly interferes with watching movies. The photo above was obtained after choosing a profile Basic in the screen settings, there are four of them:
Profile adaptive display differs in some kind of automatic adjustment to the type of displayed image and environmental conditions, which is obtained by selecting the two remaining profiles shown below.
AMOLED movie:
Saturation and color contrast are markedly increased.
Photo AMOLED:
The saturation is still high, but the color contrast is closer to normal. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen (profile AMOLED movie). White field:
The brightness at an angle on both screens has noticeably decreased (in order to avoid strong darkening, the shutter speed is increased compared to previous photos), but in the case of Samsung, the drop in brightness is much less pronounced. As a result, with formally the same brightness, the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge visually looks much brighter (compared to LCD screens), since you often have to look at the screen of a mobile device at least at a slight angle. And a test picture:
It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens and the brightness of the Samsung at an angle is noticeably higher. Switching the state of the elements of the matrix is \u200b\u200bpractically instantaneous, but there may be a step at the front of the inclusion of about 17 ms wide (which corresponds to a screen refresh rate of 59 Hz). For example, the dependence of brightness on time looks like this when moving from black to white and vice versa:
In some conditions, the presence of such a step can lead to plumes trailing behind moving objects. However, dynamic scenes in films on OLED screens are distinguished by high definition and even some “twitchy” movements.
For profiles Photo AMOLED and Basic the gamma curve constructed from 32 points with equal intervals over the numerical value of the grayscale value did not reveal any blockage either in the highlights or in the shadows, and the exponent of the approximating power function is 2.39, which is higher than the standard value of 2.2 (therefore, the image is slightly darkened) , while the real gamma curve slightly deviates from the power dependence (in the captions in parentheses are the exponent of the approximating power function and the coefficient of determination):
For profile AMOLED movie the gamma curve has a pronounced S-shaped character, which increases the apparent contrast of the image, but in the shadows the distinguishability of shades is preserved.
Recall that in the case of OLED screens, the brightness of image fragments dynamically changes in accordance with the nature of the displayed image - it decreases for images that are generally bright. As a result, the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve), most likely, does not correspond slightly to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential grayscale output almost on the entire screen.
Color gamut in profile case AMOLED movie very wide, it almost covers Adobe RGB coverage:
When choosing a profile Photo AMOLED coverage is pressed to the borders of Adobe RGB:
When choosing a profile Basic coverage is compressed almost to the borders of sRGB:
Without correction, the spectra of the components are very well separated:
In the case of a profile Basic with the maximum correction, the color components are already noticeably mixed with each other:
Note that on screens with a wide color gamut without proper color correction, normal images optimized for sRGB devices look unnaturally saturated. Hence the recommendation - in most cases, watching movies, photos and everything natural is better when choosing a profile Basic, and only if the photo was taken on an Adobe RGB setting does it make sense to switch the profile to Photo AMOLED. Profile AMOLED movie, despite the name, is the least suitable for watching movies and anything else.
The balance of shades on the gray scale is good. Profile color temperature AMOLED movie above 6500 K, in the remaining two it is close to 6500 K, while in a significant part of the gray scale this parameter does not change very much, which improves the visual perception of the color balance. The deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) remains below 10 units over most of the gray scale, which is considered a good indicator for a consumer device, but the fluctuations in this parameter are already large:
(The darkest areas of the gray scale in most cases can be ignored, since there the color balance does not matter much, and the measurement error of color characteristics at low brightness is large.)
Let's summarize. The screen has a high maximum brightness and has good anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors without any problems even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. It is permissible (and in bright light it is necessary) to use the mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works quite adequately. The advantages of the screen include a good oleophobic coating, as well as a color gamut close to sRGB and an acceptable color balance (when appropriate profiles are selected). At the same time, let's recall the general advantages of OLED screens: true black color (if nothing is reflected on the screen), excellent white field uniformity, noticeably smaller than that of LCDs, and a drop in image brightness when viewed from an angle. The disadvantages include modulation of the screen brightness. Users who are particularly sensitive to flicker may experience fatigue as a result. However, overall the screen quality is very high. Separately, we note that from the point of view of image quality, curved edges are only harmful, since this design find introduces very noticeable color tone distortion and reduces brightness at the edges of the picture, and also leads to inevitable glare in ambient light conditions at least along one long side screen.
Sound
The sound of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is more than decent, the device sounds like a true flagship of the highest level should sound. Despite the lack of stereo speakers, the sound, however, the device emits very loud, saturated with the entire spectrum of frequencies, including low ones. At the maximum volume level, there is almost no distortion, no wheezing either. The smartphone sounds really nice, there are no complaints at all. The speaker grille is brought out to the bottom end, so that the sound does not overlap when the smartphone is on a hard surface. In conversational dynamics, the voice of a familiar interlocutor, timbre and intonation remain recognizable, the conversation is quite comfortable.
With headphones, the smartphone also sounds at the level of modern flagships; a branded player with the maximum number of settings is used as standard to play melodies. All sound effects are combined by a technology called SoundAlive - however, some of them are available only with headphones connected. The same applies to the sound optimization function. For manual settings, an equalizer with preset values is available, as well as separate controls for bass and treble.
Traditionally, there was no FM radio in the standard smartphone package, but there is a voice recorder. In addition to the standard mode, the recorder also has specific "interviews" and "voice notes" - all this is already familiar to us from previous models of the series. The smartphone cannot record telephone conversations from the line.
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Camera
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is equipped with two modules of digital cameras with a resolution of 16 and 5 megapixels. The front camera is equipped with a 5-megapixel module with an f / 1.9 aperture lens, it shoots video with a maximum resolution of QHD (2560 × 1440). You can take a photo with the front camera without touching the screen, with an outstretched hand gesture, or by voice command. You can also take a self-portrait by tapping your finger on the heart rate sensor on the back of your smartphone.
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The main 16-megapixel camera has an f / 1.9 lens, tracking autofocus, optical stabilization (OIS) and a single LED flash. It is believed that sensors from different manufacturers can be used in different instances of the same model - both Sony IMX240 and Samsung ISOCELL. A quick launch of the camera is possible by double-clicking on the central hardware key under the screen.
The camera settings are combined in a long scroll, in addition to the usual automatic mode and manual settings mode, here you can also select panoramic, selective focus mode, as well as fast and slow video modes. Added not quite the usual mode of the so-called virtual shooting to create a multi-angle view of objects.
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Video camera Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge can shoot in resolutions up to 4K (UHD). As always, the option of shooting at 60 fps is very curious, while the resolution is 1920 × 1080 (Full HD). The camera copes with any options perfectly, there are no complaints about the quality of the resulting video image. The quality of video recording can be judged by test videos.
- Clip #1 (31 MB, 1920×1080 @60 fps)
- Clip #2 (54 MB, 3840×2160 @30 fps)
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Good sharpness throughout the frame. |
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With shadows, the camera works quite well. |
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Sharpness practically does not decrease with the removal of the plan, but a certain soapiness of the image as a whole becomes more noticeable. |
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Good detail work, although the soapiness mentioned above spoils them a little. |
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The colors of the sky and buildings are quite even. |
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The shadows worked out well. To distant plans, the blurring of small details becomes clearly visible. |
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Because of the soapiness, the license plates of remote machines are hardly distinguishable. |
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As with many modern smartphones, the HDR mode can be set to automatic without forcing it on. In this case, the duration of the snapshot does not increase, but the images often look more interesting.
| auto mode | Auto HDR |
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We also tested the camera on a laboratory bench according to our methodology.
The pictures look very dignified, although there were some small disappointments: many images are slightly soapy, because of which detail suffers, and noise is not always processed accurately.
It would seem that the program in the camera should be the same as in the S6, but the firmware version specified in EXIF looks newer, while the camera shoots noticeably worse. However, “noticeably” is still too strong a word, since the difference is clearly visible only in a laboratory test. On the field shots of the S6 Edge, there is a certain soapiness that hides the details, but on the S6 shots it was also observed, although it was much less pronounced. The feeling that the programmers wanted to improve processing does not leave, but it turned out “as always”, since the camera modules for these smartphones are clearly the same.
