I got a chance to test a Galaxy S6 out and immediately bought one for my wife. I'm a complete phone nerd (XDA Developers Recognized Contributor, if that means anything to you) so I massively over analyze these things.

It's a VERY nice phone but it's got some things that I consider drawbacks. For my wife, all the drawbacks listed below were non issues. She didn't care about these issues. So understand that my 'drawbacks' are completely subjective to your personal needs. But they are things that you should be aware of and consider if they mean anything to you before purchasing.

░░░░░THE UPSIDES░░░░░

❖ The screen is incredible. Like really incredible. The resolution is better than my eye can see. I use a Galaxy S4 as my regular phone and it has great resolution where you can't see individual pixels. I thought the S4 screen was as good as you can get, but the S6 screen takes it to a whole new level. Even though you can't see pixels on either screen, the higher resolution of the S6 screen makes everything look so sharp that it's nearly impossible to tell you are looking at a screen. It's that incredible.

❖ The design of the phone just feels more 'expensive'. I mean that in a good way. It feels just higher quality than previous models in the Galaxy S line. The S3 and S4 for example are often critiqued for having a plastic shell. The S6 has a metal band around the outside that just makes it feel 'premium' in your hand. It should also provide more protection for the device as well.

❖ TouchWiz is HEAVILY scaled back. I hate TouchWiz (Samsung's version of Android) It adds a layer of UI that is neither helpful nor intuitive. And it's a resource hog which slows the phone down for important tasks just so it can make the scrolling smoother, and other such useless tradeoffs. On the S6 TouchWiz was barely noticeable. The UI looks more like the standard Google Android Lollipop interface. It was all just much smoother and simpler and better and wonderful.

❖ Camera. 16 MP. And the images it takes look stunning on the super HD screen. Those photos on a larger high resolution monitor are simply stunning.

░░░░░THE DOWNSIDES░░░░░

❖ The battery is not removable or easily replaceable. A cell phone battery has a life of about 500 charge cycles. I tend to keep my phones for 2 years as daily users, then I keep my old phones for a variety of other purposes around the house. (My old HTC Sensation is hooked up to my stereo for use as a nice wifi streaming media player with a touchscreen UI, for example) I eventually have a need to replace batteries because I wear them out. I like being able to go on Amazon, spent $20 on a replacement battery, pop it in and be done. Additionally, even if you don't keep your phones that long, batteries fail sometimes. The stock batteries on the Galaxy S4 had some problems. They were minimal, but for those affected the battery absolutely had to be replaced. On the S4 it took 8 seconds and the problem was solved. On the S6 I'm sure it would be covered by warranty but it'd be a pain to take it somewhere to have it worked on should the issue come up. So no replaceable battery is a deal killer for me. This might not be an issue for you. If not, great! But be aware of the issue before making purchase decisions.

❖ You can't expand the storage with an SD Card. I don't want to live in the cloud. I hate the cloud. Sometimes I'm not on an LTE network. Sometimes I'm in the middle of nowhere but still want to show someone pictures of my kids. I got my wife the 32GB model. That sounds like a lot, but keep in mind that some of that is dedicated for the operating system and user apps. So you don't get to use all 32GB. The S6 is going to be available in up to 128GB, which ends my problem with not liking the cloud option. Again, you might not care. If not, great! My wife doesn't keep a lot of stuff on her phone. She moves all her pictures to her computer and never loaded video to watch on her phone, so the storage thing wasn't a big deal to her at all even at the 32GB base model. But it would drive me crazy. So this is another matter of personal opinion.

I would bet HEAVILY that Samsung put a lot of money into researching consumers and figured out that MOST people don't care about these two 'downsides'. And that's backed up by early reports that the launch day sales and pre-orders of the S6 have already doubled the total sales of the S5. of So I expect that most people reading this review won't care about the battery or storage. But you should still be aware of them in case one or both of them is an issue for you.

░░░░░THE NEUTRAL░░░░░

❖ The screen is probably at the upper limits of size you'd want to go for a phone. Any bigger and it's too large for one handed operation. But the S6 is just at that limit where you can still use it with one hand.

❖ It's not waterproof like the previous S5 model. How often does that really come in handy though? Do you often find yourself unexpectedly waste deep in water so quickly that you don't even have a chance to take your phone out of your pocket and get it to higher ground? Me either.

❖ The camera juts out from the back a little. It also does this on the S4. I haven't noticed it in 2 years on that phone. I can't imaging you'd care about it on the S6. But I've heard that complaint about it. It sticks out a LITTLE further than on the S4, but it's really not that big of a deal. My wife didn't even notice.

❖ The general design looks like all the other phones in the Galaxy S line. It's a sleek design. It has the physical home button and the capacitive back and menu buttons to either side of it so you are not reliant on the Android "bottom of the screen" navigation bar. I don't care for that navigation bar as it takes up screen real estate. I like the buttons I need most being off the screen. The S6 continues that trend.

░░░░░THE BOTTOM LINE░░░░░

If you can deal with the non removable battery and non upgradable storage, the S6 is an insanely sleek phone that I can't imaging you'd be unhappy with. The thing looks cool even when the screen is off. It feels great in your hand. The image clarity is insane. The UI is incredibly smooth and easy to use.

If the battery and SD card issues are deal killers for you, you won't like the S6.

That's what this comes down to. If those aren't a big deal, buy it and you will be SUPER happy. If those are a big deal, you will not be happy. Though I have to admit I think that I'd get used to the non upgradable storage. I just don't like it right now. The battery thing might be something I could get used to as well.but Id' need proof of "this isn't a hindrance" for quite a while before I liked it.

If you completely take the battery and SD out of the equation it's not a contest. The S6 is a GREAT phone.

I've had many types of phones. iPhone, HTC, Motorolla, now this Samsung. It's my first ever Samsung and I love it. I have the white 32gb and the reason I went with this is not only does it look great, it was super easy to figure out to use and the screen is awesome. I use my phone mainly for pictures, and that was a big deciding factor in my choice. I was hoping for the blue only to find out that it's not available in the U.S.

The black isn't a true black, the edge was $100 more for features I really could care less about. I didn't need any confusion. I'm not very good at adjusting to different phones, and I just found this to be very smooth and easy to adjust to.

I love this phone! The only thing I really don't like is the amount of finger prints you can see.

I got the Samsung wireless charger, I love that as well!

