The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge: a powerful and curvy phone

In recent days thanks to Samsung Spain we have had the possibility of test and analyze the new Galaxy S6 Edge in detail. This terminal was presented at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and in its short time in the market it has managed to achieve good sales figures, in part because of its revolutionary design and because how could it be otherwise, it is a smartphone that combines a huge power, with an outstanding camera, with also some other options and functions.

In this article we are going to try to analyze in great detail this Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, to show most of the options and also to give you our opinion about the terminal after having tested it for a couple of weeks.

Integrated

This Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge has a design that attracts attention as soon as you open the box in which it is delivered. And is that his screen with two curved areas on both sides already a great innovation in terms of design. In addition, the terminal is completely built in materials that we could well say are the ones that should be used in any smartphone that wants to get a place in the so-called high-end range.

One of the main features that attracts attention in terms of design is the unibody body, leaving behind the possibility of removing the battery that we had seen in previous terminals of the Galaxy S series.

Both the screen and the back are covered with the Gorilla Glass 4 protection, which gives it an important resistance, although the metal edges that surround this Galaxy S6 Edge are scratches and damage meat as we will explain later and you can see.

On the front we also find the Home button, which is characteristic of most Samsung smartphones, which also this time has a function more than its own, and with the speaker on the top. On the left side there are the volume up and down buttons. Just on the opposite side, the screen lock button will appear.

At the bottom of this S6 Edge we will find the terminal speaker, with the headphone input and with the plug to charge it. It draws the attention of this lower part that looks very much like the iPhone 6. In the following image you can see this similar design and also the small scratches that occur on the terminal almost accidentally and without explanation.

The only negative point about this S6 Edge design, which is absolutely spectacular, is that its rear camera sticks out a bit, giving the impression that it is going to break down every time we place it on a surface. Many manufacturers strive to make their camera stand out, but this does not seem like a whim, but a necessity, which, unfortunately, almost no one likes it and neither do we.

Characteristics and specifications

First of all, we are going to do a quick review of the main characteristics and specifications of the terminal;

• Dimensions: 142.1 x 70.1 x 7 mm
• Weight: 132 grams
• 5.1-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels (577 PPI)
• Screen and back protection Corning Gorilla Glass 4
• Exynos 7420: Quad-core Cortex-A53 1.5 GHz + Cortex-A57 quad-core 2.1 GHz
• 3 GB of RAM
• Internal storage: 32/64 / 128GB
• 16 megapixel main camera and 5 megapixel front camera
• Fingerprint reader
• NanoSIM card
• MicroUSB connector with USB 2.0
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac dual-band
• GPS, GLONASS, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, infrared port, accelerometer, proximity sensor, gyroscope
• Android Lollipop 5.0.2 operating system ex factory
• Battery 2600 mAh

Taking a look at the characteristics and specifications, few people will miss something in terms of hardware, although it may be striking that the processor does not bear the Qualcomm signature, but this time it has used a processor of its own manufacture, that after the tests it is more than up to what was expected.

It is much more striking that this Galaxy S6 Edge does not have a removable battery as all Samsung flagships had so far. or the possibility of expanding the internal storage using a microSD card.

Despite the fact that Samsung has excused itself in a thousand and one ways for these two significant absences, the reason is clear and is due to design. To achieve the impressive design of the terminal, it was necessary to eliminate the slot for the micro SD card (the nano SIM is inserted at the top where there is little space left) and the possibility of removing the battery. It would certainly have been difficult to achieve such a nice finish on the sides and rear if the option to remove a back cover had been given.

Screen

The screen is undoubtedly one of the strengths of this Samsung Galaxy S6 edge and it is that in addition to its resolution or image quality that it offers, it is also due to its design with two curves on each side, which although they do not have too much utility they do offer a new concept.

Starting at the beginning you should know that We are facing a Super AMOLED panel that Samsung has managed to improve very much until the image we perceive is of an almost unbeatable quality. The brightness and color of the screen are of an enormous quality, although we continue to see how the green color may predominate too much. Also if we want to look for a negative point, we should point out the change of colors that occurs when we change the angle of view.