However, our S6 Edge sample looked better, at least due to the lack of blur on the right, noted in the S6 sample. But objective tests do not allow the S6 Edge to stand out either against the background of other smartphones or against the background of its less outrageous brother. Although the shots look very good, they do not stand up to comparison with the LG G4, which was tested in exactly the same conditions at the same time. It is possible that in serial samples such soapiness will be eliminated, but this is doubtful, and sales are already in full swing.
As a result, the camera is quite suitable for documentary and artistic shooting, besides, the detailing noticeably suffers only in the background.
Telephone part and communications
The smartphone works as standard in modern 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks, and also has support for fourth-generation LTE Cat6 networks with the maximum possible speed of up to 300 Mbps per reception. In practice, with a SIM card from the domestic operator MTS, the smartphone confidently recognizes and works with 4G networks.
The rest of the network capabilities of the smartphone are also on top: there is support for NFC technology, Bluetooth 4.1 supports A2DP, LE, apt-X, ANT + profiles. Wi-Fi module 802.11n/ac, HT80 MIMO (2×2, up to 620 Mbps) supports both frequency bands (2.4 and 5 GHz) and Wi-Fi Direct technology, you can organize a wireless access point through channels WiFi or Bluetooth. It is possible to connect external devices to the USB port in OTG mode.
The navigation module works with both GPS and the domestic Glonass system, and also sees satellites of the Chinese Beidou (BDS). There are no complaints about the navigation module, a cold start occurs within a minute or faster. Also, the device is equipped with a magnetic field sensor, on the basis of which the compass of navigation programs functions.
OS and software
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge runs on the fifth version of Android OS with the proprietary TouchWiz shell installed on top of it. The new version of TouchWiz in both S6 models is installed exactly the same, you can read more about all its features in the Samsung Galaxy S6 review.
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The only difference in the interface in the modification for S6 Edge is a special section of the menu dedicated to the settings for working with a curved screen. The device can turn on the backlight of the side of the display, thus duplicating the alert sensor, when receiving calls or notifications. Also, this side of the screen is used to display individual favorite contacts placed in multi-colored circles on it, and, accordingly, work with them. When calls and messages arrive, the sidewall will be highlighted in exactly the color that was assigned to a particular contact - all this is configured in the menu of a feature called People Edge. In addition, the side screen can display a scrolling information feed with news received from subscribed channels, as well as a clock in night mode. The idea looks quite fresh, and perhaps even allows you to save battery power, but time will tell whether this feature will really be in demand by the owners of the devices.
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With the updates comes another new feature that was introduced by Samsung after the announcement of the Galaxy S6 models: a data transfer service called Smart Switch. The Smart Switch app for PC and Mac is designed to sync data using iTunes, as well as for devices based on Blackberry and Windows operating systems. Smart Switch allows you to transfer contacts, text messages, photos, music, videos, calendar data, call logs, notes, alarms, Wi-Fi settings, and even wallpapers to Samsung Galaxy smartphones. iOS users have the ability to transfer iTunes purchased music to a Samsung Galaxy device. To transfer personal data from Android smartphones (version 4.0 or higher), you need to install the app on both devices and use the Wi-Fi Direct function for wireless transfer. iOS users will also be able to use a USB OTG cable (iOS version 5.0 and above).
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Performance
The hardware platform of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is built on the basis of a single-chip system (SoC) of Samsung's own production Exynos 7420, produced according to the standards of a 14-nanometer process technology. The configuration of this single-chip system includes two clusters of four cores: ARM Cortex-A57 with a frequency of 2.1 GHz and ARM Cortex-A53 with a frequency of 1.5 GHz. The Mali T760 video accelerator is used as a GPU. The smartphone has 3 GB of RAM (LPDDR4 is used). Internal memory is implemented on drives that meet the UFS 2.0 specification. Flash memory capacity is 32, 64 or 128 GB. In the case of a model with a minimum volume, the user initially has access to about 25 GB of the nominally designated 32 GB. There is no expandability with memory cards, but it is supported to connect devices, including flash drives, to the USB port in OTG mode.
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Below are thermal images of the back surface (top left in the image), obtained after 10 minutes of running a battery test in the GFXBenchmark program:
The mirroring of the back surface leads to the fact that it reflects the surrounding objects (in particular, the screen of the tablet that was used to shoot, and what is reflected on this screen). However, it can be seen that the heating is strongly localized closer to the edge near the power button, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was 44 degrees.
According to the test results, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge hardware platform showed such high results that it surpassed all previous record holders without exception, including Meizu MX4 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4, which had been ranked first in the AnTuTu test for quite a long time.
As a result, Samsung gave the world another champion in terms of power - a reference smartphone that will be equaled throughout the season, trying to catch up and match. The device is extremely productive, its capabilities will be enough for a long time to perform any tasks, including the most demanding games.
Testing in the latest versions of AnTuTu and GeekBench 3 comprehensive benchmarks:
For convenience, we have summarized all the results obtained by us when testing a smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks in tables. Several other devices from different segments are usually added to the table, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry numbers). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison, it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.
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Testing the graphics subsystem in 3DMark gaming tests, GFXBenchmark and Bonsai Benchmark:
When testing in 3DMark for the highest performing smartphones, it is now possible to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (due to which the speed can rise above 60 fps).
| Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge (Exynos 7420) |
HTC One M9 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 810) |
Meizu MX4 (Mediatek MT6595) |
Nexus 6 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 805) |
LG G4 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 808) |
|
| 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme (more is better) |
Maxed out! | Maxed out! | Maxed out! | Maxed out! | Maxed out! |
| 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited (more is better) |
21773 | 20538 | 16691 | 23234 | 18372 |
| GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Onscreen) | 38 fps | 37 fps | 21.7 fps | 23 fps | 25 fps |
| GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Offscreen) | 50 fps | 36fps | 23.2 fps | 29 fps | 35 fps |
| Bonsai Benchmark | 4155 (59 fps) | 4092 (58fps) | 4033 (58 fps) | 3633 (52 fps) | 3340 (48 fps) |
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Browser cross-platform tests:
As for benchmarks for evaluating the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowances for the fact that the results in them depend significantly on the browser in which they are launched, so that the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this possibility is available when testing not always. In the case of Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.
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Video playback
To test the "omnivorous" when playing video (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Web. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern versions using processor cores alone. Also, do not expect everything from a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a single table.
According to the test results, the test subject was not equipped with all the necessary decoders that are needed for the full playback of most of the most common multimedia files on the network. To successfully play them, you will have to resort to the help of a third-party player - for example, MX Player. True, it also needs to change the settings and manually install additional custom codecs, because now this player does not officially support the AC3 audio format.
| Format | container, video, sound | MX Video Player | Regular video player |
| DVDRip | AVI, XviD 720×400 2200 Kbps, MP3+AC3 | plays normally | plays normally |
| Web-DL SD | AVI, XviD 720×400 1400 Kbps, MP3+AC3 | plays normally | plays normally |
| Web-DL HD | MKV, H.264 1280x720 3000Kbps, AC3 | Video plays fine, no sound¹ | |
| BDRip 720p | MKV, H.264 1280x720 4000Kbps, AC3 | Video plays fine, no sound¹ | Video plays fine, no sound¹ |
| BDRip 1080p | MKV, H.264 1920x1080 8000Kbps, AC3 | Video plays fine, no sound¹ | Video plays fine, no sound¹ |
¹ Audio in MX Video Player only played after installing an alternate custom audio codec; The regular player does not have such a setting.
Video output features tested Alexey Kudryavtsev.
We did not find the MHL interface, as well as Mobility DisplayPort in this smartphone, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Methodology for testing video signal playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices) 720/24p
Note: If both columns Uniformity and Passes green ratings are set, this means that, most likely, when watching movies, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and dropping frames will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with the playback of the respective files.
According to the criteria for displaying frames, the quality of video files playback on the screen of the device itself is good, since frames (or groups of frames) can be displayed with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without frame drops. Except for files with 60 fps - one frame is always dropped due to the strange screen refresh rate of 59 Hz. It seems that someone at Samsung is sabotaging and in recent versions of AMOLED screens has deliberately lowered the refresh rate from the typical 60 Hz. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen, going to the bends. The clarity of the picture is high, but not ideal, since there is no escape from interpolation to the screen resolution. However, for the sake of experiment, you can switch to the one-to-one mode by pixels, there will be no interpolation, but PenTile features will appear - the vertical world through the pixel will be in the grid, and the horizontal one will be a little greenish. This is on test worlds, the described artifacts are absent on real frames. The brightness range displayed on the screen actually corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - in the shadows, only a couple of shades merge with black, but in the highlights, all gradations of shades are displayed.
