Samsung unveils designer cases for Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, today announced the rich accessory collection for the new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge. This robust portfolio of accessories will offer people the freedom to customise their mobile experiences to fit their personal style while enhancing the beautiful and purposeful design of Samsung’s newest devices. Montblanc, Romero Britto, Rebecca Minkoff and Burton were tapped to produce signature designs.

ROMERO BRITTO international pop artist has partnered with Samsung for it’s first-ever artist collaboration. Britto has brought his signature visual language of vibrant colours and expressive imagery to unique, clear covers for the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge.

BURTON has fuelled the growth of snowboarding worldwide and through its collection for Samsung, Burton continues its momentum with vibrant protective covers inspired by two of the brands most popular print designs.

SWAROVSKI building on a longstanding relationship with Samsung, Swarovski has developed a colourful series of premium, protective, crystal-embellished covers that reflects the different shades of glass in the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge.

REBECCA MINKOFF's playful and subtly edgy flower print protective cover and leather pouch designs seamlessly enhance the beautiful and innovative Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge.

MONTBLAC continue their exclusive collaborative relationship with Samsung, combining Montblanc’s heritage of luxury and craftsmanship with the breakthrough technological innovations of Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge featuring a collection of leather made cases and flip covers designed in the Montblanc manufacturing facility in Italy.

Samsung Galaxy S6 In-depth review- 2

PERFORMANCE

Samsung this time does not chose the Qualcomm for powering its chip and uses their own chip which is based on 64 bit architecture. The phone is boasted by an octa-core Exynos 7420 processor. Interestingly, it shares some commonalities with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 SoC, since the two consist of four Cortex-A57 cores running at 2.1GHz, while another four Cortex-A53 cores clock in at 1.5GHz. The difference is only in maunfacturing the chip as Exynos 7420 uses a14nm process whereas the Snapdragon 810 relies on a 20nm process. The reports are saying that Samsung's chip is more power-efficient.

The processor is driven by Mali-T760 graphics and backed by 3GB of ram which perform flawlessly with its operations. But one would suspect that make use of quad-HD resolution would stall its performance but that’s hardly the case when you see that operations are accompanied with buttery and fluid responses. Also there’s always that nagging feeling in our mind that will it maintain its smooth performance long-term – more so when additional apps are installed on the phone and new services are added to the background process. For what it is now, however, we can’t deny that it’s absolutely unstoppable.

In the terms of connectivity, Samsung Galaxy S6 has an expansive LTE band support with category 6 downlink, which will deliver theoretical download speeds of 300Mbps. Beyond that, it shares all of the cutting-edge connectivity– include aGPS with Glonass, Bluetooth 4.1, dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi, NFC, DLNA, MHL, and a microUSB 2.0 port with the fast charging feature. 

In the past, Samsung has focused on the fact that its Galaxy smartphones offered expandable storage via their microSD card slots and removable battery. Sadly, though, they’ve made a complete change by choosing instead to strictly stick with internal storage. Some users will will miss that versatile feature and others will not. Therefore, you’ll need to choose wisely on which model to go with; 32GB, 64GB, or 128GB.

CAMERA

Samsung have an intimate relationship with its camera on the phones. They really do care about the performance, which has become extremely clear in our various photo comparisons. Last year’s Galaxy S5 continued the trend, only to be improved by the Note 4 later on, so it’s no surprise that the love is going to be extended here to the Galaxy S6.

On the back Samsung Galaxy S6 sports a 16MP Sony IMX240 sensor (same sensor used by Note 4 camera) with wider f/1.9 aperature lens. This lens help us getting great shots even in low light. The camera also features optical image stabilization, BSI, LED flash, and a new infrared white balance to perfectly adjust the shot to the present lighting conditions. Check out some sample below

The camera app itself is also extremely fast to launch – you can even call it up by double-pressing the home button at any time, which takes less than a second to get running. The reason why the camera app is so quick to start is because it never gets cleaned up from the system memory, so it's always running in the background. Thankfully, Samsung promises that this isn't supposed to introduce any battery or performance issues, thanks to its software optimizations.

Samsung also make new features in the camera app which now open by double tapping the home button at anytime. It takes less than a second to open the app because the app always running in the background. Thankfully, Samsung promises that this isn't supposed to introduce any battery or performance issues, thanks to its software optimizations. The app contains modes like selective focus, panorama, slow motion, fast motion, virtual shot, and pro. We also have full manual control over the camera to adjust parameters for ISO, white balance, exposure compensation, and now focus as well.

In addition, the camera handles dynamic range decently – to the point that it casts a neutral exposure with most shots. Although, HDR mode definitely adds a touch to shadows and highlights to further draw out details that would otherwise be lost. Color production is quite natural looking, so it’s neither too warm, nor too cold in the process.

