Samsung Galaxy S 6 and S 6 Edge: Preview
by Joshua Ho on March 26, 2015 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Samsung
- Mobile
- Galaxy S6
- Galaxy S6 Edge
Yesterday we received our Galaxy S6 and S6 edge review units. We’re still working on the final review but I wanted to share some early results from both devices. For those that are unfamiliar with these two phones, the Galaxy S6 range represents the result of Samsung’s “Project Zero”. In fact, the phones seem to have the internal name of Zero, which can be seen in terminal, and the build properties of both devices. For Samsung, these phones represent their attempt at completely rethinking how Samsung makes phones. There is a strong emphasis on a new unibody design, which has no visible gaps or screws. Rather than the plastic that previous Samsung phones have been known for, the new design is composed of metal and glass. Samsung’s design team has been given unprecedented control throughout the process of making this phone and the result of this is a Galaxy phone that looks unlike anything else they’ve ever released.
Even if design is important, it isn’t enough to make the phone. Samsung has also outfitted the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge with their latest technologies, from a new AMOLED display to a new camera module. The specs for both phones can be seen below.
| Samsung Galaxy S5 | Samsung Galaxy S6 | Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge | |
| SoC | MSM8974ACv3 2.45 GHz Snapdragon 801 | Exynos 7420 2.1/1.5GHz A57/A53 | Exynos 7420 2.1/1.5GHz A57/A53 |
| RAM/NAND | 2GB LPDDR3 16/32GB NAND + microSD |
3GB LPDDR4-1552 32/64/128GB NAND |
3GB LPDDR4-1552 32/64/128GB NAND |
| Display | 5.1” 1080p SAMOLED HD |
5.1” 1440p SAMOLED |
5.1” 1440p SAMOLED, Dual Edge |
| Network | 2G / 3G / 4G LTE (Qualcomm MDM9x25 UE Category 4 LTE) | 2G / 3G / 4G LTE (Category 6 LTE) | 2G / 3G / 4G LTE (Category 6 LTE) |
| Dimensions | 142 x 72.5 x 8.1 mm, 145 grams | 143.4 x 70.5 x 6.8mm max, 138 grams | 142.1 x 70.1 x 7.0mm max, 132 grams |
| Camera | 16MP (5132 x 2988) Rear Facing with 1.12 µm pixels, 1/2.6" CMOS size, 31 mm (35mm effective), f/2.2 | 16MP (5132 x 2988) Rear Facing w/ OIS, f/1.9, object tracking AF | 16MP (5132 x 2988) Rear Facing w/ OIS, f/1.9, object tracking AF |
| 2MP Front Facing | 5MP Front Facing, f/1.9 | 5MP Front Facing, f/1.9 | |
| Battery | 2800 mAh (10.78 Whr) | 2550 mAh (9.81 Whr) | 2600 mAh (10.01 Whr) |
| OS | Android 4.4 w/TouchWiz |
Android 5 (64-bit) w/TouchWiz | Android 5 (64-bit) w/TouchWiz |
| Connectivity | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2x2 + BT 4.0 (BCM4354), USB3.0, GPS/GNSS, MHL, DLNA, NFC |
2x2 802.11a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.1 (BCM4358), USB2.0, GPS/GNSS, NFC |
2x2 802.11a/b/g/n/ac + BT 4.1 (BCM4358), USB2.0, GPS/GNSS, NFC |
| Wireless Charging | N/A | WPC 1.1 (4.6W) & PMA 1.0 (4.2W) |
WPC 1.1 (4.6W) & PMA 1.0 (4.2W) |
| Fingerprint Sensor | Swipe | Touch | Touch |
| SIM Size | MicroSIM | NanoSIM | NanoSIM |
Both the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge have Samsung System LSI’s newest SoC, the Exynos 7420, which has a cluster of four Cortex A57s clocked at 2.1 GHz, and four Cortex A53s clocked at 1.5 GHz. Compared to the Exynos 5433 of the Galaxy Note 4, this brings a new 14nm LPE (low power early) process, an upgrade to LPDDR4 memory, and a Mali T760 GPU with two additional shader cores. Outside of the SoC, the new display is advertised to bring a higher 600-nit brightness and a higher 1440p resolution. The front and rear cameras are both different from the Galaxy S5 as well, although the rear camera sensor may be shared between the two as the camera sensors are of similar spec. For this preview, we’ll focus on the system performance and display of these new devices, but as one can see from the specification table there is far more to look at for the full review.
System Performance
For our system performance benchmarks we’ll start with our browser tests which can give a rough proxy for overall CPU performance.
The Exynos 7420 is about on par with the Snapdragon 810 in these benchmarks. Strangely enough both tend to do worse than the Huawei Honor 6 in these tests, which clearly can't be correct. As we've previously discussed, the stock browser will often give far better results due to OEM and SoC vendor optimizations. As a part of our updates to the benchmark suite for 2015, we'll take a look at Basemark OS II 2.0, which should give a better picture of CPU performance in addition to overall device performance.
