Galaxy s6 4pda discussion. Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge review

In his Galaxy time The S6 made a lot of noise, and to be honest, even though a lot of time has passed since its release, it is still considered by many as an option for purchase. The S6 implemented all the best that was in the manufacturer’s past developments and in the mobile technology market in general. Finally, it was decided to abandon plastic in favor of more premium materials, which had a positive effect on the perception of the gadget and its design.

The body has become thinner and lighter, and has a non-removable battery. But not all the changes were beneficial - now there is no moisture protection, and in addition, we were deprived of a slot for a microSD card. But as soon as you start to get to know the gadget better, you simply forget about minor shortcomings against the backdrop of numerous advantages, which we will dwell on in more detail as part of our review of the Samsung Galaxy S6.

Galaxy S6 specifications:

• Screen: 5.1’’ Quad HD 1440x2560, Super AMOLED, 577 ppi
• Processor: Octa-core Exynos 7420, 2.1 GHz
• Graphics accelerator: Mali-T760MP8, 600 MHz
• Operating system: Android OS 5.0.2 Lollipop, TouchWiz UI
• RAM: 3 GB
• Built-in memory: 32 GB
• Memory card support: No
• Communication: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz || UMTS 850/900/1900/2100 MHz || LTE: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 26
• SIM: nano-SIM
• Wireless interfaces: Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (dual-band 2.4/5 GHz), Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, IrDA
• Navigation: GPS, GLONASS, Baidu, Galileo
• Cameras: main - 16 MP (OIS, autofocus, LED flash); front - 5 MP
• Sensors: accelerometer, G-Sensor, proximity, light, oxygen SpO2 and heart rate, compass, barometer, fingerprint scanner
• Battery: 2550 mAh, non-removable
• Dimensions: 143.4x70.5x6.8 mm
• Weight: 138 grams

Galaxy S6 equipment

The device is delivered in a white package, which does not greatly exceed its dimensions. On its back you can see the main characteristics, and by printing it we get access to the charger, microUSB cable, wired headphones with convenient control unit, paper clip and documentation.

Design

In terms of its design, the smartphone is practically no different from the Edge version. The only difference is that a standard flat display is used here, but otherwise the design is very reminiscent of the manufacturer’s past developments.

Even if you cover up the brand logo on the front panel, the device will still be recognizable. Key design points move from one flagship to another, including the mechanical “Home” button and the design of the speaker grille. It would seem that these are elements that do not attract much attention, but it is precisely such little things that make up the recognizable design of gadgets.

Compared to previous generations, the design has become neater. The case materials of the Galaxy S6 are completely the same as the Edge. The front and back panels are covered with 4th generation Gorilla Glass. The structure is strengthened by a stylish and durable frame made of aircraft-grade aluminum.

The smartphone has a monolithic body, so you can forget about replacing the battery yourself. But this is rather a plus, because with such an assembly the possibility of backlash and squeezing of the lid is eliminated, each part fits perfectly in its place.

The case has rounded edges, which makes it fit well in the hand. When you first pick it up, it seems that the body is very slippery, because the main material of manufacture is glass. But thanks to good ergonomics, the likelihood of dropping it will be extremely small.

A standard set of sensors, a speaker and a front-facing camera were installed above the screen.

Below it is a mechanical home key and a pair of touch keys on either side of it.

On the left is the volume rocker.

On the right is the display power control button and the nanoSIM tray.

On the top edge there is a microphone and an infrared port for controlling household appliances.

At the bottom there is a 3.5 mm headset jack, a microUSB port and an external speaker.

On the back side we see a main camera module with a resolution of 16 megapixels. It protrudes above the body. which is a little impractical. To the right of it there is a flash and a saturation and heart rate sensor. Closer to the center is the company logo.

Display

The Galaxy S6 duos review moves on to the screen, which is built using Super AMOLED technology with a 5.1-inch diagonal and a resolution of 2560x1440 pixels. This combination gives 577 dpi, which sets the display apart from its competitors. Of course, with such a high density, you won’t notice any individual pixels. The picture turns out rich, contrasty and well detailed; working with the screen is a pleasure.

Color reproduction varies greatly depending on user settings, with a total of four modes available:

• Adaptive;
• Movie;
• Photo;
• Base.

The last two produce the most realistic colors, but if you like them slightly oversaturated, then it's worth setting up any of the first two.

Galaxy S6 performance

Samsung Galaxy S6 specifications are based on the Exynos 7420 processor, developed at the manufacturer’s facilities. It is based on 8 cores with a frequency of 2.1 GHz, which is complemented by the Mali-T760MP8 graphics accelerator. RAM - 3 GB, built-in - 32 GB, of which 24 GB remains for user needs. Galaxy S6 32gb characteristics are relevant even now; it can easily handle even the latest games with high graphics. Not a single application has yet been able to fully load the device so that it fails.

Samsung Galaxy S6 in synthetic:

There are some drawbacks; now games, photos and video files are quite large, so 24 GB may not be enough, and there is no way to expand the volume with a memory card. This shortcoming is compensated at least a little by providing 100 free gigabytes per cloud storage OneDrive, but it's still not the same.

Samsung g920f Galaxy S6 32gb black review showed that the external speaker sounds clean and has a good volume headroom, although the low frequencies are slightly lacking. The headphones included with the device are perfect for everyday use, they are not only comfortable, but also sound good. With a high degree of probability they will replace your old headset.

Heart rate monitor Samsung Galaxy S6

Near the sensor from the main camera module there is a sensor designed to measure heart rate. To use it, the proprietary S Health application was preinstalled, where you can track your heart rate and stress level. It works quickly, but there are doubts about the accuracy of the measurements. In addition to tracking physical activity indicators, such as running or cycling, you can find out the level of oxygen in your blood and enter information on the amount of fluid you drink per day. The application will help you monitor your health and maintain an active lifestyle.

Autonomous operation

A review of the Galaxy S6 64gb active in Russian revealed that everything is bad with the battery capacity - 2550 mAh, despite the fact that the performance has increased noticeably. You can count on a day of autonomy if you turn on the Internet only when necessary, set the brightness to a low level, and unload resource-intensive applications from memory when you stop using them. Autonomy is the weak point of the device.

In an hour of playing Asphalt 8, the battery loses 22% of its charge, and when playing videos at 100% brightness and 70% volume, 16% is lost in an hour. In standby mode, with one active SIM card, only 1% of the charge is consumed in a few hours. In about a week, the gadget shrinks completely if you don’t touch it at all.

Samsung Galaxy S6 duos gold 64gb review showed that in difficult situations, when it is not possible to connect your smartphone to a power outlet in the near future, you can switch to one of two energy saving modes: standard or extreme. The first has a barely noticeable effect on autonomy, while the second improves it by approximately 150%, but in this case the screen goes into black and white mode.

A full charge from zero to one hundred takes 1 hour 35 minutes. Thus, in 10 minutes you can charge the battery for 4 hours of operation. This saves you in situations when it’s time for you to leave the house and there’s no time to wait. Charging time from a computer is an order of magnitude longer - about 5 hours. Wireless charging is supported.

Interface

The review of the Samsung Galaxy S6 phone moves on to the interface, which is built on Android version 5.0 out of the box, but you can immediately update over the air to more recent versions. Everything is simple and convenient, as you can see in the screenshots below.

Cameras Samsung Galaxy S6

The camera review of the Samsung Galaxy S6 is pleasantly surprising, because at the time of its release the phone had one of the best cameras installed. The manufacturer managed to prove that the main thing is not the number of megapixels, because most competitors had 20 megapixel modules, but they were noticeably inferior in image quality.

If you wish, you can use the advanced mode, where you can set your own shooting parameters, but in most cases this is not necessary. At automatic settings The optimal algorithm is selected depending on the current shooting conditions. A real find was night photography, in which you can get pictures with decent quality and detail. Of course, noise is present; no manufacturer has yet managed to completely get rid of it in night shots, but its amount is minimal.

Samsung Galaxy S6 review in Russian showed that with more simple conditions shooting you can get excellent pictures. If you shoot without HDR, fine details will be difficult to see in deep shadows. When this option is activated, the detail and color saturation in the shadows improves.

The video quality is also good. You can save recordings in FullHD format at 60 fps, QHD, in accordance with the display resolution, and UHD (3840x2160). The last two formats are limited in time - up to 5 minutes of shooting, which was done in order to save user memory.

The front camera has a resolution of 5 megapixels and takes decent pictures, especially if you remember the year of manufacture. The module has a wide viewing angle and can be used both for taking selfies and for video communication.

Conclusion

So we have completed the review of the Samsung Galaxy S6, which has grown significantly compared to its predecessor. Improvement on all fronts - design, ergonomics, display and, of course, hardware, we've worked on everything except the battery. Although it is enough for a day of average use.

Where can I buy?

Your rating for the smartphone:

Surely you have already learned characteristics and know about all the possibilities Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. Today I will talk about the experience of actually using one of the hottest new products of this year. We will talk about the nuances of operation, useful or useless features, and also see what the built-in camera of a smartphone is capable of. Go!

The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge package includes a charger (5 V, 2 A), a wired headset, a Micro-USB cable and a metal SIM card ejector. It's good that the Koreans stopped using yellow boxes made of thin and super cheap cardboard. Now, of course, the packaging still doesn’t make much of an impression, especially considering the price of more than fifty thousand rubles per phone, but it’s still better than before.

Specifications Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge SM-G925F

I think it will be interesting not just to look at specifications smartphone in its purest form, and compare them with the capabilities of its predecessor - Galaxy S5 (SM-G900F). The specifications of the regular S6 and its curved version are no different from each other. Compared to last year’s version, a lot has changed: green marks what has changed towards improvement, red – towards worsening.

	Samsung Galaxy S5 (SM-G900F)	Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge (SM-G925F)
CPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, 2.5 GHz (4 cores)	Exynos 7 Octa 7420, 2.1 and 1.5 GHz, 64-bit (8 cores: 4 Cortex-A57 and 4 Cortex-A53)
Video accelerator	Adreno 330	Mali-T760 MP8
RAM	2 GB LPDDR3	3 GB LPDDR4-3104
Built-in memory	16 GB	32 / 64 / 128 GB
Memory card support	Yes (micro SD up to 128 GB)	No
Display	Super AMOLED 5.1’’, 1920×1080 pixels (432 ppi)	Super AMOLED 5.1'', 2560×1440 pixels (577 ppi)
Main camera	16 MP	16 MP
Front-camera	2 MP	5 MP
Battery	2800 mAh	2550 mAh
OS	Android 4.4.2 (5.0 Lollipop available)	Android 5.0.2
cellular	2G, 3G, 4G	2G, 3G, 4G LTE-A Cat 6 (FDD LTE: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20, 26,
Wireless interfaces	Wi-Fi (a/b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, USB 3.0 (OTG), infrared port	Wi-Fi (a/b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 4.1, NFC, USB 2.0 (OTG), infrared port
Connectors	GPS/GLONASS/Beidou	GPS/GLONASS/Beidou
Sensors		Accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity sensor, barometer, light sensor, fingerprint scanner, heart rate monitor
SIM card form factor	Micro	Nano
Water and dust protection	Yes (IP67 standard)	No

Later we will definitely talk in more detail about the hardware components and, of course, touch on performance.

Design

Let's talk a little about the design of the device. I want to say right away that in real life the device looks much better than in photographs and, especially, in press images. Judging only by the photo, it may seem that Samsung continues to stubbornly push its line of monotonous devices with a lack of design, but now it is also trying to deceive the user by saying that we are talking about a device with a first-class appearance.

When you take a smartphone in your hand, you understand that there is no deception here and this is a truly interesting, beautiful device.

The most surprising thing for me was that Samsung managed to combine the continuity of its design, which was correct in their opinion, and create something that was objectively very interesting from the point of view appearance device. Of course, you may not like the design, but in any case, it’s worth admitting that it turned out to be interesting and, due to the curved display at the edges, there is simply nothing like it on the market.

Owners of the S6 Edge should be heartened by the fact that nothing like this will appear on the market in the near future. Yes, perhaps at the beginning of 2016 we will see something curved in a similar way from some eminent manufacturer, but not a single Chinese company rushing to Olympus will be able to do something similar in the next year or two. The latter will look for ways to stand out in other ways (lack of side frames, etc.) and this is certainly a plus for you and me, consumers.

Sorry, but I can’t resist comparing the device with the iPhone 6. In the Edge, like the regular S6, the rear camera protrudes very noticeably above the surface of the body. It is clear that this nuance is due engineering solution— placing an excellent photo module in a thin body is a task that no one can yet do. However, the Koreans managed to beat this moment and the back side, even with a protruding camera lens, is perceived as one piece.

