Software: TouchWiz Overhauled

Both the Galaxy S6 and S6 Border come loaded with Android 5.0.2 out of the box, with an updated dose of TouchWiz applied over the top. Samsung has actually put quite a lot of work into TouchWiz for the Galaxy S6, and then it's now less chaotic, more than streamlined and more than beautiful than e'er earlier.

The first thing that struck me about the Galaxy S6'southward software when I turned the device on for the offset time is how polished it looks and feels. Previous versions of TouchWiz looked like they were designed by committee, but with the latest edition on the S6, it finally feels like every part of Samsung's skin shares the same design philosophy.

I wouldn't say that TouchWiz is the all-time looking skin I've seen – I yet can't become by stock Android with no pare at all – but Samsung has finally designed something that could exist described as "attractive". TouchWiz is now clean and reasonably ataxia free, with many useless or unnecessary features being removed in favour of blueprint simplicity. And the manner Samsung has used throughout their launcher and included apps is actually similar plenty to stock Android that it melds well with mod Android design practices.

In fact Samsung actually uses Cloth Blueprint practices throughout their stock apps, which shocked me after the horrific mess they dished up on the Galaxy S5 that included outdated tabbed menus and ugly default widgets. Important apps like Messages, Due south Planner (aka the calendar) and Contacts await not bad, are piece of cake to use, and present enough data on each screen without being overwhelming. Due south Health has likewise received an unbelievably overnice update that adopts Google's carded design constitute on their first-political party apps.

The TouchWiz launcher is one of the few aspects of the peel that I can criticize, and fifty-fifty and then information technology's only for a few minor problems. I liked the ability to change the homescreen grid from 4x4 to 5x5, and the new collection of widgets fits in well with the rest of the skin. Nevertheless I've never establish the Flipboard news feed to the left of the principal homescreen to be hugely useful (luckily y'all can disable it), and the lack of an alphabetic sorting option for the app drawer is a downright annoying characteristic regression.

Samsung makes information technology very easy to download and install new themes for TouchWiz, and although the feature isn't as good as what HTC provides on the One M9, it'southward even so a great way to easily modify the looks of the skin. Most of the skins bachelor in the store are pretty bad, simply there's the occasional gem to be establish, and the store is receiving updates on a regular ground.

I'thousand glad that Samsung decided to completely clean up the settings carte, which on the Galaxy Note 4 and especially the Milky way S5 were getting out of paw. Every feature that I thought was useless or unnecessary has been canned in the Milky way S6's software iteration, and areas where Samsung has historically loaded upward with features (such as gesture controls) have been scaled back significantly. In some respects the Galaxy S6 feels a little light on in terms of settings and controls compared to past smartphones, merely that'due south cypher tertiary-party apps tin can't address.

Speaking of apps, despite Samsung claiming they've removed a lot of bloatware from TouchWiz, there are still a number of unnecessary apps included on the Galaxy S6. The Galaxy Apps shop continues to baffle me with its inclusion alongside the fantastic Google Play Store, while some other "apps" are simply links to download real apps from either the Play Store or Galaxy Apps shop. The inclusion of Microsoft apps isn't necessary, though it allows Samsung to cash a nice pay check, and some of Samsung'south own less critical inclusions (like Southward Voice) are rubbish compared to 3rd-party or Google alternatives.

Luckily, if you're concerned near bloatware, Samsung allows you lot to remove the vast majority of apps that are installed on the Milky way S6 and S6 Border by default.

Two productivity related features have returned in the Galaxy S6's software, and they're easier to access than ever. Multi-window functionality, which allows you lot to run 2 apps on the screen side-by-side, is now activated through the Task Switcher, which is an excellent and easy to admission location for the surprisingly handy feature. Floating windows are likewise available, activated by swiping inwards from the top correct corner of an app. Thanks to the power of the Exynos 7420 inside, both of these features are exceedingly smooth to use.

Unfortunately non every app can be used as a floating window or in multi-window mode, though I did find more than apps are supported in this version of TouchWiz than in any previous version. About of my ofttimes used apps, such as Twitter, Facebook Messenger, and Google Maps, are supported, but some others (like Chrome) aren't.

For those of you that decide to buy the Galaxy S6 Edge, Samsung has included a few extra features that supposedly make use of the curved display. Most of these features are unlike to what was included in the Galaxy Note Edge, which is somewhat surprising, and has resulted in my favourite Edge feature – the like shooting fish in a barrel app launcher panel – existence removed entirely.

Most of the Edge screen features are not very useful, and I rarely plant myself using them in day to day life. There's an information screen that shows the time and your notifications on the Edge past swiping along it when the display is off, but this is slower and less informative than simply hitting the power button to reveal the lockscreen and status bar. The dark clock, also seen on the Note Edge, is more useful, but as the S6 Border'southward display is less curved than the Note Edge, its implementation isn't quite as good.

The residue of the S6 Border's features revolve effectually the 'people border'. The idea is that you lot select five contacts to exist on your people edge speed dial, each with an associated color. When you get a notification from one of these contacts, the border will illuminate in the relevant color, and yous tin can swipe across to reveal more information. When on the homescreen or lockscreen, you can as well swipe across the edge in the top right or left corner to reveal your list of contacts, with handy links to quickly telephone call or message them.

The issue with the people edge is that, firstly, information technology only supports notifications from stock applications. If y'all oftentimes message someone through Facebook Messenger similar I do, the people border does not illuminate. The speed dial carte is reasonably handy, just again it only supports links to messaging or calling through stock applications, and it can't be used from within other apps. The idea is novel, merely the execution is far from perfect.