Original Post 03/27/15 I had to make this thread even though I'm an Apple fan <3 I know there's a Google/Nexus discussion thread but I don't think it's the best place to discuss the Galaxy S6 since this is a big release like the iPhone 6 was back in September last year. Disclaimer: I am not a Samsung employee
Samsung announced the availability for the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge for the United States. Quite expectedly the flagship duo will be released on April 10, while the pre-orders open tomorrow - March 27.
All US carriers will be offering the Galaxy S6 smartphone. AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular and Verizon will be carrying both the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge, while Boost, Cricket and MetroPSC will offer the Galaxy S6 only.
AT&T will launch the 32GB Galaxy S6 for $22.84 via the AT&T Next 24 plans, while the Galaxy S6 edge will cost $27.17 on the Next 24. You can also opt for the Galaxy S6 with a 2-year contract for $200 or the Galaxy S6 edge and a 2-year agreement for $300. Contract-free prices are $685 for the Galaxy S6 and $814 for the Galaxy S6 edge.
T-Mobile's leasing plan for the Galaxy S6 has it on $28.33 for 24 months or $680 contract-free. The leasing for the Galaxy S6 edge is at $32.50 for 24 months or $780 cash commitment free.
Boost Mobile will be offering the 32GB Galaxy S6 for $650 free of contracts.
Finally, Sprint lists the 32GB Galaxy S6 for $80 per month for 2 years - device leasing and carrier services included. The 32GB Galaxy S6 edge monthly payment is a total of $85. If you are interested into the 64 or 128GB models just add $5 or $10 to those fees.
You will be also able to get Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge through various partners such as Best Buy (Samsung Experience Shops), Amazon, Costco Wholesale, Sam's Club, Target and Walmart.
Samsung's official statement regarding their new flagships:
"Metals will flow. Beauty will be powerful. Borders will disappear. Reflections will be free. Colors will live. The future will be the present.”
Right now I have an iPhone 5 with about $150 of apps and I am highly considering in upgrading to the Galaxy S6 Edge. I was going to get the iPhone 6 in January, but I thought I might as well just wait around for the Galaxy S6 to come out.
So far, I'm impressed by the build quality (even though I haven't seen it). I also don't like what Apple's doing at the moment. It hasn't put in any advanced technology into its latest iPhone even when it's sitting on a massive pile of cash. And they are overcharging for old technology... and I am a Apple fan who still thinks Macbook Airs are vastly superior to any other laptops.
New technology on the Galaxy S6/S6 Edge (technology that only the Galaxy S6/S6 Edge has):
Ultra-fast UFS flash memory - basically think of this as an SSD except it's for smartphones. Think of your phone right now and that's a HDD. So the UFS flash is a step forward. Also the memory has been bumped up to 32/64/128GB. There is no longer a 16GB version. No other phone has this, and it's a major selling point for me. The difference is supposed to be like going from a HDD to SSD on a computer.
LPDDR4 RAM instead of LPDDR3. The advancements in transfer speeds is like that from DDR3 to DDR4 (maybe that's why Samsung's UI doesn't appear to lag anymore?)
14nm Exynos 7420 processor. This is literally about 2 years ahead of Qualcomm and TSMC's processors. Both Qualcomm and TSMC are stuck at 20nm. They are currently trying to manufacture 16nm but are facing technical difficulties.
Curved display technology (limited to Galaxy S6 Edge) - what many people have been waiting for. The technological requirements for manufacturing these displays are so heavy that Samsung was reluctant to invest in this but looks like they reached it. But there are issues with keeping up supply to meet demand. We'll see what happens.
Upgrades to existing technology:
The 1080p resolution of the previous iteration of the Super AMOLED displays has been bumped up to 2K
... There's probably more I just can't think of them right now
Concerns:
Battery has been slimmed down (although tests show that it's still above average in terms of battery life*)
No more microSD slot -deal breaker for some people
No more removable battery -deal breaker for some people
Will keep on updating as more news comes out as the release date is approaching.