The same cannot be said about the Apple device. Here the camera sticks out, apparently because the engineers simply did not have time to complete the product in time. This is exactly the impression you get when you look at the iPhone 6.

Ease of use

Curved screens give +50 to the charisma of the device, but at the same time -25 to ease of use.

The thing is that during normal use, accidental presses on the screen at its curved ends are not uncommon. Sometimes this happens in the browser when you accidentally click on some link with an advertisement like “How to lose 65 kg in two weeks!” And it also happens that when shooting something with the built-in camera, you try to tap on the screen to focus on the object, but you don’t understand why the device doesn’t respond to your attempts. After 5 seconds, it becomes clear that at this moment the thumb lightly touches the curved part of the screen and the viewfinder stops responding to any touch.

Here's another scenario for everyday use of a smartphone. In the morning, while still lying in bed, the first thing many of us do is reach for the phone to check the time, check the weather, or check our email. It is clear that we do this either in a completely horizontal position or in a reclining position. So, using the “edge” in any of these cases is very difficult. The device is tilted down towards your face and, of course, the phone rests on your thumbs. And given that you can’t hold it on the edge in this position (false clicks on the curved edges of the display will be triggered), it’s impossible to use the smartphone while lying down.

It would seem that there is a simple way out - always hold the device by the metal edge. However, in this case, the area of ​​contact between the smartphone and the palm along the edge becomes smaller and the risk of dropping the smartphone from your hands increases many times over. Any S6 Edge owner will have to go through this stage and get the hang of holding the device correctly or end up dropping it and breaking it.

There's one more thing to consider if you can't decide between the regular S6 and its curved sibling. In about a week, the euphoria from a new, interesting and unique device will pass and, so to speak, harsh everyday life will begin, during which you will constantly make compromises when using your smartphone. Either it is difficult to pick it up when it is lying on the table, or you accidentally and constantly press the screen with your palm and something goes wrong - all these troubles will haunt you constantly.

Think carefully about whether you need such an attraction and whether you are willing to sacrifice the ease of use of your device for the sake of the wow effect that the Galaxy S6 Edge produces.

By the way, due to the use of tempered glass front and back (the latest generation Corning Gorilla Glass 4), the device itself does not try to slip out of your hands. In this regard, for example, the iPhone 6 is much more difficult to manage.

During use, of course, small scratches will begin to appear on the glass, but on the white model they are very difficult to notice. My copy had these available, but it was very difficult to photograph them.

The movement of all physical buttons is moderately soft and clear. It’s pleasant to press them, even despite the barely noticeable, but still present, play.

In general, the assembly of the smartphone is excellent, but a couple of nuances were still discovered.

In corners, in places smooth transitions On the body you can see a gap between the glass and the metal bumper.

In the photo below, I even managed to insert a piece of paper into this slot. In other places, the front panel fits as tightly as possible and there are not even tiny gaps.

The paint on the sloping end of the protruding camera lens peels off quite quickly.

Somehow this is not very healthy for an image product costing over 50,000 rubles. Perhaps the manufacturer will solve this problem in future batches.

	Length	Width	Thickness	Weight
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge		71,7
Samsung Galaxy S5		72,5
Apple iPhone 6	138,1
HTC One M9	144,6	69,7	9,61
Sony Xperia Z3	146,5

Fans of compact smartphones will be happy to get their hands on the Galaxy S6 Edge, as despite its 5.1-inch display it is very compact, light and very thin. The smartphone seemed a little small to me and it would be great if Samsung released something larger. I think we should wait until fall and try it Galaxy Note Edge 2. By the way, there is no one-handed operation mode here. You can use the device comfortably this way.

Display

Despite the seemingly large 5.1-inch screen, you shouldn't expect the screen to be large. Such is the paradox. Due to the rounded sides, the useful area of ​​the screen is reduced and this is reflected in the information that fits on the screen, or rather, which remains readable. For example, in the browser we are used to the system automatically aligning the text along the edges of the screen with a double tap, but here the text extends onto the curved sides and it becomes difficult to perceive the text in this position. Each time you have to adjust the text to fit the usable display area by additionally scaling the text manually with two fingers. Comfortable? Unlikely.

The above applies only to full versions of sites. For clarity, in the left photo below you can see what one of the popular resources on the topic of mobile devices looks like on the S6 Edge screen. In the photo on the right, our website is open in the browser, which is specially optimized for mobile devices - nothing needs to be scaled, everything remains readable from the start.

In general, a curved screen makes you take a fresh look at the already boring interface of many applications. Thus, Instagram began to play differently due to its rounded edges. The same applies to other utilities on Android. And this is certainly very cool! A completely useless, but very cool feature of the Galaxy S6 Edge.

I liked the time display on the side strip of the display in night mode. You woke up so suddenly at night, turned your head, looked at the glowing clock on the side of your smartphone and continued to sleep until the alarm clock. Comfortable? Yes. Need to? Um... I guess.

When it comes to viewing angles, there is a lot to talk about. In the test photos below, I compared the S6 Edge's screen (left/top in photos, display mode: Adaptive) with one of the best displays I've seen on a mobile device in the last year - (right/bottom).

As you can see, the display of the Korean smartphone performs, in general, quite well, but it still lacks the brightness reserve in comparison with the Chinese one.

I would not say that color reproduction is ideal in both devices. In the S6 Edge, the image is slightly green, while in the MX4 Pro the colors go a little pink. Here, everyone likes what they like, but I’m not close to the traditional green displays in solutions from the Korean corporation.

However, the “edge” screen is unrivaled in terms of black transmission.

Samsung displays the deepest possible blacks, which the Meizu device cannot boast of. By the way, the latter, so you know, conveys a dark shade quite well if you compare its display with that of Huawei Honor 6 Plus. Here you can look at the comparison of these two Chinese and see the veracity of this statement.

The same applies to the behavior of the screen in the sun. The display remains readable in any conditions. The backlight adjustment sensor is, of course, not the most quickly reacts to sudden changes in lighting, but always does it correctly.

Processor, graphics and memory

The most advanced mobile processor currently available from Samsung Exynos 7420 Octa is used as the “brains” of the smartphone. It is based on 4 powerful Cortex-A57 cores with a frequency of 2.1 GHz and 4 additional Cortex-A53 with a lower frequency of 1.5 GHz (big.LITTLE). The processor is created using 14-nanometer technology. The closest competitors are the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810, which has some overheating issues, and the Nvidia Tegra K1.

The graphics are handled by the ARM Mali-T760 MP8. The frequency of each shader cluster reaches 772 MHz. Support for OpenGL ES 3.1, OpenCL 1.1 and DirectX 11 is declared. According to some tests, this video chip built into the processor outperforms Adreno 430 and PowerVR GX6450 (Apple A8). The high resolution of 2560 x 1440 in games is something that the graphics cope with with a bang.

In addition, the most fast memory 3 GB LPDDR4-3104 (speed up to 24.8 Gbps).

Performance

The speed of animation and interface is maximum. Any menu and graphics fly and it becomes clear that you are dealing with a well-functioning interface.

The camera starts up in less than a second and takes photos even faster. During the entire testing period, I was never able to find any bottlenecks where the device stuttered at least once.

Have you read above about the smartphone specifications? So, does it make sense to say that the performance of modern 3D games is maximum? I think this is unnecessary.

The same applies to performance in various benchmarks.

In the 64-bit AnTuTu test, the Galaxy S6 Edge managed to score a whopping 70,641 virtual parrots! It’s really: “Can your smartphone do this?”

More details in the screenshots below.

Camera

Gorgeous! Seriously! She is truly the best among all those existing on this moment mobile devices (spring 2015). Don't believe me? Then look at the bee peacefully collecting nectar from the almond blossom below.

If you still have doubts, then here are examples with other frames taken on the device. The originals can be taken from here in one archive and studied in detail offline.

Even photos taken at night look good. Check out how the Samsung plant turned out in one of the photos below.

Optical stabilization works well in most situations, but taking two or three shots at a time never hurts. It happens that the photos turn out blurry, but this is discovered too late.

Examples of 100% crops are below, in their proper places.

The device takes photographs very quickly. The same applies to HDR images, and indeed launching the camera in general. In the settings, you can set the photo application to launch when you double-click the Home key. Thus, you will have approximately 1.5 seconds from the moment you discover an interesting plot until the image is saved to the smartphone’s memory.

Samsung has taken a path that can only be welcomed. Firstly, they improved the already excellent camera compared to the same Galaxy Note 4. And, secondly, they simplified the process of creating photos and menus. Previously, when you pressed a button with gears, a matrix with monochrome icons and inscriptions opened in front of you, which made your eyes water.

Now everything is simple. Basic settings, including choosing a resolution, activating geotagging, setting up additional shutter buttons (volume keys), and so on, are available by pressing the same gear.

Again, there are few modes, but all the most basic things are there: shooting slow or fast video, creating panoramas, choosing the focus after shooting, which is now fashionable, and so on.

Of course, there is a “Pro” mode, where you can play around with the shutter speed settings yourself, tighten up the picture using additional settings and select the appropriate ISO. By the way, below is an example of a picture put together from different frames at various settings ISO.

There are two sets of preset filters: the first is called up by pressing a separate virtual key from the viewfinder, and the second is accessible from the “Pro” mode. Korean developers apparently don't like what Instagram has to offer.

The smartphone is capable of recording video in a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels at 30 frames per second. Example below.

As before, the camera is capable of shooting slow-motion or sped-up videos. In this case, the resolution will not exceed 1280 x 720, and to correctly view such masterpieces on a computer, special players and codecs will be required. I'm more interested in the implementation of shooting such a video in . There the feature is called Timeshift Burst and is made more elegantly.

Battery life

Forget about two days battery life from one battery charge. The Galaxy S6 Edge will need to be charged every day, unless, of course, you bought this smartphone just to make calls.

Buy a wireless charger and train yourself to place the device on it every day before going to bed. This will make life much easier and you won’t have to worry about the lack of battery power.

Overnight, the device spends about 6-8 percent of its charge to nothing. During the day, most of the energy is consumed by the screen, data transfer and, of course, the built-in hardware. If used very intensively, the smartphone runs the risk of not surviving until the night and being discharged halfway to the outlet. In this case, you should use the energy saving mode. The usual saving mode is of little use, but extreme energy saving will allow you to stay connected for twice as long. By the way, when this feature is activated, the device is not only limited in the use of all its functions, but also behaves like some kind of budget phone: it becomes slightly thoughtful.

Models and prices

In this material, in addition to reviewing the actual use of the phone, I propose to touch upon the issue of existing models. The range of prices and modifications, of course, is not great, but the information will still be useful. This is especially true for those who decide to buy a gadget abroad during a vacation or business trip.

We have

There are currently several versions of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. First of all, they differ in the size of the built-in memory: it can be 32, 64 or 128 GB. The order of prices, respectively, is as follows: 54,990, 57,990 and 62,990 rubles. All these modifications have the same marking: SM-G925F.

A little later, another model will appear on our market, which will have support for two SIM cards on board. True, we are talking about the regular Galaxy S6 Duos (SM-G920F), which will have 64 GB allocated for data storage. Nothing is yet known about the version with a curved display and two SIM cards.

And that is not all. Most recently, the Korean company announced the start of sales of a special version of the smartphone in a color with the brand name “noble emerald”. The coloring itself does not carry any special bonus, the point here is different. For only 89,990 rubles, the lucky owner of the device will receive wireless Charger and external battery included.

In addition, the buyer will receive a membership card to the Quintessentially Lifestyle Club, a service that books you hotels, restaurant reservations and much more around the world. A good opportunity to try the service for very little money. A subscription in isolation from a Samsung device costs completely different money, much more than the price of an “edge”.

They have

In the international arena (if you’re on vacation in the USA, this will come in handy) there is a whole scattering of different types of “edge”. Below is a selection of models with approximate prices for them as a guide.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge SM-G925P- this option is available from the Sprint operator and has support for the following cellular networks: UMTS: 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz. As for LTE, the modification is designed to work in networks with the following bands: FDD LTE: 700 (12), 850 (5), 850 (26), 1700 / 2100 (4), 1900 (2), 1900 (25) MHz ; TDD LTE: 2500 (41) MHz.

SM-G925A- sold from AT&T operators and supports UMTS networks (850 / 1900 / 2100 MHz), as well as LTE FDD: 700 (17), 800 (20), 850 (5), 900 (8), 1700 / 2100 (4), 1800 (3), 1900 (2), 2100 (1), 2600 (7) MHz.

