We tried to describe in the article all the pros and cons of buying a new model. After reading the material, you will understand for yourself whether it is worth changing your old gadget from the Galaxy S and Note series, or the purchase is a waste of money.
Let's start with the cons:
1. Display dimensions. It is absolutely incomprehensible why the developers gave the new device only a 5.1-inch screen. It's just that after using phablets with a diagonal of at least 5.7 inches for a long time, you involuntarily begin to get used to their size. And such a sharp drop is somehow not at all serious. Well, if the designers borrowed the idea from making the edges thinner (like) and giving (y) at least a 5.4-inch screen, then it would look pretty decent. Although it would be uncharacteristic for the company, hallmark gadgets which are big screens.
2. The material for the back cover is glass. No doubt it looks cute. But if we evaluate it in terms of practical application, how effective is it? Almost ineffective, because when interacting with various surfaces and objects, scratches will remain on the glass. Finger touches will also leave a mark on the lid. And there can be no talk of any anti-shock properties.
3. There is no slot for microSD. As they say, there is no such thing as too much memory. And if the volume of the main drive has increased to 128GB, this does not mean at all that the S6 will be swept off the shelves. It is more profitable to buy a larger flash drive.
4. The battery capacity has been reduced by 200 mAh. The fact that the RAM and the processor began to consume less energy is, of course, not bad. But, as we know, most of the charge is "eaten up" by the display, which has remained the same. Therefore, many doubt that the device will "eat" less energy. In any case, the test results will dot the "i".
5. Minus water resistance. Of course, such a function is not decisive and it was not present in all previous models, but for many users such a bonus would be very useful. By the way, he had such a property. Surprisingly, the late model lost this.
6. Cost. Everything new hits the pocket. Presumably, the price of the Galaxy S6 will be twice as much as its predecessor: not 30 thousand rubles, but all 60. And for the EDGE version, you will have to pay more.
Now, as for the pros:
1. Stunning appearance. Whatever you say, this model turned out to be very interesting. It, perhaps, can be called the most spectacular of the entire Galaxy line. The painstaking work of designers is visible to the naked eye.
2. "Iron". The smartphone was equipped with new generation chips: 14 nm Intel Braswell in conjunction with DDR4 RAM provide excellent performance along with gentle power consumption.
3. Optical module. Despite the previous resolution, the depth and color reproduction in photos and videos has improved significantly.
4. Updated user interface. looks even nicer. A lot of unnecessary and useless things have been removed.
5. High quality fingerprint scanner. Those who really hate to constantly move their finger across the display to unlock will feel the advantage. In the Galaxy S6, just put your finger on the reading area (button).
At first glance, it may seem that there are more negative aspects than positive ones. However, it is worth noting that such items as “design”, “iron” and “camera” are worth a lot. Evaluation of new items will be different depending on what devices it will be with.
If your smartphone was purchased a long time ago, and you are planning to upgrade your gadget, then feel free to buy the Galaxy S6. It means if you are the owner of the "C grade". I personally would not change S4 for a new one, and S5 even more so. Although the choice is yours.
The sound in wired headphones for these two smartphones is slightly different, but in cool wireless Xperia XZ1 Compact sounds much, much cooler. Autonomy in the "Japanese phone" is also not an example of cooler - one and a half times in commercials.
There are no other compact flagships on Android, so Sony is not modest in prices and sells the XZ1 Compact for the price of two iPhone SE - for 40 thousand rubles. For a smartphone that is dishonored in photography, this is unreasonably expensive, but the same "Compact" can be bought on the "gray" market for only 26-28 thousand rubles. Fans of cool smartphone photos will still prefer the more expensive iPhone 6s, but if I were connoisseurs of compact smartphones, I wouldn’t even think about it - iPhone SE is noticeably worse, Samsung “buried” the Galaxy A3 series, and the new XZ2 Compact will go on sale only in the second half years and will cost so much that you immediately want to.
