Samsung Unpacked: MWC 2015 Live Blog
by Ian Cutress & Andrei Frumusanu on March 1, 2015 11:51 AM EST
01:13PM EST - That's a wrap! Time for Ian and I to play with the device
01:13PM EST - 32, 64 and 128GB options.
01:13PM EST - Availability starting April 10th in 20 countries.
01:12PM EST - It seems things are winding down.
01:12PM EST - "Next is now"
01:11PM EST - Lee is back on stage.
01:09PM EST - KNOX is brought up.
01:09PM EST - The S6 is one of the most secure today.
01:08PM EST - Gregory Wade from the Enterprise Business Team on stage now.
01:08PM EST - The S6 is ready for business right out of the box.
01:08PM EST - Samsung Pay will be adopted by more merchants than any other offering.
01:07PM EST - MST can be used in magstripe pay terminals.
01:06PM EST - Universal acceptance is needed to adopt a new pay mechanism.
01:05PM EST - Back to Samsung Pay.
01:05PM EST - Fast tracking AF is also integrated, we're probably talking about PDAF.
01:04PM EST - The camera is always on standby - launches in 0.7 seconds.
01:04PM EST - The S6 is clearly much superior in these samples.
01:03PM EST - Video comparison of the iPhone6 Plus vs the S6.
01:03PM EST - Comparison against the iPhone 6 Plus - the crowd goes crazy.
01:02PM EST - 16MP sensor on the back. F1.9 lens with OIS.
01:01PM EST - 5MP by the way.
01:01PM EST - 43% increased pixel size on the front camera.
01:01PM EST - This was actually the front camera, now onto the rear camera.
01:01PM EST - Real time HDR and Low Light Shot
01:00PM EST - Low light improvements, a new F1.9 lens.
01:00PM EST - All the promo videos are shot on the Galaxy S6.
12:59PM EST - Onto the new camera now.
12:59PM EST - "Powerful & Efficient"
12:59PM EST - "Wireless charging has arrived"
12:59PM EST - Both WPC and PMA are supported.
12:58PM EST - Wireless charing is now in by default
12:58PM EST - They claim no sacrifice has been made due to the built-in battery.
12:58PM EST - The battery is now built-in, Samsung is addressing that now.
12:57PM EST - 10 minutes of charging for 4 hours of use.
12:57PM EST - Half the time of the iPhone6 in charge time.
12:57PM EST - The claim that it's the fastest charging device out there.
12:56PM EST - The screen is also optimized in power consumption.
12:56PM EST - The new processor performs better and uses less power.
12:56PM EST - Battery now.
12:56PM EST - 11% increased PPI on the new Gear VR.
12:55PM EST - There's a new Gear VR. Works with both new versions.
12:55PM EST - The S6 Edge has the display wrapped around the edges.
12:55PM EST - 77% more pixels than the S5.
12:55PM EST - 5.1" QHD SuperAMOLED.
12:54PM EST - Display - raising the bar.
12:54PM EST - SSD-like performance in a smartphone.
12:54PM EST - UFS 2.0 is employed on the S6's.
12:54PM EST - LPDDR4 of course. 3GB of it.
12:54PM EST - 20% faster performance, 35% more efficient than the 5433 in the Note 4.
12:53PM EST - 64bit SoC with 14nm technology.
12:53PM EST - Performance - This is how.
12:53PM EST - Justin Denison of the marketing team takes the stage.
12:52PM EST - Again, design with purpose is hyped up.
12:52PM EST - One-touch auto-reply via heartrate sensor.
12:51PM EST - Colour-coded side-glow as notifications on the Edge version.
12:51PM EST - New side-widgets on the Edge versions.
12:51PM EST - Edge UX
12:51PM EST - Pro mode with manual controls of the camera.
12:50PM EST - No scrolling anymore in the camera menus.
12:50PM EST - New camera controls that are simple to reach.
12:50PM EST - Samsung applies a sort of material design.
12:49PM EST - Insanely responsive OS through processor and optimizations.
12:49PM EST - Simplified prompts
12:49PM EST - Icons replaced by text
12:48PM EST - New intuitive user experience
12:48PM EST - New design philosophy.
12:48PM EST - Hyun Yeul Lee - from the UX team takes the stage.
12:47PM EST - "This stuff will not bend"
12:47PM EST - 50% stronger metal than competing smartphones.
12:47PM EST - Gorilla glass 4
12:47PM EST - Gold, white, blue, green, black.
12:46PM EST - Gold has a shiny look.
12:46PM EST - Lots of new colour options.
12:45PM EST - First dual-curve smartphone.
12:44PM EST - "Design with purpose"
12:44PM EST - Showing off both versions - the Edge is incredibly thin.
12:43PM EST - Interesting they mentioned Enterprise
12:42PM EST - Total new design
12:42PM EST - The S6 and S6 Edge redefine the Galaxy line.
12:42PM EST - - We set out to build the best we have ever built
12:41PM EST - "Relentless Innovation"
12:40PM EST - Wireless Charging built-in by default.