SM-G925V— can be purchased at Verizon stores and points of sale. Declared to work in UMTS (850/900/1900/2100 MHz) and LTE FDD: 700 (13), 850 (5), 1700/2100 (4), 1800 (3), 1900 (2), 2600 (7) MHz .

SM-G925T from the American operator T-Mobile - will be able to connect to UMTS (850 / 1700/2100 / 1900 / 2100 MHz), as well as the 4th generation cellular network LTE FDD: 700 (12), 700 (17), 800 (20), 850 (5), 1700 / 2100 (4), 1800 (3), 1900 (2), 2100 (1), 2600 (7) MHz

And a relatively rare modification SM-G925R from U.S. Cellular is equipped with support for UMTS (800/1900 MHz), as well as LTE FDD: 700 (12), 700 (13), 700 (17), 850 (5), 1700 / 2100 (4), 1900 (2), (7 ) MHz.

The same applies to the regular version of the Samsung Galaxy S6 SM-G920F. It is enough to remove the last letter in the model name and substitute the missing one from the operator: substitute A, T, V or R instead of F at the end of the model name.

The only parting word before purchasing: check which bands are broadcast in your city by the operator whose services you are going to use. This is an important point that should be taken into account in advance, in addition to the fact that not all of the models indicated above can be purchased by non-US residents.

Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge smartphone is a truly unique device. At the moment, it remains the leader of the entire market both in terms of productivity and innovation.

Most likely, the situation will not change until the end of summer, until the moment when the Korean manufacturer introduces the next generation of Note 5 or Note 5 Edge to the world. Considering all this, the stated price of 54,990 rubles is completely justified. Moreover, the manufacturer could set the price higher, since the S6 Edge is still playing alone in its league.

We talked about everything that is important to know when purchasing a device. I did not touch on the points that you already know. We looked at what the manufacturer and other publications are silent about. Only two points remain unclear: why the cost is so inflated regular Galaxy S6 and how will you deal with the curved edges of the hero of today's article? I described the last point in some detail in the body of the review - it contains everything that any user will most likely encounter during real, normal use of a smartphone.

As for the price for a regular, non-curved modification, everything is different here. Yes, we have before us a very powerful, productive device with excellent body materials. However, the device does not have the same image component as the Edge or the iPhone 6. Such a comparison set the teeth on edge, but it is not we, journalists, who do this, but the company itself.

Samsung openly competes with Apple when building its pricing policy. However, why the buyer should pay for the manufacturer’s ambitions is unclear.

Install Samsung price at the level of 35 - 40 thousand rubles (which, in fact, happened as part of the price war in the spring-summer 2015), he would have a chance to finally do away with competitors such as HTC or Sony and displace them from Russian market. However, the company did not want to do this, nor did they want to remember Chinese companies, which are increasingly conquering the domestic market. In unstable economic conditions, users tend to save money and choose more affordable solutions. And there’s also the holiday season ahead—after all, you also want to relax. They don’t have extra money for the very best device.

Now, after the publication of sales reports from Apple and the Korean electronics giant, it becomes clear that Samsung’s strategy is not working and it is still impossible to compete head-on with the Cupertino team. People are addicted to stereotypes that are stuck in their heads: iPhone is cool, it’s status, period! So far, the Koreans have only partially succeeded in convincing buyers of the superiority of the Galaxy S6 Edge (on all fronts).

Photos in the interior

Contents of delivery

• Telephone
• Charger with USB cable
• Wired stereo headset
• SIM Card Clip
• Instructions

Specifications

• Android 5.0.2 (5.1 in early summer), latest generation TouchWiz shell
• 5.1 inches, SuperAMOLED screen, 577 ppi, 2560x1440 pixels, automatic brightness adjustment
• Chipset Exynos 7420, 8 cores (4 cores A53, 4 cores A57), maximum clock frequency up to 2.1 GHz, 64 bit
• MALI-T760 GPU
• 3 GB random access memory LPDDR4, no memory cards
• 32/64/128 GB of internal memory, UFS 2.0
• Front camera 5 megapixels, main camera 16 megapixels, OIS, True HDR, tracking autofocus, F 1.9, white balance detection by IR sensor, Pro shooting mode
• Payment system Samsung Pay
• Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz), HT80 MIMO(2x2) 620Mbps, Dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, Mobile hotspot, Bluetooth®: v4.1, A2DP, LE, apt-X, ANT+, USB 2.0, NFC, IR port for control household appliances
• LTE cat.6
• Wireless charging built into case (WPC1.1(4.6W Output) & PMA 1.0(4.2W)
• Li-Ion battery 2550 mAh, extreme power saving mode, fast charging in one hour
• Dimensions – 143.4 x 70.5 x 6.8 mm, weight – 138 grams

Positioning

The 2015 flagship was created with two goals - traditionally to compete with the current iPhone model, in our case the iPhone 6, and also to partially rehabilitate the Galaxy line after the rather sluggish sales of the Galaxy S5, which many perceived as a step to the side. In the S5, Samsung focused on water protection and the presence of the IP67 standard, but it turned out that these functions are not very important for consumers; they rather pay attention to the image component. And it is traditionally lower for Samsung phones than for the iPhone. As a result, sales of the Galaxy S5 turned out to be good, but very far from the company's internal plans. Suffice it to say that the Galaxy S5 was the best-selling Android flagship of any phone, but not up to par. iPhone sales he fell short.

In 2015, Samsung is relying on metal, glass and the highest technical specifications possible. That is, the bet is on high-quality case materials, even if the continuity with the previous generation of Galaxy, which was considered a failed experiment, is broken. It's interesting how many people claim that the lack of protection from water has now suddenly become a disadvantage. I highly doubt that this is the case, although the function looks interesting for any model.

The focus is on design, quality of the case and direct competition with the iPhone. Numerous claims that this device is accurate a copy of the iPhone, are not entirely correct. It is made in the style of the iPhone, but an exact copy is not. When you look at it, you see the same Galaxy line, there are no special differences.

Those who want to see an iPhone in this device will still see it, there is no point in convincing them otherwise. In real life, phones look very different different models. It is impossible to confuse an iPhone and a Galaxy S6 in real life; not a single person has made a mistake in determining which hand is holding which phone, even from a distance of several meters. Another indicator will be the absence of legal claims from Apple, although the indicator is indirect, since last time the similarity of the models was also very far-fetched.

The flagship from Samsung will be of interest to both ordinary users who want to get a modern smartphone with maximum quality camera, good and large screen, operating time in one day. This model is also suitable for those who can be called technology enthusiasts, since it implements the latest developments, which will last for at least a couple of years. Although there was a fly in the ointment, which we’ll talk about in this review.

The Galaxy S6 is a key device for the entire market in 2015/2016, as it was for previous Galaxy. We can expect global sales of the S6 (along with the S6 EDGE variant) to outpace the S5 over a comparable time frame. Interest in this model is noticeably higher. Let's look together at the strengths and weak sides this decision.

Design, dimensions, control elements

The phone turned out to be compact for such a screen diagonal, its dimensions are 143.4x70.5x6.8 mm, weight - 138 grams (for comparison, S6 EDGE - 142.1x70.1x7 mm, 132 grams). Fits well in the hand and does not slip.

Compared to Apple iPhone 6 Plus

Compared to Samsung Galaxy Note 4

Compared to Samsung Galaxy S5

The side frame and back wall are made of metal, special attention was paid to the strength characteristics, it cannot be bent even with great effort. This was especially emphasized at the presentation. Since Samsung decided that the model should pamper the consumer with variety, they presented it in many colors. To achieve this, the back wall is painted over and covered with Corning Gorilla Glass 4. Exactly the same glass covers the front surface. To avoid creating confusion, Samsung calls the glass fourth generation, but in fact, it differs from what other manufacturers get (fewer scratches, more drop resistance, which is important with such a screen). You can call this piece of glass Gorilla Glass 4+, although this name will be very arbitrary.

Each color looks metallic due to the glass, and they play well in the sun. Just like on Sony devices, hand marks remain on the glass; it is easily soiled, but not excessively. In bright light the marks are almost invisible, but in the room they become noticeable.

In real life, the devices play in the light and look dull indoors.

Other color solutions will appear, but this is a matter of the near future. The accessories for the Galaxy S6/S6 EDGE also turned out to be quite bright, playing with the theme of the body color.

In the S6 EDGE you can feel the cut of the body due to the beveled screen; in the regular S6 there is nothing like that, it fits very well in the hand. The metal frame has recesses on the side edges, which also adds convenience.

The nanoSIM card tray is located on the right side surface, and there is also an on/off button. Volume keys are on the left. At the top end there is an IR port for controlling household appliances and a microphone, another microphone is located at the bottom end. There is also a microUSB connector (USB 2.0), 3.5 mm for a headset or headphones, and a speaker output.

On the back surface, in addition to the flash, there is a heart rate sensor; it also performs a number of other functions; more about this in the section about S Health. There is a physical button on the front panel, it contains a fingerprint sensor (you can unlock the device by placing your finger, no need to swipe it). There are also two touch keys, everything is familiar to other devices from Samsung. Above the screen there is a proximity sensor, as well as a 5 megapixel front camera.

Display

Screen 5.1 inches diagonal, SuperAMOLED, 577 ppi, 2560x1440 pixels, automatic brightness adjustment. This is one of best screens from Samsung, it traditionally has customizable colors - from bright and sometimes acidic to muted. Here everyone will choose their own option, but the main thing is that, according to reviews from professionals testing screens in various devices, AMOLED matrices in previous models have already become very accurate in terms of color reproduction and behavior in the sun. In this device, the quality of the screen has also increased and the brightness of the backlight has been improved (everything is readable in the sun with a bang).

Communication capabilities

If you can imagine that a device has all possible technologies, then this is the case with the S6/S6 EDGE. I’ll just list them: Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz), HT80 MIMO(2x2) 620Mbps, Dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, Mobile hotspot, Bluetooth®: v4.1 , A2DP, LE, apt-X, ANT+, USB 2.0, NFC, IR port for controlling household appliances.

Memory, RAM, performance

The device has 3 GB of RAM (LDPPR4), which has a maximum bandwidth of 3.2 GB/s (64 bits) today. The built-in memory capacity may vary - 32, 64 and 128 GB. Memory type is UFS 2.0, which also provides maximum writing and reading speeds; it is actually an SSD array. The speed of the memory subsystem is such that no other device yet has comparable characteristics.

The Exynos 7420 chipset belongs to the latest generation, made at 14 nm. Technically, this is an 8-core solution, 4 Cortex-A53 cores, 4 Cortex A57 cores. The graphics core is Mali T-760, but its version is updated compared to Note 4 (more frequency, etc.). This is also the most fast processor of the existing ones, which, together with the memory, makes this device very fast. In life, he just flies, there are no brakes at all (Android 5 also contributes to this). During my time with the phone, I did not experience any slowdowns or application crashes.

And here's what the results look like in synthetic tests. These are the best values ​​possible for devices of this kind. With performance in synthetic tests, everything is more or less clear, see the values ​​below.

What’s more interesting is how the device behaves in 3D tests, that is, how predisposed it is to graphics, since the MALI graphics processor has always been inferior to similar solutions from Qualcomm, and even more so from NVidia. Increased frequency, eight cores - all this, in theory, should contribute to performance, but on the other side there is an increased screen resolution.

There are other tests, we present their values ​​here.

But it was interesting to see how, for example, Epic Citadel is going. In the initial test on an almost clean device, the result was about 60 frames per second.

But then, when I tried to repeat it, it turned out that the program produces, at best, 50 frames, and after heating, even 30 frames. This is one of the Galaxy S6's weakest points in terms of performance - the 3D graphics and how repeatable the results you get.

Having looked at the 3D toys, I can say that the range of results in Dead Trigger 2, NOVA3, Asphalt 8, Real Racing 3 is from 30 to 60 frames per second. In some games the level stays at 60 almost constantly, in some it is closer to 30. But this is with maximum settings for textures, resolution, and so on. Even taking this into account, you as a user will not see any problems in the game, since stuttering at 30 frames per second simply does not exist. And this is the lowest value.

For those who want to approach performance in a straightforward and stupid way, I recommend comparing the gaming component in GTA, since this game is not optimized for MALI graphics, does not load the best textures and is guaranteed to have problems with graphics display. In my opinion, this is a flaw in the game and a lack of optimization for a specific platform, but as an example of “disadvantages” it will do. The question in 3D games today is simply which platform they are optimized for and how well. The same solutions from NVidia tear everyone apart in terms of 3D performance and graphics rendering quality, but they are not popular. Apparently, not everyone needs this.

