The Edge Plus wasn’t my first choice of phone. Coming from the Note 3, I was a fan of the pen though I rarely used it. I use a digital pen all the time with my Surface Pro 3, however I found the Note screen to just be too small to use meaningfully with a pen – but still, I wanted a Note 5. The reason I didn’t get a Note 5 is because it’s not currently available in the UK – I considered importing one, but after my previous experiences with American phones and updates, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, even if the phone is network unlocked.
Since I couldn’t get a Note 5, I looked at other phones. Some of them had the fingerprint sensor in a weird location, and a lot of them packed smaller screens than the Note 3 – I really liked the 5.7” display, and had no interest in a smaller screen. Eventually I came onto the S6 Edge Plus.
When I first read about the Edge phones, I wasn’t very interested in them as the Edge display seemed gimmicky and unnecessary. Based on what was important to me, and the fact that this phone was fulfilled by Amazon, I decided to buy it and try it out, since I had nothing to lose.
When I got the phone and started using it, I realized that my initial impression of the edge display was quite uninformed. I think its practical use is limited, but the aesthetic benefit is brilliant. My favourite thing about it is how text flows onto and off of the screen when you are scrolling sideways. This effect is very, very nice, and has made me a fan of the new Edge design. It’s hard to put into words, so I highly recommend trying it out in a shop, but it adds an eye-catching and highly unique effect to the display.
Though the practical use of the Edge display is limited, it does have some practical use. You can swipe in from the edge to bring up some shortcuts – you can select five contacts, and five apps. These can be accessed at almost any time, and are quite convenient. The contacts are very interesting, because your five selected contacts will get a tab on the edge display when there is something new from them – messages, calls – it stands out so that you see it, and you can swipe in on that tab to interact with these notifications.
Something that I’ve seen people complain about with the new closed-design of Samsung phones is that you can’t replace the battery and that you can’t expand the storage. The new design is much nicer than the old phones – the glass back is beautiful, and it’s nice to have an aluminium frame rather than a plastic one, however I feel that removing expandable storage is a detriment and I think if you’re not having a removable back, the phone should be waterproof – especially when it costs £600. Perhaps this is uninformed though – the S6 Edge Plus is, in spite of its large display, a compact and light phone, coming in notably smaller and lighter than an iPhone 6s Plus (even though the Edge Plus has a larger display), perhaps waterproofing would add to the weight, or make the phone larger. However, with the battery, I’ve no complaints – it’s lasting me longer than any phone I’ve had, by a significant margin.
I am a student, and I have an ID given to me by my university, which is scanned for attendance and access to some buildings, and this works with a barcode. After I got this phone, I was saying to one of my friends how it would be cool if I could take a photo of my card and scan that photo in class and when passing checkpoints in buildings, and he said he had tried it and that it didn’t work.
Something I didn’t find out about this phone until a couple of weeks in was that it could emit barcodes that can be read with a barcode reader, and this is done by one of the lights on the bezel above the screen using an app called Beep’nGo. What’s crazy about this is that all premium Samsung phones since the Note 3 and S4 have had this unique feature, and I’ve just upgraded from the Note 3, which I had for two years – and this amazing feature was completely unknown to me.
This phone fully supports Samsung Pay. Samsung Pay improved on an issue with other mobile payment solutions – with other solutions, you have to check if the card reader is NFC enabled, and if it’s not, you need to use your plastic card. There are still many shops which do not have NFC-enabled card readers, even in the UK, and Samsung Pay uses a technology called MST alongside NFC to make Samsung Pay compatible with 80% of card readers. Samsung Pay enables much greater compatibility than Apple Pay or Android Pay, and this is due to MST. MST makes the card reader think that you have swiped your card, meaning that even if NFC isn’t supported, you can most likely use MST, something you cannot do with Apple Pay or Android Pay, as MST requires specialized hardware inside the phone and is a technology owned by Samsung. Currently, Samsung Pay hasn’t launched outside of the US and South Korea, but Samsung says the UK will be getting it “soon”.
On to the rear camera, it’s a significant upgrade from the Note 3. It can be launched very quickly by double-tapping the home button, even when the screen is off. The camera focuses very fast and takes great photos – I find it very useful for scanning documents with Office Lens, and capturing photos of the blackboard in class, as it allows me to capture all the fine details of the math work that my lecturers tend to cover the boards in.
Next to the rear camera, there is a flash. Next to the flash, there is a heart rate sensor that is capable of measuring SpO2, which is the concentration of oxygen in your blood, and also reckons it can measure stress, so it’s quite sophisticated. This can all be tracked using Samsung’s ‘S Health’ app, and this sensor also has other features, like placing your finger on it to take a photo with the front-facing camera, or using it to dismiss a call. On the topic of cool ‘little things’ like this, you can also capture screenshots by swiping your hand across the screen, and the Edge display can light up according to who is calling you when you lay the phone screen-down, and more. There are big ones like incredibly fast charging and wireless charging too. Samsung is great with these features.
One of the main reasons I wanted to upgrade my phone was for biometrics – I really wanted some sort of biometric authentication to use in place of a pin or password. I noticed the IR facial recognition on the Lumia 950 and 950XL, which looks awesome – I would have gone for the XL if it had a pen, however I’m happy I stayed with Samsung. The fingerprint sensor is fast and works well, but at first I found myself almost hovering my fingers over the sensor, so as not to touch the capacitive buttons next to the home button. This is not necessary, and since I’ve started just laying my fingers on the sensor, it has unlocked reliably and quickly.
The Edge Plus is a great phone with a very attractive and unique design – supported with some nice Samsung exclusive features. It’s fast, with a beautiful display, a plethora of sensors and a great camera. It doesn’t have the pen that I wanted, but I haven’t been missing it, and since I upgraded, I’ve had a much greater interest in using my phone. This isn’t just because it’s a new phone, it’s different – it’s because it’s so fast and responsive, and because it’s such a unique device. If you’re looking for a new phone, go for the Edge Plus - you won’t regret using this marvel of technology.
This review is also available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R1174Z1TOLEF9B/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm