Mobile World Congress 2015: Samsung announces Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge + Full Specs

Today, Samsung unveiled the new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge smartphones early this morning in Barcelona at the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2015 – and Samsung has some exciting new features on what is the most advanced phone coming to market.

The Galaxy S6 is a traditional 5.1-inch smartphone, while the Galaxy S6 Edge is 5.1-inch display with dual edges – like the Note Edge on each side.

Samsung’s Galaxy S6 offering is all-new, packs significant departures by Samsung to core areas that needed to change, and debuts a brilliant operating system based on Android Lollipop.

Both phones both the same 5.1-inch quad HD Super AMOLED displays for an impressive 577 ppi, 64-bit octa-core Exynos processors, 3GB of LPDDR4 RAM, between 32GB and 128GB of internal storage, 16-megapixel rear cameras, 5-megapixel front-facing cameras and the re-done TouchWiz based on Android Lollipop. The S6 has a 2550mAH battery, while the S6 Edge packs a little more at 2600mAH.

Here’s a taste of the things that were really surprised: Samsung Pay based on NFC and surprisingly MST, Wireless charging, Dual Edges with Gorilla Glass 4, all-new camera and much more.

Samsung’s approach to the S6 can be explained through their codename for the phone: ‘Project Zero’.

Why ‘Zero’? Samsung wanted the S6 to start from scratch, with no limits and complete freedom with everything. This is no incremental set of improvements.

Design

Samsung’s Galaxy S6 is the first smartphone from Samsung to be made entirely of ‘premium’ materials, with Samsung saying in the announcement that it will not bend. As is the trend, both are thin (6.8 mm/7.0mm edge) and lightweight (138g /132g edge).

The face and back are covered with Gorilla Glass 4, with an aluminium chassis across the sides and bottom. Those on the ground are seriously calling it one of the most beautiful smartphones ever – a huge turnaround on Samsung’s previously cheap look and feel.

It’s worth mentioning again that the quad HD Super AMOLED displays 577 ppi – unheard of and likely to be the highest ppi we’ll see in 2015. Those on the ground can’t hide how gorgeous the display looks and how eye-popping it is.

Note – the Galaxy S6 edge doesn’t feature separate displays on the edges like the Note Edge, it’s a continuation of the mainscreen with some additional capacities – like rub to wake and the night-clock.

The battery can’t be changed, there’s no expandable storage, and Samsung aren’t yet up to USB 3.0.

Finally – no bloat!

Samsung’s new OS is TouchWiz software that comes packaged on Google’s Android Lollipop. It’s a big change for the company, once roundly criticised for packing far too many confusing and competing bloated features into their flagship phones.

With the Galaxy S6, the company have tipped them all out – with the phone coming with a huge 40% less apps and ‘features’.

All of the bloatware that just gets in the way has been stripped out, with Android given a higher priority in the user interface. We’ll need more hands-on time to look at just how much better this experience is, but Samsung look to have learned a tough lesson here.

Camera

A lot is being made of Samsung’s new cameras, with both front and back completely redone. Samsung have put a lot of effort into making the camera the highest quality possible, with a number of tricks.

Samsung’s new camera setup uses the infrared sensor in the heart rate monitor on the back of the phone to measure lighting and adjust the white balance and colours for best lighting. It also features smart optical image stabilisation to reduce blur and take far better photos in low-light.

The rear camera on the Galaxy S6 is a 16-megapixel sensor with an F-Stop of f/1.9. The camera is always-on, although cleverly managed to not drain power. A double-tap on the home button, even with the phone locked or asleep, powers the to be open and ready in less than a second.

Battery

For the first time, the battery on Samsung’s new phone is not replaceable, due to wireless charging and Samsung’s own new fast charging technology.

According to Samsung – and we look forward to testing – charging the Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge for just 10 minutes adds enough juice to power two hours of HD video playback, and charging it for 30 minutes will take the battery from empty all the way to 50%.

When do we get it, and how much?

Both devices will be available in 20 countries from April 10. The S6 comes in white, black, gold and blue and the S6 Edge will be available in all those colors on top of an exclusive green.

No although no pricing was confirmed.

Virtual Reality

Both new phones can be used as virtual reality headsets, with a new, smaller Samsung Gear VR, known as ‘Innovator Edition’.

The virtual reality headset that will use the phones as screens, as per the Galaxy Note 4, to deliver 360-degree videos and games.

More to come.