Samsung Galaxy S6: Samsung has lost it.

[NLxAROSA]

I've owned all the iPhones from the 3G through the 5S, but when my wifes iPhone 5 battery died, I gave her my 5s. I looked at several alternatives, including the iPhone 6, but decided that 800 euro's for basically the same phone with a bit more memory and with a slightly bigger screen did not fit my requirements/needs. The step up from the 5S was just too small to justify that amount. So I got an HTC One M8 instead and love it so far. Apple will have to up their game to reel me back in...

 

[ClydeYellow]

So, they've decided to go the Apple route with a phone which trades switchable memory and a removeable battery for a shiny metal case.

A shame, really. Because I bought my S5 knowing fully well that I would've been able to keep it working for as long as batteries and SD cards are available, and now I know my next phone won't be a Samsung. But that's me. I guess if they decided to pull such a move it's because they know the S6 is going to sell better than the S5.

 

[kjb]

If I didn't see the Samsung name on the phone I would have thought it was an Iphone S6. I hate that they removed the SD card and the removable battery.

 

[iName]

They took form over function.

The rice rocket of phones.

 

[Dennisch]

Samsung has been dropping the ball for a while now, mainly by the way how they destroy their version of Android.
So many useless factory apps. Unable to remove, unable to shut down. You need a rooted phone to have it working properly.

 

[FoRiZon]

Samsung has been dropping the ball for a while now, mainly by the way how they destroy their version of Android.
So many useless factory apps. Unable to remove, unable to shut down. You need a rooted phone to have it working properly.

Agreed, especially that memory problem.

I remember when I own the Galaxy Tab 3 I discovered memory problems (Application wont install if its 500mb or less free space even when the app weighs 5mb. Also some apps hogs a huge free space even when its not downloading anything) and many junk cant uninstall apps. After I root it and install CM my tablet is WAY faster.

Samsung says they slimmed down their junks in S6, though they left the contracted apps that is the Office Apps. I remember EACH APPS (remember, word, excel, and powerpoint are separate) take 100MB MORE each. For comparison Kingsoft, which I use right now, uses just 50Mb for all. Makes ne wondering if theyre the leader of Android, why they contracting Microsoft?

Joyous Samsung never seeing reality a bit, thinking IPhone is a literal god of smartphones.

 

[Swagger897]

wow is all I have to say after reading this thread.

I haven't done much research on the phone but after reading this... quite sad.. I've owned my S2 (T-Mobile version that came out in grey) for almost two and a half years. Nothing wrong with it other than being occasionally a tad bit slow at start-up. Then a few months after I got my phone, the S3 rolled out and I saw a few features I wanted to have on mine, then the S4 came out and a few things I wanted on mine. Then the S5 came out and I saw nothing over the 4 I wanted. If anything the Note 4 was the best. If they could have made that the size of the S2, that would be heaven on earth...

Now with this trashy looking piggy bank, I guess I'll be waiting for something like my S2 come round again..

 

[Grayfox]

wow is all I have to say after reading this thread.

I haven't done much research on the phone but after reading this... quite sad.. I've owned my S2 (T-Mobile version that came out in grey) for almost two and a half years. Nothing wrong with it other than being occasionally a tad bit slow at start-up. Then a few months after I got my phone, the S3 rolled out and I saw a few features I wanted to have on mine, then the S4 came out and a few things I wanted on mine. Then the S5 came out and I saw nothing over the 4 I wanted. If anything the Note 4 was the best. If they could have made that the size of the S2, that would be heaven on earth...

Now with this trashy looking piggy bank, I guess I'll be waiting for something like my S2 come round again..

The S6 is one centimeter less wide than the Note 1.

The line between phone and phablet is getting blurred.

 

[Swagger897]

The S6 is one centimeter less wide than the Note 1.

The line between phone and phablet is getting blurred.

+1...

If I wanted to use my iPad as a phone, I might as well download the magic jack app and hold that up to my face (although, that doesn't have multi-tasking features like the the notes..).

 

[Dennisch]

Samsung has been dropping the ball for a while now, mainly by the way how they destroy their version of Android.
So many useless factory apps. Unable to remove, unable to shut down. You need a rooted phone to have it working properly.

And after posting that news comes out that they completely changed the way TouchWiz will work. Removable apps, less junkware. Good stuff.

