Quite a few smartphone fans will tell you that a Samsung phone's Achilles' heel is its software -- you'll find a ton of (frequently unwanted) apps and features that do little besides chew up space and slow things down. You may get to wave goodbye to that cruft when the Galaxy S6 shows up, however. A SamMobile source claims that Samsung is yanking a lot of its usual pre-installed bloatware, making the GS6 "amazingly fast" compared to a weighed-down phone like the Galaxy Note 4. The titles wouldn't go away forever, but you'd have to download in-house apps if you did want them. Instead, the focus would be on a host of included Microsoft apps: Office, OneDrive, OneNote and Skype would give you some solid productivity out of the box. It's not clear if the Microsoft deal has any connection to a recent truce with Samsung over patent royalties, although it wouldn't be surprising.
There's no certainty that the rumor will pan out, so don't start budgeting for a new Galaxy just yet. If the tip is accurate, though, it'd represent an about-face for a company that likes marketing novelty features (eye scrolling, anyone?) and was once bent on customizing virtually every aspect of Android. Google may not be all that happy with the changes, mind you. The tech giant spent a lot of time reining in Samsung in hopes of steering people back toward its own services, but there's now a chance that Samsung might drive those users into the arms of Google's biggest online rival.
Samsung Galaxy S6 reportedly drops bloatware in favor of Microsoft apps
This is an interesting rumor. If true, so much for Samsung going their own way. While escaping from Google they end up in the clutches of Microsoft. It shouldn't be this way for a gigantic firm like Samsung, unless they're in more pain than they let on. We'll find out in a couple of weeks...
Samsung Galaxy S6 reportedly drops bloatware in favor of Microsoft apps
This is an interesting rumor. If true, so much for Samsung going their own way. While escaping from Google they end up in the clutches of Microsoft. It shouldn't be this way for a gigantic firm like Samsung, unless they're in more pain than they let on. We'll find out in a couple of weeks...
I actually found this rumor pretty interesting. Samsung software hasn't really delved into productivity apps much beyond S-note which has been Spen focused for the Note series.
Instead they've bundled a mix of 3rd party apps like Evernote, Dropbox, and I recall something called Hangam (sp?) Office. Going with MS apps, especially Office, is a big step forward IMO for stock productivity, especially married to staples like multi window.
The cynical view could be Samsung did it to get out of the large royalties it pays MS. The positive view is Samsung is serious about user experience and went with the best productivity choice for users vs a hodgepodge of 3rd party apps. I doubt many can argue against using Office now that it's on Android.
But the other debloating is long overdue. There was never reasons to have duplicate apps like svoice.
Everyone at my work is pretty excited about this rumor!
On the other hand, the design of phone looks promising. If the renders are to be believed, Samsung managed to keep its design continuity while modernizing it. I am curious what the actual back will be like. Bare metal? Painted? Glass on top? Plastic on top?
Renders being renders - couple things I really don't like.
1. Why are the top and bottom bezels so huge and the home button not centered. I really hope this isn't the case with the S6, especially if it turns out not to have IP certification any longer. I might be OK with a larger bottom bezel to house a touch based fingerprint scanner and not a swipe method, so the renders just might be getting this wrong b/c they don't know where to guess.
2. The back looks like glass in the render? I hope not as it's too fragile for my tastes. If metal, I doubt it'll look that reflective.
Everyone at my work is pretty excited about this rumor!
I do not like the idea of Office integration. It sounds like yet another layer of bloat forced upon users. There are already 5+ MS apps reportedly on board - unless they are optional, and unless Samsung removed whole bunch of other Touchwiz apps, the bloat will only get bigger.
Only way I see these MS bloats are acceptable for me would be:
- 100% optional.
- Free Office subscription should last the phone's lifetime
- If the free subscription is limited to 1 year, it should be completely uninstallable after the year at users' discretion
On the other hand, the design of phone looks promising. If the renders are to be believed, Samsung managed to keep its design continuity while modernizing it. I am curious what the actual back will be like. Bare metal? Painted? Glass on top? Plastic on top?
http://www.gottabemobile.com/2015/02/11/galaxy-s6-concept-galaxy-s5/
Isn't Office for mobile free already? There is no subscription although it's somewhat limited compared to the Office version on PC. I see people saying some features aren't available (digital signatures, which for people with Note or even just stylus I think a lot of people feel would be better on mobile) and people saying it can't open password protected files. I don't know if that changes if you have an Office 365 subscription or not.
