6.25.2015

Epic Fail

That's what the Galaxy S6 edge ultimately ended up being. I stuck with the phone for nearly a month. It's gorgeous. The camera is incredible. And it COULD be fast.

But over the past few weeks, it got horrible. To the point that I could barely use it. First off, it gets terrible signal, and when it does have signal, the data speed is laughable at best. I had thought it was just due to being out in Powder Springs, but I'm now realizing it's more the phone than the signal that's the issue. For instance, here at my desk at work, I got between zero bars and 1 bar of 3G at best with that phone. As I have WiFi here, it wasn't a huge deal, but it was noticeable. At the new house, I got 1-2 bars of 3G at best, and there's no WiFi there until the Internet gets hooked up next week. I just picked up a Nexus 6, and I'm getting 3-4 bars of LTE in the same exact spot on my desk here at work, and I'm willing to bet I'll actually be able to use the N6 at the new house.

Also, Samsung really hobbled the memory management of the phone. Opening more than 3 apps killed the oldest app, which is horrible for someone who wants to listen to podcasts/audiobooks/music on their phone. Samsung has more or less admitted to the software problem, but has also put out a statement that they're focusing on their new, unannounced, flagship phone, and will take a look at this issue after that launches. That's unacceptable, especially for a phone with 3GB of RAM. There are "fixes" out there that require editing the build.prop file, but I found that while they allow apps to remain in memory longer, it also dramatically slows the phone down to the point that it needs to be rebooted 5-6 times a day.

On top of that, while I was out on a business trip, on-site, in Tallahassee, FL, the phone rebooted itself. When it came back up, it asked for my PIN to log in. When I hit any key on the keyboard, it rebooted. This effectively completely locked me out of my phone. I did a factory reset, but the keyboard issue remained, meaning I couldn't complete the setup of the phone. I was still locked out of being able to use it. So I quickly downloaded the smallest custom ROM I could that had no reported issues. After flashing it and setting up the phone, it continually dropped both outgoing and incoming calls within half a second. About 1 in 10 calls would connect successfully. That issue was probably ROM related (though no one else reported it), but it added to my frustrations with the phone and ultimately pushed me over the edge (no pun intended).

So I'm back on a Nexus 6, which, as I stated above, gets WAY better signal reception and suffers from none of the software issues of the S6 edge (plus the big screen and much, much better battery life). I actually got 2 Nexus 6s (one new in box, which I'm using and one used, but in perfect condition), so I'm going to see if Kimberly wants the other one. She's having some frustrating (less frustrating than the S6 edge; poor battery life, random slow-downs, random reboots) with her LG G3, so I think the N6 would be a fantastic fix for her, if she can handle the massive screen. lol

Anyway, in conclusion, I've never been so let down by a phone that started off so positively for me. In its current state, I can't recommend the S6 edge. At all. Extremely poor signal reception, bad battery life (seriously, I needed to charge it by noon each day), and major underlying software issues. It's really a shame as the camera is unparalleled and the phone is gorgeous. Ah well, there's nothing I can't do with the Nexus 6.

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