Samsung finally took the wraps of its next Galaxy flagship, the Galaxy S6 alongside the much-anticipated Galaxy S6 Edge at the MWC 2015 in Barcelona. The company also revealed the new mobile payment service called Samsung Pay, set to rival Apple Pay.

The Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge will be available globally starting April 10 and will be available in 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB storage variants. The company announced that the new Galaxy smartphones will come in White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, Blue Topaz (Galaxy S6) and Green Emerald (Galaxy S6 edge only). The South Korean giant touts that the Galaxy S6 Edge has the "world's first curved display on both sides."

Samsung at the launch touted that both the handsets have been "beautifully crafted from metal and glass."

Both the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge feature 5.1-inch Quad HD (1440x2560 pixels) Super AMOLED display with a pixel density of 577ppi. The only difference being the latter sports a dual-edge display.

The new Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge run Android 5.0 Lollipop and feature a 14nm octa-core mobile processor with 64-bit capability. The company writes, "The world's first 14nm mobile processor with 64-bit platform, new LPDDR4 memory system and UFS 2.0 flash memory provides higher performance and enhanced memory speed with lower power consumption."

Both the handsets are powered by octa-core (quad-core 2.1GHz+ quad-core 1.5GHz) processor (chipset not specified, possibly Exynos) coupled with 3GB of RAM (LPDDR4).

There is a 16-megapixel rear camera with OIS (optical image stabilisation) and LED flash while there is a 5-megapixel front camera on board. Both the handsets come with a slew of camera features such as quick launch, tracking AF, auto real-time HDR, f/1.9, IR detect white balance, low light video, high clear zoom, virtual shot, slow motion, fast motion, pro mode, and selective focus.

The South Korean giant to rival Apple's payment system finally introduced the Samsung Pay, which it claimed will be "compatible with more locations than any competing offering in a single application."

Samsung Pay will debut on the flagship Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge in the US during second half of 2015. Samsung notes, "Samsung Pay works with both Near Field Communication (NFC) and Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology to make it device, merchant and card issuer agnostic." With MST support for magstripe readers, it is claimed to work with 90 percent of US retailers, making it more 'universal' than Apple Pay according to Samsung. To make it work in store, users have to activate the card, authenticate it with their fingerprint, and then hold up the smartphone to the magstripe reader.

Much like the Samsung Galaxy S5, the new premium Galaxy handsets also pack fingerprint scanning with an enhanced touch-type fingerprint scanner on the home button. Additionally, both the handsets will come pre-installed with upgraded Samsung Knox. As rumoured previously, Samsung's premium handsets come preloaded with Microsoft apps such as OneDrive offering 115GB for 2 years, and OneNote. The Galaxy S6 is backed by a 2550mAh battery while the Galaxy S6 Edge comes with 2600mAh battery. For connectivity, both the handset support LTE Cat. 6 that supports up to 300Mbps of download speed. Both phones support wireless charging built-in, with support for WPC and PMA standards. The fast charging batteries charge (only when wired) 1.5 times faster than that on the Galaxy S5, and provide "about 4 hours of usage after only 10 minutes of charging."

 

 

Commenting on the launch, JK Shin, CEO and head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung said, "With the all new Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge, Samsung is offering what's next in mobility, along with a new standard to drive the global mobile agenda. By listening to our customers, and learning from both our success and missteps, we continuously push forward new technologies and ideas. With a reimagined design, robust partner network and novel services, the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge offer users the ultimate experience in smartphone options."

Alcatel OneTouch launched a new smartphone - the Idol 3 - at Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona on Sunday. Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3's unique feature is that it is reversible. Alcatel claims that you can speak on the phone with the top side down.

This isn't a big problem for most people and seems like a gimmicky feature to grab people's attention. However, quite a few Android smartphones feature symmetrical designs that make it hard to quickly tell which side is up. Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 eliminates that problem as it is reversible.

The specification sheet reveals that the 7.7-mm thick Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 has two variants under the same name. The larger variant has a 5.5-Inch Full HD IPS display while the smaller one has a 4.7-Inch 720p display. These phones are priced at EUR 250 (roughly Rs. 17,300) and EUR 200 (roughly Rs. 13,800) respectively, which puts them in the mid-range bracket. Both these phones run Android 5.0 Lollipop.

The Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 5.5-Inch variant comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 SoC that has a 64-bit octa-core processor, 2GB RAM and lets you choose between 16GB and 32GB inbuilt storage. This phone has a 13-megapixel rear camera with an f/2.0 lens, while its front camera is an 8-megapixel one. The phone comes with a large 2910mAh battery.

The smaller 4.7-Inch variant of the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 has a smaller 2000mAh battery, 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 SoC and a 5-megapixel front camera. Other than that, its specs are similar to that of its bigger sibling.