Hopefully the rumor of a 2600 mAH battery is not true. Lollipop/Project Volta on my Nexus 6 did nothing for my battery life and I struggled to get over 4 hours of screen on time.
http://www.sammobile.com/2015/02/16/...00mah-battery/
The fascination with Thinner phones just baffles me as every surveys top response is to increase battery life.
Maybe Samsung has figured out some voodoo for the S6 battery but I'm not holding out hope and it will definitely not be a buy at release and I will wait to see user experience with the battery.
I can't tell you what Snapdragon 810 device I'm using, but I'm using one, and I will say that this thing categorically throttles like a son of a bitch. It can't even run Geekbench 3 three times in a row without having to throttle down performance a solid 20-30%. I can see why Samsung ended up avoiding this chip. Also, it gets hot. hothothot.
My results at this point show a 35+% peak drop in multicore performance and a staggering 50+% drop in single core performance as thermal load builds. That's pretty fucking terrible.
Renders being renders - couple things I really don't like.
1. Why are the top and bottom bezels so huge and the home button not centered. I really hope this isn't the case with the S6, especially if it turns out not to have IP certification any longer. I might be OK with a larger bottom bezel to house a touch based fingerprint scanner and not a swipe method, so the renders just might be getting this wrong b/c they don't know where to guess.
2. The back looks like glass in the render? I hope not as it's too fragile for my tastes. If metal, I doubt it'll look that reflective.
lolol
According to PhoneArena.com, the S6's dimension is going to be;
5.64 x 2.79 x 0.27 inches (143.3 x 70.81 x 6.9 mm)
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/Samsung-Galaxy-S6_id8997
The S5 was;
5.59 x 2.85 x 0.32 inches (142 x 72.5 x 8.1 mm)
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/Samsung-Galaxy-S5_id8202
The height difference is smaller than 2mm. Unless the S6's screen size is smaller than the S5 (unlikely, IMO), the top/bottom bezels wouldn't grow any bigger, proportionally, than the differential between the Note 3 and the Note 4. The Note 4 does not look bad compared to the Note 3 despite being taller and thus having larger top/bottom bezels.
I am curious about the back material, too. I confess that I do like glass, but I know it's not everyone's favorite material. Glass also tends to add weight. I predict that the back will not be glass.
According to PhoneArena.com, the S6's dimension is going to be;
5.64 x 2.79 x 0.27 inches (143.3 x 70.81 x 6.9 mm)
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/Samsung-Galaxy-S6_id8997
The S5 was;
5.59 x 2.85 x 0.32 inches (142 x 72.5 x 8.1 mm)
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/Samsung-Galaxy-S5_id8202
The height difference is smaller than 2mm. Unless the S6's screen size is smaller than the S5 (unlikely, IMO), the top/bottom bezels wouldn't grow any bigger, proportionally, than the differential between the Note 3 and the Note 4. The Note 4 does not look bad compared to the Note 3 despite being taller and thus having larger top/bottom bezels.
Me thinks you may have to consider a different phone, unfortunately. It is near impossible to fit a removable 2600mah battery in a 6.9mm thick body. The S6 looks to have a similar or slightly larger body mass than the iPhone 6, and that phone has a 1860mah sealed battery.The only phones I'll consider must have a user replaceable battery and a microSD expansion option.
As long as Samsung keeps those features on some of their other phones I'll consider one of their phones when it's time to upgrade.
Nice catch there. Maybe the screen will be 5" after all?If the schematics can be trusted, then the screen is 107.32 mm tall by 64.36 mm wide, which gives a diagonal size of 4.93 inches, and thus a fair bit smaller than the S5.
Me thinks you may have to consider a different phone, unfortunately. It is near impossible to fit a removable 2600mah battery in a 6.9mm thick body. The S6 looks to have a similar or slightly larger body mass than the iPhone 6, and that phone has a 1860mah sealed battery.
Plus, I do not expect to see removable battery door made of metal for many practical reasons. I remember some reviews complained even about the Note 4's plastic back because.. it's plastic. I mean, did they think about what it might be like to have removable metal back?
I am hoping the Note 5 will keep the tradition of removable battery. But let's wait and see what the S6 has to offer.
Nice catch there. Maybe the screen will be 5" after all?