What to buy to replace ASUS ZenFone 2 ZE551ML/ZE550KL (2015)
ZenFone 2 came at a good time. Three years ago, 52 rubles were already asked for a dollar, and lovers of cool smartphones had to stop “living widely”. ASUS was the first to benefit from this situation - everything was already in order with the reputation of the Taiwanese, and Intel threw Atom smartphone processors for "penny". Buyers were happy - for 20 thousand rubles they received a smartphone with a then cool Full HD screen, good cameras, an “above average” processor and then the coolest 4 GB of RAM. In general, an analogue of modern Chinese "top models", but at a sane price in official retail.
The Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is an excellent smartphone. It is the culmination of Samsung's experience in building side-curved devices over the course of a year and offers fixes to the problems of last year's model. But even though it's a year old, the Galaxy S6 Edge is still a top-notch phone, and if you're looking for reasons to keep it and not buy a new Galaxy S7 Edge, we've got you covered.
Edge panels still feel unfinished
The curved display edges of the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S7 Edge are what make their design stand out, but when it comes to functionality, those side panels aren't really useful. The functional area is too small and this is the main disadvantage. The update to Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow brings new functionality to the Galaxy S6 Edge, which is the first reason to keep using this device.Galaxy S6 Edge has a more premium look
Sure, the new Galaxy S7 Edge feels extremely cool in the hand, but the Galaxy S6 Edge still has a more premium feel. Why, you ask? The fact is that the rounded edges of the back cover make the Galaxy S7 Edge comfortable to use, but they also make the metal frame less noticeable. The sharp corners of last year's flagship case cut into the hand, but at the same time they look great.
Galaxy S6 Edge is smaller, better for Gear VR
Not only is the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge smaller, its 5.1-inch display is the perfect phone for those looking for a balance between screen size and ease of use. New Galaxy The S7 Edge has a 5.5-inch display, which puts it automatically in the phablet category and isn't always easy to use.In addition, the compact screen of the Galaxy S6 Edge has a higher pixel density, which means that the picture quality when using the Gear VR virtual reality headset is much better.
S6 Edge Capable of Capturing High Quality 16:9 Pictures
The S7 Edge camera was recognized as the best on the market mobile devices, and it performs significantly better in low light than any of the company's other flagships. But its camera is only 12 MP and, worse, it takes photos in 4:3 format. After upgrading from the Galaxy S6 Edge to the Galaxy S7 Edge, you may find yourself limited in terms of how many times you can zoom in on a photo you take to see finer details.
With a 4:3 aspect ratio, photos on a large widescreen TV will have black inserts on the sides, which certainly doesn't look that good. Most displays these days display information in 16:9 format.
Galaxy S6 Edge is equipped with an infrared port
As many surveys on the Web have shown, the presence of an infrared port to control home appliances is one of the main reasons for choosing a smartphone. Last year's Galaxy S6 Edge got this feature, while its successor lacks it for reasons unknown to us.Perhaps Samsung's flagships will always carry the halo of a long-awaited but impossible dream for many Android device enthusiasts: case materials, high-quality displays and the general feeling of "premium" of the Galaxy S series attract the interest of millions of fans of the brand. However, the exorbitant price tag, which scares some and makes others feel their importance, repels potential buyers from the gadget over and over again.
Fortunately, over time, the price tag drops to more adequate values. This is where a reasonable question arises for some users: is it worth it to overpay a little for such a coveted device, but to have a purebred flagship with all its features, or not to take risks and take something from fresh offers - fortunately, brands do not sleep and release novelties with enviable regularity.
Design. Beauty in simplicity
More than a year and a half after the presentation, the Samsung S9 remains quite a pretty, albeit rather boring looking device. Soft lines, a conditionally frameless screen without cutouts and calm body colors - we saw all this in its predecessor. True, the classics are always in fashion, and the design of the S9 can be confidently attributed to the classics - to the strict, premium classics.
Is the display the best on the market?
Flagship screens Samsung smartphones have always been the benchmark that other vendors are still striving for. And today, the S9 display brings all the benefits of the company's developments: an excellent range of brightness adjustment, rich colors and almost perfect viewing angles.
Specifications
One of the main reasons to pay attention to last year's flagship from the Korean giant in 2019 lies in its filling - it is a smart device with polished software that will not annoy you with crashes and long app downloads. True, you need to make a reservation right away - all this is relevant for the smartphone version based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor.