Anyway will you buy the Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S6 Edge? Why or why not? Also, feel free to comment about these 2 phones in general.
This is the biggest technology product release until the iPhone 6s/6s+ in Q3/Q4 of this year.
The downfall for me in the series. No sd slot means a no no for someone like me. having a 64 gb card and not being able to use it just doesnt sit right with me. Also only music takes out 8.12 GB out of memory and theres still more to add to that. Not sure how the partitions go there cus im sittin on good ol GT-I9100 and out of 16 gb i can use only 11.4. This gives me somewhat of an idea how much user memory should be there ~25 gb. That leaves me with ~17gb to spare and it isnt nearly enough to hold all videos that I want. also Ultra-fast UFS flash memory applies to internal so yeah not used fully (still theres need for an sd card to support it too) And one more thing root is a must cus of the bloatware that tends to be in those phones nowadays im afraid of the number that will be there. Another thing is battery as for myself I had to replace it once cus the old one refused to work properly (works only when its charging otherwise after ~90 seconds of activity like camera or simple video playing phone shuts down without warning) So If something like that were to happen here I would be pretty dissapointed.
I myself am considering Note 4 (Exynos version), rarely I have the chance to use the full power of processor so that seems better to me cus of A7's efiiciency when it comes to battery. Still 2K+ (660$+) is kinda too much even knowing that I have more money saved up.
Last thing isnt this like the ceiling of how the technology allows it? 14 nm seems really small and quad 1.5 + quad 2.1 seems a bit excessive. Im not an expert but "the technology is still developing" is there.
Ah to people reading this: How often do you chance your device and what do you do with your old one? If you dont change them too often how long do you expect the carefully chosen one to work for you?
The product cycle of Smartphones is so short, I couldn't bring myself to waste money on the newest cutting edge model just to be ahead of the curve for a few months.
On March 27 2015 17:44 veQ wrote: Last thing isnt this like the ceiling of how the technology allows it? 14 nm seems really small and quad 1.5 + quad 2.1 seems a bit excessive. Im not an expert but "the technology is still developing" is there.
Ah to people reading this: How often do you chance your device and what do you do with your old one? If you dont change them too often how long do you expect the carefully chosen one to work for you?
No, 14nm is not the ceiling. Samsung has said that they can go to 5nm with silicon and Intel said that they will abandon silicon at 7nm. This is only like 5 years away.
I'm still on a GT-I9100 as well and I've had it for almost four years now. Plan to keep it until it dies or until the end of the year if something appealing shows up in the summer though I doubt that. I expect my devices to last at least 3-4 years but the longer the better of course.
The amount of bloatware that comes with Touchwiz on the S6 has been slimmed down quite a bit based on the screenshots I've seen.
I've been using a Galaxy S2 for 3 years now, since it was released. Wondering if I should upgrade. On one hand it's a sexy new phone with a nice screen and ultra fast, on the other hand I don't see why my old phone doesn't allow for web browsing, WhatsApp, Twitch etc.
Basically I'm trying to justify for myself that it's worth it utility wise.
On March 27 2015 14:37 Shinokuki wrote: I wonder when smartphone bubbles will pop. it seems now every phones after m8, iphone 5s, and samsung gs5 it doesnt even matter
When you have portable and affordable mind-computer interface lol.
A Lumia 640, because it has a MicroSD slot so I can use the 128GB card from my Galaxy S3. Plus I want to try Windows on phone. Fuck Samsung with the S6 changes.
I actually dislike external SD because it strays from the Nexus standard and each manufacturer has its own implementation of ext. SD path, which makes it very clusterfucked for some apps to operate (Titanium Backup as an example).
On March 28 2015 09:17 crimethinking wrote: I actually dislike external SD because it strays from the Nexus standard and each manufacturer has its own implementation of ext. SD path, which makes it very clusterfucked for some apps to operate (Titanium Backup as an example).
