The Galaxy S5 is dead, long live the Galaxy S6! After months and months of rumors and purported leaks, Samsung is letting its current generation of smartphones go gently into the good night with the announcement of a pair of new slim, sleekly designed phones: the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the curved-screen Galaxy S6 Edge.
Set to hit store shelves on April 10, this new generation of Galaxy phones will finally bid farewell to the ergonomic plastic casing and removable battery of previous generations. The new phones, which both run Android 5.0 Lollipop and offer 5.1-inch high resolution displays, are ditching their old plastic bodies for new ones of glass and metal. The S6 Edge’s screen offers a customizable, curved screen display. What exactly this adds to your user experience seems negligible, but like their curved TVs, it does look awfully cool.
While the removable battery will be sorely missed, the battery is said to last for up to 12 hours on Wi-Fi and charges “faster than any other smartphone in the industry,” according to Samsung CEO JK Shin. In just 10 minutes of charging time, the S6 will get 4 hours of battery life. Getting it to 100% can be achieved in roughly half the time it takes the iPhone 6 to accomplish the same task. The new generation of Samsung phones will also offer built-in wireless charging support, Gear VR compatibility, and contains Samsung’s new Exynos processor (as opposed to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 that is found in many of its Android competitors).
The S6 Edge and Note Edge |Â Photo: Sarah Tew/CNET
(You can find the full S6 specs here, and the S6 Edge specs here)
In addition, the phones offer enhanced fingerprint scanners, 16-megapixel back-mounted cameras, a micro-USB charger port, IR capabilities for those who want to use their phone as a remote control, and industry-leading 2560×1440 pixel AMOLED displays with a density of 577 ppi. If that sounds like a lot to take in, it is. Just know that while Samsung is ditching the removable battery and waterproofing of the S5, they are trying to deliver some bang for your buck as they move into their next design phase. Exactly what that buck will be, though, is still to be determined as Samsung has not yet announced pricing on the new models.
Is this the redesign Samsung needs to corrects its course? For many, the S5 was regarded as a bit of a misstep thanks to its plastic build and its marked visual similarities to the S4. People latched on to what they perceived as a lack of aesthetic innovation, rather than its advanced graphical capabilities and bountiful features. As a result, profits plummeted last year, and so Samsung is looking to reinvigorate its flagship phone line with slick new designs. Whether or not it will work is a story for the coming days and weeks ahead, but it definitely seems like a step in the right direction if they’re going to go toe-to-toe with Apple’s aesthetic.
Just make sure not to drop this one in the pool.
What do you think of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge? Let us know in the comments below.
[HT: Cnet]
We don’t want another brand of iPhone, bring back Samsung Galaxy S series.
I was so excited to see the s6. I love my Sammies. But then I saw the specs. They should have not stopped being Galaxies to appease the iPeople. Now do I get the s5 or go somewhere else with removable batts, sd slots, and all the features that made the S series?
The S5 is still a great phone. I’m on my second one now (lost my old one and forgot to activate my lookout) and I absolutely love it. Can’t find any problems with it. Great battery life, great camera, not to mention it has already survived a dunk in the toilet with no effects on performance.
Seriously dissapointed with Samsung on this one. I don’t think Apple is their competitor, LG is. I actually like my S5. It has a great UI, feels natural, comfortable in the hand, Water, Dust, Scratch resistent. Extremely durable. Micro SD up to 128gb external on top of 16gb internal. With 2k screen, and up to 5k still image camera!
If this is where Samsung is going, I will switch! I don’t need another apple product.
I’ll go to LG to get the aluminum casing with replaceable battery, and external micro sd up to 1tb plus the 32gb internal on a 4k ultra hd screen.
No water resistance ,no external memory , no thanks. I thought I’d found a home with samsung, bummer.
And now I don’t feel the need to keep up to date. I can live with the locked battery, and the lack of micro SD, but I absolutely love that I don’t have to worry about my phone shorting out from a drop in a puddle. Did you guys hire a bunch of apple fanboys?
Well this is a big step back. No SD card, locked in battery, and I’ll be it will price out at close to one thousand dollars. Sorry Sammie, I will keep my S5 till it drops.
It’s the Samsung S6 IPhone!No sd card, no removable battery, no water resistance!It is a definite step BACKWARDS in user friendliness.I will NOT be getting one. Truly is a shame, I was looking forward to upgrading in April.
Boo! Plastic bodies lasted longer and are more durable. I like my water proof. No SD card? I’ve had an S3 and an S5 active. Might be time to bail on Samsung. Seems like they are bailing on me.
That is exactly what I am pondering.
No removable battery, no removable SD storage and no water resistance! NO THANK YOU! If they do this to the Note series I will upgrade my Note 2 to a 4 and NOT the 5
Yep should have added micro sd, and why the heck take away waterproofing??? Stupid
What about the apparent lack of Micro SD. I think there is already a company selling locked aluminum boxes called phones. Not sure how I feel about this one as an owner of the now antique S3.
With a 128GB internal storage option, why would you even need a card?
because i bet the 128GB one will have a larger price premium on the 64GB one than the cost of a 64gb microSD card.
It’s still a hard drive and like any hard drive once you hit the half way point it starts to lose speed. I keep the big stuff off my internal and on my SD card so that it runs as fast as the day I unboxed it.