In the year 2015, Samsung, the South Korean smartphone giant, finally realized that they could no longer compete with the likes of Apple or Sony by simply enhancing the screen resolution and processor speeds. Just like the other top of the line smartphone manufacturers, they need to innovate with the design aspect of the smartphones too. And with Galaxy S6 Edge, Samsung effectively made its point.
Inspired by the one-sided curved edge of Galaxy Note Edge, S6 Edge features curves on both the sides. The wraparound display of the phone is a significant breakthrough as far as the designs of the smartphones are concerned. With this new design, the multinational brand proved that it can deliver smartphones that are not just power-packed but beautiful too. Apart from the screen, S6 Edge features a powerful Exynos octa-core processor, 3GB RAM, fingerprint sensor and Corning Gorilla Glass on the front as well as back.
Innovative Style Upgrade
• Design
The design is surely the most impressive aspect of S6 Edge. Rather than being just a marketing gimmick, the curved display on both the sides put function ahead of the form. While the display on the right and left edges are part of the overall front display, they function as a different unit with their own settings and function menu. However, you can only enable the Edge display of one of the two sides at a time. It can display things like Twitter trends, sports scores, stocks, news and much more.
• Build and Display
When compared with the design language Samsung preferred in the past; Galaxy S6 Edge is surely a revolution. The phone has a metallic unibody with a Home button and back and recent keys. The home button also has the fingerprint sensor. Beside the camera set up at the back, there is LED flash and heart rate monitor. At the bottom, you’ll find the 3.5mm audio jack, speaker grill, and micro USB port. The SIM card slot and the infrared sensor are at the top. Volume key is at the left and power button on the right.
The phone has a 5.1-inches Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels and pixel density of ~557 PPI. Samsung has toned down the greenish tinge which is quite visible in older smartphones from the brand. Even the saturation level has considerably improved. Overall, the display is one of the best when compared with other phones launched in 2015. The colour reproduction under any lighting condition is pretty impressive. Moreover, the display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4.
• Cameras
Even the cameras of Galaxy S6 Edge are very impressive. The phone has a 16MP camera at the back with f/1.9 aperture and OIS. On the front, it has a 5MP f/1.9 aperture camera with Auto HDR and dual video call. The cameras can capture amazing pictures with near-perfect details and accuracy. Even the speed of the cameras is an important characteristic. Even when things are out of focus, the rear camera won’t make more than a few milliseconds to take the picture.
Powerful Internal Specs
• Software
Samsung has focused on keeping its new phone as clutter-free as possible. Even the number of preloaded apps are fewer and have gone through a makeover. The phone runs on Android Lollipop out-of-the-box with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI on top. One important change is the availability of Smart Manager. Users can use this app to check the occupied storage, battery level, security status of the phone and RAM used. While there are many small changes that are not really apparent, overall, they do an excellent job of improving the usability of the phone.
• Hardware
This is the first time that Samsung has not used a Qualcomm processor in its flagship. Galaxy S6 Edge features Exynos 7420 octa-core processor clocked at 2.1GHz. It is said that the processor can reduce battery consumption by 35%, improve processing speed by 35% and is more power-efficient as compared to the previous processors. Unlike a lot of flagships of 2015 which have DDR3 RAM, S6 Edge has DDR4 3GB RAM which the company claims can increase the running memory by 80%. However, it only has a built-in storage of 32GB with no memory card slot. But there are 64GB and 128GB variants available.
• Other Noteworthy Specs and Features
Galaxy S6 Edge is a single SIM phone which can be used with a Nano SIM card. The phone has a glass back as it supports wireless charging. However, you’ll have to buy the charger separately. The phone runs on a Li-Ion non-removable 2,600mAh battery which offers a talk time of up to 18 hours on a 3G network and audio play of up to 50 hours. It also supports turbo-charging technology which the company says can make the phone last for up to 4 hours with just 10 minutes of charging. The phone also has S-Voice, a personal digital assistant which can run several tasks with voice commands.
S6 Edge has fingerprint sensor, gyro, accelerometer, barometer, compass, proximity and heart rate sensor. It also offers a number of connectivity options like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC, GPS, GLONASS, Infrared and micro USB 2.0.
Pros and Cons
Pros
• Eye-catching design- The wraparound display of the phone has laid the foundation for other brands to innovate with the screen of the smartphones. The curved display on the sides not just looks amazing but is highly functional too.
• Powerful hardware- The Exynos octa-core processor with 3GB RAM makes Galaxy S6 Edge a powerful performer.
• Improved TouchWiz UI- Samsung has significantly updated the UI to make it clutter-=free and more user-friendly.
• Impressive cameras- The 16MP rear and 5MP front cameras do a great job of taking amazing photos.
• Great features- The phone also has a host of added features like S-Voice, Samsung Pay, Smart Manager, etc.
Cons
• Non-expandable storage- There is no slot for a memory card in Galaxy S6 Edge. The phone has a built-in storage of 32GB which might not be adequate for some users.
• Battery life could have been better- The phone features a 2,600mAh battery which can be a little disappointing for some users.
• Not waterproof- As a high-end device, S6 Edge should have been waterproof. Unfortunately, it isn’t.
• Edge screen has limited functionality- While the wraparound screen looks very interesting, it doesn’t really offer a lot of functionality.
• Non-removable battery- You cannot swap the battery of S6 Edge on your own as the back panel is non-removable.