Samsung as a brand has always confounded me. A company with so much capital, marketing prowess, and brand clout has taken this long to finally do what consumers and media representatives have been saying for a long time — make the Galaxy flagship beautiful. Well after five iterations of the highly successful Galaxy S line they have finally done it, and they have done it very well. The Galaxy S6 is a stunning device with a redesign that finally blends the interior performance power cohesively with an elegant outside to match.
The new S6 is a well balanced construction of glass and aluminum which feels premium and comfortable in the hand. The plastic back of previous devices which went from slippery plastic to rugged plastic to textured plastic is now gone and replaced with a glass back cover. Unfortunately in typical glass fashion it is susceptible to smudging, which makes the device look like a finger painting child’s masterpiece. The outside of the device is wrapped in aluminum which allows the S6 to be on par design wise with the other flagship devices on the market such as the iPhone 6/6 plus and the new HTC One M9.
But in typical redesign fashion there are areas where people can complain and are in my opinion justified in their displeasure. The S6 redesign will entice new buyers but also will prompt Galaxy S4 and S5 users to contemplate the switch as the battery is now non removable. For iPhone users this is not a big deal at all as their experiences have always been with a battery that you depend on but never see, but for Galaxy S users this was a feature that die hard fans used to lambast rival devices by saying “you can’t even bring a spare battery with you.” Well if you want the new design you have to compromise on this feature although Samsung could have easily put a removal metal back similar to Motorola Rokr e8 back in the day, but they simply choose not to. There is also no longer expandable storage on the device although the 32 GB given should be more than sufficient for the average user.
Omitting some design issues the S6 is truly an all around amazing device with an extremely fast processor, a stunning camera, an improved speaker (still cannot dethrone HTC in the audio department) and a shockingly clear 2560 x 1440 quad hd Super Amoled screen that performs well even in direct sunlight. Samsung states that the Octo Core 64 bit processor delivers the most power and speed they have ever put in a device. Based on my experience it is visibly evident from the fluidity in the swipes and to probably the fastest camera start up time I have ever seen. Double clicking the home button, taking a shot, and then viewing it in the gallery took a combined 4 seconds.
The 16 mp camera is easily one of the best I have seen on a mobile device as it offers a plethora of options to enhance the picture and video taking experience. The colours were vibrant and focused in the auto shot mode, and with the option to go into “Pro Mode” a setting which enables the user to control focus, adjust exposure, etc. the S6 offers many of the specs needed for the visually inspired crowd — whether those pictures are sunsets or selfies.
Of course with all that power under the hood the battery demands for this device are great and there in lies an issue with the Galaxy S6. I cannot give a true opinion of the 2550 Mah battery because it appears to have a split personality. Some days the battery appeared to have been waging a winning war against Wi-Fi demands and excessive app usage and other days it conceded defeat before the day was over. Users should not blame the battery per say but the beautiful redesign which gave elegance but stole some functionality.
The slimmer sleek design took away Samsung’s ability to put in a larger battery. I would have preferred a slightly larger device with a stronger battery then a device which is 6.8mm thick as an extra 1.5 to 2mm will not jeopardize the structural integrity of my jean pocket. However where the S6 loses out on battery life it makes up for in charging speed which fully charges in an astounding 30 minutes.
In comparison to the S5, the S6 offers a give and take in regards to features. The S6 appears to have removed some of the unnecessary motion features of previous models which acted more as gimmicks then functional features, and improved them with an overall better experience. The S health app now offers more options to track your health routine from tracking your daily water intake to differentiating between whether you are hiking, jogging, or walking. The heart rate monitor also produces ECG inspired graphics and a faster/ more accurate heart rate reading which is convenient.
The S6 comes equip with less touch wiz bundled apps and bloat but still has a way to go to get the perfect balanced experience. Although we are all busy clicking like and tweeting, while teens are snapchatting, call quality is still a primary feature for a device because lets face it the S6 is still a phone even if we tend to forget and unfortunately the call quality expected at this price point was not there.
With Samsung’s Smartphone sales falling in 2014, the S6 is a very important device for Samsung’s future in the Smartphone market. Based on analyst speculations Samsung is expected to sell 70 million S6 devices which would be a great success for a company which is battling not one but two variations of the iPhone 6 while trying to entice owners of older Galaxy S models to move on up. Based on the overall improvements Samsung has made to the S6 there is no reason why this device should not be a home run and potentially the best phone money can buy.
