Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge review
Review: March 2015 | ||
![]() Rating: In a nutshell: Just when you thought all smartphones looked the same, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge brings a fresh new look. Featuring a double-edged curved screen with special edge display features, it's one of the best-looking phones you can buy. It's also super-powerful, with an 8-core processor, outstanding cameras, plenty of memory and the latest Lollipop flavour of Android. But make sure you're sitting down before you look at the price! |
Introduction
The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is the version of the Galaxy S6 that everyone really, really wants. Pity it's so darn expensive. Is it worth spending an extra £100+ to get your greedy paws on this beauty? S21 checks it out.
Design - edge effects
The Edge is all about design. Design is why the Edge exists. Why make a curved screen? Because Samsung can, and because it looks stunning.
To say that the Edge is all about the screen is an understatement. The screen dominates the phone in a way that we've never seen before. Is this the future of all phones? We'd love to think so, because it's quite mesmerising.
The Edge is all glass and metal - curved Gorilla Glass 4 on the front, flat glass on the back, and aluminium alloy on the sides. It's a very beautiful and tactile finish, and we want to hold it and stroke it gently.
It's mine, you see. My precious.
The curved screen is not just cosmetic. It also adds functionality to the phone. The curved edges of the S6 Edge can display the date & time and a weather report, and flash alerts for emails, texts and calls. You can also set up 5 key contacts, each with their own colour code. The edge of the screen will then light up in that colour if that person calls. The contacts are easily accessed by dragging from the edge towards the centre of the screen. It's fun, it's useful, and we like it. You also have the option to choose between left and right as the edge screen to display information.
We discussed the quality of the screen in our review of the Galaxy S6. We pointed out that it's the best screen currently available, with a stunningly detailed 1440 x 2560 pixel resolution, vibrant colours and almost perfect contrast thanks to Samsung's AMOLED tech. The screen is the same here, but better. Because it's curved. We already told you that.
The S6 Edge isn't quite as slender as the S6, but at 7mm thickness, that's irrelevant, because it feels slimmer and it's even lighter than the S6. The metal and glass construction projects a premium aura, and if it's wow factor you're after, we refer you to the curved screen, which we may have already mentioned. The one thing we don't like about the S6 and the Edge is the way the camera sticks out at the back.
Question: does the Edge look better than the standard S6? You bet! Does it look better than the iPhone 6 or HTC One M9? Um, not sure. The three phones have quite different looks and you'll need to decide for yourself.
The Edge comes in a slightly different choice of colours to the S6. The choice is Black, White and Gold.
Internals
Internally, everything is pretty much the same as the Galaxy S6, so read our review of that for details. As a quick reminder, there's:
- Android Lollipop with TouchWiz user interface
- 64-bit 8-core processor with 3GB RAM
- Fingerprint sensor, heart rate sensor
- 16 megapixel HDR camera with optical image stabilisation
- 5 megapixel HDR front camera
- Wireless charging
The only things that are different are that the S6 Edge is available only in larger memory 64GB and 128GB versions, and it also has a slightly larger battery. Both of these are very welcome improvements.
Release date & pricing
The 64GB Black and White versions of the Edge will be released on 10th April, just like the standard Galaxy S6. The Gold version is scheduled for 1st May. The 128GB models will come later.
As for pricing, well hold onto your hats, because you should expect to pay somewhere around £50 per month on contract to pick up one of these beauties.
Conclusion - it has the edge
At S21, we're shallow. We like the way things look, and we like the way the Galaxy S6 Edge looks. But we're also cost-conscious. We hate wasting money on things that don't work well or aren't worth it. And that presents us with a problem in deciding how to rate the Edge.
On the one hand, it's obviously a nicer phone to own than the standard S6. It looks better, it does more, and it comes with 64GB of memory instead of 32GB. That seems to justify the price. On the other hand, £50 per month for a phone is way over the top. We've criticised Apple many times for charging that kind of money.
On balance, we've decided to give the phone a 5-star rating. It costs the same as the iPhone 6, it looks (arguably) just as nice, and it has vastly superior technology - a better screen, more memory, a better camera and a faster processor. So yes, given the choice, we'd opt for the S6 Edge instead of the S6.
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge features include:
- OS: Android Lollipop with TouchWiz user interface
- 16 megapixel camera with LED flash, f/1.9, autofocus, optical image stabilisation, digital zoom, UHD 4K video recording
- 5 megapixel front camera with 1080p HD video recording
- Display: Super AMOLED, 16 million colours, 1440 x 2560 pixels (5.1 inches) capacitive touchscreen
- Music player
- Integrated handsfree speaker
- S-Voice natural language commands and dictation
- GPS, Glonass, Beidou positioning
- Messaging: SMS, MMS, instant messaging, email
- Processor: Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & quad-core 2.1 GHz Cortex-A57
- Memory: 64GB or 128GB, plus 3GB RAM
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth, micro USB, 3.5mm audio jack, NFC, infrared, MHL, ANT+
- Sensors: Gesture Sensor, Fingerprint Sensor, Heart Rate Sensor, Hall Sensor, Accelerometer, Geomagnetic Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Light Sensor, Barometer, Proximity Sensor
- LTE 4G, HSPA+, EDGE / GPRS
- Size: 142 x 70 x 7.0 mm
- Weight: 132g
- Battery: 2600mAh battery with wireless charging
User questions
Sorry - questions and comments on this page are now closed.