**** There are some complaints about the phone battery, I was very annoyed at first about it as well. I thought I was going to have to keep recharging. I have not had a problem with the phone not lasting through the day on average days. I do not do any gaming, just surfing, my 2 year old sometimes watches Youtube, I facebook, both my email accounts are on my phone so I get frequent notices. I would still highly recommend this phone, and I still love it.

This year, Samsung kept everything much more simple, intuitive, and beautiful. As a result, the Galaxy S6 is the best smartphone any person can currently. My review will focus on 3 key aspects: exterior design and materials, tech specs and hardware performance, and interface and ui. I will also point out outstanding and new features along the way.

Exterior Design: Although at first the Galaxy S6 may not look completely different from the Galaxy S5, it is leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessor. The 2 sheets of Gorilla Glass 4 adorning the front and back make the phone feel extremely premium, resolving common complaint about the previous generation. It has a full metal band surrounding it, rather than a faux plastic one. Now, the feel in hand is comparable to the iPhone 6, and the design is elegant while familiar. The Black Sapphire color on the back shimmers beautifully in the light, changing into an almost purple/dark blue shade. Since the phone is so thin at 6.8 mm, the camera module protrudes slightly from the chassis, however it does not affect the phone. There is a sapphire lens to protect the camera, but placing the phone in a case should alleviate the protruding camera issue. Going to the front. there is a typical rectangular home button with a recent apps capacitive key on the left, with a back key on the right. Overall, the Galaxy S6 is the best phone Samsung has ever designed; however, the sealed battery and absence of a micro SD card slot may upset many. I do not replace the batteries in my phone nor add SD cards for storage, but customers from the Galaxy devices before may be unhappy.

Tech Specs, Hardware Performance, Notable Features: The Galaxy in real life and on paper is a monster!
Screen: It packs an amazing 5.1 Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 2560x1440. The screen is capable of bright whites and dark blacks, and is the best mobile display currently on the market. Although Super AMOLED screens tend to have overly saturated colors, choosing AMOLED Cinema mode in settings creates natural colors.

Fingerprint Scanner: Instead of a swipe based sensor, the new fingerprint scanner embedded in the home button is a capacitive touch based sensor, like the one on the iPhone 6. All you do is place your finger on the home button to unlock the phone. You can set up a total of 4 fingers, and the sensor is extremely reliable and useful. Every person using this phone should have the fingerprint sensor turned on since it provides good security while being intuitive to use.

Camera: The camera is a 16 megapixel sensor with OIS. The Galaxy S6 has the best camera out of all Android phones, and easily competes with the iPhone 6 Plus. Because of the higher resolution, images are extremely detailed. The Optical Imaging Stabilization ensures pictures are clear, while videos are buttery smooth. The OIS also helps at night, as the sensor can pull in more light without creating a blurry image. The result is an amazing camera that can produce vibrant and beautiful pictures during the day, and a camera that can create accurate and bright pictures at night. The camera is also capable of 4K video recording, and slow motion video as well. An important new feature the Galaxy S6 incorporates is the double click on home button to activate. When you double click the home button, it opens the camera in less than 1 second! The "just shoot" mentality this camera gives its users is simply amazing and unmatched. For the pro users out there, the camera includes a professional mode that users can use to adjust ISO, white balance, and more settings. The front camera is 5 megapixels, and it is a strong front facing camera. Not much can be said about it, but it produces beautiful selfies and good colors, and is more than adequate for all users.

Quick Charging and Wireless Charging: The Galaxy S6 is capable of adaptive quick charging using the charger supplied in the box. This charges the Galaxy S6 extremely fast; you can get about 4 hours of use only with 10 minutes of charging. The phone also supports other Qualcomm Quick Chargers. The Galaxy S6 also supports the Qi and PMA wireless charging standards. Just set your Galaxy S6 on a wireless charing pad, and watch the battery fill up! However, It is important to note that wireless charging is slower than plugging the phone into the wall charger.

Processor and RAM: There is a lightning fast 8 core, 64-bit, Exynos 7420 processor pushing the phone. Samsung decided to use its own processor over the Snapdragon 810, and I can wholeheartedly say that they have made the right choice. The phone runs buttery smooth and has little to no hiccups. It performs on par with the iPhone 6 and the HTC One M9, even though it is supporting a much higher resolution display. However, the phone runs a bit hot while playing resource intensive games, but it is not burning to the touch. It is quite normal for a phone this powerful. The phone also uses 3 gigabytes of RAM, and there is always enough RAM for multitasking and games.

Storage: Although there is no micro SD card slot for the phone, Samsung has included a 32 gigabytes of storage for the base model. This storage uses a new technology: UFS 2.0, and it provides speeds that are many times faster than any other phone currently on the market.

Heart Rate Monitor: There is a heart rate monitor below the flash module, and it works accurately and precisely. Many fitness lovers will find this feature useful.

Samsung Pay: Although the phones are not capable of using Samsung Pay yet, it will be available this summer. From the videos I've seen, this feature looks like it works seamlessly and is much better than its competitors for 1 simple reason: It does not have to be used with nfc capable terminals only. With Samsung Pay, you will be able to load any credit card or gift card that uses a magnetic stripe and then use your phone to pay at the register. The phone is capable of paying using MST, emitting a transmission that credit card readers will mistake for a physical credit card being swiped. This technology can legitimately replace wallets, as it does not rely on the new NFC capable terminals, although it does support the NFC payment technology too.

Interface

Samsung TouchWiz: Samsung has cleaned up the interface a lot from since last year, but it is still undeniably and unapologetically TouchWiz. However, I find that its use of bold colors sometimes works extremely well; the interface is easy to use and relatively pleasing to the eye. Many apps have been updated to follow Google's Material Design, and the interface runs smooth without hiccups. The apps are much more intuitive to use, and they look much more professional. The apps have been color coded and reflect a much more simple and unified design. However, for any people that do not like TouchWiz, they can easily load 3rd party launchers from the Google Play store and customize to their own content.

Theme Engine: There is a new feature that allows users to completely makeover the phone using themes. Themes can change almost every aspect of the phone, ranging from fonts to even the notification panel! For the pure android lollipop lovers out there, it is probably only a matter of time before someone designs a stock theme that makes the phone look much more like the stock android OS. The possibilities are endless with Themes, and I hope that many more people will develop themes so that users can customize their phones.

