Samsung Galaxy S 6 and S 6 Edge: Preview
by Joshua Ho on March 26, 2015 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Samsung
- Mobile
- Galaxy S6
- Galaxy S6 Edge
GPU Performance
As previously discussed, on the GPU Samsung has added two additional shader cores to the Mali T760 for additional performance in addition to a clock speed bump from 700 to 772 MHz maximum. To evaluate the effects of this we look at GFXBench which is generally accepted as a pure GPU benchmark.
From the results the Mali T760MP8 GPU of the Exynos 7420 performs admirably in comparison to the Adreno 430 of the Snapdragon 810. We see a 10% lead over the Adreno 430 in Manhattan, growing to 20% in T-Rex. Qualcomm hinted that the Adreno 430 is more strongly improved in ALU performance over the Adreno 420, which would explain why the gap isn't as significant this generation. A 700 MHz clock on the Adreno 430 would likely equal to T760 in this case, but I suspect the power consumption of such a clock would be untenable. The Galaxy S6 does fall behind on the on-screen benchmarks due to the 1440p display compared to the 1080p display of the One M9, but rendering at a lower resolution would avoid most of these problems in real games.
Display
As previously discussed, the Galaxy S6 line introduces a newer generation of AMOLED displays, which is said to increase maximum luminance to 600 nits. Samsung claims that this was achieved with the use of new materials, which is likely necessary in order to sustain power efficiency improvements. It doesn't seem that AMOLED is uniquely suited to high resolution, but rather that Samsung Display Corp. is managing to dramatically improve how they make AMOLED displays with every year that offset power consumption increases from higher resolution displays. To find out how Samsung did, we use SpectraCal's CalMAN 5 Ultimate, in addition to X-Rite's i1Pro2 Basic to characterize displays as accurately as possible.
From the results Samsung's claims of a 600 nit display are valid in this case, which is a 100% APL white display. It's important to note that achieving this requires the use of auto-brightness, and that manual brightness is limited to a much lower brightness to reduce power usage, here the S6 sees similar maximum brightness as the S5. The S6 edge disappointingly only achieves 272 nits in this mode, a rather low value. I saw color balance shift dramatically in auto-boost mode, which suggests that this operating mode is likely less efficient than manual brightness. As an explanation, we've seen that colors are controlled in AMOLED by voltage while brightness is controlled by PWM (pulse width modulation). As with most recent AMOLED displays, there's no DC bias to the pixels so the contrast really is infinite instead of just a very large number when displaying black.
Galaxy S6
Galaxy S6 edge
Moving on to grayscale, we can see that Samsung has done a pretty good job of controlling the white point and gamma across the saturation sweep, even if green is slightly dominant in both displays. We can also see that there is variation across displays as the S6 edge is closer to neutral while the S6 sample tends a bit warmer.
Galaxy S6
Galaxy S6 Edge
In the saturation sweep, both displays do an incredible job. I really don't have anything else to say here, because there's really no way to improve on the level of calibration Samsung has done on this display. Unless Samsung calibrates every single display in production, which is wildly impractical and effectively impossible to do, this is as good as it gets for a mass-produced device. Improving past this point will also be incredibly difficult to perceive, which means there's no real reason to go any further.
