Elegance, beauty and class are three words that quickly come to mind at the sight of this device. The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+, arguably a ”more ghen ghen” version of the amazing Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is no doubt a stunner in every sense of the word and a worthy competition for its rival the iPhone 6 plus. It is available in silver, white, black and gold.
So what exactly did Samsung do differently with its S6 Edge+? These are some of my findings.
DESIGN
The S6 Edge+ is just as gorgeous as its predecessor. It spots the same classy aluminium alloy frame sandwiched between a Gorilla Glass 4 screen and back. Like the suffix “plus” implies, the S6 Edge+ has a 5.7-inch screen, 0.6 inches bigger than the S6 Edge which spots a 5.1-inch screen. Though bigger, the S6 Edge plus measuring 6.9mm is slimmer than the 7.1 mm thick S6 Edge.
The S6 Edge+ also maintains the curved dual-edge display that puts it in a class only shared with its predecessor. However sleek, the curved edges combined with the thinner frame sort of makes the S6 Edge+ a little tricky and uneasy to handle. With a 5.7inch screen, operating the S6 Edge+ with just one hand especially when trying to reach the top angles of the screen is quite a task. Even more, Samsung wasn’t able to do anything about how easily the rear glass gets stained with finger prints, a problem it shares with the S6 and S6 Edge.
That said, I still remain that Samsung did a brilliant job in the phone’s design and even upped things with the S6 edge+ by giving it a fine tapered edge along the top and bottom.
CAMERA
The S6 Edge+ comes with 16MP rear camera and flash with optical image stabilisation on the rear and 8MP front facing camera that impresses even in low light.
Video recording on the S6 Edge+ gives options like Steady Video, which provides Video Digital Image Stabilization on both the front and rear cameras for sharp, crisp video on-the-go, and Video Collage Mode, which allows users to record and edit short videos easily in various frames and effects.
With the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ you can use the Live Broadcast mode, which lets you instantly live stream Full HD video straight from the phone to any individual, group of contacts, or even the public through YouTube Live. Anyone who receives the YouTube link from a Galaxy S6 edge+ user is able to enjoy live stream video from his or her smartphone, tablet, PC or Smart TV with YouTube connectivity.
SCREEN/DISPLAY
At 5.7in, the Plus’s screen retains both the 1440 x 2650 resolution and the Samsung super AMOLED display in the S6 Edge. The curved edges look really lovely but don’t seem to add to the viewing experience. Just like with the S6 Edge, swiping the sides brings up your five favourite contacts. However, Samsung added a little improvement here so that a second swipe of the S6 Edge+ screen will show shortcuts to five favourite applications for easy access. I find this feature good, but pretty easy to ignore. There might have been some duplicated features on the S6 Edge plus especially as the device multitasks greatly. I was able to minimise lots of apps (some cannot be minimised/”opened in window view”) while others were still open and running; a feature i found incredibly handy. I could be watching a video and have my whatsapp, instagram, twitter, etc apps in bubbles and respond to any of these apps while my video plays on! The Edge+ also has the ability to show the weather, date and time notifications on either curved edge without lighting up the entire screen.
BATTERY
Samsung increased the size of the battery in the S6 Edge+ in order to compensate for its larger screen. The S6 Edge+ boasts a 3,000mAh cell which cannot be removed. The battery can be charged either with a USB cable or wirelessly with a compatible wireless pad.
SOFTWARE
The S6 Edge+ runs and Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and we hear that it will get the Android Marshmallow update. It also uses Samsung’s Touchwiz UI which gives the Andriod Lollipop 5.1.1 a different look and feels better than the previous Touchwiz UI.
FEATURES
The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ comes with a fingerprint sensor just like the S6 edge.Samsung added a dedicated dock to the S6 edge+ to raise the sound quality and minimise sound distortion.We think this addition really did well in helping to give a very pleasing aural effect.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ also comes with a Heart rate sensor for health conscious users. The heart rate sensor is placed behind the rear camera’s flash and doubles as a selfie camera trigger. By placing a finger on the heart rate sensor when the camera is in selfie mode, it snaps away!
MEMORY
The Galaxy S6 Edge+ comes with 4GB of RAM compared to the 3GB of RAM on the S6 Edge which power users may find helpful. The Samsung Galaxy S6 edge + has the 32GB and 64GB variants which cannot be expanded to the displeasure of some users. If you have the extra cash and think you need more space, then go for the 64GB version.
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+: Specs
- Android 5.1 Lollipop
- 5.7in Super AMOLED dual edge screen Quad HD (1440 x2560)
- Exynos 7420 Octa-core processor
- 32/64GB storage
- 4GB RAM
- 16Mp rear camera with OIS
- 5Mp front camera
- Heart rate monitor
- Fingerprint scanner
- NFC
- GPS
- 11ac Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth with atpX
- 3000mAh battery
- 6.9 mm
- 153g