12:40PM EST - "More choices for contactless payment"
12:39PM EST - Samsung Pay
12:39PM EST - 14nm SoC confirmed, this is the first in the mobile space.
12:38PM EST - 577PPI Display
12:38PM EST - J.K. Shin claims no other phone can match the new S6's.
12:37PM EST - The S6, and the S6 Edge to be specific.
12:37PM EST - Lots of intro video for the S6
12:37PM EST - Michael Bay would be proud.
12:36PM EST - Better want both good design and best in class smartphone.
12:35PM EST - AMOLED, the Note, the Gear
12:35PM EST - "New technology, better products"
12:34PM EST - "My first language is Engineering"
12:34PM EST - "Relentless Innovation"
12:34PM EST - He's taking a shot at all the internet rumours over the last few weeks. No more rumours now.
12:33PM EST - J.K. Shin, Samsung Electronics CEO takes the stage.
12:33PM EST - Youghee Lee takes the stage.
12:32PM EST - Samsung's got an impressive setup this year.
12:32PM EST - Intro video, we have started.
12:31PM EST - Lights off, things are starting off with a boom.
12:20PM EST - 10 minutes to go, things are quieting down. More trailers now.
12:08PM EST - Rather than a pass, everyone got glowstick wristbands
12:04PM EST - Start in 25 minutes, I wonder what we'll see this year?
12:02PM EST - The press is still flowing in, no orchestra this year it seems.
11:58AM EST - Here we are at Samsung Unpacked at MWC 2015. Ian on Photos, Andrei on text. Everyone is getting seated, seems to be almost 5000 people here
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42 Comments
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adityarjun - Sunday, March 1, 2015 - link
Please let us know if the camera lens is covered with sapphirename99 - Sunday, March 1, 2015 - link
Strange mix of things to be saying. They still haven't really learned from Apple how to do these events.The 14nm SoC is VERY impressive --- but they give no reason as to why the buyer should care.
The 577px/inch seems like the sort of pointless specsmanship that is hurting the Android world.
The dual curve business is even weirder --- boasting about something without giving me a reason why I should care at all.
On the other hand, the "50% stronger metal than competing smartphones." and Gorilla Glass 4 segment is how you do it RIGHT, providing and describing features that (average) users really care about.
It's fine for J K Shin's first language to be engineering, but they need to hire a VP whose first language is customer experience, both for the phone but even more so for the design of these events.
cmdrdredd - Sunday, March 1, 2015 - link
I agree but in addition I want to add that I always thought Samsung put great specs in their flagship phones. However the problem is the software always makes them feel slow. They can benchmark well, and boast big memory and fast quad core CPUs, but then when they slap all kinds of software and UIs on top of Android it makes the device feel laggy and bloated. That's always been my impression and experience with them. It's something Samsung needs to learn IMO. This is where my experience with iPhone has been superior. The software and OS don't lag the device as much. Not everyone is going to root and debloat their phone so the out of the box experience is very important. That's Samsung's greatest fault for me.cmdrdredd - Sunday, March 1, 2015 - link
Also their camera comparison is worthless without info on the settings used in both scenarios. I think real world testing will yield different results when they aren't trying to sell the crowd.Hulk - Sunday, March 1, 2015 - link
14nm. So they've caught up to Intel process-wise?Hmm...
name99 - Sunday, March 1, 2015 - link
Given that Samsung was barely a fab five years ago (go read David Kanter's old reports from IEDM 2010 or 2011 and there is nothing about Samsung there), yeah, it IS pretty impressive that they have a working 14nm process, even if it doesn't have every bell-and-whistle of Intel.And 18 months+ of process advantage for Intel over the last five years has translated into basically zero phone design wins. So much for the "there is no x86 tax argument". If Intel couldn't get a win when they had such an advantage, it's unclear how they're going to get a win this year.
porphyr - Sunday, March 1, 2015 - link
Part of the issue was that intel was fabbing ultra mobile parts on n-1 processes for quite a while, but I agree. It will be interesting to see if they try something differentMichael Bay - Monday, March 2, 2015 - link
It`s much more about intel not having a good modem to pair with their phone Atom or put it inside it until Baytrail, necessitating a twochip solution. OEMs really don`t like such situations, as it increases costs and design complexity a whole lot in already not so margin-friendly part of the mobile space.They had some wins in the past, like with ASUS Padfone series, likely because they conceded something to ASUS on other front, like better binned Cores or the like. It hopefully will change for the better this year, at least they had a lot of partners developing devices on Atom announced.
And 14nm intel advantage still stands largely intact.
name99 - Monday, March 2, 2015 - link
The single MOST successful smartphone company, called Apple (you may have heard of them) is perfectly happy with a two chip solution, as are its customers...Intel apologists have used this "oh we don't have an integrated modem" solution for years, but as far as I can tell, that is all it is --- an excuse, a way to avoid having to confront the deeper reasons why Intel still can't gain traction in this space.
Stephen Barrett - Sunday, March 1, 2015 - link
No. Intels 14nm is much better than samsungs. See the pipeline post about this device for a short explanation