Battery

The built-in battery has a capacity of 2550 mAh (2600 mAh in S6 EDGE), operating time is approximately a full working day under load. This is about 3 and a half hours of screen operation (automatic brightness adjustment, turned to maximum), data transfer in 4G. The video device plays for about 10.5 hours.

One of the nice things to note is that fast charging of the battery is supported - it takes one hour. If you use a regular 2A charger, the battery charging time will be 2 hours. The phone has built-in wireless charging that supports several formats, meaning you can buy a branded device or any other. I had a charger from Lumia (DT-601, Qi standard) on hand; it charges the device perfectly.

You shouldn't expect this model to last as long as the Note 4. But the result turned out to be slightly higher than that of the iPhone 6 with the same load (number of calls, data transferred). The difference is almost imperceptible; we can say that these devices live for the same time. Again, for most people this will be full time.

Many people have a misunderstanding about how to change the chipset and technological process, memory acceleration, the appearance of another screen with a higher resolution may not lead to an increase in power consumption. The logic is simple - all new technologies consume more energy. But the logic is flawed and far from reality; it’s precisely the new technologies that make it possible to achieve lower power consumption, which Samsung consistently shows on its Galaxy line, and the same Note has long become the standard in terms of operating time.

Camera

A separate detailed and extensive material is devoted to a description of the camera and all its capabilities.

Software features – Android 5.x and TouchWiz

Samsung has begun to simplify the TouchWiz shell, and this is clearly noticeable in Android 5. While this is not pure Android, a lot of unnecessary junk has been removed, useful and not so useful functions have been added, the system has begun to look simple and understandable. I will try to describe the changes sequentially.

So, in the drop-down curtain, everything is different from Android 5 - Samsung retained one row of shortcuts, but the list scrolls horizontally, and you can also select the icons that are shown here. I like the way it’s done in pure Android, where you just have to pull it again and it opens full list, I think it’s more convenient this way.

Some icons have additional functionality, for example, the Wi-Fi icon now displays part of the Wi-Fi network name. This is a small thing, but quite convenient, which I found very interesting.

Traditionally, the drop-down curtain contains S Finder, in which you can search for content both on the network and in the phone’s memory. You can limit your search by category. This is a convenient search client for the device. Nearby is a utility for connecting to other devices; everything in it is also familiar.

How do I open notifications from the lock screen? When clicked, they redirect you to the appropriate application. If the screen lock is set, for example, to a fingerprint, then you receive a warning that you need to press the central key - touch, and again the phone opens the desired item. Everything has become much clearer and simpler than it was. If you don't need a notification, you can simply swipe it aside.

Of the minuses in the menu, I’ll note this for myself - I have about 6 screens with icons, previously you could click on the square of a specific screen in the line below. Now, when clicked, the transition goes only to the adjacent screen. Inconvenient.

Dialer and contacts. By dialing a number, you can quickly call a contact by simply entering the first numbers or letters of the first and last name correctly. Matches will appear in the list. The call log has a filter by call type.

Just like on previous models, you can swipe left or right on a name to send a message or make a call; this setting can be disabled, but many people liked it. In Favorites, in addition to the selected contacts, there is also a list of numbers that you often use. When you call, information related to the contact, recent SMS, mail, and calendar events are displayed.

In the contact list, you can scroll through names by letter of the alphabet (Russian comes first, then Latin).

The changes are purely visual, the UI has become simpler and lighter, but the functionality has been maintained at the level of the previous version of TouchWiz. This seems wrong to many, but it is purely a matter of taste and habit.

Messages. Some people are upset only by the lop-eared man, which is in the menu for rooms without an icon set by the user. It remains as before, although its size has greatly decreased. You can choose the design of the windows, their style, and set your own wallpaper. Also, by choosing a different theme or your own screensavers, you can get rid of this little man. Messages are sent on a schedule.

The range of features is typical and will be enough for ordinary users. I have no complaints about working with messages on this device.

Among the unusual functions, I will note shortcuts for quickly inserting text - they work in all menus. That is, when the T9 function is activated, by typing the letter assigned to the shortcut, you will see in the list of hints not only words, but also a recorded pattern. For now this only works for in English, but the thing is very useful and convenient.

Gallery. Sorting photos works by time, place, event or category (here the phone itself determines what is in the photo - food, landscape, portrait, and so on). There is also access to Picasa from the menu.

Calculator. In a horizontal position it is scientific, in a vertical position it is normal.

Watch. Alarm clock, world time, stopwatch and timer. The usual sections, but externally they have been redesigned and look more interesting.

Notes. Regular text notes that are synchronized with the cloud and transferred from phone to phone.

My files. A regular file manager that also supports Google Drive. Convenient and simple, there are all possible operations with files.

Dictaphone. In addition to regular voice recording, you can turn on the Interview mode (first seen in Note 4), then the microphones at the ends work in turn, and the recording quality is good. There is also a voice note mode, when text entered by voice is immediately recognized.

Peel Smart Remote . A program for controlling household appliances using an infrared port. Automatically detects your location, shows a list of channels and programs, and can work with any equipment. On other devices it is not so interesting, since they do not have an infrared port.

S Planner. The calendar was made visually lighter and simpler. There are birthday reminders, synchronization with any network calendars, and a separate task list. I like the way this application is designed, there is nothing superfluous in it and everything is clear.

S Health (ver. 4). A completely updated S Health application, which now includes motivational rewards (walk more, do more, etc.). A sensor on the back of the phone is used to measure heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, stress levels and emotions. Now you can enter a food diary, there is a database of foods and their calorie content. In every sense, this application has become richer, and at the same time it is not necessary to use all the options. You can also keep track of your workouts here, plus there is a virtual trainer who can help you train.

S Voice. The engine from Nuance is used, just like on previous models. The speech synthesizer is very clumsy, like from the past, command recognition is stupid and completely inferior to Google Now. It’s definitely not worth using this voice control, although it has a wide range of functionality. It's not very pleasant.

Smart Manager. A new utility that combines several programs from different companies, but in one interface. So, there is Clean Master, which is able to remove application caches and various garbage. The battery management utility shows how long it can last, and you can switch between modes. In the Security section you can install KNOX, plus there is an antivirus from McAfee. There is also a utility for cleaning RAM, which is more of a tribute to the needs of users and their desires than an urgent need for Android - it is more of a harmful utility than a useful one.

Microsoft Applications. The folder contains three pre-installed applications - OneDrive, OneNote and Skype. These are applications whose pre-installation is paid for by Microsoft; there are no differences or integration into the system. It’s worth tearing them down right away, at least the first two deserve it. The user is given 100 GB of cloud space from Microsoft free of charge for two years.

Mail. Ordinary mail client, supporting multiple accounts, HTML layout. There is nothing unusual here, nor are there any advantages over the GMail client. Outwardly they became very similar.

Settings. The usual set of settings for the Galaxy S, I won’t list everything, I’ll list the main screens, everything is clear from them.

Free apps with S6/S6 Edge

Samsung is used to giving flagship customers subscriptions to paid services or applications, sometimes this is quite a significant saving. I will try to list the main gifts, they may differ from country to country and may not be available everywhere:

• The Economist – 6 month subscription;
• Audible, audiobooks, 3-month subscription, one book free every month;
• NY Times - news, 12-week subscription;
• Pocket
• Parallels Access – 6-month subscription, access to up to 5 computers;
• PayPal – discount on various goods;
• Evernote - premium subscription;
• Flexy keyboard;
• Entrenador – personal trainer;
• Magisto Video Editor – three months subscription to the service;
• Keepy – note-taking service, 6-month subscription;
• Shazam – version without restrictions and without advertising;
• Hancom Office 2014 – unlimited time license;
• Kindle – subscription for 12 months, you can receive one book monthly;
• Deezer – music subscription for 6 months;
• Kick is an application for football fans, match results.

Additional accessories for Galaxy S6/S6 EDGE

For several years now, Samsung has been creating the widest possible range of accessories for its flagships. Starting with 6, the set comes with headphones of a new design, which are built similarly to Level In, provide good sound and are noticeably better than the previous model.

In terms of cooperation with famous brands, I would like to mention cases from Burton, protective cases with crystals from Swarovski, leather covers from Montblanc, women's handbag cases from Rebecca Minkoff, cases painted by Britto. These accessories are almost impossible to find on the market; their cost is very high.

Now let's look at the standard set of accessories, they are completely the same for the two models, only the article number and color options differ. Wireless charging is available in two colors – white and dark gray. I recommend taking a dark color, since the rubber insert at the top, which prevents the phone from sliding, gets dirty very quickly on white. A dark color is more practical.

The QI 1.1 standard is supported (backwards compatible with 1.0), charging speed is about 4-5 hours, which is typical for such devices. The cost of the charger in Russia will be 3,490 rubles. The fast charger included in the kit costs 2,000 rubles if you buy it separately, so you shouldn’t lose it. The same price applies to a car charger that supports Quick Charge technology.

A regular transparent bumper covering the back of the phone will cost 2,590 rubles.

But the opaque cover can be of almost any color, it is of good quality, but it also needs to be matched to the color of the phone so that they match. Its price is 2,290 rubles.

The book case is also available in different colors, price - 2,990 rubles, these types of cases make the device very thick.

The S View Cover with a window has become very popular. Different fabric or leather, a huge number of colors - all together create an alternative. You can activate the camera, enable dialing of favorite numbers, listen to music, open the quick shortcuts panel - the latter was previously unavailable. In the video I show how this case works, it's worth watching. But the price is steep - 4,490 rubles.

The mirrored book case can also be selected in different colors, it has an NFC tag, so Chinese craftsmen will not do anything like that. In the closed state, you can answer calls, reject messages and reminders. There is no need to open the device.

You can see how all these accessories work in our video.

Impression

I was pleasantly surprised by the loudness of the Samsung S6 speaker, despite the fact that there is only one speaker and is located at the end - it is very clear and loud, the device is clearly audible in different conditions. In the video I showed the differences with the S5, they are noticeable to the naked eye. We can say that the sound is one of the loudest and most pleasant devices from the company. The vibration alert is average in strength, there are no achievements here.

The phone's connection quality is not satisfactory in any way. I tried to find differences from my Note 4, but could not find them. The quality of work in LTE is also flawless; I noticed that the phone is better able to connect to Wi-Fi networks than the Note 4. Subjectively, it seemed that in general the quality of communication was a little better.

I like how the one touch fingerprint works, you can watch this feature in the video.

The speed of launching the camera from any menu is less than a second. Just press the Home key twice. And it's convenient. The camera is excellent and comparable to the Note 4, which I consider (and not only me) the best device on the market in this regard.

We could go on and on about how the S6 differs from most devices on the market - the fastest processor, the most best camera, a display that has already been recognized as outstanding. But this is all lyricism, since we need to dwell on several negative aspects that may discourage you from purchasing this device.

The obvious thing is the lack of memory cards. I'm so used to having the option of having a memory card that I feel uncomfortable without it. A memory capacity of 32 GB seems to me clearly insufficient for full use of the device - listening to music, watching videos, taking photographs. This is an annoying limitation that came with the iPhone. I really hope that the “brilliant” idea to do this will not come to the company’s engineers in the Note line.

Now about another point - the device warming up, which is often felt when working in heavy applications (3D toys) or transferring large amounts of data (Wi-Fi or LTE/3G does not matter). The housing near the camera gets hot, as does the metal frame. It gets quite hot, but you can hold the device, it’s warm, it doesn’t burn. This moment upset me a little, and not at all because of the heat as such; in the end, all fast devices heat up. Rather, here we come to another issue - replacing the battery. After about a year and after 350-400 charging cycles, the battery capacity will drop by at least 20 percent. If in other devices of the Galaxy line you could replace it yourself, then you will have to contact a service center or read instructions on how to disassemble the phone, look for a replacement battery and pervert in such ways. In the same iPhone, this is a standard story that its owners have learned. The fact that the Galaxy S6 abandoned the collapsible case is understandable, but it doesn’t add any joy.

I managed to drop the Galaxy S6 a couple of times, it did not cause any problems - but this is not an indicator. I am sure that Gorilla Glass 4 will not have any problems, as, indeed, this can be seen from the Note 4. As part of the VIP program, the first replacement of the screen you cracked will cost up to 3,000 rubles. No manufacturer provides such conditions, and this is a significant advantage, as well as confidence in the quality of the product (the cost of replacing the screen on an iPhone 6 is approximately half its cost).