Battery Life

Battery Life: The battery life on the Galaxy S6 is pretty average, and it must usually be charged at the end of the day. The ultra power saving modes can eke out many more hours with only a few percent of battery life left, but this doesn't negate the fact that the battery is a little small. Compared to the previously released Note 4, the Galaxy S6 simply falls short in the battery life department. However, I don't feel that most users will be affected by the relatively small battery, as most users charge the phone at night regardless of the amount of battery life left. Power users, however, will feel the strain at the end of the day, but the quick charging should help alleviate some of the problems.

Conclusion

All in all, the Galaxy S6 is the best Android phone on the market right now, and easily competes with the iPhone 6. It is much more simple and intuitive to use, packs an amazing camera, and has powerful performance that is currently unmatched. The new premium design makes the phone feel truly worth the money in hand, and I can say without a doubt that the Galaxy S6 is currently the best phone anyone can buy (Q2 '15). However, this might change over time when more new phones are released. I recommend everyone to buy the phone, and it has become my new favorite! I am sure that everybody else buying this phone will love it as well. Thanks for reading my review!

PROS:
-Beautiful Screen
-Fast Processor
-No lag
-Best Camera in Good and Low Lighting
-Accurate Fingerprint Sensor
-Premium Design

CONS:
-Mediocre Battery Life
-(For Some Users) No user replaceable battery or micro SD card slot
-Some users may prefer a soft touch back

I got a chance to test a Galaxy S6 out and immediately bought one for my wife. I'm a complete phone nerd (XDA Developers Recognized Contributor, if that means anything to you) so I massively over analyze these things.

It's a VERY nice phone but it's got some things that I consider drawbacks. For my wife, all the drawbacks listed below were non issues. She didn't care about these issues. So understand that my 'drawbacks' are completely subjective to your personal needs. But they are things that you should be aware of and consider if they mean anything to you before purchasing.

░░░░░THE UPSIDES░░░░░

❖ The screen is incredible. Like really incredible. The resolution is better than my eye can see. I use a Galaxy S4 as my regular phone and it has great resolution where you can't see individual pixels. I thought the S4 screen was as good as you can get, but the S6 screen takes it to a whole new level. Even though you can't see pixels on either screen, the higher resolution of the S6 screen makes everything look so sharp that it's nearly impossible to tell you are looking at a screen. It's that incredible.

❖ The design of the phone just feels more 'expensive'. I mean that in a good way. It feels just higher quality than previous models in the Galaxy S line. The S3 and S4 for example are often critiqued for having a plastic shell. The S6 has a metal band around the outside that just makes it feel 'premium' in your hand. It should also provide more protection for the device as well.

❖ TouchWiz is HEAVILY scaled back. I hate TouchWiz (Samsung's version of Android) It adds a layer of UI that is neither helpful nor intuitive. And it's a resource hog which slows the phone down for important tasks just so it can make the scrolling smoother, and other such useless tradeoffs. On the S6 TouchWiz was barely noticeable. The UI looks more like the standard Google Android Lollipop interface. It was all just much smoother and simpler and better and wonderful.

❖ Camera. 16 MP. And the images it takes look stunning on the super HD screen. Those photos on a larger high resolution monitor are simply stunning.

░░░░░THE DOWNSIDES░░░░░

❖ The battery is not removable or easily replaceable. A cell phone battery has a life of about 500 charge cycles. I tend to keep my phones for 2 years as daily users, then I keep my old phones for a variety of other purposes around the house. (My old HTC Sensation is hooked up to my stereo for use as a nice wifi streaming media player with a touchscreen UI, for example) I eventually have a need to replace batteries because I wear them out. I like being able to go on Amazon, spent $20 on a replacement battery, pop it in and be done. Additionally, even if you don't keep your phones that long, batteries fail sometimes. The stock batteries on the Galaxy S4 had some problems. They were minimal, but for those affected the battery absolutely had to be replaced. On the S4 it took 8 seconds and the problem was solved. On the S6 I'm sure it would be covered by warranty but it'd be a pain to take it somewhere to have it worked on should the issue come up. So no replaceable battery is a deal killer for me. This might not be an issue for you. If not, great! But be aware of the issue before making purchase decisions.

❖ You can't expand the storage with an SD Card. I don't want to live in the cloud. I hate the cloud. Sometimes I'm not on an LTE network. Sometimes I'm in the middle of nowhere but still want to show someone pictures of my kids. I got my wife the 32GB model. That sounds like a lot, but keep in mind that some of that is dedicated for the operating system and user apps. So you don't get to use all 32GB. The S6 is going to be available in up to 128GB, which ends my problem with not liking the cloud option. Again, you might not care. If not, great! My wife doesn't keep a lot of stuff on her phone. She moves all her pictures to her computer and never loaded video to watch on her phone, so the storage thing wasn't a big deal to her at all even at the 32GB base model. But it would drive me crazy. So this is another matter of personal opinion.

I would bet HEAVILY that Samsung put a lot of money into researching consumers and figured out that MOST people don't care about these two 'downsides'. And that's backed up by early reports that the launch day sales and pre-orders of the S6 have already doubled the total sales of the S5. of So I expect that most people reading this review won't care about the battery or storage. But you should still be aware of them in case one or both of them is an issue for you.

░░░░░THE NEUTRAL░░░░░

❖ The screen is probably at the upper limits of size you'd want to go for a phone. Any bigger and it's too large for one handed operation. But the S6 is just at that limit where you can still use it with one hand.

❖ It's not waterproof like the previous S5 model. How often does that really come in handy though? Do you often find yourself unexpectedly waste deep in water so quickly that you don't even have a chance to take your phone out of your pocket and get it to higher ground? Me either.

❖ The camera juts out from the back a little. It also does this on the S4. I haven't noticed it in 2 years on that phone. I can't imaging you'd care about it on the S6. But I've heard that complaint about it. It sticks out a LITTLE further than on the S4, but it's really not that big of a deal. My wife didn't even notice.

❖ The general design looks like all the other phones in the Galaxy S line. It's a sleek design. It has the physical home button and the capacitive back and menu buttons to either side of it so you are not reliant on the Android "bottom of the screen" navigation bar. I don't care for that navigation bar as it takes up screen real estate. I like the buttons I need most being off the screen. The S6 continues that trend.

░░░░░THE BOTTOM LINE░░░░░

If you can deal with the non removable battery and non upgradable storage, the S6 is an insanely sleek phone that I can't imaging you'd be unhappy with. The thing looks cool even when the screen is off. It feels great in your hand. The image clarity is insane. The UI is incredibly smooth and easy to use.

If the battery and SD card issues are deal killers for you, you won't like the S6.

