 Samsung's Galaxy S phones have always been good enough. Yeah, they felt cheap and they were laden with overbearing software on top of Android, but they usually did their job better than other Android phones. But what if Samsung phones didn't feel cheap and plasticky compared to the iPhone? What if the software wasn't a perpetual annoyance? What if Samsung tried to out-Apple Apple when it comes to hardware design? Well, we know the answer to all those questions. It's the Galaxy S6. Actually, it's two phones, because Samsung has made another version called the Galaxy S6 Edge that has a screen that curves around to the left and the right side of the device. Both are basically identical otherwise, and they're gorgeous. For the first time in forever, Samsung has managed to produce a phone that flat out looks and feels great. Instead of a plastic back and faux plastic rims, the S6 is all glass and metal, where before there was a sense of mushiness and cheapness and flimsiness to the Galaxy phones. Now it's hard Gorilla Glass 4, well-sculpted aluminum edges, and perfectly machined speaker grills and ports. Yes, you can't deny it. The Galaxy S6 looks a lot like the iPhone, especially on the bottom, where the similarities are so stark, I have to imagine Apple's lawyers are already drafting up papers. And Samsung took another idea from Apple. The fingerprint sensor works with just a light touch now instead of a swipe. It's much, much more accurate than the S5 was, and it's faster too. It's maybe not quite as good as the iPhones, but it's miles better than any other unlocking scheme I've used on any other Android phone. Yeah, you can get angry about the copying or make jokes, but me, I'm just happy that Samsung has found a way to finally, finally create a phone that makes me feel good when I hold it. Now, making this beautiful machine required trade-offs, and they're ones that might make hardcore Android fans turn up their noses. The battery is sealed in now, there's no SD card slot for removable storage, and it's not waterproof anymore either. I'm also a little worried that it might be a little bit more delicate than the last Galaxy phone, and that the Gorilla Glass might shatter when I drop it. But to me, every single one of those trade-offs is worth it. The only real complaint I have about the hardware is the huge camera bulge on the back of the phone. It's a big, ungainly blemish on an otherwise wonderful design. Another wonderful thing, the screen. I don't know anybody that actually needs a screen with this much resolution. It's a 5.1 inch Super AMOLED display on both devices at 2560 by 1440 pixels. That's 577 pixels per inch, which is 40% more dense than what you'd find on an iPhone 6 Plus. It's just insane, radical overkill, and I love it. Everything is sharp, colors pop, and they aren't oversaturated in the way that Samsung used to do things. As long as we're talking about screens, let's talk about the Edge variant of the S6. It's about 100 bucks more, and for that 100 bucks, you get a pretty unique looking phone. But the extra functionality those Edges give you isn't really all that great. You can swipe in from the home screen to get color-coded favorite contact shortcuts. When those people call you, the Edge lights up with that color when the phone is face down. You can also get a night clock. And finally, there's a thing that shows basic information like weather and random headlines from Yahoo. But the gesture you use to get it to show up is weird, and the feature seems buggy and laggy. Basically, don't buy the Edge for the software features, because they don't amount to much more than gimmicks. But you could buy it for the wow factor, or maybe the nice feeling of pulling in a sidebar menu from a curved piece of glass. It is really nice, but the trade-off is that the Edges feel a little bit sharper and less comfortable. For me, and I think for most people, the trade-off just isn't worth it. I like the regular S6 better. The camera, it's pretty good. It's probably one of the best cameras I've used on an Android phone, and Samsung has always been at the top of that heap. But the question everybody always wants to know is, is it as good as an iPhone? And well, mostly no, but it's damn close. The 16 megapixel sensor with optical image stabilization tends to be a little bit too much on the yellow side with white balance, and especially in low light shots, it can be really aggressive in lightening things up too much. And as always with high megapixel cameras, you can see artifacting when you zoom in more often than you'd like. But this is probably the closest any Android phone has ever come to the just shoot mentality I love about the iPhone. Especially with real-time HDR, I found myself trusting the Galaxy S6 to get it right instead of futzing around with the settings. I also love that you can double tap the home button to launch the camera. A camera that launches fast from anywhere that you can actually trust is a huge step forward for Android. That's all the good news. Now some bad news. Battery life has been really inconsistent for me. I'm mostly