While no removable battery is workable (if disappointing), I dislike the removal of the SD Card slot in favor of being more iPhone-like, since it allows for more storage (and I don't have to worry about clearing stuff out for updates). Hopefully Samsung won't go this way with the Note 4, or else that might very well be my last Samsung phone.
I have a feeling Samsung will keep the Note series as it's "productivity/business class", be like the GS6 but with removable storage and battery, and make the GN5 the top of the line in design and features for the real heavy user.
What I don't get is, Samsung makes like two dozen different smartphones. Why can't they make two top-tier phones - one with the "everything sealed" philosophy and another with the "user can replace the battery and microSD card" philosophy, both using the same screen, processor, camera, etc.?
Probably because Apple has been so successful with marketing theory, and Samsung wants to copy their concept of giving consumers limited choices. Too many choices can put people into somewhat of a decision paralysis.
It's not a marketing theory, its not many people give a rats a$$ about removable batteries and upgrade memory cards, I plug my phone in at night like 99% of the people do, I have 128gb of internal memory that hold my 10K (High Bit Rate) song library with room left over that very few people even want to do with Pandora and such that don't need the internal memory. Quit living in the 90s, everything thing is online, or in the cloud now.
Because even though media, books, music and other content is cloud based and easy to access, applications are getting increasingly larger and you still want to have space for local content in general. I went with the 64GB myself, but I also use a Dash Micro. If you don't know what that is, it's amazing > http://www.amazon.com/Dash-Micro-MicroSD-Android-U...
I don't know what world you're living in, but most people take cheap loads of pictures and videos these days. Considering the megapixel count on the S6 and other flagship, expandable memory certainly becomes a necessity. There are plenty of people who know the woes of being unable to update their iPhones because there's not enough space available.
I would like to see an APL vs. Brightness graph for maximum manual brightness. Using 100% APL unjustifiably biases the test against AMOLED screens. 60-80% APL would correspond much better to real world scenarios.
The problem amoled has, is if brightness remains too high for too long, the display will burn out after a time. The real max brightness is around 350nits, the same as before. In fact, Samsung is taking a big chance with the max brightness here. I predict that we'll be seeing display life significantly shortened for a number of people who spend a lot of time outdoors with their phones.
The life of all LEDs is directly dependent on their temperature. Amoled needs low temps to work, unlike metal based LEDs, used for LCD screen back lights. Their innefficiency means that a lot of power is required for maximum brightness, which leads to overheating. That's why manual brightness on these is the same its been for the last three generations.
@deptuc26: So you are concerned about 100% APL being biased against AMOLED but want to see the manual brightness where the scores are lower? I'm confused. You seem to contradict yourself there.
No, not at all. I'm pointing out that while Samsung has a new brightness setting for outside, you can't use it for regular use. That because using it more than occasionally will damage the display. This is like redlining a car engine. You can do it, but don't do it too often.
Values for both Manual brightness and automatic brightness are given at 100% APL in charts in the review. This is unrealistic, no one walks around with a pure white screen. The review partially makes up for this error by including a "APL vs brightness" graph for automatic brightness. It does not include such a graph for manual brightness leaving the attentive reader wondering what the brightness would be at a realistic APL and leaving the inattentive reader with a false impression.
Because then people would not buy 64GB or 128GB phones which are very overpriced. They would just buy 32GB/16GB phone and additional MicroSD card. Why? Because of greed.
Unlike apple. Samsung has a solid reason to not have an SD card. This being that an SD card is too slow to handle 4k content without a lot of lag. Ufs 2.0 on the other hand handles 4k just fine. At least from what I have experienced so far.
They make so many smart phones because there are so many markets & carriers and they all want to be special.
I'm with you on the wish for two branches of the Samsung family tree. Don't forget about the 'Active' variant. There's speculation that this is still coming. If so it may be just what some of us are looking for.
The reason you won't get the choice is the constantly complaining crybaby crew has for years whined for an apple rectangle metal box with a brokenback glass rainbow they can selfie with in the mirror and prance around with feeling it up for a "quality industrial design build". Then they need it thinner like their figures should be, thinner because a metal clodheaded rectangle with heavy glass is a lead weight, thus paper thin is necessary, as it "gains status for eyebrow lickers".
See, we call this "the market". The primping faerie overlords knows what's best for their selfish little egos, and thus, you will be made into a dumbed down sheep in compliance with their frivolous vanities.
I agree, the Note 5 will be for the power user and/or business person that wants to "have it all". Where as the Galaxy S line will be consumer friendly and geared toward "ease of use".
medi03 - see the finely tuned mind bending the sales crew sells to the clueless primpers>
"Overall, the design of the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge is really unlike anything else they’ve produced in recent memory. The phone itself is well-sized and feels much more ergonomic than the Galaxy S5 due to the thinner build and mildly reduced bezel size. It really feels like Samsung cared about the design of the phone this generation, and the attention to detail here immediately puts Samsung near the top in this area. "
Ahh, they "cared" - it feels - even the word ergonomic, when the truth is it's a slippery heavy metal and smoothie glass nightmare ready to crash to the ground... at least the braindead can't "flex it" - the best feature of course is - it's apple clone "quality" for the elite snobs
I predict that Samsung won't lose any customers because of this. Where are you going to find a modern phone with a removable battery and SD card slot? There just isn't any option anymore. Samsung is trading a few niche features for more mainstream appeal.
P.S. Samsung will replace the battery for $45, but I imagine that a lot of people reading this site can just swap it themselves.
They will lose lots of "power users", but they'll conversely gain a couple of orders of magnitude more "casual consumers"...
Sorry, we power users might have made a significant percentage 2-3 years ago, but now we're a very small minority in the smartphone market, and catering to us via mainstream devices is no longer an option for OEMs...
The Galaxy Note might have been considered niche 2 years ago, but that's absolutely no longer the case. If a device market is no longer niche, then expect a similar streamlining makeover.
I use microSD and never whined about plastic. In fact, I would rather plastic than glass any day, regardless of microSD support. Glass just isn't durable.
There will never be a phone that pleases everybody. But the fact that this phone seems to outsell the GS5 by at least 100% is an indication that Samsung made the right choice, with a broader perspective than a single internet commenter's opinion.
" But the fact that this phone seems to outsell the GS5 by at least 100% is an indication that Samsung made the right choice, with a broader perspective than a single internet commenter's opinion."
I doubt your 100% is correct but do you really believe people read that the battery isn't changeable and go "WOW that's the phone for me"? Or "look I can't add memory , whatever that is, so I'm buying it!" Its far more likely they are buying it for its looks and features not lack of.
Like I said, a few loud haters on the internet won't affect the bigger picture. And yes, all the reports are pointing at at least 100% better initial sales than the S5. It's actually "so bad" that Apple seems to be forced back to using the unreliable TSMC as their main supplier of processors, as Samsung can't keep up with the production for their own devices at the moment.
" leading at least one Samsung exec to boldly state that the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge could reach over 70 million units sold. Unfortunately, a new report from Korea indicates that out of the 300,000 pre-orders, only 200,000 units have been sold. This suggests early forecasts may have been inaccurate."
Congrats giga - though of course I didn't mean you nor anyone specifically.
The metal industrial design meme aka apple clone mania is a thing - gotta have the overpriced mazerati right or you just ain't with it...
One suspects there's a nationwide ban on belittling apple, since it had a massive #1 stock market spot that all the investment channels gloated and blabbed on about - so it's a national security imperative in economic collapse times to only praise apple and demand all others mimic. I'd bet the unspoken pressure is enormous.
Kinda funny though. Nearly 300 responses and you're the only one droning on and on about 'Apple'. Why? No one's even mentioned Apple -- nor has Apple made a glass phone nearly four years! Lol. Month later ...going through the responses as an owner of the S6, your contributions seems so out of place in this conversation. Kind of like the buddy that's drank a bit too much at the party and won't stop telling everyone how much he loves 'em...
Not sure if you are serious or joking since sarcasm is so hard to catch on the net, but my One M8 has an sd slot nevermind that most if not all phones have a sim slot .
Someone should let Nikon, Canon, Sony ...even RED uses CF cards -- I believe? Silly jux, you can very easily capture these bitrates to any class ten MicroSD card. I was capturing 4k on my Note 3 a year ago on a card half the speed of the one in my Note 4.
that's the insane claim - the metal body precludes the sd card - just bow your head, scramble your brains for them, pretend you're stupid as a rock, and stfu, please, the overlords desire that their lies be swallowed and enjoyed, preferably on your knees in full worshipful regale, knave, believe, you want to believe don't you ?
What the hell is a smartphone 'power user'? Are you one of the dbags I see walking around, texting and not paying attention to society or your surrounding? Surious, I'm curious what it is that makes YOU a power user of ...a smartphone? (To lay it out there, I own a phone with MicroSD/battery replaceability as well as one without and I can honestly say the ability to use my mSD card with each iteration of Android has diminished significantly ...and having to 'split' apps between system and external storage makes for a HIGE PITA when it comes to backing up a phone with or without and then restoring a new Android model, again ...with or without ...maybe I'm a 'power user' and wasn't aware) Genuine and honest curiousity from a fellow SD user --- & current Note 4 & S6 owner for nearly a month now ---
Samsung lost my sale. I had been holding off until the S6 came out, but no SD card slot = no purchase from me. Now I am looking for another phone, and in the meantime keeping the one I have until I get a high end phone with SD card slot (possibly HTC releases the E9+ in NA with all the complaints they have had for not doing so, and especially given the fact that Samsung has obviously dropped the ball on the S6 opening the door for a high end HTC that has all the bells and whistles to take over the market).
They'll lose a few customers, but I was willing to give up the SD slot. The S6 is beautiful, and much more responsive than the HTC One (M8) that I traded in. LTE reception is also much better, so I can stream video and music, so 64GB is plenty of storage.
External SD on Android is mostly for media files so for me capacity is much more important than performance. Songs and videos will play the same regardless of SD speed.I am not going to watch video at 8x speed.
To be honest, I'm happy you are happy with your purchase.
To me, it looks gorgeous, but it seems a tiny step down from my GS5. No micro sd slot, no removable battery, no waterproofing (a big one this), and I notice the GFX Bench had worse battery life too.
That record charge time might persuade me, if I were to lose my GS5 drunk etc. But then a second-hand GS5 is a bargin now.
We'll find out at the end of the month when they announce the LG G4. I'm waiting to see/hear specs on it (officially) before pulling the trigger with an S6. The loss of the SD slot is a bit painful when you have to pony up an extra $100 for a measly extra 32GB....
Or two hundred for incredibly fast internal NAND storage, a bump of 96GB. I've owned each iteration of the Note (business line) except Note 2. Still have the Xoom. iPhones, same --- our employees carry them and I use the 6+ as my personal phone. I didn't upgrade Note 1 --> 2, as I couldn't get out of Note 1 quickly enough (contract). Slow as molasses. 2 changed that, and when it was time to get rid of it, the Note 3 was entirely new 'experience-wise' in comparison. Ten times quicker! I've had the Note 4 since release and I've found the further we move up in Android versions, the less 'control' I've had over where and what storage I'm able to keep on the microSD card Media, for sure....but for two bills more, over two years is $8/month for 128 GB. I've got the 6+/128 and I've never felt pinched. Even with 3 & 4GB HD movie files I've not compressed. Battery life is incredible on both and other than extended oversea flights I've never had a problem. I also have a TB or 4 at home sharable to the remote phones and tabs from the house but I've never needed to re download extra music or motion while on holiday travel. Best to get out and see the scenery than watch our phones. 128 is a large chunk of internal data to hold. And it's 'not' expensive. If you're a DSLR shooter and use CF cards, motion, or proprietary capture (P2, SxS, RED's SSDs, etc.) --- you know how expensive a 'fast' card is. Even the quickest can't hold a candle to the latest Sammy and Apple MLC/TLC storage. Stairway to Heaven is going to sound the same when you get home but the ability to capture the shots you want, motion and speeds or different resolutions keep the internal NAND's speeds, reliability and prices continue to rise (first two), and drop (price) for these sealed, internal storage modules. As for batteries ...I've also owned each iPhone and other than Mophie cases on the smaller phones, I've found no such need on the 6+, from the scores shown here...that'll be the case with the S6 as well.
They lost me. My new phone (replacing an S3) arrived yesterday. It has a MicroSD slot and a removable battery. I'm using a MicroSD card in it. It's the one I had in my S3.
Samsung want me to pay $200 premium to upgrade from 32GB to 128GB when I already own 128GB of phone-compatible storage. They can shove it.
It is fascinating how people accept paying 100$ for 32GB SD upgrade, knowing microSD card of that capacity costs 13$ on Amazon at this very moment. They even call this logic modern.
and using a phone for such pure storage function is of 5% important. Most people these days are streaming their content. This has always been the logical move. Sure there's a market, but it's a niche like past comments have said. It will stay there from here on out.
Do you have any reason to believe that in-phone flash is significantly (7x) more expensive then retail flash cards? Seems like pure profit margin padding to me.
Check the tare down at iFixIt. Battery is the 2nd to last big component to come out. It is not going to be easy and there is also the glue back together you need to do.
You will find a phone with removable battery and SC card slot but you have to look at the rest of the market, namely Asian companies who also have much cheaper phones and also offer ROM on their official website.
Firstly, great review. Love all the detail and care taken in obtaining the results.
I am glad to see the changes Samsung have made. The S4 and S5 were really oh hum phones, not deserving the flagship monicker. This time they have produced something that will challenge Apple, HTC, etc.
$45 isn't all that much. You would save $15 by doing it yourself. So you will need tools to pry the case apart after you've softened the glue using a hairdryer. How do you intend to put it back together?
I just don't find myself needing an SD card slot, if only because I don't really fill my phone up anyway. I'm really wondering what other people fill their phones up with in order to need an SD card slot. I was under the impression that music is just lifted off internet radios and videos from YouTube or some other service (and if they want to watch a lengthy movie, they'll add it in when they want to).
I don't know, maybe I'm just the kind of person who doesn't mind managing data and don't have a lot to begin with on the phone.
I have a lot of music on my phone and videos for the kid. Having to pay such a premium for a 64gb version is hard to swallow when sd cards are really cheap.
Agreed. Like you, I've got a lot of music on my phone and it's all on an SD card.
I'm upgrade eligible at any time from my Note 3 but am seeing how long I can or am willing to hold off for the next round of releases. If the Note 5 isn't a substantial improvement over the 3/4 or whatever, I'll likely jump to another vendor that has the right mix of things I'm after. It'll either be another Android phone or *maybe* Windows. No way in hell will I ever jump to Apple.
I used to need 128GB to load TV and movies onto my phone, but yes, now I can stream video from home via Plex, in addition to watching NetFlix, so the internal 64GB is plenty. There will be a 128GB version for people who need more space. We no longer have to take a performance hit to get 128GB via SD card.
I love my lossless Flac and WMA audio which takes up about 5-7X more space than an mp3 so I need my 32+128 GB's. The quality is worth the extra space imo.
Would you buy a car that looked like it was made out of plastic?
Remember, these are ~700 dollar phones. Asking for good materials and workmanship is perfectly reasonable. I used to own a GS3 and the paint started coming off of it after just a few months. It made the phone look awful. I would much rather have a nicer feeling and looking phone. Granted, they could have put an SD slot in there, at least in the normal variant.
"Would you buy a car that looked like it was made out of plastic?" Yes. If you've bought a mainstream car in the last ten years, it probably does have plastic in it.
Would you buy a car where the body was made of glass?
just the opposite for me. no removable sd card is a non issue with the base model having 32GB, and 64 and 128GB models available. But no removable battery with android is a show stopper. What good is a "mobile" phone if it goes dead in 4 hours while you are out and can't charge it?
as for the sd card, my s4 has 9.5GB or internal and a 64GB external sd. All together I have used up about 30GB of storage over 2 years.. so a 64GB or 128GB model would be fine without an external sd card. But with a dead battery and no way to replace it, the phone is useless.
I agree that the lack of a removable battery will be a problem for some people, but I don't know how big a segment of the market that is. We'll find out how well Samsung understands their market over the next couple of months when we see how well the S6 sells.
SOlution is simple!! Carry a power bank and whenever battery is down, charge it in 1/2 hour. They also have wireless charging option, which you can use. There are wireless charging power bank also in the market. So instead of buying a 2nd battery and always carrying it, carry a power bank. Thats enough. But one thing...this phone lasts more than 7-8 hours even after continuous heavy usage!!
I love the feel of toting around that extra large battery powerbank and having the wireless charger doohickie plugged in as an add on wherever I need it, it just adds to the feel when I stroke my metal industrial design and take some personal touch moments with it in my hand.
Also taking care of the fact, that a phone is hardly used after 2/3 years, that extra battery will be of now use after you change your phone. But with wireless charging and such wireless power banks, you dont have to spend money on battery every 2 year!! Makes sense..ain't it!!
While the ask if SD support is technically a functional downgrade, people tend to forget that Samsung is in turn offering the most advanced internal storage that offers unprecedented speed and uncompromising performance.
It has nothing to do with being more iPhone like. An SD card would lag horribly when loading and taking those beautiful 4k pictures it is capable of producing. Not to mention it would cause lag throughout the u.i. and cause unnecessary power drain.
so the pictures go by default to internal memory - that's one red herring out with the bathwater ...
lag and power drain - I guess android is so stupid the 1st thing it does when you touch your metal feel, is scan the sd card for desperately needed data, right ?
yes, twin babies out with the bathwater fella - right out the window an onto the sidewalk below
How is removing the sdcard more "iPhone-like" when Google Android Standard is no sdcard? The flagship Vanilla Android Nexus line is all sans sdcard. I think we often forget that and quickly point to Apple. Also, with increasing harddisk sizes and the ease of using a microsd to microusb adapter (see Dash Micro device), I think the sdcard argument is weak.
Those were my gripes as well. However, as I've learned that the battery is still replaceable, and the charge is $45 for such a replacement done by Samsung, the battery issue doesn't bother me anymore. Then the storage thing — I've previously bought my share of SD cards to augment my phones. The largest card I've bought was a 64GB one, though, which was sufficient in my Note 3 to satisfy my hunger for filming 1080p60 when travelling. I just ordered the S6 128GB version on sale for the same price as the 32GB version, and it's plenty plenty plenty for my needs. I may have to unload some stuff in the evening to an external storage device if I go crazy with my filming, but that's it. Reading this review and seeing the impressive speed of the storage just makes me even happier that I finally chose this phone :)
Nice Phone. There's nobody who won't take one if it were offered. But since we have to pay, ppl will decide on the things that set it apart from the pack. Samsung had an "edge" with SD cards and removable batteries and for some of us it will be a deciding factor. The battery, OK I'll get an extra charger for the car or office but the SD is inexcusable. This has ALWAYS been a blow against Apple and now it can be said against Samsung. I'll keep my S5 or wait.
Samsung probably ALSO have sw installed on the phone that tells it when an SD card has been installed and the battery replaced, and is well aware that <1% of their phones ever went through either operation. I suspect Samsung's idea of what matters to the market is rather more accurate than your idea...
I believe you are referring to the NSA, and thus, with no removable battery, the phone can never really be "turned off" and no removable SD means Homaleand Security and the NSA can access you and everything you've done at any time....
So, it's truly and upgrade because you of course have nothing to hide
What is the "obvious" defect on the S6 screen picture? Is it one of the things that looks like a fingerprint smudge, the horizontal blue bar that looks like a reflection, or something that isn't obvious to me from looking at the picture?
That's NOT the same display. The Note 4 was a step up from 5Active and this is an even bigger step 'up' for AMOLED. The anomalies have been talked about in many reviews. As well as some purple fringing shooting low light (w/light source, like a candle). Killer display though!
I'm not entirely sure, I kind wish he had elaborated more on it. Especially when this is a flagship phone and he says there is a defect with the perfect screen.
But they only thing I can think of is how it seems to reflect much like a bubble would in direct sunlight. Maybe there is a risk of this rainbow effect screwing with color accuracy in direct sunlight? I'm not entirely sure either.
I see the same thing as Ammaross. I guess some of you need to have your screen calibrated. I can see the dark bars on my home PC but I guess I won't be able to see it on the cheap/crap workstation at work.
The only thing I saw in that photo was reflected light, which is to be expected with any phone and could hardly be considered a "defect." I really don't understand what he was getting at with that.
To my knowledge the IMX240 uses 1.12 micron pixel size, going by Chipworks measurements and the released spec for the S5K2P2 sensor which has the same pixel count and sensor size.
The s5k2p2 has 1.12 micron size. Also they're both 1/2.6" and identical resolution.
But 1/2.6" necessarily doesn't mean they're same size. It just tells the size of the disk and hence there can be a difference.
I think also on the Wiki page of IMX240 it's 1.2 micron. Though it's a different 4:3 IMX240 but I doubt they'll change the pixel pitch for a custom IMX240 used by Samsung.
Just look into it. Even I want to know the perfect pixel size :)
It's an improvement. But still, "browser benchmarks" are just that; a benchmark to software side of the browser engine. It's only good for testing CPU performance when we're ONLY looking at generation improvements of the *same* platform/browser/OS.
I wish we had a more "open"/transparent cross platform benchmarking suite... Anyway, it looks Exynos is truly back as a market leader, as in being a generation above everything else. I'd expect it to stay in lead well till the Note 5 is here.
"Although the dynamic range of the Galaxy S6’s IMX240 sensor is inherently lower than an equivalent 1.5 micron pixel-size sensor due to the nature of CMOS image sensors"
This is not true. Pixel size rarely affects daylight dynamic range of the sensor. D800 series (36MP FF sensor) has actually tiny bit wider dynamic range than 12MP FF sensor of A7s.
Yes, that's true for dslr's because they still have large enough pixel size so dynamic range isn't affected. Even d800 have many times larger pixel photo sensor than 1.5 micron used in SG6. For bigger densities in smaller sensors dynamic range is lower compare some high end compact like panasonic LX7 and cheap point and shoot.
Yes, I have read some of the so maybe sony definitely improved the sensor so samsung is using that versus their own. Different generation sensor and processing also affect the final image.
It's a very hindsight-heavy negative view of the s5 in this review. I'm surprised sales weren't great for it as it fixed most of the issues with the s4's performance and camera.
Losing waterproofing, removable battery and SD card are killers for me but apart from that I don't see what makes the s6 a brilliant. The improved software performance will hopefully be brought down to older devices, the improvements in SOC design and battery efficiency are offset by the pointless resolution increase, and the mantra "must follow apple's cue to be considered premium" isn't convincing.
Switching to white backgrounds for apps wastes the advantage of AMOLED as well.
The GS5 didn't sell well because of "perception", not merit. It was a HUGE upgrade over the GS4 in almost every aspect IMHO. I'm one of those who actually liked the "band-aid" plastic back. I would have preferred if Samsung made the GS6 closer to the Alpha's design; metal frame with plastic back, but less squarish (IE: the same exact shape/corners of the GS6 but with the same plastic back as the Alpha).
