Will Project Zero deliver for Samsung the success that it deserves? This is a Company whose future in the smartphone market was under question after the failure of the Galaxy S5 a smartphone that was a simple evolution of the highly successful Galaxy S4.Apple suffered a similar problem with the iPhone 5S.
Now Samsung is peddling an elegant new smartphone that has
been designed from the ground up, hence the name project Zero.
Right now a lot is hanging on the fate of the new Galaxy S6
and S 6 Edge and if the stares I have been getting are anything to go by
Samsung has a lot going for it especially among the smartphone curious crowd.
Samsung has been stunningly successful making smartphones in
the past but like Nokia, and Blackberry success can evaporate overnight.
Being exposed and totally exposed up against a wall as one
is being slowly stripped of any past success can be a sobering factor for any
Company, but for some Companies it is the time when they perform best.
Samsung is exposed and a lot is resting on these two new
smartphones which are significantly more expensive than prior models.
This premium pricing is itself is a testimony to the conviction
that Samsung has in the Galaxy S6 especially their flagship the Galaxy S6 Edge.
 |
For Samsung there is only one smartphone in their sites and
that is the new Apple iPhone 6.
But there is a another new kid on the block in the form of
the HTC One M9 which is way up there and a worthy competitor the Samsung Galaxy
S6, while better than the Apple iPhone 6 the HTC is set to appeal to a very different
consumer than the Samsung Galaxy 6 Edge if my recent tests are anything to go
by.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and HTC One M9 were the big
smartphone launches of this year’s Mobile World Congress, and represent the
next wave of flagships that Samsung and HTC hope will further cement their
positions within the increasingly crowded market.
What I found during a recent shopping centre visit in
Queensland was that both the new Samsung Galaxy S 6 Edge and the HTC One M9
have pulling power but to totally different audiences, females loved the Edge
while males loved the feel of the HTC offering.
This says a lot about the styling and design that both
Companies have built around their new smartphones.
The M9 is the
straightforward heir apparent to last year’s much-praised M8, while the Edge,
which features a dual-sided curved display, is the seriously dressed up sister
to the regular Galaxy S6.
The Edge’s dual-curved display is 0.1 of an inch larger than
the M9’s 5-inch 1080p, and is Quad HD with AMOLED 2,560 x 1,440 (577ppi)
resolution. This is the best display there is and it’s significantly superior
on the Edge than the display screen of the Apple iPhone 6.
While the Edge is lighter and feels sensational in the hand
one has to get use to holding it because it is slimmer and lighter than other
smartphones and when texting with both hands it can easily slip out of your
hands.
The Edge’s Corning Gorilla glass seriously protects the
outside of this device and what Samsung has done is create a very smooth design
wrapped around a screen that is super bright.
The high fashion look with the sloping sides and the smooth
glass like back is why this device has huge appeal with females and despite the
high gloss look I had no problems with finger marks on the screen.
Apart from the new design Samsung has also made some big
changes to the functionality of the S6, there is no removable battery or a
Micro SD card.
Personally I don’t see this as an issue especially as the
smartphone users today are taking advantage of cloud based storage such as Drop
Box, Google Drive or Microsoft One Drive.
As for the battery I am getting better battery life than the
S5 and charging is significantly quicker especially if you use the supplied
Samsung charger. New software has speeded the charging process.
The battery in the S6 is also larger and significantly
slimmer that prior Galaxy models however the HTC One M9 2840 mAh battery delivers
better battery life.
As for built in storage one has the choice of a 32, 64 and
128GB version.
A 32GB version combined with an external cloud storage
offering is the ideal cost effective way to go. As an incentive Samsung is
giving away for two years 115GB of One Drive storage.
Where the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge seriously kicks in is when
you are watching video. I watched an entire episode of the Netflix show House
of Cards at Sydney airport, using the new Sennheiser Bluetooth Momentum
headphones the experience was excellent with the new curved screen delivering a
better viewing experience.
Watching a video on the Edge makes one realises that the
curves are not a marketing gimmick but a seriously smart design move that
delivers an excellent user experience when watching a video or looking up
contacts.
On the downside we did pick up a problem with several web
page where the text went around the curved display cutting off on certain
words.
Both the HTC One M9 and the Samsung Galaxy 6bEdge handsets
had a tendency to warm up after heavy use such when as watching a video.
The Edge’s menu screen
The Edge has a TouchWiz interface over an Android Lollipop OS
and one big advantage is that there are less annoying Samsung house apps though
having said that the device I played with, had the new Milk music streaming app
loaded and this is a brilliant new addition for Australian Galaxy owners.
Milk on Galaxy S6
The service has been available in the US for nearly 12
months but not in Australia. Recently Samsung added a new Web music player.
This means that in addition to listening on your Samsung Galaxy
smartphone or Samsung tablet, you can now enjoy the catalogue of more than 13
million songs spread out across 200 radio stations on the Web as well.
With Milk Music you can surf stations and genres by turning
an interactive dial to navigate between songs. On the Edge, that dial has
transformed into a full-screen tuner making navigating across genres and stations
simple and fluid using a simple wheel.
