Samsung Galaxy S 6 Preview

[Guest]

Samsung shifts its focus to design and forms the Galaxy S 6 and S 6 edge from aluminum and glass. There's more to these devices than a glossy new exterior though, because packed inside these premium materials lurks the latest technology.

Samsung Galaxy S 6 Preview : Read more

 

[Eddie Riggs]

Still using a Samsung Stratosphere. Even replaced it with another Stratosphere when the original one failed after 2 years of use. This S4, S5, and now this S6 doesn't really do anything that I need that my Stratosphere wont do. I'm sure it's a fast phone that can tell your heart rate and what the barometric pressure is in your general vicinity, but basically these phones are just becoming a way for the govt. to collect data in places where they couldn't get to before. Seriously! Who is using the barometer in a cell phone? Unless you have disposable income and just like to throw money away on every one of the latest gadgets to come out, buying the latest phone every year is pointless. So for those of you who can't wait to get the S6 so that your friends will be envious, you wont have to wait much longer! Oh yeah!

 

[Mr_Underhill_]

non-replaceable batter + no sd card = not for me.

 

[firefoxx04]

Wow.. that intro tho. I use the S5 as my daily and its fantastic. Sounds like someone is just a little bias. Every review I read showed the S5 being par or better than most phones.

Have fun with your fixed battery and no SD card support. Meanwhile im sitting here with a battery I can replace in a year or two if it craps along with a cheep 128GB removable storage.

I think the S6 is also lacking in the looks department along with a smaller battery.

 

[dstarr3]

non-replaceable batter + no sd card = not for me.

I generally agree about the battery, but when I think about it, I've made that a priority for my past three Samsung phones, which have lasted me six years, and not once have I had any battery issues. So, I guess it might be time to accept that it's fine.

But SD card, I agree. They're offering 128GB phones, which is a step in the right direction, but not if it costs an arm and a leg.

 

[-Fran-]

I generally agree about the battery, but when I think about it, I've made that a priority for my past three Samsung phones, which have lasted me six years, and not once have I had any battery issues. So, I guess it might be time to accept that it's fine.

But SD card, I agree. They're offering 128GB phones, which is a step in the right direction, but not if it costs an arm and a leg.

I've seen a lot of friends having their batteries die on them in one or two years, so it is a big deal. Weather conditions affect *a lot* the batteries: humidity and heat. It's a risky thing they didn't make it as usual, but I can also understand they want to simplify things a bit. Same goes for the SD card slot. If the 128GB version is not stupid expensive, it won't be a deal breaker for me at least. I'm still debating on battery though, but just like you, I haven't had any issues with mine (S2 from 2010 and still working). My GF had a lot of issues with hers and her already dead Note 1. So far so good with the Note 3 for her.

Cheers!

 

[microFarads]

In my family we have 4 Samsungs: four S3 and one S4. All had their batteries dead and exchanged after 1 and a half years average. All have full capacity SD cards. We liked them all even though the S3 is damn slow and poor camera. I waited for the S6. we were Samsung loyals, but no more. We are looking for another brand. Pity...

 

[microFarads]

Correction: We have 5 Samsungs

 

[Durandul]

I think they really missed an opportunity to wait and go with USB type C. That coupled with no expandable storage and a non removable battery, seems like a waste.

 

[danawesome89]

In response to the criticism of the s5:
"Lacking in both innovative hardware and design, it failed to differentiate itself from other flagship phones"

Actually, it DID have a differentiating feature- it had a removable battery and SD card support. Those were the ONLY reasons my wife bought one over the similarly specced and priced competition. The s6 has removed these standout features.

 

[Sakkura]

non-replaceable batter + no sd card = not for me.

It's one thing that the battery is non-replaceable. But it's another when the battery is also worse than in the last generation, AND the phone has a higher-res screen that will draw more power on its own as well as force the GPU to consume more power to render all those pixels. Samsung made a huge mistake here, destroying battery life and leaving no option for people to band-aid it with a battery upgrade.

 

[Boslink]

Dumb people want dumb phones

Samsung capitulated making Iphone like phone

Lost of us that like to have removable battery and SD card will not affect them too much i guess.

Much more dumb people buy shiny things well because they are shiny (and yes i have S4, my wife S5. Two more S5 i bough to family (mother in law and father in law) plus Nexus 10 inch tablet built by samsung)

And trust me my biggest complain about nexus is lack of SD card actually HUGE complain and would never ever again buy tablet without SD card option

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

So, microSD and removable battery weren't enough, they also had to omit USB 3.0? I mean... why buy this phone? At all? To play the latest NOVA or whatever on the train or something? What are its advantages over a solid $200-300 mid-ranger like a Moto G2, apart from needlessly high processing power and equally needlessly high-res display? Why did Samsung try out microUSB 3.0 for ONE model (SGN3) and then reverted to slow-ass USB 2.0 again for its flagships?

This is ridiculous. I expected at least a marginal upgrade from the SGS5, but they actually managed to make the SGS6 worse.