I believe that Samsung nailed the design with the Alpha and Note 4, but it seems that reviewers and consumers didn't agree. That stupid twisting of the back cover by reviewers to prove that it was "flimsy" only proved that they were completely ignorant of the quality of materials and the functionality/practicality it entails.
Yep. It's the reviewers that forced Samsung's hand into copying the metal+glass design that the iPhone has. Personally, I think it's horrible as the S6's glass back makes it far too slippery in-hand. I'm definitely putting a bumper on it just so I can hold on to it (which of course entirely defeats the metal+glass design anyway!). Plastic does not mean "cheap," merely flexible (in application/texture, not just robustness).
Well, yes, I agree, the reviewers had nothing but disdain if it wasn't "the solid and simple apple industrial design that feels expensive in my hand" but add in the drooling sheep and parrots in their responses, they certainly totally contributed as well.
Since these people function on mindless perception, not facts, we have the cloned result.
I love how reviewers keep calling the Galaxy S 5 a failure. Sure, it didn't sell as many units as Samsung may have hoped, but it was still the best selling Android phone of 2014 by a wide margin by all accounts. If that's failure, the other Android manufacturers need to learn how to fail so spectacularly.
Seriously, it was the highest seller by a lot and the reviewers condemned it... ?
Well, the "elite snootsters" probably hate the peonic rabble public (privately, depths of their nerdgourd ), of course. So anything they buy en masse "negates the need for the nerdy idiot reviewer overlord".
However it did miss Samsung's sales expectations, and quite significantly. This is something that we think is important to point out, as understanding this helps to understand why Samsung made the design changes they did for the S6. Technology doesn't occur in a vacuum, so it's very useful to understand the business considerations as well.
Well, now you know how people feel when they hear someone claim the iPhone 5C was a failure... The numbers I can find (which are obviously not the most recent) have the Galaxy 5S sales numbers as of Dec 2014 at 12 million, with the 5C sales as of July 2014 at 24 million.
"I also see almost no benefit to the MST module as magstripe transactions will be obsolete by October of this year when United States banks switch over to chipped credit cards and will no longer accept liability for fraud in magstripe transactions."
Firstly, only 50-60% of US POS terminals are expected to be EMV compliant by the year end. And secondly many of the first wave of EMV POS terminals are not contactless enabled even here in the UK which has had both chip and pin and contactless for a while.
So Samsung magstrip payments will still be a useful product probaly for a number of years, especailly if it doesn't relay on a seperate agreement with the merchant like Apple's does.
I just hope the Note 5 comes with expandable storage and a removable battery.
Equally annoying is that it as lost waterproofing. On paper at least, it should be easier to waterproof a phone with no removable battery. That and accidents happen. The glass back too is form over function. Give us a metal back or something like carbon fibre.
I noticed interference effects as well, which is discussed in the display section. Overall there are some notable compromises with the edge with relatively little benefit. Combined with the steep price increase and I find it hard to justify buying one over a 64 GB GS6.
It's a selfy-cam. Don't like it? Take pictures in the bathroom mirror like the rest of them. I doubt Skype et al pixelated video chat will care about slight distortions at the edge of the FoV or slight aliasing for striped objects, etc. :P
I've got the Note 4, can't comment on the S5. I've never used one. But the Note 4, if so inclined allows you to take 'selfies' with the front (main) camera. You set your phone where you want it (actually according to where you want you;)) -- it looks slick. I've never used it. You frame/focus/lock exposure where you'll be 'posing' yourself or with a group. Take position. It recognizes a face. Flashes a light, counts down a couple seconds and snaps. Regardless, they're using a nice wide aperture and high megapixel selfie cam (that also shoots decent 1080p video for conferencing). It's definitely a step 'up' from most of the competition including the iPhone (I'm ambidextrous, the 6+ is my personal phone. I run our business with the Note4). Note 4's 'selfie' cam definitely beats up on my iPhone's. But then again, FaceTime is extremely cool, more reliable than Skype and convenient that Voice. Be cool if one of the three would open their face 'facing' software as open source/X-Platform, secure and not subsidized by data mining/search dollars or near trillion dollar company servers like Apple's.
More n more fills are using this camera, not necessarily for selfies but conferencing and team meetings. Between the two I've got, while the Note's is a better face cam IMHO, it's slight. And that's for both front and rear. They're both phenomenal in comparison to the 2007 iPhone I owned, the '08 Android, and any iPad or Xoom/Nexus I've owned --- and with a ten year old son, going through Google's Drive photos/Picassa and iCloud, both of which I was using pre 2007 for email and DSLR & visual storage or transfer, I'm now able to watch my son grow up in front of the computer. So much different than my mom's photo albums of my three younger brothers ( all of us married, with kids now) & I. These cameras and their storage software/data management subsystems have grown in leaps and bounds in the past couple years ...ita going to be interesting in thirty years to see what my son's 'photo albums' look like. If you were born in the last decade, your entire LIFE will be online and documented photographically Practice Safe Selfies! I've got stories from friends about watching 'slide shows' with their teenagers or college kids that are hilarious! I'm not so sure they need to improve selfies significantly -- beyond today's capabilities. There's a fine line between too much detail and improved clarity on a wide angle closely focused, and hence distorted facial or grainy 'length' shots. I think nearly all selfie cams suffer not only edge distortion but soft corners/vignette, low resolution, tiny sensors and bad skin tones. They're more than fine for casual web shots but I don't want to see the pores of the race of the person I'm chatting with. Too distracting!
There's nothing compelling about the S6 that makes me want it over the S5. Sure, it's a bit faster, but there is a loss of functionality, and it's easier to break.
Realistically, we are at a point where speed doesn't matter that much anymore unless you play games on your phone, and frankly if I wanted an iPhone, I'd get an iPhone.
The promise of Samsung was always the best hardware performance coupled with the most functions. Design was secondary. It just needed to not be a deal-breaker.
It really took off with the S2 because it's exynos and graphics performance was the markedly above others (when Android was still behind), it had the most vibrant screesn (Super AMOLED was central to it's marketing), and added some software tricks (like toggles on the notification screen). SD-card and removable batteries were just one part of the appeal (other manufacturers offered it too).
S3 largely delivered, but S4 and S5 failed cause there wasn't enough differentiation on those fronts. They used the same Snapdragon as others, or their Exynos was no better, their screen were being parlayed as too saturated, and software additions were criticized as gimmicky. SD cards and removable batteries became the only lasting meaningful difference. Design started to become stale and a hinderance.
Looks like S6 returns to the original promise: blazing hardware performance with the new Exynos, amazing screen with the maturation of AMOLED, and software that at least doesn't get in the way. Plus additional features that really make a difference: arguably the best camera (Sammy cameras were never bad, not just ever the best) which appeals to the masses and the Gear VR which appeals to the geeks. And a design that is not a deal-breaker. (S6 does not fall behind, and S6 Edge might even have an advantage design-wise)
I'm not getting one for sure. I'm too wed to the Nexus-line. But this time round, I'd be happy to recommend it to tech-minded friends and tech-ignorant family.
The S5 wasn't "too saturated", it was the best display of any smartphone during its release, and still holds that title for any non-Samsung smartphone display -- 1 year after its release.
" S3 largely delivered, but S4 and S5 failed cause there wasn't enough differentiation on those fronts. They used the same Snapdragon as others, or their Exynos was no better, their screen were being parlayed as too saturated, and software additions were criticized as gimmicky. SD cards and removable batteries became the only lasting meaningful difference. Design started to become stale and a hinderance."
General beat me to part of your comment but it's almost like you own an S3, is that correct? Have you managed to 'stay away' from the Internet for three years when it came to technology too? If so, good on ya bro! Wish I could!
The S4 was a Grand Slam. Hence the 'letdown' with S5 sales figures. That said, the two of them are significant improvements on their predecessor. ESPECIALLY AMOLED's technology, and now we're seeing the fruits of Sammys work on Exynos, the internal 'speed' of the storage and memory as well as camera, incredibly quick wifi and LTE speeds and the display, man the display. As an owner of both the iPhone 6+ & Note 4 (biz/personal), I've seen the improvements first hand. In all facets of smartphone usage. Speed, software, displays and cameras and their abilities, the fluency of the OS (I'm weird as I like TouchWiz and iOS, stock Android and OS X, even Win 8....1. Hated '8';) Point being, the difference between the three you compared is night and day. My Note 1's subsidy couldn't end quick enough. Impulse purchase at the time and I hated it. It would time out before an app could present the dialog box to accept permission, gingerbread w/TW was a mess, as the SoC couldn't cut through the peanut butter (code). Android wasn't perfect yet, but the difference between my Note 1 (same guts as the S3) & original Xoom was unreal. TW killed that phone. The S3 was much better as the stylus software wasn't killing it, but the Note 2/S4 update was HUGE! From the SoC to the camera, the display (AMOLED has matured EVERY year. So much so DisplayMate pre iPhone 6+, could be the same I've not looked ...has the Note 4 as one of, if not THE best display on the market ...and most reviews pegged the Note 4 as the Android phone to beat as an all rounder, IF you can handle the size (it feels much smaller than it is, I've owned 1, 3 and 4 my wife the 1, 2 and 4). The S5 was a 'lot' of half baked but cool ideas. It was a killer display. Phenomenal processing and memory, decent camera in most situations (forget low light), and an extraordinary amount of 'features' added by the OEM. Fingerprint reading and All the Galaxy apps that brought the engines power to it's knees. From S Voice to S Note, S Finder to Smart Stay added to AT& T's plethora of crap, it never really had a chance to 'spread its wings'. All other phones using the SD 800-805 are beasts, including the Note 4, an even further improvement to a near perfect display (consumer) calibration, with Samsung dropping many of the heavy code or worthless crap found on the S5. Also an extra GB of RAM, quick internal storage and a healthy quick MicroSD, fast as hell radios both wifi and cellular provided an enjoyable experience and with the LP 5.01 update I received a week ago, it's the first Android phone over a ½ year later that not only hasn't slowed, but has become MUCH faster, more responsive. Design wasn't EVER a hindrance. Quite the opposite. As an iPhone owner and two phone daily carrier, the design allowed for fast, safe access to battery and external storage. That's not a hindrance. Now I'd agree it didn't 'help' Sammy that metals and other plastics well formed and nicely crafted by other OEMs started to become the norm. I've always enjoyed the craftsmanship and 'design' from both Samsung and Apple and they've been extremely different. While reviews would talk about the faux stitching, mock leather, plastic flimsy backs...I don't recall ever reading about the necessity of that typed of manufacture. I've never had a Sammy back 'break' precisely because of its flexibility. Made it easy to access internals and not break it after a few open and closes and the stitching or rather textured plastic exterior made the type of material used easy to grip, tough to slip. I like aluminum too. Both have benefits. Both have drawbacks. But I wouldn't call battery replacement a detriment. We've got several extra Note batteries around the house and other than backpacking (GPS only, airplane. No cell service allowed, it's good to shut it down!) and I can easily get a couple days of use from the Note or iPhone these days. Need more juice there's many hundreds of car chargers, 'power packs' and now like the Note 4, USB 2 Quick Adaptive Charging (I owned the Note 3 and USB 3 while present wouldn't work at USB 3 speeds for transfer and ultimately no benefit to speed of transfers between computer and phone. It was picky on which computers it would even 'tell' it was '3' and showed as '2'). The QC cable and adaptor need to be used but 30 minutes 0-50% and about 90 to get to 100% is phenomenal. As with most OEMs not sporting the Nexus badge, it's lame relying on the OEM to push the latest version of Android 'out' OTA (another reason USB 3 isn't necessary! Who's plugging in anymore? MicroSD can be easily plugged in for faster media transfer from the computers but who needs the cord? Other than charging, either with Android or iOS? Neither require computers not have they since, huh, ironically enough, the S3 era;). And Kies sucks! iTunes is the Mona Lisa of software in comparison. As far as your SoC comments, just to add...Apple's the onIy OEM to successfully design their own chip and it's low level programming and architecture. They've got a single phone to worry about typically (different this year after the 5s/c test run) and they're able to control the Eco system relatively easily with onIy their 'own' to worry about) and a tablet they've used the same chip with certain upgrades or bulking up the SoC or increasing RAM. Samsung indeed has used the same Snapdragon processors as others but they used only the very best, top shelf parts in their flagships. They've never been shy about RAM, more cores or bigger, better and brighter displays. They're efforts have paid off with Exynos. A company doesn't build a billion or two transistor piece of silicon on a die the size of your thumbnail overnight. They've done a damn fine job 'keeping up' with Qualcomm IMHO ...to th extent when the 810 exhibited bizarre heat/throttling issues, they were able to immediately slide their own 64bit SoC in for ALL markets (it's been in the S3, 4, & 5 ...too lazy to research but I don't think Sammy used nVidia's Tegra at any point) quite nimbly for such a massive release. The 'saturation' issue very much went the way of the dodo two years ago or so with the S4, the Note 2. The S5/N3 were another HUGE step up and as General and I've echoed, the N-4 was even better and besting most of the flagship LCD panels. With a display setting the user can control you can 'over' saturate things if you'd like but go back and compare how good this transitions actually were objectively. Here and at DisplayMate.
You missed the actual displacement of LCD's dominance by Super AMOLED during the exact time period you specify. Apple is using it in their watch. It's gorgeous and the S5 software additions, we do agree, are/were, and they leaned 'gimmicky'. The improvement was evident with the Note 4 six months later and even more so with the S6.
I am curious though, has Samsung dropped the lollipop update for the S5 like the Note 4 in America? Or European countries with the Snapdragon 801/5? If so, and you've downloaded it, has Sammy remedied that bloat by a significant margin? I was happy with 4.4.4 on the N4, but 5.0;1 is like lightning (Nova launch 70%/Google Lauch 30%)
I can't imagine there's a beast trapped in there. The Note 4 has the same motor albeit a 50% bump in RAM. Seems like a simple S/W update as the sales stailed would've helped a company and millions of end users. I think they're trying (HARD) to optimize T/W and abide by Google's rules as muc as feasibly possible when you're using the OS with things like SPen, fingerprint scanning genesis, touch to share NFC or '(S)urrond(S)ound' @ the party!
I was disappointed when I heard Samsung went with a unibody design and removed the option for removable storage and replaceable battery, but I understand the decision and ultimately the market has spoken and agreed with this decision. Personally, the changes would've been unremarkable to me as I would throw a Spigen case on the phone anyways, so the least striking changes to the face would've been the only thing I would've noticed over my S4.
At the same time, I realized without these features, there was really much less reason to go with a Samsung/Android device, so along with the option to BYOD for work, I went ahead and got an iPhone 6 Plus. I guess I was ready to go with a phablet and there was a number of annoyances I had with Android (just too bloaty and too many hidden CPU drainers leading to awful battery life). My work iPhone on the other hand would go DAYS without needing to be charged.
Samsung also has an awful track record of supporting their existing products as they are always rushing towards "The Next Big Thing"; this has held true for a number of their products from SSDs, to phones, to Smart TVs. They just don't care once they have your money, they figure bad support is just forced obsolescence and a way to get more of your money in 2-3 years.
My iPhone 6 Plus hasn't been perfect and there are some oddball bugs I am running into (like Pandora burning CPU/battery randomlly), but overall I'm happy with the decision. We'll see where things stand in a few years when I am ready for another phone upgrade.
But that's just another example of Android's disjointed hodgepodge support model. Only more recent hardware supports their latest updates and then it is still up to the OEM and then the carrier's discretion to push the OTA update. End result is late updates that are already borderline irrelevant or no update at all.
IOS isn't perfect either and has had some bunk updates but I got the iOS 8.3 just three days after it was covered here.
"...annoyances I had with Android (just too bloaty and too many hidden CPU drainers leading to awful battery life)" "..some oddball bugs I am running into (like Pandora burning CPU/battery randomlly)"
Trade one demon for a devil. If I had to deal with the same thing either way, I'd go with the one you can actually have a chance at fixing yourself rather than just having to deal with it. :P
Well at least with iOS it is a well-documented solution that just involves closing and re-opening Pandora, vs. the solution to bloaty Android CPU suckage the answer is root your phone and become your own 24.7 tech support . :p
chizow is right. I tried to use a Note 3 to replace my iPhone 5 before iPhone 6 came out and after spending 2 weeks rooting, loading launchers, mod and so on I decided I don't want to waste any more time tweaking a phone. I had enough of that from high school and college days overclocking my water cooled computer. My time is a lot more valuable now.
Yep exactly, I spend enough time tweaking my PC and at least it provides me proper tools to do so. After a few months with the S4 I just realized it wasn't worth it as the awful battery life and bloats OS made me want to just keep it in my pocket for fear of running out of juice when I actually needed it for phone functions.
I'm ambidextrous. Use the 6+(personally) & Note 4 (family business of two decades). To be fair with your assessment the iPhone 5 sucked battery just as quick as the S4. At the time, comparable flagships for six months. 5S remedied it with iOS 7, but nothing like iOS 8 and the 6+'s battery size. It's physics and I'm with ya, not arguing. Just my two cents as my Note 4 with 5.0.1 is nearly identical to my 6+ with iOS 8.3 at the end of a 14-16 hour work and family day with similar usage shows similar reserves. Easily 50%. Usually high sixties
The memory leaks of yesterday and more granular control of apps and their background abilities on Amdroid (and the new core framework of 5.0), it's distribution of RAM (compression) and raw speed of the NAND makes the new generations of Android feel like iOS. Seriously. It's rare I run into less than 60fps manipulating the UI. And I use third party launcher Nova or Google. Samsung's stock browser is now not only capable but 'fast' and the displays have come a really REALLY LONG way since your S4. They're cool. Stop in and play with the hiDPI models like the S6 and Note 4. The latter of which hauls ass. And looking at these results, the S6 smokes it! Across the board! And like us iOS dorks, Android's finally got a 128GB on board storage option. I'm as die hard SD card user as there is. I've got a Samsung Pro micro SD that just came out, & it screams! Awesome to pack with media and the like. But then again, I had two choices. White or black. 32 or 32GB. Even the fastest 64GB CF cards are over $200 to get to ½ the speed the S6's internals are reading and writing. And removable storage is prone to failure by user fault than non accessible OEM supplied 'system' optimized storage. This latest batch of iOS and Android flagships have seen a significant increase in the internal read/write performance. Anyone that used or is using HDDs and have switched to an SSD knows the difference in perceived speed. It's the same on a phone when they've increased as much as they managed to in the past two years. Especially this round. Note 4. The iPhone 6/6+. And now the king, look at those speeds on the S6. Those are insane and with the faster SoC, RAM (DDR4) and 'storage' I just talked about, along with the lollipop update and it's corresponding (massive) energy savings I've seen makes these 'phones' over the past ten months faster than computers we were using just five years ago. With higher resolution displays. Faster internet than even possible in most places then, wired! & we're getting those speeds on LTE! Wireless cell speed, increased horsepower, refined OS and leaps and bounds of improvements to AMOLED technology have made for a really tough decision which platform to go with. I'm still partial to iOS but only because of its integration and aggregation with OS X, my OS of choice. While I also use Win 8.1 and enjoy it ...neither system welcomes my browser of choice for nearly a decade. Chrome. Now 'Google Apps' it 'takes over' your computer. OS X or Windows, slow as molasses and it's a resource hog! Never thought I'd see the day IE and Safari would be my first choice(s).
Sorry to ramble. Just a view from someone not as responsible as yourself (I've no self control and can't decide between which, so both) and having continued ownership of both platforms since you switched, I'm floored by the improvements to Android, and their associated flagships. The displays are unbelievable when watching movies. Just awesome. Hard to explain how immersive a flick is on a 1440p 5.7" display with a killer set of cans ;)
Well written article, however given the few negatives, and very notable benchmarks, I am surprised it didn't receive a 'recommended' badge. The Exynos 7420 Soc itself deserves an award. In fact, numerous statements in the article certainly distinguish this phone as the current class of the field. 'What's a phone gotta do...'
That's kinda what I concluded. Awards? Who GAS? Hey quite honestly says this is hands down the Android 'king of the hill' (my quote) several times. Camera. Check. Display check. SoC - Yep, Whole page devoted to it eating the rest of the field for lunch. The only silicon that competes with it right now is the A8, Apple's second generation 64bit bad ass. Kinda cool Sammy did what they did with Exynos when the SD810 heat/throttling came to light. Good for them but I think I must've read a different article than you. This isn't a site for trophies and ribbons. And you don't have to read between lines He actually says this is the BEST Android on the market and perhaps best overall phone. There's areas iOS best Android and vice versa. It's tough to say ones better than the other with 'numbers' ratings or some sort of star system. Bette to say it with words as the author (Josh? I'm sorry bud. Too lazy to look;)) has dome. It's right above this section. It's called "Final Words"
I just had a hands on with both phones for more that an hour. Nice performance but too expensive for android phones. I am disappointed from a 1000€ phone (no sd, single sim, single speaker) and I can not feel it as a premium for that price range.
You can buy a cheaper android phone that can cover your needs 99% with the 1/3 of the “Edge” price. S6 can score 70000 in Antutu but mine with 40000 is super fast in every game - application I have used.
Apple became cheaper that Samsung thats the news !!!!
"As a reminder, power scales quadratically with voltage, so a drop from 1287.50mV to 1056.25mV as seen in the worst bin 1.9GHz A57 frequency should for example result in a massive 48% drop in dynamic power."
It's a 33% drop in dynamic power, isnt' it?
(1287.5^2 - 1056.25^2) / 1287.5^2 = 0.327.
(The 48% number would be how much more power the higher voltage part uses than the lower voltage part, which is not the power drop.)
Im very puzzled by the large differences between the stock browser and Chrome. They both are based on the Blink engine, and use V8 for JavaScript execution. This definitely points to "optimizations" done in the stock browser for these benchmarks. Could you do some other benchmarks on the phones?
Or, it's the other way around. Google needs to do a LOT of work of optimizing Chrome for the various hardware out there, especially the most popular ones. Chrome isn't getting the highest marks in optimization you know, especially on the desktop. I thought that was a well known and understood issue?
Can someone explain to me why an application needs to be optimized for certain hardware? Isn't it just using libraries for rendering (OGL, whatever), and those libs have already been optimized for the GPU? And the non-rendering part of the app should be byte-compiled appropriately?
Back in the 1980's I used to optimize apps for certain hardware. . . in assembly code. What are they doing these days? And why is it necessary? Poor abstractions?
These optimizations are not for specific hardware, but for the specific BENCHMARK. They can easily tweak parameters inside the Javascript engine to give higher score on specific benchmarks like Octane and Kraken. These optimizations would negatively affect the common web JS workloads, but would give higher benchmark score. Google/Mozilla wouldnt do such shenanigans as they do not priortize for specific benchmark, unless it also improves general JS workloads
I have a big problem with the way their camera module juts out from the back of the device. I have a Galaxy S5 Active (my first smart phone) and the camera broke within about 2 months of ownership. I believe it's because it juts out and is a focal point of stresses as a result (pressure while in pocket, pressure when laid on a flat surface, etc), and the very weak glass they use to cover the lense is subject to breaking. I've read many comments from others that this happened to them, and it happened to me. Now the camera is useless.