That's what this comes down to. If those aren't a big deal, buy it and you will be SUPER happy. If those are a big deal, you will not be happy. Though I have to admit I think that I'd get used to the non upgradable storage. I just don't like it right now. The battery thing might be something I could get used to as well.but Id' need proof of "this isn't a hindrance" for quite a while before I liked it.

If you completely take the battery and SD out of the equation it's not a contest. The S6 is a GREAT phone.

I have been using the S6 for about 4 days now. My first impressions:
It's beautiful, well made.
The screen is excellent. Works great under direct sun light too.
It's fast, very responsive.
Call quality is excellent
Finger print unlock features works very well. Much better than the S5

CONS:
It's slippery - my wife dropped her 4 times the first day she got hers. Yikes. But it didn't break! I got her a case now

Battery life is average

Example: it's 100% at bed time, by morning it's at 80%. I didn't use the phone that whole time as I was sleeping. I do not have alot of aps on the phone yet. ocation is turned off. I do have 2 emails synching, one is Yahoo and the other for work and it's set to synch every hour.

Fully charged in the morning, I am down to 80% by noon. I check emails, FB in the AM then it sits on my desk mostly unused during work, other than a quick check at lunch. I used it some to check FB and and emails later and it was down to about 20% by 8 PM. My wife uses her phone more than me and gets similar numbers.
My son today, at noon, was at 52%. He uses it alot as he plays various games.

So I am not impressed with battery life ; I absolutely DO NOT recommend the S6 if you are a heavy user.

Oh, Another year 2015. Another set of phones from manufacturers! I have been hooked onto get the latest phone every year syndrome and love reviewing specifics. Disclaimer, I love Android and have been using from very early days. Samsung Galaxy S6 tries to be a revolutionary, but it is evolutionary. If you have an older phone more than 2 years old, absolutely get this. So do check local specs. I played around with both S6 and S6 Edge for few days and my opinions are based on this. There are tons of reviews going into lot of details, so I am focused on few other aspects like what’s out there and how to compare specs.

First Big Changes: No microSD or removable battery. I know many of you loyal Samsung fans says BUMMER! I was a die hard fan of Samsung till S4, then I went to LG G2/G3. I think this is the best bet for S6 to pull it off after a dismal year for Samsung last year. I was very curious to try out S6 and HTC One M9 as they are most talked about now. Many manufacturers are going away from microSD card slots and this is absolutely a must and is a key differentiator from iPhone. I am really sad Samsung decided to drop microSD card slot as well as no removable battery. Why?! Screen is a beauty on S6 – Just Gorgeous. Just go to a retail store and feel it!

The Edge feature is still gimmicky. Unlike Note Edge, this has both sides so less dorky but still I am not sold yet. Unless you have loads of money, I will shy away from it for one more year and get it next year when they polish it up. It is certainly fancy and nice to show off, but I would rather buy an Android wear watch like Motorola 360 or Samsung Gear or LG R series. I like Motorola 360 but waiting for version 2 to appear. I like Round watches.

IF YOU HAVE LAST YEAR model of any phone, PLEASE DON’T upgrade. Phones are becoming so standard and power packed it makes no sense to upgrade and waste money every year. I buy and sell so many phones as it is like a hobby for me, but I stick to one phone as primary for couple of years now. My main requirements are a 128 GB microSD, good screen, battery life and performance. I am trying hard to see if I can live without one. S6 and S6 Edge comes in a 128 GB variant and I will wait for prices to stabilize on this model.

In my opinion, following are key specs to consider when you buying a phone. Most of others are standard or does not matter at all. First size, weight and resolution are part of look and feel. RAM/CPU part of performance. external Storage is part of expandability. Camera is obvious! SAR (Specific Absorption Rating) is an often ignored, but I feel essential to making a buying choice. Manufacturers don’t advertise or mention SAR prominently.

phone parameters: {size, weight, resolution, ppi, RAM, ext Storage, camera, CPU, USA SAR rating}

Samsung Galaxy S6: 5.65 x 2.78 x 0.27 in, 138 gm, 1440 x 2560 pixels, 5.1 in, 577 ppi, 3 GB RAM, NO MICROSD SLOT (bummer), Internal Storage upto 128 GB, Exynos 7420 Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 2.1 GHz Cortex-A57, Gorilla Glass 4, 16 MP/5MP camera, SAR 1.15 W/kg (head), 1.16 W/kg (body) NANO SIM

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge: Slightly lower dimensions, 0.01 in thicker, 6 gm less weight, Same resolution, Curved Screen,

HTC One M9: 5.69 x 2.74 x 0.38 in, 157 gm, 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5 in, 441 ppi, 3 GB RAM, microSD upto 128 GB!, 20.7 MP (rear), 4 MP(front for selfies), Qualcomm Snapdragon 810, Quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 2 GHz Cortex-A57

Samsung Galaxy S5: 5.59 x 2.85 x 0.32 in, 145 gm, 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.1 in, 432 ppi, 2 GB RAM, microSD upto 128 GB!, Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, MSM8974-AC Processor: Quad core, 2500 MHz, Krait 400, 0.63 W/kg (head), 0.82 W/kg (body)

HTC One M8: 5.76 x 2.78 x 0.37 in, 160 gm, 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5 in, 441 ppi, 2 GB RAM, microSD upto 128 GB!, 4 MP (rear), 5 MP(front for selfies), Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, Quad core, 2300 MHz, Krait 400, 0.94 W/kg (head), 0.83 W/kg (body)

LG G3: 5.76 x 2.94 x 0.35 in, 149 gm, 2560 x 1440 pixels, 5.5 in, 538 ppi, 3 GB RAM, microSD upto 128 GB, 13 MP/2.1 MP, Qualcomm MSM8975AC Snapdragon 801. Quad-core 2.5 GHz Krait 400, Adreno 330, 0.39 W/kg (head), 0.48 W/kg (body) Micro SIM

LG G2: 5.45 x 2.79 x 0.35 in, 143 gm, 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.2 in, 424 ppi, 2 GB RAM, no ext Storage, 13 MP/2.1 MP, Qualcomm MSM8974 Snapdragon 800, Quad-core 2.26 GHz Krait 400, 0.50 W/kg (head), 0.69 W/kg (body)

Google Nexus 6: 6.27 x 3.27 x 0.60 in, 184 gm, 2560 x 1440 pixels, 5.96 in, 493 ppi, 3 GB RAM, no ext Storage, 13 MP/2 MP, Qualcomm Snapdragon 805, Quad-core 2.7 GHz Krait 450, Adreno 420, 1.47 W/kg (head), 0.93 W/kg (body)