Battery Life
The capacity of the built-in non-removable battery installed in the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is far from a record - only 2600 mAh, although this is even a little more than that of the "flat" version of the S6. However, despite the most powerful platform and a fairly large five-inch screen, the smartphone more than adequately proved itself in terms of battery life. At the moment, Samsung flagships not only show the best autonomy in the top segment among their kind, but also demonstrate an enviable constancy in this matter, which cannot be said about many other manufacturers. For example, the same LG device G2 was simply great in terms of autonomy, but with the release of each subsequent model, this indicator, unfortunately, is getting worse and worse. The same can be said about the NTS flagships.
It should be noted that in the device settings there are traditionally two proprietary power saving modes: normal and extreme. The maximum power saving mode significantly reduces the level of energy consumption by turning off secondary functions and preserving vital functions at the moment, as well as, for a visual effect, turning the image on the screen into black and white.
| Battery capacity | Reading mode | Video mode | 3D game mode | |
| Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge | 2600 mAh | 19:00 | 12h 20m | 3h 50m |
| Samsung Galaxy S6 | 2550 mAh | 20:00 | 12:00 p.m. | 4 a.m. |
| HTC One M9 | 2840 mAh | 11:00 a.m. | 8h 20m | 3h 50m |
| Yotaphone 2 | 2500 mAh | 12:00 p.m. | 9:30 a.m. | 3h 15m |
| Lenovo Vibe X2 | 2300 mAh | 13:00 | 6 a.m. | 3h 15m |
| Meizu MX4 | 3100 mAh | 12:00 p.m. | 8h 40m | 3h 45m |
| Meizu MX4 Pro | 3350 mAh | 16:00 | 8h 40m | 3h 30m |
| Sony Xperia Z3 | 3100 mAh | 20:00 | 10:00 a.m. | 4h 50m |
| LG G4 | 3000 mAh | 17:00 | 9 a.m. | 3 a.m. |
| Nexus 6 | 3220 mAh | 18:00 | 10:30 | 3h 40m |
Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at the minimum comfortable brightness level (the brightness was set to 100 cd / m²) lasted about 19 hours until the battery was completely discharged. With continuous viewing of video in high quality (720p) with the same level of brightness through a home Wi-Fi network, the device lasted more than 12 hours. In the 3D-games mode, the device worked for almost 4 hours. The smartphone supports fast charging technology, so that the full charge time is only 1.5 hours, and according to the assurances of the developers, just 10 minutes "at the outlet" allows you to charge your smartphone for a subsequent four-hour use.
Outcome
Samsung did a great job on their next flagship: if the beauty of design is a matter of taste, and here opinions may differ, then in terms of hardware, Galaxy S6 smartphones can safely be given the highest score. Performance at the maximum level, but at the same time at a height and autonomy, which cannot but rejoice. Having one of the best cameras in its category is also a very revealing moment, although this aspect is not important for everyone. The screen quality and sound are at a very decent level, the network capabilities of the smartphone satisfy any need. In addition, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge also has most of the flagship features, from a fingerprint scanner to an infrared port and support for wireless charging. True, the new smartphone costs more than all its competitors, but this issue is already beyond the scope of our review and remains entirely on the seller's conscience.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is not an ordinary smartphone, and in terms of its characteristics, it simply cannot fail to receive our award for original design. But I would especially like to highlight its unusual screen and express the hope that in the future we will see even more daring experiments in this area and discover new applications of “curved” screens.
A few days before the start of sales in Russia, read the full review of the hot news from the Koreans. Meet the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge! Further, many photos, rave reviews and a few comments.
About smartphone
At the annual exhibition Mobile World Congress 2015 Samsung has two flagship devices of the Galaxy series at once: Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge. Both devices received positive reviews from the press, and mere mortals were looking forward to the announcement of prices and the date of the start of sales. And now, after some time, it became known that in Russia the first phones will fall into the hands of happy buyers starting from April 16th.
The price tag of more than sixty thousand rubles seems quite high, because the cool reviews of the owners of the previous flagship, the Galaxy S5, are still fresh in my memory. And in this article we will dot all the Yo, so that, having read to the end, you yourself will decide whether to go to the camp of "androids" or remain an adherent of your native "apple". I am sure of one thing for sure: there will be no one indifferent, because the devices turned out to be really new and technologically advanced.
Was in my hands Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, Colour Black Sapphfire, with 32 gigabytes of memory on board (of which 25.3 GB is available to the user). It seems to me more interesting than just the Galaxy S6 because of the rounded screen on the sides. Whether this is good or bad, we will try to determine together with you in this review.
Equipment
In a box made of white, thick cardboard with a laconic design are:
- the apparatus itself;
- documentation in a separate box;
- micro USB cable;
- adapter for 220v;
- headset with remote control;
- one set of interchangeable earpieces;
- a paperclip to remove the sim card tray.
There was nothing supernatural in the box: everything you need and neatly packaged. A brief user manual contains a minimum of information. It is assumed that the happy owner of the gadget will be able to read the full instructions on the Samsung website.
first look
When you first touch the device, you understand: the company has done a great job of rethinking the concept of “flagship smartphone”. No plastic, only metal and glass. The aluminum frame gracefully wraps around the edges of the device, and Gorilla Corning Glass 4 protects the electronics on both sides.
There should not be any scratches or scuffs, however, such a coating collects fingerprints be healthy (forensic scientist's dream!). So you definitely need to buy a cover, or periodically wipe the screen and the back of the device with a cloth.
In general, despite the jokes about the two designers, the iPhone 6 and Galaxy S6 Edge have no similarities. It seems that someone in the depths of the management department of the Korean company slammed his fist on the table and demanded that all past claims and customer dissatisfaction be urgently corrected. The team was excellent. The device does not creak, does not play anything, the movement of all buttons is clear, it is pleasant to press.
The battery is now non-removable, and there are no memory cards (everything we love!). Particularly malicious can compare the location and shape of the elements of the apparatus on the lower edge, but these are trifles.
The color of the device is a separate topic for discussion: indoors, the smartphone seems to be blue-black, but once you hold it up to the light, you realize that in fact the color is deep dark blue. I think that the palantiri in the trilogy about the hobbits had such a color scheme, because such a transition of colors is fascinating: several times I caught myself simply twisting the phone in my hands, watching how its color changes.
The SIM card tray is located on the top edge of the device, next to the infrared port (sic!). S6 Edge "eats" the SIM card of the smallest format, the principle of extracting the tray is simple and familiar: with a paper clip that comes with the kit, you need to press into a special hole, until it stops. Only one SIM card can be inserted, no multi-sim solutions. It's a premium smartphone, remember?
Screen
The screen is awesome. No, really, the screen is just gorgeous! Super AMOLED technology, 5.1 ″ diagonal, with a resolution of 2560 × 1440 pixels, a pixel density of 577 ppi is no joke. For comparison, the Galaxy S5 had 432 ppi, the iPhone 6 Plus - 401 ppi, the LG G3 - 543 ppi (although the LG G3 has a larger diagonal - 5.5 inches). Black color is really black, all other colors are bright and juicy. In the sun, of course, readability is not very good, but a solid four. When looking at the screen at an angle, there are no changes in brightness and contrast. The curved sides of the screen also do not distort the perception of the picture.
Operating system
I wanted to make a description of the OS as a separate item, because it is clear that the company has done a lot of work to change and optimize the software component. Used as operating system Android 5.0.2(Lollipop), on top of which is traditionally installed its own proprietary graphical interface - touchwiz. However, little is left of the usual clumsy TouchWiz with a bunch of unnecessary software. All unnecessary animation has disappeared, and the controls and overall appearance are as close as possible to the canons of the new Android.
Performance
Several days of active use and AnTuTu tests confirmed that the performance of the smartphone is on top.
