On stage during Unpacked 2015, Samsung announced the new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge, both very similar phones with excellent designs and builds and some of the most refined software Samsung has ever shipped. Much of the focus of Samsung’s even was on the improved camera software inside of the Galaxy S6. For the first in a long time, Samsung has married simple, effective software with some of the best hardware available. The result is a camera experience which is not only much better than it has been in previous generations, but also one that’s easier to use and much less frustrating.
Talking about hardware, this year’s Galaxy S6 – and Galaxy S6 Edge – feature a 16-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, both with f/1.9 apertures. An aperture of f/1.9 is exceptionally wide, and means that the lenses at work here can let more natural light through than the previous Galaxy S5 which had an aperture of f/2.2/ The more natural light a camera can take in, the better the final result is. On stage, Samsung provided us with some demos that really drilled that idea home. A selfie using the front-facing camera in a dimly-lit bar looked bright and natural, whereas the iPhone 6 could only produce a dark and grainy image. This doesn’t just apply to images though, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge can take some of the sharpest videos on the planet, and they’re also some of the brightest available, too.
On the software side of things, Samsung has greatly simplified things, with the chant of “no scrolling” being proclaimed on stage. This is a reference to the fact that everything you need is on one screen, there are no menus to go digging and scrolling through, just make your changes and you’re good to go. This looks like the most promising to change to a camera on a Samsung device since the Galaxy S4, and we’re excited to see how this works in practice. For now, we’ve included some demo shots from Samsung’s event and hopefully we’ll have more to share with you later!