The browser benchmarks seem to hide some pretty enormous variability as the Galaxy S 6 edge (which is comparable to the Galaxy S 6) sets a new record among Android devices. The only challenger is the iPad Air 2, which uses the A8X SoC with three Enhanced Cyclone cores and the semi-custom GXA6850 GPU.
This system test contains a floating point and integer test, in addition XML parsing, which means that this test mostly stresses CPU and RAM. Interestingly enough, the Exynos 7420 pulls far ahead of both the Exynos 5433 and Snapdragon 810 in this test, and approaches the A8X. The difference between the 5433 and 7420 is likely a combination of the higher clocks on both the A57 and A53 clusters for the 7420 (1.9/1.3 on the 5433, 2.1/1.5 on the 7420), in addition to the ability to stay at a high 'overdrive' clock due to reduced leakage from the 14LPE process. The One M9 likely falls a bit short here due to HTC's governor settings restricting the use of all 8 cores simultaneously.
While one might guess that the memory test of 'Basemark OS II 2.0 - Memory' is of RAM, this is actually a test of the internal storage. Once again we see the S6 edge come close to leading the pack due to the use of the new UFS (Universal Flash Storage) standard. Casual examination reveals that the S6 edge has a queue depth of 16, and that it identifies itself with the rather cryptic model name of KLUBG4G1BD-E0B1.
For the web test, it uses the built-in WebView rendering engine rather than Chrome and paints a distinctly different picture, especially because these tests are focused on HTML5 and CSS rather than JavaScript. Here we can see that the iPhone 6 and iPad Air 2 continue to hold their lead, but the Galaxy S6 is pretty much the king of the hill when it comes to Android devices.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
200 Comments
View All Comments
SydneyBlue120d - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Thanks a lot for the quick reply :) Do you think this could change with future software updates? Why not exposing if it is supported? Maybe the software driver is not ready?Andrei Frumusanu - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
No idea yet. The hardware block's firmware is on the phone but the decoders don't seem to be made available to the Media API of Android.Azurael - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
This looks like a nice phone - finally OIS (which was keeping me with LG) and the display on this (and the S5, for that matter) looks really good - I was put off AMOLEDs in the past since nobody seemed to be able to make one colour accurate, and at the time when I had an HTC Desire (and later a RAZR i, for that matter) the PenTile layout was horrible. Now the subpixels are too small to make out, that issue is gone. My one remaining worry regarding the screen is what it will look like a couple of years down the line, screen burn is a big issue and neither of the AMOLED devices I have here can display anything like continuous tone any more, plus their white points have shifted significantly (though they were far from great when new...)The other question I have is whether Samsung have got their act together regarding kernel support for their own SoCs? Their stock ROMs tend to be buggy as hell, and at one point a few years back, a large proportion of the CM team managing Exynos devices walked away due to Samsung's incomplete source drops. There are still outstanding power management bugs affecting the old Exynos 4210 (crashes during deep sleep, mainly) in the Galaxy S2 and the Nexus 10 is by far the buggiest, least stable of the Nexus devices (I speak from experience, between myself and my girlfriend we've had/have every one bar the N6/N9....)
Impulses - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
As someone who's already living sans micro SD and a removable battery, I'm not terribly concerned about either (my N5's battery seems to be holding up well a year and a half later...).This is probably the first Galaxy S I'd buy, just because SAMOLED is finally on par with the better displays and having OIS + a better build is appealing. Now if only they'd make a smaller flagship...
Physical home button is still a turn off for me personally. Are they still clinging to that because it's part of their design or because it better masks space taken up by the internals?
I'm thinking it started off as the former but has ended up as the latter... Still, I'd take a larger display with on screen buttons whenever possible, I think LG has made the best compromises in that regard.
Azurael - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Personally, I'd much prefer to have off-screen keys than a fugly waste of actual display area. Until Android developers get their act together with using the full screen mode, anyway. But since even Google's own YouTube app has a mini-fit and refuses to hide the softkeys & status bar on a regular basis, what hope has anybody else got?Sadly, the last chance I had at 'real' buttons was my One X. It's amazing that app developers haven't got the hang of softkeys in 3 years.
Impulses - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Ehh, developers are more likely to put an effort if a majority of phones are using soft keys, and guess who moves a good majority of phone stock... :pI've got several handy apps that make good use of full screen mode tho, and on screen buttons aren't an uglier than capacitive ones, specially capacitive ones with white LEDs on a white phone.
I've seen more than one use unfamiliar with Android either struggling to use or outright ignoring the back/menu/app-switcher buttons because they were either invisible in daylight or kept switching off.
I never really got why Samsung had them switch off so quickly by default... I don't think they even switched off at all while the phone was in use on the three HTC phones I had with capacitive.
Drovan - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
I'm wondering if the Exynos 7420 has an integrated LTE modem. That would really close the gap with Qualcomm.Fallen Kell - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Wow... really no removable battery and NO SD SLOT! That is a no go for me. I was really hoping this phone would be nice. The display numbers look extremely impressive, but without a removable battery or SD card it doesn't matter how good the display is because the phone is unusable.hrrmph - Friday, March 27, 2015 - link
Exactly. Unusable and not improving in the areas where it most needs to.Where is the increased storage? My Blackberry Z10 has 144GB. My Samsung ATIV-S WinPhone has 144GB, my Samsung Note 2 has 144GB.
