The Galaxy S6 Edge is twin brother of the regular S6 with a twist, that it was two curved edges on the screen. CPU, camera, software, and pretty much everything else but the screen is identical on the S6 Edge compared to the S6. The S6 Edge retails $100 more than the regular S6 and really, is it worth the extra $100?
*Note – I only cover what’s missing from my Galaxy S6 unboxing as the phones are nearly identical other than the edge screen, please see Galaxy S6 Unboxing first if you haven’t.
First, the Galaxy S6 Edge feels much sharper on the edges than the S6 as the curved screen gives it sharper edges. For some, this may be more stable plus the S6 Edge also fits more naturally in your hand when holding the phone. The curved screen also make the S6 Edge feel much smaller than the regular S6. Overall, the S6 Edge fits in your hand better but you may want to try for yourself at your local phone store and decide which one is better for you.
I also noticed viewing angles are not as good on the S6 Edge, the curved edges actually attract more reflection of light, especially outdoors or where there is a lot of light. In that regards, I feel the regular S6 is much better choice.
Now, let’s talk about the edge screen functionality. If you’ve never used the Galaxy Note Edge, you would probably be amazed by the new S6 Edge. Unfortunately, as someone who has use the Note Edge as daily driver for many months, the S6 Edge comes without core features that was on the Note Edge, like being able to use your edge screen for your app shortcuts, shortcuts to flashlight, and even notifications.
With my Note Edge, the edge screen was really a cool feature as I could easily switch between apps as the edge screen served as a separate screen. On top of that, notifications showed up on the edge screen whenever I got notifications for my SMS, tweets, Facebook, etc…etc… This allowed me to be more productive as I could do things without interrupting whatever I was doing on the main screen.
Well, the S6 Edge has none of that. Samsung removed those core features and put in contacts instead. Instead of using the edge screen as a separate screen, it’s now part of the main screen. No longer do you see notifications showing up on the edge screen nor having the ability to switch between apps instantly. Instead, you can access your favorite contacts by swiping on the upper-right or upper-left (depending on how you set the edge screen) corner. Plus you will be able to check your missed calls but that’s pretty much it.
(The only real feature of edge screen while phone is on, you can add 5 contacts with 5 different colors.)
(You can also check your missed calls by swiping from the edge screen.)
The edge screen on the Galaxy S6 lights up with the color you set for your favorite contacts if you put the phone facing down. Now, common sense tells me there’s a problem with this, no one puts their phone facing down. In fact, some people leave the phone facing up so they can use it or pick up calls easily by swiping the screen while phone is laying on the table/desk. Also note, putting your phone face down may cause scratches if there’s hard-to-see debris on the surface.
With this new feature, although it looks really cool, the user has to actually pick up the phone, then swipe to pick up the call. It’s just another hassle and a feature I really don’t think is useful. Whoever thought of this feature should be fired, seriously.
Now, I may be very critical as a user coming from a Galaxy Note Edge but I want people who buy the S6 Edge to realize that Samsung is selling you a bunch of garbage. Well, that’s my initial thought anyways.
But, don’t get me wrong, the S6 Edge is still a great phone, I only outlined the bad things about it in my unboxing but it has all the great features of the regular Galaxy S6. I did not cover them in this unboxing since I already covered them with the S6 and it would be redundant. If you have not seen my Galaxy S6 unboxing, please see that first as I do go over in detail some of the new software/camera features of S6, which is identical to the S6 Edge.
Overall, the $100 extra for the Galaxy S6 Edge may be well worth it if Samsung adds missing Note Edge features in upcoming software updates. But for right now, if I were you, I would keep the $100 and buy the regular S6 instead.
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