For many, the choice will be between the Galaxy S6 and the iPhone 6; the arguments for both devices were presented in a short video. But I can say that these are devices of different classes - the iPhone is fashionable and empty in functionality and capabilities, the Galaxy S6 is the best in its class.

The cost of the Galaxy S6 in Russia will be 49,990 rubles (in Europe the price will be at the same level as for the Galaxy S5 - 650 euros). Many will consider choosing between S6 and S6 EDGE; the second device will cost about 55,000 rubles. Sales start in mid-April.

I like both the S6 and S6 EDGE. Although from an image point of view the second is more interesting, but the first is more practical. Functionally there is no difference between them.

By and large, the Galaxy S6 turned out to be very nice in appearance and functional, which is what you expect from a device in the Galaxy line, but it also does not have memory cards, which many will consider a minus. Comparing this model with similar devices in the same price category, we can say that they are much inferior in all respects. This is a device without any compromises, the best in almost everything. From subjective things, personal dislike of the design and/or Samsung may interfere. But these matters are so subtle that there is no point in discussing them. From a market perspective, the Galaxy S6 sets the bar very high in both performance and everyday usability. The ergonomics of this device are simply excellent.

Image model on the fastest platform

The flagship Samsung Galaxy S series smartphones do not need any special introduction. Along with products Apple smartphones Samsung traditionally arouses keen interest among users of any age, gender and religion. In the new season, the Korean company has prepared a real surprise for its fans. You can call it a rethinking of values ​​or a reboot, as you like, but the fact remains: after many years of boring sameness, Samsung designers have finally decided to make real changes. For the first time in many years, we can say with confidence that Samsung has shown a truly stylish, modern and attractive design. In principle, the option with two glass panels and a metal side frame is not so new; over the past few years we have seen it in the iPhone, Sony Xperia, and even in fashion models of the Huawei P series, but for Samsung smartphones it is really new . And given the experience of past years, when one type of plastic in Korean smartphones was replaced by another, such drastic changes can even be called a breakthrough.

However, it was not only unexpected changes in design and attractive appearance that were pleasantly surprised by the participants of the MWC 2015 exhibition during their first acquaintance with the new products of the Samsung mobile family. Those who managed to get acquainted with the hardware of the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge were also amazed at the unprecedented level of performance that these powerful mobile devices demonstrated. Thanks to the new SoC, Samsung's new flagships have confidently perched on the top step of the podium and, apparently, will not be ousted from there any time soon.

Of course, there were some disappointments. Fans of the Korean brand have always warmed their souls to the idea that their chosen side in the confrontation between Samsung and Apple is the maximum openness to change. A slot for a memory card and a removable battery - these are the enduring values ​​that outweighed the scales for them in comparison with the policy of closure, “things in themselves”, which Apple smartphones cultivated from the very beginning. Now the last bastions have collapsed: according to these characteristics, the new Korean devices are indistinguishable from both the iPhone and other modern smartphones, the creators of which reoriented faster than others. In the new Samsung flagships you will not find either a slot for installing a memory card, or, moreover, a removable battery - all of this is considered relics of the past. The funny thing is that this happened exactly at that significant moment when the newest, fifth version of Android finally made it possible for users to install applications on a memory card, and it is Android 5.0 that new Samsung devices are initially based on. Once again, the developers made an unfortunate mistake, but most of the users will most likely forget it very quickly, as if nothing had happened - the fans will understand and forgive. All that will remain in my memory is another cute and very fast smartphone, One of many.

Video review

To get started, we suggest watching our video review of the Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone:

Now let's take a look at the characteristics of the new product.

Main characteristics of Samsung Galaxy S6 (model SM-G920F)

	Samsung Galaxy S6	Sony Xperia Z3	Lenovo Vibe X2	Yotaphone 2	Meizu MX4
Screen	5.1″, Super AMOLED	5.2″, IPS	5″, IPS	5″, AMOLED	5.36″, IPS
Permission	2560×1440, 577 ppi	1920×1080, 423 ppi	1920×1080, 440 ppi	1920×1080, 440 ppi	1920×1152, 418 ppi
SoC	Exynos 7420 (4x Cortex-A57 @2.1 GHz and 4x Cortex-A53 @1.5 GHz)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (4 cores Krait 400 @2.5 GHz)	Mediatek MT6595m (4x Cortex-A17 @2.0 GHz + 4x Cortex-A7 @1.3 GHz)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 (4 cores Krait 400 @2.26 GHz)	Mediatek MT6595 Octa-core (4 Cortex-A17 @2.2 GHz and 4 Cortex-A7 @1.7 GHz)
GPU	Mali-T760	Adreno 330	PowerVR G6200	Adreno 330	PowerVR G6200
RAM	3 GB	3 GB	2 GB	2 GB	2 GB
Flash memory	32/64/128 GB	16 GB	32 GB	32 GB	16/32/64 GB
Memory card support	—	microSD	—	—	—
operating system	Google Android 5.0	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 4.4
Battery	non-removable, 2550 mAh	non-removable, 3100 mAh	non-removable, 2300 mAh	non-removable, 2500 mAh	non-removable, 3100 mAh
Cameras	rear (16 MP; 4K video), front (5 MP)	rear (20.7 MP; 4K video), front (2.2 MP)	rear (13 MP; video 1080p), front (5 MP)	rear (8 MP; video 1080p), front (2.1 MP)	rear (20.7 MP; 4K video), front (2 MP)
Dimensions and weight	143×70×6.8 mm, 138 g	146×72×7.3 mm, 152 g	140×69×7.3 mm, 120 g	145×69×9.0 mm, 145 g	144×75×8.9 mm, 147 g
average price	T-12259333	T-11028534	T-11168521	T-11743876	T-11036319
Samsung Galaxy S6 offers	L-12259333-10

• SoC Exynos 7420 (64-bit), two clusters of four processor cores: ARM Cortex-A57 with a frequency of 2.1 GHz and ARM Cortex-A53 with a frequency of 1.5 GHz
• GPU Mali-T760
• Operating system Android 5.0 Lollipop
• Touch Super AMOLED display, 5.1″, 2560×1440
• Random access memory (RAM) 3 GB LPDDR4
• Inner memory 32, 64 or 128 GB
• No microSD card slot
• Communication GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz
• Communication 3G WCDMA 850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz
• Data transfer speed max 4G LTE Cat6 up to 300 Mbps
• Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5 GHz), point Wi-Fi access
• Bluetooth 4.1, NFC
• IR port, USB OTG
• GPS/A-GPS, Glonass, BDS
• Position, proximity, lighting, barometer, fingerprint sensor, Hall and heart rate sensors
• Camera 16 MP (F1.9), optical stabilization, autofocus, LED flash
• Camera 5 MP (F1.9), front
• Battery 2550 mAh, non-removable
• Wireless charging support
• Dimensions 143×70×6.8 mm
• Weight 138 g

Equipment

The Samsung Galaxy S6 comes in a small box made of thick cardboard with several jumpers inside. A cover made of thinner cardboard is stretched over the top of the box.

The kit consists of a miniature but powerful charger (output current 2 A), a Micro-USB connecting cable, and headphones with a flat wire and rubber ear pads exactly the same shape as Apple EarPods.

Appearance and ease of use

Samsung Galaxy S6 is not too large, even somewhat elegant smartphone. Although, probably, we have simply become accustomed to a five-inch screen size as a standard, this has become the norm, and we no longer consider such sizes for a pocket mobile device something out of the ordinary. Thin profile, strongly rounded corners, light weight - the device fits quite comfortably in a hand of any size and fits into the pocket of any clothing. However, due to the smooth metal frame and glass surfaces, the Galaxy S6 turned out to be quite slippery; you must always be careful with such a device and make sure that it does not slip out of your hands or break on the floor.

The materials are chosen with taste: both panels, front and back, are made of tempered glass Corning Gorilla Glass 4, and the side frame that runs along the entire perimeter of the case is made of metal. Thank God, this time the creators did not paint over the metal, cover it with plastic or hide it in any other way, as happened with the Galaxy A series. The frame itself has a fairly thick profile, a noble matte surface, and of course, it is this that is in the greatest degree gives the appearance of the device seriousness and high cost. Thanks to its pleasant coolness and harsh metallic shine, the smartphone will look good with any most expensive suit and in any most expensive setting. Perhaps if the body were entirely metal, it would not look as catchy and expressive as the current combination of glass and metal. But in any case, we won’t know - after all, if the Koreans had made their S6 entirely out of metal, it would have become a copy of the iPhone 6, and this is unacceptable for obvious reasons.

The assembly does not cause any complaints; Samsung is fine with this. Having abandoned the removable cover, the developers resorted to a common solution for placing cards in the side slots: now here, too, you need to press in a secret button with a paper clip to remove the container with the SIM card. The slide is made of metal, designed for a Nano-SIM card, and another slot - for a memory card - cannot be found here. By the way, experts from the iFixit website gave the smartphone only four points (out of a possible ten) for ease of disassembly and, accordingly, maintainability (the situation with the S6 Edge is even worse: it received three points).

The body of the smartphone is quite thin, the camera module protrudes noticeably from the back wall. In this matter, the new Samsung smartphones turned out to be no better than the notorious Apple iPhone 6/6 Plus, which only the lazy did not wash their bones for this option of placing the camera module. Not far from the lens is a block consisting of a single LED flash and a heart rate sensor.

The front of the smartphone is completely covered protective glass Gorilla Glass 4. To the left of the grille, the speaker can be seen led indicator notifications, its large dot lights up in different colors to indicate charging status and incoming events. Interestingly, the indicator’s operation is regulated in the settings section dedicated to sound.

At the bottom, under the screen, there is the usual oval mechanical key and two touch buttons on either side of it. The touch buttons have a bright white backlight. A fingerprint scanner is again integrated into the central mechanical key, and a few special words should be said about it. Finally, Samsung understood why in previous models they failed to competently implement this most useful tool, which had long been perfectly implemented in the Apple iPhone. In the Galaxy S5, you had to hold the device tightly with one hand and slowly and tediously drag your finger across the scanner with the other, which was annoying. As a result, owners quickly turned off the scanner due to inefficiency, although the convenience of unlocking a smartphone without having to remember digital codes and zigzag passes is great, you just need to present it correctly. Finally, after waiting for some time, the Koreans decided to exactly adopt the idea of ​​​​the scanner originally incorporated into the iPhone. Now in the Galaxy S6, the button reads the fingerprint simultaneously with the press, unlocking the screen. There is no need to swipe your finger, you can hold your hand at any angle, everything is done with one hand and in one click - everything is exactly the same as in the iPhone. Finally, the scanner in Samsung smartphones has become comfortable to use. It’s just a pity that it took the Korean developers so much time.

The process of reading the fingerprint and setting the lock is identical to that of the iPhone: there is no longer any need to drag your finger along the entire button panel many times; point touches are enough. Naturally, you can add several fingers for recognition, and for reliability you will be asked to come up with a code. Recognition occurs clearly, and if you pick up the smartphone correctly, one touch is enough to unlock the screen, which is very convenient.

Mechanical volume and lock keys are located on opposite side faces and are also made of metal. It should be noted that for the first time Samsung has implemented the volume key not as a single two-position rocker, but as two separate buttons (like other well-known phones...). The buttons are small, protrude well beyond the body, the action is springy and responsive, and there are traditionally no complaints about the controls in Samsung devices.

A Micro-USB 2.0 connector and an audio output for headphones with a diameter of 3.5 mm (under a minijack) were installed on one, lower end. Micro-USB connection supported external devices and flash drives in OTG mode.

At the top end, right in the middle, there is a small dark window for an infrared port, which serves, as before, to emulate a remote control for controlling various household appliances, from TVs to stereo systems. The smartphone is already pre-installed with a familiar program called Smart Remote with many ready-made settings for any type of equipment, and you can use the current program guide.

The smartphone is not protected from dust and moisture, and there is no strap mount on the case. But the device is promised support for wireless charging, compatible with WPC 1.1 standards ( output power 4.6 W) and PMA 1.0 (4.2 W).

The Samsung Galaxy S6 is available in several bright body colors, and the developers traditionally gave these colors their own romantic names. In addition to the white (white pearl) and black (black sapphire) color options, the buyer is also offered “dazzling platinum” and “blue topaz”, but the green option (noble emerald) that many people liked will be available only for modification of the Galaxy S6 Edge.

Screen

The Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone is equipped touch screen Super AMOLED, protected by modern Gorilla Glass 4. The physical dimensions of the display are 63x113 mm, diagonal - 5.1 inches. The screen resolution in pixels is 2560x1440 (pixel density 577 ppi), which is more than decent.