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

I just read the rest of this article. I mean, I understand that this info was obviously provided to Tom's by Samsung way before launch with a publishing embargo (a common practice for trusted tech review sites so articles are out the second the device is unveiled officially), but this is WAY too biased. No, it's not "some" Samsung customers that will "lament" the loss of microSD and removable battery, it will be almost EVERYONE who chose them for these very reasons. This increased processing power and the display add NOTHING to the phone's functionality. Cloud storage does NOT make up for missing local storage, and paying extra for 64 or 128 GB of internal storage is silly considering that it will be mostly used for files not requiring fast storage performance (music, movies, photos). Features... sorry, GIMMICKS like biometric auth and "Quick Launch camera" do NOT make up for missing microSD or the USB 3.0, things that could REALLY improve the functionality by allowing you to store more data for less money and transfer it quicker. Wireless charging is simply overrated, a nice extra, but not a counterweight to the missing... why repeat myself.

Oh, and the new design is NO DIFFERENT from the old. The phone looks just as boring from the front, and the fancy back will be hidden by the cover anyhow. No one I know except myself uses a smartphone without a protective cover.

This is an epic fail and money WILL be lost and people WILL get fired over it. If you care about not losing your local storage and not being cheated out of useful functions in favor of useless gimmicks, don't buy this phone and tell all your friends not to either.

 

[tenderous]

"Launched almost one-year ago, Samsung’s Galaxy S5 failed to impress consumers, reviewers, and even some Galaxy fans."

I want to be totally clear. You polled 140 people. Samsung had sold around 24 million S5 phones at the time the poll was done. The 140 people that were polled account for 0.000583% of the phones that were sold at that time.

Let that sink in for a second, then try to believe anything the author says in the article.

True, but remember the standard US poll is around 1,000 people, and they tend to be accurate within +/- 5%.

 

[Saravian]

I'm excited for this phone as it should make the S5 cheaper! Thanks Samsung!! Go wanna be iLemmings and get your S6 fix!;

 

[JohnUSA]

I will NOT upgrade my S5 to this new S6.
No SD card and no replaceable battery.
These 2 bad features are the kiss of death.
Bye bye Samsung, you lost me as a customer.

 

[JohnUSA]

I meant to say micro SD card.

 

[ElectrO_90]

Samsung listen to the Media more than their consumers.
1) No one cares that its metal over plastic
2) Plastic is a lot cheaper to replace if it gets scratched
3) microSD is used for storage and its CHEAP. Why not put cheap 128GB ram for storage rather than the current expensive ram, because no one really cares about speed to Photos.
4) I will miss the IP67 because it is useful for my work.

SAMSUNG - Stop listening to the stupid media and realise we bought your phones because they were NOT Iphones.

 

[MasterMace]

No removable battery? No microSD? They lost this customer.

 

[alextheblue]

Wow.. that intro tho. I use the S5 as my daily and its fantastic. Sounds like someone is just a little bias. Every review I read showed the S5 being par or better than most phones.

Have fun with your fixed battery and no SD card support. Meanwhile im sitting here with a battery I can replace in a year or two if it craps along with a cheep 128GB removable storage.

I've read a lot of reviews where the S5 didn't come out on top, though it was still close. Not to mention the plummeting sales vs the S4. Other than that I agree, the battery and microSD situation is less than stellar. Still, for most users it won't matter. The SoC is fast and low-power, and the storage is a huge jump up in speed.

In response to the criticism of the s5:
"Lacking in both innovative hardware and design, it failed to differentiate itself from other flagship phones"

Actually, it DID have a differentiating feature- it had a removable battery and SD card support. Those were the ONLY reasons my wife bought one over the similarly specced and priced competition. The s6 has removed these standout features.

You mean the same "standout" features that the G3 has? Frankly the G3 was a better phone overall, and only lemmings thought the S5 was "exceptional" - even most Samsung fans I knew coming from S3 and S4 devices were not impressed. I know one that wanted to jump ship to a Sony device which wasn't available on their network, so they ended up with a G3.

So no, I don't think the article is being unfair by saying they failed to differentiate with the S5. Now with the S6 they're making different mistakes. They're standing out more in terms of design, display, internal storage (capacity and speed both), and SoC. But they're removing features that their most diehard fans used to brag about. So it's really a mixed bag. We'll see what the competition brings though, heck they might still be in the lead if the others screw up too.

 

[vmem]

Man, that depressing intro paints a dark picture of the current Samsung and S5 (though I must agree that they're in trouble over the last couple of quarters).

Honestly, does Samsung not realize that the people who bought an S5 over an iphone or arguably HTC M8 made their choice for the removable battery and SD card? Heck it's all I've heard about from Samsung loyalists over the past 3 years... ditching those 2 and packing the phone in a iphone 4/6 hybrid design, and people will ask "so why not just buy an iphone?"

 

[Nightraptor1475]

Given the number of times that I've put a phone in the drink the waterproofing was one of the primary reasons I bought the S5 (this has already saved both my phone and my wifes). With that gone, along with the replaceable battery and microSD slot (which I use with some frequency), I will be looking elsewhere. At the end of the day I don't care how "elegant" a phone looks, if it no longer has the features that are important to me and that I use, I won't buy it. It is the reason one of the reasons I don't have an iPhone.

 

[gaborbarla]

Looks awesome, I want one.

 

[TempAccount007]

Here I thought the rationale for a removable battery was to replace it throughout the day. Most people on here are concerned about the battery's overall longevity... LOL.

BTW, the phone can get a 4 hour charge in 15 minutes. If you can't make that happen at least once during the day then you are probably far away from a cell tower (civilization) anyways.

As for microSD, never have I needed more than 32gb. It's as simple as that. Do you want to store the world's collection of Brazilian fart pr0n on your phone or what?