The new interface is significantly cleaner than prior Samsung
interfaces with the Korean Company getting rid of several unnecessary menus and
boxes. Even the settings menu is cleaner and easier to navigate. Aesthetically
it is a significant improvement.
Finding key contacts is easy with the new Edge especially
when you activate the People Edge which allows you to register five contacts
with a choice of blue, green, yellow, orange and purple colour options.
When the Edge is placed face down, the curved sides light up
with the appropriate colour of the contact who is calling.
And if you touch the heart rate sensor on the phones rear it
rejects the incoming call and triggers the sending of a default reply text, all
without having to flip the handset over.
Camera
The camera is a real point of difference between the two
handsets, and shouldn’t be underestimated in terms of how important it is.
The New Galaxy S6 has the same 16MP camera sensor as the
Note 4 however Samsung has significantly improved the lens with the new Edge
housing an f/1.9 lens.
The 16MP camera shoots pictures in 16:9 natively, It can
also handle video up to UHD (4K) resolution at 30 frames per second or 1080p
with 60 fps, or you can go for slow-motion capture options.
For photos, the standard “Auto” mode handles
everything for you nicely, including choosing HDR if the scene requires it. For
more advanced users, a new “Pro” mode lets you take control with
manual exposure, ISO, white balance, focal length and metering options, giving
you every tweak you’d want aside from shutter speed. You can even create and
save up to three custom shooting modes with the manual settings you choose.
Samsung’s camera interface is a lot easier to look at and
use than previous versions.
In average or dim light theGS6 takes advantage of its f/1.9
lens and OIS to let in more light than any other smartphone camera out there,
which means lower ISOs being used and less software processing needed to smooth
out shots.
In particularly tough situations, like indoors at night with
low amounts of light available, the GS6 can take a crisp picture quickly
without any blur or long shutter speeds, which is really important for a
smartphone camera.
When outdoors in the
evening, pictures showed a little bit of grain.
A new Quick Launch feature, triggers camera access in 0.7
seconds when tapping the home button twice, and the speed at which pictures were
able to be shot was also a big improvement.
Images are beautifully sharp and defined as this image shot
in Surfers Paradise Queensland shows. When blow up building that are 25
kilometres away from where the image was shot are clearly defined.
 Click to enlarge |
Conclusion
Let’s ignore outright price for a minute and let’s go for a
6GB a month unlimited calls package with Optus at $85 a month.
I say this because at $1,149 outright this is a pricey beast
but at $85 a month you are getting one hell of a smartphone that is up there
with the best there is.
Not only is it significantly superior to the Apple iPhone 6
it is a device that seriously gives you bragging rights. It looks super cool
and feels great in the hand but remember to grip it tightly because I have not
dared to do a drop test.
This is an extremely expensive pieces of kit that even Apple
designers would say deserves credit and admiration.
Personally I really like the improvements to the master HTML
pages the design upgrade makes key information such as settings, contacts,
messaging significantly easier to read. The camera is a game changer for
smartphones and the device is fast due to the use of a Samsung developed 64-bit
14nm Samsung Exynos 7 Octa processor that has four cores that run at 1.5GHz and
four at 2.1GHz.It also has 3GB of RAM.
 Click to enlarge |
SPECS
Samsung Galaxy 6 Specs
Screen: 1440 x 2560 Quad-HD Super AMOLED display 577ppi
Dimensions: 143.4 x 70.5 x 6.8mm
Weight: 138g
Processor: 64-bit 14nm Samsung Exynos 7 Octa processor. Four
cores run at 1.5GHz and four run at 2.1GHz.
RAM: 3GB of LPDDR4 RAM
Storage: 32GB, 64GB or 128GB of UFS 2.0 flash memory
Wireless: LTE category 6 modem (300mbps download), 802.11ac
MIMO 620mbps, and Bluetooth 4.1, NFC.
Front camera: 5MP, f/1.9 lens with real-time HDR and
wide-angle selfie
Rear camera: 16MP, f/1.9 lens
Battery: Built-in 2550mAh lasting WiFi 12 hours, LTE 11h,
video 13h, music 49h. Wireless charging.
Samsung Galaxy 6 EDGE Specs
Screen: 1440 x 2660 Quad-HD Super AMOLED display 577ppi
Dimensions: 142 x 70.1 x 70mm
Weight: 132g
Processor: 64-bit 14nm Samsung Exynos 7 Octa processor. Four
cores run at 1.5GHz and four run at 2.1GHz.
RAM: 3GB of LPDDR4 RAM
Storage: 32GB, 64GB or 128GB of UFS 2.0 flash memory
Wireless: LTE category 6 modem (300mbps download), 802.11ac
MIMO 620mbps, and Bluetooth 4.1, NFC.
Front camera: 5MP, f/1.9 lens with real-time HDR and
wide-angle selfie
Rear camera: 16MP, f/1.9 lens
Battery: Built-in 2600mAh lasting WiFi 12 hours, LTE 11h,
video 13h, music 49h. Wireless charging.
Samsung Galaxy S6 & S6 Edge Will Be First Samsung
Handsets To Get Android Lollipop 5.1
According to sources Samsung has plans to push the Android
5.1 Lollipop update to its handsets inside the second half of 2015, starting
with the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge.
