Gadgetory

well now that they are finally out in the wild and available across all major carriers I'm sure those of you looking at Samsung's new devices are asking yourselves which one is better for me well it's time to find out because it's Josh regard from Android authority what's going on everybody and this is the Samsung Galaxy s6 versus the Samsung Galaxy s6 edge from a design perspective you're obviously looking at one well actually two main aspects that differentiate these two devices the curves on either side of the screen in the case of the s6 edge this is all complete with the same tactile home button and button layouts for both devices as well as the camera package on the back accompanied by the heart rate monitor both devices now have a glass backing as well eliminating the removable back and the feature is implied underneath that were in previous Samsung devices though the s6 is a tiny bit taller and only a few grams heavier than the s6 edge these differences are largely negligible what makes the case for the s6 edge in design are indeed it slopes on the right and left portions of the screen and the real difference has to be felt to be believed as I mentioned after my unboxing what really made sense of the edges to me was the fact that they come down to meet the palm hence making side-to-side handling better perhaps better than any other slab device for gripping the sides a very prominent lip in the metal frame tilts down ever so slightly but mainly sticks out from behind the screen that melts right down over it so with a good pinch there aren't any problems keeping the phone in check without rigging with the screen accidentally however this can't really be said foreign landscape usage as I did find it a little tough to hold the device on the edges without a little bit of fidgeting but this was really a rare occurrence in reality the width of these devices is very much the same but with the screen coming down on either end the s6 edge actually feels more narrow and that is what makes all the difference yes it will be the s6 edge that ultimately turns heads while the s6 proper looks more like a Galaxy Xperia mashup the s6 edge will look even better to the tech-savvy and will become more recognizable to the common consumer as it stays on the market so if handling is more of a big deal to you than the s6 edge is an experience that has to be felt and we're pretty certain that it's going to stick with now the same sentiment can be given to the displays as the curves of the s6 edge happen to add to the viewing experience as well specifications are as high as you would expect for a new flagship by Samsung with the highly vivid 5.1 inch Super AMOLED display now coming in at quad HD resolutions can super high pixel densities the result in either device is a colorful sharp experience that has yet to miss a beat in work play and media consumption what makes the s6 edge so compelling is the fact that it's screen is essentially one entity and doesn't have any specific area sectioned off for the edge capabilities though we will get into the actual edge screen features in the software section it's worth mentioning that they only take up one side of the display that you choose and even then they only appear when you specifically trigger them it's as if Samsung finally figured out that the edges aren't really made for game-changing features but rather for a new way of looking literally at a device as such elements of Android material design are given an auxilary effect a rolling effect that isn't always noticed but appreciated every time that it is watching media in landscape mode makes the heads-up notifications look even better because they have this effect for example and even then the edges don't move any of the frame away from your viewpoint again they are really there for aesthetics convenience and a few features that actually mostly stay out of the way in performance Samsung has decided to forego the snapdragons of the world and put out its in-house Exynos processor and to great effect the Exynos 7420 is backed by mali t760 8 graphics and 3 gigabytes of RAM though it is also worthy of mention that the built-in storage benefits from a ufs 2.0 flash memory construction that helps keep things as optimized as possible this is a case that has been made against expandable storage because it just won't be able to keep up with the installed storage the only real stutter that we've ever seen involves the flip board power briefing screen which typically has to refresh every time you swipe to it and it can slow down your immediate return to the home screens and back all tasks move along with little consequence even if you're trying to do them at the same time with the multi window or even the S window capabilities but perhaps the best way of feeling this speed is to go to the old-school method of jumping between applications via the recent apps screen few problems came up with gaming too with the most intensive applications we did notice the phone getting quite warm it was not to the point of discomfort and with that the performance aspect is pretty much tied here which is simply a benefit for anyone that chooses either of these phones in hardware the biggest story since the announcement of these phones has been the removal of the replaceable batteries and expandable storage though I did say earlier that Samsung's case for the fastest flash memory possible makes a bit of sense both phones still support the usual bells and whistles including the fingerprint reader embedded in the home button and that now vertical heart rate sensor that in our testing works a little faster than previous editions found on samsung smartphones connectivity with LTE networks has been very steady on either device and the voice calls are about as good as they ever been and the sound coming from the now bottom mounted speaker is pretty adequately loud no matter which version of these phones you get battery life on either device remains pretty standard despite the claims of going beyond due to better processing in my estimation the higher resolution seemed to even out whatever optimizations were put into the processors but of course it always comes back for the s6 edge to the edges on the screen now while they don't really add anything to the hardware section I do have to say that some of the accessories for the s6 edge will turn out a little bit different from its original counterpart but as far as the features go the edge screen features are going to be covered in the software section but I will mention that the night clock especially when you have a trigger for bedtime