If you wind the clock back a bit and look at older KYM reviews of Samsung devices, you might notice that we did a fair bit of grumbling aimed at Sammy back in the day. Up to and including the Galaxy S5, regardless of how much we liked the rest of the device, we always had a bit of a gripe with the firm's insistence on using a fairly generic and somewhat uninspiring design for the flagship handsets. Even worse, however, was the repeated use of plastic bodywork, and not just any plastic, particularly cheap-feeling plastic - yes the feel, not the durability, they were in fact quite rugged more often than not. It was galling because at the same time you had offerings from rival firms with more interesting shaped devices, but more importantly the use of metal, glass and ceramics, and even at the very least, plastics with a better quality feel to them (HTC and Nokia, spring immediately to mind).
Despite all our protestations, we appeared to be in the minority, and in direct odds to what consumers actually wanted - or at least, that was how it seemed given that consumers vote with their wallets, and Samsung phones sold like hot cakes.
But here's the kicker; popular opinion can be fickle - it can turn on a dime, in fact - and clearly, between the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S5 times changed, though, apparently, Samsung hadn't noticed.
Apple had been producing metal and glass phones for years, followed by HTC and Sony, but then it was as if, with the launch of the once-again plastic Galaxy S5 consumers across the board had at long last agreed with us, and had pretty much concluded plastic samey-ness wasn't acceptable anymore. Samsung, unfortunately, hadn't got the memo.
A turnaround was needed, a new direction.
Samsung itself readily admitted to its failings, to be fair, and impressively the firm vowed to improve things. It went back to the drawing board with "Project Zero", the device that turned into the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 EDGE. Samsung learned that the Galaxy S5 lacked the much-needed "wow" factor. The time for plasticky builds was over. Say hello to stylish, ultra-modern metal and glass. The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 EDGE were announced at this year's MWC expo in Barcelona, Spain, in early March, and the positive reaction indicates Samsung has managed a 180-degree turnaround on the disaster that was the Galaxy S5.The Galaxy S6 EDGE is the more expensive and more stylish of the two, but aside from some added aesthetic flair from the curved display design it is pretty much identical in specs and capabilites to its Galaxy 6 stable-mate.
The Samsung Galaxy EDGE variant will return in 2016, though it will go by the name Samsung Galaxy S7 EDGE. The handset will accompany a non-EDGE version of the Galaxy S7, just as it did in 2015, but there won’t be an EDGE+ version released in the UK. Nope. In an odd twist of fate, Samsung has opted to push the Galaxy Note 6 in the UK in 2016, not the EDGE+ — the exact opposite of what it did in 2015.
“Samsung has no plans to launch a Galaxy S7 Edge+ handset and will instead reinstate the Galaxy Note 6 as the brand's chief phablet in the UK,” notes Tech Radar. “That’s according to a source high up at one of the UK's major networks who cited a ‘backlash from loyal Note fans’ as one of the chief reasons for the reverse decision.”
So, yes, if you’re hoping for an EDGE version in 2016 then your only option will be the standard Galaxy S7 EDGE. Having said that, we can see a lot of people holding out for the Galaxy Note 6.
In our Samsung Galaxy S6 review we awarded the handset full marks, something that we have only ever done once before –– the iPad Air also got full marks. In this respect, we kind of knew what the EDGE would entail, so the purpose of this review was to ascertain whether or not the EDGE actually made a difference and, importantly, whether it was worth shelling out the additional monies to pick one up.
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