MWC is now in full swing! Acer announced its new lineup of smartphones ahead of everyone else today, and it includes the Liquid M220, its first Windows 8.1 Phone that can give entry-level Lumias a run for their money.
The Liquid M220 will sport a 4-inch screen display with a 223ppi resolution, a 5MP rear camera, and is equipped with Windows 8.1 which is said to be upgradeable to Windows 10 once the new OS update is out in the market.
Acer Liquid M220 specs:
4-inch WVGA display, 800×480, 233ppi
1.2GHz Dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200
512MB RAM
8GB Internal Storage
expandable up to 32GB via microSD
5MP rear camera with LED Flash
2MP front camera
3G HSPA
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0
Windows 8.1, upgradeable to Windows 10
1300mAh Li-Ion battery
Available in Mystic Black and Pure White colors, the Acer Liquid M220 will be available first in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa for €79 or roughly Php3,900.
With the announcement of the Samsung Galaxy S6, a lot of you might be wondering if it’s worth the upgrade from the previous Galaxy S5. What are the differences? Read on to find out.
Samsung Galaxy S5
Samsung Galaxy S6
5.1-inch 1080 x 1920 Super AMOLED display
5.1-inch 1440 x 2560 Super AMOLED Display
Gorilla Glass 3
Gorilla Glass 4
Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core CPU
64-bit octa-core Exynos 7420
Adreno 330 GPU
Mali-T760 GPU
2GB RAM
3GB RAM
16/32GB internal storage
32GB, 64GB and 128GB internal storage
up to 128GB via microSD
Non-expandable
16 megapixel camera
16 megapixel camera, optical image stabilization
2 megapixel front camera
5 megapixel front-facing camera
8.1 mm thin
6.8 mm thin
TouchWiz, Android 4.4.2 KitKat
TouchWiz, Android 5.0.2 Lollipop
2,800mAh battery
2,550 mAh battery, Qi Wireless Charging
IP67-certified (water and dust resistant), Fingerprint sensor, Heart rate monitor
Fingerprint scanner, heart-rate monitor
Plastic
Metal, glass
Since a lot of people have been clamoring for more premium design from Samsung, the company had to cut some edges. Whether or not these compromises could be justified is debatable, and you will find yourself arguing if it’s worth the upgrade.
You can see above that the Galaxy S6 is surely a spec upgrade, but it drops water-resistance, expandable storage and a larger battery for a sleeker and better looking build.
Personally, it would have been okay with me if Samsung added a little more thickness to the phone just to accomodate a larger battery and an SD card slot. How about you? Do you consider the Galaxy S6 a worthy successor to the GS5? Feel free to leave your comments down below!
Samsung and HTC have just announced their latest Android smartphones – the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the HTC One M9. We put them head-to-head in this spec comparison to see who comes out on top!
Samsung Galaxy S6
HTC One M9
Display
5.1-inch 1440 x 2560 Super AMOLED Display
5.0 inch 1080 x 1920 Super LCD 3 Display
Glass
Gorilla Glass 4
Gorilla Glass 4
CPU
64-bit octa-core Exynos 7420
64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 810 MSM8994
GPU
Mali-T760
Adreno 430
RAM
3GB RAM
3GB RAM
Internal Storage
32GB, 64GB and 128GB
32GB
External Storage
Non-expandable
Expandable via micro SD card slot
Rear Camera
16 megapixel, optical image stabilization
20 megapixel, dual LED flash
Front Camera
5 megapixel
4 megapixel UltraPixel
Software
TouchWiz, Android Lollipop
Sense Seven, Android Lollipop
Battery
2,550 mAh battery, Qi Wireless Charging
2,850 mAh battery
Thickness
6.8 mm
9.6 mm
Other Features
Fingerprint scanner, heart-rate monitor
BoomSound speakers
Construction
Metal, glass
Unibody metal
As you can see above, it’s really a close call, so picking between the two would be a matter of priorities.
Samsung Galaxy S6 advantages:
Slightly larger display
Higher screen resolution
Super AMOLED technology
64GB & 128GB internal memory options
Optical Image Stabilization
Higher resolution selfie camera
Wireless Charging
Fingerprint scanner
Heart-rate monitor
Thinner
HTC One M9 advantages:
Super LCD 3 display
1080p resolution (for those who argue we don’t need anything higher)
Expandable memory
Higher resolution rear camera
Larger battery
BoomSound speakers
Right now, we really can’t decide which is better at performance, which has a better camera or even which wins at price, so we’ll have to wait and see until we get our hands on these two devices.
Until then, we’ll leave it to you to decide! Stay tuned for more coverage.
Along with the Galaxy S6, Samsung also introduced a more unique version in this year’s launch — the Galaxy S6 Edge. The Galaxy S6 Edge took its cue from the Galaxy Note Edge that was released a couple of months ago. However, this time, instead of just one side sporting a curved edge, both sides have them.
This means both the left and the right sides of the front glass panel slightly curves backwards, meeting the glass back panel. Both of the glass are protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 4.