I could put a big ugly case on the thing to protect the camera, sure, but that's why I bought the Active - because I didn't want to put a case on my phone.
I see that Samsung continues with this horrid camera module design. I won't be buying another Samsung with this characteristic.
I suspect Samsung would do well to copy Apple in one more respect --- making cases a big part of the user experience. Something that critics of the iPhone 6 (in particular the "slippery sides" and "too much sacrificed for thinness" don't seem to get is that, IMHO, Apple sees cases as a significant part of the iPhone experience. Which is why they provide their own --- expensive but very nice --- high end cases, and are willing to accept the inevitable leaks we see from case makers in advance of new products.
Once you accept that a case is part of the story - the thinness makes more sense, because you're going to be adding a few mm via the case - likewise the camera bulge, while less than ideal, is not such a big issue - likewise complaints about the fragility of glass backs, etc. Cases also allow for a dramatic level of customization without Apple having to stock a zillion SKUs. You could even argue that the aWatch band proliferation is Apple having learned from the size of the case market for iPhones and iPads, and arranging things so that they get the bulk of the high-end money that's available in this space.
Every other phone manufacturer is in a much weaker position than Apple because they don't have the massive range of cases available. But they could at least try to improve the situation by providing their own cases --- maybe at least a high end leather model, a low-end plastic model, and an "I'm paranoid I'm going to drop my phone" model. They should also call out the cases during the big press reveal of each phone (like Apple does) and ship some cases along with each review unit (not sure if Apple does this, but they should).
All of which makes the Edge, IMHO, even more of a gimmick (in spite of Samsung claiming they will no longer do gimmicks). You get a much more expensive manufacturing process to provide something whose real functionality could probably be provided with a few colored LEDs, and you dramatically reduce the design space available for cases.
Oh well. Stay tuned for the next Samsung model which (don't tell me, let me guess) will feature as its big new feature a haptic (don't call it Taptic!) engine and which, with any luck, will manage to ship in at least one country before the iPhone 6S, so that Samsung can claim (and have the true believers accept) that this was their plan all along, that they were in no way influenced by Apple's obvious [based on aWatch and MacBook] next big UI element.
Hi name99. Wish there was an up vote;). Well said. As an owner of the iPhone 6+ (& each iteration before it), I've 'finally' found the Apple iPhone case:). Lol. I bought some Platinum Incipio Pro kickstand crap, a really lame Spec case (& I love their laptop shells on my MBP) before I finally made a trip down to the Apple Store and picked up the simple, brown leather iPhone 'Apple' case (I don't remember it being expensive though, seems like 39, maybe 49 bucks? Seems like the standard pricing regardless of manufacturer out of the gate). I'm embarrassed to say since 2007, I've never had the Apple case. Always bought third party and typically Mophies starting with the iPhone 4/4s.
Sorry, TL/dr -- not in defense of Android OEM lack of third party peripherals as its true but this last year, 18 months has changed some. The S-View case specific to the 's' and 'note' brands are pretty sweet. I use one on my Note 4 and like the Apple cam/case combo the S-Case also protects the camera protrusion while adding even more functionality. It's magnet sensing for turn on/off by open/close and the small maybe 2" x 2" 'S-View' (small window on front) allows answering of calls, quick text/tweet/FB/email/whatever-u-set-up response capability, notifications and time (customize faces and information on clock), weather and 'maps', settings, and more. It's slick and it's protective.
But you're right. The Apple iOS cases kick ass. I own the 'smart' cases (not covers, they suck) on our iPads too. Be nice if they quit changing the dimensions ever so slightly each iteration ala iPhone. Usually get two generations of the iPhone outta one case. Single on an iPad. Oh well. Keep em longer too I suppose).
Good to see another avid iOS user. I love both and have since the original 4GB, non subsidized $500 2G iPhone and the Xoom/S1 ...and to date I'm undecided. Don't play with the new Amdroids. They're very nice as well. It's too dangerous now with AT&T/Verizon, even Best Buy, etc. just pick what you want. The color. The capacity. No money down and NEXT fools ya. Before you know it, you've got iPads for everyone in the family. A pair of Nexus 7s you're trying to figure out what to do with, iPhones and Notes... Just 'try' the M9, or the G3/(4 coming?) what the heck, can't hurt. Before you know it you've got a dozen devices all accessing your data, exponentially increases bandwidth used on wifi and LTE for updates and the ilk. And a $700 'phone' bill. Lol. Too cool.
Does t matter which way you go, iPhone 5s/6/6+ or S5/Note4/G3/M8 or 9, Note 4 or this bad boy. They're ALL 'computers' in our pocket. Across the board faster and more energy efficient than computers we used last decade. The storage. The connectivity. The processing and RAM, controllers (micro); accelerometer, barometer, proximity and Bluetooth 4.1, wireless AC and 2x2 antenna arrangement ...without... An antenna ( those of us in our forties, probably mid to late thirties remember those, right? ...other than the sweet 'bands' on my 6+;) course hidden by earlier do dissed Apple's iPhone case. iPad cases. They're sweet. Kinda like their trackpads in comparison to EVERY other OEM. They work. All. The. Time. They NEVER don't. WTH can't Windows get an OEM partner to nail the trackpad? Perhaps that's why they decided on 'touch'? :-)
Thanks for the review! I've been waiting on the Anandtech review before looking at a new phone; y'alls simply can't be beat.
The major concern for me with the S6 was battery life, but you seem to have put that concern to rest here. I fall under the "drawn by the new design" camp as well - I'm a pretty heavy user, but removable storage has never really mattered to me as I don't like keeping too much data on my phone. A removable battery is nice, but I'm already used to having a power pack with me so that's not a huge deal. I'm still waiting to see what the LG G4 brings though. If performance is good enough with the rumored SD 808 (really concerned about GPU driving the QuadHD Display), then the larger battery could make it worth it to go to LG. I'm also hoping that Samsung releases a custom theme tool, and somebody makes a relatively close stock Android icon/color set, as the default TouchWiz UI is kind of gaudy for me (teal? seriously?)
The first Android smartphone of recent dates that gets everything right imho. I'm considering buying it, but only when the price drops below 500 euros here.
I'm sorry, but I can't take Anandtech seriously anymore. I mean, just look at the the review of this phone's display. Somehow the iPhone 6 beats it in nearly every aspect, and there are key areas where the S6 is even worse than many other phones (like White Point). Compare this to DisplayMates shootout of the S6 (which is much more broad and of course has more legitimacy), who came to the conclusion that the S6 is the best phone display they have ever tested on almost every aspect. The same conclusion they had with the Note 4. Based on this review, however, the AMOLED on the S6 is still not better than the best LCD phone (iPhone 6).
Let me give an example of how much these two tests vary, and how serious you should take Anandtech's test:
DisplayMate: "When Automatic Brightness is turned On, the Galaxy S6 reaches an impressive 784 cd/m2 (nits) "
Anandtech: Samsung Galaxy S6 reaches 610 nits.
That's a whole difference of 174 nits from the two tests!
DisplayMate derives that figure from a 1% APL pattern, which is pretty non-representative of any real-world use-case. The 610 nit figure here comes from a 100% APL image, meaning pure white. Also, if you read the bottom part of the display section, you will see the APL chart where we indeed show how brightness increases with lowering APL, reaching near the very figures that you are quoting.
Everyone has different phone usage preferences. I have no need for a 64-128GB SD card on top of the native storage. I have modest music stored and although I take a lot of photos I use One Drive's "camera roll" feature that immediately uploads new shots to my cloud when a usable wifi connection is made and they land on my PC in seconds. This removable battery/SD card "must have" mantra is getting old. I have absolutely no interest in carrying around an extra battery. Hopefully as native storage becomes more affordable and batteries even more efficient it will fade away forever.
Its a shame they had to add all those wasted pixels. This phone would have much bettery performance and battery life at 1080p. I really dont get this need to drive so many pixels. The market needs to start penalizing this stupidity.
I clearly see a difference because of the pentile matrix. For every green subpixel there are one bigger red and one blue subpixel. So the "effective resolution" is 1/3rd lower, which places the S5 at 288 dpi and the S6 at 384ppi respectively. Where I can see some sort of individual pixels or pentile "grain" on the S5's display, thats nearly impossible with the S6.
And it's also not clear if the battery life would be so much better. Because of the fact that the pixel light by themself, smaller pixels could mean lower power consumption per pixel. The power consumption of a 1080p AMOLED display might not be even lower than that of a 1440p display. The only thing that might be higher is rendering performance in 3D.
Does this phone still have the same bug that the galaxy s4 had where the android os would go crazy and use up a full batter in 4-5 hours with no usage whatsoever? It really sucks to leave the house with a full a charge and then have the phone go dead in 4 hours when you didn't even use it.
I can't say if you are right or wrong. but if it was another app, why is it that the app didn't use any battery power? It will put android OS at 90%+ of battery usage when this happens.
lack of sd card is a non issue since the base model has 32GB. And there are 64 and 126GB models available. Lack of removable battery is a HUGE problem because of this "bug". My s4 has 9.5GB of internal storage and a 64GB sd card. After 2 years the internal storage has used 6.5GB of the 9.5 on the internal and 24GB on the sd card. A total of less than 30GB. But without a removable battery, android is a useless system. I've never heard of any such battery issue with ios.
S6 v S4= night and day. I had a Note 3 (essentially the S3) and now have the S6. App management at the low level of 5.0.1 along with significant changes to TouchWiz and the Play Store all but eliminates those challenges on Android from two plus years ago It's an entirely different experience and for the better. Side load and its on you but using common sense you're not likely going to run into leaking apps these days. With 3GB of Much faster RAM doesn't hurt either ;)
My LG phone did that as well. I was an Apple user for 4 years (3GS, 4S) until giving Android a try. After 1.5 years of unpredictable battery life, and incredibly slow bug fixes, I "downgraded" to an old iPhone 5. Wow - it's nice to not not worry about battery life! I'm typically still at 75% at the end of the day, with moderate use. I can go 3 days if I milk it. I never had a problem with the Android hardware - screen was amazing, and plastic casing was no big deal - but the battery life wasn't there, and had to go back to Apple.
I, too, am an Android to iPhone convert who appreciates iOS's more stable battery life... but if you are getting that kind of a longetivity out of an iPhone 5, your use must be on the VERY light side of "moderate"...
Its hard to tell where s6 stands compared to iphone6 in terms of battery. I'm considering a switch but am concerned the battery is worse than my already underwhelming iphone. Anyone have both?
Just get the iPhone 6+ then. I typically get between 8-10 hours of screen-on time on my 6+ divided evenly between LTE and wi-fi. My record is 10hr 23min screen-on over 1day 14hr at 36% Safari, 16% Home screen and 10% Family Guy.
Great, you idiot reviewers have ruined the last good phone easily available in North America. Can you form-over-function morons now leave the tech sites and go write for GQ or Cosmo or whatever? Then maybe in another phone generation or two without your horrible opinions clouding all the tech sites, we can once again get an awesome pocket computer instead of shiny garbage.
I feel for ya. I was pretty sure Samsung, always mindful of its home market South Korea and the preponderance of those Korean users needing swappable batteries there, would ensure removable battery (if not removable SD card) .... boy, was I wrong ...
Reviewer (male) says "there was zero benefit to the edge display". Try carrying your phone around in a purse, and you will see a huge benefit to the edge display - checking notifications and seeing who is calling without having to pull the phone out of your purse.
Samsung has come out with a well rounded device this year.Good design,good hardware and acceptable software.
Personally i'm impressed with samsung's cutting edge SoC .The exynos 7420 is by far the best SoC out there,clearly ahead of the snapdragon 810.The exynos maintains higher clock speeds over extended workloads while keeping power consumption and temperature in check.The GPU does lag behind in the on screen performance but that has to to do with the 2560x1440 resolution. Samsung's innovation would have been much more prominent if they had kept the screen resolution down.
The lack of sd card and removable battery support are those aspects of the device which have the potential of making it or breaking it for a number of consumers.Personally i have no issues with a non removable battery since i'm a casual user however for hardcore gamers or power users who charge their devices at least twice a day,they inevitably would have to face the hardship of getting their device's battery replaced at some point after about a year's usage.I'm acceptant of samsung's decision to do without the sd-slot.It could be a serious let down for some but after the restriction of kitkat 4.4( for security reasons) its just difficult to move data to the sd card.My last two sd cards got corrupted and i have lost my data on sd card more than once(maybe just my carelessness).I'm happy samsung are providing wider storage options for consumers with varying storage needs.
After the disappointments of my previous samsung devices i've stayed away from anything samsung, however i'm looking forward to getting this device.
The S6 is roughly 2 mm thinner than the S5 and yet the camera sticks out ... roughly 2 mm? Would it have been so hard to made the phone the same thickness as the S5 and make the camera flush with the body? That would also have added some extra internal volume to keep the battery closer to the size of the S5's.
Another case of pointless "thinness" spec whoring. :(
It's funny, two years ago I predicted this very phone. But I did not assumed it would be a replacement for the S-series, rather a new tier. But maybe as other have said the Note series will be the new "everything and the kitchen sink", with S now standing for stylish. And the edge looks amazing, the first major step in cellphone design in the last five years.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6/general/... According to the benchmarks in this post on XDA, there seems to be no noticeable impact on S6 performance after encryption, except for random write which is ~17% slower. I hope Samsung enables it by default on future devices.
I am against fingerprint sensors in phones as it gives people a false sense of security. Fingerprints, like DNA, can be subpoenaed. If you have sensitive data on your phone (legal or otherwise), a fingerprint lock is not sufficient. You need to use a password or pattern lock, which cannot be subpoenaed.
It's not "without" a warrant. Read what the op said and what I responded to. A judge legally subpoenaed the information and that person wants to hide it from the courts. Big difference from just grabbing your phone and getting the information without a subpoena.
Warrants and subpoenas are both writs, which the court issues with legally justified reasons. In essence they are the same thing, so unless you are actually engaged in illegal activities I see no reason to be scared that your fingerprint can get subpoenaed LOL
Lawyers and Doctors are examples of people with legal and sensitive information. Also corporations worried about corporate espionage. That's just off the top of my head, I'm guessing you didn't think before responding.
Also, just because the average person has nothing to hide does not mean they should lose their right to protect their data.
I thought before responding. The key thing here is that a court issues a legal subpoena for the information. You are talking about hiding information from a judge that has legally subpoenaed the information. Unless what you are doing is illegal, there is no need to have to hide it from the court that legally subpoena's the information. And in fact you would be breaking more laws by trying to subvert a legal subpoena
Now if you are a child rapist that records what you do on your phone, I could understand about being worried about "legal" subpoenas.
You aren't subverting anything if you use a pattern or password lock, because knowledge CAN'T be subpoenaed as it's protected by the fifth amendment. Also, how many times have police agencies obtained information without due process? Good attorneys can usually get such information thrown out, but not always.
You're in luck. In order TO USE the fingerprint system, one must 'choose a password, pattern ...' (Possibly tgird choice, can't remember not gonna look) as a backup. So you're both gonna be alright. Just quit with the paranoia. Judges, lawyers and doctors don't have things to hide in their cell phones, anymore than a CEO of a corporation or Jony Ive that a court's going to subpoena its contents without damn good reason. Let's see how far ol Tom Brady wants to 'appeal' this decision. After talking to Goddell, if the suspension is upheld, Tom won't be able to hide, dispose of or erase the contents of his cell phone, iPad or computer ...however he communicated with 'the deflator' -- the court can absolutely then subpoena his phone, as well as the ball boys' phones. They should be worried. If you should, maybe you should check yourself. It's like the paranoia of cloud storage, using Google or allowing 'Pop Ups'. It's irrelevant what you're doing to 'hide'. You can't. If you're online, everything you do is forever embedded somewhere, in some server, and won't go away. Like BubblyJack below me (jocks don't spend all day bagging on Apple when no one else has mentioned them) -- digital paranoia is silly, unless you're doing something illegal and IMHO, if you are and these tools catch you, AWESOME, more power to the 'tools, capturing digital thieves, identity thieves and phishing antagonists, child porn traders and drug sales sites like the Silk World Take down recently, torrenting sites stealing music and TV or movies --- they're all bad, they all suck, and they should be exsposed ** I'm in no way endorsing government censorship or web oversite, including the ability to gamble, watch porn ( of age ) --- even buy weird, niché stuff, but breaking the law is braking the law, and we've got internationally recognized 'law' and morales that I'm absolutely for 'governing' online. It would really suck if the 'net was somehow broken because of the 1%'ers, and not holding back your information can't 'teach' systems like Google more than they can hurt us when it comes down to it **
Last line was supposed to be allowing our information to Google CAN teach the 'systems' and in turn, Us more about ourselves. Interests. Health. Shopping deals and aggregation of our own data, pictures, media collections and management. If we allow it to, we're just a number in a pot of hundreds of millions.
lordconrad, the sheep have been trained, expect no enlightenment, no western standards, and no clue
thus we have the current situation, all the data is mined and bluffdale is packed to the gills
the retards won't believe no matter how many times they are informed and it is proven to them, and their pat answer is : what does it matter anyway!!??!! ( only a criminal would care )
so I'm not certain how eggheads have become glorious useful idiots, other than the wool is so thick there's no meat on them bones, and the shrunken brain has crumbled to coddled dust
who are you kidding, yourselves ? YEARS AGO our big gov sucked all your data, and has been ever since
retroactive and completely illegal pardons were then issued
Frankly I'd rather he laws and the reality be that the idiot criminal government never be able to get anything, and the fact that they are sucking down everything all the time means I can't wait for it to stop
It's a principle, not a crime, sheep
They have no right to anything, EVER, that's what law abiding citizens DEMAND.
I compared the edge to my iPhone 6 plus display and find still the display of the edge is still too saturated even in basic mode, how so...according to the benchmarks the display should be as good as the 6 plus but it was not, the color accuracy is still not as accurate??
it is not true, my iPhone 6 plus display matches spot on with my calibrated iMac 27" screen via Spider 4 and Color Eyes Display Pro....so no Sir you are the one that is used to oversaturated colors on Samsung phones.....I am a full time photographer so I know a thing or two about accurate colors
Ignore the troll. Both S6 and 6+ screen are accurate but S6 have lower white point than 6+. I am not sure about the color mode and adaptive color setting on the phone. I would suggest you wait for Erica Griffin's full review to come out on YouTube as she review color mode in detail. She only have hands-on review at the moment.
You clearly don't know what the hell you are talking about. Read this review of the screen of the S6 by Displaymate (the only actual and legitimate display-tester out there): http://www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_S6_ShootOut_1.ht...
The Galaxy S6 (like the Note 4) has by far the best display out there.
" The measured Absolute Color Error for the Galaxy S6 Basic Screen Mode is just 1.6 JNCD, tied with the Galaxy Note 4 as the most color accurate display that we have ever measured for a Smartphone or Tablet, which is visually indistinguishable from perfect, and is very likely considerably better than your living room TV or any display that you own.
I have never owned an apple product, and thought I never would. But after my experiences with the s4 and the android os things might be different next time. I still don't like apple and don't really want an iphone. I am a very light user, it's mostly for phone calls. What good is a phone that on it's best day will last about 16 hours. Then on other days with occasional bugs that cause the OS to go crazy and use the battery up in 4-5 hours with no usage..
Overall excellent review. I still really appreciate the screen color and gamut testing. It sets Anandtech apart. What equipment are you looking for to do audio testing? In my case, I am more interested in the headphone output than the speakers as I can't use the speakers in public anyway.
Something similar to the APx582 would be necessary to test 3.5mm output accurately, and a good SPL meter would help with speaker quality although I'm not sure results for the latter would be comparable between editors.
Wow, that camera comparison is really poorly done. Trying to compare what you seem to think are the 2 best cameras (iPhone 6+ and S6) was extremely difficult. Why do you present the galleries in such a way as it is impossible to determine which picture to click to see which phone and why can't we see them clearly in the same page, instead of the click fest you force us to go through? Surely there is a better way to demonstrate this?
1. Were these photos taken with Auto-HDR enabled? If I am not mistaken, both the iPhone and S6 ship with Auto-HDR turned on by default. Those impressive low-light photos Samsung showed at the unveiling were taken with Auto-HDR enabled.
2. Can immersive mode (full-screen) be disabled on Samsung apps like Calculator and S-Planner?
3. Were there any problems with RAM management like in this video https://youtu.be/hUw9PUlFUF0?t=1m32s where the S6 keeps killing apps in the background? It could explain the poor battery life some people are experiencing as apps would have to be killed and reloaded all day.
4. Can heads-up notifications be disabled?
5. I wish there was a way to test standby battery usage. It is something android phones have always been poor at compared to iPhones. How about a test where the x most popular apps (like Facebook, Gmail, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter with the same accounts, sync enabled) are installed to multiple test devices on the same wifi network and the battery usage is measured after x hours?
6. Why does Samsung still include the Quick Connect and S-Finder buttons in the notification slider? It's so annoying, and there is no way to disable them without root (except on a few US carrier versions).
I just tested GS6 edge 64GB and Androbench4.0 result is 320MB/s(seq. read), 140MB/s(seq. write) with default setting. And another website GS6 performance review it the same as mine. please check the UFS test.
The default sequential test does 32MB sequential reads which is wildly unrealistic at best. As shown in the storage performance section we test using 256KB reads and writes for sequential performance.
Nice review Joshua! I don't see any Ipad Air 2 performances in the performance charts (although they are constantly referenced...) could you check on the graphs?
Seems like there are only 2 company making real flagship phones now: Apple and Samsung. To achieve this status, buying off-the-shelf parts are no longer good enough. You need to custom order parts and optimize the software specifically for the parts. From SoC, memory, screen to camera, everything is custom ordered to achieve the best quality. Off-the-shelf phones like M9 and Nexus 6 are relegated to good $500ish phone status.
On the other hand, it is sad to see Samsung abandon all its believes and completely adapted Apple design and philosophy. Nano-SIM, downward speaker, simplified camera UI, fingerprint magnet back, home-button scanner and the abandonment of colorful UI and screen tone. Samsung users always love the punchy screen color. What are they going to say now the school is color corrected like iPhone display?
Maybe, I think LG or Sony could still step up to the plate... Sony's got a whole bunch of outside issues threatening the future of it's phone division tho, and probably their budget. Which is a shame because they made the only SMALL flagship phone last year in the Z3c.
The bigger issue at play might be that a good chunk of the market is now complacent with their $500 or less also-rans, and another sizeable chunk is just buying outgoing models instead of the current hotness. Otherwise the SGS5 should've sold even better than the 4, and it had every right to based on hardware alone.
I'm part of that segment tbh, huge Android fan, initially went thru three successive HTC phones year after year... Not really feeling that upgrade bug anymore, at all. I'd like better battery life than what my N5 offers, and/or water resistance, can live without either for now.
My phone isn't my main camera so I'm an exception there but I don't think the average buyer even realizes what makes for a better camera or reads AT to find out.
