mobile phones

Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge announced

3 HOURS AGO MARCH 02, 2015 12:03PM
16 comments

Video
Image

Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge First Look

SAMSUNG this morning has unveiled its best looking smartphone ever. However, it looks a lot like its biggest competitor, the iPhone 6.

Design similarities aside, the Galaxy S6 is a huge improvement from last year’s Galaxy S5, which even Samsung admits wasn’t as great as it could have been.

It features a crazy powerful octa-core processor, meaning your phone will be much faster, and there won’t be annoying lag — so you’ll select a feature and it will work immediately.

There’s also a big-ish 2550mAh battery. That’s smaller than the Galaxy S5’s 2800mAh, but we’re yet to see how that will perform in the real world.

The 16-megapixel rear-facing camera is the same resolution as the S5, however Samsung have improved it in other areas. The front facing camera is 5-megapixels to take great selfies, while a heart rate monitor is built into the flash unit, like the Galaxy S5.

And finally, a fingerprint scanner that doesn’t require you to swipe your finger over it like an old HP laptop.

Looking good. Source: AFP

The screen is the same size — 5.1 inches — as the Galaxy S5, but packs a whopping Quad-HD resolution (4x high definition), making it easily one of the best, if not the best screen on a mobile device today.

The design itself is a result of what Samsung referred to internally as “Project Zero”. Basically, the company stepped back and focused on the areas where their phones lacked, and rebuilt it from the ground up. It listened to complaints from users, like the cheap plastic and replaced it with super strong, scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass on both the front and back.

As a result of the new design however, Samsung has had to ditch the removable battery and expandable memory. These are two features that both the company and users had touted about for years. But perhaps that design might just make up for it.

Looks a bit familiar ... Source: Supplied

Thankfully, Samsung has ditched a lot of its bloatware, or the unnecessary apps that come pre-installed that no one ever really wants. This has been a common complaint that many people have about Android phone manufacturers.

Announced alongside the Galaxy S6 is the Galaxy S6 Edge. A phone with two curves on the screen. It’s basically the same phone as the normal Galaxy S6, with the same internals, camera and screen resolution. It does have an ever-so-slightly bigger battery though.

The curves on the screen are used for two things. On one side, you get an “Information Display”, which shows things like notifications, news and other information you might want to glance at.

The Galaxy S6 on the left, and Galaxy S6 Edge on the right. Source: AP

The other part of the screen is known as the People Edge. With that, you get a spot for five contacts that lets you interact with those people from any screen.

Both phones will be available in black, white and gold. The Galaxy S6 will also have a bright blue colour, while the S6 Edge will have a Forest Green colour exclusive to it.

Both the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge have wireless charging. Source: AP

On top of the phones, Samsung has also announced an updated version of its Gear VR virtual reality headset, which both the S6 and S6 Edge will fit into. This hasn’t changed much, but the design has been improved, making it more comfortable, and it has USB power so your battery won’t die while using it.

Samsung Australia hasn’t confirmed the pricing or launch date of either of these, however, the international release is slated to be in April.

COMMENT ON THIS STORY