What is the SAR for the Galaxy S6 Edge in New Zealand?
Asked by Kathy
from New Zealand
on 14th Jun 2016
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge user reviews
Sorry - reviews and comments on this page are now closed.
Average rating from 8 reviews:
Reviewed by Ray Williams
from England
on 9th Sep 2015
What a great phone,
Great looking,
Speed
Multi Tasking
Good Battery Life
Metallised
Rating:
Reviewed by Tom Byron
from England
on 9th Sep 2015
Well this is my third Samsung smartphone and I can say the S6 Edge is
easily better than the S2 and S4. The battery life was a problem at
first but than the power save mode does prolong your battery life and
you can easily get a full day out of it without recharging. The one
thing I really enjoy is the multi tasking on the phone. The speed at
which the phone works is very impressive too. Physically the Gold S6
Edge is much better looking than the IPhone 6. The new metal design
from back and front give it the class that previous S series phones
lacked. Definitely recommend it to anyone looking to buy a new phone
!!
Rating:
Reviewed by Dan Clark
from England
on 1st Jun 2015
Have had the 128gb edge in gold for a few weeks now and absolutely
love it. As previous reviewer said, the battery takes a few charges to
get up to speed but now lasting really well and with the fast charging
doesn't take long to top up after a heavy gaming session. The screen
and camera are amazing too.
Rating:
Reviewed by Joel
from UK
on 29th May 2015
Great phone. I went for the dark blue and it looks stunning.
I'm
particularly impressed with the screen which definitely lives up to
the hype. Applications are extremely quick and responsive on it. Fast
charge is really handy. Regarding the comments re battery life, I have
had my edge for a few weeks now and the first 8-10 charges didn't seem
to last that long at all and it only just made it through the day. Now
though I regularly have 40-50% left after 15 hours use which includes
maybe 40 minutes of calls, some texts and FB browsing, and 2-3 hours
listening to Spotify... Be patient! The battery takes some time to get
up to speed but once it does its very good indeed.
Rating:
Reviewed by Usman Ali Shah
from Pakistan
on 14th May 2015
Very nice phone physically , built quality is too good too , but some
how the edge feature was just used to sell the product.... it is not
function as i should have been , sold me y 7 days old S6 edge and
bought a Note Edge ( the real edge phone ) , and the body is like a
Finger print magnet , no matter what do u , you end up having dozens
of finger marks and palm prints on the back specially... I guess
samsung works better with a plastic bodied phone... just my two
bits...
Rating:
Reviewed by Robert
from Australia
on 30th Apr 2015
Very nice phone...looks great and feels awesome to hold...super fast
like most other phones on the market now...but why oh why did they
spoil it by not adding a slot for extra memory! and what about the
battery life! yes...it is ok but not great (hence the 4 stars) and
when comparing to my wife's Sony Z3 (which is amazingly awesome) I
think I will be ready for a change when Mr Bond previews the Z4
towards the end of this year.
Rating:
Reviewed by Qasid
from UK
on 20th Apr 2015
Received my S6 edge on the 13th April (much earlier than expected).
First impressions of the phone is that it just looks and feels exotic.
The previous Samsung phone that produced this WOW factor for me was
the Tocco Ultra. But this is on another level. It truly has an amazing
look and feel. Aside this, the phone is very fast (for now) and has a
solid OS in Android 5.0. The only concern I have is the battery life,
which is good - but I always feel as if the battery is depleting
rather quickly even when in Standby mode. Obviously the Fast charge is
the solution from Samsung to this particular issue. Best phone I've
had so far (much better than iPhone 6 Plus)!
Rating:
Reviewed by ian cooke
from uk
on 13th Apr 2015
Received this phone on release day,10th April. I'm so glad I cancelled
my HTC ONE M9 order and waited on the S6 EDGE. it looks beautiful,
feels beautiful and has the best spec of any phone currently on the
market. I'm so glad Samsung decided to ditch the plastic of previous
models. You know you are holding a top quality product with the EDGE
and with the 64GB memory a lack of memory card slot is not an issue
for me. and the super fast charging time means a 15 minute charge can
give you 4-6 hours of use. I can definately recommend this handset and
congratulate Samsung on finally catching on to the fact that their
customers want a quality build. not cheap plastic.
Rating: