If it's time to buy a new smartphone, we choose to replace the old models. If it's time to buy a new smartphone - choose a replacement for old models Android version and interface - concise One UI
The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is an excellent smartphone. It is the culmination of Samsung's experience in creating side-curved devices throughout the year and offers fixes for last year's model. But even though it is now a year old, the Galaxy S6 Edge is still a top-notch phone, and if you're looking for reasons to keep it and not buy the new Galaxy S7 Edge, we've got you covered.
Edge panels still feel unfinished
The curved display edges of the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S7 Edge are what makes their designs so special, but when it comes to functionality, those bezels on the sides aren't really useful. The functional area is too small and this is the main disadvantage. The update to Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow brings new functionality to the Galaxy S6 Edge, which is the first reason to keep using the device.Galaxy S6 Edge has a more premium look
Sure, the new Galaxy S7 Edge feels extremely cool in the hand, but the Galaxy S6 Edge still has a more premium feel. Why, you ask? The thing is, the rounded edges of the back cover make the Galaxy S7 Edge comfortable to use, but they also make the metal frame less visible. The sharp corners of last year's flagship's case cut into the hand, but at the same time they look great.
Galaxy S6 Edge smaller, better for Gear VR
The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is not only smaller, but with a 5.1-inch display, it is, I must say, the perfect phone for anyone looking for a balance between screen size and ease of use. The new Galaxy S7 Edge has a 5.5-inch display, which automatically puts it in the phablet category and is not always easy to work with.In addition, the compact screen of the Galaxy S6 Edge has a higher pixel density, so the picture quality is significantly better when using the Gear VR.
S6 Edge is capable of taking high quality 16: 9 photos
The S7 Edge camera was rated the best on the mobile market, and it performs significantly better in low light than any other flagship from the company. But his camera has a resolution of only 12 MP and, even worse, it takes photos in 4: 3 format. Upgrading from the Galaxy S6 Edge to the Galaxy S7 Edge can make you feel limited in how many times you can zoom in on a shot to see finer details.
With an aspect ratio of 4: 3, photos on a large widescreen TV will have black inserts on the sides, which certainly does not look so good .. Most displays nowadays display information in 16: 9 format.
Galaxy S6 Edge is equipped with an IR blaster
As many polls on the Web have shown, the presence of an IrDA for controlling home appliances is one of the main reasons when choosing a smartphone. Last year's Galaxy S6 Edge got this feature, while its successor was deprived of it for reasons unknown to us.1000_d_850.jpg)
Many people buy a smartphone not for six months or a year (as I did before), but with the desire not to change the device for two or even three years. "Safety margin" when buying for such a long period in this case can only be guaranteed by the flagships that are relevant at the time of purchase. They contain solutions that get to more affordable smartphones with a delay of a year and a half, and the performance should be enough for the coming years in excess. So how does the Samsung flagship of 2015 feel this year? I'll try to tell you.
This text came up about a month ago when Samsung was about to release an Android 7.0 update for my Galaxy S6. I decided to prepare for this moment and changed the weakest link in my smartphone - the battery. A year and a half of active use almost "killed" her: during an hour's trip to work, the battery lost half its charge. Exactly one day without a device (spare parts were not available) and a fresh branded battery was installed.
I took the device from the service center, and literally the next day the long-awaited Android 7.0 Nougat update arrived. From here, perhaps, I'll tell you in more detail.
Android 7.0 and new Samsung shell
The update changed not only the first digit in the Android version number, as is often the case with some manufacturers when a new firmware is released. Everything has changed. Starting from the design of the menu and redrawn icons, ending with the new interface of almost all built-in applications. Everything has become more airy and cleaner. Finally, the vigorous colors of the interface are gone. Now Samsung's proprietary shell is made with a taste that was previously lacking. I admit that I would like to see this style of design on Android smartphones from other manufacturers. Everything flies, the animation is smooth, the transitions between screens occur without the previous jerks. Test, Samsung.
The firmware update, of course, could not bring new functions to the smartphone that are not supported by hardware. For example, there is no pleasant Always-on display here (although I think this is more of a marketing ploy). It is understandable, then it would be more difficult to promote the new line of the A-series. A cool feature from S7, which allows you to change the display resolution, did not appear in the S6 either. It's a pity, because reducing the resolution to FullHD would greatly save the battery, which is already modest in terms of battery volume.
Autonomy
By the way, about the opening hours. The fresh battery in conjunction with Android 7.0 allows for 3-4 hours of active screen with an average load throughout the day. In practice, a smartphone lives one daylight hours from one charge. And this is good, I used to charge my S6 twice a day to last until nine in the evening.