It is understandable - eight cores after all. By the way, the Galaxy S6 Edge is the first smartphone in which the company used the Exynos 7420 processor, built on a new 14-nanometer technology. It consumes significantly less energy. The principle of operation does not differ from Octacore chips, where the processor is divided into two clusters of four processor cores: ARM Cortex-A57 with a frequency of 2.1 GHz and energy-saving ARM Cortex-A53 with a frequency of 1.5 GHz. The overall performance was impartially shown by a test from Geekbench:
"Heavy" games just fly, there are no lags. The Mali-T760 processor is responsible for the graphics, there are no complaints about it.
The 3D Mark test confirmed: in terms of graphics, the Galaxy S6 Edge is more than in order. According to the test results, the smartphone has no analogues on the market at the moment.
Connection
I got the phone with a SIM card from the MTS company, so I did not experience any problems with communication. The device works in GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz networks, and the data transfer rate via 4G LTE reaches 150 Mbps. I tested Internet connections in different parts of Moscow and everywhere the smartphone quickly loaded website pages, I could use streaming radio. Of course, I did not see the ideal 150 Mbps, but the Speedtest service consistently showed the results of receiving and transmitting data at the level of 20-27 Mbps. I have never experienced any problems with the Internet, which I was very pleased with.
In addition, the device has modules Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5 GHz), Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, Support DLNA, OTG, MTP, Miracast and GPS/Glonass. On the top end there is an IR port for controlling various home appliances (such as a TV) through a standard application.
Also Samsung finally used the technology wireless charging in their flagships of the most common standards - Qi and PowerMat. In addition, the company will release its own wireless chargers. Models are already presented in the colors "White Pearl" and "Blue Topaz". They look, judging by the photos on the Internet, stylish, and during recharging they are also highlighted around the perimeter.
Camera
In the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, engineers used a camera similar in characteristics to that in the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (the same 16 megapixels, with optical stabilizer), but the lens with f / 1.9 decides - in the dark the camera is better than in the notorious Note. There are many settings in the application itself, for every taste.
In general, the camera is one of the strengths of the Korean flagship: real-time HDR shooting (without the need to take several frames in succession) and a special mode for photographing in low light are implemented. The camera starts up and is ready for use within 0.7 seconds. There is no special button to launch the camera, but there is an option to use a double tap on the center key ("Home").
The iPhone 6 was used in comparison, the difference in the photo can be estimated below.
Samsung S6 Edge
Samsung S6 Edge
If you crop the photo, the advantage of the Galaxy S6 Edge camera becomes clear:
Samsung S6 Edge
Filming at night:
Samsung S6 Edge
The device can shoot video in both Full HD and ultra-clear 4K resolution.
HD:
4K
Among other functions of the camera, an interesting 3D photo mode was found. You need to bypass the object of interest with the camera turned on, and the resulting three-dimensional image will be saved in the photo gallery. Subsequently, such a photo can be viewed from different angles using a gyroscope. The best way to illustrate this function is this animation.
The front camera with a resolution of 5 megapixels is simply created for selfies and video calls. The quality is also top notch.
Outcome: the camera in the new device from the Koreans is amazing in its clarity and the number of additional settings. You can manually set the iso parameters, white balance, focus, various color filters. Objects photographed in motion are not blurred, continuous shooting produces up to 35 frames in 10 seconds. The resulting images can be immediately shared on social networks, sent by mail or saved to cloud storage.
The camera wants to give five plus. Well done.
Chips
One of the main features of the new smartphone is, of course, the screen rounded on the sides. In a notebook and browser, it is very convenient to scroll through lists and pages by sliding your finger along the side of the screen. In addition, an additional menu has appeared on the desktop, which can be called up by swiping from the right edge. In this menu, the user can assign up to five important contacts from the notebook. Each contact is assigned a different color (purple, green, blue, yellow and orange to choose from).
If the phone is face down, and one of these five contacts tries to reach you, the face of the phone starts to glow in the color that was assigned to the contact. Handy in meetings or in silent mode, and looks very stylish.
Also, the side face can inform about missed calls and notifications regarding five selected contacts. There is an "Information flow" function, when notifications are displayed as a line on the side face when the screen is off, and a "Night hours" function, when the current time is also displayed on the side face if the screen is not working.
Specifications
Dry language of numbers and facts for those who love this:
Conclusion
Samsung listened to the complaints and wishes of its smartphone users. The company's engineers have created unique, original devices that will no longer be compared with "apple" products. I think that you can really fall in love with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, not because it is not the same as an iPhone, but because it is just good. And it's great, because competition spurs progress.
(no votes) 
Operational testing of one of the brightest smartphones of the new season
Every spring, in late February or early March, the geeks of the world look forward to the Mobile World Congress. After all, it is during it that almost without exception, manufacturers of mobile devices announce their new flagship smartphones. The greatest excitement is traditionally caused by the novelties of the leaders of the segment, and Samsung, of course, does not stand aside. We have already been accustomed to the fact that it is during MWC that the Korean company “rolls out” the next flagship smartphone of the Galaxy S line. Well, good traditions must be observed, and this year was no exception: on February 28, during the Zero Day Conference, we were shown already as many as two new devices - Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge.
It must be said that after 2014 and the Samsung Galaxy S5, the wait has been a bit hectic. It’s not that last year’s leader was a disappointment, but it didn’t cause a true “wow”. There was too much criticism: both a dubious, rather inconspicuous-looking plastic case, the surface of which was compared by many with an adhesive plaster, and practically the same characteristics without significant improvements, and a somewhat "stagnant" proprietary TouchWiz interface. In general, the S5 then became “just another cool smartphone”, and against its background, for example, the elegant four-letter glass devices of the Japanese company looked much fresher, and the Chinese brothers actively pressed their “ultra-fast, ultra-thin, on the Media Library and everything for 200 bucks."
The heat in the cauldron of general distrust was also thrown by the situation with the ruble rapidly going into a tailspin and the global crisis despondency; the situation turned out to be tense, here it was already necessary to either give up and go into the segment of “inexpensive, cheerful and good company”, or go ahead. Samsung chose the latter. It seems that someone stirred up the swamp, pulled out from the depths of bureaucratic oblivion thick Talmuds with claims to the previous devices of the line, angrily hit the table with his fist, and exclaimed: well, everything was fixed immediately! And everything started spinning - they found new components, interesting technical solutions, instead of one of the two designers fired last year (it's not clear: the one who held it, or the one who circled it), they hired a few with good taste, and ... In general, Samsung has finally , after much torment, made a premium smartphone, and not a product for geeks, for whom characteristics are most important.
Instead of one flagship smartphone, it turned out as many as two. One is a more traditional version of the Samsung Galaxy S6. The second is innovative, the Edge modification. The difference between them is minimal - in fact, the devices differ only in the screen (and they also have a slightly different battery capacity by 50 mAh). The “classic” model has a flat screen, while the Edge is rounded to the side edges. At the same time, unlike the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge smartphone, where the “bevel” was a separate matrix, the Galaxy S line has a single screen, and it is also absolutely the same for both flagships (in the section about the screen, I will tell you about the difference in detail). Therefore, everything said about the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is also true for the Samsung Galaxy S6. There are some differences in ergonomics, and, probably, the difference could be detected during instrumental testing of the screen, but the smartphone was in our hands for only one night, almost in the "field" conditions, so so far we have not had the opportunity to conduct such tests.
Video review
To get started, we offer you to watch our video review of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge smartphone:
Now let's take a look at the characteristics of the hot news.
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Key Features
- SoC Exynos 7420 (64-bit), two clusters of four processor cores: ARM Cortex-A57 at 2.1 GHz and ARM Cortex-A53 at 1.5 GHz
- GPU Mali-T760
- Operating system Android 5.0 Lollipop
- Touchscreen Super AMOLED display, 5.1″, 2560×1440
- Random access memory (RAM) 3 GB LPDDR4
- Internal memory 32, 64 or 128 GB
- No microSD card slot
- Communication GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
- Communication 3G WCDMA 850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz
- Data transfer rate max 4G LTE up to 150 Mbps
- Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5 GHz), Wi-Fi hotspot
- Bluetooth 4.1, NFC
- Support DLNA, OTG, MTP, Miracast
- GPS/Glonass
- IR port
- 16 MP camera with optical image stabilization (OIS)
- Front camera 5 MP
- Barometer, fingerprint sensor, hall and heart rate sensors
- Non-removable 2600 mAh lithium polymer battery
- Dimensions 142×70×7 mm
- Weight 132 g
Appearance and usability
A couple of years ago, smartphones of this size were called "shovels". Today it is a strong middle peasant - 5.1 inches, now you will not surprise anyone with such dimensions. At the same time, due to the narrowed edges, the device looks a little smaller than it actually is, and gives the impression of a kind of “neatness”.