Yes, Samsung throws up its jokes with divisions by processor model: as you know, in our countries, Samsung flagships are sold based on Exynos chipsets (in this case, Exynos 9810), which until recently were famous for losing performance noticeably after six months or a year, overgrown with errors and suffered from malicious throttling, which is why playing demanding games at maximum graphics settings is not always comfortable, and microfreezes will slip through the interface. There are no such problems in smartphones for the American market (on Snapdragon processors), but another one appears: you have to get confused with the firmware. But the smartphone really works faster, more stable and, in general, more pleasant than its counterpart on Exynos. By the way, according to the reviews of the owners, the device keeps the connection well on any of the voiced processors.
Sound - can it rock your ears?
Many technical reviewers and ordinary users noted that, compared to its predecessor, the sound in the device has improved on all fronts: the speakers began to sound louder and richer, and the sound in the headphones became even more pleasant and richer. Also, for music lovers, a 3.5 mm mini-jack will be a pleasant nuance, which, unfortunately, is a rarity among flagships this year.
Android version and interface - concise One UI
Of course, in choosing an interface, any potential buyer will be based on their personal preferences, but still it is worth noting that Samsung's One UI with enviable regularity falls into the list of favorites of tech reviewers around the world - for many, this is perhaps the best interface among Android devices. smartphones. However, just like the external component, the relevance of the firmware is also important for many users. Samsung flagships are guaranteed to receive support for two years - as the manufacturer claims. A year and a half has already passed. Perhaps the smartphone will receive an update to Android 10, but you can hardly count on anything more. For Samsung, this model is already outdated.
Unlocking a smartphone - not with a single finger
There are plenty of methods for unlocking the screen in the Samsung Galaxy S9: a standard fingerprint scanner, which in this model “moved” to a more convenient place, under the main camera, as well as iris and face scanners. Unfortunately, the security of unlocking the latter method raises questions, since the check takes place only on the front camera - the smartphone does not provide additional sensors for scanning depth and volume. That is why it is best to use the standard fingerprint scanner, since it works stably and relatively quickly.
The camera is the indisputable advantage of the Galaxy S9
In this smartphone, Samsung introduced an innovation designed to rework the attitude to mobile photography, namely an interchangeable aperture (1.5 - 2.4). In theory, of course, everything looked very interesting, but in practice there are almost no special differences between the S9 and the S8 that preceded it. The increase in photo quality is barely noticeable, but given that Samsung's flagships have always been famous for excellent photo and video shooting, it can be noted that so far the S9 is a very good option in the hands of a mobile photographer.
Autonomy is a weak link
Time battery life has always been the Achilles' heel of the flagships of the Korean tech giant, and the S9 and its older brother S9 + are no exception: even from the start of sales, many users complained about the extremely low battery life of the device. Still, 3000 mAh is not serious. One can only guess what can happen to the battery of a store lying on a shelf or a smartphone bought from hand. For many, such autonomy is the most important drawback that cannot be put up with in any way.
Smartphone chips
As with all of its latest flagships, Samsung hasn't been stingy with IP68 water and dust resistance. Various sensors are also built into the smartphone, for example, the aforementioned retina scanner and special sensors on the back of the device that monitor the heartbeat and level blood pressure. Naturally, like all purebred flagships, the Samsung Galaxy S9 received a built-in NFC module, so the world of contactless payment is open to you.
Cost and competitors
At the time of this writing, the Samsung Galaxy S9 is priced at $513 through gray sellers, and $920 on the official website. If we consider a more adequate cost in the region of $ 500, then the smartphone has more than enough competitors. Separately, it is worth highlighting the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro and OnePlus 7 models - they will cost even less, but these are more recent devices with a modern appearance, more powerful hardware, good autonomy and much longer support from the manufacturer. By the way, both models have already received an update to Android 10.
