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The news we had all been waiting for was released yesterday at the Mobile World Conference in Barcelona: Samsung’s new batch of Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge flagship phones. Now out of sync with the Apple release cycle it has been some time since the iPhone6’s release in which Samsung have decided to deliver an altogether different looking device (in comparison to the Galaxy S5 and various predecessors).
With the slim and light device we are used to from Samsung but with a matte aluminium alloy frame and the toughest yet Gorilla Glass 4 the new phones are noticeably different from previous versions. Samsung appear to have learnt that their customers not only appreciate function but form as well.
The S6 and S6 Edge employ a regular 5.1 inch display as we have seen in the S5, however the Edge builds off the Galaxy Note 4 Edge witch both long edges of the screen wrapping around the sides of the phone. While this may well seem like a strange feature to have, the beauty in it lies in situations where you would not usually be using your phone. Face down and on silent, the Edge can not only edge display the time in low light (think about how many times you’re lying in bed in the dark and have to grab your phone to check on the time), but also edge display notifications from incoming calls and messages and even colour code your top five contacts to display their colour when you have an incoming notification from them (think being in a meeting with your phone face down and being able to tell you are getting a call from your wife). These incoming alerts can also be answered with a swipe over the phone’s sensor next to the camera to send an automatic message (“I’m in a meeting” perhaps). Screen resolution has also been upped to 2560 x 1440 which is a huge 577 pixels per inch, perfect for watching streaming videos. Whilst still on physical features, the phones come in three different colours standard: sapphire Black, white pearl and platinum gold with the S6 also coming in topaz blue and the Edge also coming in emerald green.
Another big change to the phone is an inbuilt battery which is said to improve battery life exponentially, equipped with built in wireless charging support, with a 10 minute wireless charge to give an extra 3 hours battery life.
Under the hood, the device is equipped with Samsung’s new proprietary chip, the Exynos 64 bit octo-core processor with 3GB of RAM, putting it almost on par with many laptops SSD capabilities. It runs Android 5.0 Lollipop and the phones will come in 32, 64 and 128GB models however they have done away with having a microSD slot in favour of cloud storage in the form of their new partner Microsoft’s OneDrive which comes preloaded on the phone.
OneDrive is in fact one of the only pre-loaded apps on the S6 – Samsung have done away with having a huge range of unnecessary apps on their phone which definitely makes us happy.
As far as the camera goes, it has 16MP rear facing and 5MP forward facing, with a new quick launch feature on double tap of the home button.
Other features of the phone will be Samsung Pay to allow mobile payments along with an improved fingerprint reader, GearVR for virtual reality plugins, and NFC & Bluetooth 4.1 for even more inter-device communications.
No word as yet for an Australian release date but we will be looking forward to seeing the S6 and S6 Edge in stores for a play ourselves. In the mean time watch the video below by CNET and remember you can register for updates on the Galaxy S6 at Telstra and also with Optus. Samsung Galaxy S6 Cases and Accessories
Let us know what your thoughts are on these phones by leaving a comment below.
