Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+: Bigger, faster and smarter than the S6 (Tech Review)

South Korean electronics giant Samsung is still leading the Android race and its launch of the S6 edge+ has again helped it claim the top slot at least in the smartphones category. The company launched the S6 edge+ 32 GB edition in August, within six months of the S6 edge, priced at Rs. Rs.57,990. Here is our analysis:

What is good?

The Galaxy S6 edge+, as the name suggests, is obviously bigger than its predecessor and hence weighs 153 grammes, a tad little more than the Galaxy S6 edge (138 grammes). The display is also bigger at 5.7-inches with a higher pixel density of 518 per inch and a screen-to-body ratio of 75.6 percent. The battery has also been scaled up from 2,550 mAH to 3,000 mAH to support the bigger display and enable a higher runtime. This has been achieved with just a weight gain of 15 grammes.

The increased battery size and fast charging via cable and wireless tackles the longevity problems the S6 edge faced.

The secret to the S6 edge+'s smooth performance is the 4GB RAM unit. While, there were problems of lagging and heating during heavy usage with the S6 edge (3GB RAM), the newer edge+ has none of these weaknesses. Samsung's bet to retain its proprietary Exynos 7420 octa-core processor and only increase the RAM seems to have paid off. The phone did not heat up while playing heavy games for hours. Switching between apps and games was very smooth. The S6 edge+ churns out a stunning, never seen before 69,995 points on the An Tu Tu benchmark score.

Other features like operating system, user interface, heart rate sensor, fingerprint sensor, camera, sound and connectivity options are same as its predecessor. The device comes with a 16-megapixel camera with optical image stabilisation, autofocus and LED flash. There are several camera modes like geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, auto HDR and panorama. The front camera is a five-megapixel unit.

What doesn't work for the phone?

The phone, because of its curved and slim edges, presents a problem of gripping. Although the edge functions are a boon in so many several ways, it still is a curse for somebody who might not want to lock the phone with a PIN, pattern or fingerprint lock.

The absence of a Type-C USB, high price of the phone when compared to rivals could pose problems for the Korean giant's sales figures.

Verdict: In short, the S6 edge+ does one better than the S6 edge in all aspects. Simply put, it is currently perhaps the best Android smartphone in the world. If you want an ultra premium smartphone experience, nothing else will do.

Full specifications: Samsung Exynos 7420 (Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 2.1 GHz Cortex-A57 with Mali-T760MP8 GPU) | 4 GB RAM | 5.7 inches (1440 x 2560 pixels with 518 ppi pixel density) | 32 GB | 16-megapixel rear and five-megapixel front camera | Wi-Fi and Bluetooth v4.2 | NFC | 3,000 mAh battery

(Anirban Ghoshal can be contacted at anirban.g@ians.in)