Review
Roderick Scott 0

galaxy S6

Samsung has been riding high w/ their Galaxy S devices for quite some time now.  But somewhere along the way after making a ton of $$$, they got complacent.  Same old UX, same old designs, and overall lack of real innovation (we're referring to the S devices NOT the Note series BTW).  After years of those crying out for a change, Samsung gave us just that w/ the all-new Galaxy S6.  

Their latest is touting a new look along w/ some additional bells and whistles on-board.  Now that we've gone through the ins-and-outs of the One M9 it is now Samsung's new 2015 flagship to go under the TGSB microscope.  Time to see what's not-so-good about the S6 for those of you still on the fence about it.  



1. Battery Life

 S6 battery

S6 battery 2 

The new thin & sleek look for the Galaxy S6 makes for some compromises w/ one of them being the battery life.  Underneath the back panel, Samsung equipped it w/ a 2550 mAh battery which offers a less juice than what we're used to.  Instead of getting 12 hours on heavy usage, I'm getting that on light to moderate usage.  This equates to much less w/ actually heavy phone use -   hours to be exact.  Not quite the battery life we were expecting.  

S6 Camera Test

2. Design

 S6 design

 S6 design 2

As good as the new design looks and feels, it has definitely made it a lot more fragile.  You now have breakable glass on the front & back.  Gorilla Glass 4 is tough but not that tough.  you're so gonna need a case this this bad boy or be prepared to pay up on screen replacements.  Along w/ that, you now have no expandable storage or the ability to swap out batteries.  So you will now have to rely on quick or wireless charging and cloud storage as work around.  No bueno.  

We asked for a premium Galaxy and we finally got one. 

3. Performance

 Galaxy S6

 

While for the most part, the Galaxy S6 is the 1st US Samsung flagship to utilize their own Exynos chipset.  This one has the new 64-bit octa-core CPU instead of the atypical Qualcomm Snapdragon CPUs.  For the most part, you will get stellar performance but there are times where you would get inconsistent behavior.  Like the occasional slowdowns when navigating hiccups.  Not sure what the dilemma is I'm not the only one to deal w/ this.  Definitely not something you should be dealing w/ on a 2015 flagship device out of the box.  

3 Reasons To Buy The Samsung Galaxy S6

 S6 review grade

Just imagine what the next Galaxy will look/perform like after they iron out all of the kinks. 

In-Betweens:
  • Fingerprint scanner - Samsung finally got rid that terrible way of implementing a biometric scanner for your finger w/ the GS5.  They followed Apple's lead and copied the way they did it and it works great.  Just rest your finger on the Home button and presto - phone is unlocked or apps are purchased.
  • Speaker -  Although it is not a dual-speaker setup, this is still a much-needed improvement.  It is now on the bottom instead of the rear of the device.  It pumps out pretty solid audio w/o the terribleness from previous ones.  While they still won't beat a dual front-facing speaker setup, it is leaps and bounds compared to what Samsung offered before.  
  • Software - While I have never been a huge fan of Samsung's skin, TouchWiz UX looks a lot better w/ Lollipop.  This is the 1st time I didn't put Google Now launcher on this as it is a lot less annoying.  You still have cool features like Multi-Window, Download Booster, & Ultra Power-Saving Mode.  Flipboard and the unwanted S apps are still present but less intrusive.  Good to see TouchWiz maturing into something nice.

TG 2 Cents

Samsung finally stepped up to the plate to offer a premium flagship device that wasn't part of the Note series.  The Galaxy S6 feels luxurious and for the most part, performs as such.  Stellar new design, sharp new optics, and an impeccable 2K display.  As great as it is, its isn't perfect either.  The new design makes more fragile and susceptible to shattering, the smaller battery is a huge drop from previous Galaxy devices, and the performance can be quite inconsistent as times.  This is a great example of Samsung stepping outside of their comfort zone and achieving something magnificent.  Just imagine what the next Galaxy will look/perform like after they iron out all of the kinks.  
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Author: Roderick Scott

Father. Husband. Creative. Mild foodie. Batman in my dreams.