Introduction
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+, as its name suggests, is the bigger and flashier sibling of the original Galaxy S6 edge smartphone that dazzled the world with its dual-curve display a few months ago. The newcomer is aimed at users who want a premium phablet with distinct design, but don't necessarily need the S Pen of the Samsung Galaxy Note5.
Spec-wise, the Galaxy S6 edge+ offers the same industry-leading hardware as the Note5, save for the lack of a stylus. To make up for the lack of an S Pen, the edge+ boasts a dual-curve display and one of the best designs in the business. Here's a look at the the key features the handset has to offer.
Key features
- 5.7" QHD (2560 x 1440 pixels) Super AMOLED display with dual-curve design; 518ppi
- 64-bit Exynos 7420 chipset with 14nm architecture; octa-core CPU (quad 2.1GHz & quad 1.5GHz), Mali-T760MP8 GPU
- 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM; 32/64GB of UFS 2.0 flash memory
- 16MP f/1.9 camera with OIS; Auto HDR; 4K video capture; IR white balance detection
- 5MP f/1.9 front-facing camera
- Cat. 9 LTE network support; WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz); GPS, GLONASS and Beidou; Bluetooth 4.2; NFC; USB 2.0
- NFC and MST mobile payment support
- Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with TouchWiz UX
- 3,000mAh non-removable battery; Qi (WPC) and PMA wireless charging support
- Wired and wireless Quick Charging
- Fingerprint scanner
- Heart-rate monitor
- Metal chassis; Corning Gorilla Glass 4 front and back
Main disadvantages
- No microSD card slot; no 128GB built-in memory option
- The battery is not user-replaceable
- No IR port
- No enhanced resistance to liquids or dust
- No stereo speakers
- No particularly easy to handle
- Considerably more expensive than Samsung Galaxy Note5
At a quick glance, Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ will be defined by its design and curved display. It was these two features that allowed the smaller Samsung Galaxy S6 edge to take the smartphone world by storm, so it is hardly a surprise that the company utilized them in larger form factor.
The hardware configuration of the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ is one of the best in the business, as well as a familiar sight by now. After all, the S6 edge+ is the fourth smartphone from the Korean giant to pack the power combo of an Exynos 7420 SoC, QHD display and 16MP camera.
Just like in the case of Samsung Galaxy Note5, the biggest question marks in the Galaxy S6 edge+ involve the lack of expandable memory. The absence of a user-replaceable battery is another potential letdown, though we found the Note5 to do quite alright with the controversial solution.
As always, we will kick our review off with an unboxing of the Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+, followed by a design and build quality walkthrough. Head over to the next page for a closer look at the new phablet!
Display
Just like the Galaxy Note5, Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ packs a 5.7" Super AMOLED display with diamond pentile matrix and QHD (2560 x 1440 pixels) resolution. The latter delivers a pixel density of 518ppi on the 5.7" screen.
Samsung's flagship smartphones have always boasted some of the best displays in the business and the tradition continues with the latest iteration. Alongside the usual infinite contrast, the screen boasts accurate colors (you can still make them saturated in the settings), as well as top notch brightness and viewing angles.
If you boost the brightness slider you can reach the brightness levels of a good LCD. Keep in mind that in very bright light, the auto brightness mode can push the screen brightness well above what is achievable manually with the slider (up to 540nits). It's not as much as, say, the Note5 (620nits), but the difference is readily visible compared to the regular max screen brightness (410nits).
This sort of brightness levels can be easily beaten by the competing smartphones with LCD screens, but the amazingly low reflectivity of Samsung's SuperAMOLED displays means you can keep the brightness slider down even in bright sunlight conditions and still enjoy legible screen contents.
Viewing angles are great though you might see a minor blue/green tint at steeper angles (it's not uncommon with OLEDs).
Sunlight legibility is once again superb - the second best we've seen to date. The Korean giant has tuned the display to go above the brightness level that's available to the user when in bright environment and it even managed to beat its previous achievement with the Galaxy S6 edge. This means you will be able to use your display even under direct sunlight with little loss of legibility.
Sunlight contrast ratio
The Screen mode setting allows you to choose a color temperature, contrast and saturation preset that best matches your preferences. We found the Basic setting to provide the most accurate colors (average DeltaE 2000 of 2.5 means a factory calibrated display), though at this mode you might find the screen images lacking some contrasty punch.
If the screen looks too bland to your taste at Basic mode, we suggest you go for the AMOLED photo mode, which is nearly as accurate (average DeltaE 2000 of 5) but boosts the contrast along with the saturation of some colors. AMOLED video pushes colors even further, so it would be up to your preference which one you would use.
Battery life
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+, like the Galaxy Note5, features a 3,000mAh non-removable battery. We put the smartphone through the rounds of our battery test and it achieved an endurance rating of 83 hours.
This means you can rely on the S6 edge+ for three and a half days on a single charge, if you are to use if for an hour each of calls, web browsing and video playback daily. Such usage pattern is of course entirely artificial, but we've established it so our battery results are comparable across devices. In this case, the endurance rating of the S6 edge+ shows it will last you quite close to what the Note5 would with its 85h endurance rating.
Samsung's quick charger can top up the battery in less than 90 minutes from empty, so it is incredibly convenient to use. Wireless charging, on the other hand is so fast and so liberating, that once you try its convenience, there'll be no turning back. You're fully charged in just 120 minutes.
As always, there are two battery saving modes available to the user - Power Saving and Ultra Power Saving. The latter turns off all, but the most crucial phone features and allows the phablet to last for hours with single percentage digits of battery left.
Combined with the plethora of options to rapidly charge the phablet, we reckon that the battery endurance of Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ should be good enough for even a seasoned power user. Yes, a removable battery would have been a great thing to have, but we find the sleek metal/glass body of the handset to be a fair tradeoff.
There is always the option of getting an external powerbank as these accessories have been at their cheapest lately.
Connectivity
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ packs a kitchen sink full of connectivity options, headed by Cat. 9 LTE connectivity with support for download speeds of up to 450 MB/s. If you have access to an HSPA network only, you'll get a maximum download speed of 42Mbps.
The phablet supports Wi-Fi ac networks for fast local networking. Wi-Fi a/b/g/n at 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks are also supported, of course.
Then there's Bluetooth 4.2 LE with apt-X codec support (for high-quality audio streaming). Wired connectivity takes place over microUSB 2.0 port.
The USB has MHL 3.0 functionality, which allows it to output 2160p video at 30fps, coincidentally the top mode for the camera. The port also supports USB HID devices, like a keyboard and a mouse.
There is also NFC, which is used for Samsung Pay, which lets the device replace the credit cards in your wallet. It's also used for pairing with other devices and reading NFC tags as well.
Oddly, Samsung opted to leave the IR blaster off the Galaxy S6 edge+, so remote controlling your home appliances is a no-go this time around.
Samsung has also released an updated version of their SideSync app, which allows you to share content between a Samsung smartphone and PC or a Samsung tablet and smartphone, as well as remotely control the smartphone from the bigger device (including mouse and keyboard input). It's also the easiest way to transfer multimedia (or any kind of content) with just drag and drop.
