No one expected the Samsung S6 to be this good. Sure, Samsung are a popular phone brand and their phones do rise above other Android devices, but this good? No one predicted this. The iPhone killer however does come in more pricey than Apple’s flagship but not my much. The new iPhone 64GB version is priced at $699 while the Samsung S6 comes in at $719. A quick search online and you can find the Samsung a little cheaper on the internet than in stores if you’re looking for a sim-free option.

Samsung this time around have moved away from the cheap plastic look and settled on a nice and strong glass finish. There is a metal band that goes around the edge which oozes style. It’s a great looking phone and the S6 Edge gives it that slightly more unique look. Certainly Samsung have learned from their past models and thought about what Apple are now doing with their phones. Although the phone looks sexy as hell, I’m not too keen on the all glass back. It feels very slippery to hold and would recommend getting a case on there as quickly as possible. Fingerprints on the rear of the phone are a problem too.

Looking so similar to the iPhone 6 I can’t help but feel Samsung are taking huge risks with the S6. The phones are nigh on identical with the ports being in the same place too. Even the headphone jack and charging ports can be found on the bottom of the device, a straight copy from Apple’s iPhone 6.

Samsung have opted again for their Super Amoled screen boasting 1440 x 2560 pixels with a PPI of 577 resulting on the sharpest screen on the market at the moment. The S6 has a screen size of 5.1 inches which does a great job of filling the space. There isn’t much of a border going down the right hand side, and with the S6 Edge, the bezel is non-existent down the sides. Watching HD video is superb showing off very white whites and extremely deep blacks. However the sharp screen comes at a cost, battery life.

The Samsung S6 ships with Android 5.0.2 Lollipop with the potential of being upgraded to Android M later on in the year once released. It uses the TouchWiz overlay which has had some well deserved improvements and upgrades to it. The menu is extremely quick and apps now open really fast. Samsung have removed unwanted clutter from its menu giving it a cleaner finish.

One issue I have found with the new Samsung S6 is its battery life. It’s just simply not good enough for the huge power the phone requires to run. I would have liked to have seen maybe a bigger back to the phone to house a stronger battery. The phone is sealed too so the battery cannot be removed. That’s a feature so many of you I believe will miss. It’s annoying because I would have liked to have switched it out for a larger battery, just to get a full day’s use out of it.

One of the biggest highlights of Samsung’s new flagship model is the superb camera and the number of features it delivers. One thing I will mention now is the fact that the camera sticks out from the back quite far opening it up to scratch damage. However, the reason for this is so the S6 can house a bigger sensor therefore giving much clearer, sharper photos. Even an amateur photographer could turn to this phone for work. Samsung have included a PRO mode which enables users to adjust shutter speed and aperture as well as your ISO level giving you a truly manual feel to the camera. There are some cool modes on the camera such as the interactive selfie which lets you take a 180 degree photo and then tilt the camera left and right to move the background. There is also slow-motion video and even a time-lapse setting to get your artistic teeth sunk into. Overall, this is really the best phone cameras on the market.

Samsung have again made listening to music and watching movies simple, and now even offer more features such as a graphic equalizer to fine tune your listening experience. Movies are undoubtedly sharp because of the Amoled screen and Samsung S6 can now handle high-res audio. However, the lack of a microSD card slot could be a problem for some users who love to carry entire music collections with them. The reason for this is to improve performance. Using a microSD card can have an effect on how the phone performs by taking a short pause to open files installed to the card. The phone comes in several storage capacities so the best bet is to buy an S6 with the hard drive size you need.

The Samsung S6 houses a octa-core Exynos processor backed up by 3GB of RAM. This phone is really a powerhouse and really shines with mobile gaming. Playing games has never looked so good on a mobile phone device. We really didn’t notice much of a slowdown to performance, even on the most demanding games such as Real Racing 3.

The Samsung S6 is a cool phone. It looks absolutely fantastic and has some real power behind it. The interface is very sleek as Samsung has removed clutter and the biggest highlight being the camera has come on leaps and bounds from the previous S5 model. The Samsung S6 deserves some recognition and in my opinion is the best phone on the market at the moment. The Samsung S6 has only made my love for Samsung phones stronger. Bring on the S7 I say! You can find the S6 on Vodafone’s website.