Gadgetory

a design refresh and a supposed return to fundamentals makes up what might be a surprisingly great device in the Galaxy S line its josh'll freghar from android authority what's going on everybody and this is the Samsung Galaxy s6 the latest in the Galaxy S line has quite a few issues to address and it all starts in design ok let's get it out of the way before we move on yes there are some obvious design influences here but there is just enough in the galaxy s6 to reassure the user that it is still a Samsung device through and through Samsung learned from the Galaxy Note 4 and the Alpha phones after its that a metal construction is definitely the way to go they'll do dual glass panels still feel quite like the departure from what we expect it to be a pretty plastic device in previous iterations the metal rim has a subtle taper to its edges influenced by the frame of the galaxy note 4 and the various colors of this phone benefit from a translucent that gives the colors a bit more character than just being plainly on the device Samsung's iconic button layout returns as well bringing the tactile home button up front flanked by the recent apps and back capacitive keys and the fingerprint scanner and the power button is now a pressed version rather than the swipe additions from before the charging port and the headphone jack on the bottom together now with the speaker grille that has been brought away from the back this time move around to the back and you'll notice that there is nothing to remove all you really get is a camera optic package that protrudes out quite a bit which might not be great for people who slide their phones on tables for example but no there is definitely no removable backing as this unibody design also makes expandable storage and replaceable batteries no longer an option what is most striking about the phone's design is noticed once you get it into your hand the 5.1 inch display keeps the phone from being too big but a very noticeable thinness and lightness greatly helps as well what results is one of the most comfortable fueling experiences in a galaxy s flagship since perhaps the s3 or the s4 the metallic frame is of course a very welcome change that shows how Samsung is looking to improve their design for many users this might be the first great looking Samsung device since they're older pebble design was first introduced in the s3 and I'm inclined to agree as the design choices in the s6 are not only striking but organ amelie sound in a way that has come as a bit of a surprise the 5.1 inch screen on the galaxy s6 is a very powerful one at this size we are now getting a quad HD Super AMOLED display that rocks 577 pixels per inch all that pixel density is sure to make meeting quite great backed by the highly colorful AMOLED display that we've come to expect from Samsung handling the screen is still the highlight here as the minimalistic body of the s6 helps alleviate hand gymnastics on the already pretty accessible 5.1 inch panel thus far we're happy with what we see in the galaxy s6 display but the benefits of the quad HD resolution on a display that is less than even six inches is still up for debate of course in hardware I already mentioned that there is no removable backing and thus no access to the battery or expandable storage these are choices that are going to be hotly debated in this new flagship and though the unibody design makes these choices unavoidable we feel the lack of these two features will be sorely missed and the 2550 million power battery despite benefiting from fast charging capabilities might be a little small for people's tastes and in performance we start with a bit of precedence by Samsung globally now the Galaxy s6 will now only support their in-house made Exynos processors Samsung has proved their prowess before in the processor department but enhancements to the 64-bit processing package hope to bring the s6 into the next generation and thus far we definitely feel the power at work in a time when scrutiny in user interface experience is at its all-time highest paying acute attention to the update TouchWiz is something we could not help doing and in this somewhat dialed back lollipop version of TouchWiz we're quite surprised at how well it was able to get through its elements despite all of the features that may have returned or were added to the experience TouchWiz is still future packed but what struck me about my short time with the Galaxy s6 is that I actually don't really remember either accidentally triggering certain features like multi window or getting annoyed by the sheer amount of elements trying to get me to notice them I dialed back TouchWiz though it is still a bit too colourful like before actually seems to be what we're getting here transitions in and out of applications messing with the recent apps screen and especially the ability to bring up the camera in fractions of a second with just a DoubleTap of the home button all showed just how fast this version of TouchWiz is and it's yet another little surprise in our time with the galaxy s6 speaking of the camera we can now get to it and its enhancements will really be put to task once we get our hands on a review unit but the spec sheet is pretty compelling a 16 megapixel rear facing camera is now backed by a five megapixel front facing camera and both benefit from quite low f 1.9 aperture for a good low-light performance auto live HDR is also found on both camera so getting compelling pictures from the smart powered rear camera or the occasional self-portrait from the front should yield some high-quality shots we don't have any picture examples to show you just yet but we will definitely be looking at picture quality when we have a chance to that said the interface is pretty simple to get around this time with a mode selector easily showing you different ways you can use the optics my personal favorite and what I will be using quite often is the full manual mode that includes manual focus a much better alternative to the selective focus mode in my opinion but a bit like the TouchWiz interface in general this time around the camera interface shows buttons for what is essential for easy access and then gets out of the way until the user activates the extras and that's a step in the right direction and so there you have it the first look at the Samsung Galaxy s6 we came to Samsung not knowing quite what to expect and left honestly a bit surprised that what we held and experienced and you know what that's a pretty good thing it seems Samsung is making the main steps in the right direction in design performance and in the camera but it remains a bummer that crucial parts of the hardware experience had to be sacrificed in order to make those enhancements happen we won't know if the full experience is all cracked up to be until we get our hands on a for review unit and the surprising part is that we can't wait to get to do that in the coming weeks keep it into Android for all the best coverage here as we report to you live from the Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona Spain