getting through a day, but it's by the skin of my teeth. It seems worse when you use games and video. It's better with basic web browsing and email. I've definitely seen both versions of this phone crap out around 6 p.m. At least the S6 supports both major wireless charging standards and fast charging via cable, so it isn't too hard to top off. In terms of speed though, the S6 is as fast as any Android phone I've ever used. In fact, the phones tend to get warm, and I don't really know if that's by design or not. There's an insanely powerful octa-core processor inside this thing, so it's not entirely surprising if it runs a little hot. I am impressed that it can run two apps in split screen or windowed mode without breaking a sweat, even if those features aren't really all that useful on a phone this size. I did see some stutter and some bugs on the first day or two, but T-Mobile pushed an update that seemed to settle things down. I do wish that T-Mobile would have pushed an update to get rid of the aggressive crapware it installed. Almost all of it is redundant and annoying. But Samsung has toned down its customizations. The software design has stayed mostly true to Google's vision of material design for apps, and most of the crazy Samsung features are off by default. They're all there if you want them, and I found myself using a few, but mostly they just stay out of the way. The Galaxy S6 and the S6 Edge are easily the best phones Samsung has ever made, and I think they're the best Android phones you can get today. The screens are just bonkers good, the design is lovely, the cameras are solid, and they're fast. Samsung even seems to finally be learning that it needs to chill out with its software. My only reservation is that battery life isn't quite what I'd hoped, but it's more a matter of being an average thing and an otherwise outstanding phone. Between the two, here's my advice. Go look at the Edge, it's pretty and cool, but then get the regular S6. It just feels nicer, and I promise you, you won't miss the gimmicks. The last year or so hasn't been kind to Samsung. iPhones are big now, and lots of companies are making cheap phones that are good enough to beat them on the low end. Samsung really needed to hit a home run here just to stay in the game, and the S6 knocks it out of the park.
 Samsung's Galaxy S phones have always been good enough.
 Yeah, they felt cheap and they were laden
 with overbearing software on top of Android,
 but they usually did their job better
 than other Android phones.
 But what if Samsung phones didn't feel cheap
 and plasticky compared to the iPhone?
 What if the software wasn't a perpetual annoyance?
 What if Samsung tried to out-Apple Apple
 when it comes to hardware design?
 Well, we know the answer to all those questions.
 It's the Galaxy S6.
 Actually, it's two phones, because Samsung has made
 another version called the Galaxy S6 Edge
 that has a screen that curves around to the left
 and the right side of the device.
 Both are basically identical otherwise,
 and they're gorgeous.
 For the first time in forever,
 Samsung has managed to produce a phone
 that flat out looks and feels great.
 Instead of a plastic back and faux plastic rims,
 the S6 is all glass and metal,
 where before there was a sense of mushiness
 and cheapness and flimsiness to the Galaxy phones.
 Now it's hard Gorilla Glass 4,
 well-sculpted aluminum edges,
 and perfectly machined speaker grills and ports.
 Yes, you can't deny it.
 The Galaxy S6 looks a lot like the iPhone,
 especially on the bottom,
 where the similarities are so stark,
 I have to imagine Apple's lawyers
 are already drafting up papers.
 And Samsung took another idea from Apple.
 The fingerprint sensor works with just a light touch now
 instead of a swipe.
 It's much, much more accurate than the S5 was,
 and it's faster too.
 It's maybe not quite as good as the iPhones,
 but it's miles better than any other unlocking scheme
 I've used on any other Android phone.
 Yeah, you can get angry about the copying or make jokes,
 but me, I'm just happy that Samsung has found a way
 to finally, finally create a phone
 that makes me feel good when I hold it.
 Now, making this beautiful machine required trade-offs,
 and they're ones that might make hardcore Android fans
 turn up their noses.
 The battery is sealed in now,
 there's no SD card slot for removable storage,
 and it's not waterproof anymore either.
 I'm also a little worried that it might be
 a little bit more delicate than the last Galaxy phone,
 and that the Gorilla Glass might shatter when I drop it.
 But to me, every single one of those trade-offs is worth it.
 The only real complaint I have about the hardware
 is the huge camera bulge on the back of the phone.
 It's a big, ungainly blemish
 on an otherwise wonderful design.
 Another wonderful thing, the screen.
 I don't know anybody that actually needs a screen
 with this much resolution.
 It's a 5.1 inch Super AMOLED display on both devices
 at 2560 by 1440 pixels.
 That's 577 pixels per inch,
 which is 40% more dense than what you'd find
 on an iPhone 6 Plus.