 

[MagpieRacer]

I'll just wait for the Xperia Z4 I think.

 

[chzsln485]

Times are getting strange indeed. I remember products were all about quality, quantity then marketing. Now its all about marketing, quantity then quality. A simple example is the beats by dre. That headphones in terms of quality is no where even near the quality of my $150 Audio Technica yet I can go in mall and see a Beats for $500 and up. What's sad is almost every developer in technology is following the same business model. Lets get someone famous or make everything in the commercials look luxury and sophisticated, tweak old outdated specs but keep things limited and make it look up to date, manufacture 1,000,000 of it and eveyone will buy it. So said so done. Now everything is watered down and it looks like Samsung is starting to follow the trend.

I want to like this 4,000,000 times. Every time I see someone wearing Beats, or know someone who wants to buy headphones and are considering a set of Beats, I just want to scream and scream and scream at them until they buy something decent. The issue is that by the time they have their heart set on Beats, they've fallen for the marketing and nothing you can do or say will change their opinion of them.

 

[Pseudopod]

I don't get the design complaints. How many damned ways are there to design a rectangular plate with a huge screen and a single button (without making it an overdesigned ugly mess)? You're ought to run out of possibilities sooner or later.

I've also been saying this since at least the iphone 2. As long as it's not ugly, I don't really care. To me, these things are tools, not fashion statements.

If you don't like it, just don't buy it. Samsung is a company and companies like money, so they're gonna get the picture if lots of people don't buy it.

I actually like the S6 because its existence is going to push S5 down in price.

 

[Conza]

Look, the Galaxy S6 is by far the new king of them all, and I really hope HTC come up with something more than the M9, because while I think its a genuinely great phone, its behind on enough technologies for it to lose to the S6, before the race begins - this is a completely different game to last year.

Rumour has it that HTC will, but I've yet to read anything confirmed

With regards to S6 losing it, I doubt this, they've added several features, I'm not so sure the edge business is all its cracked up to be, but its the one to get because of a larger battery in my mind. Memory isn't a big deal with a 64/128GB version, neither is a removable battery with wireless charging and very quick charging, the only feature straight from apple in my mind is a finger print 'swipe' function, otherwise business as usual, Touchwiz was the greatest weakness of the S-line and now they've improved it with what every customer and reviewer has wanted, water/dust proofing was just irritating to users (particularly the flap at the bottom of the phone).

But yes, I think metal over glass would've been a better idea, bet it won't have many breaking issues by now though

 

[Pseudopod]

If it was irritating, you could just have torn off the flap and use it as a non-waterproof phone. I'm not going to buy a non-waterproof phone again unless it becomes impossible to find one with reasonable specs. It is very relaxing.

 

[2clicks]

This is really bizarre. Don't Samsung want to reel in existing S5 customers who want to upgrade for no apparent reason at all? As much as I'm pro-Android, Apple has been incredibly consistent with their range of iPhones, the iPhone 6 is clearly a step ahead of the iPhone 5, and they know it because they have the ability to attract consumers who already purchased their previous product. Samsung are alienating a large number of their consumer base because of this move, and they've clearly jumped the gun due to their ignorance of the competition. A rival company can easily offer a flagship device with identical specs, but include the hardware features they omitted on the S6, and the loyal Samsung customers (not the first-time buyers) will most likely jump ship.

 

[sems4arsenal]

Hopefully with more and more phones not using expandable storage, the high speed ones get cheaper

 

[Grayfox]

These are the prices(AUD) for the S6

S6 32GB: $999
S6 64GB: $1,149
S6 128GB: $1,299

S6 Edge 32GB: $1,149
S6 Edge 64GB: $1,299
S6 Edge 128GB: $1,449

So not only does it look like an apple, have storage options like an apple, It has pricing like an apple.

Samsung wants to be Apple.

 

[FoRiZon]

These are the prices(AUD) for the S6

S6 32GB: $999
S6 64GB: $1,149
S6 128GB: $1,299

S6 Edge 32GB: $1,149
S6 Edge 64GB: $1,299
S6 Edge 128GB: $1,449

So not only does it look like an apple, have storage options like an apple, It has pricing like an apple.

Samsung wants to be Apple.

And reportedly tey want to use Xiaomi's distribution plan.

