The Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge were unveiled yesterday at the 2015 Mobile World Congress, and you don’t need to be an expert on smartphones to see that they’ve borrowed more than a few ideas from Apple for their next flagship handsets.
Also See: Valve and HTC Partner to Create a Mobile Virtual Reality Headset Called HTC Vive
Now I realize that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were themselves direct responses to the market’s increased desire for phones with larger screens, but the Galaxy S6 has seen Samsung pick Apple’s brain a little too much for my liking. That’s not to say that it isn’t an impressive piece of tech – the specs certainly suggest that it is – but the Galaxy series has always been a strong alternative for those who have failed to be wooed by Apple’s pricey charm, whereas the S6 appears to be a case of “if you can’t beat ’em, you might as well join ’em.”
Let’s take a look at how the devices compare:
Two Different Options
The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus present two options for consumers; one a little cheaper, a little less robust in terms of its hardware and notably smaller in stature, while the other is an all-singing, all-dancing, high-end device that is more phablet than phone.
Samsung has also opted to give consumers two S6 options, though they’re not as immediately distinguishable from one another. Both feature the same 5.1-inch QHD Super AMOLED display (which is gorgeous, by the way), but the S6 Edge has taken the Galaxy Note Edge’s waterfall display and taken it a step further, with it boasting a dual-curved display.
The S6 and S6 Edge have thankfully seen Samsung go back to the drawing board and deliver a design that rests somewhere between the super-skinny iPhone 6 and the HTC One M8.
It looks good, but as someone who isn’t sold on the “power of the curve” when it comes to smartphone screens, it certainly doesn’t make me want to throw my money at my desktop monitor whenever I look at it. Thankfully, the S6 more than makes up for its rather gimmicky secondary price option with the best design of any smartphone in the Galaxy series to date.
The faux metal, lightweight designs of previous models always made Galaxy devices seem rather cheap and tacky when compared with other smartphones, but the S6 and S6 Edge have thankfully seen Samsung go back to the drawing board and deliver a design that rests somewhere between the super-skinny iPhone 6 and the HTC One M8, which for my money remains the best-looking smartphone on the market today.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge will retail at a higher price point than the S6, though the two share the exact same specifications aside from the Edge’s dual-curved display. Personally, I’d opt for the standard S6 and choose not to splash extra cash in order to have a screen that bends slightly around the device’s edges.
Displays
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus both boasted displays with superb resolution that allowed for crisp, rich colors, though the Samsung Galaxy S6 looks to beat Apple in this particular department. The S6 will feature one of the most pixel-dense displays when it goes to market, with its 2560 x 1440 quad HD resolution boasting 577 pixels per inch, though it appears that Samsung has thrown those specs into the device for the sake of bragging rights, as that kind of resolution on a 5.1-inch screen is relatively pointless and would be practically indistinguishable from the 1920 x 1080 display given the size of the screen.
By comparison, the 4.7-inch model of the iPhone 6 is equipped with a 1334 x 750 LED screen, though it also features Apple’s Retina HD display that makes up for the disparity between the number of pixels its device has in comparison with the S6. The Samsung Galaxy S6 may very well edge it in terms of sheer power when it comes to its display, but both devices are undoubtedly good-looking in their own right.
Stuff You Won’t Care About After You’ve Bought the Phone
Samsung decided to step on the toes of Apple Pay with its own uniquely titled service, Samsung Pay, set to debut with the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge.
Aside from the problems these no-card payment services present, including retailers refusing to carry the service and the inevitable costly issue of bringing it to more regions, with Apple Pay having yet to make its way out of the States, Samsung Pay has another roadblock in its way when it comes to competing with Apple and Google Wallet in a service that no one really cares about, and it’s one that will likely see the service crash and burn sooner rather than later.
It’s looking likely that a federal mandate will soon force US retailers to support EMV-standard chips currently adopted by the rest of the world, thus leaving Samsung Pay in the dust.
