Samsung Galaxy S6 review: Subject Zero

13 March 2015
Choose one word to describe the Samsung Galaxy S6. Gorgeous. Powerful. Special. Different. Thank you. That will do. Galaxy S5 has only one of these under its belt and hint... it starts with a P.

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • q8Q
  • 14 Mar 2015

no one, 14 Mar 2015its a good phone on paper but in reality its not that great... moreSo you have no clue in other words

    • ?
    • Anonymous
    • sXV
    • 14 Mar 2015

    no one, 14 Mar 2015its a good phone on paper but in reality its not that great... moreBlinded by marketing,you must be talking about Apple. The amoled screen story wont wash here anymore, millions apon millions of us have had multiple amoled phones and NO burn in, 5 no 6 in this house right now from the jet phone right thru till the s5 NO BURN IN. Trolls awayy

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • q8Q
      • 14 Mar 2015

      Anonymous, 14 Mar 2015These comments are full of whiney babies. It has the ab... moreYou are not everyone

        • H
        • Hskiev
        • 0ZJ
        • 14 Mar 2015

        Love this review. Reminds me of an article made for the unique Nokia N9 features in the blog section a few years back.
        Hats of to the one writing it :)

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • q8Q
          • 14 Mar 2015

          AnonD-295038, 14 Mar 2015I am really doubtful of the battery ratings and audio quali... moreThat's my guessing as I was surprised to see a review already. Guessing this is a funky pre release unit and this should have been listed as a pre release review if so.

            • m
            • m86k
            • m86
            • 14 Mar 2015

            AnonD-309678, 14 Mar 2015 Check the 360 degree picture. Display turns very green whe... morelol seriously ?

            Don't you see that it's not representative of the display but it's made for watching the phone globally?

              • D
              • AnonD-309678
              • nyW
              • 14 Mar 2015

              Check the 360 degree picture. Display turns very green when turned to the right unlike the Note 4.

                • m
                • m86k
                • m86
                • 14 Mar 2015

                Also thanks for the review GSMA, you made me laugh with your selfie samples :)

                  • D
                  • AnonD-69077
                  • HK{
                  • 14 Mar 2015

                  AnonD-295038, 14 Mar 2015I am really doubtful of the battery ratings and audio quali... moreI just want the s6 to be louder than s5 in both loud speaker and in headphones that would be great.

                    • ?
                    • Anonymous
                    • q8Q
                    • 14 Mar 2015

                    The article was written very interestingly. Had a project zero kind of flare. Haha.

                    All in all a heck of a device. Some compromises made and some surprising outcomes as well.
                    Tied with the Note 4 for best display, beastly SoC, SSD like memory, great design, to notch audio output that having will probably do wonders for, great camera processing with great low improvements, and lots of software refinements.

                    However the battery life taking almost a 20 hour hit really raises some eye brows. Midst of the new parts are supposed to be a lot more power efficient. They display is rated at 20% more efficient than the S5 and the Note 4 did amazing on battery.
                    The SoC is 14nm and supposedly 30% more efficient than in the Note 4.
                    The new storage is supposed to be overall more part efficient.
                    DDR4 ram is supposed to be more power efficient.
                    And it was supposed to have been confirmed they combined all or must radios on a single chip that supposedly is extremely efficient compared to the past.
                    And battery capacity is only 250mah less.

                    And they say the speaker is quieter. Meanwhile Samsung claimed it 50% louder and tests have already shown it is definitely louder.

                    And taking away batch operations is not smart in any logic.

                      • m
                      • m86k
                      • m86
                      • 14 Mar 2015

                      AnonD-237891, 14 Mar 2015Not as bad as I feared, but battery performance is weak. My... moreIf you look carefully at numbers, it looses already 10hours of talking time to S5. So i think there's some non final firmware or something need to be fixed before retail.

                        • D
                        • AnonD-137610
                        • MpU
                        • 14 Mar 2015

                        I believe that GSM Arena should have included the Sony Xperia Z3 in the competitors to the Samsung Galaxy S6. Although it is essentially one generation behind and the real competitor from Sony will be the Z4 when it will be announced, the Z3 it is more than capable to challenge the S6. It offers essentially the same design but with water and dust protection, expandable memory, a processor which is able to dynamically adjust clock speeds based on system needs, better battery life and a RGB display while the S6 has a pen tile matrix screen.

                          • D
                          • AnonD-237891
                          • FGE
                          • 14 Mar 2015

                          Not as bad as I feared, but battery performance is weak. My job does not always allow much time to charge even if for ten minutes. Battery size, under no circumstances, should ever go down. Regardless of what you may hear, li-ion tech has not asvanced6at the same place as other areas. My laptop battery is the same crappy battery tech I've had in every laptop I've owned in the last 8 years. I refuse to lose 10 minutes of tested battery life on a upgraded device at that price. I will not adjust my habits to cover up deficiencies in design. 20hr difference? Semi non removable? That's insane!

                            • ?
                            • Anonymous
                            • m86
                            • 14 Mar 2015

                            Anonymous, 14 Mar 2015Does it support 4K output? Wanted to clarify that it's t... moreYes @30fps, it's written in the review.

                              • S
                              • Shareef Bajalan
                              • xJd
                              • 14 Mar 2015

                              Galaxy S6 is an amazing smartphone by all means especially the design, I think non removable battery isn't a problem (but the endurance rating is less than expected from Samsung especially after the Note 4) and nonexpendable storage and no waterproofing is not a (big) problem (though the glass and metal body aren't an excuse for removing this features""xperia z3 is a good example"") but for overall this phone is amazing I'll give it 9/10 rating, good work Samsung.
                              But Note 4 remains as a king of smartphones with 10/10 rating.

                                • ?
                                • Anonymous
                                • 0cZ
                                • 14 Mar 2015

                                Does it support 4K output?

                                Wanted to clarify that it's the front bezel that is too shiny and they should consider making it matte. I like the emerald green back but prefer the front bezel is a darker shade and not so shiny.

                                  • D
                                  • AnonD-374715
                                  • Bf5
                                  • 14 Mar 2015

                                  Did you happen to notice if the bootloader was locked on the review unit? I can live with most of the other stuff but not if they lock the BL down.

                                    • D
                                    • AnonD-295038
                                    • UXB
                                    • 14 Mar 2015

                                    Anonymous, 14 Mar 2015I'm actually shocked at the battery life. By all accounts i... moreI am really doubtful of the battery ratings and audio quality review. I have personally compared s6 with s5 and s6 sound quality is top notch and much much better than s5. Even the battery scores seem unreliable and mostly this is not the final release version of the software.

                                      • D
                                      • AnonD-295038
                                      • UXB
                                      • 14 Mar 2015

                                      I really doubt the battery scores and audio related review. s6 technology will last longer than s5 for 3g calls because calling has hardly anything to do with display. Moreover every other review on YouTube has clearly shown the audio on s6 to be much much better than s5 and iphone6

                                        • D
                                        • AnonD-69077
                                        • HK{
                                        • 14 Mar 2015

                                        Battery life isn't all that thought it would have atleast been in the 70s.

                                        Loud speaker score is quite disappoiting was expecting around 80 -82 considering it is supposedly 1.5x louder than the s5

                                        then audio volume doesn't sound all that great either. I think I may just buy a note 4. I wwill test the s6 out in person first though