Photos and Features
Ignoring the curved sides that are specific to the Edge, the front of the Galaxy S6 really didn’t change much at all compared to the Galaxy S5 or even the S4. The front of the phone has the same single button design with that button being oval with a chrome ring around it. The button doesn’t show it but it also has a built in fingerprint sensor as well. Up top the phone does still have the Samsung logo just under the earpiece. From the front facing camera you get an impressive 5MP camera. The phone is available in a few different colors but out sample is a dark blue, I would almost call it black but when you see it next to the black screen it does have some blue to it.
What sets the Edge apart from the standard Galaxy S6 is its curved glass design that curves down to a thin edge on each side. Giving the sides a little radius to them doesn’t really curve the screen itself meaning the screen doesn’t face out at all, but it does give you a little bit of a peak at the screen from the sides.
The bottom of the S6 Edge is mostly normal with the exception of the curves at the sides. Samsung did pack both the USB charging plug as well as the microphone/headphone plug as well. Also down here is a small pinhole microphone as well as a set of holes for the speakerphone. Near the corners the S6 has clear plastic reliefs in the metal frame that should help absorb a small drop if your phone lands on its corner. What is interesting though is the Galaxy S5 actually had an interesting USB 3.0 connection that also let you charge via a standard micro USB connector I don’t know why they would drop that. The connector is also not covered by a waterproof latch like the S5. That means the S6 is not waterproof, for some people moving from the S5 this could be bit of a shock.
Up on the top edge of the phone we have the same plastic relief’s as the bottom. There aren’t any connections or buttons up here there. We do have a small window for the built in IR blaster meaning you can use the S6 Edge to change channels on your television or any other remote controlled device. This is also where Samsung slipped in the SIM card slot. Without the removable batter and with that the back cover they had to find a place to keep the SIM card.
The S6 Edge does get extremely thin at its side edges due to the curved glass design. The phone does still have its metal outer frame though, only it is much thinner. The left side of the phone has he volume up and down buttons and the right side has a single power button that also locks and unlocks the screen. The buttons are machined out of aluminum as well and are a little thinner than normal to fit into the tight edge.
The biggest physical change for the S6 was the back of the phone. With Samsung dropping removable batteries they didn’t need a removable back any longer. Because of that they went with a full glass back were the older models had that indestructible removable plastic back panel. The glass panel has both the Galaxy S6 Edge branding as well as the Verizon 4G LTE branding because this phone is on the Verizon network. I’m not a big fan of the rear facing camera being raised up though meaning when you put the phone on a table the camera is what is touching all of the time. There is an aluminum frame around the lens to protect it slightly, but I still think it is inviting damage. For the camera the S6 has a 16 MP. Also on the back next to the camera is the LED flash, a light sensor, as well as the heart rate sensor.
With the Galaxy S6 and the S6 Edge next to each other we can better see how the curved front glass changes the design of the phone. They are both the exact same size both in thickness and footprint although the edge gives the impression of it being thinner. The S6 has a more rounded edge than the edge as well reminding me a lot of an iPhone.
For the display the Galaxy S6 Edge has a 5.1 inch Super AMOLED screen. The display runs at an impressive 2560x1440p giving the phone a PPI (pixels per inch) of 577. For perspective the iPhone 6 has a ppi of 326 and the iPhone 6 Plus has a ppi of 401 so they are really packing in the pixels.