 It's just insane, radical overkill, and I love it.
 Everything is sharp, colors pop,
 and they aren't oversaturated
 in the way that Samsung used to do things.
 As long as we're talking about screens,
 let's talk about the Edge variant of the S6.
 It's about 100 bucks more, and for that 100 bucks,
 you get a pretty unique looking phone.
 But the extra functionality those Edges give you
 isn't really all that great.
 You can swipe in from the home screen
 to get color-coded favorite contact shortcuts.
 When those people call you, the Edge lights up
 with that color when the phone is face down.
 You can also get a night clock.
 And finally, there's a thing that shows basic information
 like weather and random headlines from Yahoo.
 But the gesture you use to get it to show up is weird,
 and the feature seems buggy and laggy.
 Basically, don't buy the Edge for the software features,
 because they don't amount to much more than gimmicks.
 But you could buy it for the wow factor,
 or maybe the nice feeling of pulling in a sidebar menu
 from a curved piece of glass.
 It is really nice, but the trade-off is that the Edges
 feel a little bit sharper and less comfortable.
 For me, and I think for most people,
 the trade-off just isn't worth it.
 I like the regular S6 better.
 The camera, it's pretty good.
 It's probably one of the best cameras
 I've used on an Android phone,
 and Samsung has always been at the top of that heap.
 But the question everybody always wants to know is,
 is it as good as an iPhone?
 And well, mostly no, but it's damn close.
 The 16 megapixel sensor with optical image stabilization
 tends to be a little bit too much on the yellow side
 with white balance, and especially in low light shots,
 it can be really aggressive in lightening things up too much.
 And as always with high megapixel cameras,
 you can see artifacting when you zoom in
 more often than you'd like.
 But this is probably the closest any Android phone
 has ever come to the just shoot mentality
 I love about the iPhone.
 Especially with real-time HDR,
 I found myself trusting the Galaxy S6 to get it right
 instead of futzing around with the settings.
 I also love that you can double tap the home button
 to launch the camera.
 A camera that launches fast from anywhere
 that you can actually trust
 is a huge step forward for Android.
 That's all the good news.
 Now some bad news.
 Battery life has been really inconsistent for me.
 I'm mostly getting through a day,
 but it's by the skin of my teeth.
 It seems worse when you use games and video.
 It's better with basic web browsing and email.
 I've definitely seen both versions of this phone
 crap out around 6 p.m.
 At least the S6 supports both major wireless
 charging standards and fast charging via cable,
 so it isn't too hard to top off.
 In terms of speed though,
 the S6 is as fast as any Android phone I've ever used.
 In fact, the phones tend to get warm,
 and I don't really know if that's by design or not.
 There's an insanely powerful octa-core processor
 inside this thing,
 so it's not entirely surprising if it runs a little hot.
 I am impressed that it can run two apps in split screen
 or windowed mode without breaking a sweat,
 even if those features aren't really all that useful
 on a phone this size.
 I did see some stutter and some bugs
 on the first day or two,
 but T-Mobile pushed an update
 that seemed to settle things down.
 I do wish that T-Mobile would have pushed an update
 to get rid of the aggressive crapware it installed.
 Almost all of it is redundant and annoying.
 But Samsung has toned down its customizations.
 The software design has stayed mostly true
 to Google's vision of material design for apps,
 and most of the crazy Samsung features are off by default.
 They're all there if you want them,
 and I found myself using a few,
 but mostly they just stay out of the way.
 The Galaxy S6 and the S6 Edge
 are easily the best phones Samsung has ever made,
 and I think they're the best Android phones
 you can get today.
 The screens are just bonkers good,
 the design is lovely, the cameras are solid,
 and they're fast.
 Samsung even seems to finally be learning
 that it needs to chill out with its software.
 My only reservation is that battery life
 isn't quite what I'd hoped,
 but it's more a matter of being an average thing
 and an otherwise outstanding phone.
 Between the two, here's my advice.
 Go look at the Edge, it's pretty and cool,
 but then get the regular S6.
 It just feels nicer, and I promise you,
 you won't miss the gimmicks.
 The last year or so hasn't been kind to Samsung.
 iPhones are big now, and lots of companies
 are making cheap phones that are good enough
 to beat them on the low end.
 Samsung really needed to hit a home run here
 just to stay in the game,
 and the S6 knocks it out of the park.