I was watching the HTC event stream and even Peter Chau and the other dude after him didn't look too enthused. They probably just felt they were regurgiating lines from last year's keynote. Pretty much same with Samsung, how many more gimmicks could they run through this time. you are right, both were pretty meh.
We have hit a ceiling with phones I feel. Expect smaller jumps of innovation year on year than big ones from now on. Companies will have to rely on hype and marketing more so than before to try and sell all the "new features" and to be honest, it just sounds like they are flogging a dead horse most of the time.
It is the top of any specs now. So what more do people want? I am disappointed about the lack of a SD slot but can't put any other phone currently available above this.
Well for half the price and twice the storage of the 32gb version, a Oneplus One is an amazing buy, even though it is last year's tech, in real world usage, wouldn't exactly be slow and there is no bloatware, with near stock experience.
I think it looks nicer. Edge on both sides is definitely better looking than the one sided oddity. They got rid of moving mechanical parts, so it is easier to manufacture, but the question is if they won't upset too many people used to removable battery and SD card. And last but not least, will it bend like iPhone 6 or better?
I wish ALL phone makers would make battery life their number one priority.
There's no such technology available yet. Nowadays you can put in 32 really really low power processor cores, the moment the processor starts doing something it will drain the battery. Also somebody has to feed all those pixels. And a typical phone user won't stop till the battery is drained, which is about a day regardless of what you put inside.
The Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are the most beautiful looking Samsung Galaxy smartphones to date, they really do look stunning. But no removeable battery, battery capacity at only 2,550/2600 mAh respectively and no micro SD slot. Bit of a bummer. Other than that the specs are very nice indeed!
The eye-watering sim-free prices are also rather steep imo.
Availability is from 10th April, so it's 6 weeks away. A long time to wait. I expected it to be out at the end of this month.
The new Samsung phones look really good. Actually didn't expect much but I'm pretty impressed. Been with various iPhones for 5yrs-ish. This is the first time I've suddenly had the urge to switch to Samsung.
Only downside is the 5.1" size, I'm not keen on larger phones. Pretty happy with my iPhone 5S in terms of size right now + iMessage on iPhone's has saved me so much money so having to pay for texts again seems a little scary to me.
Other than that, congrats Samsung on a nice looking device. Hopefully get to play with one in a few weeks in a store somewhere. Actually off to Canada+South Korea in a few months so maybe I'll get a crazy urge to pick one up.:D
Only downside is the 5.1" size, I'm not keen on larger phones. Pretty happy with my iPhone 5S in terms of size right now + iMessage on iPhone's has saved me so much money so having to pay for texts again seems a little scary to me
I was watching the HTC event stream and even Peter Chau and the other dude after him didn't look too enthused. They probably just felt they were regurgiating lines from last year's keynote. Pretty much same with Samsung, how many more gimmicks could they run through this time. you are right, both were pretty meh.
We have hit a ceiling with phones I feel. Expect smaller jumps of innovation year on year than big ones from now on. Companies will have to rely on hype and marketing more so than before to try and sell all the "new features" and to be honest, it just sounds like they are flogging a dead horse most of the time.
Spot on. Everyone I know in the industry thinks the same, which is possibly why wearables are suddenly becoming a thing as everyone hopes and prays these will bring in extra revenue.
Just as more operators around the world look to sell SIM only contracts, knowing a lot of people are reaching the end of their contract and not upgrading - but also not wanting to continue paying the same rate they did when paying off the subsidy, we will see a slow down in the upgrading of a phone.
Unless your smartphone breaks or is stolen, why change it? Chances are that anything with a Snapdragon 800 onwards (so that goes back to the likes of the Xperia Z1 and the original HTC One M7) will still be perfectly good today. The cameras on most phones are probably also fine for the things people want them for too.
People change computers pretty infrequently. People change their TV every seven years or so. People seem content to keep a tablet for many years, so now it too will happen with smartphones.
I say that knowing that people on here will probably change far more regularly, so please be assured that I'm referring to the bulk of the customer base.
They have added a higher resolution screen but the non-removable battery has less capacity
HTC had the right idea keeping 1920x1080 and I say that as a LG G3 owner.