That SoC. And that storage. And that screen. And that camera. And that design and build quality...i just held this thing for the first time yesterday and was frankly smitten despite of my initial skepticism.
Anyway the benchmark performance is EPIC. iPhone got thoroughly beaten throughout, (except, of course, in the on screen graphics test)
I mean this phone scores higher in Geekbench than the freaking MacBook!!!
Oh and using synthetic tests for the battery is an absolute horse sh!t of unbelievable proportions!
Why just not go common sense and no horsesh!t, like the actual tests of endurance for calling, music, video playback, gaming and browsing??
According to GSMArena, the S6 scores over 11 hours of browsing and video playback, which is a GREAT result and perfectly on line with Samsung’s official slides.
So comment A= 'Epic benchmarks!' And comment B= 'Why are you using synthetic benchmarks?' (In essentially the ONLY B/M that's throttled by the competition?)
I have a few questions to the complainers of no removable battery and lack thereof of storage.
How many times have you had to replace the battery in your s5?
How much storage were you actually buying/using?
I went from s5 to s6, Why because I'm a phone addict and I like new things.
The base s5 had 16gb while the s6 base, has 32gb. Technology moves at such a pace, either you like and use what you have or buy the newest thing. I personally don't care if it has a removable battery or storage. Heck, they have various cloud services along side the phones storage plus many other options to store things with and via the phone.
Complaining does what? Perhaps the next variants will have that but wait, at what costs. Supposedly they're making a phone with removable battery and sd card.
iPhones haven't had removable batteries and SD cards since creation and obviously they sell. Samsung rightfully sees that as a nitch market worth sacrificing to market a more appealing phone. Phones have all but replaced jewelry as the new social status device. People want appealing items to pull out of their pockets and display for all on the counter, table or bar. I'm sure another competitor will design a phone that will have those. So when you nerds pull out your phones you can proudly explain your joy about having a replaceable battery and SD card slots to your friends if they can stay awake that long.
Excellent review. I have been a Samsung fan for a while but sadly the lack of removable battery and sd card ruins this phone for me. Once you put the phone in a case it looks very similar to the older plastic versions. I'm extremely irritated that consumers have led Samsung to make a phone that compromises everything for the sake of looks. It looks like the LG G4 is going to be my next phone.
Are you aware that in the COUNTRY benchmarks you mentioned the iPad Air 2 several times but didn't include it in the charts? You even wrote "here we see the Air 2" blah blah except it's not in the chart!
We're often faced with a dilemma here as inserting comparison devices can lead to a naive reading that we're attempting to directly compare a tablet-class vs smartphone-class SoC when one has a significantly higher TDP. These scores are also available on Bench but we will add them with a note.
Looking at the phone I can very easily state this is an iPhone by Samsung. Leaving the incredibly stupid decisions (no microSD card slot on a high-end phone) and the stupid ones aside (battery is hard to remove), this is one big piece of sh!t. If I wanted an iSh!t, I would've bought one, Sammy. Let CrApple be CrApple, you Korean copycats. I wouldn't be surprised if the Koreans got a deal with the Americans to have the right to use their design papers. This is nearly identical to an iSh!t - look at the edges, at the way the various antennas were integrades, at the grills, the buttons, the SIM cover and the way to remove it.....THIS IS A CrApple product, not a Samsung one.
Oh and yes, the SGS5 was ugly as hell and brought nothing new to the table. No progress, no sale. Why would anyone spend money on a phone that's basically the same as its previous generation in terms of tech specs and capabilities, looks a million times worse (including the the version for Gypsies) and costs as if it was a flagship in every possible way?
I couldn't care less about the decisions taken over at Samsung, but I'd love to see these huge "F**k you, customers!" and middle fingers pointed at us reflected in the product sales. Microsoft did the same thing and they woke up and even posted apologies and stating "We listened." big and clear on their front page. They are about to screw things up with that stupid Windows h8 theme in WIndows 10 again...but keeping in mind how late the XP theme came after XP was first introduced, they are still on schedule.
Leaving MicroSD card slot is not a mainstream decision but a decision out of greed. It is costlier to buy a phone with bigger memory than to stick in a MicroSD card.
h265 encode is mentioned as a capability of the SoC, but does the S6 record video using that codec, in any size? I'm very keen for this as I love the idea of 4K video but have reservations over handling gigantic h264 files that could be half the size if they used h265.
Am I the only person that holds onto a smart phone for more than 18-24 months? I really dislike the trend of smart phones becoming more and more "disposable" items.
For my own requirements, they're honestly at the point now that they're fast enough, the screens are good enough, and I don't use the camera enough (I carry around a Sony NEX) that I could buy any of the high-end phones like this or an iPhone 6 and stick with it for the next five years. Storage is the only thing which I am constantly limited by.
Yes, you now have the option of a 128GB phone - well my music library alone is more than a terabyte in size. Now I don't *need* to carry my entire music library on my person at all times, but it would be nice if I could.
When you consider that a phone is also storing apps, games, photos, videos and other data, even 128GB is not a lot of storage. I may only have 30GB or so left over that I can dedicate to music after all that - which means that I'm better off still carrying around an old 160GB iPod. What I want more than anything is a phone which can finally replace that.
With a MicroSD slot, you can dedicate all of that storage to media. 64GB MicroSDXC cards are dirt-cheap right now, 128GB are a bit more expensive, and they currently top out at 200GB.
Well several years from now there may be 256GB, 384GB and 512GB cards available at the same prices 64/128/200GB cards are today.
The SDXC standard supports up to 2TB, so theoretically you could have that much storage in any phone with a MicroSDXC slot if such a card were ever released.
It just seems short-sighted to remove the MicroSD slot.
Your battery will likely need replacing before 5 years... having to ship you're phone off for a replacement battery is just as bad as the storage problem
I actually mentioned a replaceable battery in my initial draft, intending to shuffle it to the end of the post, but I must have removed it instead. I completely agree, a replaceable standard battery is an important thing to have.
While I have done it, I don't want to have to disassemble a phone to replace the battery, and swap it out with a third-party one of questionable quality/safety standards.
Micro SD cards are not as reliable as the internal flash memory (and obviously not as fast). I experienced this first hand when I went on vacation last summer and used my Samsung GS4 Active to take pics and videos. On the second night, I powered the phone off and swapped the batteries, and found that all the pics / videos I took for that day were gone, even though they had been showing in QuickPic when I got back to the hotel before powering the phone off.
The micro SD card (Sandisk UHS-10 64gb) had gone into failsafe read-only mode due to failure. I had to connect to the WiFi every night and back my stuff up to Google Drive.
Perhaps I have been fortunate, but as long as I have paid for quality cards and checked that they are genuine (there are a lot of fake SanDisk cards out there) I have yet to have one fail on me. And moving to a read-only state is a pretty good failure mode if you ask me.
But I don't think that MicroSD should *replace* the internal storage. That's why I want a phone with 128GB—or more—internal storage in addition to a MicroSD slot, so that the MicroSD is only used to store media.
I just want the option of having my phone replace the need for carrying around an old iPod. I don't plan on using MicroSD for running apps, or making up for the fact that the phone itself only has 8GB of storage.
You failed to mention there's a maddening delay when you use Samsung's replacement for "Ok, Google" voice activation features. They disabled the standard Google activation and replaced it with their inferior version.
I'll re-read, but I could've sworn that was mentioned a couple times. Maybe it was ARS, but I'll check, as you're right. SVoice is the 'front end' to access GVoice and therefore allows Sammy to 'remember' your search information, etc. I've been able to work around, I believe, on my Note 4 now with the 5.0.1 update Use Google Laincher. Disable Samsung account and sync and mine flies! Much faster than Nova, Go or vanilla TouchWiz and 'possibly' part of Google's Launch code, while using its only syncing data through Google (possibly SVoice or SRememberEverything in the background). I'll have to recheck and time but the update to LP has certainly sped all facets of the UI, updates, app launching and all around perceived 'speed'. I use a dark wallpaper, Nova Launcher 70% of the time and GLauncher the other portion. Possibly Google's new 5.0.1 code is more specific to usage of its own services overriding those of carrier or the OEM. Again, unsure but damn it flies!
I'm going to spend this week with Google's camera to see if the Note 4 fan shoot the new raw still formats. As a decent camera with Lightroom on board and a CC subscription, I'm excited for the raw output of these hamdsets.
Are you speaking from experience? (Do you own one) or what you've read in reviews? I've certainly seen that mentioned and thought it was here ...pertaining to your suggestion it was forgotten. When I read it, I checked it in the Note 4 and using TW straight, indeed it runs through SVoice first with a significant delay (regardless of bandwidth). It seems quicker in Nova, slower in Go, fastest using Google Launch
It's a little comical that a good portion of the 'pluses' of android phones have now gone the way of the iPhone. I fear there will be very little for Samsung lovers to hold over iOS soon.... How will you reboot when the OS freezes every day? Can't add an SD card??!! Blasphemy!
Seriously though, they look pretty nice. Almost like an iPhone.
oh but if feels so industrial designed and so well built in my hand its so ergonomic my money impression is very, very high as my brain has been fried to a crisp from my desire to be somebody important and wealthy...
excuse me but i have too go visit steve jobs grave for my monthly pilgrimage, and check my stock portfolio for my apple daily increase, an apple a day keeps retirement at bay !!!
When the time comes, metal industrial apple clone design won't be the glossy cocktail party rave it is now for all the reviewers... the new "nano carbon" hardshell and totally black design will be the inherently desired feel it up in the hand "win" the reviewers and crybabies all claim we want.
So, soon enough, when it's as cheap as a popcan is now, carbon fiber phone rage will storm the gates.... oh it's so light and so stiff, it feels so strong in my hand (like a fem commenting) ...
YEP - that's coming next - then after the reviewers convince the whole industry to trend toward carbon fiber and leave the metalheads in the dust (their newly created idiots wake) we will have another brain fart of gigantic proportion to deal with...
Warnings about carbon fiber slivers will go unheeded - there may be a whole section on how to reduce scratches and nano crackings and splittings of the fiber along with sales kits and superglue derivatives to rebond the nano cracks...
Next some of the more fervent feeler uppers will wind up in the hospital witth carbon paw poisoning or necessary eye cleansings since they sneezed up the raw carbon tubes into their own faces...
In the mean time they will have alzheimers from feeling up their aluminum metalized wonder industrial builds....
Yep, coming soon to a raw brain fart industry of elite 1% self love.
Forget that plastic if flexible, moldable, much more comfortable in the hand, lighter, and easily snapped apart and together - we must now have metal with apple 5star hex screws - and soon only carbon fiber probably with glass reinforced or ceramic fastener holes... and the elite will rave at the sensational high quality super high $$$$$ feel in their paws...
Yeah man, it's coming - if they charged ten grand for solidified rice paper the elite and feely nerd ego wackos would praise it to the moon and sky...
Where the heck is the scree resolution comparison and the pixels per inch chart putting the apple fans to shame ?
I just read elsewhere the ppi which was always fanfare here when apple had the lead is 557 ppi ...
That's way above the 200-300+ I'm used to seeing...
So it's 4k resoluion and 557 pixels per inch - doesn't that deserve a whole page of glorious praise comparing to the other losers, which is everyone is it not ?
If this phone was thicker with a bigger battery, dual sim, micro SD and waterproof it would have been the perfect phone for me. Rumors suggest that samsung is about to release a dualsim version, so I'll probably buy that.
Am from India - Bangalore. I bought Samsung S6 edge 64 GB on 12th April 2015 and got to know battery is discharging rapidly within first week of use. I spoke to customer support and sent it for service center. Service center person and his manager said phone does not have any problem and returned same defect phone without fixing. Samsung is least bothered about their customers and service center guys are too unprofessional. Please help me what can be done. Battery back up is less than 3-4 hours.
Samsung has the worst customer service. First they sell you defective pieces which starts showing problem within a week of purchase and then they will ask you to visit the service center 3-4 times a month just because their technical team is not strong enuff to recognizee the problem. Samsung doesnt value customer time money ... it has just some stupid people sitting at the call center whose work is to fool you and simply waste your time but wont provide genuine service or product .Samsung is the other name of Customer Harassment. My personal Experience which I am going through these days.
@Richa: You sound surprised. Why? Is there anything in your experience history with Samsung or even stories of their customer service that leads you to believe this is an anomaly? Your experience sounds pretty consistent with my experience with them.
Try reading the article again. Maybe you will then grasp the advantages of UFS over eMMC. If you still do not understand it, look at the graphs (the pictures).
Can someone explain why the video bit rate is so high? It is common for 1080P30 H.264 video to be in the 3-5Mbps range. I get the idea of increasing bit rates to improve quality, but 17Mbps seems ridiculous. I've seen many studies that clearly show that 1080P30 H.264 quality improves very slowly for bit rates above 5Mpbs. Netflix streams 1080P30 in the 1-2Mbps range; and yes their are artifacts, but this is 17-8x higher! The only logical explanation is that Samsung Exynos 7 is taking radical short-cuts in their H.264 CODEC. For example, using only I-Frames, or keeping a very small motion search area. Does anyone have insight to this? Has anyone viewed their stream with a CODEC analysis tool like StreamEye? Why is Samsung's bit-rate so ridiculously high?
Removable battery and no microSD card isn't a big deal anymore. You can get a great quick-charge-capable $20 10,000 mah external battery now that you can use with your own phone, or your girlfriend/wife/boyfriend/husband's phone, too. Just today I wanted to be able to have an extra power source for my phone and my wife's phone. A $20 thingy would be ideal for that.
And although I have one with my Note 4, I don't see the point of having a microSD slot anymore. I'd rather have the faster internal storage. It's not like I'm going to carry around 100 movies on my phone. If I really want movies, I can put them on a cheap thumb drive and use OTG.
You guys should revisit this and do an in-depth on the different camera sensors. Now that some time has passed, it's become very clear that the isocell sensors that some gs6 owners randomly end up with are greatly inferior to the sony sensors that you originally tested. Interestingly, it seems most (if not all) of the online reviews of the s6 and s6 edge were done on phones containing the fantastic sony sensor, which received near universal praise. Tom's hardware just did a review of the two sensors and found the isocell sensor greatly lacking.
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Inteli - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
While no removable battery is workable (if disappointing), I dislike the removal of the SD Card slot in favor of being more iPhone-like, since it allows for more storage (and I don't have to worry about clearing stuff out for updates). Hopefully Samsung won't go this way with the Note 4, or else that might very well be my last Samsung phone.Inteli - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
And by Note 4, I meant Note 5.Vandam500 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I doubt it man. The Note 5 will likely be very similar to the GS6 which means no removable battery and no microSD card slot.mindracer - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I have a feeling Samsung will keep the Note series as it's "productivity/business class", be like the GS6 but with removable storage and battery, and make the GN5 the top of the line in design and features for the real heavy user.Solandri - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
What I don't get is, Samsung makes like two dozen different smartphones. Why can't they make two top-tier phones - one with the "everything sealed" philosophy and another with the "user can replace the battery and microSD card" philosophy, both using the same screen, processor, camera, etc.?lyricalsaint - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Probably because Apple has been so successful with marketing theory, and Samsung wants to copy their concept of giving consumers limited choices. Too many choices can put people into somewhat of a decision paralysis.Gigaplex - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
But it's too late for that, Samsung already has too many choices.joos2000 - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
It isn't hard to cut models to reduce choice really. They can slim down their product line in months.MacDaddy100 - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
It's not a marketing theory, its not many people give a rats a$$ about removable batteries and upgrade memory cards, I plug my phone in at night like 99% of the people do, I have 128gb of internal memory that hold my 10K (High Bit Rate) song library with room left over that very few people even want to do with Pandora and such that don't need the internal memory. Quit living in the 90s, everything thing is online, or in the cloud now.peterfares - Saturday, April 25, 2015 - link
So then why didn't you just get the 32GB model?h3ck - Friday, May 8, 2015 - link
Because even though media, books, music and other content is cloud based and easy to access, applications are getting increasingly larger and you still want to have space for local content in general. I went with the 64GB myself, but I also use a Dash Micro. If you don't know what that is, it's amazing > http://www.amazon.com/Dash-Micro-MicroSD-Android-U...elchepe - Saturday, May 23, 2015 - link
I don't know what world you're living in, but most people take cheap loads of pictures and videos these days. Considering the megapixel count on the S6 and other flagship, expandable memory certainly becomes a necessity. There are plenty of people who know the woes of being unable to update their iPhones because there's not enough space available.deputc26 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I would like to see an APL vs. Brightness graph for maximum manual brightness. Using 100% APL unjustifiably biases the test against AMOLED screens. 60-80% APL would correspond much better to real world scenarios.Brett Howse - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Check the display page again.deputc26 - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
"Manual" brightness, not automatic. I checked the display page again and was disappointed.melgross - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
The problem amoled has, is if brightness remains too high for too long, the display will burn out after a time. The real max brightness is around 350nits, the same as before. In fact, Samsung is taking a big chance with the max brightness here. I predict that we'll be seeing display life significantly shortened for a number of people who spend a lot of time outdoors with their phones.The life of all LEDs is directly dependent on their temperature. Amoled needs low temps to work, unlike metal based LEDs, used for LCD screen back lights. Their innefficiency means that a lot of power is required for maximum brightness, which leads to overheating. That's why manual brightness on these is the same its been for the last three generations.
Brett Howse - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
@deptuc26: So you are concerned about 100% APL being biased against AMOLED but want to see the manual brightness where the scores are lower? I'm confused. You seem to contradict yourself there.melgross - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
No, not at all. I'm pointing out that while Samsung has a new brightness setting for outside, you can't use it for regular use. That because using it more than occasionally will damage the display. This is like redlining a car engine. You can do it, but don't do it too often.deputc26 - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Values for both Manual brightness and automatic brightness are given at 100% APL in charts in the review. This is unrealistic, no one walks around with a pure white screen. The review partially makes up for this error by including a "APL vs brightness" graph for automatic brightness. It does not include such a graph for manual brightness leaving the attentive reader wondering what the brightness would be at a realistic APL and leaving the inattentive reader with a false impression.Uplink10 - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Because then people would not buy 64GB or 128GB phones which are very overpriced. They would just buy 32GB/16GB phone and additional MicroSD card. Why? Because of greed.juxt417 - Wednesday, April 22, 2015 - link
Unlike apple. Samsung has a solid reason to not have an SD card. This being that an SD card is too slow to handle 4k content without a lot of lag.Ufs 2.0 on the other hand handles 4k just fine. At least from what I have experienced so far.
Matthew Sobel - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
They make so many smart phones because there are so many markets & carriers and they all want to be special.I'm with you on the wish for two branches of the Samsung family tree. Don't forget about the 'Active' variant. There's speculation that this is still coming. If so it may be just what some of us are looking for.
FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
The reason you won't get the choice is the constantly complaining crybaby crew has for years whined for an apple rectangle metal box with a brokenback glass rainbow they can selfie with in the mirror and prance around with feeling it up for a "quality industrial design build".Then they need it thinner like their figures should be, thinner because a metal clodheaded rectangle with heavy glass is a lead weight, thus paper thin is necessary, as it "gains status for eyebrow lickers".
See, we call this "the market". The primping faerie overlords knows what's best for their selfish little egos, and thus, you will be made into a dumbed down sheep in compliance with their frivolous vanities.
RiotSloth - Thursday, May 14, 2015 - link
That is the best thing I'm going to read all day. Thank you!Daniel S. Buus - Friday, July 17, 2015 - link
LOL :'D So much hate :Dh3ck - Friday, May 8, 2015 - link
I agree, the Note 5 will be for the power user and/or business person that wants to "have it all". Where as the Galaxy S line will be consumer friendly and geared toward "ease of use".medi03 - Sunday, April 19, 2015 - link
That will surely "help" increase sales, right.FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
medi03 - see the finely tuned mind bending the sales crew sells to the clueless primpers>"Overall, the design of the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge is really unlike anything else they’ve produced in recent memory. The phone itself is well-sized and feels much more ergonomic than the Galaxy S5 due to the thinner build and mildly reduced bezel size. It really feels like Samsung cared about the design of the phone this generation, and the attention to detail here immediately puts Samsung near the top in this area. "
Ahh, they "cared" - it feels - even the word ergonomic, when the truth is it's a slippery heavy metal and smoothie glass nightmare ready to crash to the ground... at least the braindead can't "flex it" - the best feature of course is - it's apple clone "quality" for the elite snobs
Yeah man, that's it bro.
edlee - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
how did anandtech find out what pvs bin they received, did they check it with a terminal command, and if so, what was that command?Flunk - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I predict that Samsung won't lose any customers because of this. Where are you going to find a modern phone with a removable battery and SD card slot? There just isn't any option anymore. Samsung is trading a few niche features for more mainstream appeal.P.S. Samsung will replace the battery for $45, but I imagine that a lot of people reading this site can just swap it themselves.
Notmyusualid - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Dead wrong pal - I'm keeping hold of my wireless charging GS5, which includes an SD slot.lilmoe - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
They will lose lots of "power users", but they'll conversely gain a couple of orders of magnitude more "casual consumers"...Sorry, we power users might have made a significant percentage 2-3 years ago, but now we're a very small minority in the smartphone market, and catering to us via mainstream devices is no longer an option for OEMs...
The Galaxy Note might have been considered niche 2 years ago, but that's absolutely no longer the case. If a device market is no longer niche, then expect a similar streamlining makeover.
FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
You have been catered to. Exactly catered to.Whining about the cheap plastic feel, endlessly.
Now your solution has arrived. If it doesn't come screwed, it won'r feel flimsy and cheap.
You literally begged for it, for years, as did all your fellow elite power users.
Gigaplex - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I use microSD and never whined about plastic. In fact, I would rather plastic than glass any day, regardless of microSD support. Glass just isn't durable.theduckofdeath - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
There will never be a phone that pleases everybody. But the fact that this phone seems to outsell the GS5 by at least 100% is an indication that Samsung made the right choice, with a broader perspective than a single internet commenter's opinion.piiman - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
" But the fact that this phone seems to outsell the GS5 by at least 100% is an indication that Samsung made the right choice, with a broader perspective than a single internet commenter's opinion."I doubt your 100% is correct but do you really believe people read that the battery isn't changeable and go "WOW that's the phone for me"? Or "look I can't add memory , whatever that is, so I'm buying it!" Its far more likely they are buying it for its looks and features not lack of.
theduckofdeath - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Like I said, a few loud haters on the internet won't affect the bigger picture. And yes, all the reports are pointing at at least 100% better initial sales than the S5. It's actually "so bad" that Apple seems to be forced back to using the unreliable TSMC as their main supplier of processors, as Samsung can't keep up with the production for their own devices at the moment.FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
" leading at least one Samsung exec to boldly state that the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge could reach over 70 million units sold. Unfortunately, a new report from Korea indicates that out of the 300,000 pre-orders, only 200,000 units have been sold. This suggests early forecasts may have been inaccurate."Yes, 100% theduckofdeath ... totally..
http://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-galaxy-s6-...
FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
Congrats giga - though of course I didn't mean you nor anyone specifically.The metal industrial design meme aka apple clone mania is a thing - gotta have the overpriced mazerati right or you just ain't with it...