Of course we couldn't miss those two side curves. The one on the right performs the screen functions, baptized with the name of edge and that will offer us few possibilities, but if any. Next we show you what we can do and see on this second screen;

• Direct access to favorite contacts that we can solve ourselves. This option has been baptized with the name of People Edge
• Updated information through various notification bars that we can download. We can see the latest news or the scores of the football day
• Edge screen lighting. With this option, every time we receive a call or SMS, this screen will turn on, leaving the main one off.
• Night watch. By activating this option and selecting certain hours we can see how a clock is displayed on this screen. The main screen will not be on while it is

Camera

If the screen is one of the strengths of this Galaxy S6 Edge, the camera is perhaps the best aspect of this terminal. And the thing is that we find a 16 megapixel rear camera that offers us images of enormous quality as a result and also with colors that are very faithful to reality, something that does not happen with the cameras of other terminals on the market.

On this occasion and in order not to get into too much technical data, which very few of us understand, we have decided to apply a popular saying that says that “an image is worth a thousand words” and show you several images taken with the camera of this S6 edge so that you yourself you can see the quality of the camera.

A Below we show you a small gallery of images taken with this Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge;

In addition, we could not forget the front camera, 8 megapixels, and that although it does not have the same quality as the rear, as is totally normal it does allow us to take high quality selfies, for example.

Software

As we have said previously, in this Galaxy S6 edge we find the Android operating system in its Android Lollipop version 5.0.2, although as in all Samsung smartphones it is accompanied by the customization layer TouchWiz that has improved a lot in recent times to show itself in this terminal as a very good option.

Few details can be given in this section and we all know Android Lollipop and Samsung's own personalization layer. Of course, we can tell you that unlike on other occasions, navigation through the menus and in general throughout the interface is very fast and without the problems that we have seen on other occasions and in other terminals.

Samsung has not only done a great design job on this S6 but they have also made the software work like a charm.

Battery

If Samsung had gotten a battery that offered us greater autonomy, we could be talking about the best smartphone on the market without a doubt, but unfortunately the battery is the only one but that maybe we can put this Galaxy S6 edge.

And it is that its 2.600 mAh battery in combination with the Exynos processor are somewhat below, not only what we expected, but in comparison with other terminals on the market and that belong to the so-called high-end.

The battery life of this S6 edge is not bad, allowing us to reach the end of the day without squeezing it too much, but perhaps we expected something more and that we could have a greater autonomy. However, the design of this smartphone has surely not allowed miracles.

Su 2.600 mAh battery It seems clearly short, although we cannot decipher if the low autonomy is due to the somewhat short battery or to the inefficient consumption of it by the new processor.

Undoubtedly, and if Samsung intends to continue launching edge devices on the market, it must work on improving the battery, so that it offers us a greater autonomy than that offered by this S6 edge, which without being bad is not outstanding like almost everything. in this terminal.

Personal opinion after two weeks of use

Since the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge was presented at the last Mobile Word Congress held in Barcelona, ​​I had been wanting to be able to test and squeeze this mobile device. I had seen, touched and used it for a few minutes in various specialized stores, but it has little to do with being able to use it for a long period of time.

At the design level I think I can say that there is no smartphone currently on the market so well finished and so beautiful. Taking this S6 Edge out of your pocket leaves everyone around you speechless, but it is also very comfortable in the hand and precious for its owner.

As always, there are its negatives. And it is that for my taste it is a terminal with a screen that is too small, for me that I am used to mobiles in the last screens of 5,5 inches or more. The curve of its sides has also not finished convincing me at all and is that in addition to having few uses, I think it does not let you, for example, read content on certain occasions in a totally comfortable way. It may take more than two weeks to get used to the curves or you may be too demanding a user.

The battery is another of the weaknesses of this terminal and is that although it is not, let's say bad, it may not be enough to reach the end of the day if we squeeze this Galaxy S6 Edge to a great extent.

Finally, if what we like is to take high-quality photographs, and we do not care about the battery, its design or anything else, without a doubt this S6 Edge will allow us to do some real magic with its camera.

My overall opinion is that we are facing an outstanding terminal, with a license plate camera, although with a price that may be far from the budget that many users have to spend on a mobile device.

Availability and prices

The Samsung Galaxy S6 edge is already available on the market for a few weeks and you can buy it in any specialized store or through one of the many virtual stores that exist. Next we leave you the different prices, depending on the internal storage of the terminal;

• Samsung Galaxy S6 32GB: € 849
• Samsung Galaxy S6 64GB: € 949
• Samsung Galaxy S6 128GB: € 1049

Editor's opinion

Pros and cons