Yes, it's rather mad to go up in screen resolution (and I too say that as someone with a G3!) and reduce the battery. No matter how much clever power saving the new SoC might have, there will be a bigger impact on the GPU for the extra pixels without a massive gain - besides a higher PPI figure.
HTC got that right, and I wonder if the Z4 will also stick with 1080p?
I think at the moment the phone that appeals most, now we've had the M9 and GS6 models outed, is the LG Flex 2.
Samsung thinks the way to win is to become exactly like Apple. Even having two variants of the Galaxy S6 is an obvious copy, albeit done in a different way.
Premium materials, no SD card (thus charging £150 extra for the model serious users would want) and a non-removable battery are all rather shameless copies.
But it does look nice, gotta admit. I just don't think I could use it day to day. Of course I'll get one to review at some point and might change my mind.
Unless your smartphone breaks or is stolen, why change it? Chances are that anything with a Snapdragon 800 onwards (so that goes back to the likes of the Xperia Z1 and the original HTC One M7) will still be perfectly good today. The cameras on most phones are probably also fine for the things people want them for too.
Haven't you seen the threads from youths who wouldn't be seen dead with a phone more than a year old, even if they are on a 2 year contract?
Samsung thinks the way to win is to become exactly like Apple. Even having two variants of the Galaxy S6 is an obvious copy, albeit done in a different way.
Premium materials, no SD card (thus charging £150 extra for the model serious users would want) and a non-removable battery are all rather shameless copies.
But it does look nice, gotta admit. I just don't think I could use it day to day. Of course I'll get one to review at some point and might change my mind.
Lack of SD card slot is a pretty big piss off for many folk. I remember when HTC did it with the One X and then the M7, but were virtually being terrorised in to bringing it back and it did with the M8. People like to plonk their big music collections on to their device and that's usually gigs of data. Also high res pics and videos are large, apps and games are getting bigger too. Its not so difficult to fill a phone now days. Just shows that 32GB is becoming a base size for flagship phones now and anything less doesn't really cut it in 2015.
I think 64GB is a pretty generous size but of course you are going to pay more and again for the 128gb versions.
I think Android users also like the SD card there more as a symbolic 2 fingers up at Apple kinda thing too. Even if they may not be maxing out storage they like that as a big plus over Apple devices.
But then the premium design meant sacrifices had to be made for the S6 so here we are, a new Galaxy without a removable battery and SD card slot. Won't be popular with die hard Samsung fans.
Comments
I was watching the HTC event stream and even Peter Chau and the other dude after him didn't look too enthused. They probably just felt they were regurgiating lines from last year's keynote. Pretty much same with Samsung, how many more gimmicks could they run through this time. you are right, both were pretty meh.
We have hit a ceiling with phones I feel. Expect smaller jumps of innovation year on year than big ones from now on. Companies will have to rely on hype and marketing more so than before to try and sell all the "new features" and to be honest, it just sounds like they are flogging a dead horse most of the time.
More like iPhone 4. Cracked backs were all the rage a few years back ;-)
Even Apple got wise and dropped the glass backs on the iPhone 5 onwards. A wise move!
Well for half the price and twice the storage of the 32gb version, a Oneplus One is an amazing buy, even though it is last year's tech, in real world usage, wouldn't exactly be slow and there is no bloatware, with near stock experience.
Samsung Galaxy S5
5.1 inch screen size
Water and Dust Resistant
microSD, up to 128 GB
2 GB RAM
16 MP camera
Removable 2800 mAh battery
Samsung Galaxy S6
5.1 inch screen size
NOT resistant to water/dust
NO expandable storage
3 GB RAM
16 MP camera
Non-Removable 2550 mAh battery
Add to that, the S6's camera now sticks out the handset like the iPhone 6. Thanks for copying the only thing I don't like about the latest iPhone.
They have added a higher resolution screen but the non-removable battery has less capacity
HTC had the right idea keeping 1920x1080 and I say that as a LG G3 owner.
I think going beyond full HD on a mobile phone is a pure pissing contest, or is a microscope included?