One suspects there's a nationwide ban on belittling apple, since it had a massive #1 stock market spot that all the investment channels gloated and blabbed on about - so it's a national security imperative in economic collapse times to only praise apple and demand all others mimic.
I'd bet the unspoken pressure is enormous.
akdj - Sunday, May 31, 2015 - link
Kinda funny though. Nearly 300 responses and you're the only one droning on and on about 'Apple'. Why? No one's even mentioned Apple -- nor has Apple made a glass phone nearly four years! Lol. Month later ...going through the responses as an owner of the S6, your contributions seems so out of place in this conversation. Kind of like the buddy that's drank a bit too much at the party and won't stop telling everyone how much he loves 'em...ianmills - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
So having an sd card in metal body is impossible then?will54 - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
Not sure if you are serious or joking since sarcasm is so hard to catch on the net, but my One M8 has an sd slot nevermind that most if not all phones have a sim slot .juxt417 - Wednesday, April 22, 2015 - link
No but an SD card loading 4k pictures and video without lag is.akdj - Sunday, May 31, 2015 - link
Someone should let Nikon, Canon, Sony ...even RED uses CF cards -- I believe? Silly jux, you can very easily capture these bitrates to any class ten MicroSD card. I was capturing 4k on my Note 3 a year ago on a card half the speed of the one in my Note 4.FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
that's the insane claim - the metal body precludes the sd card - just bow your head, scramble your brains for them, pretend you're stupid as a rock, and stfu, please, the overlords desire that their lies be swallowed and enjoyed, preferably on your knees in full worshipful regale, knave, believe, you want to believe don't you ?akdj - Sunday, May 31, 2015 - link
What the hell is a smartphone 'power user'? Are you one of the dbags I see walking around, texting and not paying attention to society or your surrounding?Surious, I'm curious what it is that makes YOU a power user of ...a smartphone?
(To lay it out there, I own a phone with MicroSD/battery replaceability as well as one without and I can honestly say the ability to use my mSD card with each iteration of Android has diminished significantly ...and having to 'split' apps between system and external storage makes for a HIGE PITA when it comes to backing up a phone with or without and then restoring a new Android model, again ...with or without ...maybe I'm a 'power user' and wasn't aware)
Genuine and honest curiousity from a fellow SD user --- & current Note 4 & S6 owner for nearly a month now ---
Fallen Kell - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Samsung lost my sale. I had been holding off until the S6 came out, but no SD card slot = no purchase from me. Now I am looking for another phone, and in the meantime keeping the one I have until I get a high end phone with SD card slot (possibly HTC releases the E9+ in NA with all the complaints they have had for not doing so, and especially given the fact that Samsung has obviously dropped the ball on the S6 opening the door for a high end HTC that has all the bells and whistles to take over the market).JeffFlanagan - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
They'll lose a few customers, but I was willing to give up the SD slot. The S6 is beautiful, and much more responsive than the HTC One (M8) that I traded in. LTE reception is also much better, so I can stream video and music, so 64GB is plenty of storage.bogda - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Do you know that 32GB MicroSD costs 13$ on Amazon? And you are willing to pay 100$ for upgrade from 32 to 64? Funny.name99 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
And that 32GB SD card performs at the level of the flash that we have in this phone?No?
So then why is its price relevant?
bogda - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
External SD on Android is mostly for media files so for me capacity is much more important than performance. Songs and videos will play the same regardless of SD speed.I am not going to watch video at 8x speed.Notmyusualid - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
To be honest, I'm happy you are happy with your purchase.To me, it looks gorgeous, but it seems a tiny step down from my GS5. No micro sd slot, no removable battery, no waterproofing (a big one this), and I notice the GFX Bench had worse battery life too.
That record charge time might persuade me, if I were to lose my GS5 drunk etc. But then a second-hand GS5 is a bargin now.
ethebubbeth - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
My LG G3 has both removable battery and a microSD slot. Here's hoping they continue to carry the torch since it appears that Samsung has dropped it.Ammaross - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
We'll find out at the end of the month when they announce the LG G4. I'm waiting to see/hear specs on it (officially) before pulling the trigger with an S6. The loss of the SD slot is a bit painful when you have to pony up an extra $100 for a measly extra 32GB....akdj - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
Or two hundred for incredibly fast internal NAND storage, a bump of 96GB.I've owned each iteration of the Note (business line) except Note 2. Still have the Xoom. iPhones, same --- our employees carry them and I use the 6+ as my personal phone. I didn't upgrade Note 1 --> 2, as I couldn't get out of Note 1 quickly enough (contract). Slow as molasses. 2 changed that, and when it was time to get rid of it, the Note 3 was entirely new 'experience-wise' in comparison. Ten times quicker! I've had the Note 4 since release and I've found the further we move up in Android versions, the less 'control' I've had over where and what storage I'm able to keep on the microSD card
Media, for sure....but for two bills more, over two years is $8/month for 128 GB. I've got the 6+/128 and I've never felt pinched. Even with 3 & 4GB HD movie files I've not compressed. Battery life is incredible on both and other than extended oversea flights I've never had a problem. I also have a TB or 4 at home sharable to the remote phones and tabs from the house but I've never needed to re download extra music or motion while on holiday travel. Best to get out and see the scenery than watch our phones.
128 is a large chunk of internal data to hold. And it's 'not' expensive. If you're a DSLR shooter and use CF cards, motion, or proprietary capture (P2, SxS, RED's SSDs, etc.) --- you know how expensive a 'fast' card is. Even the quickest can't hold a candle to the latest Sammy and Apple MLC/TLC storage. Stairway to Heaven is going to sound the same when you get home but the ability to capture the shots you want, motion and speeds or different resolutions keep the internal NAND's speeds, reliability and prices continue to rise (first two), and drop (price) for these sealed, internal storage modules.
As for batteries ...I've also owned each iPhone and other than Mophie cases on the smaller phones, I've found no such need on the 6+, from the scores shown here...that'll be the case with the S6 as well.
Peichen - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Seems like LG G4 will have removable back, battery and a microSD slot according to leaks.Lonyo - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
They lost me. My new phone (replacing an S3) arrived yesterday. It has a MicroSD slot and a removable battery.I'm using a MicroSD card in it. It's the one I had in my S3.
Samsung want me to pay $200 premium to upgrade from 32GB to 128GB when I already own 128GB of phone-compatible storage. They can shove it.
Notmyusualid - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
+1juxt417 - Wednesday, April 22, 2015 - link
Hope you have everything backed up for if/when that bad boy fails. I gave up on SD cards after mine burnt out.ahw - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
SD Card slot is the bigger issue, IMO. Samsung has already lost a customer: me. I have an S4 and am eligible for an upgrade. It won't be the S6.bogda - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
It is fascinating how people accept paying 100$ for 32GB SD upgrade, knowing microSD card of that capacity costs 13$ on Amazon at this very moment. They even call this logic modern.FickleBJT - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
The storage in the phone is MUCH faster than that $13 SD card. There is no comparison between the two.Size isn't everything, my friend.
bogda - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
For media files size is of 95% importance and speed is 5%.EnzoFX - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
and using a phone for such pure storage function is of 5% important. Most people these days are streaming their content. This has always been the logical move. Sure there's a market, but it's a niche like past comments have said. It will stay there from here on out.zvadim - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Do you have any reason to believe that in-phone flash is significantly (7x) more expensive then retail flash cards? Seems like pure profit margin padding to me.juxt417 - Wednesday, April 22, 2015 - link
They did it to gain performance in many areas. As SD cards are slow and can cause lag in many different situations.juxt417 - Wednesday, April 22, 2015 - link
An SD card would lag very badly when loading the 4k pictures and video the s6 creates. Ufs 2.0 was the best choice in that regard.RiotSloth - Thursday, May 14, 2015 - link
The two are not comparable though, for many reasons. Internal storage is so much better if you can get it.Peichen - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Check the tare down at iFixIt. Battery is the 2nd to last big component to come out. It is not going to be easy and there is also the glue back together you need to do.Uplink10 - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
You will find a phone with removable battery and SC card slot but you have to look at the rest of the market, namely Asian companies who also have much cheaper phones and also offer ROM on their official website.hlovatt - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Firstly, great review. Love all the detail and care taken in obtaining the results.I am glad to see the changes Samsung have made. The S4 and S5 were really oh hum phones, not deserving the flagship monicker. This time they have produced something that will challenge Apple, HTC, etc.
melgross - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
$45 isn't all that much. You would save $15 by doing it yourself. So you will need tools to pry the case apart after you've softened the glue using a hairdryer. How do you intend to put it back together?xenol - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I just don't find myself needing an SD card slot, if only because I don't really fill my phone up anyway. I'm really wondering what other people fill their phones up with in order to need an SD card slot. I was under the impression that music is just lifted off internet radios and videos from YouTube or some other service (and if they want to watch a lengthy movie, they'll add it in when they want to).I don't know, maybe I'm just the kind of person who doesn't mind managing data and don't have a lot to begin with on the phone.
esterhasz - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I have a lot of music on my phone and videos for the kid. Having to pay such a premium for a 64gb version is hard to swallow when sd cards are really cheap.SkyBill40 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Agreed. Like you, I've got a lot of music on my phone and it's all on an SD card.I'm upgrade eligible at any time from my Note 3 but am seeing how long I can or am willing to hold off for the next round of releases. If the Note 5 isn't a substantial improvement over the 3/4 or whatever, I'll likely jump to another vendor that has the right mix of things I'm after. It'll either be another Android phone or *maybe* Windows. No way in hell will I ever jump to Apple.
RiotSloth - Thursday, May 14, 2015 - link
In the UK it's about the price of a point of beer a month to go from 32 to 64 gig. Well worth it for me.JeffFlanagan - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I used to need 128GB to load TV and movies onto my phone, but yes, now I can stream video from home via Plex, in addition to watching NetFlix, so the internal 64GB is plenty. There will be a 128GB version for people who need more space. We no longer have to take a performance hit to get 128GB via SD card.will54 - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
I love my lossless Flac and WMA audio which takes up about 5-7X more space than an mp3 so I need my 32+128 GB's. The quality is worth the extra space imo.RiotSloth - Thursday, May 14, 2015 - link
Have you ever tried a double blind test between high and regular versions on your phone? Genuine question, I'm curious.andyasia - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I could Bluetooth my data to my laptop as backup, or swap data time to time as I like, so no problem there. ☺FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
That's what happens when "brainy", stuck up, clueless, unoriginal nerds, have no GF's and get their "feel ups" off their cellphone."Oh she feels so cheap !" " She should feel better in my hands"...
Thus, we now have the whined for apple crap.
mkozakewich - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
that feel when no sdFickleBJT - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Would you buy a car that looked like it was made out of plastic?Remember, these are ~700 dollar phones. Asking for good materials and workmanship is perfectly reasonable. I used to own a GS3 and the paint started coming off of it after just a few months. It made the phone look awful. I would much rather have a nicer feeling and looking phone. Granted, they could have put an SD slot in there, at least in the normal variant.
loki1725 - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
"Would you buy a car that looked like it was made out of plastic?"Yes. If you've bought a mainstream car in the last ten years, it probably does have plastic in it.
Would you buy a car where the body was made of glass?
lilmoe - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
That's just a bad analogy bro...Kvaern2 - Sunday, April 19, 2015 - link
The analogy is bad yes but his point is nevertheless valid.akdj - Sunday, May 31, 2015 - link
Not really, not when some of the best, fastest and finest cars in the world are made from plastics, 'glasses' (plexi, etc) & carbon fibermaxxbot - Wednesday, April 22, 2015 - link
So "nerds" are the driving force between Samsung and Apple's huge sales numbers? There sure must be a lot of "nerds" out there.FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
Pride, ego, status, selfie love.Spend the big bucks for the premium status symbol, then others will love you too.
I really don't think nerd is any part of the equation - clueless herd sheeping seems to be the case.
Margalus - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
just the opposite for me. no removable sd card is a non issue with the base model having 32GB, and 64 and 128GB models available. But no removable battery with android is a show stopper. What good is a "mobile" phone if it goes dead in 4 hours while you are out and can't charge it?as for the sd card, my s4 has 9.5GB or internal and a 64GB external sd. All together I have used up about 30GB of storage over 2 years.. so a 64GB or 128GB model would be fine without an external sd card. But with a dead battery and no way to replace it, the phone is useless.
JeffFlanagan - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I agree that the lack of a removable battery will be a problem for some people, but I don't know how big a segment of the market that is. We'll find out how well Samsung understands their market over the next couple of months when we see how well the S6 sells.FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
and one of the 1st reports is the selling aka pre orders have been inflated and only 2/3rds have panned out - so the sales are droopy...http://www.androidauthority.com/samsung-galaxy-s6-...
So they are crap. Oh well, appleheads will be very pleased.
Anand321 - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
SOlution is simple!!Carry a power bank and whenever battery is down, charge it in 1/2 hour.
They also have wireless charging option, which you can use. There are wireless charging power bank also in the market.
So instead of buying a 2nd battery and always carrying it, carry a power bank. Thats enough.
But one thing...this phone lasts more than 7-8 hours even after continuous heavy usage!!
FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
I love the feel of toting around that extra large battery powerbank and having the wireless charger doohickie plugged in as an add on wherever I need it, it just adds to the feel when I stroke my metal industrial design and take some personal touch moments with it in my hand.Anand321 - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Also taking care of the fact, that a phone is hardly used after 2/3 years, that extra battery will be of now use after you change your phone. But with wireless charging and such wireless power banks, you dont have to spend money on battery every 2 year!!Makes sense..ain't it!!
opx4real - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
So...you clearly didn't make it all the way to the memory page before you just HAD to voice your knee jerk reaction.darkich - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
While the ask if SD support is technically a functional downgrade, people tend to forget that Samsung is in turn offering the most advanced internal storage that offers unprecedented speed and uncompromising performance.And I'd say that's a fair trade.
darkich - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
*while the lack of SD support *FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
while others tend to forget an sd card slot could be included too, thus there would be no trade off, just a massive improvementjuxt417 - Wednesday, April 22, 2015 - link
It has nothing to do with being more iPhone like. An SD card would lag horribly when loading and taking those beautiful 4k pictures it is capable of producing. Not to mention it would cause lag throughout the u.i. and cause unnecessary power drain.FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
so the pictures go by default to internal memory - that's one red herring out with the bathwater ...lag and power drain - I guess android is so stupid the 1st thing it does when you touch your metal feel, is scan the sd card for desperately needed data, right ?
yes, twin babies out with the bathwater fella - right out the window an onto the sidewalk below
h3ck - Friday, May 8, 2015 - link
How is removing the sdcard more "iPhone-like" when Google Android Standard is no sdcard? The flagship Vanilla Android Nexus line is all sans sdcard. I think we often forget that and quickly point to Apple. Also, with increasing harddisk sizes and the ease of using a microsd to microusb adapter (see Dash Micro device), I think the sdcard argument is weak.Daniel S. Buus - Friday, July 17, 2015 - link
Those were my gripes as well. However, as I've learned that the battery is still replaceable, and the charge is $45 for such a replacement done by Samsung, the battery issue doesn't bother me anymore. Then the storage thing — I've previously bought my share of SD cards to augment my phones. The largest card I've bought was a 64GB one, though, which was sufficient in my Note 3 to satisfy my hunger for filming 1080p60 when travelling. I just ordered the S6 128GB version on sale for the same price as the 32GB version, and it's plenty plenty plenty for my needs. I may have to unload some stuff in the evening to an external storage device if I go crazy with my filming, but that's it. Reading this review and seeing the impressive speed of the storage just makes me even happier that I finally chose this phone :)beehofer - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Nice Phone. There's nobody who won't take one if it were offered. But since we have to pay, ppl will decide on the things that set it apart from the pack. Samsung had an "edge" with SD cards and removable batteries and for some of us it will be a deciding factor. The battery, OK I'll get an extra charger for the car or office but the SD is inexcusable. This has ALWAYS been a blow against Apple and now it can be said against Samsung. I'll keep my S5 or wait.name99 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Samsung probably ALSO have sw installed on the phone that tells it when an SD card has been installed and the battery replaced, and is well aware that <1% of their phones ever went through either operation.I suspect Samsung's idea of what matters to the market is rather more accurate than your idea...
FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
I believe you are referring to the NSA, and thus, with no removable battery, the phone can never really be "turned off" and no removable SD means Homaleand Security and the NSA can access you and everything you've done at any time....So, it's truly and upgrade because you of course have nothing to hide
akeemcharles - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Nice photosUxi - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I have an S5 with wireless charging using original Samsung covers, so wireless charging is not N/A on the S5, but I admit it was an add-on purchase.DanNeely - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
What is the "obvious" defect on the S6 screen picture? Is it one of the things that looks like a fingerprint smudge, the horizontal blue bar that looks like a reflection, or something that isn't obvious to me from looking at the picture?nerd1 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I have a phone with exactly the same display (Galaxy S5 cat.6 model) and couldn't see any 'obvious' defects at all.akdj - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
That's NOT the same display. The Note 4 was a step up from 5Active and this is an even bigger step 'up' for AMOLED. The anomalies have been talked about in many reviews. As well as some purple fringing shooting low light (w/light source, like a candle). Killer display though!Refuge - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I'm not entirely sure, I kind wish he had elaborated more on it. Especially when this is a flagship phone and he says there is a defect with the perfect screen.But they only thing I can think of is how it seems to reflect much like a bubble would in direct sunlight. Maybe there is a risk of this rainbow effect screwing with color accuracy in direct sunlight? I'm not entirely sure either.
Ammaross - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I see two vertical dark bars on left and right sides of the screen and one 1/4 from the top horizontally. Maybe that's what he's referring to...Peichen - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
I see the same thing as Ammaross. I guess some of you need to have your screen calibrated. I can see the dark bars on my home PC but I guess I won't be able to see it on the cheap/crap workstation at work.Maxpower2727 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
The only thing I saw in that photo was reflected light, which is to be expected with any phone and could hardly be considered a "defect." I really don't understand what he was getting at with that.JoshHo - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
It was surprisingly hard to capture, but it's the photo of the horizontal/vertical bars when the display was under strong sunlight.arayoflight - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Josh, I think the front facing camera has a1/4.1" sensor, not 1/3". It was conformed by Samsung tomorrow.Also, the IMX240 has 1.2 micron pixels, not 1.12.
Correct these 2 mistakes. The review was great though.
JoshHo - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Apologies. I have fixed the FFC sensor size.To my knowledge the IMX240 uses 1.12 micron pixel size, going by Chipworks measurements and the released spec for the S5K2P2 sensor which has the same pixel count and sensor size.
arayoflight - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
The s5k2p2 has 1.12 micron size. Also they're both 1/2.6" and identical resolution.But 1/2.6" necessarily doesn't mean they're same size. It just tells the size of the disk and hence there can be a difference.
I think also on the Wiki page of IMX240 it's 1.2 micron. Though it's a different 4:3 IMX240 but I doubt they'll change the pixel pitch for a custom IMX240 used by Samsung.
Just look into it. Even I want to know the perfect pixel size :)
will54 - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
Its the one horizontal stripe and the 2 vertical stripes on each side of the screennerd1 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Glad that anandtech FINALLY included the browser benchmarks using sammy's stock browser.lilmoe - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
It's an improvement. But still, "browser benchmarks" are just that; a benchmark to software side of the browser engine. It's only good for testing CPU performance when we're ONLY looking at generation improvements of the *same* platform/browser/OS.I wish we had a more "open"/transparent cross platform benchmarking suite... Anyway, it looks Exynos is truly back as a market leader, as in being a generation above everything else. I'd expect it to stay in lead well till the Note 5 is here.
nerd1 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
"Although the dynamic range of the Galaxy S6’s IMX240 sensor is inherently lower than an equivalent 1.5 micron pixel-size sensor due to the nature of CMOS image sensors"This is not true. Pixel size rarely affects daylight dynamic range of the sensor. D800 series (36MP FF sensor) has actually tiny bit wider dynamic range than 12MP FF sensor of A7s.
Alien959 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Yes, that's true for dslr's because they still have large enough pixel size so dynamic range isn't affected. Even d800 have many times larger pixel photo sensor than 1.5 micron used in SG6. For bigger densities in smaller sensors dynamic range is lower compare some high end compact like panasonic LX7 and cheap point and shoot.nerd1 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Various review sites direct comparison between phone cameras and Note 4/GS6 actually had LESS highlight clipping than iPhone 6.Alien959 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Yes, I have read some of the so maybe sony definitely improved the sensor so samsung is using that versus their own. Different generation sensor and processing also affect the final image.Hairs_ - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
It's a very hindsight-heavy negative view of the s5 in this review. I'm surprised sales weren't great for it as it fixed most of the issues with the s4's performance and camera.Losing waterproofing, removable battery and SD card are killers for me but apart from that I don't see what makes the s6 a brilliant. The improved software performance will hopefully be brought down to older devices, the improvements in SOC design and battery efficiency are offset by the pointless resolution increase, and the mantra "must follow apple's cue to be considered premium" isn't convincing.
Switching to white backgrounds for apps wastes the advantage of AMOLED as well.
Still, it's selling well so I doubt Samsung care.
lilmoe - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
The GS5 didn't sell well because of "perception", not merit. It was a HUGE upgrade over the GS4 in almost every aspect IMHO. I'm one of those who actually liked the "band-aid" plastic back. I would have preferred if Samsung made the GS6 closer to the Alpha's design; metal frame with plastic back, but less squarish (IE: the same exact shape/corners of the GS6 but with the same plastic back as the Alpha).I believe that Samsung nailed the design with the Alpha and Note 4, but it seems that reviewers and consumers didn't agree. That stupid twisting of the back cover by reviewers to prove that it was "flimsy" only proved that they were completely ignorant of the quality of materials and the functionality/practicality it entails.
Ammaross - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Yep. It's the reviewers that forced Samsung's hand into copying the metal+glass design that the iPhone has. Personally, I think it's horrible as the S6's glass back makes it far too slippery in-hand. I'm definitely putting a bumper on it just so I can hold on to it (which of course entirely defeats the metal+glass design anyway!). Plastic does not mean "cheap," merely flexible (in application/texture, not just robustness).FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Well, yes, I agree, the reviewers had nothing but disdain if it wasn't "the solid and simple apple industrial design that feels expensive in my hand" but add in the drooling sheep and parrots in their responses, they certainly totally contributed as well.Since these people function on mindless perception, not facts, we have the cloned result.
Vandam500 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
On the specs table in camera architecture you listed the S6 having a 20.1 megapixel camera but it has a 16 megapixel camera.JoshHo - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Apologies for the error, it has been corrected.cj100570 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I love how reviewers keep calling the Galaxy S 5 a failure. Sure, it didn't sell as many units as Samsung may have hoped, but it was still the best selling Android phone of 2014 by a wide margin by all accounts. If that's failure, the other Android manufacturers need to learn how to fail so spectacularly.lilmoe - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
+1FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Seriously, it was the highest seller by a lot and the reviewers condemned it... ?Well, the "elite snootsters" probably hate the peonic rabble public (privately, depths of their nerdgourd ), of course.