The frame around the screen is quite thin: the distance from the edge of the case to the edge of the screen on the sides is about 3 mm, and on the top and bottom - approximately 15 mm. At this point it is worth noting that since the side edges of the case are straight and almost flat, when you wrap your fingers around the screen, they climb onto the screen more than on smartphones with strongly beveled edges, like the same one. As a result, unwanted accidental taps on the screen were recorded.

The display brightness has manual and automatic adjustment, the latter based on the operation of the light sensor. There is also a proximity sensor that blocks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear. Multi-touch technology allows you to process 10 simultaneous touches.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections, Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photograph in which a white surface is reflected when the screens are turned off (on the left is Nexus 7, on the right is Samsung Galaxy S6, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen of the Samsung Galaxy S6 is slightly lighter (brightness according to photographs is 105 versus 101 for the Nexus 7) and does not have a pronounced tint. Note that the reflection from bright objects on the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S6 has a pale bluish halo. The ghosting of reflected objects on the Samsung Galaxy S6 screen is very weak, which indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen. Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass-air type) with very different refractive indices, screens without an air gap look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. On the outer surface of the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S6 there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (very effective, noticeably better than that of the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much easier and appear at a lower speed than in the case of regular glass.

When the white field was displayed in full screen and with manual brightness control, its maximum value was 355 cd/m², the minimum was 1.9 cd/m². You also need to take into account the fact that in this case, the smaller the white area on the screen, the brighter it is, that is, the actual maximum brightness of the white areas will almost always be higher than the specified value. As a result, readability during the day in the sun should be at a fairly good level (there was no opportunity to test it). The reduced brightness level allows you to use the device even in complete darkness without any problems. Automatic brightness adjustment works based on the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker slot). You can make adjustments to the operation of this function by moving the settings slider. Below, for three conditions, we present the screen brightness values ​​for three values ​​of this setting - for 0%, 50% and 100%. In complete darkness in automatic mode, the brightness is reduced to 1.9, 8.5 and 18 cd/m², respectively (the first is too dark, the rest are normal), in an office illuminated by artificial light (approximately 400 lux) the brightness is set to 65, 140 and 210 cd/m² (a little dark - just right - just right, which corresponds to the given correction), in a brightly lit environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) - increases to 355 cd/m² regardless of the position of the slider. This value is equal to the maximum for manual adjustment. In general, the result of the automatic brightness adjustment function is as expected. At any brightness level there is significant modulation with a frequency of 237 Hz. The figure below shows brightness (vertical axis) versus time (horizontal axis) for several brightness settings:

It can be seen that at maximum and close to it brightness, the modulation amplitude is not very large, and as a result, there is no visible flicker. However, as the brightness decreases (somewhere below 75%), modulation appears with a large relative amplitude. Therefore, the presence of such modulation can already be seen in a test for the presence of a stroboscopic effect or simply with rapid eye movement. Depending on individual sensitivity, this flickering may cause increased fatigue.

This screen uses a Super AMOLED matrix - an active matrix on organic light-emitting diodes. A full-color image is created using subpixels of three colors - red (R), green (G) and blue (B), but there are twice as many green subpixels, which can be referred to as RGBG. This is confirmed by a fragment of a microphotograph:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

In the fragment above you can count 4 green subpixels, 2 red (4 halves) and 2 blue (1 whole and 4 quarters), and by repeating these fragments, you can lay out the entire screen without breaks or overlap. For such matrices, Samsung introduced the name PenTile RGBG. The manufacturer calculates the screen resolution based on the green subpixels; based on the other two, it will be two times lower. The location and shape of the subpixels in this version is close to the case of the screen of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and some other newer devices from Samsung and not only with AMOLED screens. This version of PenTile RGBG is better than the old one with red squares, blue rectangles and stripes of green subpixels. However, some unevenness of contrast borders and other artifacts are still present. However, due to the very high resolution, they have a minimal impact on image quality.

The screen is characterized by excellent viewing angles, although the white color, when deviated even at small angles, alternately acquires a light blue-green and pinkish tint, but the black color is simply black at any angle. So black that the contrast setting is not applicable in this case. When viewed from a perpendicular view, the uniformity of the white field is excellent, but if you look closely, you can notice a slight unevenness of color tone at the level of groups of pixels. For comparison, here are photos in which the screens of the Samsung Galaxy S6 (profile Movie AMOLED) and the second comparison participant, identical images were displayed, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to approximately 200 cd/m², and the color balance on the camera was forced to switch to 6500 K. White field:

Note the excellent uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And a test picture (profile Basic):

Color rendition is good, the colors are moderately saturated, the color balance of the screens varies slightly. The photo above was taken after selecting a profile Basic in the screen settings, there are four of them:

Profile Adaptive display differs in some kind of automatic adjustment to the type of displayed image and environmental conditions, which is obtained by selecting the two remaining profiles shown below.

Movie AMOLED:

Saturation and color contrast are noticeably increased.

Photo AMOLED:

Saturation is still high, but color contrast is closer to normal. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen (profile Movie AMOLED). White field:

The brightness at an angle for both screens has noticeably decreased (to avoid strong darkening, the shutter speed has been increased compared to previous photographs), but in the case of Samsung the drop in brightness is much less pronounced. As a result, with formally the same brightness samsung screen The Galaxy S6 looks much brighter visually (compared to LCD screens), since the screen of a mobile device often has to be viewed from at least a slight angle. And a test picture:

It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens and the brightness of the Samsung at an angle is noticeably higher. Switching the state of the matrix elements is performed almost instantly, but at the switching edge there may be a step with a width of approximately 17 ms (which corresponds to a screen refresh rate of 59 Hz). For example, this is what the dependence of brightness on time looks like when moving from black to white and back:

In some conditions, the presence of such a step can lead to plumes trailing behind moving objects. However, dynamic scenes in films on OLED screens are distinguished by high clarity and even some “jerky” movements.

For profiles Photo AMOLED And Basic constructed using 32 points with equal intervals according to the numerical value of the shade of gray, the gamma curve did not reveal any blockage in either highlights or shadows, and the index of the approximating power function is equal to 2.22, which is not significantly higher than the standard value of 2.2, while the real gamma -the curve deviates little from the power-law dependence (the captions in parentheses show the exponent of the approximating power-law function and the coefficient of determination):

For profile Movie AMOLED The gamma curve has a slightly pronounced S-shape, which increases the apparent contrast of the image, but shades are still distinguishable in the shadows.

Let us recall that in the case of OLED screens, the brightness of image fragments dynamically changes in accordance with the nature of the displayed image - it decreases for generally light images. As a result, the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) most likely slightly does not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential display of shades of gray on almost the entire screen.

Color gamut in the case of a profile Movie AMOLED very wide, it almost covers the Adobe RGB gamut:

When selecting a profile Photo AMOLED The coverage decreases slightly:

When selecting a profile Basic coverage is compressed exactly to the sRGB boundaries:

Without correction, the spectra of the components are very well separated:

In case of profile Basic with maximum correction, the color components are already noticeably mixed with each other:

Note that on screens with a wide color gamut, without appropriate correction, the colors of regular images optimized for sRGB devices appear unnaturally saturated. Hence the recommendation - in most cases, watching movies, photographs and everything natural is better when choosing a profile Basic, and only if the photo was taken on Adobe installation RGB, it makes sense to switch the profile to Photo AMOLED. Profile Movie AMOLED, despite the name, is the least suitable for watching movies or anything else.

The grayscale balance is good. Color temperature in profile Movie AMOLED above 6500 K, in the remaining two - close to 6500 K, while in a significant area of ​​the gray scale this parameter does not change very much, which improves the visual perception of color balance. The deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) over most of the gray scale remains below 10 units, which is considered a good indicator for a consumer device, but the fluctuations of this parameter are already large:

(The darkest areas of the gray scale can in most cases be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

Let's summarize. The screen has a fairly high maximum brightness and has good anti-glare properties, so the device can most likely be used outdoors even on a sunny summer day without any problems. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. It is permissible to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works quite adequately. The advantages of the screen include a very good oleophobic coating, as well as a color gamut close to sRGB and an acceptable color balance (if you select the appropriate profiles). At the same time, let us remind you about the general advantages of OLED screens: true black color (if nothing is reflected in the screen), excellent uniformity of the white field, noticeably less than that of LCDs, and a drop in image brightness when viewed at an angle. Disadvantages include modulation of screen brightness. For users who are particularly sensitive to flicker, this may cause increased fatigue. However, overall the screen quality is very high.

Sound

The sound of the Samsung Galaxy S6 is very decent. The smartphone produces a fairly loud sound, saturated with the entire spectrum of frequencies, including low frequencies. The smartphone sounds really nice, at the maximum volume level the sound is not distorted, does not wheeze, there are no complaints at all. The speaker grille is located at the bottom end, so the sound is not blocked when the smartphone is lying on a hard surface. In conversational dynamics, the voice of a familiar interlocutor, timbre and intonation remain recognizable, the conversation is quite comfortable.

With headphones, the smartphone also sounds at the level of modern flagships; to play melodies, a proprietary player with a maximum number of settings is used as standard. All sound effects are combined with a technology called SoundAlive - although some of them are only available with connected headphones. The same applies to the sound optimization function. For manual settings, an equalizer with preset values ​​is available, as well as separate controls for bass and treble.

Traditionally, there is no FM radio included in the standard configuration of a smartphone, but there is a voice recorder. For a voice recorder in addition to standard mode There are also specific “interviews” and “voice notes” - all this is already familiar to us from previous models in the series. Telephone conversations The smartphone cannot record from the line.

Camera

Samsung Galaxy S6 is equipped with two digital camera modules with a resolution of 16 and 5 megapixels. The front camera here is equipped with a 5-megapixel module with an f/1.9 aperture; it shoots video at a maximum QHD resolution (2560×1440). For popular selfie-style fun, there's a group selfie mode, and it's even possible to virtually shoot a specific subject to create a multi-directional view of the subject - in this case, most likely your own head. You can take pictures with the front camera without touching the screen, using an open palm gesture or a voice command. It is also possible to take your own self-portrait by touching your finger to the heart rate sensor located on the back of the smartphone.

The main 16-megapixel camera has an f/1.9 aperture, tracking autofocus, optical stabilization (OIS) and an LED flash that works as a flashlight if necessary. You can quickly launch the camera by double-clicking the central hardware button under the screen.

The settings menu has been completely redesigned, now there is no matrix of interactive square cells, there is one button for selecting shooting modes, and the rest of the settings are combined into a long scroll that opens as needed. In addition to the usual automatic mode and manual modes, you can also select panoramic, selective focus mode and the same so-called virtual shooting mode to create a multi-directional view of subjects. By the way, specific modes of fast and slow video recording have also been removed here, so you can’t find them in the settings of the camera itself (the resolution is only set there).

The video camera of the Samsung Galaxy S6 can shoot in any of the latest resolutions up to 4K (UHD). As always, the option of shooting at 60 fps, with a resolution of 1920x1080 (Full HD), is very interesting. The camera copes perfectly with any options; there are no complaints about the quality of the resulting video image. The quality of video recording can be judged by test videos.

• Video No. 1 (30 MB, 1920×1080 @60 fps)
• Video No. 2 (43 MB, 3840×2160 @30 fps)
• Video No. 3 (26 MB, 2560×1440 @30 fps)

	Good sharpness across the frame, but it drops off a little towards the edges.
	Even in the shadows the sharpness is good.
	Excellent sharpness in distant shots.
	The color of the sky and building is quite even. Light noise can be seen at the edges of the frame.
	The camera does a good job of capturing details in the shadows.
	Sharping on the wires is practically absent.
	The tree branches are well crafted.
	The license plates of all cars in the frame are clearly visible.
	And on a fairly dark frame, good sharpness and noise reduction work are visible.
	In room lighting and with flash, the text is rendered well.
	The camera does just as well without a flash.
	The camera does well in macro photography in room lighting.

We also tested the camera on a laboratory bench using our method.

When evaluating a flagship camera, you can’t help but compare it with the others. And as soon as I started taking pictures with it, I already want to say that this particular camera should now be considered the best. Of course, there will definitely be a fly in the ointment, but the camera is truly amazing. To want even more from a smartphone camera, you need to have a good imagination or no idea at all about photography. It's hard to find fault even with little things. The shadows are not noisy, the details are well worked out, there are small defects, but this is not a DSLR camera or even a compact one - it is a smartphone. You can look for a long time for the lack of “soul” or “pleasantness” in the photographs, but objectively there is nothing to complain about.