Samsung also offer 360 degree video making mode and makes its debut with the Galaxy S6, Virtual Shot, offers a new experience in the form of a 360-degree capture. All that’s needed is to move the phone around your object, where it then stitches it all together to produce a 360-degree sample. And from there, we can observe the object because it taps into the phone’s sensors for navigation. Seriously, though, we find it more gimmicky than anything else.

Samsung Galaxy S6 doesn’t disappoint in its abilities to record the moment. Not only is there a wide degree of shooting modes, such a UHD, QHD, 1080p at 60 FPS, 1080p at 30 FPS, and 720p at 120 FPS to name a few, but the results from each are to die for.

The UHD mode by the S6 offers a great deal of detail captured by it, that the digital zoom offered by the camera proves effective enough to an extent. Other agreeable qualities include its smooth auto-focus, minimal artifacting when panning, gradual exposure adjustment, and mostly clear audio recording.

Battery

Due to new design, Samsung not only had to use non-removable battery but also decrease to their battery capacity and shrunk it down to 2550mAh. The lower capacity battery is something of concern for those who regard themselves as power users – more so when this one is packing a quad-HD screen, which generally requires more juice than its 1080p counterparts. For daily, real-world usage the Galaxy S6 is not extraordinary with its battery life. Rather, it’s enough to get us through a solid-one day of normal usage. It's battery lasts upto 7 hours 45 minutes in normal usage.

Conclusion

At the end of the day we can say that it’s probably the biggest redesign to the series in recent memory, one that embodies the qualities that give it a more serious, substantial feel – in comparison to the unflattering feel of plastic. Secondly, it’s a specs demon wherever you look! From the quad-HD Super AMOLED, to the 16-megapixel rear snapper, and its 64-bit based octa-core Exynos chip, this is ensured to be future proof in almost every way imaginable.

The software of the device also gets a change and finally, it’s a solid-performer in the areas that matter to us. Samsung has paid a great deal of attention to everything. The design of the phone is the biggest change in the device but it also makes sacrifices of its many features from its predecessors such as expandable storage via microSD card slot, user replaceable battery, and a water resistant construction.

In all fairness, the good outweighs the bad with the Samsung Galaxy S6 – we’ll gladly forgo some of those previous offerings in favor of its new, premium design. Here in the US, it’s expected to sell for the usual $200 with a 2-year contract. Change is good, that’s unquestionable. If this is the beginning of a new era for Samsung, we’re encouraged by the prospect of the Galaxy S6’s arrival. All phones should fear, just because the Galaxy S6 is setting the bar really, really high for everyone.

Check if you did not see 1st part of this review.

Samsung Galaxy S6 In-depth review

Launched in 2010, Samsung's first Galaxy S came into the market in summer. That time Samsung got tough competition from other smartphone makers like Apple, HTC, Sony and the Motorola but the Galaxy S shows a new era for the Samsung with incentive devices that prove to be more and more impressive.

The following generation of S line series came with even bigger & better displays, better internals and refined design. Samsung's previous Galaxy S4 and S5 also prove to be biggest hit in the comsumers and after that hits Samsung came at MWC 2015 and officially unveiled its latest, tottaly redefined Samsung Galaxy S6. It's easy to see that the S6 is a great phone, and one Samsung sorely needed.

DESIGN

Samsung decided to completely change its design in the flagship device called it as a Project Zero. Of course, the decision to go with plastic constructed devices has its own benefits, such as contributing to a lighter frame, but generally speaking, it lacks the premium qualities we’d want to find in a flagship smartphone. Well Samsung goes 180-degrees to grace the Galaxy S6 with a significantly improved design – one that finally brings in some high-quality components to give it a true high-end look and feel!

Samsung get the idea of new design change from its previously launched Samsung Galaxy Alpha, which was the design footprint for the Note 4. With those aforementioned devices, Samsung chose to add a subtle presence of premium in its designs by adding metal trim bezels. However, for the Galaxy S6, Samsung went back to the drawing board to try and deliver something perfectly clean and refreshing. Yes, the same metal trim bezel is back, but now it’s present with glass surfaces to give it a attractive appearance. Specifically, it’s Gorilla Glass 4 sandwiched together by that metal trim bezel.

Some charateristics of the design draw comparisons to the iPhone 6’s design. Looking at profile view the metal trim bezel, along with the arrangement of some of its ports and buttons, closely matches the styling of the iPhone 6. So it begs the question: does this new inspiration came from Apple’s pride and joy? But at the end of the day, we can agree that this is the best-designed smartphone Samsung has produced.

Samsung Galaxy S6’s new design is a breathtaking marvel but the company have made some compromises in getting that design. The water resistant construction, reomovable battery and micro sd card slot which were the staple qualities if the Samsung's previous generation smartphones is now gone. 

