People who are planning on buying for themselves the new Samsung Galaxy S6 should get the older Galaxy S5 instead, according to Consumer Reports.
A YouTube video posted by the product reviews and ratings magazine shows how the new Galaxy S6 fares when placed side by side with last year's Galaxy S5. The verdict appears to come from Samsung's decision to make its new smartphone look more like an iPhone and ditch its long-held anti-iPhone philosophy of prioritizing function over form.
By making the new Galaxy S6 look more like one of Apple's iPhones, Samsung had to make compromises, a fact that many of us already know. Unlike last year's Galaxy S5, which was introduced in April, the Galaxy S6 lacks IP 67 dust and water resistance, a removable battery and a microSD slot for expanding memory, all features available in the Galaxy S5.
The absence of these features, says Consumer Reports, could possibly create a window for other Android smartphone manufacturers to fill a demand for smartphones that have a removable battery and expandable memory, such as the LG G 4, although it also acknowledges that some people do not really care if they can remove the battery on their devices or not.
"I think the idea that you can add the memory and be able to replace the battery, some people like to be able to have that flexibility," says Maria Rerecich, head of electronics testing at Consumer Reports. "I think other people really won't mind."
It's not all bad for the Galaxy S6 though. Consumer Reports cites newer features of the new smartphone that are not available in the Galaxy S5, such as the ability to charge rapidly and compatibility with both Qi and Powermat wireless charging. The magazine also failed to mention that the Galaxy S6 runs on the octa-core Exynos 7420 processor and 3 GB of RAM, which shows better performance than the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 and 2 GB of RAM powering the Galaxy S5.
It also has a stunning 1440 by 2560 quad-HD display, making the Galaxy S6 a good companion for Samsung's Gear virtual reality headset, the best smartphone cameras in the industry according to DxOMark, and mobile payments that can be used with magnetic strip card terminals and newer NFC-enabled machines.
Analyst predictions for sales of the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge also show that consumers are reacting positively to the new smartphones, indicating that going for form over function could be a good decision for Samsung. Early reports coming from South Korean media outlets say Samsung topped a total of 20 million pre-orders for both smartphones, while T-Mobile says it sold two times more Galaxy S6 units than Galaxy S5 at launch.
Analyst Henry H. Kim of Citibank said in early March that Samsung is expected to sell 46 million units of the Galaxy S6 alone, but the number was figured later that month to 55 million. No figures were given for the more expensive Galaxy S6 Edge, but Samsung expects to go over 70 million sales in 2015 for both smartphones.
"The Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are drawing positive responses," a Samsung official told Korea Times last month. "I have no doubt that they will be the biggest-sellers in the Galaxy series ever."
Photo: Maurizio Pesce | Flickr