Galaxy S6
Galaxy S6 edge
In the Gretag MacBeth ColorChecker, we can get an idea for overall color accuracy, which paints a picture similar to the saturation test. The only real problem I've noticed with these displays are the viewing angles, which can produce color shifting when the display is tilted. This is a bit of an issue on the edge variant as I can see that the edges of the display appear somewhat green when viewed head on, but otherwise there are no real issues to be seen here. Overall, this is probably the best display anyone will be able to get in a smartphone right now. This level of progress is amazing from Samsung, given just how bad things were with the Galaxy S' AMOLED display, even as recent as the display of the Galaxy S4. With the Galaxy S5 review, I said that I wouldn't be surprised to see AMOLED equal, if not exceed LCD within a year or two, and Samsung has managed to finally hit that mark.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
200 Comments
View All Comments
SydneyBlue120d - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Thanks a lot for the quick reply :) Do you think this could change with future software updates? Why not exposing if it is supported? Maybe the software driver is not ready?Andrei Frumusanu - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
No idea yet. The hardware block's firmware is on the phone but the decoders don't seem to be made available to the Media API of Android.Azurael - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
This looks like a nice phone - finally OIS (which was keeping me with LG) and the display on this (and the S5, for that matter) looks really good - I was put off AMOLEDs in the past since nobody seemed to be able to make one colour accurate, and at the time when I had an HTC Desire (and later a RAZR i, for that matter) the PenTile layout was horrible. Now the subpixels are too small to make out, that issue is gone. My one remaining worry regarding the screen is what it will look like a couple of years down the line, screen burn is a big issue and neither of the AMOLED devices I have here can display anything like continuous tone any more, plus their white points have shifted significantly (though they were far from great when new...)The other question I have is whether Samsung have got their act together regarding kernel support for their own SoCs? Their stock ROMs tend to be buggy as hell, and at one point a few years back, a large proportion of the CM team managing Exynos devices walked away due to Samsung's incomplete source drops. There are still outstanding power management bugs affecting the old Exynos 4210 (crashes during deep sleep, mainly) in the Galaxy S2 and the Nexus 10 is by far the buggiest, least stable of the Nexus devices (I speak from experience, between myself and my girlfriend we've had/have every one bar the N6/N9....)
Impulses - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
As someone who's already living sans micro SD and a removable battery, I'm not terribly concerned about either (my N5's battery seems to be holding up well a year and a half later...).This is probably the first Galaxy S I'd buy, just because SAMOLED is finally on par with the better displays and having OIS + a better build is appealing. Now if only they'd make a smaller flagship...
Physical home button is still a turn off for me personally. Are they still clinging to that because it's part of their design or because it better masks space taken up by the internals?
I'm thinking it started off as the former but has ended up as the latter... Still, I'd take a larger display with on screen buttons whenever possible, I think LG has made the best compromises in that regard.
Azurael - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Personally, I'd much prefer to have off-screen keys than a fugly waste of actual display area. Until Android developers get their act together with using the full screen mode, anyway. But since even Google's own YouTube app has a mini-fit and refuses to hide the softkeys & status bar on a regular basis, what hope has anybody else got?Sadly, the last chance I had at 'real' buttons was my One X. It's amazing that app developers haven't got the hang of softkeys in 3 years.
Impulses - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Ehh, developers are more likely to put an effort if a majority of phones are using soft keys, and guess who moves a good majority of phone stock... :pI've got several handy apps that make good use of full screen mode tho, and on screen buttons aren't an uglier than capacitive ones, specially capacitive ones with white LEDs on a white phone.
I've seen more than one use unfamiliar with Android either struggling to use or outright ignoring the back/menu/app-switcher buttons because they were either invisible in daylight or kept switching off.
I never really got why Samsung had them switch off so quickly by default... I don't think they even switched off at all while the phone was in use on the three HTC phones I had with capacitive.
Drovan - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
I'm wondering if the Exynos 7420 has an integrated LTE modem. That would really close the gap with Qualcomm.Fallen Kell - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Wow... really no removable battery and NO SD SLOT! That is a no go for me. I was really hoping this phone would be nice. The display numbers look extremely impressive, but without a removable battery or SD card it doesn't matter how good the display is because the phone is unusable.hrrmph - Friday, March 27, 2015 - link
Exactly. Unusable and not improving in the areas where it most needs to.Where is the increased storage? My Blackberry Z10 has 144GB. My Samsung ATIV-S WinPhone has 144GB, my Samsung Note 2 has 144GB.
Any day now, the new 200GB Micro-SD chips will be in stock and I'll start upgrading those devices to 216GB. So again, where is the increased storage with the S6?
There is none. It's a downgrade.
globaluniquepapers - Thursday, March 26, 2015 - link
Get Real or Fake Authentic 100% High-quality passports, driver’s licenses, ID cardsDo you love to change your nationality, or renew ,get documents?
We ( globaluniquepapers@gmail.com ) are an independent group of specialized IT
professionals and data base technicians who are specialized in the production of quality documents such as passports,drivers license,id cards,stamps,visas,diplomas, marriage certs, divorce papers, of very high quality and other products for all countries: USA, Australia,UK, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Italian, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Mexico, Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, . This list is not full.contact
Fake ID's for 19.95 Over 50's state drivers license cards and State ID
cards available. Includes state driver's license hologram and magnetic strip
or bar code on back. 2 business day shipping order (2.95 shipping and
handling). The BEST authentic fake ID's on the web.