So anything they buy en masse "negates the need for the nerdy idiot reviewer overlord".
fenneberg - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
+2Ryan Smith - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
It was a good phone, don't get us wrong.However it did miss Samsung's sales expectations, and quite significantly. This is something that we think is important to point out, as understanding this helps to understand why Samsung made the design changes they did for the S6. Technology doesn't occur in a vacuum, so it's very useful to understand the business considerations as well.
name99 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Well, now you know how people feel when they hear someone claim the iPhone 5C was a failure...The numbers I can find (which are obviously not the most recent) have the Galaxy 5S sales numbers as of Dec 2014 at 12 million, with the 5C sales as of July 2014 at 24 million.
lilmoe - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
The 5C wasn't a "failure", just a *ripoff*...Speedfriend - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
"I also see almost no benefit to the MST module as magstripe transactions will be obsolete by October of this year when United States banks switch over to chipped credit cards and will no longer accept liability for fraud in magstripe transactions."Firstly, only 50-60% of US POS terminals are expected to be EMV compliant by the year end.
And secondly many of the first wave of EMV POS terminals are not contactless enabled even here in the UK which has had both chip and pin and contactless for a while.
So Samsung magstrip payments will still be a useful product probaly for a number of years, especailly if it doesn't relay on a seperate agreement with the merchant like Apple's does.
CrazyElf - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I just hope the Note 5 comes with expandable storage and a removable battery.Equally annoying is that it as lost waterproofing. On paper at least, it should be easier to waterproof a phone with no removable battery. That and accidents happen. The glass back too is form over function. Give us a metal back or something like carbon fibre.
whiteiphoneproblems - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Playing with the Edge, I noticed that the curves of its screen create undesirable light reflections. Any comments on this?JoshHo - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I noticed interference effects as well, which is discussed in the display section. Overall there are some notable compromises with the edge with relatively little benefit. Combined with the steep price increase and I find it hard to justify buying one over a 64 GB GS6.whiteiphoneproblems - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Thanks - sorry to make you repeat yourself.nyonya - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Great review! Any chance you guys will get a Verizon or Sprint variant? Would love to see the battery life tests with the Qualcomm modem in those.victorson - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Nothing about the front facing camera?Ammaross - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
It's a selfy-cam. Don't like it? Take pictures in the bathroom mirror like the rest of them. I doubt Skype et al pixelated video chat will care about slight distortions at the edge of the FoV or slight aliasing for striped objects, etc. :Pjohnnohj - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
The S5 (and Note 4?) used to have a serious problem with edge distortion on the front-cam. I wonder if it's present on the S6.See this thread for examples http://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s5...
akdj - Sunday, April 26, 2015 - link
I've got the Note 4, can't comment on the S5. I've never used one. But the Note 4, if so inclined allows you to take 'selfies' with the front (main) camera. You set your phone where you want it (actually according to where you want you;)) -- it looks slick. I've never used it. You frame/focus/lock exposure where you'll be 'posing' yourself or with a group. Take position. It recognizes a face. Flashes a light, counts down a couple seconds and snaps.Regardless, they're using a nice wide aperture and high megapixel selfie cam (that also shoots decent 1080p video for conferencing). It's definitely a step 'up' from most of the competition including the iPhone (I'm ambidextrous, the 6+ is my personal phone. I run our business with the Note4). Note 4's 'selfie' cam definitely beats up on my iPhone's. But then again, FaceTime is extremely cool, more reliable than Skype and convenient that Voice. Be cool if one of the three would open their face 'facing' software as open source/X-Platform, secure and not subsidized by data mining/search dollars or near trillion dollar company servers like Apple's.
More n more fills are using this camera, not necessarily for selfies but conferencing and team meetings. Between the two I've got, while the Note's is a better face cam IMHO, it's slight. And that's for both front and rear. They're both phenomenal in comparison to the 2007 iPhone I owned, the '08 Android, and any iPad or Xoom/Nexus I've owned --- and with a ten year old son, going through Google's Drive photos/Picassa and iCloud, both of which I was using pre 2007 for email and DSLR & visual storage or transfer, I'm now able to watch my son grow up in front of the computer.
So much different than my mom's photo albums of my three younger brothers ( all of us married, with kids now) & I.
These cameras and their storage software/data management subsystems have grown in leaps and bounds in the past couple years ...ita going to be interesting in thirty years to see what my son's 'photo albums' look like. If you were born in the last decade, your entire LIFE will be online and documented photographically
Practice Safe Selfies! I've got stories from friends about watching 'slide shows' with their teenagers or college kids that are hilarious! I'm not so sure they need to improve selfies significantly -- beyond today's capabilities. There's a fine line between too much detail and improved clarity on a wide angle closely focused, and hence distorted facial or grainy 'length' shots. I think nearly all selfie cams suffer not only edge distortion but soft corners/vignette, low resolution, tiny sensors and bad skin tones. They're more than fine for casual web shots but I don't want to see the pores of the race of the person I'm chatting with. Too distracting!
akdj - Sunday, April 26, 2015 - link
Ugh!*Edit* paragraph two is supposed to say 'More folks' not fills.
**Edit 2** last, main sentence '..the (f)ace of the person I'm chatting with!'
J
twtech - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
There's nothing compelling about the S6 that makes me want it over the S5. Sure, it's a bit faster, but there is a loss of functionality, and it's easier to break.Realistically, we are at a point where speed doesn't matter that much anymore unless you play games on your phone, and frankly if I wanted an iPhone, I'd get an iPhone.
gnx - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
The promise of Samsung was always the best hardware performance coupled with the most functions. Design was secondary. It just needed to not be a deal-breaker.It really took off with the S2 because it's exynos and graphics performance was the markedly above others (when Android was still behind), it had the most vibrant screesn (Super AMOLED was central to it's marketing), and added some software tricks (like toggles on the notification screen). SD-card and removable batteries were just one part of the appeal (other manufacturers offered it too).
S3 largely delivered, but S4 and S5 failed cause there wasn't enough differentiation on those fronts. They used the same Snapdragon as others, or their Exynos was no better, their screen were being parlayed as too saturated, and software additions were criticized as gimmicky. SD cards and removable batteries became the only lasting meaningful difference. Design started to become stale and a hinderance.
Looks like S6 returns to the original promise: blazing hardware performance with the new Exynos, amazing screen with the maturation of AMOLED, and software that at least doesn't get in the way. Plus additional features that really make a difference: arguably the best camera (Sammy cameras were never bad, not just ever the best) which appeals to the masses and the Gear VR which appeals to the geeks. And a design that is not a deal-breaker. (S6 does not fall behind, and S6 Edge might even have an advantage design-wise)
I'm not getting one for sure. I'm too wed to the Nexus-line. But this time round, I'd be happy to recommend it to tech-minded friends and tech-ignorant family.
generalako - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
The S5 wasn't "too saturated", it was the best display of any smartphone during its release, and still holds that title for any non-Samsung smartphone display -- 1 year after its release.akdj - Sunday, April 26, 2015 - link
"S3 largely delivered, but S4 and S5 failed cause there wasn't enough differentiation on those fronts. They used the same Snapdragon as others, or their Exynos was no better, their screen were being parlayed as too saturated, and software additions were criticized as gimmicky. SD cards and removable batteries became the only lasting meaningful difference. Design started to become stale and a hinderance."
General beat me to part of your comment but it's almost like you own an S3, is that correct? Have you managed to 'stay away' from the Internet for three years when it came to technology too? If so, good on ya bro! Wish I could!
The S4 was a Grand Slam. Hence the 'letdown' with S5 sales figures. That said, the two of them are significant improvements on their predecessor. ESPECIALLY AMOLED's technology, and now we're seeing the fruits of Sammys work on Exynos, the internal 'speed' of the storage and memory as well as camera, incredibly quick wifi and LTE speeds and the display, man the display. As an owner of both the iPhone 6+ & Note 4 (biz/personal), I've seen the improvements first hand. In all facets of smartphone usage. Speed, software, displays and cameras and their abilities, the fluency of the OS (I'm weird as I like TouchWiz and iOS, stock Android and OS X, even Win 8....1. Hated '8';)
Point being, the difference between the three you compared is night and day. My Note 1's subsidy couldn't end quick enough. Impulse purchase at the time and I hated it. It would time out before an app could present the dialog box to accept permission, gingerbread w/TW was a mess, as the SoC couldn't cut through the peanut butter (code). Android wasn't perfect yet, but the difference between my Note 1 (same guts as the S3) & original Xoom was unreal. TW killed that phone. The S3 was much better as the stylus software wasn't killing it, but the Note 2/S4 update was HUGE! From the SoC to the camera, the display (AMOLED has matured EVERY year. So much so DisplayMate pre iPhone 6+, could be the same I've not looked ...has the Note 4 as one of, if not THE best display on the market ...and most reviews pegged the Note 4 as the Android phone to beat as an all rounder, IF you can handle the size (it feels much smaller than it is, I've owned 1, 3 and 4 my wife the 1, 2 and 4). The S5 was a 'lot' of half baked but cool ideas. It was a killer display. Phenomenal processing and memory, decent camera in most situations (forget low light), and an extraordinary amount of 'features' added by the OEM. Fingerprint reading and All the Galaxy apps that brought the engines power to it's knees. From S Voice to S Note, S Finder to Smart Stay added to AT& T's plethora of crap, it never really had a chance to 'spread its wings'. All other phones using the SD 800-805 are beasts, including the Note 4, an even further improvement to a near perfect display (consumer) calibration, with Samsung dropping many of the heavy code or worthless crap found on the S5. Also an extra GB of RAM, quick internal storage and a healthy quick MicroSD, fast as hell radios both wifi and cellular provided an enjoyable experience and with the LP 5.01 update I received a week ago, it's the first Android phone over a ½ year later that not only hasn't slowed, but has become MUCH faster, more responsive.
Design wasn't EVER a hindrance. Quite the opposite. As an iPhone owner and two phone daily carrier, the design allowed for fast, safe access to battery and external storage. That's not a hindrance. Now I'd agree it didn't 'help' Sammy that metals and other plastics well formed and nicely crafted by other OEMs started to become the norm. I've always enjoyed the craftsmanship and 'design' from both Samsung and Apple and they've been extremely different.
While reviews would talk about the faux stitching, mock leather, plastic flimsy backs...I don't recall ever reading about the necessity of that typed of manufacture. I've never had a Sammy back 'break' precisely because of its flexibility. Made it easy to access internals and not break it after a few open and closes and the stitching or rather textured plastic exterior made the type of material used easy to grip, tough to slip. I like aluminum too. Both have benefits. Both have drawbacks. But I wouldn't call battery replacement a detriment. We've got several extra Note batteries around the house and other than backpacking (GPS only, airplane. No cell service allowed, it's good to shut it down!) and I can easily get a couple days of use from the Note or iPhone these days. Need more juice there's many hundreds of car chargers, 'power packs' and now like the Note 4, USB 2 Quick Adaptive Charging (I owned the Note 3 and USB 3 while present wouldn't work at USB 3 speeds for transfer and ultimately no benefit to speed of transfers between computer and phone. It was picky on which computers it would even 'tell' it was '3' and showed as '2'). The QC cable and adaptor need to be used but 30 minutes 0-50% and about 90 to get to 100% is phenomenal. As with most OEMs not sporting the Nexus badge, it's lame relying on the OEM to push the latest version of Android 'out' OTA (another reason USB 3 isn't necessary! Who's plugging in anymore? MicroSD can be easily plugged in for faster media transfer from the computers but who needs the cord? Other than charging, either with Android or iOS? Neither require computers not have they since, huh, ironically enough, the S3 era;). And Kies sucks! iTunes is the Mona Lisa of software in comparison.
As far as your SoC comments, just to add...Apple's the onIy OEM to successfully design their own chip and it's low level programming and architecture. They've got a single phone to worry about typically (different this year after the 5s/c test run) and they're able to control the Eco system relatively easily with onIy their 'own' to worry about) and a tablet they've used the same chip with certain upgrades or bulking up the SoC or increasing RAM. Samsung indeed has used the same Snapdragon processors as others but they used only the very best, top shelf parts in their flagships. They've never been shy about RAM, more cores or bigger, better and brighter displays.
They're efforts have paid off with Exynos. A company doesn't build a billion or two transistor piece of silicon on a die the size of your thumbnail overnight. They've done a damn fine job 'keeping up' with Qualcomm IMHO ...to th extent when the 810 exhibited bizarre heat/throttling issues, they were able to immediately slide their own 64bit SoC in for ALL markets (it's been in the S3, 4, & 5 ...too lazy to research but I don't think Sammy used nVidia's Tegra at any point) quite nimbly for such a massive release.
The 'saturation' issue very much went the way of the dodo two years ago or so with the S4, the Note 2. The S5/N3 were another HUGE step up and as General and I've echoed, the N-4 was even better and besting most of the flagship LCD panels. With a display setting the user can control you can 'over' saturate things if you'd like but go back and compare how good this transitions actually were objectively. Here and at DisplayMate.
You missed the actual displacement of LCD's dominance by Super AMOLED during the exact time period you specify. Apple is using it in their watch. It's gorgeous and the S5 software additions, we do agree, are/were, and they leaned 'gimmicky'.
The improvement was evident with the Note 4 six months later and even more so with the S6.
I am curious though, has Samsung dropped the lollipop update for the S5 like the Note 4 in America? Or European countries with the Snapdragon 801/5? If so, and you've downloaded it, has Sammy remedied that bloat by a significant margin? I was happy with 4.4.4 on the N4, but 5.0;1 is like lightning (Nova launch 70%/Google Lauch 30%)
I can't imagine there's a beast trapped in there. The Note 4 has the same motor albeit a 50% bump in RAM. Seems like a simple S/W update as the sales stailed would've helped a company and millions of end users. I think they're trying (HARD) to optimize T/W and abide by Google's rules as muc as feasibly possible when you're using the OS with things like SPen, fingerprint scanning genesis, touch to share NFC or '(S)urrond(S)ound' @ the party!
chizow - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Nicely written, fair and balanced review.I was disappointed when I heard Samsung went with a unibody design and removed the option for removable storage and replaceable battery, but I understand the decision and ultimately the market has spoken and agreed with this decision. Personally, the changes would've been unremarkable to me as I would throw a Spigen case on the phone anyways, so the least striking changes to the face would've been the only thing I would've noticed over my S4.
At the same time, I realized without these features, there was really much less reason to go with a Samsung/Android device, so along with the option to BYOD for work, I went ahead and got an iPhone 6 Plus. I guess I was ready to go with a phablet and there was a number of annoyances I had with Android (just too bloaty and too many hidden CPU drainers leading to awful battery life). My work iPhone on the other hand would go DAYS without needing to be charged.
Samsung also has an awful track record of supporting their existing products as they are always rushing towards "The Next Big Thing"; this has held true for a number of their products from SSDs, to phones, to Smart TVs. They just don't care once they have your money, they figure bad support is just forced obsolescence and a way to get more of your money in 2-3 years.
My iPhone 6 Plus hasn't been perfect and there are some oddball bugs I am running into (like Pandora burning CPU/battery randomlly), but overall I'm happy with the decision. We'll see where things stand in a few years when I am ready for another phone upgrade.
Drumsticks - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
The Galaxy S4 just received the lollipop update. That makes for at least 2 years of updates, which is much better than they used to be.chizow - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
But that's just another example of Android's disjointed hodgepodge support model. Only more recent hardware supports their latest updates and then it is still up to the OEM and then the carrier's discretion to push the OTA update. End result is late updates that are already borderline irrelevant or no update at all.IOS isn't perfect either and has had some bunk updates but I got the iOS 8.3 just three days after it was covered here.
Ammaross - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
"...annoyances I had with Android (just too bloaty and too many hidden CPU drainers leading to awful battery life)""..some oddball bugs I am running into (like Pandora burning CPU/battery randomlly)"
Trade one demon for a devil. If I had to deal with the same thing either way, I'd go with the one you can actually have a chance at fixing yourself rather than just having to deal with it. :P
chizow - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Well at least with iOS it is a well-documented solution that just involves closing and re-opening Pandora, vs. the solution to bloaty Android CPU suckage the answer is root your phone and become your own 24.7 tech support . :pPeichen - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
chizow is right. I tried to use a Note 3 to replace my iPhone 5 before iPhone 6 came out and after spending 2 weeks rooting, loading launchers, mod and so on I decided I don't want to waste any more time tweaking a phone. I had enough of that from high school and college days overclocking my water cooled computer. My time is a lot more valuable now.chizow - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Yep exactly, I spend enough time tweaking my PC and at least it provides me proper tools to do so. After a few months with the S4 I just realized it wasn't worth it as the awful battery life and bloats OS made me want to just keep it in my pocket for fear of running out of juice when I actually needed it for phone functions.akdj - Sunday, April 26, 2015 - link
I'm ambidextrous. Use the 6+(personally) & Note 4 (family business of two decades). To be fair with your assessment the iPhone 5 sucked battery just as quick as the S4. At the time, comparable flagships for six months. 5S remedied it with iOS 7, but nothing like iOS 8 and the 6+'s battery size. It's physics and I'm with ya, not arguing. Just my two cents as my Note 4 with 5.0.1 is nearly identical to my 6+ with iOS 8.3 at the end of a 14-16 hour work and family day with similar usage shows similar reserves. Easily 50%. Usually high sixtiesThe memory leaks of yesterday and more granular control of apps and their background abilities on Amdroid (and the new core framework of 5.0), it's distribution of RAM (compression) and raw speed of the NAND makes the new generations of Android feel like iOS. Seriously. It's rare I run into less than 60fps manipulating the UI. And I use third party launcher Nova or Google. Samsung's stock browser is now not only capable but 'fast' and the displays have come a really REALLY LONG way since your S4. They're cool. Stop in and play with the hiDPI models like the S6 and Note 4. The latter of which hauls ass. And looking at these results, the S6 smokes it!
Across the board! And like us iOS dorks, Android's finally got a 128GB on board storage option. I'm as die hard SD card user as there is. I've got a Samsung Pro micro SD that just came out, & it screams! Awesome to pack with media and the like. But then again, I had two choices. White or black. 32 or 32GB. Even the fastest 64GB CF cards are over $200 to get to ½ the speed the S6's internals are reading and writing. And removable storage is prone to failure by user fault than non accessible OEM supplied 'system' optimized storage.
This latest batch of iOS and Android flagships have seen a significant increase in the internal read/write performance. Anyone that used or is using HDDs and have switched to an SSD knows the difference in perceived speed. It's the same on a phone when they've increased as much as they managed to in the past two years.
Especially this round. Note 4. The iPhone 6/6+. And now the king, look at those speeds on the S6. Those are insane and with the faster SoC, RAM (DDR4) and 'storage' I just talked about, along with the lollipop update and it's corresponding (massive) energy savings I've seen makes these 'phones' over the past ten months faster than computers we were using just five years ago. With higher resolution displays. Faster internet than even possible in most places then, wired! & we're getting those speeds on LTE! Wireless cell speed, increased horsepower, refined OS and leaps and bounds of improvements to AMOLED technology have made for a really tough decision which platform to go with. I'm still partial to iOS but only because of its integration and aggregation with OS X, my OS of choice. While I also use Win 8.1 and enjoy it ...neither system welcomes my browser of choice for nearly a decade. Chrome. Now 'Google Apps' it 'takes over' your computer. OS X or Windows, slow as molasses and it's a resource hog! Never thought I'd see the day IE and Safari would be my first choice(s).
Sorry to ramble. Just a view from someone not as responsible as yourself (I've no self control and can't decide between which, so both) and having continued ownership of both platforms since you switched, I'm floored by the improvements to Android, and their associated flagships. The displays are unbelievable when watching movies. Just awesome. Hard to explain how immersive a flick is on a 1440p 5.7" display with a killer set of cans ;)
Onsager - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Well written article, however given the few negatives, and very notable benchmarks, I am surprised it didn't receive a 'recommended' badge. The Exynos 7420 Soc itself deserves an award. In fact, numerous statements in the article certainly distinguish this phone as the current class of the field. 'What's a phone gotta do...'halcyonmax - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
couldn't agree more.gnx - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
+1Peichen - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Is it necessary? The conclusion already states this is the best Android phone out right now.Onsager - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
By that rationale, no awards are ever necessary.akdj - Sunday, April 26, 2015 - link
That's kinda what I concluded. Awards? Who GAS? Hey quite honestly says this is hands down the Android 'king of the hill' (my quote) several times. Camera. Check. Display check. SoC - Yep, Whole page devoted to it eating the rest of the field for lunch. The only silicon that competes with it right now is the A8, Apple's second generation 64bit bad ass.Kinda cool Sammy did what they did with Exynos when the SD810 heat/throttling came to light. Good for them but I think I must've read a different article than you. This isn't a site for trophies and ribbons. And you don't have to read between lines
He actually says this is the BEST Android on the market and perhaps best overall phone. There's areas iOS best Android and vice versa. It's tough to say ones better than the other with 'numbers' ratings or some sort of star system. Bette to say it with words as the author (Josh? I'm sorry bud. Too lazy to look;)) has dome. It's right above this section.
It's called
"Final Words"
Babios - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I just had a hands on with both phones for more that an hour. Nice performance but too expensive for android phones. I am disappointed from a 1000€ phone (no sd, single sim, single speaker) and I can not feel it as a premium for that price range.You can buy a cheaper android phone that can cover your needs 99% with the 1/3 of the “Edge” price. S6 can score 70000 in Antutu but mine with 40000 is super fast in every game - application I have used.
Apple became cheaper that Samsung thats the news !!!!
magreen - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
"As a reminder, power scales quadratically with voltage, so a drop from 1287.50mV to 1056.25mV as seen in the worst bin 1.9GHz A57 frequency should for example result in a massive 48% drop in dynamic power."It's a 33% drop in dynamic power, isnt' it?
(1287.5^2 - 1056.25^2) / 1287.5^2 = 0.327.
(The 48% number would be how much more power the higher voltage part uses than the lower voltage part, which is not the power drop.)
Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Math is hard, corrected, thank you.Arbie - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
SD Police here: no microSD, no sale. The reasons have been hashed over endlessly but I know what I want.mayankleoboy1 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Im very puzzled by the large differences between the stock browser and Chrome. They both are based on the Blink engine, and use V8 for JavaScript execution.This definitely points to "optimizations" done in the stock browser for these benchmarks.
Could you do some other benchmarks on the phones?
JoshHo - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Basemark OS II and PCMark use the internal WebView engine and the 7420 doesn't do nearly as poorly in those browsing benchmarks as it does on Chrome.It's likely that Samsung Mobile has some work to do when it comes to optimizing against Chrome.
lilmoe - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Or, it's the other way around. Google needs to do a LOT of work of optimizing Chrome for the various hardware out there, especially the most popular ones.Chrome isn't getting the highest marks in optimization you know, especially on the desktop. I thought that was a well known and understood issue?