Now about the fly in the ointment. All images have an out-of-focus area on the right. Most likely, this is not a problem with the camera module used, but specifically with our copy, but doubt has been sown. Having such a defect, of course, is unworthy of a flagship. The camera is really good, perhaps the best, but the problem is still significant. In general, at least check the camera when purchasing.

In the laboratory Samsung test The Galaxy S6 confidently outperforms its main competitor, the iPhone 6. And if in the center of the frame their results differ slightly, then at the edge the Galaxy S6 produces a very decent result. Moreover, in terms of this result, it is quite seriously superior (and slightly -). In the center of the frame, all the latest Samsung flagships perform approximately the same, but the dependence of resolution on lighting on the Galaxy S6 is the most “smooth and beautiful”.

If we forget about the blur zone on the right side of the frame, which we are ready to attribute to a defective sample, the camera can be called excellent. It is well suited for documentary and artistic photography.

Among the new “chips” in the camera is a mode for shooting two frames with a focus on the distant and near plans, with the ability to subsequently switch between them. We recently saw a similar one in Xiaomi Mi Note.

There is also a mode for shooting a 3D image that can be “rotated”. It is created by moving a smartphone around an object. Again, we recently saw a similar one in Jiayu S3.

Both modes are very questionable in practical terms, so they can only claim to be a fun “trick”.

Telephone and communications

The smartphone works as standard in modern networks 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA, and there is also support for fourth generation LTE Cat6 networks with a maximum possible speed of up to 300 Mbit/s for reception. In practice, with a SIM card from the domestic operator MTS, the smartphone confidently recognizes and works with 4G networks.

The rest of the network capabilities of the smartphone are also excellent: there is support for NFC technology, Bluetooth 4.1 supports A2DP, LE, apt-X, ANT+ profiles. Wi-Fi module 802.11n/ac, HT80 MIMO (2×2) (up to 620 Mbit/s) supports operation in both frequency bands (2.4 and 5 GHz) and Wi-Fi Direct technology, you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels. It is possible to connect external devices to the USB port in OTG mode.

The navigation module works with both GPS and the domestic Glonass system, and also sees satellites of the Chinese Beidou (BDS). There are no complaints about the navigation module; a cold start occurs within a minute or less. The device is also equipped with a magnetic field sensor, on the basis of which the magnetic compass of navigation programs operates.

There were no spontaneous reboots/shutdowns observed during testing, but surprises did occur. So, after another reboot in normal mode, the device’s screen suddenly stopped responding to any touches - only the mechanical hardware buttons of the smartphone worked. It was possible to get out of the situation only through a forced reboot by long-pressing the power and volume down buttons, otherwise it was impossible to use the device.

The layout and location of the keys are standard for Samsung smartphones: switching languages ​​is not done by pressing a special button with a globe image, but by a horizontal longitudinal gesture along the space bar - not the most convenient option. The standard layout has a dedicated top row with numbers. For Swype fans, there is a continuous typing method using a stroke from letter to letter. The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing a phone number, a search is immediately carried out by the first letters in contacts.

OS and software

Samsung Galaxy S6 immediately runs on the latest, fifth version of Android OS, but its own interface in the Material Design style cannot be seen here; it has been completely replaced by the traditional design installed on top branded shell TouchWiz. A new version TouchWiz has undergone minor changes, but overall everything remains familiar from previous smartphones from this manufacturer. The only thing that was adopted from the most noticeable innovations of the fifth version of the Android OS is the interactive notification panels that pop up on top of running applications, conveniently swiped to the side with a side gesture.

Work with gestures is supported, but their number is reduced to a comfortable and logical minimum. The energy-saving modes, privacy mode, the ability to work in two windows simultaneously, and the Briefing news panel, called by a side swipe on the left - an analogue of HTC Blinkfeed - remain in place. The side panel of virtual buttons has been removed; there is no way to reduce the working area of ​​the screen for control with the fingers of one hand. The new feature of Android 5.0, the ability to enable guest mode, has been removed here and replaced with a proprietary private mode. The notification panel also has nothing in common with the proprietary Android 5.0 panel; everything here remains the same: the panel does not fold out in two stages, the list of quick access icons scrolls with a horizontal swipe, and proprietary buttons for quick connection to other devices and S Finder.

The heart rate sensor, located on the back side next to the camera, is controlled by the same proprietary program for global monitoring of one’s own health called S Health. Infrared port serviced special program remote control emulation called Smart Remote. In general, there are not so many additional programs installed, most of them are useful, but I was surprised by the pre-installed block of branded ones Microsoft programs(OneDrive, OneNote, Skype).

Performance

The hardware platform of the Samsung Galaxy S6 is based on the most powerful single-chip system (SoC) of Samsung's own production Exynos 7420, produced according to the standards of the 14-nanometer technological process. The configuration of this single-chip system includes two clusters of four cores: ARM Cortex-A57 with a frequency of 2.1 GHz and ARM Cortex-A53 with a frequency of 1.5 GHz. The powerful Mali T760 video accelerator is used as the GPU. The device has as much as 3 GB of RAM (LPDDR4). Internal memory is implemented on drives that meet the UFS 2.0 specification. Flash memory capacity is 32, 64 or 128 GB without the possibility of expansion through memory cards. In the case of a model with a minimum volume, about 25 GB of the nominally designated 32 GB is initially available to the user. In addition, the device supports the mode of connecting external devices to the USB port (USB Host, USB OTG) - an external flash drive can be connected via an OTG adapter.

According to the testing results, the Samsung Galaxy S6 hardware platform demonstrated extremely high results, displacing all previous record holders without exception from the podium, including the Meizu MX4 and Samsung Galaxy Note 4, which held first place in the AnTuTu test for quite a long time.

As a result, Samsung has given the world another record holder in terms of power - a reference smartphone that people will look up to, try to catch up with, and match throughout the entire season. The device is extremely productive, the capabilities built into it will be enough for a long time to complete any assigned tasks, including the most demanding games.

Testing in the latest versions of comprehensive tests AnTuTu and GeekBench 3:

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in gaming tests 3DMark, GFXBenchmark, and Bonsai Benchmark:

When testing in 3DMark, the most powerful smartphones now have the ability to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

	Samsung Galaxy S6 (Exynos 7420)	Sony Xperia Z3 (Snapdragon 801)	Yotaphone 2 (Snapdragon 800)	Lenovo Vibe X2 (Mediatek MT6595m)	Meizu MX4 (Mediatek MT6595)
3DMark Ice Storm Extreme (more is better)	Maxed out!	Maxed out!	9852	8566	Maxed out!
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited (more is better)	21204	18496	14780	14067	16691
GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Onscreen)	30 fps	29.4 fps	23 fps	17.0 fps	21.7 fps
GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Offscreen)	46 fps	27.8 fps	22 fps	17.8 fps	23.2 fps
Bonsai Benchmark	4185 (60 fps)	3820 (54 fps)	3362 (48 fps)	3549 (51 fps)	4033 (58 fps)

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always. For Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

Playing video

To test the omnivorous nature of video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Internet. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a single table.

According to the testing results, the subject was not equipped with all the necessary decoders that are needed to fully play most of the most common multimedia files on the network. To successfully play them, you will have to resort to the help of a third-party player - for example, MX Player. True, it is also necessary to change the settings and manually install additional custom codecs, because now this player does not officially support the AC3 sound format.

Format	Container, video, sound	MX Video Player	Standard video player
DVDRip	AVI, XviD 720×400 2200 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL SD	AVI, XviD 720×400 1400 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL HD	MKV, H.264 1280×720 3000 Kbps, AC3		The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280×720 4000 Kbps, AC3	The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹	The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920×1080 8000 Kbps, AC3	The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹	The video plays fine, but there is no sound¹

¹ sound in MX Video Player was played only after installing an alternative custom audio codec; The standard player does not have this setting

Tested video output features Alexey Kudryavtsev.

MHL interface, like Mobility DisplayPort we are in this smartphone We didn’t find it, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Methodology for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices) 720/24p

Fine No

Note: If in both columns Uniformity And Passes Green ratings are given, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and frame skipping will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with playback of the corresponding files.

According to the frame output criterion, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the device itself is good, since frames (or groups of frames) can be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping frames (with the exception of files with 60 fps - one frame is always skipped due to for a screen refresh rate of 59 Hz). When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the wide border of the screen. The clarity of the picture is high, but not ideal, since there is no escape from interpolation to the screen resolution. However, for the sake of experimentation, you can switch to the one-to-one mode by pixel; there will be no interpolation, but the features of PenTile will appear - the vertical world through the pixel will be in a grid, and the horizontal one will be slightly greenish. This is on test worlds; the described artifacts are not present on real frames. The brightness range displayed on the screen actually corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - in the shadows only a couple of shades merge with black, but in the highlights all gradations of shades are displayed.

Battery life

The capacity of the built-in non-removable battery installed in the Samsung Galaxy S6 is far from a record by modern standards - only 2550 mAh. However, even despite the most powerful platform and a fairly large five-inch screen, the smartphone performed well in terms of battery life, showing excellent autonomy in most standard use scenarios. It should be noted that to save energy, the device settings traditionally contain two proprietary energy saving modes: normal and extreme. The maximum energy saving mode significantly reduces energy consumption by turning off non-essential functions and preserving vital functions at the moment, and also, for visual effect, turning the image on the screen into black and white.

	Battery capacity	Reading mode	Video mode	3D Game Mode
Samsung Galaxy S6	2550 mAh	20:00	12:00 pm	4:00 am
Samsung Galaxy A7	2600 mAh	22:10	12:00 pm	3 hours 20 minutes
Samsung Note 4	3220 mAh	10:30 a.m.	8:30 a.m.	3 hours 50 minutes
Yotaphone 2	2500 mAh	12:00 pm	9:30 a.m.	3 hours 15 minutes
Lenovo Vibe X2	2300 mAh	13:00	6:00 am	3 hours 15 minutes
Meizu MX4	3100 mAh	12:00 pm	8 hours 40 minutes	3 hours 45 minutes
Meizu MX4 Pro	3350 mAh	16:00	8 hours 40 minutes	3 hours 30 minutes
Sony Xperia Z3	3100 mAh	20:00	10:00 am	4 hours 50 minutes
HTC One M8	2600 mAh	22:10	13:20	3 hours 20 minutes
Samsung Galaxy S5	2800 mAh	17:20	12:30 pm	4 hours 30 minutes

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) lasted about 20 hours until the battery was completely discharged. When continuously watching videos in high quality (720p) with the same brightness level through the home Wi-Fi network the device lasted 12 hours. The device worked for 4 hours in 3D gaming mode. The smartphone supports fast charging technology, so the device charges very quickly. Full charging time is only about 1.5 hours, and according to the developers, just 10 minutes of charging allows you to charge your smartphone for subsequent four-hour use.

Bottom line

With the release of its next flagship, Samsung did not make a noticeable breakthrough or technological revolution, but it gave the market such a polished and polished product that there is simply nothing to complain about this time. The smartphone seems to strive to please everyone with its thoughtful practicality. Not a single unnecessary detail, everything unnecessary has been removed, combed and trimmed, literally every item on the wish list of the average user has been ticked. The dimensions are neither large nor small, they are comfortable, as is the weight of the device. The quality of the selected materials and assembly are not satisfactory; the metal surfaces finally appear in all their glory, not painted over or hidden. All technical characteristics are to the maximum, sensors are any to choose from. A fingerprint scanner, an infrared port, a heart rate sensor, wireless charging - all additional flagship super features are available. The only thing that comes to mind is the lack of water protection, but recently the user excitement around the need for such functionality began to fade, and the Koreans immediately crossed it out. The smartphone is almost ideal, but it is now not available to everyone. The price for the new Samsung flagship is set at such a price that it makes even hardened gadget lovers turn pale. Not everyone can afford a new smartphone for 50 thousand rubles, but Samsung is on trend here too: all top echelon players, without exception, are gradually but confidently, through joint efforts, raising this bar higher and higher. So we will be surprised more than once in the new season, but for now all we can do is admire these new products, while getting used to the new prices.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone is thin and compact for its decent-sized 5.1-inch diagonal. The dimensions of the device are 14.3 × 7.1 × 0.68 cm (in some places the thickness reaches 0.7 cm). It fits comfortably in one hand, is slightly thicker than the iPhone 6 (+0.01 cm) and is about the same thickness as the Samsung Galaxy Alpha. Weight - 139 grams, which is comparable to the 5-inch Huawei Honor 6. The ratio of display area to body surface area is 70.7%. The materials of the body of the main Korean flagship are noteworthy - now it is made of metal and glass. The company has finally decided to go plastic-free after so many years of use. Samsung has already rolled out the metal on the Note 4 phablet, a designer Galaxy Alpha and several mid-priced models such as the Galaxy A3. And so, they used it in their main smartphone - the Galaxy S6. The use of metal makes it look a little like the iPhone 6. In this regard, the lower edge of the new product is also striking: it is almost identical to an Apple smartphone. It's not clear why, but back panel They also decided to cover the Samsung Galaxy S6 with glass (which is reminiscent of the iPhone 4). As a result, the smartphone sometimes slides off inclined surfaces, actively collects fingerprints and produces a lot of glare. Another disadvantage is the lack of protection for the smartphone from water and dust, since its predecessor had it. Apparently, they decided to leave it as a “feature” for another model – the Samsung Galaxy S6 Active. As for the build quality, it is excellent, at a premium level. During the tests, the smartphone did not lose its presentation, except that the glass on the back was constantly stained with fingerprints. The transition from plastic to metal, as a rule, also means a non-separable case: you won’t be able to remove the cover or battery.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone can be purchased in several colors. Moreover, the manufacturer clearly tried to come up with special names for the colors: “dazzling platinum”, “black sapphire”, “white pearl” and “noble emerald”.

