Gadgetory

it's a fantastic time to buy a galaxy s6 here in the States the price has just been slashed by a hundred bucks and it's probably got the best camera you can find on an Android smartphone add in the excellent display and formidable feature set and you're looking at a smartphone that finally fulfills its promise of being the next big thing but Samsung has been trotting out that old line for three years now and it's not selling phones like it used to maybe what people want is a phone that does a lot of what the galaxy s6 does but cheaper a lot cheaper enter the oneplus 2 the latest in a Chinese smartphone line that challenges our conception of what an affordable flagship can be in 2015 but does the oneplus 2 bring enough game to keep pace with its South Korean competitor let's find out I'm Michael Fisher with PocketNow and this is one plus two vs. galaxy s6 anyone who says there's no difference in smartphones these days has never put these two side-by-side they have almost nothing in common and that's apparent from the moment you pick them up the Samsung device is sleek and slender it's glass and metal construction dominated by curves and cool to the touch its petite frame is built around a 5.1 inch display that's one of the best we've seen its quad HD resolution offers an insanely high pixel density and it's Super AMOLED technology makes for perfect blacks colors that pop and a very wide range of brightness settings the phone features an outstanding build - with great travel and feedback on the buttons and a fit and finish that oozes quality the oneplus 2 is a different beast entirely it's larger in every dimension nearly three millimeters thicker and 26 percent more massive with more angular corners and a changeable back cover with options for various wooden and Kevlar finishes or the textured sandstone version seen here it's built around a display that's larger but lower in resolution it's full HD rather than quad HD with 176 fewer pixels every inch and it's LCD instead of AMOLED now it's buttons may not feel as expensive as Samsung's and it might be a little rougher around the edges but in the hand the oneplus 2 exudes a similarly reassuring sense of quality in nearly every measurable aspect Samsung has the edge in hardware the Exynos processor in the galaxy s6 is more efficient than the 1 plus 2's Snapdragon 810 and you can get the galaxy in 128 gig option if you need a lot of local storage there are more accessories on the Samsung as well an IR transmitter for controlling your TV integrated NFC for mobile payments among other things wireless charging high-speed wired charging and a heart rate and blood oxygen sensor for those intense workout sessions if the oneplus 2 doesn't pack any of those toys but that's not to say it's bringing a knife to a gunfight its higher-end trim offers 4 gigs of RAM while Samsung tops out at 3 it's USB type-c connector is reversible for more convenient plugging in and its battery is 29 percent larger also see the switch it controls the android alert settings so you can adjust your ringer volume without even looking at the phone which sounds like a little thing but it's really really nice in practice each of these smart phones relies on a custom software load to enhance an android 5.1.1 foundation and each has its own advantages once again Samsung comes to the table with more toys its TouchWiz UI lets you do things like run two apps side-by-side it's s health fitness application takes advantage of the built-in heart rate sensor to give you a more complete picture of your exercise routine and the distinct look of TouchWiz can be tweaked using a baked in theming engine the oneplus 2 runs on a homegrown ROM called oxygen OS that strongly resembles stock Android while significantly improving on its interface the oneplus 2 offers capacitive keys just like the galaxy s6 but here you can program them to trigger a variety of apps and functions depending on how long or how many times you press them on the oneplus 2 you can deploy the notification tray just by swiping down on an empty portion of the homescreen you can wake or lock the phone with a double tap on the cover glass fire up the torch by drawing a V and choose your own colors for the system accent and notification LED also there's a max audio tuner installed out of the box to hone your headphone sound and you can even program a double click of the home button to launch the camera just like on the s6 when it comes to that camera you're getting a 16 megapixel sensor on the galaxy s6 manufactured by either Sony or Samsung depending on batch the oneplus 2 is working with a 13 megapixel omni vision sensor also optically stabilized and bringing a slightly smaller aperture but a slightly larger pixel size the oneplus 2 also brings a laser autofocus module and a dual LED flash the s6 has neither on the software side the Samsung viewfinder brings say it with me more features offering a wider range of shooting modes and recording options without gunking up the interface too much oneplus meanwhile seems to stick with the derivation of the Google camera app that's much more elementary and it's also slower to launch and focus as for the end result our oneplus two review unit is running pre-release software that's not the same as the version that will land on store shelves and we all know how big a different software can make to a camera so take these early impressions with a huge grain of salt as you can see daylight performance is often comparable as far as color and exposure with the s6 doing a bit better on dynamic range and sharpness where the oneplus 2 gets a chance to stand out a little is an HDR it's not as authentic as the s6 but it looks like oneplus is injecting some more color into its HDR results maybe trying to overcome that washed out look that sometimes results sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't turn the lights down and well the galaxy s6 isn't known as the king of Android camera phones for nothing same goes for video where the s6 offers many more recording modes slightly better stabilization higher saturation and more graceful focus adjustment - and one more time in case you missed it the first ten times this is pre-release software folks more sample footage coming in the full review once we're working with the final software built in day to day use the oneplus 2 gets to make up some ground the larger battery plus the lower screen resolution do it some favors in endurance while our screen on time with the galaxy s6 usually hovers around three hours per charge the oneplus 2 routinely sees us through 4.5 hours of SOT and that's after the added power penalty of running with dual Sims in place Samsung does make a dual-sim version of the s6 but that's not the one we've got here speaking of cellular networks as a phone I've got few complaints with either of these the earpieces strike a nice balance between volume and clarity and the bottom firing speakers while I'm easy to accidentally block with the finger are at least better than rear mounted ones I do believe Samsung invested in the better driver the oneplus 2 speaker is a little tinny on media playback no matter which audio as for software responsiveness and gaming performance well I made a point in an editorial a number of weeks back concerning what I felt to be the overblown issue of thermal throttling in the 1 plus 2's processor and not to belabor that point too much but I told you so the Snapdragon 810 may well be running very inefficiently under that casing it probably is but it doesn't show and that's the important part the oneplus 2 doesn't get any hotter in the hand than the galaxy s6 does and it doesn't seem to stutter any more than the s6 either no matter what I'm doing in my opinion the Samsung Galaxy s6 is on the hole the better device here from display to fit and finish to hardware features two storage options to preliminary image quality it's got the oneplus 2 beat but here's the thing of course it does even after the recent round of discounts the galaxy s6 retails for an average of three hundred dollars more than the oneplus 2 let me say that a different way the one plus two is three hundred dollars cheaper than the Galaxy S six given that massive difference in cost the fact that this boutique handset even gets close to samsung levels of quality and even out does it in some corners like battery life is a testament to one plus so if you're looking for the absolute top of the line and don't mind charging your battery pretty often our buy recommendation on the galaxy s6 stands but if you want or need to buy unlocked and saving money is more important than ticking off the boxes on a feature list the oneplus 2 might just be the deal of the year just get on the list for a purchase invitation now if you want one the buying process probably won't be what you're used to but-but-but before you do anything folks remember this is not our full review of the one plus two that's coming the week of August 17th at pocketnow.com be sure and subscribe here on the tube so you don't miss it and check out our earlier coverage while you wait till next time this has been michael fisher captain to phones on twitter thanks as always for watching and we'll see you next time