Starting on Friday 27th of March, Samsung has begun accepting pre-orders for its next series of smartphones, the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. After the somewhat lacklustre release last year that was the Galaxy S5, all eyes will be on the South Korean technology giant’s next entry into the smartphone arena; will this new handset live up to the near-insurmountable levels of hype that now naturally accompany smartphone releases?
First, lets talk about the aesthetics of the phone. Thankfully, Samsung have taken on board the words of critics, banishing any flimsy, plasticky materials from the phone’s case and screen. Now, every square inch of the handset is covered in soft, cool metal and glass as far as the eye can see. It’s a wonderfully constructed piece of kit. The screen of the phone is similarly excellent. Just as large as the iPhone 6 but with a far greater 2560 x 1440 pixel QHD resolution, all shown on Samsung’s excellent Super AMOLED display, this completely outshines Apple’s newest device. Crisp, clean lines and brilliant colours; the iPhone is looking a little antiquated now.
What about the phone’s capabilities? Well, the phone runs a 64-bit Exynos chipset and features 3GB of memory (we would have preferred 4GB), alongside either 32, 64 or 128GB of flash memory, enough for any user to be completely at ease using and app or playing any game. The combination of this power and the phone’s excellent screen means that users who enjoy playing games, be they in-app – Clash of Clans, for instance – or on a mobile friendly site – such as UpTownAces – the games will run as quickly and as smoothly as they would on a dedicated gaming device. You can’t get that sort of power out of the majority of smartphones.
So it’s all well and good being able to view and use in the crispest, fastest way possible, but if there’s no battery life to support such activity, owning this phone will be akin to needing to run to the toilet every fifteen minutes! This is where the handset might not clear the hurdle; the battery in the S6 is 2550mAh, less than the 2800mAh of it’s predecessor. This could be fine, especially if Samsung has worked on efficiency within the phone’s architecture and components, however it could simply be a cost-saving measure given that the phone has been drastically upgraded compared to the S5. Despite these misgivings though, the phone has wireless charging support and can charge enough to play back 2 hours’ worth of video in a mere ten minute timeframe, so even if the phone is somewhat of a power sponge, it shouldn’t be too taxing to keep it filled with juice.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 is set for release on April the 10th. Let’s see if this is the phone that wins the smartphone war!
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