Samsung Pay will make use of the Galaxy S6’s MST (Magnetic Secure Transfer) support, as opposed to the NFC (Near-Field Communications) support utilized by Apple Pay and Google Wallet. Initially, this sounds like a good thing as many more US retailers boast MST support than they do NFC support, with Samsung quick to point out that Samsung Pay will be available for use in more stores than both Apple and Google’s services. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like that will be the case for much longer.
It’s looking likely that a federal mandate will soon force US retailers to support EMV-standard chips currently adopted by the rest of the world, with these payment terminals also set to have NFC receivers, thus leaving MST in the dust. Samsung will be keen to boast that Samsung Pay is the safer of the three payment options, given that MST payments do not send the information contained on a user’s credit card strip to the retailer, making it more difficult for potential hackers to break into said retailer’s files and obtain the bank information given out by NFC payments, but if the technology will soon be defunct then what does it matter?
Stuff You Will Care About
Now here’s something I think we can all get behind. With the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, Samsung will not feature a removable battery. That’s a bad thing. The good thing, however, is that it will now be able to be charged wirelessly, using any wireless charging paid currently available on the market. According to the company, it’s battery can be fast charged for 10 minutes, which will equate to 4 hours of usage.
The S6 isn’t water resistant and there’s no microSD card for additional storage.
I’m not entirely sold on the lack of a removable battery, which had previously been a staple of Samsung’s Android devices, but wireless charging will certainly help to soften that blow. Unfortunately, a bunch of Samsung’s other cornerstones of its Galaxy series have also been left by the wayside, with the S6 not being water resistant and its microSD card for additional storage also being removed.
Camera
The Samsung Galaxy S6 features a much-improved camera, with its front-facing camera being boosted to 5MP while its 16MP rear-facing camera is aided by Optical Image Stabilisation, fast tracking auto focus and f1.9 aperture, which will make for higher quality low-light photographs. Samsung also announced that its camera is always running in the background, meaning that it has a launch time of just 0.7 seconds. This is perfect for those who want to capture those in-the-moment shots.
On the other hand, the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus feature an 8MP camera, though with great overall exposure, good autofocus in all lighting conditions and superb 1080p HD video quality to boot. Apple has proved with the iPhone 6’s camera that it’s not all about the megapixels, and the company has a great knack of doing a great job with the tech at its disposal. We cannot possibly judge which device has the most impressive camera at this point, though the Galaxy S6 may be up to the task of dethroning Apple in this regard.
The Software
Samsung has previously stated that it wants to get rid of bloatware. Thank God.
Previous devices within the Galaxy family have seen a slew of apps clutter up its interface, with Samsung refraining from allowing users to delete these mostly useless apps for no good reason. While the Samsung Galaxy S6 will still adopt the TouchWiz interface, which is notably more clunky than Apple’s refined iOS 8 (which, after a few updates and a clunky launch, now works tremendously well).
It’s a more manageable TouchWiz than the one we know and loathe.
The updated TouchWiz utilized by the Galaxy S6 is faster than its predecessors, with it also featuring Android 5.0 Lollipop that allows for card-based notifications and a bunch of other goodies. It still appears to be a clunkier UI than iOS 8, but it’s at least more manageable than the TouchWiz we know and loathe.
Early Verdict
Can the Samsung Galaxy S6 topple the iPhone 6? In terms of sales, it’s unlikely. Apple pulled in record numbers with its latest device, and it’s unlikely that the S6 will set the world alight in a similar fashion. However, it does seem that it will get the Galaxy series back on track, following poor sales of the S5 that pulled in less numbers that its predecessor, which is often a killing blow for smartphones.
It’s good to see Samsung striving to be back on top as the most successful Android smartphone manufacturer out there, and though I have my reservations about the company seemingly rifling through Apple’s notes and cherry-picking features to steal (and in the case of Samsung Pay, actively making worse versions of those features), this looks to be a solid new device for anyone who doesn’t want to make the jump to iOS, or who is intrigued by the Android market.
Header Image: Getty Images
