Samsung still has the clear Edge

SAMSUNG is apt to win a beauty contest with its Galaxy S6 Edge, which is truly elegant thanks to a dual-curve screen and seamless glass and metal body. There’s more than just good looks here, though, starting with an excellent 5.1-inch quad HD Super AMOLED display and high-quality main and front cameras.

The frame is made from the same sort of metal used in the aircraft industry, seen through Corning Gorilla Glass 4, the toughest on the market (yet still not quite indestructible, so take care). The glass both up front and at the back blends seamlessly with the metal. 

The S6 Edge is available in Thailand in three tones – White Pearl, Black Sapphire and Gold Platinum. I got the Black Sapphire version to test and my work colleagues and I couldn’t help admiring its sleekness in the hand. The screen curves on both sides, so the front looks like the back of a conventional phone and vice versa. 

There’s a function to the curved edges too: You can have your information and alerts displayed on either the left or right edge of the screen. You can, for example, assign different colours to the display tabs to indicate missed calls – from up to five high-priority contacts. And, when the phone is face down, the edges will light up when you receive calls or notifications.

The edges can also be set to display any information stream of your choice, such as weather reports or Yahoo news, as well as serving as a clock for your bedside table at night. 

The Super AMOLED display with 2560x1440-pixel resolution is vibrant with colour and very bright, even outdoors, so the phone is great for viewing photos and videos. The snapshots you capture with this phone are also quite stunning on the display.

The bright display and the flow of information – added to the many smart functions and online connectivity – come at a price: the battery can drain fast. But fortunately the S6 Edge recharges just as quickly. You get about four hours of use after only 10 minutes charging. WPC- and PMA-certified wireless charging technology is fully embedded too, so you’re all set for universal wireless chargers. Samsung sells a wireless charging pad for Bt1,490.

The S6 Edge performs so well thanks to its 64-bit octa-core processor – four cores running at 2.1GHz and another four at 1.5GHz. You have plenty of working memory (RAM) at three gigabytes. Internal storage is 32GB (keep in mind there is no slot for a microSD card that would allow you to add more).

The 64-bit processor makes the most of the latest Android 5.0.2 Lollipop operating system. Among other improvements, the OS boasts up to four times the capabilities of its predecessor.

I was witness to the phone’s capabilities in my test. The touch screen and menus were very responsive. Video clips and games ran fast and smooth.

You can connect to the Web with either 3G or 4G LTE. I tried it on TrueMove H’s 4G network in Surat Thani, where the network is available both downtown and at the Ratchaprapha Dam.

I used an Ookla Speedtest app to measure the bandwidth speed and managed to achieve a download speed of 43.92 megabits per second and an upload speed of 18.98Mbps. (Please note that these speeds also depend on the bandwidth of the servers used for sending and receiving the test files. I could download and update apps very fast. The 4G connection allowed the S6 Edge to back up snapshots to my Microsoft OneDrive in no time, and I had captured a lot of photos! Posting them on Facebook was a breeze.

The camera quality is also impressive. The main camera has 16-megapixel resolution and the front-facing camera five. Both have bright and fast lenses at an aperture of f/1.9.

On its website, DxOMark calls the S6 Edge the new champion in terms of smartphone camera sensors and the new leader in smartphone image quality.

The 16MP BSI CMOS sensor, very fast F1.9 lens and an optical-image stabilisation system contribute to the phone’s good low-light image performance and image quality.

A nice new feature is “Quick Launch”, which gives you fast, direct access to the camera from any screen in a mere seven-tenths of a second by simply double-clicking the home-key button.

The main camera gave me sharp and clean shots both indoors and out, with details clear even in low-light conditions. The pictures were well saturated in colour, the sky a beautiful blue, the trees a shimmering green and the water of the reservoir at the dam a deeper, fuller blue. I had no problem in backlit conditions either, getting good details in shadowy areas and retaining the detail where it was bright. You get good shots at night, as well, with little loss in terms of detail and colour.

When it comes to taking selfies, we had some fun in the Nation newsroom. When using the front-facing camera, the LED near the lens of the main camera becomes the shutter button. That makes taking selfies all the easier. I used mostly the Auto mode, but you also have Pro, Selective Focus and Panorama, and you can download Beauty Face, Food Shot and Sports Shot to add to your repertoire.

Pro mode is quite interesting. You can change colour effects, focus, white balance, ISO and exposure values and even separate the exposure area from the focus area. Meanwhile the main camera can also shoot UHD video at a resolution of 3840x2160 pixels.

What else? The home button functions as a fingerprint scanner for extra security – you show your index finger to unlock the phone. The phone initially “asks” to see your finger several times and key in a backup password in case it ever fails to recognise your fingerprint. 

Another new nice feature is the Smart Manager application, with which you can check battery status, storage, RAM, security and much more at a glance. At the bottom of the Smart Manager screen is a “CleanAll” button to free up RAM by tossing out storage junk, thus saving battery loss.

The S6 Edge’s simplest user interface mode is called Easy Mode, which gets the clutter off your home screen with ensures easier interaction with layout and applications. Choose which applications you want displayed, such as Camera, Email, Gallery, Messages, Music and Phone.

In terms of sound, the S6 Edge will play high-resolution audio – 24bit/192kHz FLAC – which Samsung calls its UHQ (Ultra High Quality) format.

Unfortunately I didn’t have hi-res headphones while testing but, using my Sony MDR-EX1000, the aural quality of Pink Floyd’s album “The Final Cut” at 24bit/192kHz was quite impressive, packed with detail.

Samsung’s Galaxy S6 Edge |with 32GB of storage retails for Bt27,900. The 64GB model costs Bt30,900.

 

Key Specs

 

- Operating System: Android 5.0.2 Lollipop

- Network: Cat 6 LTE, 3G 2100/1900/900/850MHz

- Chip: Exynos 14nm 64-bit Octa Core 2.1GHz, 1.5GHz

- Memory: 3GB RAM

- Storage: 32/64GB with no microSD card slot

- Camera: 16mp + 5mp LED Flash F1.9, OIS, HDR, Video recording: UHD 4K |(3840 x 2160) @30fps

- Screen Size: 5.1 inches

- Screen Type: QHD sAMOLED Dual Curve

- SIM: Nano-SIM

- Connectivity: WiFia/b/g/n/ac, BT 4.1, NFC, USB 2.0, GPS, GLONASS

- Sensors: Accelerometer, Barometer, Fingerprint Sensor, Gyro Sensor, Geomagnetic Sensor, Hall Sensor, HR Sensor, Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor

- Fast Charge: Yes

- Wireless Charge: Yes

- Battery: 2,600mAh

- Dimensions: 142.1x70.1x7mm

- Weight: 132g