Screen - 4.8

The display of the Samsung Galaxy S6 is one of the best on the market. In pursuit of high resolution, the smartphone was equipped with a Quad HD screen (2560x1440 pixels). With a diagonal of 5.1 inches, one of the highest pixel density figures is obtained - 577 per inch. Why such crazy super-clarity was needed is unclear; in our opinion, Full HD would already be enough for the eyes. The screen is protected by glass, this year it is Gorilla Glass 4, and it is protected from fingerprints by an oleophobic coating. As always, Samsung uses a Super AMOLED display in the Galaxy S line. It saves battery power, provides maximum viewing angles and natural black color. Compared to its predecessor Galaxy S5, the new product received not only increased resolution. The maximum brightness measured by the colorimeter turned out to be higher - up to 400 cd/m2, and the minimum was almost a record - only 2 cd/m2, which is not much even for reading in complete darkness. The screen also looks great outdoors on a sunny day. The user can select several display modes: “main”, “adaptive”, “movie AMOLED” and “photo AMOLED”. In our opinion, the “main” mode is optimal for most cases, with excellent color rendition and color gamut. In the display settings you will not find a separate mode for working with gloves; the manufacturer claims that it is already very sensitive. At the same time, we were able to work with the screen only while wearing thin fabric gloves.

Cameras - 4.7

The smartphone has an excellent, truly flagship 16 MP camera. It is almost the same as the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 with a 1/2.6″ sensor (like the LG G4, but larger than the iPhone 6 with its 1/3). The aperture has undergone changes - it has been increased from f/2.2 to f/1.9 so that more light falls on it (the LG G4 has a slightly better aperture - f/1.8). As befits a flagship, there is a flash, an optical stabilization system and automatic HDR. The front camera is not forgotten; it can take 5 megapixel wide-angle selfies.

The maximum photo resolution of the Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone is 5312×2988 pixels. As always, you can find many modes in the settings, and if something is missing, download the missing one. In the "Pro" mode, there are opportunities to manual setting parameters: from focus with ISO to white balance. In auto mode, the smartphone camera takes excellent pictures - in some cases, the pictures are indistinguishable from entry-level professional cameras. Auto HDR works very clearly and makes any frame uniform - no highlights, no dark areas. An attempt to deceive him and force him to set the exposure to the darkest or lightest point of the frame was never crowned with success. The camera focuses quickly, but is slower than the laser-focusing LG G4. Colors are generally natural. But sometimes the smartphone camera has problems with the green color, making it oversaturated. For example, it sometimes greens up faded grass if fresh grass grows mixed with it.

The smartphone's 5 MP front camera takes good wide-angle selfies. Among the unusual “tricks”: panoramic (group) selfie, HDR, face embellishment and virtual head shooting from all sides. The last mode is original, but it is almost impossible to use: rotating the camera around your head while holding the device at the same height and at the same angle is problematic.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 camera can shoot high-resolution video with stereo sound and tracking autofocus:

• UHD video, 3840x2160 pixels at 30 frames per second
• QHD video, 2560×1440 pixels, 30 frames per second
• Full HD video, 1920x1080 pixels, 30 or 60 frames per second
• HD video, 1280x720 pixels, 120 frames per second

Photos from camera Samsung Galaxy S6 - 4.7

Photos from the front camera of Samsung Galaxy S6 - 4.7

Working with text - 4.0

The Samsung Galaxy S6 comes pre-installed with a convenient proprietary keyboard.

It provides text input using strokes (Swype) and a separate row of numbers. To enter most additional characters, including commas, you need to call up an additional menu. If desired, on your smartphone you can adjust the height of the keyboard or select the “old” 3x4 keyboard.

Internet - 3.0

The browsers in the Samsung Galaxy S6 are convenient and well suited for working with several open tabs. Thus, the smartphone does not slow down when working with ten tabs at the same time. Initially, Google Chrome and the Internet browser are preinstalled on it. The first has the ability to synchronize tabs and history with the desktop version. There are few interesting settings on the Internet, except that saving pages is available. Auto-fit text or reading mode is not provided.

Communications - 5.0

In this plan Galaxy smartphone The S6 was equipped with almost everything that is on the market today:

• infrared port
• NFC chip
• Bluetooth 4.1 with A2DP support and low energy consumption
• high-speed, dual-band Wi-Fi (a/b/g/n/ac)
• LTE cat. 6 (up to 300 Mb/sec)

Only FM radio remains forgotten; it is gone. Apparently, it was considered unpopular and irrelevant for users.

The smartphone works with Nano-SIM cards (slot for only one card), the connectors include a Mini-jack for headphones and Micro-USB 2.0. The latter supports USB-Host and On-the-Go for connecting peripheral devices.

Multimedia - 4.6

Samsung always pays a lot of attention to supporting various codecs, and the Galaxy S6 is no exception. The smartphone is almost omnivorous and plays most video and audio formats, with rare exceptions. These were the AC-3 and DT-S (audio) formats, as well as MPG and RMVB (video) - they were not played.

Built-in music player equipped with an equalizer with settings for different frequencies, sound effects and playback speed. The video player shows subtitles and can play sound without images. It is also equipped with a simple editor - trimming, adding effects and adjusting sound volume.

Format	Audio	Video	Result				Format	Audio	Video	Result
3gp (1080p)	aac	avc	Fine				mkv (2K)	aac	hevc	Fine
avi (1080p)	mp3	avc	Fine				mkv (4K)	ac-3	avc	Soundless
avi (1080p)	mp3	mpeg-4	Fine				mkv (4K)	aac	hevc	Fine
avi (1080p)	ac-3	avc	Soundless				mov (1080p)	aac	avc	Soundless
flv (1080p)	mp3	sorenson	Fine				mp4 (1080p)	aac	avc	Fine
mkv (1080p)	mp3	avc	Fine				mp4 (1080p)	aac	mpeg-4	Fine
mkv (1080p)	flac	avc	Fine				mp4 (1080p)	he-aac	mpeg-4	Fine
mkv (1080p)	aac (main)	avc	Fine				mp4 (1080p)	mp3	avc	Fine
mkv (1080p)	ac-3	avc	Soundless				mpg (1080p)	mpeg-1 layer II	mpeg-2	Doesn't lose
mkv (1080p)	dts	avc	Soundless				rmvb (1080p)	cooker	realVideo 4	Doesn't lose
mkv (1080p)	ac-3	mpeg-4	Soundless				ts (1080p)	ac-3	avc	Soundless
mkv (1080p)	aac	hevc	Fine				webm (1080p)	vorbis	vp8	Fine
mkv (2K)	ac-3	avc	Soundless				wmv (1080p)	wmav2	wmv3	Fine
wmv (1080p)	wmav2	wmv2	Fine

Battery - 3.7

The battery life of the Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone is decent for a top-end model, although it is slightly inferior to the results of its predecessor. It is curious that the battery capacity has decreased: 2550 mAh versus 2800 mAh for the Galaxy S5, but the difference in practice is almost unnoticeable.

In our tests, the smartphone played HD video at maximum brightness for 9.5 hours, this is a good indicator (the manufacturer claims 13 hours, but we are most likely talking about average brightness). Last year's Galaxy S5 lasted up to 10 hours, but the iPhone 6 didn't even last for 7. In audio player mode, we discharged the Galaxy S6 in 72 hours, the result is better than average (Samsung promises even less - 50 hours). After an hour of running the GeekBench Battery Test, the battery lost 15% of its charge.

The autonomy of the smartphone can be highly assessed. For example, another Korean flagship, LG G4, discharges one and a half times faster. The Galaxy S6 lasted us about a day and a half, which means you'll still need to charge it every day, like most other phones.

The smartphone supports fast charging, it does not take much time - literally an hour and a half and a 2A charger fully charges the device. The phone also supports wireless charging (which is not included). To save energy, a mode of the same name is provided (lower brightness, limiting performance, frame rate, and so on). There is also the opportunity to save “extremely” by turning your smartphone into a “dialer” with a black and white screen.

Performance - 4.3

IN Samsung smartphone Galaxy S6 uses its own Exynos 7420 chipset, which, perhaps, can be called the most powerful today. Technical process - 14 nm, 4 Cortex A-53 cores (operating at 1.5 GHz) and 4 Cortex A-57 cores (up to 2.1 GHz). RAM capacity - 3 GB, memory type - LDPPR4 (bandwidth up to 3.2 GB/sec). The Mali-T760MP8 accelerator is responsible for the graphics, the same as on the Galaxy Note 4, but with an increased operating frequency. The smartphone works quickly and easily, solves all “mobile” tasks, including heavy games. The new hardware has broken through the ceilings of modern performance benchmarks:

• in GeekBench 3 - 4,413 points (Galaxy S5 received 2836)
• in AnTuTu 5.1 - 69,469 (Galaxy Note 4 and Meizu MX 4 - 50 thousand each)
• in 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited - up to 24,000 (Zenfone 5 ZE551ML - up to 20 thousand)

It would seem that everything is fine: Samsung specifications The Galaxy S6 is at the top, but the typical Android freezes haven't gone away. During the tests, every 1-2 days the smartphone froze every now and then: either in the settings menu or when switching between applications. In addition, it was previously reported that the Galaxy S6 closes applications in the background. The smartphone has difficulties using RAM. If you end all active processes, turn off and turn on the device, then only one gigabyte out of three is still free. It’s no wonder that if you open a dozen pages in your browser (200-500 MB), launch a couple of games (100-400 MB each, depending on the game), there will be no more space left. The smartphone will unload from memory what seems unnecessary to it, and the next time it is accessed, it will load the application in a new way.

We also decided to check whether the Galaxy S6 overheats if you play heavy games on it. So, in 40 minutes of racing in Asphalt 8, his back warmed up to only 35 degrees. The temperature seemed insufficient to us, so we added another half hour of NOVA 3 and browsing with 10 tabs. As a result, the smartphone warmed up to 40.5 degrees near the lens, which is not very comfortable, but not critical.

Memory - 5.0

The amount of internal memory in the Samsung Galaxy S6 smartphone can be GB, GB or 128 GB. In the 32 GB modification, only 25.3 GB is available to the user. There is no slot for a memory card - for many this will be a minus. We believe that the 128 GB version already has enough memory. The card, although it will be cheaper, will be less reliable, and the data exchange speed will be lower.

Peculiarities

The smartphone runs Android 5.1 with the proprietary TouchWiz interface. The model features a metal and glass body, a fingerprint scanner, a high-resolution AMOLED display, fast charging mode and an infrared port. The Samsung Galaxy S6 can also measure heart rate and even blood oxygen levels. To do this, you need to turn on the S Health application and place your finger on the sensor near the camera lens. Unexpectedly, holding your finger this way is not very comfortable, and the measurements take quite a long time.

A number of proprietary applications have been added to the smartphone shell, from a browser with a dialer to players. At the same time, Samsung did not fill the Galaxy S6 with a huge amount of pre-installed software. But as a gift, the phone comes with a large list of applications (and subscriptions) that can be downloaded and received for free. The smartphone initially has a number of branded applications, such as its own application store, Smart manager, S-voice for voice control and so on. But the abundance of settings is still a little confusing; at first it is not clear what is where. Searching for settings helps a little with this.