works really well on the nightstand but in ultimately that is still just a small addition now my camera shootout that was just recently published will show the camera quality shared between these devices even better but it can be restated that the camera package Samsung put out this year is the best they've ever put out and probably one of the best in Android right now a rear-facing F 1.9 aperture camera brings auto HDR to 16 megapixel photos with a laundry list of capabilities while the front-facing camera also sports those same specifications but at 5 megapixels the app comes with a number of different modes including panorama slow motion video capture at 120 frames per second and can be easily triggered with a DoubleTap of the home button which is one of the best felt enhancements of this galaxy update using these cameras and all but the lowest light in mostly indoor situations yields some really great-looking photos and especially with a very good working auto-mode most of the guesswork is taken out of the smartphone photography experience extra features are available if needed but for the general user who just wants to capture high-quality memories both of these devices are great companions to have maybe we haven't really looked at it in this particular lens per se but smartphone cameras for a while we're struggling to get to the point of replacing even typical point-and-shoot devices with this new crop of flagship smartphones I think we're closer than ever to doing that and this new galaxy line is a prime example of that evolution as has been mentioned a few times already the TouchWiz iteration on this line of Galaxy devices has been toned down to the pleasure of many including us here at Android authority not only have many of the gimmicks been put aside any ones that have been left in don't get all up in your face about using them even tutorials about how to use different features are largely absent and if you want to keep certain features like s voice on the side that is actually very easy to do this time around despite a still pretty colorful aesthetic a theme engine can be used to change the look of TouchWiz to what you prefer so with all that aside it's better to look at what makes the s6 edge different and it is the return of those edge panels these panels and features don't show up until you trigger them which happens only from a standby position via a couple of swipes on the side that is picked by the user the night clock comes up and then you can swipe from the bottom portion to see notifications news takers and a number of other edges that can be installed via the settings despite some usefulness that can be had in the news tickers the scrolling generally focuses on one story at a time and thus pales in comparison to even using the briefing screen instead now it can be a good way of looking at your notifications quickly but waking the phone up and seeing them on the lockscreen right there is arguably still faster and better to do and then finally there's the people edge which houses five people under specific colors for easy access for calls and messages while it can work has a pretty good speed dial the main gripe I had with it was that messages required the use of the native messaging app instead of something like hangouts which I use all the time and while the phone is upside-down the color assigned to a contact will glow on the side as they're calling you alerting you to who exactly is calling in an interesting way it's not really a bad idea but then again when you have your phone screen down on a table it honestly just looks like the underside of an import tuner car and even then who really puts their phone facedown on a surface in fear of actually scratching the thing ultimately the main story here is how TouchWiz has been optimized and made even faster especially when you consider the processing package made in-house that Samsung has put within these devices the edge screen features are available for anyone who really needs them but ultimately I don't think there are many people out there who feel that way and finally the price where we find that paying for sloped screens means a premium indeed the s6 edge will cost you up to $150 more overall for the unlocked version or the same amount broken up into higher payments per month on various carrier plans it's no secret that flagship device has come at high prices but would you pay even more for a phone that basically just looks and somewhat feels a little different that's the question you have to answer because both of these phones really show that Samsung has left forward in the flagship game the galaxy s6 and the s6 edge will be the phones to beat this year and when factoring in the speed and stellar camera experience it will take quite a bit to get ahead of the korean giants but in the case of picking the s6 edge over the s6 it's really a matter of aesthetics and handling both of which are actually felt benefits and if you're looking for a phone that is ultimately a looker unique to everyone including the actual user themselves and quite a head-turner than the s6 edge might be worth that extra money personally if I had a choice the s6 edge would be my pick but I still hesitate to say that the s6 edge Edition should have been the only phone Samsung released this year that's because if I had the galaxy s6 I still have largely the same experience but at somewhat lower price point but at least in this versus we get to see how Samsung has reconciled the past almost perfected the present and where they might continue to be ahead of the curve in the future as always thank you guys very much for watching and I hope you enjoyed this vs. between the Samsung Galaxy s6 and the s6 edge yes we're talking about two devices that are essentially the same but the little differences in the s6 edge might be enough to put it over the top for you they certainly do for us here at Android authority if you want to see the full reviews of the galaxy s6 and the s6 edge you can find them right over on the side and then go into the description below so you can find even more links to things like the camera shoe so you can see even more about these phones keep you tuned to Android 34 even more on Samsung's brand-new flagships for future flagships coming as we have some events coming up in the next month or so and then drop us some likes on our videos subscribe to our channel if you haven't already listened to our podcast the Friday debate podcast and then when you're done with all of that too don't forget to head on over to android authority comm because we are your source for all things Android