Google Nexus 5: 5.43 x 2.72 x 0.34 in, 130 gm, 1080 x 1920 pixels, 4.95 in, 445 ppi, 2 GB RAM, no ext Storage, 8 MP/1.3 MP, Qualcomm MSM8974 Snapdragon 800, Quad-core 2.3 GHz Krait 400, 0.92 W/kg (head), 1.23 W/kg (body)

Apple iPhone 6 PLUS: 6.22 x 3.06 x 0.288 in, 172 gm, 1920 x 1080 pixels, 5.5 in, 401 ppi, 1 GB RAM, no ext storage, 8 MP/1.2 MP, Apple A7, Dual-core 1.3 GHz Cyclone (ARM v8-based), 1.12 W/kg (head), 1.18 W/kg (body)

Apple iPhone 5S: 4.87 x 2.31 x 0.30 in, 112gm, 640 x 1136 pixels, 4.0 in, 326 ppi, 1 GB RAM, no ext storage, 8 MP/1.2 MP, Apple A8, Dual-core 1.4 GHz Cyclone (ARM v8-based), 1.19 W/kg (head), 1.19 W/kg (body)

Samsung Galaxy Note 4 N910: 6.04 x 3.09 x 0.33 in, 176 gm, 2560 x 1440 pixels, 5.7 in, 515 ppi, 3 GB RAM, micro SD upto `128 GB, 16 MP/3.7MP, Exynos 5 Octa 5420, Quad-core 1.9 GHz Cortex-A15 & quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A7, SAR: 0.37 W/kg (head), 0.88 W/kg (body)

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 N9000: 5.95 x 3.12 x 0.33 in, 168 gm, 1080 x 1920 pixels, 5.7 in, 386 ppi, 3 GB RAM, micro SD upto 64 GB, 13 MP/2MP, Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 or Exynos 5433 ; Quad-core 2.7 GHz Krait 450 or Quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A53 & Quad-core 1.9 GHz Cortex-A57 (SM-N910C), SAR: 0.24 W/kg (head), 0.72 W/kg (body)

Nokia Lumia 1520: 6.41 x 3.36 x 0.34 in, 209gm, 1080 x 1920 pixels, 6.0 in, 367 ppi, 2 GB RAM, microSD up to 64 GB, 20 MP/1.2MP, Qualcomm MSM8974 Snapdragon 800 CPU Quad-core 2.2 GHz Krait 400, SAR: 0.59 W/kg (head), 0.24 W/kg (body)

Motorola Moto G: 5.11 x 2.59 x 0.46 in, 143 gm, 720 x 1280 pixels, 4.5 in, 326 ppi, 1 GB RAM, no ext storage, 5 MP/1.3 MP, Qualcomm Snapdragon 400, Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7, SAR: 1.17 W/kg (head), 1.06 W/kg (body)

Motorola Moto E 2014: 4.91 x 2.55 x 0.48 in, 142 gm, 960 x 540 pixels, 4.3 in, 256 ppi, 1 GB RAM, microSD upto 32 GB, 5 MP/VGA, Qualcomm Snapdragon 200, Dual-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7, SAR: 0.97 W/kg (head), 1.50 W/kg (body)

Motorola Moto E 2015 LTE: 5.11 x 2.63 x 0.48 in, 145 gm, 960 x 540 pixels, 4.5 in, 245 ppi, 1 GB RAM, no ext storage, 5 MP/1.3 MP, Qualcomm Snapdragon 410, Quad-core 1.2 GHz Cortex-A53

Amazon Kindle Fire: 5.5” x 2.6” x 0.35”, 160 g, 1280 x 720 pixels, 4.7”, 315 ppi, 2 GB RAM, 32 GB, no microSD, 2.2GHz Quad-core Snapdragon 800 CPU, with Adreno 330 GPU, nanoSIM, SAR: 1.34 watts/kg

Given the above key specs, my suggestion to my friends is to choose 2 or 3 KEY features you require (may be large screen size, maybe less weight, maybe more CPU power) and then start nailing down the phones. Definitely and definitely go to a phone or a big box store and feel the phone. Nothing replaces that. In the end you are using it for days and years, so the tactile feel is very important. I have used all these phones and at a high level they are all good. Few things here and there. And yes the cost. If you are in for a new smartphone and has a budget issue, GET LAST YEAR MODEL. They are as good as current year and probably half the cost! In this case I even suggest Galaxy S4 as it is an outstanding phone. It’s much cheaper and you will be happy!!

SCREEN SIZE/RESOLUTION:
I have experimented with many phone sizes and I have come to a conclusion 5” is the best form factor for me. Your mileage may vary, but after using Note for a while, I don’t use it as a primary phone. The display is absolutely stunning with a Quad HD Super AMOLED screen and you have to see to feel it..

ANDROID UI:
S6 has Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box. User Interface has a flatter and simpler design, as is now the trend across the industry. Once you get used to user interface you get used to it. Android is very flexible and when I show my phone to a iPhone users they are usually in awe. I recently showed to my friends the details of processes. battery usage like which process takes up more battery.

S-Health is a big deal, the app is beautiful and the heart rate and oxygen level measurements are great to keep track. I use Runtastic Pro, but like the UI of S-Health too.

CAMERA:
Fantastic camera. One of the best smartphone cameras. Period. 5 MP Selfie camera? FTW.

PROCESSING POWER:
Don’t bother about it. For 99% of users, this is good enough. The phone has more processing power than the rocket that went to moon first time and much more. The games are very smooth, the UI is very smooth.

NFC Tags:
Wow, this is the most underrated in all reviews. Get bunch ( I mean around 10) of NFC Tags and use in bedrooms, offices, cars, living room and customize what your phone wants to do in those areas. For example, when I enter the car most often I use a) Navigation b) Listen to Podcasts. So I program my NFC tags accordingly using apps like Trigger and tap my phone to the NFC Tag and boom, phone does both.

BATTERY:
Do you really need to care for battery anymore. I don’t. Just use the phone. I have battery power banks with capacity as high as 30,000 mAh to 8000 mAh that I can charge virtually anywhere without a power supply. So this has become moot for me in past year. I would also suggest you get power banks and not really care of battery drainage. Use the phone and enjoy!

To give a sample, I tried following apps and they just worked awesome.