I think the real show Samsung actually focussed in is the edge series. They didnt want to alienate the original users so the normal type is retained.

 

[Luminis]

These are the prices(AUD) for the S6
S6 64GB: $1,149

And I'm just sitting here with my $350 64GB Oneplus One, wondering what on earth the S6 could offer to convince me to pay three times the price of the One.

I guess Samsung's banking on the snob effect. Expensive = exclusive = do want. Not in my case, though, but it worked for other brands, so why not for Samsung...

 

[ProjectWHaT]

S6 Edge drop slam test

 

[Jump_Ace]

So, can that edge display stuff on the left side, for us lefties? If there's 64GB of internal storage, I can put my SD Card to use elsewhere. I never touch my battery, never have really. It's made of metal and resisting those "fall" is nice.

I may upgrade to this later on. I'd like to know if the keyboard is any better (assuming not) than the S5 I have. I need to find a keyboard app with taller letters so I actually press the space bar when I want to.

Jerome

 

[Pseudopod]

These are the prices(AUD) for the S6

S6 32GB: $999
S6 64GB: $1,149
S6 128GB: $1,299

S6 Edge 32GB: $1,149
S6 Edge 64GB: $1,299
S6 Edge 128GB: $1,449

So not only does it look like an apple, have storage options like an apple, It has pricing like an apple.

Samsung wants to be Apple.

S4 and S5 weren't exactly cheap either. Sure, they were slightly cheaper than the relevant iphones, but the main difference was that they offered more stuff as well.

 

[Tornado]

I've been thinking, has Samsung really lost it though? I'm not a fan of the regular Galaxy 6 (the Edge is pretty awesome, though), but sales seem to be through the roof and based on early comparison reviews the inhouse chipset Sammy developed seems to be leaving the Snapdragon 810 in the dust in terms of power, efficiency and especially heat. HTC in particular seems like they are coming up short bad compared to Samsung this time around; and Sony looks like they are going to launch the Z4 so late that they probably shouldn't even bother (which with all the rumors of the mobile division's demise, they might not).


I lament the loss of external storage most of all, especially since Samsung was the main champion of it and their reasoning for dropping it seems more than a little hollow; and the early rumors of the next Galaxy Tab S sounds like a rather huge step back from the current one; but the actual flagship phone itself seems to be in another weight class over everything else that is launching around the same time and I'm not sure that would have been the case had Samsung just made another Galaxy S4 derivative. Especially now that they got the "plastic fantastic" stuff out of their system which made all of their phones feel like toys wrapped in Band-Aids.

 

[hasari77]

I'm happy with the new trend Samsung is into. If I was buying new phone right now, I would absolutely consider S6, S6 Edge, A3, A5 or A7. Obviously majority of the customers prefer the simple and solid, metallic iPhone-like structure, and so do I. The solid feel and "form over function" -oriented design is definitely more important for me than technical upgrades; as long as the camera is better than before, and Instagram and Twitter work well, everything is fine!

 

[sems4arsenal]

I'm happy with the new trend Samsung is into. If I was buying new phone right now, I would absolutely consider S6, S6 Edge, A3, A5 or A7. Obviously majority of the customers prefer the simple and solid, metallic iPhone-like structure, and so do I. The solid feel and "form over function" -oriented design is definitely more important for me than technical upgrades; as long as the camera is better than before, and Instagram and Twitter work well, everything is fine!

Why not consider something like a HTC M9.

I think Samsung is the apple of android, their company has somehow earned the "premium" feel, thanks to their incredible PR and budget, although in my opinion they are atleast 3 better android phone makers out there.

 

[Omnis]

For drop tests, I worry not about the screen cracking but performance hits. My cell signal took a crap after the first big drop of my phone. The sim card interface is jacked up.

 

[AOS-]

For drop tests, I worry not about the screen cracking but performance hits. My cell signal took a crap after the first big drop of my phone. The sim card interface is jacked up.

I haven't even considered that. Dropping it may be a reason my phone had lost its 3G ability at one point.

 

[Korza]

Why not consider something like a HTC M9.

Rubbish build quality. The edges on the M9 are sharp enough to cut yourself on.

 

[Omnis]

Personally, I don't think I'm ever going to get an HTC product again. My M7 has been an tremendous disappointment for something so expensive. The purple camera issue is unforgivable.