The rounding also causes another generally positive effect - I personally have no particular desire to compare a smartphone with an iPhone. Nevertheless, the constant references to "apple" products at the presentation do their job: I want to remake the classic joke in a new way - they say, "also gay, but now curved." But if you take the issue seriously - no, it doesn’t look like (it’s in the Edge modification), and let the purists compare the location and shape of the grilles. The device confidently lies in my hand, "grip", in my opinion, is much better than that of the Samsung Galaxy S6. However, here you need to make allowances for the fact that I usually go with Huawei Ascend Mate 7 and I'm used to large smartphones.
In terms of materials, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge should appeal to many. Instead of pretty annoying plastic, both sides use panels of Gorilla Glass 4 - a new modification of plasticized glass, which is claimed to be much stronger than the previous one and, in addition, less fragile. The back cover looks very good - the designers specifically sought a “deep” glossy shade. There are 4 color variations for the smartphone: black, which we have in our hands (although it is actually a very, very dark blue), white, bronze and green. The latter, in my opinion, looks especially impressive.
I must say that fingerprints are perfectly visible on both surfaces of the smartphone. Almost all color options are prone to "splattering", and only white does not look like a forensic tool after a few minutes of use. However, company representatives claim that this (test) modification is devoid of an oleophobic coating, and the situation will improve greatly in serial deliveries. This statement seems to be true, but in any case, if “fingers” annoy you, it is better to prefer the white version of the smartphone.
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is made on an aluminum chassis, the edge of which is visible on the edges of the device. Again, the company's employees claim that the alloy used is "50% stronger than the alloys in other top-end smartphones." And the smartphone will not bend in any case. We did not check this statement, because we did not want to witness the death from a broken heart in one of the exhibition staff in case of emergency.
On the front, curved edge of the smartphone, you can see the speaker grille, the front camera, the screen itself, as well as the mechanical home button. It is worth paying attention to the fact that when you double-click on it, the camera starts - this seemingly incredibly simple solution made it possible to do without an “extra” key and at the same time practically without loss in convenience. The button is pressed distinctly, with a clearly distinguishable click, but tight enough to avoid accidental pressing in the pocket. The remaining two buttons ("Back" and calling the list of applications) are touch-sensitive.
On the back side there is a powerful LED flash, as well as a decently protruding camera. The latter will inevitably cling to the edges of the pocket and anything else, however, in my opinion, the question “whether you want a non-protruding or a good camera” should be left to everyone to decide on their own. I suspect Samsung engineers did their best to fit the optical system between the Megara of the screen and the Athens of the back cover, trying to have as little in common as possible with the well-known hero of Greek myths.
The back cover is non-removable, so it's worth leaving hopes of changing the battery.
The right and left sides of the smartphone are made concisely - on one of them there is a power / lock button, on the second - two volume keys. Since the sidewalls of the smartphone are very thin, the controls turned out to be small and thin, but there are no complaints about their convenience.
On the top edge of the smartphone there is a slot for a SIM card (opened with a paperclip), you can see the hole of one of the two used microphones, as well as an infrared port. By the way, the return of the latter is becoming a trend, and that's good - it's better to control the TV from your usual smartphone than to look for this always lost "lazy" throughout the apartment.
On the bottom edge is a Micro-USB connector, as well as a 3.5 mm jack for a headset. Here you can see the hole of the second microphone. In general, both the upper and lower faces look as similar as possible to the iPhone 6, almost copied. However, as I have already said, in general, the device has its own “face”, it is almost impossible to confuse it with the products of the company from Cupertino.
There are no plugs on the case, the device is not protected from water and dust ingress.
Screen
We didn't get a chance to test the screen in our extremely limited time, so I'll just give my personal impressions here. Well, let's start with the fact that the screen is surprisingly sharp, and this is just not surprising. The pixel density here is 577 ppi, while the Galaxy S5 had 432 ppi, the iPhone 6 Plus had 401 ppi, the LG G3 had 543 ppi (the screen resolution of the LG G3 is the same, but the diagonal is larger - 5.5 inches ). The screen produces rich colors, very bright and contrasty, but what else could you expect from Super AMOLED? The inflated color saturation is especially noticeable when looking at photos taken with the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. At the same time, the minimum brightness is quite comfortable for reading in the dark. There is the possibility of adjusting the color temperature, as well as an energy-saving mode.
When looking at the screen at an angle, there are no changes in brightness and contrast as a class. Curved "corners" do not look alien and do not distort the perception of the picture. This is partly due to the fact that the screen itself falls only on half of the “rounding”, and the rest is a thin frame.
I haven't been able to find any apps where rounded corners get in the way. However, this effect may appear in some games that actively use the edges of the screen.
There were no differences in screen brightness and contrast compared to the Samsung Galaxy S6. However, as mentioned above, there should not be any difference between them: this is the same matrix, as company representatives told us, the difference is only in the very final stage of creation, as well as in the coating - for Edge, Gorilla Glass undergoes additional heat treatment under pressure.
Sound
The sound of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is decent. The smartphone emits a fairly loud sound, saturated with the entire spectrum of frequencies, including low frequencies. The sound is quite pleasant, it is not distorted at the maximum volume level, there are no wheezing, and there are no complaints about the conversational dynamics. With headphones, the smartphone also sounds at the level of modern flagships.
Camera
Although the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge (and the regular Galaxy S6) use a camera similar to the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (same 16 megapixels plus OIS), the f/1.9 lens does the trick. The camera shoots very well in the dark. Useful technologies such as real-time HDR shooting (without the need to take multiple shots in succession) and a special mode for shooting in low light have been implemented. Pleased with the fact that the camera starts up very quickly - in just 0.7 seconds. There is no dedicated button to launch the camera, but it is possible to use a double tap on the center key ("Home").
Below is an example of how the camera performs in low light: in almost complete darkness, in highly contrasting light, without processing.
Test photos can be viewed in the gallery on our photo hosting Fotkidepo:. There, for each, you can download the original, and in addition, additional information about the shooting parameters is displayed on the photo page: aperture, shutter speed, etc.
Several resolutions for shooting photos and videos are available - up to 16 megapixels and up to Ultra HD, respectively. Sample videos are shown below (do not forget to open the video in full screen when viewing!).
Full HD video at night:
4K video at night:
Full HD video during the day:
4K video during the day:
Slo-mo video:
OS and software
The operating system uses a version of the Google Android 5.0 (Lollipop) software platform, on top of which its own proprietary graphical user interface, TouchWiz, is traditionally installed. However, there is little left of the usual colorful-parrot TouchWiz in the updated interface - all redundant whistles with animation are cut as much as possible, the lines are simplified, and they correspond to the guidelines of the new Android as much as possible. Unfortunately, the test sample was blocked from taking screenshots - we had to "take" them in the field, in the old fashioned way, using a camera. However, they are worth taking a look at.
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Overall, the updated user interface resembles bare Android more than earlier versions of TouchWiz. Most of the things criticized disappeared or were hidden away. Several special control gestures have been added, "sharpened" for beveled edges. For example, if you swipe your finger from behind the right edge along the top of the screen, a list of the most frequently called contacts will appear (screenshot below on the left), and if you swipe your finger from behind the right edge in the middle of the screen, we will call up a window with missed calls (screenshot below on the right). In general, the new gestures do not look vital and very convenient - rather, it is a demonstration of additional features that appear due to the "convex" screen. In my opinion, it is enough that the screen is very beautiful.
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Microsoft software is preinstalled in delivery.
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Performance
As already mentioned, the screenshot functionality was blocked in the test sample. And since we were forbidden to modify the phone's software in any way, we had to get out the old fashioned way.