Bob-o - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Can someone explain to me why an application needs to be optimized for certain hardware? Isn't it just using libraries for rendering (OGL, whatever), and those libs have already been optimized for the GPU? And the non-rendering part of the app should be byte-compiled appropriately?Back in the 1980's I used to optimize apps for certain hardware. . . in assembly code. What are they doing these days? And why is it necessary? Poor abstractions?
mayankleoboy1 - Sunday, April 19, 2015 - link
These optimizations are not for specific hardware, but for the specific BENCHMARK. They can easily tweak parameters inside the Javascript engine to give higher score on specific benchmarks like Octane and Kraken. These optimizations would negatively affect the common web JS workloads, but would give higher benchmark score.Google/Mozilla wouldnt do such shenanigans as they do not priortize for specific benchmark, unless it also improves general JS workloads
bji - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I have a big problem with the way their camera module juts out from the back of the device. I have a Galaxy S5 Active (my first smart phone) and the camera broke within about 2 months of ownership. I believe it's because it juts out and is a focal point of stresses as a result (pressure while in pocket, pressure when laid on a flat surface, etc), and the very weak glass they use to cover the lense is subject to breaking. I've read many comments from others that this happened to them, and it happened to me. Now the camera is useless.I could put a big ugly case on the thing to protect the camera, sure, but that's why I bought the Active - because I didn't want to put a case on my phone.
I see that Samsung continues with this horrid camera module design. I won't be buying another Samsung with this characteristic.
name99 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I suspect Samsung would do well to copy Apple in one more respect --- making cases a big part of the user experience.Something that critics of the iPhone 6 (in particular the "slippery sides" and "too much sacrificed for thinness" don't seem to get is that, IMHO, Apple sees cases as a significant part of the iPhone experience. Which is why they provide their own --- expensive but very nice --- high end cases, and are willing to accept the inevitable leaks we see from case makers in advance of new products.
Once you accept that a case is part of the story
- the thinness makes more sense, because you're going to be adding a few mm via the case
- likewise the camera bulge, while less than ideal, is not such a big issue
- likewise complaints about the fragility of glass backs, etc.
Cases also allow for a dramatic level of customization without Apple having to stock a zillion SKUs. You could even argue that the aWatch band proliferation is Apple having learned from the size of the case market for iPhones and iPads, and arranging things so that they get the bulk of the high-end money that's available in this space.
Every other phone manufacturer is in a much weaker position than Apple because they don't have the massive range of cases available. But they could at least try to improve the situation by providing their own cases --- maybe at least a high end leather model, a low-end plastic model, and an "I'm paranoid I'm going to drop my phone" model. They should also call out the cases during the big press reveal of each phone (like Apple does) and ship some cases along with each review unit (not sure if Apple does this, but they should).
All of which makes the Edge, IMHO, even more of a gimmick (in spite of Samsung claiming they will no longer do gimmicks). You get a much more expensive manufacturing process to provide something whose real functionality could probably be provided with a few colored LEDs, and you dramatically reduce the design space available for cases.
Oh well. Stay tuned for the next Samsung model which (don't tell me, let me guess) will feature as its big new feature a haptic (don't call it Taptic!) engine and which, with any luck, will manage to ship in at least one country before the iPhone 6S, so that Samsung can claim (and have the true believers accept) that this was their plan all along, that they were in no way influenced by Apple's obvious [based on aWatch and MacBook] next big UI element.
akdj - Sunday, April 26, 2015 - link
Hi name99. Wish there was an up vote;). Well said. As an owner of the iPhone 6+ (& each iteration before it), I've 'finally' found the Apple iPhone case:). Lol. I bought some Platinum Incipio Pro kickstand crap, a really lame Spec case (& I love their laptop shells on my MBP) before I finally made a trip down to the Apple Store and picked up the simple, brown leather iPhone 'Apple' case (I don't remember it being expensive though, seems like 39, maybe 49 bucks? Seems like the standard pricing regardless of manufacturer out of the gate).I'm embarrassed to say since 2007, I've never had the Apple case. Always bought third party and typically Mophies starting with the iPhone 4/4s.
Sorry, TL/dr -- not in defense of Android OEM lack of third party peripherals as its true but this last year, 18 months has changed some. The S-View case specific to the 's' and 'note' brands are pretty sweet. I use one on my Note 4 and like the Apple cam/case combo the S-Case also protects the camera protrusion while adding even more functionality. It's magnet sensing for turn on/off by open/close and the small maybe 2" x 2" 'S-View' (small window on front) allows answering of calls, quick text/tweet/FB/email/whatever-u-set-up response capability, notifications and time (customize faces and information on clock), weather and 'maps', settings, and more. It's slick and it's protective.
But you're right. The Apple iOS cases kick ass. I own the 'smart' cases (not covers, they suck) on our iPads too. Be nice if they quit changing the dimensions ever so slightly each iteration ala iPhone. Usually get two generations of the iPhone outta one case. Single on an iPad. Oh well. Keep em longer too I suppose).
Good to see another avid iOS user. I love both and have since the original 4GB, non subsidized $500 2G iPhone and the Xoom/S1 ...and to date I'm undecided. Don't play with the new Amdroids. They're very nice as well. It's too dangerous now with AT&T/Verizon, even Best Buy, etc. just pick what you want. The color. The capacity. No money down and NEXT fools ya. Before you know it, you've got iPads for everyone in the family. A pair of Nexus 7s you're trying to figure out what to do with, iPhones and Notes... Just 'try' the M9, or the G3/(4 coming?) what the heck, can't hurt. Before you know it you've got a dozen devices all accessing your data, exponentially increases bandwidth used on wifi and LTE for updates and the ilk. And a $700 'phone' bill. Lol. Too cool.
Does t matter which way you go, iPhone 5s/6/6+ or S5/Note4/G3/M8 or 9, Note 4 or this bad boy. They're ALL 'computers' in our pocket. Across the board faster and more energy efficient than computers we used last decade. The storage. The connectivity. The processing and RAM, controllers (micro); accelerometer, barometer, proximity and Bluetooth 4.1, wireless AC and 2x2 antenna arrangement ...without... An antenna ( those of us in our forties, probably mid to late thirties remember those, right? ...other than the sweet 'bands' on my 6+;) course hidden by earlier do dissed Apple's iPhone case. iPad cases. They're sweet. Kinda like their trackpads in comparison to EVERY other OEM. They work. All. The. Time. They NEVER don't. WTH can't Windows get an OEM partner to nail the trackpad? Perhaps that's why they decided on 'touch'? :-)
Drumsticks - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Thanks for the review! I've been waiting on the Anandtech review before looking at a new phone; y'alls simply can't be beat.The major concern for me with the S6 was battery life, but you seem to have put that concern to rest here. I fall under the "drawn by the new design" camp as well - I'm a pretty heavy user, but removable storage has never really mattered to me as I don't like keeping too much data on my phone. A removable battery is nice, but I'm already used to having a power pack with me so that's not a huge deal. I'm still waiting to see what the LG G4 brings though. If performance is good enough with the rumored SD 808 (really concerned about GPU driving the QuadHD Display), then the larger battery could make it worth it to go to LG. I'm also hoping that Samsung releases a custom theme tool, and somebody makes a relatively close stock Android icon/color set, as the default TouchWiz UI is kind of gaudy for me (teal? seriously?)
soccerballtux - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
wow, I'm pretty impressed with the low-light performance of the camera.Novacius - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
The first Android smartphone of recent dates that gets everything right imho. I'm considering buying it, but only when the price drops below 500 euros here.generalako - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I'm sorry, but I can't take Anandtech seriously anymore. I mean, just look at the the review of this phone's display. Somehow the iPhone 6 beats it in nearly every aspect, and there are key areas where the S6 is even worse than many other phones (like White Point). Compare this to DisplayMates shootout of the S6 (which is much more broad and of course has more legitimacy), who came to the conclusion that the S6 is the best phone display they have ever tested on almost every aspect. The same conclusion they had with the Note 4. Based on this review, however, the AMOLED on the S6 is still not better than the best LCD phone (iPhone 6).Let me give an example of how much these two tests vary, and how serious you should take Anandtech's test:
DisplayMate: "When Automatic Brightness is turned On, the Galaxy S6 reaches an impressive 784 cd/m2 (nits) "
Anandtech: Samsung Galaxy S6 reaches 610 nits.
That's a whole difference of 174 nits from the two tests!
Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
DisplayMate derives that figure from a 1% APL pattern, which is pretty non-representative of any real-world use-case. The 610 nit figure here comes from a 100% APL image, meaning pure white. Also, if you read the bottom part of the display section, you will see the APL chart where we indeed show how brightness increases with lowering APL, reaching near the very figures that you are quoting.magreen - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
You can't take Anandtech seriously because its data is (arguably) contradicted by one other review site's data?lesbaer45 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
As has been said repeatedly for a variety of reasons. No SD, not buying. No removable battery, not buying.I either hang on to the S5 until it dies or buy something else that meets my needs. Plain and simple.
Chaser - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Everyone has different phone usage preferences. I have no need for a 64-128GB SD card on top of the native storage. I have modest music stored and although I take a lot of photos I use One Drive's "camera roll" feature that immediately uploads new shots to my cloud when a usable wifi connection is made and they land on my PC in seconds.This removable battery/SD card "must have" mantra is getting old. I have absolutely no interest in carrying around an extra battery. Hopefully as native storage becomes more affordable and batteries even more efficient it will fade away forever.
Shadowmaster625 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Its a shame they had to add all those wasted pixels. This phone would have much bettery performance and battery life at 1080p. I really dont get this need to drive so many pixels. The market needs to start penalizing this stupidity.Novacius - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I clearly see a difference because of the pentile matrix. For every green subpixel there are one bigger red and one blue subpixel. So the "effective resolution" is 1/3rd lower, which places the S5 at 288 dpi and the S6 at 384ppi respectively. Where I can see some sort of individual pixels or pentile "grain" on the S5's display, thats nearly impossible with the S6.arayoflight - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
2/3 pixels doesn't mean 2/3 pixel density. It means sqrt (2/3) pixel density. So s5 has 352 ppi and s6 has 471 ppi.1/4 pixels make pixel density as they halve pixels to half in both directions.
We all learn something new everyday.
Novacius - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
And it's also not clear if the battery life would be so much better. Because of the fact that the pixel light by themself, smaller pixels could mean lower power consumption per pixel. The power consumption of a 1080p AMOLED display might not be even lower than that of a 1440p display. The only thing that might be higher is rendering performance in 3D.Peichen - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Good point but SoC is another factor. If there is no reason to drive a 1080p display over 60fps, the graphic chip don't have to run at highest clock.gnx - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I thought the insane ppi was for use with the Gear VRRazrLeaf - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Anyone know what TMOUS stands for? Is it T-Mobile US?oscarnyc - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
yesheartinpiece - Sunday, April 19, 2015 - link
Wow... I Cmd+F'ed for TMOUS but couldn't find it... Would be better if the review explicitly stated TMOUS stands for T-MObile USMarthisdil - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
No removable battery? CheckNo SD Card slot? Check
No longer water proof/resistant? Check
No longer interested in buying one? Check.
notsosmartphone - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Agreed? Checkassasinezio34 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
poor battery lfe.check..!Margalus - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Does this phone still have the same bug that the galaxy s4 had where the android os would go crazy and use up a full batter in 4-5 hours with no usage whatsoever? It really sucks to leave the house with a full a charge and then have the phone go dead in 4 hours when you didn't even use it.gnx - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
In most cases, such bugs are the results of an app going haywire (like endlessly checking gps, syncing, etc)Margalus - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I can't say if you are right or wrong. but if it was another app, why is it that the app didn't use any battery power? It will put android OS at 90%+ of battery usage when this happens.lack of sd card is a non issue since the base model has 32GB. And there are 64 and 126GB models available. Lack of removable battery is a HUGE problem because of this "bug". My s4 has 9.5GB of internal storage and a 64GB sd card. After 2 years the internal storage has used 6.5GB of the 9.5 on the internal and 24GB on the sd card. A total of less than 30GB. But without a removable battery, android is a useless system. I've never heard of any such battery issue with ios.
akdj - Sunday, May 31, 2015 - link
S6 v S4= night and day. I had a Note 3 (essentially the S3) and now have the S6. App management at the low level of 5.0.1 along with significant changes to TouchWiz and the Play Store all but eliminates those challenges on Android from two plus years agoIt's an entirely different experience and for the better. Side load and its on you but using common sense you're not likely going to run into leaking apps these days. With 3GB of Much faster RAM doesn't hurt either ;)
kmmatney - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
My LG phone did that as well. I was an Apple user for 4 years (3GS, 4S) until giving Android a try. After 1.5 years of unpredictable battery life, and incredibly slow bug fixes, I "downgraded" to an old iPhone 5. Wow - it's nice to not not worry about battery life! I'm typically still at 75% at the end of the day, with moderate use. I can go 3 days if I milk it. I never had a problem with the Android hardware - screen was amazing, and plastic casing was no big deal - but the battery life wasn't there, and had to go back to Apple.whiteiphoneproblems - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
I, too, am an Android to iPhone convert who appreciates iOS's more stable battery life... but if you are getting that kind of a longetivity out of an iPhone 5, your use must be on the VERY light side of "moderate"...andyasia - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I could Bluetooth my data as backup to my laptop or swap data time to time as I like, so no problem there.doubledeej - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Are those videos that say slow motion supposed to be in slow motion? Because they're sure playing at normal speed for me.Ryan Smith - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Yikes! Thank you for pointing that out. We uploaded the wrong versions and will get that corrected.flamingoezz - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Its hard to tell where s6 stands compared to iphone6 in terms of battery. I'm considering a switch but am concerned the battery is worse than my already underwhelming iphone. Anyone have both?Peichen - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Just get the iPhone 6+ then. I typically get between 8-10 hours of screen-on time on my 6+ divided evenly between LTE and wi-fi. My record is 10hr 23min screen-on over 1day 14hr at 36% Safari, 16% Home screen and 10% Family Guy.GreenMeters - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Great, you idiot reviewers have ruined the last good phone easily available in North America. Can you form-over-function morons now leave the tech sites and go write for GQ or Cosmo or whatever? Then maybe in another phone generation or two without your horrible opinions clouding all the tech sites, we can once again get an awesome pocket computer instead of shiny garbage.gnx - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I feel for ya. I was pretty sure Samsung, always mindful of its home market South Korea and the preponderance of those Korean users needing swappable batteries there, would ensure removable battery (if not removable SD card) .... boy, was I wrong ...Drumsticks - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
LG G4 should have removable and microSD.phoenix_rizzen - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Most likely it will depend on market, same as the LG G3 and LG G2 before it.Solandri - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Reviewer (male) says "there was zero benefit to the edge display". Try carrying your phone around in a purse, and you will see a huge benefit to the edge display - checking notifications and seeing who is calling without having to pull the phone out of your purse.LifesABeta - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Nice that you guys were at my university(UCLA) to conduct these tests :DRyan Smith - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
It's a good place. We leave Josh in their care when he isn't writing fantastic phone reviews for us. =Phalcyonmax - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Samsung has come out with a well rounded device this year.Good design,good hardware and acceptable software.Personally i'm impressed with samsung's cutting edge SoC .The exynos 7420 is by far the best SoC out there,clearly ahead of the snapdragon 810.The exynos maintains higher clock speeds over extended workloads while keeping power consumption and temperature in check.The GPU does lag behind in the on screen performance but that has to to do with the 2560x1440 resolution.
Samsung's innovation would have been much more prominent if they had kept the screen resolution down.
The lack of sd card and removable battery support are those aspects of the device which have the potential of making it or breaking it for a number of consumers.Personally i have no issues with a non removable battery since i'm a casual user however for hardcore gamers or power users who charge their devices at least twice a day,they inevitably would have to face the hardship of getting their device's battery replaced at some point after about a year's usage.I'm acceptant of samsung's decision to do without the sd-slot.It could be a serious let down for some but after the restriction of kitkat 4.4( for security reasons) its just difficult to move data to the sd card.My last two sd cards got corrupted and i have lost my data on sd card more than once(maybe just my carelessness).I'm happy samsung are providing wider storage options for consumers with varying storage needs.
After the disappointments of my previous samsung devices i've stayed away from anything samsung, however i'm looking forward to getting this device.
phoenix_rizzen - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
The S6 is roughly 2 mm thinner than the S5 and yet the camera sticks out ... roughly 2 mm? Would it have been so hard to made the phone the same thickness as the S5 and make the camera flush with the body? That would also have added some extra internal volume to keep the battery closer to the size of the S5's.Another case of pointless "thinness" spec whoring. :(
Calista - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
It's funny, two years ago I predicted this very phone. But I did not assumed it would be a replacement for the S-series, rather a new tier. But maybe as other have said the Note series will be the new "everything and the kitchen sink", with S now standing for stylish. And the edge looks amazing, the first major step in cellphone design in the last five years.Lundkeman - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
How about enabling Full Disk Encryption (FDE), then perform all tests again, then re-post the results.Thanks
johnnohj - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6/general/...According to the benchmarks in this post on XDA, there seems to be no noticeable impact on S6 performance after encryption, except for random write which is ~17% slower.
I hope Samsung enables it by default on future devices.
Lundkeman - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Thats great for the xda site, but I would like to see results side by side for the tests that anandtech posted.arayoflight - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
The device is ARMv8 based. Hence, it has hardware encryption built in and won't affect the performance even if you enable FDE.Lundkeman - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
In theory, I would still like to see where, if any, there are hits. I think battery life may be one.gigathlete - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I am also interested in seeing the same tests with FDE on.LordConrad - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I am against fingerprint sensors in phones as it gives people a false sense of security. Fingerprints, like DNA, can be subpoenaed. If you have sensitive data on your phone (legal or otherwise), a fingerprint lock is not sufficient. You need to use a password or pattern lock, which cannot be subpoenaed.Margalus - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
what kind of "legal" activity are you worried about being subpoenaed? If you are using this for illegal activities who cares if you get subpoenaed?Drumsticks - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Just because you have nothing to hide doesn't mean you let the cop search your home without a warrant. It's just about general security.Margalus - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
It's not "without" a warrant. Read what the op said and what I responded to. A judge legally subpoenaed the information and that person wants to hide it from the courts. Big difference from just grabbing your phone and getting the information without a subpoena.Buk Lau - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Warrants and subpoenas are both writs, which the court issues with legally justified reasons. In essence they are the same thing, so unless you are actually engaged in illegal activities I see no reason to be scared that your fingerprint can get subpoenaed LOLFlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
you mean the court issues with any lies and excuses they so desire, including those far outside the spirit and letter of the lawthat's current reality sheepy
akdj - Sunday, May 31, 2015 - link
That's paranoid backwoods Idaho shit bub. Nothing to do with 'reality'LordConrad - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Lawyers and Doctors are examples of people with legal and sensitive information. Also corporations worried about corporate espionage. That's just off the top of my head, I'm guessing you didn't think before responding.Also, just because the average person has nothing to hide does not mean they should lose their right to protect their data.
Margalus - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I thought before responding. The key thing here is that a court issues a legal subpoena for the information. You are talking about hiding information from a judge that has legally subpoenaed the information. Unless what you are doing is illegal, there is no need to have to hide it from the court that legally subpoena's the information. And in fact you would be breaking more laws by trying to subvert a legal subpoenaNow if you are a child rapist that records what you do on your phone, I could understand about being worried about "legal" subpoenas.
LordConrad - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
You aren't subverting anything if you use a pattern or password lock, because knowledge CAN'T be subpoenaed as it's protected by the fifth amendment. Also, how many times have police agencies obtained information without due process? Good attorneys can usually get such information thrown out, but not always.akdj - Sunday, May 31, 2015 - link
You're in luck. In order TO USE the fingerprint system, one must 'choose a password, pattern ...' (Possibly tgird choice, can't remember not gonna look) as a backup. So you're both gonna be alright. Just quit with the paranoia. Judges, lawyers and doctors don't have things to hide in their cell phones, anymore than a CEO of a corporation or Jony Ive that a court's going to subpoena its contents without damn good reason.Let's see how far ol Tom Brady wants to 'appeal' this decision. After talking to Goddell, if the suspension is upheld, Tom won't be able to hide, dispose of or erase the contents of his cell phone, iPad or computer ...however he communicated with 'the deflator' -- the court can absolutely then subpoena his phone, as well as the ball boys' phones. They should be worried. If you should, maybe you should check yourself.
It's like the paranoia of cloud storage, using Google or allowing 'Pop Ups'. It's irrelevant what you're doing to 'hide'. You can't. If you're online, everything you do is forever embedded somewhere, in some server, and won't go away.
Like BubblyJack below me (jocks don't spend all day bagging on Apple when no one else has mentioned them) -- digital paranoia is silly, unless you're doing something illegal and IMHO, if you are and these tools catch you, AWESOME, more power to the 'tools, capturing digital thieves, identity thieves and phishing antagonists, child porn traders and drug sales sites like the Silk World Take down recently, torrenting sites stealing music and TV or movies --- they're all bad, they all suck, and they should be exsposed
** I'm in no way endorsing government censorship or web oversite, including the ability to gamble, watch porn ( of age ) --- even buy weird, niché stuff, but breaking the law is braking the law, and we've got internationally recognized 'law' and morales that I'm absolutely for 'governing' online. It would really suck if the 'net was somehow broken because of the 1%'ers, and not holding back your information can't 'teach' systems like Google more than they can hurt us when it comes down to it **
akdj - Sunday, May 31, 2015 - link
Last line was supposed to be allowing our information to Google CAN teach the 'systems' and in turn, Us more about ourselves. Interests. Health. Shopping deals and aggregation of our own data, pictures, media collections and management. If we allow it to, we're just a number in a pot of hundreds of millions.FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
lordconrad, the sheep have been trained, expect no enlightenment, no western standards, and no cluethus we have the current situation, all the data is mined and bluffdale is packed to the gills
the retards won't believe no matter how many times they are informed and it is proven to them, and their pat answer is : what does it matter anyway!!??!! ( only a criminal would care )
so I'm not certain how eggheads have become glorious useful idiots, other than the wool is so thick there's no meat on them bones, and the shrunken brain has crumbled to coddled dust
FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
who are you kidding, yourselves ?YEARS AGO our big gov sucked all your data, and has been ever since
retroactive and completely illegal pardons were then issued
Frankly I'd rather he laws and the reality be that the idiot criminal government never be able to get anything, and the fact that they are sucking down everything all the time means I can't wait for it to stop
It's a principle, not a crime, sheep
They have no right to anything, EVER, that's what law abiding citizens DEMAND.
yvn - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I compared the edge to my iPhone 6 plus display and find still the display of the edge is still too saturated even in basic mode, how so...according to the benchmarks the display should be as good as the 6 plus but it was not, the color accuracy is still not as accurate??FlamingDragon810 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Maybe because you're so used to the washed-out colors on your iPhone 6?The S6 has the most color-accurate display on the market. It's far better than the cheap IPS display on the iPhone 6.
yvn - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
it is not true, my iPhone 6 plus display matches spot on with my calibrated iMac 27" screen via Spider 4 and Color Eyes Display Pro....so no Sir you are the one that is used to oversaturated colors on Samsung phones.....I am a full time photographer so I know a thing or two about accurate colorsFlamingDragon810 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
http://www.extremetech.com/mobile/200868-displayma...You're a full-time photographer who is used to washed-out colors from Apple.
