The stunning Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge are finally in town. After the big unveiling at the Mobile World Congress (MWC 2015), the two highly-anticipated devices are now ready to reach Malaysian consumer hands. Slated to flood the retail channels on 17 April, you can pre-book the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge starting 3 April. The big telcos will offer their individual pre-booking initiatives as well.
The sixth generation of the flagship Galaxy S series (notice the ‘Galaxy’ moniker is no longer in CAPS) has gone through a major shift, both in design language and in fit and refinement.
Beauty redefined
Deliciously built in metal and glass, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge marks a new beginning of sorts for the Korean consumer electronics giant, and the global #1 mobile maker.
The Galaxy S6 edge is particularly special — boasting the world’s first dual-curved edge display, giving you a more immersive viewing experience as well as truckloads of coolness factor.
You may ultimately worry about the durability of the curved glass but rest assured it’s built from the toughest glass to date — Corning Gorilla Glass 4.
Samsung has gone all out to bring colourful, unique jewel-themed tones to its new marquees — White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, Blue Topaz (Galaxy S6 only) and Green Emerald (Galaxy S6 edge only). In the aesthetics department, both the S6 and S6 edge deliver craftsmanship and quality in droves.
READ: Hands-on Mini Review of Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
Cutting-edge hardware
But of course, it isn’t all about good looks. Underneath, the S6 and S6 edge share the same cutting-edge internals that put them on the smartphone pedestal.
Featuring the first ever 14nm mobile chip — Samsung’s very own Exynos 64-bit 2.1GHz processor and mated to the fastest RAM on a mobile platform you can buy, LPDDR4 RAM and new superfast HFS 2.0 flash memory, you can be sure performance is on the main menu. The lethal combination makes the S6 and S6 edge the fastest phones in the world right now, based on early benchmarks.
And it’s not all about power. Because the 14nm process means a smaller, more efficient chip and this translates to lower power consumption and ultimately better battery life.
The two devices also feature the world’s first 1440P/VP9 hardware-based codec so you can enjoy high resolution streaming video.
It’s difficult to talk about the S6 and S6 edge without mentioning the stunning 5.1-inch Quad HD Super AMOLED display that offers an incredible pixel density of 577PPI. It’s the best display out there in the market, offering 600cd/m2 brightness that works well even in the bright outdoors.
The best camera
And there’s more. The new 16MP f/1.9 OIS main camera and 5MP f/1.9 front camera are the best cameras on a smartphone bar none. The big aperture means a very fast camera, and also delivers incredible low light performance. It also offers Auto Real-time HDR Smart OIS and IR Detect White Balance.
What’s great is that Samsung built in a new “Quick Launch” feature that enables you to launch the camera in 0.7 seconds, triggered by merely double-clicking the Home button.
READ: 6 things I like about the Samsung Galaxy S6
A killer feature is Rapid Charging enabling super fast wired charging, 1.5 tiems faster than on the Galaxy S5. With just 10 minutes of charging, you can get up to 4 additional hours of usage. A full 100% charge only take 80 minutes.
Built into the 2,550mAh battery (2,600mAh on the S6 edge) is wireless charging capabilities supporting WPC and PMA standards.
Security is an essential part of mobile phone ownership and thus Samsung has upgraded Samsung KNOX, its end-to-end secure mobile platform on both devices. It is made ready for immediate enterprise adoption. The enhanced touch-type fingerprint scanner provides quick authentication and saves encrypted data in secure device storage.
Pricing and availability
The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge is priced at RM2,599 and RM3,099 respectively. Prices are inclusive of 6% GST. The devices will be available from 17 April onwards and only the 32GB storage option will be available.
Colours available include White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, Blue Topaz (Galaxy S6 only) and Green Emerald (Galaxy S6 edge only).
You can pre-order the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge from 3-12 April through www.samsung.com/my. For pre-orders, Samsung is throwing in a free wireless charger worth RM247. Whilst stocks last.