In the complex Antutu in 32-bit mode, the Exynos 7420 SoC used in the new Samsung flagship turns out to be head and shoulders above the nearest (according to the benchmark) competitors. Yes, and with other novelties of MWC 2015, judging by the available information, the Galaxy S6 Edge cracks down effortlessly:
Testing in MobileXPRT, as well as the latest versions of GeekBench 3, Mozilla Kraken and Google Octane
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Javascript tests allow us to make at least some performance comparison with the iPhone 6. In Google Octane, the Samsung smartphone lags behind the iPhone 6 (6256 points) quite a bit, but the difference with the iPhone 6 Plus (7056 points) is quite significant. In Mozilla Kraken, Apple products are already a quarter faster. In terms of the performance of one core, Samsung is inferior to the iPhone, but in terms of the performance of all cores, it outperforms its “apple” competitors twice. Which, to put it mildly, can be explained by the ratio of the number of cores in these smartphones. However, in any case, browser tests depend too much on the performance of the browser itself to draw far-reaching conclusions from them.
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A new frontier is conquered in 3DMark Unlimited - 22267 points. This is a record! Tablets with the new Tegra have higher results, but they also have a slightly lower screen resolution. And in the smartphone market, the Galaxy S6 Edge, of course, has no competitors yet.
In the most trustworthy GFXBench, the Samsung smartphone beats the iPhone in the most demanding scene, and in the T-Rex HD too. But here, again, you need to take into account the difference in resolution, taking it into account, the gap is quite small. Be that as it may, we have before us, undoubtedly, the most powerful smartphone with Android OS to date.
Battery Life
The battery installed in the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is smaller than even the Samsung Galaxy S5 - its capacity is 2600 mAh. However, the battery capacity of the Samsung Galaxy S6 is even smaller, albeit slightly - 2550 mAh. At the same time, do not forget about the cost-effectiveness of Super AMOLED screens - it is usually on top. However, we have not yet been able to adequately evaluate the energy-saving functions of the new Exynos SoC. The fact is that the device turned out to be with us for a time completely insufficient for any lengthy tests, so we had to limit ourselves to gaming, loading the processor and graphics to the fullest. Note that the firmware on which we “driven” the smartphone may not be the final one at all, so the figures obtained should be taken as preliminary.
| Battery capacity | Reading mode | 3D game mode | |
| Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge | 2600 mAh | — | 3h 45m |
| LG G3 | 3000 mAh | 9 a.m. | 2h 50m |
| Sony Xperia Z2 | 3200 mAh | 15h 20m | 3h 30m |
| Oppo Find 7a | 2800 mAh | 16h 40m | 3 a.m. |
| HTC One M8 | 2600 mAh | 22h 10m | 3h 20m |
| Samsung Galaxy S5 | 2800 mAh | 5:20 p.m. | 4h 30m |
| TCL Idol X+ | 2500 mAh | 12:30 pm | 3 a.m. |
| Lenovo Vibe Z | 3050 mAh | 11:45 a.m. | 3h 30m |
| Acer Liquid S2 | 3300 mAh | 16h 40m | 6 a.m. |
| LG G Flex | 3500 mAh | 23h 15m | 6h 40m |
| LG G2 | 3000 mAh | 20:00 | 4h 45m |
| Sony Xperia Z1 | 3000 mAh | 11:45 a.m. | 4h 30m |
So, in the 3D gaming mode, the smartphone worked for a little less than four hours, that is, its autonomy level is average in this indicator. Under heavy loads, by the way, there is a fairly strong heating of the rear wall of the case.
Outcome
It seems that Samsung has finally managed to release the undisputed flagship. Smartphone Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge combines a lot - here and design, and speed, and a serious "lightness" of the built-in software, and, finally, noble body materials instead of boring plastic. Battery life is at an acceptable level. Among the “chips” characteristic of modern top-end devices, the smartphone has almost everything, including an infrared port, a barometer, a fingerprint sensor, etc. Someone may blame the lack of dust and moisture protection, however, as practice shows, the circle of fans this "chip" is so narrow that it is lost even against the background of a disappearing audience of buyers of premium gadgets.
Alas, you have to pay for everything, and in the case of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, you will have to pay with money. The company is still afraid to name the retail price of the smartphone (because it will have to be called in rubles, and it is not clear what the dollar exchange rate will be in a couple of months - 100 or 10 rubles), but various experts talk about the amount from 58 to 63 thousand rubles for the basic modification with 32 GB memory. The cost of the “non-curved” Galaxy S6 is 4-6 thousand rubles lower. However, this price is shocking only until you recalculate it in dollars or until you compare it with the cost of "apple" products.
In other words, the device turned out to be interesting, but it is in the uncompromising and premium segment. If we discard iPhones from consideration, then it has practically no competitors - probably, it is worth mentioning, first of all, the recently announced HTC M9 (but we have not tested it yet), and from the old ones - Meizu MX4 Pro (but it is already lagging behind in speed). The rest of the top smartphones have either an unsuitable diagonal, or insufficient performance, or other case materials.
I remember that we really liked the original GALAXY S6 Edge. So much so that we even gave him one of our virtual awards - "For innovation and design." The device really turned out to be a real flagship: powerful, stuffed with all sorts of technologies and, most importantly, very, very beautiful. In the world of Android smartphones, these, to be honest, are not as common as we would like. Probably, the top management of Samsung also liked the device, since the Koreans dared to release an updated version almost immediately after the original. Before S6 Edge+, there were no "intermediate" (without changing the serial number) devices in the Samsung GALAXY S family - various modifications of the same gadget do not count.
⇡ Specifications
| Samsung GALAXY S6 | Samsung GALAXY S6 Edge | Samsung GALAXY S6 Edge+ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Touch screen | 5.1 inches, 2560 × 1440 dots, AMOLED 575.9 dpi; | 5.1 inches, side-curved, 2560 × 1440 pixels, AMOLED; 575.9 dpi; Capacitive, up to ten simultaneous touches |
5.7 inches, curved on the sides, 2560 × 1440 dots, AMOLED; 515.3 dpi; Capacitive, up to ten simultaneous touches |
| Protective glass | Corning Gorilla Glass 4 on both sides | Corning Gorilla Glass 4 on both sides | |
| Air gap | Not | Not | Not |
| Oleophobic coating | There is | There is | There is |
| Polarizing filter | There is | There is | There is |
| factory film | Not | Not | Not |
| CPU | Samsung Exynos 7420: process technology 14 nm |
Samsung Exynos 7420: four cores ARM Cortex-A57 (ARMv8, 64 bit), frequency 2.1 GHz; four cores ARM Cortex-A53 (ARMv8, 64 bit), frequency 1.5 GHz; process technology 14 nm |
Samsung Exynos 7420: four cores ARM Cortex-A57 (ARMv8, 64 bit), frequency 2.1 GHz; four cores ARM Cortex-A53 (ARMv8, 64 bit), frequency 1.5 GHz; process technology 14 nm |
| Graphics controller | ARM Mali-T760 MP8 | ARM Mali-T760 MP8 | ARM Mali-T760 MP8 |
| RAM | 3 GB LPDDR4 | 3 GB LPDDR4 | 4 GB LPDDR4 |
| Flash memory | 32/64/128 GB |
32/64/128 GB (64 GB version on the test, ~ 53.7 GB available to the user); There is no slot for memory cards |
32/64 GB (on the test, a 32 GB version, ~ 25.3 GB is available to the user); There is no slot for memory cards |
| Connectors | 1 × Micro-USB 2.0 1 x Nano-SIM |
1 × Micro-USB 2.0 1 × 3.5mm headset jack 1 x Nano-SIM |
1 × Micro-USB 2.0 1 × 3.5mm headset jack 1 x Nano-SIM |
| cellular | 2G/3G/4G |
2G/3G/4G One Nano SIM card |
2G/3G/4G One Nano SIM card |
| Cellular 2G | GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz | GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz | |
| Cellular 3G | HSPA (42.2/5.76 Mbps) 850/900/1900/2100 MHz | HSPA (42.2/5.76 Mbps) 850/900/1900/2100 MHz | |
| Cellular 4G | LTE Cat. 6 (300/50 Mbps) |
LTE FDD band 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 20 (2100/1900/1800/1700/850/2600/900/700/800) LTE Cat. 6 (300/50 Mbps) |
LTE FDD band 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 26 (2100/1900/1800/1700/850/ 2600/900/700/800) LTE Cat. 9 (450/50 Mbps) |
| WiFi | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, 2.4 and 5 GHz | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, 2.4 and 5 GHz | |
| Bluetooth | 4.1+A2DP | 4.1+A2DP | 4.2+A2DP |
| NFC | There is | There is | There is |
| IR port | There is | There is | Not |
| Navigation | GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou | GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou | GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou |
| Sensors | Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Accelerometer/Gyroscope, Magnetometer (Digital Compass), Barometer, Fingerprint Sensor, Heart Rate Sensor | Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Accelerometer/Gyroscope, Magnetometer (Digital Compass), Barometer, Fingerprint Sensor, Heart Rate Sensor | |
| Main camera | 16 MP (5312 × 2988), |
16 MP (5312 × 2988), Sony IMX240 BSI matrix 1/2.6'' back-illuminated, element size 1.2 μm; Optical stabilization system; Autofocus, single LED flash |
16 MP (5312 × 2988), Sony IMX240 BSI matrix 1/2.6'' back-illuminated, element size 1.2 μm; Optical stabilization system; Autofocus, single LED flash |
| Front-camera | 5 MP (2592 × 1944), No autofocus, no flash | 5 MP (2592 × 1944), No autofocus, no flash | |
| Nutrition | Non-removable battery 9.69 Wh (2550 mAh, 3.8 V) | Non-removable battery 9.88 Wh (2600 mAh, 3.8 V) | Non-removable battery 11.4 Wh (3000 mAh, 3.8 V) |
| The size | 143×70.5mm Case Thickness: 6.8mm |
142×70mm Case Thickness: 7mm |
154×76mm Case Thickness: 6.9mm |
| Weight | 138 g | 132 g | 153 g |
| Hull protection | Not | Not | Not |
| Operating system | |
Google Android 5.0.2 (Lollipop) Samsung's own TouchWiz skin |
Google Android 5.1.1 (Lollipop) Samsung's own TouchWiz skin |
| Current price | 34,990 rubles (32 GB); 39,990 rubles (64 GB) |
42,990 rubles (32 GB); 48,990 rubles (64 GB); 52,990 rubles (128 GB) |
54,990 rubles (32 GB) |
Briefly about the main thing. There are four main differences between the plus and original versions: a significantly larger screen size (5.7 inches vs. 5.1 inches), more RAM (4 GB vs. 3 GB), a fatter battery (3000 mAh vs. 2600 mAh h) and - suddenly - the lack of an infrared port in the S6 Edge +. Where and why the infrared transmitter went is not clear, let's leave it to the manufacturer's conscience. The rest of the devices are similar: they have the same set of cameras, they run on the same system-on-a-chip - so this is really an update, and not a full-fledged new flagship.