Peichen - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Ignore the troll. Both S6 and 6+ screen are accurate but S6 have lower white point than 6+. I am not sure about the color mode and adaptive color setting on the phone. I would suggest you wait for Erica Griffin's full review to come out on YouTube as she review color mode in detail. She only have hands-on review at the moment.generalako - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
You clearly don't know what the hell you are talking about. Read this review of the screen of the S6 by Displaymate (the only actual and legitimate display-tester out there): http://www.displaymate.com/Galaxy_S6_ShootOut_1.ht...The Galaxy S6 (like the Note 4) has by far the best display out there.
" The measured Absolute Color Error for the Galaxy S6 Basic Screen Mode is just 1.6 JNCD, tied with the Galaxy Note 4 as the most color accurate display that we have ever measured for a Smartphone or Tablet, which is visually indistinguishable from perfect, and is very likely considerably better than your living room TV or any display that you own.
assasinezio34 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
i have sold my s6 after 7 painful day.i really loved this phone.camera,screen exc..but battery life drove me crazy.returned to my iphone6 plus.Margalus - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I have never owned an apple product, and thought I never would. But after my experiences with the s4 and the android os things might be different next time. I still don't like apple and don't really want an iphone. I am a very light user, it's mostly for phone calls. What good is a phone that on it's best day will last about 16 hours. Then on other days with occasional bugs that cause the OS to go crazy and use the battery up in 4-5 hours with no usage..UrQuan3 - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Overall excellent review. I still really appreciate the screen color and gamut testing. It sets Anandtech apart. What equipment are you looking for to do audio testing? In my case, I am more interested in the headphone output than the speakers as I can't use the speakers in public anyway.JoshHo - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Something similar to the APx582 would be necessary to test 3.5mm output accurately, and a good SPL meter would help with speaker quality although I'm not sure results for the latter would be comparable between editors.IsthatyouBevis - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
Wow, that camera comparison is really poorly done. Trying to compare what you seem to think are the 2 best cameras (iPhone 6+ and S6) was extremely difficult. Why do you present the galleries in such a way as it is impossible to determine which picture to click to see which phone and why can't we see them clearly in the same page, instead of the click fest you force us to go through? Surely there is a better way to demonstrate this?johnnohj - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
1. Were these photos taken with Auto-HDR enabled? If I am not mistaken, both the iPhone and S6 ship with Auto-HDR turned on by default. Those impressive low-light photos Samsung showed at the unveiling were taken with Auto-HDR enabled.2. Can immersive mode (full-screen) be disabled on Samsung apps like Calculator and S-Planner?
3. Were there any problems with RAM management like in this video https://youtu.be/hUw9PUlFUF0?t=1m32s where the S6 keeps killing apps in the background? It could explain the poor battery life some people are experiencing as apps would have to be killed and reloaded all day.
4. Can heads-up notifications be disabled?
5. I wish there was a way to test standby battery usage. It is something android phones have always been poor at compared to iPhones. How about a test where the x most popular apps (like Facebook, Gmail, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter with the same accounts, sync enabled) are installed to multiple test devices on the same wifi network and the battery usage is measured after x hours?
6. Why does Samsung still include the Quick Connect and S-Finder buttons in the notification slider? It's so annoying, and there is no way to disable them without root (except on a few US carrier versions).
Hrel - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
No sd card is pretty bad, but being Samsung is worse.khujin - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
I just tested GS6 edge 64GB and Androbench4.0 result is 320MB/s(seq. read), 140MB/s(seq. write) with default setting. And another website GS6 performance review it the same as mine. please check the UFS test.JoshHo - Friday, April 17, 2015 - link
The default sequential test does 32MB sequential reads which is wildly unrealistic at best. As shown in the storage performance section we test using 256KB reads and writes for sequential performance.heartinpiece - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Nice review Joshua! I don't see any Ipad Air 2 performances in the performance charts (although they are constantly referenced...) could you check on the graphs?Peichen - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Seems like there are only 2 company making real flagship phones now: Apple and Samsung. To achieve this status, buying off-the-shelf parts are no longer good enough. You need to custom order parts and optimize the software specifically for the parts. From SoC, memory, screen to camera, everything is custom ordered to achieve the best quality. Off-the-shelf phones like M9 and Nexus 6 are relegated to good $500ish phone status.On the other hand, it is sad to see Samsung abandon all its believes and completely adapted Apple design and philosophy. Nano-SIM, downward speaker, simplified camera UI, fingerprint magnet back, home-button scanner and the abandonment of colorful UI and screen tone. Samsung users always love the punchy screen color. What are they going to say now the school is color corrected like iPhone display?
Peichen - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
screen*Impulses - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Maybe, I think LG or Sony could still step up to the plate... Sony's got a whole bunch of outside issues threatening the future of it's phone division tho, and probably their budget. Which is a shame because they made the only SMALL flagship phone last year in the Z3c.The bigger issue at play might be that a good chunk of the market is now complacent with their $500 or less also-rans, and another sizeable chunk is just buying outgoing models instead of the current hotness. Otherwise the SGS5 should've sold even better than the 4, and it had every right to based on hardware alone.
I'm part of that segment tbh, huge Android fan, initially went thru three successive HTC phones year after year... Not really feeling that upgrade bug anymore, at all. I'd like better battery life than what my N5 offers, and/or water resistance, can live without either for now.
My phone isn't my main camera so I'm an exception there but I don't think the average buyer even realizes what makes for a better camera or reads AT to find out.
darkich - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
That SoC. And that storage. And that screen. And that camera. And that design and build quality...i just held this thing for the first time yesterday and was frankly smitten despite of my initial skepticism.Anyway the benchmark performance is EPIC. iPhone got thoroughly beaten throughout, (except, of course, in the on screen graphics test)
I mean this phone scores higher in Geekbench than the freaking MacBook!!!
darkich - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Oh and using synthetic tests for the battery is an absolute horse sh!t of unbelievable proportions!Why just not go common sense and no horsesh!t, like the actual tests of endurance for calling, music, video playback, gaming and browsing??
According to GSMArena, the S6 scores over 11 hours of browsing and video playback, which is a GREAT result and perfectly on line with Samsung’s official slides.
akdj - Sunday, May 31, 2015 - link
So comment A= 'Epic benchmarks!'And comment B= 'Why are you using synthetic benchmarks?' (In essentially the ONLY B/M that's throttled by the competition?)
Cryio - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
For future smartphone reviews, please use the current photography champion, the Lumia 930, in photo comparison tests.JoshHo - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
I would love to include the Lumia 930 in photo comparisons if I had one.Dj Gains Bond - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
I have a few questions to the complainers of no removable battery and lack thereof of storage.How many times have you had to replace the battery in your s5?
How much storage were you actually buying/using?
I went from s5 to s6, Why because I'm a phone addict and I like new things.
The base s5 had 16gb while the s6 base, has 32gb. Technology moves at such a pace, either you like and use what you have or buy the newest thing. I personally don't care if it has a removable battery or storage. Heck, they have various cloud services along side the phones storage plus many other options to store things with and via the phone.
Complaining does what? Perhaps the next variants will have that but wait, at what costs. Supposedly they're making a phone with removable battery and sd card.
Sandan - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Well...This is a phone I will not buy. No sd card or not being able to replace the battery is a deal breaker....Chaser - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
iPhones haven't had removable batteries and SD cards since creation and obviously they sell. Samsung rightfully sees that as a nitch market worth sacrificing to market a more appealing phone. Phones have all but replaced jewelry as the new social status device. People want appealing items to pull out of their pockets and display for all on the counter, table or bar. I'm sure another competitor will design a phone that will have those. So when you nerds pull out your phones you can proudly explain your joy about having a replaceable battery and SD card slots to your friends if they can stay awake that long.sevin7 - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Excellent review. I have been a Samsung fan for a while but sadly the lack of removable battery and sd card ruins this phone for me. Once you put the phone in a case it looks very similar to the older plastic versions. I'm extremely irritated that consumers have led Samsung to make a phone that compromises everything for the sake of looks. It looks like the LG G4 is going to be my next phone.jrs77 - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
No removable battery and no mSD-slot makes this just as crap as the iPhone.I'll never buy a phone without these two critical points covered.
itzraywhy - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
If this isnt the best smartphone android camera in the market what is?sonicmerlin - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Are you aware that in the COUNTRY benchmarks you mentioned the iPad Air 2 several times but didn't include it in the charts? You even wrote "here we see the Air 2" blah blah except it's not in the chart!sonicmerlin - Saturday, April 18, 2015 - link
Sorry I meant "CPU" benchmarks. Stupid autocorrect.heartinpiece - Sunday, April 19, 2015 - link
Yup, I also pointed that out a few pages(of comments) back.Would be great to see comparisons against the iPad Air 2
JoshHo - Tuesday, April 21, 2015 - link
We're often faced with a dilemma here as inserting comparison devices can lead to a naive reading that we're attempting to directly compare a tablet-class vs smartphone-class SoC when one has a significantly higher TDP. These scores are also available on Bench but we will add them with a note.3ogdy - Sunday, April 19, 2015 - link
Looking at the phone I can very easily state this is an iPhone by Samsung. Leaving the incredibly stupid decisions (no microSD card slot on a high-end phone) and the stupid ones aside (battery is hard to remove), this is one big piece of sh!t. If I wanted an iSh!t, I would've bought one, Sammy. Let CrApple be CrApple, you Korean copycats. I wouldn't be surprised if the Koreans got a deal with the Americans to have the right to use their design papers. This is nearly identical to an iSh!t - look at the edges, at the way the various antennas were integrades, at the grills, the buttons, the SIM cover and the way to remove it.....THIS IS A CrApple product, not a Samsung one.Oh and yes, the SGS5 was ugly as hell and brought nothing new to the table. No progress, no sale. Why would anyone spend money on a phone that's basically the same as its previous generation in terms of tech specs and capabilities, looks a million times worse (including the the version for Gypsies) and costs as if it was a flagship in every possible way?
I couldn't care less about the decisions taken over at Samsung, but I'd love to see these huge "F**k you, customers!" and middle fingers pointed at us reflected in the product sales.
Microsoft did the same thing and they woke up and even posted apologies and stating "We listened." big and clear on their front page. They are about to screw things up with that stupid Windows h8 theme in WIndows 10 again...but keeping in mind how late the XP theme came after XP was first introduced, they are still on schedule.
nerd1 - Sunday, April 19, 2015 - link
Samsung just followed mainstream customers and reviewers (who mostly cared for look and feel), and market seems to quite like sammy's decision.Uplink10 - Sunday, April 19, 2015 - link
Leaving MicroSD card slot is not a mainstream decision but a decision out of greed. It is costlier to buy a phone with bigger memory than to stick in a MicroSD card.jet57 - Sunday, April 19, 2015 - link
h265 encode is mentioned as a capability of the SoC, but does the S6 record video using that codec, in any size? I'm very keen for this as I love the idea of 4K video but have reservations over handling gigantic h264 files that could be half the size if they used h265.jasonb16 - Sunday, April 19, 2015 - link
How's voice quality.stbutt - Sunday, April 19, 2015 - link
Wow. What an amazing review that was. I am astonished at how in depth and impartial it is. Congratulations to Mr Joshua Ho and ANANDTECH.watersb - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
Excellent detail. No way to exhaustively evaluate this decice in a single review, but this is the best I've seen. I read every word. Thanks!jasonjason - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
s6 edge is not in-cellUser.Name - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
Am I the only person that holds onto a smart phone for more than 18-24 months?I really dislike the trend of smart phones becoming more and more "disposable" items.
For my own requirements, they're honestly at the point now that they're fast enough, the screens are good enough, and I don't use the camera enough (I carry around a Sony NEX) that I could buy any of the high-end phones like this or an iPhone 6 and stick with it for the next five years. Storage is the only thing which I am constantly limited by.
Yes, you now have the option of a 128GB phone - well my music library alone is more than a terabyte in size. Now I don't *need* to carry my entire music library on my person at all times, but it would be nice if I could.
When you consider that a phone is also storing apps, games, photos, videos and other data, even 128GB is not a lot of storage. I may only have 30GB or so left over that I can dedicate to music after all that - which means that I'm better off still carrying around an old 160GB iPod. What I want more than anything is a phone which can finally replace that.
With a MicroSD slot, you can dedicate all of that storage to media. 64GB MicroSDXC cards are dirt-cheap right now, 128GB are a bit more expensive, and they currently top out at 200GB.
Well several years from now there may be 256GB, 384GB and 512GB cards available at the same prices 64/128/200GB cards are today.
The SDXC standard supports up to 2TB, so theoretically you could have that much storage in any phone with a MicroSDXC slot if such a card were ever released.
It just seems short-sighted to remove the MicroSD slot.
sevin7 - Monday, April 20, 2015 - link
Your battery will likely need replacing before 5 years... having to ship you're phone off for a replacement battery is just as bad as the storage problemUser.Name - Wednesday, April 22, 2015 - link
I actually mentioned a replaceable battery in my initial draft, intending to shuffle it to the end of the post, but I must have removed it instead.I completely agree, a replaceable standard battery is an important thing to have.
While I have done it, I don't want to have to disassemble a phone to replace the battery, and swap it out with a third-party one of questionable quality/safety standards.
Gorgenapper - Wednesday, April 22, 2015 - link
Micro SD cards are not as reliable as the internal flash memory (and obviously not as fast). I experienced this first hand when I went on vacation last summer and used my Samsung GS4 Active to take pics and videos. On the second night, I powered the phone off and swapped the batteries, and found that all the pics / videos I took for that day were gone, even though they had been showing in QuickPic when I got back to the hotel before powering the phone off.The micro SD card (Sandisk UHS-10 64gb) had gone into failsafe read-only mode due to failure. I had to connect to the WiFi every night and back my stuff up to Google Drive.
User.Name - Wednesday, April 22, 2015 - link
Perhaps I have been fortunate, but as long as I have paid for quality cards and checked that they are genuine (there are a lot of fake SanDisk cards out there) I have yet to have one fail on me. And moving to a read-only state is a pretty good failure mode if you ask me.But I don't think that MicroSD should *replace* the internal storage. That's why I want a phone with 128GB—or more—internal storage in addition to a MicroSD slot, so that the MicroSD is only used to store media.
I just want the option of having my phone replace the need for carrying around an old iPod. I don't plan on using MicroSD for running apps, or making up for the fact that the phone itself only has 8GB of storage.
der - Tuesday, April 21, 2015 - link
I missed this review. Are you KIDDING ME Anandtech!sonicmerlin - Tuesday, April 21, 2015 - link
You failed to mention there's a maddening delay when you use Samsung's replacement for "Ok, Google" voice activation features. They disabled the standard Google activation and replaced it with their inferior version.akdj - Sunday, April 26, 2015 - link
I'll re-read, but I could've sworn that was mentioned a couple times. Maybe it was ARS, but I'll check, as you're right. SVoice is the 'front end' to access GVoice and therefore allows Sammy to 'remember' your search information, etc. I've been able to work around, I believe, on my Note 4 now with the 5.0.1 updateUse Google Laincher. Disable Samsung account and sync and mine flies! Much faster than Nova, Go or vanilla TouchWiz and 'possibly' part of Google's Launch code, while using its only syncing data through Google (possibly SVoice or SRememberEverything in the background). I'll have to recheck and time but the update to LP has certainly sped all facets of the UI, updates, app launching and all around perceived 'speed'. I use a dark wallpaper, Nova Launcher 70% of the time and GLauncher the other portion.
Possibly Google's new 5.0.1 code is more specific to usage of its own services overriding those of carrier or the OEM. Again, unsure but damn it flies!
I'm going to spend this week with Google's camera to see if the Note 4 fan shoot the new raw still formats. As a decent camera with Lightroom on board and a CC subscription, I'm excited for the raw output of these hamdsets.
Are you speaking from experience? (Do you own one) or what you've read in reviews? I've certainly seen that mentioned and thought it was here ...pertaining to your suggestion it was forgotten. When I read it, I checked it in the Note 4 and using TW straight, indeed it runs through SVoice first with a significant delay (regardless of bandwidth). It seems quicker in Nova, slower in Go, fastest using Google Launch
pSupaNova - Tuesday, April 21, 2015 - link
Reading this review I can't help thinking Intel is in trouble if Samsung manages to ship lots of this handset.it will show that they are getting their SOC manufacturing into gear.
Schickenipple - Tuesday, April 21, 2015 - link
It's a little comical that a good portion of the 'pluses' of android phones have now gone the way of the iPhone. I fear there will be very little for Samsung lovers to hold over iOS soon.... How will you reboot when the OS freezes every day? Can't add an SD card??!! Blasphemy!Seriously though, they look pretty nice. Almost like an iPhone.
FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
oh but if feels so industrial designed and so well built in my hand its so ergonomic my money impression is very, very high as my brain has been fried to a crisp from my desire to be somebody important and wealthy...FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
excuse me but i have too go visit steve jobs grave for my monthly pilgrimage, and check my stock portfolio for my apple daily increase, an apple a day keeps retirement at bay !!!holmberg - Wednesday, April 22, 2015 - link
Could we get a measurement of the audio quality (i.e. the DAC and amplifiers, NOT the speakers), similar to what you did for the S5 here:;http://anandtech.com/show/8078/smartphone-audio-te...
FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
oHHMMM ah I have recieved a premonition:When the time comes, metal industrial apple clone design won't be the glossy cocktail party rave it is now for all the reviewers... the new "nano carbon" hardshell and totally black design will be the inherently desired feel it up in the hand "win" the reviewers and crybabies all claim we want.
So, soon enough, when it's as cheap as a popcan is now, carbon fiber phone rage will storm the gates.... oh it's so light and so stiff, it feels so strong in my hand (like a fem commenting) ...
YEP - that's coming next - then after the reviewers convince the whole industry to trend toward carbon fiber and leave the metalheads in the dust (their newly created idiots wake) we will have another brain fart of gigantic proportion to deal with...
Warnings about carbon fiber slivers will go unheeded - there may be a whole section on how to reduce scratches and nano crackings and splittings of the fiber along with sales kits and superglue derivatives to rebond the nano cracks...
Next some of the more fervent feeler uppers will wind up in the hospital witth carbon paw poisoning or necessary eye cleansings since they sneezed up the raw carbon tubes into their own faces...
In the mean time they will have alzheimers from feeling up their aluminum metalized wonder industrial builds....
Yep, coming soon to a raw brain fart industry of elite 1% self love.
Forget that plastic if flexible, moldable, much more comfortable in the hand, lighter, and easily snapped apart and together - we must now have metal with apple 5star hex screws - and soon only carbon fiber probably with glass reinforced or ceramic fastener holes... and the elite will rave at the sensational high quality super high $$$$$ feel in their paws...
Yeah man, it's coming - if they charged ten grand for solidified rice paper the elite and feely nerd ego wackos would praise it to the moon and sky...
FlushedBubblyJock - Friday, April 24, 2015 - link
Where the heck is the scree resolution comparison and the pixels per inch chart putting the apple fans to shame ?I just read elsewhere the ppi which was always fanfare here when apple had the lead is 557 ppi ...
That's way above the 200-300+ I'm used to seeing...
So it's 4k resoluion and 557 pixels per inch - doesn't that deserve a whole page of glorious praise comparing to the other losers, which is everyone is it not ?
ubcjack - Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - link
Can Anandtech write an article to explain how Samsung implement PDAF over Sony's IM240 sensor? I'm really interested in the implementation.DIYEyal - Thursday, April 30, 2015 - link
If this phone was thicker with a bigger battery, dual sim, micro SD and waterproof it would have been the perfect phone for me.Rumors suggest that samsung is about to release a dualsim version, so I'll probably buy that.
Richa - Friday, May 15, 2015 - link
Am from India - Bangalore. I bought Samsung S6 edge 64 GB on 12th April 2015 and got to know battery is discharging rapidly within first week of use. I spoke to customer support and sent it for service center. Service center person and his manager said phone does not have any problem and returned same defect phone without fixing. Samsung is least bothered about their customers and service center guys are too unprofessional. Please help me what can be done. Battery back up is less than 3-4 hours.Samsung has the worst customer service. First they sell you defective pieces which starts showing problem within a week of purchase and then they will ask you to visit the service center 3-4 times a month just because their technical team is not strong enuff to recognizee the problem. Samsung doesnt value customer time money ... it has just some stupid people sitting at the call center whose work is to fool you and simply waste your time but wont provide genuine service or product .Samsung is the other name of Customer Harassment. My personal Experience which I am going through these days.
techconc - Tuesday, May 19, 2015 - link
@Richa:You sound surprised. Why? Is there anything in your experience history with Samsung or even stories of their customer service that leads you to believe this is an anomaly? Your experience sounds pretty consistent with my experience with them.
An Droid - Monday, May 18, 2015 - link
Try reading the article again. Maybe you will then grasp the advantages of UFS over eMMC. If you still do not understand it, look at the graphs (the pictures).schilling - Wednesday, May 20, 2015 - link
Can someone explain why the video bit rate is so high? It is common for 1080P30 H.264 video to be in the 3-5Mbps range. I get the idea of increasing bit rates to improve quality, but 17Mbps seems ridiculous. I've seen many studies that clearly show that 1080P30 H.264 quality improves very slowly for bit rates above 5Mpbs. Netflix streams 1080P30 in the 1-2Mbps range; and yes their are artifacts, but this is 17-8x higher! The only logical explanation is that Samsung Exynos 7 is taking radical short-cuts in their H.264 CODEC. For example, using only I-Frames, or keeping a very small motion search area.Does anyone have insight to this? Has anyone viewed their stream with a CODEC analysis tool like StreamEye?
Why is Samsung's bit-rate so ridiculously high?
The Rogue Tomato - Saturday, May 23, 2015 - link
Removable battery and no microSD card isn't a big deal anymore. You can get a great quick-charge-capable $20 10,000 mah external battery now that you can use with your own phone, or your girlfriend/wife/boyfriend/husband's phone, too. Just today I wanted to be able to have an extra power source for my phone and my wife's phone. A $20 thingy would be ideal for that.And although I have one with my Note 4, I don't see the point of having a microSD slot anymore. I'd rather have the faster internal storage. It's not like I'm going to carry around 100 movies on my phone. If I really want movies, I can put them on a cheap thumb drive and use OTG.
bloosted - Tuesday, July 7, 2015 - link
You guys should revisit this and do an in-depth on the different camera sensors. Now that some time has passed, it's become very clear that the isocell sensors that some gs6 owners randomly end up with are greatly inferior to the sony sensors that you originally tested. Interestingly, it seems most (if not all) of the online reviews of the s6 and s6 edge were done on phones containing the fantastic sony sensor, which received near universal praise. Tom's hardware just did a review of the two sensors and found the isocell sensor greatly lacking.