Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge vs Galaxy Note Edge

Samsung now has multiple phones with a curved screen, two of which feature edge displays. But what’s the difference between the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and Galaxy Note Edge? Find out in our comparison review. Also see:  Best smartphones 2015 and  Best Android phones 2015.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge vs Galaxy Note Edge review: Price

The Galaxy S6 Edge will arrive in the UK on 10 April with a price tag £760 so it’s a pricey phone to say the least. However, some retailers are touting a more stomachable price of £699.

The Galaxy Note Edge was one of the most expensive smartphones on the market. However, since it’s been around for a little while the price has dropped significantly. At the time of writing you can pick one up for Amazon for £580 meaning it matches the regular Galaxy S6 on cost.

So it it worth paying extra for the Galaxy S6 Edge? Read on to find out how these two phone compare on design, hardware, specifications and software.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge vs Galaxy Note Edge review: Design and build

Both the Galaxy S6 Edge and Galaxy Note Edge are flagship smartphones since Samsung doesn’t just have one. A major difference here is the size with the Galaxy S6 offering a typical size and the Galaxy Note Edge sitting in the phablet category so it depends how big you want your phone to be.

We prefer the design and build of the Galaxy S6 Edge as Samsung has really stepped things up from the Galaxy S5 with a metal edge and glass on the front and back. It’s both thin and light at just 7 mm and 132 g. What we’re not so keen on is the mirrored finish which looks worse on some models.

The Galaxy Note Edge is only a little thicker at 8.3 mm but it a lot heavier at 174 g. That’s acceptable if you want a significantly larger smartphone but the Note Edge doesn’t feel as nice as the S6 Edge. Bulkiness aside, the rear cover is thin plastic and has a faux leather effect. On the plus side, it does give access to the battery.

If you like buying a phone in a colour other than black and white, you’ll need to go for the Galaxy S6 Edge out of these two. It’s the only one available in other options, including gold and green. See also: Samsung Galaxy S6 vs HTC One M9 comparison preview.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge vs Galaxy Note Edge review: Hardware and specs

There are many differences when it comes to hardware with only a handful of things matching like for like across the two. They both have 3 GB of RAM, a 16 Mp rear camera and various wireless elements like 11ac Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth 4.1 and an Infrared port.

Although each has a fingerprint scanner, the Note Edge requires a swipe gesture like the Galaxy S5 and the new Galaxy S6 just asks for a touch like the iPhone 6.

While the Note Edge uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor (quad-core 2.7 GHz), Samsung has opted for its own Exynos 7420 which is octa-core (quad-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53 and quad-core 2.1 GHz Cortex-A57). They’re different but both offer top-end performance.

Storage is a bigger difference with the Note Edge available in 32- or 64 GB and the Galaxy S6 Edge coming in double those capacities. Normally both would offer a microSD card slot but in this instance, it’s just the Note Edge.

Small differences to note include that the Galaxy S6 Edge takes a nano-SIM and has a 5 Mp front camera while the Galaxy Note Edge is micro-SIM and has a 3.7 Mp front snapper. It’s also worth noting that the latter, like others in the series, has the S Pen stylus.

It’s the edge screens which we’re interested in the most here but in terms of raw specs, the Galaxy S6 Edge has a smaller screen at 5.1 in but with a Quad HD resolution (2560 x 1440) which mean a whopping 577 ppi. As mentioned, the Galaxy Note is larger at 5.6in and also uses Quad HD (2560 x 1600) resulting in a pixel density of 524 ppi which is still impressive.

The big difference here, apart from screen size, is that the Galaxy Note Edge has the edge screen on one side and it’s more pronounced. Since it sits down one side of the phone, it’s really for right-handed users. You can spin the handset 180 degrees but means the buttons, camera, speaker and mic all in the wrong place.

Samsung has essentially addressed this issue with the Galaxy S6 Edge which has a ‘dual edge display. It’s curved down both the left- and right sides so it doesn’t matter which hand you hold the phone with – you can choose which side to use in the settings. With the curved edge being more subtle you don’t get a permanent bar down the side with which to interact, but it does have similar features such as the night clock and notifications.

An exclusive feature (which Samsung could bring to the Note Edge) is called people edge. This gives you quick access to your favourite contacts with a swipe in from the edge. These can be assigned a colour and the edge which you’ve chosen to use will light up that colour when you’re contacted meaning you know who it is when the phone is face down or there’s a cover on. It works but is hardly a deal breaker for us.

Across the board Samsung has missed a trick with these innovative edges by not using them for apps such as calendar (displaying months or days) and contacts (using the edge to quickly jump a-z). Hopefully this will be added in the future.

The long and short is that the Note Edge does the edge screen better but the Galaxy S6 Edge caters for both right- and left-handers.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge vs Galaxy Note Edge review: Software

Software is an area of little difference so you should really make your decision based on the above. However, the Galaxy S6 Edge comes with Android 5.0 Lollipop and the latest version of Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface which is surprisingly light weight.

The Galaxy Note Edge runs on Android 4.4 KitKat and will be upgraded to Lollipop but it’s unclear whether it will get the same version of TouchWiz which is on the Galaxy S6.