⇡ Appearance and ergonomics
The simplest description of the exterior of the GALAXY S6 Edge+ looks like this: this is the original S6 Edge, which has grown a few millimeters in length and width. The proportions of the case remained the same, and it is not difficult to recognize the proprietary features of Samsung smartphones in the device, but the gadget itself has become noticeably larger. And this is definitely a double-edged sword: on the one hand, the large curved screen looks really cool, and on the other hand, using the device with one hand is not very convenient, you have to shift the gadget in your palms to reach all four corners of the display.
In case the user's smartphone is large, the current version of Samsung's proprietary shell for Android - TouchWiz - has several software tricks in store. If necessary, you can temporarily “compress” the image by pressing the center key three times. All context menus - for example, volume control and the notification panel - are also displayed in a small "window".
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Samsung GALAXY S6 Edge+ - screen size reduction |
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In addition, it is possible to reduce and shift closer to the edges of the virtual keyboard case. It was conceived to simplify typing, but pressing large keys is much more convenient than small ones, at least from a subjective point of view. However, by modern standards, the dimensions of the gadget are quite standard, and you can get used to them - there would be a desire.
The additional space inside the case made it possible not only to maintain a small thickness, but even to reduce it quite a bit - from 7 to 6.9 millimeters. Due to the rounded edges of the screen, the device looks even slimmer than it actually is? - this is one of the reasons for the appearance of the very wow effect that invariably occurs in those who take the S6 Edge + for the first time in their hands. The device looks very cool - this is one of the most beautiful smartphones from Samsung, and perhaps one of the most expressive Android devices in general.
The body of the smartphone is still made of aluminum, and the front and back panels are covered with tempered glass Corning Gorilla Glass 4. It is resistant to small scratches from keys and coins, but it can crack even when dropped from a small height. Of course, we were not satisfied with crash tests, but there are enough complaints about the fragility of glass on the Internet, so you will have to handle the device carefully. The glass here has an oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating, which does not prevent it from being quickly overgrown with fingerprints. The case is easily soiled and impractical, the primeval beauty of the device is quickly lost.
In terms of ergonomics, the gadget is no different from other devices of the company. In the upper part of the front panel there is a peephole of the frontal, 5-megapixel camera, a speaker slot, sensitive areas of sensors and an LED indicator of missed events. Under the display is a hardware key "Home", framed by a metal edging. It has a built-in biometric sensor that works very accurately - during testing there were no false positives, the device always recognized the owner's finger on the first try. Nearby are two touch buttons equipped with backlight - "List of open applications" and "Back".
The side edges of the device remained sharp, like the original version, but they do not dig into the palm - it is pleasant to hold the device in your hands. The gadget also does not slip out of the hands. Despite a significant increase in screen diagonal, Edge + almost did not gain weight: he gained only 21 grams (as if he had a soul): S6 Edge weighs 132 grams, S6 Edge + - 153 grams.
The layout of the buttons and connectors on the device, to be honest, is a little strange. The hardware power button of the device is placed on the right side, and the volume control buttons are on the left, while they are shifted closer to the top of the device so that the keys themselves lie under the thumb and middle fingers of the right hand, respectively. The "small" S6 Edge had the same - and it was really comfortable there. Here, you have to stretch to the keys: I would like all the keys to be moved closer to the center of the side faces. But that is not all.
A universal 3.5 mm jack is located on the bottom, which is also not always convenient - if, say, listening to music on headphones, you have to put the device in your pocket upside down. There is no unequivocal opinion on this matter, but the audio jack on the upper edge is more familiar and nicer to the author personally. Also at the bottom is a Micro-USB 2.0 interface. Edge +, by the way, like other devices of the S6 family, does not have MHL support, which is somewhat strange for the company's flagship smartphone. Also on the lower end is a tiny slot of the external speaker, looking at which you would never think that this same speaker in the device is quite loud. The slot for installing a Nano-SIM card is located on the top end.
The main, 16-megapixel camera of the smartphone protrudes somewhat from the body. This is unpleasant only from an aesthetic point of view - in practice there are no problems with this. Its lens is framed by a massive metal edging, so you don’t have to worry that the front lens will be scratched when the device is on the “back”. Next to the camera is an LED flash and a heart rate sensor. The body of the device, as it should be for a flagship, is non-separable. The device is available in four colors: gold, black, white and grey. The gadget is assembled perfectly - there is no lack of rigidity in the design at all. But the sticker from the back panel is still oh so difficult to peel off.
Devices of the GALAXY S series almost all the time of their existence "left out" solely due to advanced technical characteristics, coupled with a moderate - by the standards of flagships - price. And finally, the time has come for a change: it seems that this year some manufacturers themselves will want to "circle" the GALAXY S6 Edge. But this device costs more than the rest.
Samsung GALAXY S6 Edge, official photo
In terms of hardware, everything has also changed dramatically over time with the GALAXY S5, although the policy has remained the same: the new flagship is all the best, the most advanced. The S6 and S6 Edge smartphones boast a Quad HD display, the latest Exynos 7420 platform, the most advanced LPDDR4 RAM, LTE Cat. 6 and 16-megapixel camera. In general, "full stuffing", all with the latest technology. Are the new flagships really that good? Let's try to answer this question after a detailed test.