Amazon Mobile, Androidify, Aldiko Premium, Angry Birds (multiple themes), Asphalt 8, Box, Chrome, NAVIGON (from Garmin - offline maps), Nokia HERE Maps, Google Navigation/Earth/Maps, Google Currents (nice way to read News), Google Drive, Ebay, Linkedin, Google Music, Tapatalk (awesome forum browsing app), Microsoft One Note (legacy docs, skydrive of 25 GB is good), Microsoft Office, (yes they have for Android!), Subsonic Music Streamer, TweetCaster Pro for Android (excellent twitter client), Twit.Tv, Trigger

Ask questions. I will be glad to answer any questions within 24 hours.

This year, Samsung kept everything much more simple, intuitive, and beautiful. As a result, the Galaxy S6 is the best smartphone any person can currently. My review will focus on 3 key aspects: exterior design and materials, tech specs and hardware performance, and interface and ui. I will also point out outstanding and new features along the way.

Exterior Design: Although at first the Galaxy S6 may not look completely different from the Galaxy S5, it is leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessor. The 2 sheets of Gorilla Glass 4 adorning the front and back make the phone feel extremely premium, resolving common complaint about the previous generation. It has a full metal band surrounding it, rather than a faux plastic one. Now, the feel in hand is comparable to the iPhone 6, and the design is elegant while familiar. Since the phone is so thin at 6.8 mm, the camera module protrudes slightly from the chassis, however it does not affect the phone. There is a sapphire lens to protect the camera, but placing the phone in a case should alleviate the protruding camera issue. Going to the front. there is a typical rectangular home button with a recent apps capacitive key on the left, with a back key on the right. Overall, the Galaxy S6 is the best phone Samsung has ever designed; however, the sealed battery and absence of a micro SD card slot may upset many. I do not replace the batteries in my phone nor add SD cards for storage, but customers from the Galaxy devices before may be unhappy.

Tech Specs, Hardware Performance, Notable Features: The Galaxy in real life and on paper is a monster!
Screen: It packs an amazing 5.1 Super AMOLED screen with a resolution of 2560x1440. The screen is capable of bright whites and dark blacks, and is the best mobile display currently on the market. Although Super AMOLED screens tend to have overly saturated colors, choosing AMOLED Cinema mode in settings creates natural colors.

Fingerprint Scanner: Instead of a swipe based sensor, the new fingerprint scanner embedded in the home button is a capacitive touch based sensor, like the one on the iPhone 6. All you do is place your finger on the home button to unlock the phone. You can set up a total of 4 fingers, and the sensor is extremely reliable and useful. Every person using this phone should have the fingerprint sensor turned on since it provides good security while being intuitive to use.

Camera: The camera is a 16 megapixel sensor with OIS. The Galaxy S6 has the best camera out of all Android phones, and easily competes with the iPhone 6 Plus. Because of the higher resolution, images are extremely detailed. The Optical Imaging Stabilization ensures pictures are clear, while videos are buttery smooth. The OIS also helps at night, as the sensor can pull in more light without creating a blurry image. The result is an amazing camera that can produce vibrant and beautiful pictures during the day, and a camera that can create accurate and bright pictures at night. The camera is also capable of 4K video recording, and slow motion video as well. An important new feature the Galaxy S6 incorporates is the double click on home button to activate. When you double click the home button, it opens the camera in less than 1 second! The "just shoot" mentality this camera gives its users is simply amazing and unmatched. For the pro users out there, the camera includes a professional mode that users can use to adjust ISO, white balance, and more settings. The front camera is 5 megapixels, and it is a strong front facing camera. Not much can be said about it, but it produces beautiful selfies and good colors, and is more than adequate for all users.

Quick Charging and Wireless Charging: The Galaxy S6 is capable of adaptive quick charging using the charger supplied in the box. This charges the Galaxy S6 extremely fast; you can get about 4 hours of use only with 10 minutes of charging. The phone also supports other Qualcomm Quick Chargers. The Galaxy S6 also supports the Qi and PMA wireless charging standards. Just set your Galaxy S6 on a wireless charing pad, and watch the battery fill up! However, It is important to note that wireless charging is slower than plugging the phone into the wall charger.

Processor and RAM: There is a lightning fast 8 core, 64-bit, Exynos 7420 processor pushing the phone. Samsung decided to use its own processor over the Snapdragon 810, and I can wholeheartedly say that they have made the right choice. The phone runs buttery smooth and has little to no hiccups. It performs on par with the iPhone 6 and the HTC One M9, even though it is supporting a much higher resolution display. However, the phone runs a bit hot while playing resource intensive games, but it is not burning to the touch. It is quite normal for a phone this powerful. The phone also uses 3 gigabytes of RAM, and there is always enough RAM for multitasking and games.

Storage: Although there is no micro SD card slot for the phone, Samsung has included a 32 gigabytes of storage for the base model. This storage uses a new technology: UFS 2.0, and it provides speeds that are many times faster than any other phone currently on the market.

Heart Rate Monitor: There is a heart rate monitor below the flash module, and it works accurately and precisely. Many fitness lovers will find this feature useful.

Samsung Pay: Although the phones are not capable of using Samsung Pay yet, it will be available this summer. From the videos I've seen, this feature looks like it works seamlessly and is much better than its competitors for 1 simple reason: It does not have to be used with nfc capable terminals only. With Samsung Pay, you will be able to load any credit card or gift card that uses a magnetic stripe and then use your phone to pay at the register. The phone is capable of paying using MST, emitting a transmission that credit card readers will mistake for a physical credit card being swiped. This technology can legitimately replace wallets, as it does not rely on the new NFC capable terminals, although it does support the NFC payment technology too.

Interface

Samsung TouchWiz: Samsung has cleaned up the interface a lot from since last year, but it is still undeniably and unapologetically TouchWiz. However, I find that its use of bold colors sometimes works extremely well; the interface is easy to use and relatively pleasing to the eye. Many apps have been updated to follow Google's Material Design, and the interface runs smooth without hiccups. The apps are much more intuitive to use, and they look much more professional. The apps have been color coded and reflect a much more simple and unified design. However, for any people that do not like TouchWiz, they can easily load 3rd party launchers from the Google Play store and customize to their own content.

Theme Engine: There is a new feature that allows users to completely makeover the phone using themes. Themes can change almost every aspect of the phone, ranging from fonts to even the notification panel! For the pure android lollipop lovers out there, it is probably only a matter of time before someone designs a stock theme that makes the phone look much more like the stock android OS. The possibilities are endless with Themes, and I hope that many more people will develop themes so that users can customize their phones.