The execution of the curved front panel is very interesting as the metallic chassis forms a single solid frame to support the flow of the glass.
The Galaxy S6 Edge has almost the same exact material and build quality as the Galaxy S6 and while we’ve already seen this implementation on the Note Edge, the S6 Edge has much less curve on the sides.
The thick front glass adds to the sexy appeal of the S6 Edge, giving it another dimension.
At 5.1 inches, the S6 Edge looks bigger because of the edges that makes it appear as if the display has virtually no bezels at all (imagine infinity pool effect).
The rest of the specs and fetaures are practically the same as the Galaxy S6. Samsung added some nice little software tricks on the S6 Edge to give those curved edges some usefulness.
The right side of the curved edge provides a quick shortcut to your top 5 favorite contacts. Each contact will have their own specific color assignments. Those color will blink and light up whenever that contact calls you. You can still see the line of color even if your phone is facing down.
For the S6 Edge, Samsung created a gold color variant that looks strikingly elegant. There’s also the black color that will be a standard and another green color variant which is the special edition.
Wireless charging is also built right into the handset. While the internal battery is only 2,600mAh, Samsung promises longer battery life due to the 14nm Exynos chip.
Here are some sample photos taken with the Galaxy S6 we took earlier (the S6 Edge has same camera/sensor):
These are all low-light photos taken with the rear camera on auto mode.
Here is the official hardware configuration of the Galaxy S6 Edge.
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge specs:
5.1-inch Super AMOLED quad-HD display @ 2560 x 1440, 577ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 4 (front and back)
Samsung Exynos 7420 64-bit octa-core CPU
3GB RAM
32, 64, 128 GB internal memory
Dual-SIM, 4G/LTE Cat. 6
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth 4.1
NFC
16 megapixel rear camera, OIS, dual-LED flash, f1.9
5 megapixel front-facing camera, f1.9
Qi Wireless Charging
2,600mAh Li-Ion non-removable battery
Black, Gold, Green
Android 5.0.2 Lollipop with TouchWiz
7.0 mm (dimension)
The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is expected to be released sometime middle of April 2015 along with the Galaxy S6. It will be available in 32GB, 64GB and a 128GB that will follow on a later release. No suggested retail price is indicated.
You cna also read our first impressions of the Galaxy S6 here.
Along with the Galaxy S6, Samsung also introduced a more unique version in this year’s launch — the Galaxy S6 Edge. The Galaxy S6 Edge took its cue from the Galaxy Note Edge that was released a couple of months ago. However, this time, instead of just one side sporting a curved edge, both sides have them.
This means both the left and the right sides of the front glass panel slightly curves backwards, meeting the glass back panel. Both of the glass are protected by Corning’s Gorilla Glass 4.
The execution of the curved front panel is very interesting as the metallic chassis forms a single solid frame to support the flow of the glass.
The Galaxy S6 Edge has almost the same exact material and build quality as the Galaxy S6 and while we’ve already seen this implementation on the Note Edge, the S6 Edge has much less curve on the sides.
The thick front glass adds to the sexy appeal of the S6 Edge, giving it another dimension.
At 5.1 inches, the S6 Edge looks bigger because of the edges that makes it appear as if the display has virtually no bezels at all (imagine infinity pool effect).
The rest of the specs and fetaures are practically the same as the Galaxy S6. Samsung added some nice little software tricks on the S6 Edge to give those curved edges some usefulness.
The right side of the curved edge provides a quick shortcut to your top 5 favorite contacts. Each contact will have their own specific color assignments. Those color will blink and light up whenever that contact calls you. You can still see the line of color even if your phone is facing down.
For the S6 Edge, Samsung created a gold color variant that looks strikingly elegant. There’s also the black color that will be a standard and another green color variant which is the special edition.
Wireless charging is also built right into the handset. While the internal battery is only 2,600mAh, Samsung promises longer battery life due to the 14nm Exynos chip.
Here are some sample photos taken with the Galaxy S6 we took earlier (the S6 Edge has same camera/sensor):
These are all low-light photos taken with the rear camera on auto mode.
Here is the official hardware configuration of the Galaxy S6 Edge.
Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge specs:
5.1-inch Super AMOLED quad-HD display @ 2560 x 1440, 577ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 4 (front and back)
Samsung Exynos 7420 64-bit octa-core CPU
3GB RAM
32, 64, 128 GB internal memory
Dual-SIM, 4G/LTE Cat. 6
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth 4.1
NFC
16 megapixel rear camera, OIS, dual-LED flash, f1.9
5 megapixel front-facing camera, f1.9
Qi Wireless Charging
2,600mAh Li-Ion non-removable battery
Black, Gold, Green
Android 5.0.2 Lollipop with TouchWiz
7.0 mm (dimension)
The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is expected to be released sometime middle of April 2015 along with the Galaxy S6. It will be available in 32GB, 64GB and a 128GB that will follow on a later release. No suggested retail price is indicated.
You cna also read our first impressions of the Galaxy S6 here.
