The new Samsung Galaxy S6 is shaping up to the big smartphone smash of the year. Samsung has completely redesigned its flagship handset for 2015, leaving behind the incremental improvements we've seen in recent years. That new fancy design isn't likely to come cheap though, and last year's Galaxy S5 is still a highly-capable smartphone. So which is best for you? The S5 versus the S6.
We'll be comparing both handsets here but from two points of view. There will be those looking for a new smartphone and attracted by the inevitable price drops on the older model, at present we've seen the Galaxy S5 for free on a £22 a month contract, but is it worth making the saving? Then there will be those so wowed by the new look that they are considering selling their S5 to buy the new phone.
We'll also be considering both the regular and Edge versions of the galaxy S6, as they are pretty much identical except for the curved screen and the design changes required to include it.
DESIGN, SIZE AND WEIGHT
The new Galaxy S6 is a very good-looking phone. It's got a metal chassis, which you can see around the edges of the handset, with a polished finished. The front bezel and backplate then have some kind of glass or crystal (Samsung isn't being very clear) bonded to them, giving bright colours and a slight translucent finish. Available in four colours, it's the best-looking phone Samsung has ever made.
The S6 Edge takes the 'basic' models design and tweaks it to include that double-curved-edge display. We're not yet convinced of the practicality, of survivability of the Edge version, though. The widgets that Samsung uses for the curved parts of the screen don't look essential, while the curve itself reduces the total amount of screen space and resolution left for normal tasks such as watching videos or web browsing. It too comes in four colours, but with more muted, grown up tones than the normal S6.
The old Galaxy S5 wasn't a bad-looking phone. It had a huge screen that dominated the front, while the edges were finished in silver and had lines running down them, the soft touch back was dimpled for a better grip. It looked pretty smart, but it didn't feel very expensive when you actually held it, as however nicely finished, it was simply made of plastic throughout.
The key advantage of this design is that the backplate comes off, letting you get at lots of useful stuff underneath. The SIM card was accessible (without having to lever it out with a little pokey thing), you could add cheap storage in the form of Micro SD cards, and you could swap out the battery. Better still, keeping all this stuff behind a single panel meant that the handset was waterproof too.
In terms of dimensions, the Galaxy S6 is 143x71x6.8mm with the Edge version being a little bit smaller at 142x70x7mm, and they weigh 138g and 132g respectively. The Galaxy S5 is a little wider and a touch thicker at 142x73x8.1mm but it's hard to tell in the hand, and it weighs a few grams more at 145g.
We think the new Galaxy S6 is the better-looking phone, and it has a much nicer feel to it than the previous model. However, if you want to swap out your battery, add lots of extra storage at a low cost or need waterproofing, then the S5 is probably a better bet.
SCREEN
Screen size: Both the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S5 have 5.1in screens, with the new S6's display protected by Gorilla Glass 4, and the old S5 using Gorilla Glass 3. Glass manufacturer Corning is convinced that the new glass is far tougher, you can see its comparisons here – Gorilla 3 vs Gorilla 4. The S6 Edge also has a 5.1in screen, but the curved off edges mean it doesn't look as big square-on.
Resolution: Both the Galaxy S6 and the S6 Edge have huge 2,560x1,440 resolutions, which amounts to a pretty amazing 577 pixels per inch, the highest figure we've ever seen. The Galaxy S5 has a 1,920x1,080 resolution, which is a still impressive 432 pixels per inch. With careful studying of test images, we found we could tell the difference between the similarly detailed LG G3 and a typical Full HD display, but it makes no odds in day-to-day use.
Screen technology: Both the S6 and S5 use Samsung's AMOLED screen technology. Both phones also use the company's latest diamond-shaped PenTile subpixel array, which provides better colour accuracy and brightness than previous models. Some people prefer LCD screens, but we like the superior contrast of an AMOLED. In short, they're both great.
PERFORMANCE
Processor and Graphics: IN previous years Samsung has confusingly used different chipsets for its flagship phone in different regions. Here in the UK we got a Qualcomm SnapDragon 801-powered Galaxy S5. This quad-core chip had four cores that ran at up to 2.5GHz, it's a 32-bit design and was made with a 28nm manufacturing process (more on this shortly). All backed up with 2GB of RAM.
This year we're getting Samsung's own-branded 8-core chipset: Samsung Exynos 7420. This uses ARM's clever big.LITTLE architecture with four smaller 1.5GHz Cortex-A53 cores for power efficiency and four larger 2.1GHz Cortex-A57 cores for tougher tasks. The two sets of cores work seamlessly together to provide power and efficiency in one package. And you get more RAM too, with 3GB to run your apps in.
Better still the new chipset is manufactured with a more power-efficient 14nm process and is a 64-bit processor, so it can make the most of the new 64-bit friendly Android 5.0 operating system.
Benchmarks: From early scores, the Galaxy S6's Exynos 7420 looks to be very quick, indeed. Android Police has reported that the S6 is scoring a very impressive 70,000 in the AnTuTu benchmark, compared to 31,000 for the S5. From Computerbase.de we have scores from Geekbench 3. Here the S6 again outscores the M9, with a multi-core total of 4,547 compared around 2,900 for the Galaxy S5
In our own testing with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, we got a score of 17fps in the GFXBench Manhattan test, compared to 11.7fps from the S5. Which shows that the newer phone is far faster in tough graphics tests.
Storage: As mentioned above the older Galaxy S5 had a memory card slot, letting you add up to 128GB of extra storage for around £60, or 64GB for as little as £20. It was a great way to expand you storage for photos, music or movies, without having to pay out for an expensive handset with additional memory. The Galaxy S6 and Edge both come in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB versions, though they won't be cheap. Samsung has said the new flash memory is much quicker though, so files should open faster.
Battery: We were surprised to discover that the S6 uses a smaller 2,600mAh battery, 200mAh less than last year's model. However, the phone should be more power efficient overall, thanks to its more power-efficient chipset. The S5's larger battery and efficient AMOLED display made it one of the best performing handsets in our battery test roundup of 2014.
CAMERA
Both phones use a 16-megapixel camera, but the S6 has a brighter lens, which lets 34% more light hit the sensor than before, f/1.9 over f/2.2. It's also added optical image stabilisation which should significantly reduce camera shake when shooting in low light. It's hard to make any real comparisons based on these figures alone, but the S6 is looking like a healthy step up.
PRICE and VERDICT
We're still waiting on official pricing for the S6 and the S6 Edge, but we'd imagine contracts will come in around £35 and £40 a month for a free handset and all the minutes, texts and data you're likely to need. At present we found a Galaxy S5 for £27 a month for unlimited texts and calls and 2GB of data, though we'd expect those prices to fall off as the S6 is made available. With a likely price difference of around £10 a month, the S6 will cost you £240 extra over the life of a two-year contract. We'll update this section as soon as we have some solid figures from the networks, which should be as of the 9th of March.
For the last couple of years we wouldn't have recommended anyone jump to upgrade their Galaxy handset from the previous year's model. That stands for this year too, but only just.
If your looking to buy a new phone and are considering both of these, then the S6 looks to be a big enough step up to justify the extra cash - with its Exynos 64-bit chipset, new metal chassis, and optically-stabilised camera being the main draws. It should reverse Samsung's recent fortunes and fly off shelves.