Battery Life

Battery Life: The battery life on the Galaxy S6 is pretty average, and it must usually be charged at the end of the day. The ultra power saving modes can eke out many more hours with only a few percent of battery life left, but this doesn't negate the fact that the battery is a little small. Compared to the previously released Note 4, the Galaxy S6 simply falls short in the battery life department. However, I don't feel that most users will be affected by the relatively small battery, as most users charge the phone at night regardless of the amount of battery life left. Power users, however, will feel the strain at the end of the day, but the quick charging should help alleviate some of the problems.

Conclusion

All in all, the Galaxy S6 is the best Android phone on the market right now, and easily competes with the iPhone 6. It is much more simple and intuitive to use, packs an amazing camera, and has powerful performance that is currently unmatched. The new premium design makes the phone feel truly worth the money in hand, and I can say without a doubt that the Galaxy S6 is currently the best phone anyone can buy (Q2 '15). However, this might change over time when more new phones are released. I recommend everyone to buy the phone, and it has become my new favorite! I am sure that everybody else buying this phone will love it as well. Thanks for reading my review!

PROS:
-Beautiful Screen
-Fast Processor
-No lag
-Best Camera in Good and Low Lighting
-Accurate Fingerprint Sensor
-Premium Design

CONS:
-Mediocre Battery Life
-(For Some Users) No user replaceable battery or micro SD card slot
-Some users may prefer a soft touch back

For readers, my opinions on this device (ATT 32Gb version) is based off the experiences I had with this device for the passed few hours as today is launch day (April 10, 2015). I will continue to update this review in the future. This review should be the similar to Galaxy S6 on other carriers such as Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile.

Pros:

- No more plastics and cheap material. Samsung is finally giving us the hardware that we've long desired. By far, the best designed Galaxy phone to date imo
- 5.1 in, QHD Super AMOLED screen. The screen is absolutely gorgeous that it hurts my eyes a bit. I'm still adjusting to it.
- 16MP Camera with Smart OIS and 5MP front camera. Very well specs, but even better in performance. In short, the best camera on any android phones. I cannot
believe that the picture came out so well in low light environment. You have to try it yourself to believe how great these low light pictures come out.
- Gorilla Glass 4 panels for front and back (reminds me of the iPhone 4 and Nexus 4). Gorilla Glass are known to be tough and scratch resistance.
- Comes in various colors: White, black, gold, green, blue (US only get the white, black, and gold unfortunately)
- Comes in 32, 64, or 128GB of built-in memory. (For the 32gb - 3.7gb is for system partition, 25.2 for data/apps/pictures)
- Less of the TouchWiz’s gimmicky features like the eye scroll, eye away from the screen pause. So we will not be experiencing the same slowdown or low storage as we did with earlier versions. If the GS4/5 were all about the features, this phone is all about the design. I do like the camera app and how they add a "close all" into the recent screen.
- Rapid charging (need to use this more to confirm their claim of 4hrs of battery in 10 minute charge - UPDATED 5/1/15 i am getting about 1 to 1 1/2 hrs of use after the 10 minute charge, I'm guessing the 4hr claim is idle??)
- Wireless charging - So if you have extra money that you want to drop for a wireless charging dock, you will be able to use it with this phone.

Cons (Not necessarily apply to everyone):
- No removable back panel.
- No removable battery. I’m a battery hog, so I’m always draining my battery by 3-4pm. Not being able to just swap out my battery will be a pain, but let’s wait to see if the battery swap will be needed in a month when I fully test this device.
- Lower battery capacity - 2550mAh compared to the 2600mAh in GS4 and 2800mAh in GS5. With the new processor, battery usage should be more efficient so it should not be a big deal, but end-users would rather the capacity to increase than decrease (Will update if this make through a day of normal usage, UPDATED 5/1/15 - I'm getting average about 8-9 hrs of normal usage, not ideal but I'll manage)
- No waterproofing like the GS5, but I never used a smartphone that was waterproofed before, so not a big issue "to me"
- No ability to swap out memory card – Might bother some Galaxy fans, but with the higher memory options, I do not think this is a huge problem.
- Still no on-screen navigation button – Might only be a problem for "pure" Android fan.
- Rear Camera and Flash sticks out a bit and not flush with the back panel.
- Front and back glass is a potential problem as we all experiences with iPhone 4 and Nexus 4. Glass will break if you drop your phone at the right angle regardless how much stronger it is, so "case up".
- The 1 speaker at the bottom is louder, however when you turn it on max, you will get some distortions in the audio quality.
- There are some apps on there that I prefer downloading myself rather than them pushing it on me. There are some Social apps or Microsoft apps included such as OneDrive, facebook, etc. I personally use these apps, but there are people who don't.
- I have been experiencing some weird stutters/lags while messing around the phone. This might because I'm loading a bunch of apps into it right now. I will need a few more days to look into this.

Overall, this feels like a this is a solid device. There are some things that Samsung removed from this year iteration like the removable battery and use of SD cards that might be an issue to some users. However for the majority of typical smartphone users, it might not matter. If you can overcome these small issues, I’m confident that you will enjoy this smartphone. As of now, I’m in love. I am currently still trying out all the features on the phone so I will update if I see any issues in the future.

Please visit your local carrier store to have some hand-on time with the actual phone as what listed here is my own personal opinions.

I have been using the S6 for about 4 days now. My first impressions:
It's beautiful, well made.
The screen is excellent. Works great under direct sun light too.
It's fast, very responsive.
Call quality is excellent
Finger print unlock features works very well. Much better than the S5

CONS:
It's slippery - my wife dropped her 4 times the first day she got hers. Yikes. But it didn't break! I got her a case now

Battery life is average

Example: it's 100% at bed time, by morning it's at 80%. I didn't use the phone that whole time as I was sleeping. I do not have alot of aps on the phone yet. ocation is turned off. I do have 2 emails synching, one is Yahoo and the other for work and it's set to synch every hour.

Fully charged in the morning, I am down to 80% by noon. I check emails, FB in the AM then it sits on my desk mostly unused during work, other than a quick check at lunch. I used it some to check FB and and emails later and it was down to about 20% by 8 PM. My wife uses her phone more than me and gets similar numbers.
My son today, at noon, was at 52%. He uses it alot as he plays various games.

So I am not impressed with battery life ; I DO NOT recommend the S6 if you are a heavy user.