That would make me dislike Android for being shit and not properly supporting external SD. Why would you pay $200+ more ($240 according to one of the contract details above, £100 more by my calculations for a UK provider, which is $150 or so) for the PHONE in order to upgrade from 32GB to 128GB each time you buy a phone when for $100 you could buy a 128GB MicroSD card you can use with every phone? From a consumer perspective, it's an obscene rip-off.
That doesn't mean every phone should be required to support MicroSD, but Google should make an OS that supports them properly so that manufacturers can opt to have the support there with apps being able to use it on a consistent basis. It's a Google problem that should not exist, since they aren't even a hardware manufacturer so don't benefit from the obscene margins that are made on capacity upgrades for phones/tablets.
On March 28 2015 05:48 always_winter wrote: "Alright gentlemen, let's get down to business. We need to upgrade the Galaxy, and we need to sustain our market share."
"Is the integrity of our design team relevant?"
"Absolutely not."
"Well Apple just made their screen a lil bit bigger and the world ate that shit up."
"You, sir, have just earned yourself a raise."
-Important Samsung meeting
this is what people think when they don't understand the very impressive technological progress made with the s6 it's a damn impressive phone in all levels
A Lumia 640, because it has a MicroSD slot so I can use the 128GB card from my Galaxy S3. Plus I want to try Windows on phone. Fuck Samsung with the S6 changes.
Depending on how much you are dependent on apps, you may end up very disappointed. The OS is great though.
On March 28 2015 07:59 Capped wrote: Was planning on ordering an S5 soon so i was hyped to see this thread "Ooooh S6, maybe i'll get that!"
No SD card. "Well fuck that then."
Now do i go with the older S5 or look for an upcoming alternative.. :|
There's not many choices worse than S5. If you have money, buy S6 with higher storage capacity (do you really need more than 64/128 GB?), if not, go for LG G3, Sony Z3 or some of the high-end Xiaomis. Oh and ASUS should start selling first phone with 4GB ram.
On March 28 2015 18:09 excitedBear wrote: So Samsung has managed 14nm while the others have not? Does that mean that the iPhone will not be able to catch up for a long time?
Anyway in 2 years and we are gonna be at 10nm and then it's gonna get interesting if they can find a substitute for silicone.
Yes. Samsung has managed to mass manufacture 14nm mobile processors before Intel, Qualcomm and TSMC.
It's actually a weird mutually beneficial relationship between Samsung and American electronics giants now. The success of Samsung means the success of Apple and Qualcomm. I don't know if Apple and Qualcomm wants to diversify their sources for CPUs but Samsung's technological capacity is just too much for anyone else to compete.
And I'm kinda glad that Apple is moving to Samsung for its chips again. 20nm is just way too behind IMO. Apple really needs to upgrade their hardware to 14nm and DDR4 to make the iPhone 6s look impressive. And this is most likely the case because the next step from 20nm is either 16nm and 14nm and TSMC is having a bit of trouble with manufacturing 16nm right now.
I know hardware isn't everything, but the transitions on iPhones are quite slow. For example, when I press on, let's say, the Safari button on my iPhone 5, the response time to app load time is too slow. I noticed that on the Galaxy S6, the responses are pretty much instantaneous. So if Apple uses faster processors, this may mean they might be able to get rid of the annoying transition animations/lag that is so evident in today's iPhones. And I'm not talking about stuttering lag. The lag I'm talking about is referring to the time it takes for the iPhone to respond when I click on an application.
Also the touchscreen on current iPhones can be improved. I noticed that Samsung smartphone touchscreens are much more accurate in responding to tactile stimuli. If you guys have iPhones, I highly recommend trying out a Samsung smartphone (any smartphone, it doesn't have to be the Galaxy S6) and you'll see a big difference. Here's an article from TomsHardware discussing this: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/galaxy-s3-beats-iphone-5s-5c-touch-accuracy,24874.html
EPT![[image loading]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/CnYtWWDor2s/maxresdefault.jpg)
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