Samsung has finally unveiled their Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, revealing redesigned Galaxy smartphones with a boost in power.
Made of metal and covered by impressively durable Corning Gorilla Glass 4, the new Samsung Galaxy S6 marks an aesthetic and material boost for the smartphone line.
It is visually similar to Apple’s iPhone 6, but, as Samsung Executive Vice-President of mobile Younghee Lee jabbed, it “will not bend.” The “colorful jewel tones” include White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, Blue Topaz and Green Emerald.
The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge come equipped with F1.9 lenses and sensors on both front (5MP) and rear (16MP) cameras, with Optical Image Stabilisation included. Similar to the iPhone, a “Quick Launch” feature allows users fast access to the camera by clicking the home page button.
WPC and PMA wireless charging is also included, with both the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge able to work with any wireless pad supporting the technology. Apart from the wireless charging capabilities, Samsung claims the new Galaxy’s wired charging is now 1.5 times faster than the charging speed seen on the Samsung Galaxy S5, and will apparently now provide around 4 hours usage after only a ten-minute charge.
Perhaps one of the most impressive upgrades, the Galaxy S6 is to be powered by an octa-core processor. The boost in power, from a team-up of a quad-core 1.5Ghz processor and a quad-core 2.1Ghz processor, means the phone’s features should be working lag-free.
While Samsung is pushing the launch of both phones, one should note that they are not too different. The main alterations between the two come down to the screen, which curves down on both sides of the Galaxy S6 Edge, and a slightly different battery size. The Edge’s battery measures at 2,600mAh and the regular Galaxy S6 comes in at 2,550mAh, so the former should last a little longer.
Samsung are pushing their new payment technology with their release, launching Samsung Pay on the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge in the U.S. during the second half of 2015. MasterCard is backing the new mobile payment technology, which will enable customers to use their MasterCard credit and debit cards from participating banks directly through Samsung Pay.
“From the start, Samsung’s vision for mobile payments and commerce has been centered on security, wide acceptance, and a simple user experience,” Dr. Injong Rhee, Executive Vice President at Samsung Electronics said.
“With MasterCard’s tokenization services in conjunction with Samsung’s unique MST (magnetic secure transmission) and NFC technologies, Samsung Pay makes secure contactless mobile payments possible at most NFC or traditional magnetic POS terminals.”
The Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge will be available globally from April 10 2015. No Australia-specific release date or price range has been announced as yet.