⇡ Specifications
| SamsungGALAXY S5 | SamsungGALAXY S6 | SamsungGALAXY S6 Edge | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Touch screen | 5.1 inches, 1920 × 1080 pixels, AMOLED, 432 ppi; |
5.1 inches, 2560 × 1440 dots, AMOLED 575.9 dpi; Capacitive, up to ten simultaneous touches |
5.1 inches, side-curved, 2560 × 1440 pixels, AMOLED; 575.9 dpi; Capacitive, up to ten simultaneous touches |
| Protective glass | Corning Gorilla Glass 3 | Corning Gorilla Glass 4 on both sides | |
| Air gap | Not | Not | Not |
| Oleophobic coating | There is | There is | There is |
| Polarizing filter | There is | There is | There is |
| factory film | Not | Not | Not |
| CPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 MSM8974AC v3: four cores Qualcomm Krait-400 (ARMv7, 32-bit), frequency 2.46 GHz; process technology 28 nm HPm |
Samsung Exynos 7420: process technology 14 nm |
Samsung Exynos 7420: four cores ARM Cortex-A57 (ARMv8, 64 bit), frequency 2.1 GHz; four cores ARM Cortex-A53 (ARMv8, 64 bit), frequency 1.5 GHz; process technology 14 nm |
| Graphics controller | Qualcomm Adreno 330 | Mali-T760 MP8 | Mali-T760 MP8 |
| RAM | 2 GB LPDDR3 | 3 GB LPDDR4 | 3 GB LPDDR4 |
| Flash memory | 16 GB (~12 GB available to the user) MicroSD memory card slot | 32/64/128 GB |
32/64/128 GB (64 GB version on the test, ~ 53.7 GB available to the user); There is no slot for memory cards |
| Connectors | 1 × Micro-USB 3.0 (MHL) 1 × 3.5mm headset jack 1 × Micro-SIM 1 x MicroSD |
1 × Micro-USB 2.0 (MHL) |
1 × Micro-USB 2.0 (MHL) 1 × 3.5mm headset jack 1 × Nano-SIM |
| cellular | 2G/3G/4G One SIM card Micro-SIM format |
2G/3G/4G |
2G/3G/4G One Nano SIM card |
| Cellular 2G | GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz | GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz | |
| Cellular 3G | HSDPA (42.2/5.76 Mbps) 850/900/1900/2100 MHz | HSPA (42.2/5.76 Mbps) 850/900/1900/2100 MHz | |
| Cellular 4G | LTE FDD band 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20 (2100/1900/1800/850/ 2600/900/800 MHz) LTE Cat. 3 (150/50 Mbps) |
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LTE FDD band 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 20 (2100/1900/1800/1700/850/ 2600/900/700/800) LTE Cat. 6 (300/50 Mbps) |
| WiFi | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, 2.4 and 5 GHz | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, 2.4 and 5 GHz | |
| Bluetooth | 4.0+A2DP | 4.1+A2DP | 4.1+A2DP |
| NFC | There is | There is | There is |
| IR port | There is | There is | There is |
| Navigation | GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou | GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou | GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou |
| Sensors | Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Accelerometer/Gyroscope, Magnetometer (Digital Compass), Barometer, Fingerprint Sensor, Heart Rate Sensor | Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Accelerometer/Gyroscope, Magnetometer (Digital Compass), Barometer, Fingerprint Sensor, Heart Rate Sensor | |
| Main camera | 16 MP (5312x2988), Samsung S5K2P2 1/2.6” back-illuminated CMOS sensor with ISOCELL technology, element size 1.12 μm; Autofocus, single LED flash |
16 MP (5312 × 2988), |
16 MP (5312 × 2988), Sony IMX240 BSI matrix 1/2.6'' back-illuminated, element size 1.2 μm; Optical stabilization system; Autofocus, single LED flash |
| Front-camera | 2 MP (1920x1080), No autofocus, no flash | 5 MP (2592 × 1944), No autofocus, no flash | |
| Nutrition | Removable battery 10.78 Wh (2800 mAh, 3.85 V) | Non-removable battery 9.69 Wh (2550 mAh, 3.8 V) | Non-removable battery 9.88 Wh (2600 mAh, 3.8 V) |
| The size | 142×73mm Case Thickness: 8.3mm |
143×70.5mm Case Thickness: 6.8mm |
142×70mm Case Thickness: 7mm |
| Weight | 145 g | 138 g | 132 g |
| Hull protection | IP67 | Not | Not |
| Operating system | Google Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) |
Samsung's own TouchWiz skin |
Google Android 5.0.2 (Lollipop) Samsung's own TouchWiz skin |
| Current price | 29 990 rubles | 49 990 rubles | 56 990 rubles |
The only major difference between the Samsung GALAXY S6 and S6 Edge is in the display and design: the first device has a fairly standard screen, while the second one has curved sides. The rest of the devices are very similar to each other, but are not completely identical. There is a slight difference in dimensions: the case thickness of the regular version is 6.8 millimeters, while that of the Edge is 7 millimeters. But the modification with a rounded display is slightly lighter - 132 versus 138 grams. Finally, different batteries are used: 9.69 Wh (2550 mAh, 3.8 V) for the regular version and 9.88 W h (2600 mAh, 3.8 V) for the Edge. The rest of the S6 and S6 Edge are identical in terms of technical stuffing.
⇡ Appearance and ergonomics
All Samsung devices are somehow similar to each other. They have similar body proportions, approximately the same corner radius, an oblong central key at the bottom of the front panel ... in general, a smartphone from Samsung has always been easy to recognize. The situation has not changed much: the appearance of the GALAXY S6 / S6 Edge has remained very characteristic - even if you see this couple for the first time, it will not be difficult for you to guess that you have Samsung in front of you.
Nevertheless, the GALAXY S6/S6 Edge are fundamentally different from their predecessors. So much so that, if we draw parallels, we can say: S6 and S6 Edge are not even “restyling”, this is a full-fledged new “body” for Samsung flagships. The company's designers and engineers have finally abandoned the use of plastic in favor of metal and glass. This is perhaps the key difference between the S6/S6 Edge and its predecessors. The front and back panels of the device are covered with protective glass Corning Gorilla Glass of a relatively new, fourth generation. For the first time, by the way, it was used in the Samsung GALAXY Note 4 phablet, the company's first mass-produced device with a curved screen. The glass quite reliably protects the gadget panels from scratches and other minor damage.
The GALAXY S6 Edge is available in four colors: Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, White Pearl and an exclusive Green Emerald. Unfortunately, it is not yet possible to order a device in the corporate green color in Russia. A black sapphire gadget came to us for testing. In our opinion, this is a very successful color. The smartphone appears black, however, when it is exposed to light, a dark blue reflection appears. In general, the phrase "dark blue metallic" characterizes this color much better and more accurately than "black sapphire". It should be borne in mind that the “regular” GALAXY S6 has different body colors.
The Samsung GALAXY S6 Edge is a pleasure to hold in your hands. The gadget is quite convenient to control with one hand: you don't have to shift it and hold it with the second - it's good that Samsung decided not to increase the screen size in comparison with the GALAXY S5. Yes, the display here is 5.1-inch, which is not so much by modern standards. The device does not slip in the hands, although the panels are quite smooth. During operation, the palm somehow touches the “sidewall” of the screen, but the gadget absolutely does not react to these false pressings. They are probably blocked at the software level.
The layout of controls and connectors is quite standard - plus or minus the same as in previous Samsung devices. Getting used to a smartphone is very easy. In the upper part of the front panel there is a 5-megapixel front camera lens, a speaker mesh, a proximity sensor optocoupler and an LED indicator.
Samsung GALAXY S6 Edge - front, five-megapixel camera
At the bottom of the front panel is an oblong "Home" key with a metal edging, which has a built-in biometric sensor. Next to it are two standard touch buttons equipped with a switchable backlight - "Open Applications Menu" and "Back".
The body thickness here is by no means outstanding - seven millimeters (excluding the protruding rear camera lens). However, due to the tapering metal edging on the sides, a misleading impression is created that the smartphone is much thinner than stated.
The power button of the device is placed on the right end under the thumb, and the volume control buttons are on the left. The keys are metal, with a short and distinct stroke. The Nano-SIM SIM card tray is hidden at the top end, and next to it is an infrared port for controlling household appliances.
The slot of the external speaker is moved to the bottom end. Its placement is successful - in the process of operation it does not overlap with the hand. Next to it is a Micro-USB interface, combined with a video output (MHL), as well as a universal 3.5 mm jack for connecting a wired headset.
On the rear panel is the main lens, 16-megapixel camera along with LED flash, as well as a heart rate sensor. The panel is quite easily soiled - it quickly gets dirty and collects fingerprints very willingly. However, you can get rid of them with the help of any improvised rag. The body of the device is non-separable.
Samsung GALAXY S6 Edge - rear panel. Peeling off a barcode sticker is a whole task.