Performance
In terms of performance, the Galaxy S6 won't disappoint today. After updating to Android 7.0, I compared it with the fresh Galaxy A7 2017. So in 80% of cases, the S6 is still faster. Curious. This is true both for ordinary tasks (such as launching the phone book or settings) and for working with third-party applications (games, social networks, browser, instant messengers).
Durability of the case
And how does the body of a smartphone behave a year and a half after purchase? I can only praise Samsung: they made a smartphone that can withstand a lot. I wore a smartphone without a case, it fell many times (fortunately, mainly in the office and at home, I didn't get to know the asphalt). The result is scuffs on the metal frame (I put the smartphone in a niche for small items in the car, so it's not surprising), one small, but unpleasantly deep scratch on the display, but the back cover is almost in perfect condition. Nothing loosened, nothing loose. The only thing that was a little embarrassing was that a month before replacing the battery, the glass of the back panel in the camera area began to creak slightly - replacing the battery cured this problem. The Galaxy S6 has proven to be a very resilient phone.
conclusions
Many of the most sophisticated smartphone models pass through me. Some become my main device for a week or two. But every time I give up the test flagship smartphone and go back to my battered Galaxy S6. And I don't feel slighted. Yes, there is no moisture protection here. Yes, no Always-on display. But in everyday use, you do not notice this. The smartphone does not freeze, does not slow down, does not eat the battery for no reason. He does not infuriate or annoy. And when you start the camera, it still continues to delight with excellent image quality in almost any conditions. The flagship remains the flagship even two years after its debut. The Galaxy S6 has a decent margin of safety. Maybe I will live until the Galaxy S9 is released - who knows?
We tried to describe in the article all the pros and cons of buying a new model. After reading the material, you will understand for yourself whether it is worth changing your old gadget from the Galaxy S and Note series, or whether buying is a pointless waste of money.
Let's start with the cons:
1. Display dimensions. It is absolutely incomprehensible why the developers presented the new device with only a 5.1-inch screen. It's just that after using phablets with a diagonal of at least 5.7 inches for a long time, you involuntarily begin to get used to their size. And such a sharp drop is somehow not at all serious. Okay, if the designers borrowed the idea from making the edges thinner (by type) and giving (y) at least a 5.4-inch screen, it would look pretty decent. Although it would be uncharacteristic for a company whose gadgets are characterized by large screens.
2. The material for the back cover is glass. Undoubtedly, it looks pretty. But if measured from the point of view of practical application, how effective is it? Almost ineffective, because when interacting with various surfaces and objects, scratches will remain on the glass. Your fingertips will also leave a mark on the lid. And there can be no question of any anti-shock properties.
3. There is no slot for microSD. As they say, there is never too much memory. And if the volume of the main drive has increased to the size of 128GB, this does not mean at all that the S6 will be swept from the store shelves. It is more profitable to buy a larger flash drive.
4. The battery capacity has been reduced by 200mAh. The fact that the RAM and the processor began to consume less power is, of course, not bad. But, as we know, most of the charge is “eaten up” by the display, which has remained the same. Therefore, many doubt that the device will "eat" less energy. In any case, the test results will dot the i's.
5. Minus water resistance. Of course, such a function is not decisive and not in all previous models it was present, but for many users such a bonus would be very useful. Incidentally, it had this property. Surprisingly, the later model lost this.
6. Cost. Everything new is affordable. Presumably, the price of the Galaxy S6 will be twice as much as its predecessor: not 30 thousand rubles, but all 60. And for the EDGE version you will have to pay more.
Now for the pros:
1. Stunning appearance. Say what you like, but this model turned out to be very interesting. It is perhaps the most spectacular of the entire Galaxy line. The painstaking work of designers is visible to the naked eye.
2. "Iron". The smartphone is equipped with a new generation of chips: 14 nm Intel Braswell in conjunction with DDR4 RAM give excellent performance along with sparing power consumption.
3. Optical module. Despite the previous resolution, the depth and color reproduction in photos and videos has been significantly improved.
4. Updated user interface. looks even more pleasant. A lot of unnecessary and useless has been removed.
5. High quality fingerprint scanner. The advantage will be felt by those who really hate to constantly move their finger across the display in order to unlock. On the Galaxy S6, simply place your finger on the reading area (button).
