Samsung Galaxy S6 vs Galaxy S5: 8 reasons to upgrade (and 3 reasons not to)

If you’re a smartphone fan, the Samsung Galaxy S6 probably has your face looking a bit heart-eyes emoji right now.

It’s a serious looker – but if you’re currently rocking an S5 you won’t even have had your current phone for a year. So is it worth shelling out for its replacement or is the S6’s beauty only skin deep? And what’s so great about the S6 anyway? Here’s what we reckon.

1. IT WORKS THAT BODY

We aren’t exaggerating when we call the Samsung Galaxy S6 the best-looking phone Samsung has ever made.

Having seen the error of its ways, Samsung has said ‘see ya’ to bulbous corners and a plastic finish. Gone is the dimpled back panel that looked like it was designed by the same people who make orthopaedic shoes. Instead, the Galaxy S6 is all fine-crafted metal and glass.

It’s sleek, it’s shiny and, compared to the S5, it is gorgeous.

2. IT SAYS BYE-BYE TO BLOATWARE

Using the Samsung Galaxy S6 should be less tap, tap, tap again, get annoyed and throw the phone against a wall, and more like tap and crack on with what you were trying to do.

That’s because Samsung has finally cut down the amount of unnecessary applications and permissions that its nervy TouchWiz software throws up by about 40%. Better late than never, we say.

3. IT’S GOING TO BE FAST – REAL FAST

If the S5’s innards had us swooning at launch, the processing power on the Galaxy S6 had us in a dead faint. Coupling Samsung’s 64-bit octa-core Exynos processor with 3GB of RAM and the reduction in pop-ups, the company tells us the S6 will be 88% faster than its predecessor.

4. IT DON’T NEED NO STINKIN’ WIRES

Sort of, anyway. While the Samsung Galaxy S5 may be technically capable of wireless charging, it needs its own personal wireless charging kit to do so. But the S6 takes it next level: you can charge the newest member of the Galaxy family using any wireless charging pad that adheres to the right industry standards.

Samsung’s made it so that it plays nice with not one but two different types of charger, so you shouldn’t struggle to find a compatible one.

5. AND IT CHARGES IN A FLASH

You’ll have to use a wire for this, but Samsung reckons the S6 can suck enough juice out of the wall in 10 minutes to keep you watching HD video for two hours.

6. IT’S GOT A DREAMY SCREEN

Samsung might not have upped the screen size on the S6, but it has certainly upped the quality. Rocking quad-HD, the S6’s pixel density clocks in at 577 pixels per inch compared to the S5’s measly 432ppi.

What this means in real life is, well, not much unless you have pin-sharp 20/20 vision because on a screen only 5.1-inches big it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to discern much difference between the two. But you’ll know the S6’s display is better and that’s what counts.

7. IT’LL STOP YOU TAKING FUZZY PHOTOS

The Galaxy S6 comes with Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS), which should combat shaky-hand and leave you with clearer, fuzz-free photos. Very few smartphones currently have OIS, and the Samsung Galaxy S5 isn’t one of them.

8. IT DOES AWAY WITH THE FINGERPRINT SWIPE

This one goes out to anyone who’s ever felt like an idiot stroking their phone. The fingerprint scanner on the Galaxy S6 works even if you just place your finger or thumb on it, just like the iPhone’s does.

Have these eight reasons got you convinced? Before you reach for your credit card, ponder these three drawbacks too:

1. NO MORE MICROSD

The Samsung Galaxy S5 gives you a certain level of flexibility when it comes to storage – with a microSD card slot, you can just upgrade your storage as and when it gets full. No such luck on the S6, though – you’ll have to decide when you buy the handset whether 32GB, 64GB or 128GB is going to be enough.

2. YOU CAN’T REMOVE THE BACK PANEL

This might not be quite such a big deal, but if you’ve grown accustomed to personalising your phone with a jaunty back panel or feel particularly strongly that you’d like to take the battery out every now and then, this will be a blow for you. The price of the lovely metal and glass chassis is that it’s together forever: you can’t take it apart.

3. YOU CAN’T DROP IT IN THE BATH

Or the toilet, or the swimming pool, or a puddle. Ok, so it wasn’t exactly wise to go submerging the S5 in beer but the phone was at least able to handle “rain and sweat” without any bother. Samsung’s making no such claims on the Galaxy S6 – best to leave it out of the bathroom.