Same quality, high resolution that Department of Motor Vehicles use.
Send current .JPG or .GIF of current license with picture
and changes in NAME, DOB, LICENSE #, RESTRICTIONS, etc.
we produce the best fake ID online we sell UK/EU fake ID, Canadian fake ID, Australian fake ID and fake IDs for many other countries from fake passports to fake driving licenses to fake bank statements we have your identification needs covered. Our fake IDs include all security features such as genuine holograms, ultraviolet watermarks, intaglio printing, special paper, fluorescent dyes, RFID chips, bar codes corresponding to your details and more. Our fake IDs are identical to the real thing no other site will offer you this quality we are the best.
new identity protect your privacy and take back your freedom.
We are the best producer of HIGH QUALITY fake and real documents. With over a billion of our documents circulating around the world. We offer only original high-quality passports, driver's licenses, ID cards, birth certificates, stamps, visas, universities diploma and other products for a number of countries like:
High Quality USA (United States) passports,
Australian passports,
Belgium passports and DL,
Brazilian (Brazil) passports,
Canadian (Canada) passports,
Finnish (Finland) passports,
French (France) passports,
German (Germany) passports,
Dutch (Netherland/Holland) passports,
United Kingdom passports,
Spanish (Spain) passports,
(Mexico) passports,
HQ South African passports.
HQ Australian driver licenses,
HQ Canadian driver licenses,
High Quality French driver licenses,
HQ Dutch (Netherland/Holland) driving licenses,
HQ German(Germany) driving licenses,
HQ United Kingdom driving licenses,
High Quality Diplomatic passports,
passport Duplicates for sale.
order fake passports,
order novelty driver license,
order High Quality Diplomatic passports,
We offer high quality counterfeit bills for the following currencies;
EUR - Euro
USD - US Dollar
GBP - British Pound
INR - Indian Rupee
AUD - Australian Dollar
CAD - Canadian Dollar
AED - Emirati Dirham
ZAR - Rand
CHF - Swiss Franc
CNY - Chinese Yuan Renminbi
MYR - Malaysian Ringgit
THB - Thai Baht
CONTACT US : globaluniquepapers@gmail.com
Email : globaluniquepapers@gmail.com
globaluniquepapers@gmail.com
BUY SSD SOLUTION FOR CLEANING BLACK MONEY NOTES AND DEFACE NOTE( globaluniquepapers@gmail.com)
SSD Solution used to clean all type of blackened, tainted and defaced bank notes. Our technicians are highly qualified and are always ready to handle the cleaning perfectly. Our Chemicals is 100% pure.We sell Chemicals that clean all types of black note or deface note.anti-air breezed powders and other many products used in cleaning black note. We do offer the best chemicals. SSD Solution. Vectrol paste, Tebi-Manetic solution, Defaced currency, Cleaning chemical. Darkened currency, Black coated notes, Cleaning black money,vectrol paste, SSD solution, super automatic solution,anti-breeze bank notes, black marked currency, black coated notes, cleaning Black money. We are in global wide contact us via email on ( globaluniquepapers@gmail.com )
WE SALE CHEMICALS LIKE TOURMALINE, S.S.D. Chemical Solution , CASTRO X
OXIDE, A4. AND MANY Like ACTIVATION POWDER & SSD SOLUTION FOR CLEANING
BLACK MONEY Chemical and Allied product incorporated is a major
manufacturer of industrial and pharmaceutical products with key
specialization in the production of S.S.D Automatic solution used in the
cleaning of black money,defaced money and stained bank notes with anti
breeze quality.OTHERS FOR DAMAGED NOTES, BILLS LIKE USD,EURO, POUNDS,
TRANSFERRING COLORS FROM USE NOTE TO NEW WHITE BILLS,AND BLACK NOTES
EMAIL ; globaluniquepapers@gmail.com
WE DO FAST SHIPPING WORLDWIDE WITH A MAXIMUM OF 3 TO 4 WORKING DAYS