At first glance, it may seem that there are more negative aspects than positive aspects. However, it is worth noting that items such as "design", "hardware" and "camera" are expensive. The evaluation of the novelty will be different depending on which devices it will be with.
If your smartphone was purchased for a long time, and you plan to update the gadget, then feel free to buy the Galaxy S6. This means if you are the owner of the "C". Personally, I would not change the S4 for a new one, and the S5 even more so. Although the choice is yours.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 is the flagship of 2015 with decent specs that are still relevant today. But the price of the smartphone has long gone beyond the flagship (and confidently entered the middle price segment). In this review, we briefly review the main advantages of the S6, analyze the disadvantages, and provide comparisons with other smartphones. And we give an answer to the main question, is it worth buying a Samsung Galaxy S6 in 2017.
The main advantages of the Samsung Galaxy S6
Design
It was with the Galaxy S6 that the radical transformation of the Samsung S-line began. We see a slim stylish body, a combination of glass and metal. The edges of the frame are smoothed. It fits perfectly in the hand. Even two years later, the smartphone looks decent.
Screen
This is the main advantage of the smartphone, the price of which has dropped to $ 350. The Galaxy S6 offers a 5.1-inch Super-AMOLED display with QuadHD resolution (2560 x 1440) and an unimaginable pixel density of 577PPI. Finding more today is almost impossible.
Sun Contrast Ratio
The screen retains excellent readability in the sun, the viewing angles are amazing. Color reproduction is realistic. The smartphone offers several screen modes. Some of them can render oversaturated hues. The AMOLED Photo mode provides the most realistic colors and tints. Note that the display did not evolve in any way in subsequent models (S7 / S7 Edge). The Galaxy S8 has a slightly higher resolution, but only because of the new format and aspect ratio. The screen technology remains the same.
Processor and overall performance
The Galaxy S6 is powered by a 14nm Exynos 7420 chipset. 8 cores: 4 Cortex A-57 @ 2.1 GHz, 4 Cortex A-53 @ 1.5 GHz.
It is not the most powerful processor to date, but it is more than enough for day-to-day workloads. ( editor's note- I have no habit of closing unnecessary applications at all; therefore, up to 30 running processes always hang in the background. This does not in any way affect the performance of the smartphone, the speed of reaction and the response to user actions).
AnTuTu 6
Upgrade to Android Nougat 7.0
For the Galaxy S6, Android 7 will be the last global update. Further, only security patches and bug fixes will come.
Among the advantages of Android 7 for Galaxy S6, we highlight a completely redesigned interface, a blue filter has appeared, making it easier to read from the screen in the evening and at night. Of the shortcomings - autonomy suffered. Recall that!
Galaxy S6 camera
The Galaxy S6 camera remains one of the main advantages of a smartphone. 16MP sensor with f / 1.9 aperture, optical image stabilization, LED flash, autofocus. The user has access to a full-fledged Pro-mode with precise manual adjustment of focus, exposure, ISO, white balance. A successful combination of settings can be saved in a separate mode for quick access.
Selective focus allows you to take three photos with focus on a selected subject in the foreground (background blurred), with focus in the background (foreground blurred), with overall focus. The average photo size in this mode is 25MB.
In post-processing mode, the smartphone takes 8 photos. The user has the opportunity to choose the best shot from the shot.
Galaxy S6 did not receive Dual-Pixel technology, but the difference in photo quality with the successors of the line (Galaxy S7 / S7 Edge) is rather arbitrary.
HDR mode is turned on automatically, the user has the opportunity to select one of the options:
- HDR is always on
- HDR is always off
- HDR in auto mode (enabled by default)
Here are some examples (all photos were taken as they say on the go):
Other benefits of the Galaxy S6
The smartphone supports wireless charging. The plate is not included. Fast charging replenishes battery capacity in 80 minutes (1 hour 20 minutes - after a year of active use).
There is a fingerprint scanner. Fast and accurate. Failures in the recognition of fingerprints are possible only with an incorrectly specified fingerprint or with wet fingers.
Standard, Galaxy S6 gets Microsoft Office apps and OneDrive access, where, after registration, the user can expand the storage up to 100GB. All photos and documents are periodically saved to the cloud, after which they can be safely deleted from the device. Subsequently, you can return the photo to your smartphone in three clicks.
The built-in S Health app will partially replace the fitness tracker. The smartphone is equipped with a heart rate scanner. The application tracks activity (number of steps and distance traveled per day), offers to indicate the amount of food, water, weight, sleep, blood pressure and other physiological parameters consumed. The main advantage is a fairly large catalog of products with the correct indication of calorie content and a convenient menu setting. The application is not annoying with notifications. Of the minuses, it can only be coupled with native bracelets and monitors.
