Gadgetory

metals will flow borders will disappear reflections will be free it wouldn't be a smartphone launch without vague marketing copy but this isn't just any smartphone this is the device setting the pace for Android smartphones in 2015 and it might just be the most exciting Samsung smartphone since 2011 i'm michael fisher with pocket now and this is our galaxy s6 hands on from barcelona samsung calls the s6 a totally new design and like another smartphone we just took a look at here at MWC that fact doesn't really click home until you pick it up the galaxy s6 is exceptionally thin at 6.8 millimeters and exceptionally lightweight at 138 grams and while Samsung might have been content to stop there with previous iterations here it pushes the visual frontier as well the Gorilla Glass for covering the front and back sides is a haven for fingerprints but it's also quite striking with flowing rounded edges and a refracting layer that gives the illusion of depth and subtly changes the color tone depending on the angle at which you look at it samsung claims the metal frame is 50% stronger than its competitors and jaycation took the opportunity to make a jab at the iphone while he was at it but what's more significant to me it finally feels like a premium piece of hardware and not a cheap plastic plate same goes for the new fingerprint scanner which is now a press and hold sensor instead of that cumbersome swipe pad the Super AMOLED display is also what you'd expect a 5.1 inches quad HD resolution and 577 pixels every inch of course it looks fantastic but Samsung screens have looked great for a while the real story here is what's being projected on that screen the new version of Samsung's user interface once again the changes aren't immediately apparent those stock home screen icons haven't changed much but Samsung went out of its way to promise a lag free experience no less than three times in its presentation demo units don't really tell us anything about responsiveness so we'll wait for the full review to evaluate that but a layer or two beneath the homescreen some stuff has been tightened up themed colored highlights give app categories a unified feel the settings screen has been tightened up and classic shortcuts like double tapping the HOME key now lead to something useful like the camera instead of something useless like s voice speaking of the camera Samsung really impressed us with the note 4 in this regard and it looks like they're primed to build on that here with a 16 megapixel sensor and F 1.9 lens start-up time of less than a second and object tracking autofocus also the software simplification extends to the viewfinder you don't need to scroll to get around the interface and the front-facing camera gets a 5 megapixel sensor with that F 1.9 lens as well which could mean great things for your low-light selfies to bring it all home Samsung hit us with a few nice surprises in the power department a renewed and surprising focus on wireless charging with both PMA and WPC supported and fast wired charging in line with what we've been seeing on recent phones elsewhere that's good news but with the non removable battery of only 25 50 milliamp hours those kinds of charging options are also essential and the s6 also breaks with long-standing Samsung tradition in another respect there's no microSD expansion here Samsung brings new onboard storage technology for the three capacities available but you're stuck with what you buy and you can't expand it despite these sacrifices breaking with tradition is just what Samsung needed to free itself from the disappointing returns of last year's s5 and it's got us pretty excited for the potential of the galaxy s6 as we head into the spring of 2015 whether the phone lives up to that potential remains to be seen stay tuned for our full review coming soon to find for more from Samsung at MWC 2015 check out pocket now is continuing coverage on the galaxy s6 s6 edge and more here on YouTube and at pocketnow.com until next time this has been michael fisher with pocket now with Anthony Nagy and Jaime Rivera on production back soon with much more from Barcelona