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Where to buy Samsung's Galaxy S6 and S6 edge in the UK
Another year, another MWC trade show, another flagship model added to Samsung's Galaxy line-up. Actually, make that two, with the new Galaxy S6 joined by a curved-screen doppelgänger, the S6 edge. Aside from the sloping sides of the S6 edge's display, both are cut from the same, premium cloth. Bound in aluminium, powered by identical octa-core chipsets, both hosting 5.1-inch Quad HD displays and 16-megapixel cameras, they are exactly what you expect new flagships to be. That is, the best smartphones Samsung has in its arsenal. And ahead of the global launch of the handsets on April 10th, they are now available to preorder from a variety of outlets in the UK.
Samsung's new Gear VR is smaller, sharper, but still not for everyone
The HTC Vive might've stolen some of Samsung's thunder, but it bears reminding that the latter did announce a new VR headset earlier this week. Sure, the Gear VR for the Galaxy S6 is only slightly different from the original Note 4 edition, but even minor tweaks can spell big improvement. It's smaller, lighter, has a wider focus margin and there's a new strap design that promises to make the headset much more comfortable than before. I had a chance to give it a spin earlier this week and I also talked to Max Cohen, VP of mobile at Oculus, to get his take on the new hardware, possible future updates and, of course, his opinion on the HTC Vive.
Relive Samsung's Galaxy S6 event right here
Did you sleep in on Sunday, only to realize that you'd missed Samsung's big Galaxy Unpacked event? Relax -- you can still watch the show as if it were fresh. As is its custom, the Korean tech giant has helpfully posted both a replay of the full event and a quick recap. The focus of the presentation is no longer all that surprising (spoiler: It was about the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge), but it's worth checking out if you want to see Samsung explore every nook and cranny of its latest smartphones.
Samsung Galaxy S6 comes with Microsoft apps out of the box
Those rumors that Samsung would reduce the glut of in-house software on the Galaxy S6 and include some of Microsoft's apps? They're at least partly true. Both the S6 and S6 edge will ship with a "Microsoft Apps" folder that currently includes OneDrive, OneNote and Skype. There's no hint of Office -- at least not yet -- but you will get 115GB of free OneDrive cloud storage for two years. You certainly won't be hurting for photo backup space, then. It's hard to say if the bundle is the direct result of Microsoft and Samsung calling a truce in their Android royalty dispute. Either way, the move is going to give Microsoft's services a lot more exposure. While they've been available on Android for some time, their absence in phone bundles has typically made it easier to lean on equivalents from the likes of Google and Dropbox. Don't miss out on all the latest news, photos and liveblogs from MWC 2015. Follow along at our events page.
Meet Samsung's Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge
The last time Samsung put on a show in Barcelona, it came bearing the Galaxy S5 and that love-it-or-hate-it bandage back. Not exactly a high point in the company's design history, you might say. Over the past year, though, the Korean juggernaut has come to the realization that it needs to pare down and push a few more envelopes, a philosophy that begat weird, arguably wonderful experiments like the Note Edge. So, Samsung, it's been a year -- how far have you come? We have our answer. Meet the Galaxy S6 and the S6 edge. try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-450804").style.display="none";}catch(e){}
Official-looking render of Samsung's Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge leaks out
Samsung's already had its big launch event ruined by those pesky leakers and now, even its official partners are piling on. A Reddit user by the name of iamdenden, apparently a Sprint employee, has posted an image of both the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge standing by side-by-side. The same thread has also revealed Sprint's teaser website where users can pre-register their interest in picking up the latest "Samsung devices," plural. If true, it does appear as if the S6 Edge will have a wrap-around screen on both sides compared to the Note Edge with a shiny metal frame, to boot. At least we've only got a few more days until we know for sure.
Samsung teases that the 'Next Galaxy' is borderless and metal
Samsung's teasers for the Galaxy S6 (or whatever it might be named) are getting decidedly less cryptic. The company's latest hype video for the new smartphone promises that "borders will disappear" and "metals will flow" -- if there was any doubt that the next Galaxy is ditching the S5's utilitarian plastic design, it's gone. There are further hints of a curved (and reflection-free) display, too. There's a good chance that the phone won't quite live up to this teaser's breathless prose, but one thing's increasingly certain: Samsung doesn't want its upcoming flagship device to suffer the ignominious fate of its predecessor.
Samsung Galaxy S6 reportedly drops bloatware in favor of Microsoft apps
Quite a few smartphone fans will tell you that a Samsung phone's Achilles' heel is its software -- you'll find a ton of (frequently unwanted) apps and features that do little besides chew up space and slow things down. You may get to wave goodbye to that cruft when the Galaxy S6 shows up, however. A SamMobile source claims that Samsung is yanking a lot of its usual pre-installed bloatware, making the GS6 "amazingly fast" compared to a weighed-down phone like the Galaxy Note 4. The titles wouldn't go away forever, but you'd have to download in-house apps if you did want them. Instead, the focus would be on a host of included Microsoft apps: Office, OneDrive, OneNote and Skype would give you some solid productivity out of the box. It's not clear if the Microsoft deal has any connection to a recent truce with Samsung over patent royalties, although it wouldn't be surprising.