Im out! as the dragons would say.
I thought it had wireless charging?
There's no such technology available yet. Nowadays you can put in 32 really really low power processor cores, the moment the processor starts doing something it will drain the battery. Also somebody has to feed all those pixels. And a typical phone user won't stop till the battery is drained, which is about a day regardless of what you put inside.
Compare that to Onplus One 2014
64 GB
3100 mah battery
3GB ram
13mp camera
5.5 inch screen
Near stock Android
For less than half price. Better battery and same amount of ram.
In some areas Samsung are going backwards!!
It has but not Qi.
The eye-watering sim-free prices are also rather steep imo.
Availability is from 10th April, so it's 6 weeks away. A long time to wait. I expected it to be out at the end of this month.
It supports Qi charging!
http://www.sammobile.com/2015/03/01/all-existing-qi-wireless-chargers-are-compatible-with-the-galaxy-s6-and-the-galaxy-s6-edge/
Only downside is the 5.1" size, I'm not keen on larger phones. Pretty happy with my iPhone 5S in terms of size right now + iMessage on iPhone's has saved me so much money so having to pay for texts again seems a little scary to me.
Other than that, congrats Samsung on a nice looking device. Hopefully get to play with one in a few weeks in a store somewhere. Actually off to Canada+South Korea in a few months so maybe I'll get a crazy urge to pick one up.:D
Never heard of Whatsapp?
Spot on. Everyone I know in the industry thinks the same, which is possibly why wearables are suddenly becoming a thing as everyone hopes and prays these will bring in extra revenue.
Just as more operators around the world look to sell SIM only contracts, knowing a lot of people are reaching the end of their contract and not upgrading - but also not wanting to continue paying the same rate they did when paying off the subsidy, we will see a slow down in the upgrading of a phone.
Unless your smartphone breaks or is stolen, why change it? Chances are that anything with a Snapdragon 800 onwards (so that goes back to the likes of the Xperia Z1 and the original HTC One M7) will still be perfectly good today. The cameras on most phones are probably also fine for the things people want them for too.
People change computers pretty infrequently. People change their TV every seven years or so. People seem content to keep a tablet for many years, so now it too will happen with smartphones.
I say that knowing that people on here will probably change far more regularly, so please be assured that I'm referring to the bulk of the customer base.
Yes, it's rather mad to go up in screen resolution (and I too say that as someone with a G3!) and reduce the battery. No matter how much clever power saving the new SoC might have, there will be a bigger impact on the GPU for the extra pixels without a massive gain - besides a higher PPI figure.
HTC got that right, and I wonder if the Z4 will also stick with 1080p?
I think at the moment the phone that appeals most, now we've had the M9 and GS6 models outed, is the LG Flex 2.
Samsung thinks the way to win is to become exactly like Apple. Even having two variants of the Galaxy S6 is an obvious copy, albeit done in a different way.
Premium materials, no SD card (thus charging £150 extra for the model serious users would want) and a non-removable battery are all rather shameless copies.
But it does look nice, gotta admit. I just don't think I could use it day to day. Of course I'll get one to review at some point and might change my mind.
Haven't you seen the threads from youths who wouldn't be seen dead with a phone more than a year old, even if they are on a 2 year contract?
Lack of SD card slot is a pretty big piss off for many folk. I remember when HTC did it with the One X and then the M7, but were virtually being terrorised in to bringing it back and it did with the M8. People like to plonk their big music collections on to their device and that's usually gigs of data. Also high res pics and videos are large, apps and games are getting bigger too. Its not so difficult to fill a phone now days. Just shows that 32GB is becoming a base size for flagship phones now and anything less doesn't really cut it in 2015.
I think 64GB is a pretty generous size but of course you are going to pay more and again for the 128gb versions.
I think Android users also like the SD card there more as a symbolic 2 fingers up at Apple kinda thing too. Even if they may not be maxing out storage they like that as a big plus over Apple devices.
But then the premium design meant sacrifices had to be made for the S6 so here we are, a new Galaxy without a removable battery and SD card slot. Won't be popular with die hard Samsung fans.