The Galaxy S6 is a narrower, lighter and skinnier than its predecessor and make this as a compact phone. By adding metal frame the company adds the strenght to the construction of the device but this device is a serious finger print magnet and it's tough to keep the device look clean.

Looking around the phone, it’s sporting some of the same set of ports and buttons throughout its metal frame. The separated volume controls are placed on the left edge, the power button and SIM slot on its right, microUSB 2.0 port, 3.5mm headset jack, microphone, and internal speaker on its bottom, and finally the IR blaster and noise-cancelling mic placed on its top edge. It has the same home button is present beneath the display – flanked by the Recent Apps and Back capacitive buttons and shows that it is a Galaxy smartphone.

DISPLAY

With the huge change in design, Samsung also leaves a lasting marks in display. It keeps the same screen size tradition as its preiovus one butnow with ultimate higher pixels. Samsung put the Quad HD (2560x1440p) SUPER AMOLED display in its new 5.1 inch flagship that leads to one staggering pixel density of 551. 

It leads to a display which is rich with detail and exceptionally sharp looking. Most people would be hard-pressed to distinguish how much more detailed this panel is than others with 1080p resolution, especially from a normal distance, but it goes to show that Samsung won’t settle for anything but being class-leading. 

The company’s continued fine tuning of the display technology has given the Galaxy S6 the best Super AMOLED display to date which produces a color temperature of 6550K, reaching very close to that ideal reference value of 6500K – so it’s close to hitting that perfect spot of being neither too warm or cold. The Super AMOLED panel is extremely color accurate as each color gradient matches the reference points like Blues look blue, reds look red, and greens appear green –so the result is a display with very high color accuracy. 

Samsung also improves its display quality in the day sunlight by emitting a pretty adequate 563 nit brightness. So there’s no issue trying to visualize the screen when the sun is around. That's a reason why we have flagship devices, they’re supposed to be the best of the best. It’s a beautiful-looking display that perfectly complements its new aesthetics.

Interface and Functionality

Samsung which is running on top of Android 5.0.2 Lollipop — has been toned down in terms of its feature-set and UI presentation. True to Samsung's claim, this most up-to-date version of TouchWiz retrain from the exorbitant features set seen in TouchWiz past, focusing instead on features that are relevant and meaningful to the experience. Things like Air Gestures, Air View, and a handful of others we’ve come to find in previous efforts have been pushed deeper into the settings, but can still be found, if needed. The result is a familiar TouchWiz experience, but one that's direct, without too many redundancies that previously came off as overwhelming to some people.

One-Handed Mode

Samsung added Enabling one-handed usage which has been among the main priorities for Samsung while refining TouchWiz. We can say that the Galaxy S6 is a top performer in that department. Its compact size, mixed with sizable icons and other user interface elements, make for an experience that facilitates easy and quick usage with just one thumb with more advanced tasks will still require you to use two hands, but when it comes to simple stuff like checking your email, checking the weather, or calling a contact, using one hand should be sufficient.

Themes

Samsung also added a new ability to download new themes that changes the look of the interface. You can search through the Galaxy Apps Store and check the various downloadable themes that not only change the wallpaper, but also other aspects of the interface – such as the color accents, icons, and layout of some core apps. In comparison to what HTC offers with its level of personalization with Sense 7.0, Samsung's effort is much more superficial – whereas Sense goes the extra step by using stored images/photos for custom themes.

Improved Fingerprint Scanner

The home button include the phone's finger print sensor. This year’s implementation is vastly better, since it now follows the operation we’ve seen employed by the iPhone. Rather than swiping down for it to register our fingerprint, all that’s needed now to unlock the phone is to gently press it over the home button. It’s simple and effortless, whereas before, it was a frustrating process at times. Getting it set up is similar to Apple’s Touch ID sensor, as we’re required to gently press our finger over the sensor multiple times – where it’s mapped entirely for accuracy.

Samsung Pay

The Samsung Galaxy S6 will give the users to experience Samsung Pay service. Samsung has already completed deals with Visa and MasterCard, but it's yet to expand that partnership to other major players, such as American Express or Bank of America. However, the company reassures that it's working on it. Easily the most interesting thing about Samsung Pay is the new Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) proprietary technology, which is said to widen Samsung Pay's compatibility with shopping terminals significantly. You can also use NFC for making contactless payments, Samsung Pay will also be able to communicate with traditional magnetic stripe terminal. 

Users will be able to buy various goods in a quick and secure way, plus the whole process is promised to happen rather quickly. For example, should you wish to pay for something using Samsung Pay, you'd simply need to swipe of from the bottom bezel in order to bring up the Samsung Pay app (or just tap the icon, we guess), choose the desired card for the payment, authenticate using the fingerprint sensor, and from there, everything should be done in a matter of seconds.

Click here to Check Performance, Camera, Battery and Conclusion