Update 19th April
I've not had the phone for over a week now.
The screen is fantastic. My monthly Google calendar shows up on 1 screen, and it's easy to read all the events on it. I can actually use the phone in bright sunlight, something I haven't been able to do well with prior cell phones.

There was an Samsung push update which appears to have helped the battery life, and I for that reason have raised the rating from 3 to 4 stars. The battery now lasts me all day, with casual uses. If you are a heavy user, this phone will not last you all day without a re-charge by 2 PM. The good news is that a 10-15 minute recharge will give you a 30-40% or so battery boost and the phone can be >90% in about one hour.

I still do not recommend the phone for heavy ap users (gamers). You'll need to consider the Samsung note or the Droid phones as I can't see the S6 lasting past 2 PM for those individuals.

I got a chance to test a Galaxy S6 out and immediately bought one for my wife. I'm a complete phone nerd (XDA Developers Recognized Contributor, if that means anything to you) so I massively over analyze these things.

It's a VERY nice phone but it's got some things that I consider drawbacks. For my wife, all the drawbacks listed below were non issues. She didn't care about these issues. So understand that my 'drawbacks' are completely subjective to your personal needs. But they are things that you should be aware of and consider if they mean anything to you before purchasing.

░░░░░THE UPSIDES░░░░░

❖ The screen is incredible. Like really incredible. The resolution is better than my eye can see. I use a Galaxy S4 as my regular phone and it has great resolution where you can't see individual pixels. I thought the S4 screen was as good as you can get, but the S6 screen takes it to a whole new level. Even though you can't see pixels on either screen, the higher resolution of the S6 screen makes everything look so sharp that it's nearly impossible to tell you are looking at a screen. It's that incredible.

❖ The design of the phone just feels more 'expensive'. I mean that in a good way. It feels just higher quality than previous models in the Galaxy S line. The S3 and S4 for example are often critiqued for having a plastic shell. The S6 has a metal band around the outside that just makes it feel 'premium' in your hand. It should also provide more protection for the device as well.

❖ TouchWiz is HEAVILY scaled back. I hate TouchWiz (Samsung's version of Android) It adds a layer of UI that is neither helpful nor intuitive. And it's a resource hog which slows the phone down for important tasks just so it can make the scrolling smoother, and other such useless tradeoffs. On the S6 TouchWiz was barely noticeable. The UI looks more like the standard Google Android Lollipop interface. It was all just much smoother and simpler and better and wonderful.

❖ Camera. 16 MP. And the images it takes look stunning on the super HD screen. Those photos on a larger high resolution monitor are simply stunning.

░░░░░THE DOWNSIDES░░░░░

❖ The battery is not removable or easily replaceable. A cell phone battery has a life of about 500 charge cycles. I tend to keep my phones for 2 years as daily users, then I keep my old phones for a variety of other purposes around the house. (My old HTC Sensation is hooked up to my stereo for use as a nice wifi streaming media player with a touchscreen UI, for example) I eventually have a need to replace batteries because I wear them out. I like being able to go on Amazon, spent $20 on a replacement battery, pop it in and be done. Additionally, even if you don't keep your phones that long, batteries fail sometimes. The stock batteries on the Galaxy S4 had some problems. They were minimal, but for those affected the battery absolutely had to be replaced. On the S4 it took 8 seconds and the problem was solved. On the S6 I'm sure it would be covered by warranty but it'd be a pain to take it somewhere to have it worked on should the issue come up. So no replaceable battery is a deal killer for me. This might not be an issue for you. If not, great! But be aware of the issue before making purchase decisions.

❖ You can't expand the storage with an SD Card. I don't want to live in the cloud. I hate the cloud. Sometimes I'm not on an LTE network. Sometimes I'm in the middle of nowhere but still want to show someone pictures of my kids. I got my wife the 32GB model. That sounds like a lot, but keep in mind that some of that is dedicated for the operating system and user apps. So you don't get to use all 32GB. The S6 is going to be available in up to 128GB, which ends my problem with not liking the cloud option. Again, you might not care. If not, great! My wife doesn't keep a lot of stuff on her phone. She moves all her pictures to her computer and never loaded video to watch on her phone, so the storage thing wasn't a big deal to her at all even at the 32GB base model. But it would drive me crazy. So this is another matter of personal opinion.

I would bet HEAVILY that Samsung put a lot of money into researching consumers and figured out that MOST people don't care about these two 'downsides'. And that's backed up by early reports that the launch day sales and pre-orders of the S6 have already doubled the total sales of the S5. of So I expect that most people reading this review won't care about the battery or storage. But you should still be aware of them in case one or both of them is an issue for you.

░░░░░THE NEUTRAL░░░░░

❖ The screen is probably at the upper limits of size you'd want to go for a phone. Any bigger and it's too large for one handed operation. But the S6 is just at that limit where you can still use it with one hand.

❖ It's not waterproof like the previous S5 model. How often does that really come in handy though? Do you often find yourself unexpectedly waste deep in water so quickly that you don't even have a chance to take your phone out of your pocket and get it to higher ground? Me either.

❖ The camera juts out from the back a little. It also does this on the S4. I haven't noticed it in 2 years on that phone. I can't imaging you'd care about it on the S6. But I've heard that complaint about it. It sticks out a LITTLE further than on the S4, but it's really not that big of a deal. My wife didn't even notice.

❖ The general design looks like all the other phones in the Galaxy S line. It's a sleek design. It has the physical home button and the capacitive back and menu buttons to either side of it so you are not reliant on the Android "bottom of the screen" navigation bar. I don't care for that navigation bar as it takes up screen real estate. I like the buttons I need most being off the screen. The S6 continues that trend.

░░░░░THE BOTTOM LINE░░░░░

If you can deal with the non removable battery and non upgradable storage, the S6 is an insanely sleek phone that I can't imaging you'd be unhappy with. The thing looks cool even when the screen is off. It feels great in your hand. The image clarity is insane. The UI is incredibly smooth and easy to use.

If the battery and SD card issues are deal killers for you, you won't like the S6.

That's what this comes down to. If those aren't a big deal, buy it and you will be SUPER happy. If those are a big deal, you will not be happy. Though I have to admit I think that I'd get used to the non upgradable storage. I just don't like it right now. The battery thing might be something I could get used to as well.but Id' need proof of "this isn't a hindrance" for quite a while before I liked it.

If you completely take the battery and SD out of the equation it's not a contest. The S6 is a GREAT phone.