First impression: Samsung Galaxy S6

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

The overall result of the design, engineering and UI overhaul makes the Samsung Galaxy S6 feel like a more mature and elegant smartphone and one worthy of taking its place among today's most desireable flagship handsets.

Another year, another Samsung Galaxy S flagship, right? While other smartphone manufacturers are getting slammed for new models that resemble last year's models too much and are too iterative, Samsung has amped up their whole design and materials language and the result is a welcome and refreshing change to an already impressive flagship smartphone.

After receiving my Galaxy S6 mummified in bubble wrap inside a brown bag, I was truly surprised at how vastly different it looked and felt.

Samsung has gone for the glass-sandwich design with a metal border holding it all together. It's an inspired design, something we've seen, and loved, on the iPhone 4, the LG Optimus G and the Nexus 4. You no longer have wtare resistance or a removable backplate but what you get in return is a more cohesive device in look and feel.

The sculptured silver corners and the grey bands are on the Galaxy S6 are reminiscent of the iPhone 6, same with the drilled speaker holes as well as the slimmed down size and protruding camera on the rear. While the similarities are obvious, they don't detract from the realization that, while subtle, the design and construction of the Galaxy S6 is outstanding and this is a a great looking phone that feels worthy of the higher price it demands.

The changes aren't just skin deep. The old user interface has also received a makeover and is now less  bloatware heavy. The usual bloatware is still there and TouchWiz is definitely present, but its been pared down and muted to a point that is no longer distracts from using the phone. The old Galaxy devices had those annoying 'nature' sounds at every push and turn, this is no longer the case and I'm thankful.

The overall result of the design, engineering and UI overhaul makes the Samsung Galaxy S6 feel like a more mature and elegant smartphone and one worthy of taking its place among today's most desirable flagship handsets.

Samsung has implemented a fingerprint scanner, this time more like Apple's Touch ID in principle. While enrolling one's fingerprint is similar to the iPhone's process, I found actually using the feature to unlock the phone less than satisfactory. The scanner only recognized my finger 4 out of 10 times I tried to get into the phone. I don't know if this is because the scanner only scans a small portion of my finger or if the software is not up to par. I definitely need to test it some more and with more fingers.

Other things I noticed with the Galaxy S6 include various Microsoft Apps that are included in their own folder. This brings OneDrive, Skype and OneNote to the device.  Google apps and Rogers apps also get their respective folders in the device and Samsung's on S-software is strewn about as well. 

The Samsung Galaxy S6 feels snappy and responsive and bease there's less distraction in the UI, more intuitive to use. I've only had the device for a few days and hope to dive in for a full review in the coming weeks. Stay tuned  for my findings.