Editorial note- running with the application is convenient. The voice notifies the distance traveled, how much is left to the target, what is the average speed of movement, whether it is worth accelerating or slowing down. After starting a run, you don't have to look at the screen.
Sound in Galaxy S6
In smartphone comparisons with the best sound, the Galaxy S6 has been unfairly neglected. He did not get into the ratings solely because of the year of release. And although the concept of sound quality is subjective for everyone, and also largely depends on the quality of the track itself, its location (smartphone memory, cloud, social network / website), the quality of the headset for listening, we strongly recommend that you read our publication "" to understand what parameters of the smart depends on the quality of the reproduced sound, and pay attention to the comparison table:
The main disadvantages of the Samsung Galaxy S6
Galaxy S6 battery and autonomy
The battery capacity of the Galaxy S6 is only 2550mAh, which is just about nothing in modern reality. We take into account the widespread availability of 3G, QuadHD SuperAMOLED display, a lot of applications that are updated in the background (messengers, mail, widgets, GPS, applications that determine geodata). With an average load, the Galaxy S6 will have 100% charge for daylight hours. If it is unacceptable for you to disable background processes, you do not want to limit the performance of your smartphone (battery saving modes are available), then power-bank is the best solution.
Here is a comparison of the autonomy of the Galaxy S 6 with other smarts:
Comparison of flagships: rating of autonomy (in hours)
Comparison of flagships 2016-2017: calls in 3G networks
Comparison of flagships: Internet time
Non-removable battery
Galaxy S6 received a one-piece case, which cannot be opened by simply sliding the lid. The battery can only be replaced at service centers or by private specialists. For a year with a little active use of the smartphone, the first decreases in autonomy were noted with the update to Android 7.0.
Lack of dust / moisture protection
In fact, there are too few situations in everyday use of the phone that can critically affect the operation of the smartphone due to moisture / dust ingress. Raindrops, snow, steam, staying in rooms with high humidity, wet hands do not disable the smartphone. Dust / moisture protection is relevant if you are an adherent of outdoor activities on the water.
Galaxy S6 case glass
Looks premium and stylish, but completely impractical. To protect the glass from minor mechanical damage (scratches, abrasions), additional glass or film is used. However, this will not prevent the smart from falling. Glass makes him extremely vulnerable. The situation is aggravated by the fact that glass cannot be replaced separately. In the event of a split, the entire module must be replaced (the entire display is changed).
Should you buy the Samsung Galaxy S6 in 2017?
Definitely worth it. This is the flagship. Albeit 2015.
Galaxy S6 is suitable for those who use a smartphone sparingly, want a fast, reliable device, do not consider Chinese manufacturers. This smart will be a good choice for those who are fond of mobile photography, but are not ready to pay $ 1000 for a TOP device.
Galaxy S6 is definitely not for gamers, active users of social networks, fans of the latest technologies, benchmarks and AnTuTu results.
The sound in the wired headphones of these two smartphones differs little, but in the cool wireless Xperia XZ1 Compact it sounds much, much cooler. The autonomy in the "japanophone" is also not much steeper - a factor of 1.5.
There are no other compact flagships on Android, so Sony is not shy about prices and sells the XZ1 Compact at the price of two iPhone SEs - for 40 thousand rubles. It is unreasonably expensive for a smartphone that is dishonored by photography, but the same "Compact" can be bought on the "gray" market for only 26-28 thousand rubles. Fans of cool smartphone photos will still prefer the more expensive iPhone 6s, but in the place of connoisseurs of compact smartphones, I would not even hesitate - the iPhone SE is much worse, Samsung "buried" the Galaxy A3 series, and the new XZ2 Compact will only appear on sale in the second half years and will cost so much that you immediately want to.
What to buy to replace ASUS ZenFone 2 ZE551ML / ZE550KL (2015)
ZenFone 2 arrived at an opportune moment. Three years ago, they already asked for 52 rubles for a dollar, and fans of cool smartphones had to stop "living widely." The first to take advantage of this situation was ASUS - with the reputation of the Taiwanese, everything was already in order, and Intel threw up Atom smartphone processors for "pennies". Buyers were happy - for 20 thousand rubles they received a smartphone with a then-cool Full HD-screen, good cameras, an "above average" processor and the coolest then 4 GB of RAM. In general, an analogue of modern Chinese "top models", but at a reasonable price in the official retail.
