Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ hands-on and first impressions

Samsung took the wraps off of  their latest high-end offerings at an event today, and along with the latest addition to the Note series, we also got our first look at the Plus iteration of their Galaxy S6 Edge flagship. We go hands-on and give you the first look at the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+!

• Galaxy S6 Edge Plus review
• Galaxy S6 edge plus cases

Design

If you loved everything about the Galaxy S6 Edge, but wished it featured a much bigger display, the Galaxy S6 Edge+ is the device for you. The Plus moniker is usually indicative of a bigger and better version of the original, and that is exactly what you’re getting with the Galaxy S6 Edge+. When it comes to the design language, the S6 Edge+ is identical to its smaller sibling in every way, from its sleek unibody metal and glass design with the metal frame thinning out along the curved edges of the glass, to the placement of all the buttons and ports.

It is obviously a much bigger phone, which makes one-handed usability a little more difficult when compared to the normal S6 Edge, but if you’re used to, and prefer, smartphones with bigger displays, this size isn’t going to be uncomfortable. The two curved edges along the sides are just as aesthetically pleasing to look at as they were before, but Samsung is looking to make a lot more useful this time around.

Display

Up front is a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED display with a Quad HD resolution, resulting in a pixel density of 515 ppi. The pixel density does take a small dip when compared to the smaller 5.1-inch display of the S6 Edge, but with both pixel counts well over 500 ppi, it’s not going to be noticeable. This screen provides everything you’d expect from a high-end Samsung display, including deep blacks, high brightness, saturated and vivid colors, and great viewing angles. With the additional display real estate, the S6 Edge+ also provides a much better media consumption and gaming experience, as well as when browsing the web or reading text.

Performance and hardware

Under the hood, the Galaxy S6 Edge+ features the same octa-core Exynos 7420 processor found with the S6 Edge, but with 4 GB of RAM instead. The extra gig of RAM certainly doesn’t hurt, and should make switching between a lot of applications an even smoother experience. So far, the device has been very responsive and snappy, which isn’t really surprising, as we’ve seen this processing package in action already with the smaller Galaxy S smartphones. Also contributing to this smooth performance is the latest toned version of the TouchWiz UI.

The S6 Edge+ comes with 32 GB or 64 GB of on-board storage, but unfortunately, there is still no option for microSD card expansion, which makes the lack of a 128 GB version somewhat odd. The fingerprint scanner is still integrated into the tactile home button up front, and utilizes the touch type method that is much faster and more accurate than the swipe type implementation seen with 2014 Samsung flagships. The heart rate monitor is located on the back next to the camera.

On the battery front, the Galaxy S6 Edge+ packs a 3,000 mAh unit that is not user replaceable. This is a fairly respectable capacity, but the much larger high resolution display it has to power does raise some concerns. That said, more thorough testing will of course be required before we can make any final judgments. Like the other Samsung flagships, you also get fast charging capabilities, and compatibility with both the PMA and Qi wireless charging standards.

Camera

The Galaxy S6 Edge+ also comes with a 16 MP rear camera with a f/1.9 aperture and OIS, along with a 5 MP front-facing unit with a wide angle lens, which is identical to the camera setup found with its namesake. Considering the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge cameras are widely regarded as some of the best in the business, it won’t be too much of a surprise if the story is the same with this camera as well.

You can still use the double tap of the home button to quickly launch the camera application, and while the camera app is largely the same, but Samsung has now added the ability to create video collages, allowing you to record 4 short clips and stitch them into a single video. You can also now create live broadcasts from something like Periscope, that can feed directly to YouTube, if you’re looking to share a quick moment with your followers on the fly.

Software

The Galaxy S6 Edge+ will ship with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop with the latest version of TouchWiz on top. Just as was seen with the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, this is a toned version of the TouchWiz UI that removes a lot of unnecessary features and bloat. One minor aesthetic change this time around is with regards to the icons, which are now squares with rounded corners, that make the UI look a lot cleaner and more uniform when compared to older versions.

All of the features from the Galaxy S6 Edge that take advantage of the dual edges, like night clock, information stream, edge lighting, and People Edge all make their way over to the Plus iteration, but Samsung has made a few key improvements that make these edge features a little more useful than before. Besides just contacts, the People Edge is now capable of housing any of your favorite applications as well, and the edge feature can also be easily accessed no matter where you are within the phone, and not just when in the homescreen.

The pull tab can also be relocated to anywhere along the left and right edges to make it easier to reach, especially if you have smaller hands. Since the Galaxy S6 Edge+ is a much bigger device, Samsung has also added a triple tap of the home button shortcut to shrink the screen to a smaller size, to help with one handed usability. We’ve seen this feature before on other large screen devices of course, but the triple tap of the home button makes this a very quick and easy feature to access.

Specifications

Gallery

So there you have it for this first look at the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+! Stay tuned with Android Authority as we continue to bring you more great coverage of the Galaxy S6 Edge+ and the Galaxy Note 5, including the full review, in-depth comparisons, camera shootouts, and a lot more.

Next: Galaxy S6 Edge Plus vs Note 5