Any day now, the new 200GB Micro-SD chips will be in stock and I'll start upgrading those devices to 216GB. So again, where is the increased storage with the S6?
There is none. It's a downgrade.
globaluniquepapers - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Get Real or Fake Authentic 100% High-quality passports, driver’s licenses, ID cardsDo you love to change your nationality, or renew ,get documents?
We ( globaluniquepapers@gmail.com ) are an independent group of specialized IT
professionals and data base technicians who are specialized in the production of quality documents such as passports,drivers license,id cards,stamps,visas,diplomas, marriage certs, divorce papers, of very high quality and other products for all countries: USA, Australia,UK, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Italian, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Mexico, Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, . This list is not full.contact
Fake ID's for 19.95 Over 50's state drivers license cards and State ID
cards available. Includes state driver's license hologram and magnetic strip
or bar code on back. 2 business day shipping order (2.95 shipping and
handling). The BEST authentic fake ID's on the web.
Same quality, high resolution that Department of Motor Vehicles use.
Send current .JPG or .GIF of current license with picture
and changes in NAME, DOB, LICENSE #, RESTRICTIONS, etc.
we produce the best fake ID online we sell UK/EU fake ID, Canadian fake ID, Australian fake ID and fake IDs for many other countries from fake passports to fake driving licenses to fake bank statements we have your identification needs covered. Our fake IDs include all security features such as genuine holograms, ultraviolet watermarks, intaglio printing, special paper, fluorescent dyes, RFID chips, bar codes corresponding to your details and more. Our fake IDs are identical to the real thing no other site will offer you this quality we are the best.
new identity protect your privacy and take back your freedom.
We are the best producer of HIGH QUALITY fake and real documents. With over a billion of our documents circulating around the world. We offer only original high-quality passports, driver's licenses, ID cards, birth certificates, stamps, visas, universities diploma and other products for a number of countries like:
High Quality USA (United States) passports,
Australian passports,
Belgium passports and DL,
Brazilian (Brazil) passports,
Canadian (Canada) passports,
Finnish (Finland) passports,
French (France) passports,
German (Germany) passports,
Dutch (Netherland/Holland) passports,
United Kingdom passports,
Spanish (Spain) passports,
(Mexico) passports,
HQ South African passports.
HQ Australian driver licenses,
HQ Canadian driver licenses,
High Quality French driver licenses,
HQ Dutch (Netherland/Holland) driving licenses,
HQ German(Germany) driving licenses,
HQ United Kingdom driving licenses,
High Quality Diplomatic passports,
passport Duplicates for sale.
order fake passports,
order novelty driver license,
order High Quality Diplomatic passports,
We offer high quality counterfeit bills for the following currencies;
EUR - Euro
USD - US Dollar
GBP - British Pound
INR - Indian Rupee
AUD - Australian Dollar
CAD - Canadian Dollar
AED - Emirati Dirham
ZAR - Rand
CHF - Swiss Franc
CNY - Chinese Yuan Renminbi
MYR - Malaysian Ringgit
THB - Thai Baht
CONTACT US : globaluniquepapers@gmail.com
Email : globaluniquepapers@gmail.com
globaluniquepapers@gmail.com
BUY SSD SOLUTION FOR CLEANING BLACK MONEY NOTES AND DEFACE NOTE( globaluniquepapers@gmail.com)
SSD Solution used to clean all type of blackened, tainted and defaced bank notes. Our technicians are highly qualified and are always ready to handle the cleaning perfectly. Our Chemicals is 100% pure.We sell Chemicals that clean all types of black note or deface note.anti-air breezed powders and other many products used in cleaning black note. We do offer the best chemicals. SSD Solution. Vectrol paste, Tebi-Manetic solution, Defaced currency, Cleaning chemical. Darkened currency, Black coated notes, Cleaning black money,vectrol paste, SSD solution, super automatic solution,anti-breeze bank notes, black marked currency, black coated notes, cleaning Black money. We are in global wide contact us via email on ( globaluniquepapers@gmail.com )
WE SALE CHEMICALS LIKE TOURMALINE, S.S.D. Chemical Solution , CASTRO X
OXIDE, A4. AND MANY Like ACTIVATION POWDER & SSD SOLUTION FOR CLEANING
BLACK MONEY Chemical and Allied product incorporated is a major
manufacturer of industrial and pharmaceutical products with key
specialization in the production of S.S.D Automatic solution used in the
cleaning of black money,defaced money and stained bank notes with anti
breeze quality.OTHERS FOR DAMAGED NOTES, BILLS LIKE USD,EURO, POUNDS,
TRANSFERRING COLORS FROM USE NOTE TO NEW WHITE BILLS,AND BLACK NOTES
EMAIL ; globaluniquepapers@gmail.com
WE DO FAST SHIPPING WORLDWIDE WITH A MAXIMUM OF 3 TO 4 WORKING DAYS