Well, folks, after lots of rumors, speculations, and a few leaks – the Galaxy S6 edge has finally been announced! A sibling to the Galaxy S6 flagship, this handset has a curved display, wrapping around both its sides – unlike the Galaxy Note Edge, which only has its curve on the right. Samsung's newest top-shelf handsets rock the latest and greatest in smartphone hardware, and are adorned in materials, which have so far been unseen on the company's flagships – a metal frame, sandwiched between two glass panels. Let's take a look at everything that has been said about the Galaxy S6 edge!
It's all about the looks!
Unlike the Galaxy Note Edge, the S6 edge's curved screen does not aim to offer as much functionality, as it does to provide a fresh design look. What we mean is that the sides of the screen will not be treated as an extension to the display, housing various types of panels, but are simply there to provide an almost bezel-less appearance, and a cutting-edge look to the device. The curves are much less pronounced than what we've seen on the Note Edge, allowing the frame of the smartphone to be thick enough to house the power and volume buttons, and of course – to be comfortably held by its user.
Edge functionality is not totally out the window, however – the side panels still offer limited use, such as displaying a clock. However, they are far from housing app icons and widgets.
Aside from the curved display, we have another unique novelty, at least as far as Samsung is concerned – the S6 edge is wrapped in an aluminum unibody case, with a Gorilla Glass 4 panel on its back – a design language, rather new for Sammy. Needless to say, the phone oozes class and we are impressed by the radical departure from the Galaxy S series so far. Each of the new S6 handsets will be available in four colors, for the S6 edge they are White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, and Green Emerald.
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Fans of the light, grippy feel of Samsung's flagships may be pleasantly surprised by the S6 and S6 edge – despite their aluminum and glass build, both handsets are actually lighter than the already lightweight Galaxy S5. The S6 edge's body size measures at 5.59 x 2.76 x 0.28 inches (142.1 x 70.1 x 7.0 mm), making it both thinner and less wider than the S5, and it weighs 4.66 oz (132 g) – 0.45 oz lighter than the S5.
Unfortunately, beauty has its price, it seems, as both the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge have lost their IP67 rating and are no longer waterproof. Whether we will be seeing "Active" versions of the new flagships remains to be seen.
Display
Aside from the very obvious curve on both of its sides, the S6 edge's display doesn't differ much from its "normal"counterpart – the screen measures 5.1" across its diagonal and has a super-crisp QHD (1440 x 2560) resolution. Of course, its made with Sammy's own Super AMOLED technology – fans of accurate displays will probably know that, for the past year, Samsung has been churning out AMOLED displays with very impressive color accuracy; the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge are no exception! And, all that beauty is protected by Corning's latest invention - the Gorilla Glass 4.
Processor and Memory
For the first time in a while, Sammy will not be relying on Qualcomm's Snapdragon SoCs to power its flagships, not even for a separate variant of the devices – the new Galaxy S6 and S6 edge are powered by a Samsung home-made 64-bit octa-core chip. It houses an 8-core CPU, clocked at 1,8 GHz, an ARM MALi T760 to churn the graphics, and is coupled with 3 GB of super-fast LPDDR4 RAM. The handset's internal memory employs Sammy's brand-new UFS 2.0 technology, which should deliver performance speeds up to 2.7 times faster than today's eMMC 5.0 tech. The Galaxy S6 edge will come in three storage variants – 32 GB, 64 GB, and 128 GB, there will be no external SD expansion slots.
The CPU is, of course, the latest and greatest in processor tech, employing a 14 nm process. What this should mean is that these little engines should be much more productive, yet less power-hungry than what we've seen before. Preliminary leaks from various benchmarks showed Samsung's latest handsets to be outperforming everything else in the mobile market, but, of course, their power is yet to be tested.
Interface
Samsung has been promising a much snappier, faster device, and, while hardware helps to accomplish this, an optimized, bloat-free user interface is just as, if not more-so, important. The new TouchWiz is supposedly thinned out, offering only the very basic Samsung-branded experience from the box. If anyone finds themselves missing a certain feature that used to be on their old Galaxy S handset – the Galaxy Apps store will be the place to find it.
As for what functions will actually be on the handset from the get-go – S Health, S Voice, Quick Connect, and Ultra Power Saving mode will be making their reappearance, and a new Themes app will allow users to customize the looks of the interface to their own liking. There will, of course, be an app for the brand-new Samsung Pay service, and all of Google's apps will be on board. Microsoft's Skype, OneDrive, and OneNote will also be installed out of the box, and users will be gifted 115 GB of OneDrive storage space for two years. New owners should also expect to be greeted by pre-loaded Facebook and WhatsApp applications.
Camera
An all-new camera can be found on the back of the S6 and S6 edge – still a 16 MP sensor equipped snapper, its aperture size has been upgraded to F1.9, which should provide better light capturing, and shallower depth of field for better focus options and effects. OIS, Selective focus, HDR, and 4K video are expected to make a return, and a quick-access feature has been added – users can now double click the home button, which will bring up the camera app in just 0.7 seconds, according to Samsung.
The selfie snapper is also an impressive piece of tech – the sensor has a 5 MP resolution and also sports an F1.9 aperture size, and Samsung promises great performance in low-light conditions.
Battery
The Galaxy S6 edge sports a 2,600 mAh power box and employs a quick charging tech, which, according to Samsung, will allow the user to get a 4 hours worth of charge for just 10 minutes of being plugged in a wall charger. The handset also has wireless charging tech, which is compliant with both major standards – WPC and PMA!
Release date and pricing
The Galaxy S6 edge will be available globally starting from April 10, 2015. Pricing is still unknown, but if we had to guess, we'd say something in the realm of $750 off-contract sounds about right, considering how flagships go nowadays.
Expectations
So, to recap – with the Galaxy S6 edge, we should expect a high-class look and feel, thanks to its metal-and-glass construction. It sports bleeding edge hardware under the hood and the TouchWiz UI has been lightened, so that the handset feels responsive, slick, and super-fast. The biometric sensor has been changed from a swipe-to-unlock to touch-to-unlock, promising better usability. Last, but not least, the already remarkable camera has been upgraded even further, which should solidify Sammy's top spot in smartphone photography.
Does the new Galaxy S6 edge meet your expectations of a premium handset in 2015?
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Preslav, a member of the PhoneArena team since 2014, is a mobile technology enthusiast with a penchant for integrating tech into his hobbies and work. Whether it's writing articles on an iPad Pro, recording band rehearsals with multiple phones, or exploring the potential of mobile gaming through services like GeForce Now and Steam Link, Preslav's approach is hands-on and innovative. His balanced perspective allows him to appreciate both Android and iOS ecosystems, focusing on performance, camera quality, and user experience over brand loyalty.
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