Although the Samsung Galaxy S5 was technically a great handset, with brilliant specs, its plastic shell didn't exactly scream quality. On top of that, its design was really just a rehash of what had gone before. This year, Samsung's fighting back with not one, but two high-end metal phones: the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. This is just the official information from Samsung, so if you want to find out what we thought of the handsets you'll need to read our hands-on Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge review and Samsung Galaxy S6 review.
Design and finish
Samsung has moved to a metal and glass body with both of its new handsets. As you've probably guessed from the name, the S6 Edge is an enhancement of the Galaxy Note Edge, which was launched earlier this year. Rather than just having one side of the display curved, the S6 Edge has both sides curved, creating a symmetry that we think looks better.
A new colour finish has been applied to the phone, giving it a jewelled and transparent finish, with the handset available in White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, and Green Emerald (Galaxy S6 edge only). Impressively, Samsung has managed to make the S6 Edge smaller and lighter than the S5 (just) at 142x70.1x7mm and 132g.
Display
Samsung has fitted a 5.1in screen into the S6 Edge (the same size as on the S5) and has used a QHD (2,560x1,440) resolution. With a pixel density of 577ppi, it makes this the highest-density screen available, outstripping the LG G3, which has the same resolution on a slightly larger screen. Samsung has increased the brightness of the display from its previous generation, up to 600cm/m2. This should improve readability in sunlight.
As with the Note Edge, the S6 Edge's screen has a couple of special abilities. First is People Edge, which lets you assign colours to five contacts. When the phone is face-down, the edge of the screen flashes the corresponding colour to let you know who's calling. Next is Information Stream, which displays little nuggets of info, such as the date, time and weather, on the side of the screen when the phone is sat flat.
Battery and wireless charging
The move to a metal body has meant that Samsung has had to ditch the replaceable battery. It has also reduced the battery to a 2,600mAh unit, down from 2,800mAh in the S5. However, the 14nm processor will use a lot less power, so battery life shouldn't be affected.
When it comes to charging, you can use the microUSB port, as normal, or take advantage of the phone's built-in support for wireless charging. Both the WPC and PMA standards are supported, which means the S6 Edge will work with the majority of charging mats.
Processor and RAM
As we expected, Samsung has ditched Qualcomm and made its own SoC for this handset. The 2.1Ghz Quad-core Exynos chip (with 1.5GHz quad-core low-power CPU alongside) is built using a 14nm fabrication process, which means that it runs cooler and uses less power. At the time of writing, we didn’t have full specs of this chip, nor Samsung's predicted performance boost. It's interesting to note that this chip is 64bit compatible, though, making the most of Android 5.0 Lollipop. Samsung has also installed 3GB of LPDDR4 RAM.
Operating System
Samsung has, obviously, used Android 5.0 Lollipop for the S6 Edge. A slicker, faster version of TouchWiz sits on top of this, making the new phone a familiar one to previous Samsung owners. With other handsets, Samsung had been guilty of loading more and more apps on to them, although this time around the clutter is gone. Samsung claims that it has reduced the pre-install by 40%, with the apps removed available as optional downloads.
A deal with Microsoft provides OneNote, OneDrive and Skype, although these apps are just icons on the home-screen. You have to tap them to download and install the actual apps.
Camera
As with the S5, the S6 Edge has a 16-megapixel camera, but some improvements have been made. A new f/1.9 lens lets in 34% more light than the S5's f/2.2 lens; Optical Image Stabilisation will make taking blur-free images in low light easier; and real-time HDR processing should improve the dynamic range of your photos. There's also a 5-megapixel camera on the front.
Storage
Gone is the microSD card slot, with Samsung instead relying on internal memory. The phone will be available in 32/64/128GB versions, which should provide plenty of storage for most people. The only downside is that the difference in models is likely to be more expensive than buying the equivalent-sized memory card. Samsung is also promising that its USF 2.0 Flash Memory is 30 per cent faster than used in its older phones; this should make the OS and apps faster to respond and start.
Wireless and sensors
As you'd expect from a modern phone, all of the most recent wireless standards are support, including Cat6 LTE (up to 300Mbit/s throughput) and 802.11ac (up to 600Mbit/s throughput). Of course, Bluetooth 4.1 (LTE) is included. There's also the full range of sensors including an accelerometer, barometer, gyroscope and heart rate monitor.
Fingerprint sensor and mobile payments
The home button on the front doubles as a fingerprint reader, as it did on the Galaxy S5. As well as being used to unlock the handset, it will also let you authenticate financial transactions using Samsung's upcoming mobile payments system, Samsung Pay. This will compete with Apple Pay and will launch later this year in the US and South Korea; we don't have a UK release date yet.
Accessories
Along with the new handset are some new accessories, including the official wireless charging mat, and covers, including the clever Clear View cover, which protects the screen, but lets the phone display a new information screen, so you can get quick information without having to open the case.
Price and availability
Samsung has said that the Galaxy S6 Edge will be available globally from the 10th April 2015. We don't have UK pricing yet, but will update this article when that information is available. We do know that the Edge will be more expensive than the regular Galaxy S6.