Conclusion
Samsung flagships always give a feeling of reliability and confidence that in six months or a year the device will not fall apart - in fact, people are ready to pay almost $ 1,000 for this at the start of sales. Of course, you can talk about taste preferences, such as a design that, by and large, has not changed from the previous generation, or an interface that not every user may like, but there are other equally important criteria. Despite the obvious advantages of the galaxy, the smartphone has its drawbacks, and in the meantime, the market is full of worthy alternatives, in which the processor is more powerful, autonomy is better, and the update support period is longer. If you choose a smartphone not with emotions, but with a sober mind, then, I think, in this moment the market may offer you more interesting options to buy.
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Many people buy a smartphone not for six months or a year (as I did before), but with the desire not to change the device for two or even three years. "Margin of safety" when buying for such a long period, in this case, only flagships that are relevant at the time of purchase can guarantee. They contain solutions that get to more affordable smartphones with a delay of a year and a half, and productivity should be enough for the coming years in excess. So how does the 2015 Samsung flagship feel this year? I'll try to tell.
This text was over a month ago when Samsung was about to release for my Galaxy S6 android update 7.0. I decided to prepare for this moment and changed the weakest link in my smartphone - the battery. A year and a half of active operation almost “killed” it: during an hour trip to work, the battery lost half its charge. Exactly one day without a device (parts were not available) and a fresh branded battery is installed.
I took the device from service center, and literally the next day I received the long-awaited Android 7.0 Nougat update. From here, perhaps, I will tell you in more detail.
Android 7.0 and Samsung's new shell
The update changed not only the first digit in the Android version number, as is often the case with some manufacturers when new firmware is released. Everything has changed. Starting from the design of the menu and redrawn icons, ending with the new interface of almost all built-in applications. Everything became more airy and clean. The vigorous colors of the interface are finally gone. Now Samsung's proprietary shell is made with a taste that was so lacking before. I confess that I want to see this style of design on Android smartphones other manufacturers. Everything flies, the animation is smooth, the transitions between screens occur without the previous jerks. Offset, Samsung.
Updating the firmware, of course, could not bring new features to the smartphone that are not supported by hardware. For example, there is no nice Always-on display (although I think it's still more marketing ploy). It is understandable, then it would be more difficult to promote the new A-series line. The cool feature from S7, which allows you to change the display resolution, did not appear in S6 either. It's a pity, because reducing the resolution to FullHD would make it possible to save a great charge on an already modest battery in terms of volume.
autonomy
By the way, about the time of work. A fresh battery in conjunction with Android 7.0 allows you to achieve 3-4 hours of screen activity with an average load during the day. In practice, a smartphone from one charge lives one light day. And that's good, I used to charge my S6 twice a day to make it to nine in the evening.
Performance
In terms of performance, the Galaxy S6 will not disappoint today. After updating to Android 7.0, I compared it with the fresh Galaxy A7 2017. So in 80% of cases, the S6 is still faster. Curious. This is true both for ordinary tasks (such as launching the phone book or settings), and for working with third-party applications (games, social networks, browser, instant messengers).
Hull durability
And how does the smartphone body behave a year and a half after purchase? I can only praise Samsung: they made a smartphone that can withstand a lot. I wore a smartphone without a case, it fell many times (fortunately, mainly in the office and at home, I didn’t get to know the asphalt). The result is scuffs on the metal frame (I put the smartphone in a niche for small things in the car, so this is not surprising), one small but unpleasantly deep scratch on the display, but the back cover is almost in perfect condition. Nothing loosened, nothing got loose. The only thing that was a little embarrassing was that a month before the battery was replaced, the rear panel glass in the camera area began to creak slightly - replacing the battery cured this problem. Galaxy S6 proved to be a very tenacious phone.
conclusions
Many of the most sophisticated smartphone models pass through me. Some become my main device for a week or two. But every time I give away a test flagship smartphone and return to my battered Galaxy S6. And I don't feel disadvantaged. Yes, there is no moisture protection. Yes, there is no Always-on display. But in everyday use you don't notice it. The smartphone does not freeze, does not slow down, does not eat the battery for no reason. He does not infuriate and does not irritate. And when you start the camera, it still continues to delight with excellent image quality in almost any conditions. The flagship remains the flagship even two years after the debut. The safety margin of the Galaxy S6 turned out to be decent. Maybe I will live until the release of the Galaxy S9 - who knows?
