What is the difference between the two top-tier devices?

Jul 28, 2015 09:54 GMT  ·  By

OnePlus has just announced the successor of its original OnePlus One smartphone, dubbed the “2016 flagship killer.” The new device brings about notable improvements when compared to the previous model, but the question is: how will it stack against this year’s most talked-about premium device, the Galaxy S6?

If we’re to put behind the fact that the OnePlus 2 relies on a Snapdragon 810, which is reason enough to be a little guarded, the phone does feature really capable specs. But so does the Galaxy S6. So let’s see what the exact differences between the two models are, in an effort to differentiate between them.

Design and Display

The OnePlus 2 arrives with a 5.5-inch display with 1080 x 1920 pixel resolution (401ppi), while Samsung’s flagship takes advantage of a smaller 5.1-inch main panel with 1440 x 2560 pixel resolution (577ppi).

This advanced resolution puts a big toll on the average battery sustaining the life on board the device, so you might be better off with OnePlus 2’s FHD resolution.

However, the OnePlus 2’s aluminum body is a bit chunkier than the Galaxy S6. The Chinese phone’s dimensions are 5.98 x 2.95 x 0.39 inches / 151.8 x 74.9 x 9.85 mm. It also weighs about 6.17 oz or 175 g.

On the other hand, the Galaxy S6 is a lot sleeker. Its glass and metal body is 5.65 x 2.78 x 0.27 inches / 143.4 x 70.5 x 6.8 mm and breaks the scales at 4.87 oz / 128 g. So the Galaxy S6 will certainly feel lighter in hand.

Hardware

As we told you above, the OnePlus 2 is offered with a Snapdragon 810 chipset on the inside. Our opinion is that the company took a huge risk here, even if we’re told the revised version of the SoC has been utilized in the OnePlus 2.

It doesn’t seem like the overheating issues of the Snapdragon 810 have found a palpable solution, so maybe the startup should have opted for something else. Now, we have already been hearing rumors that, in order to keep temperatures at normal levels on the phone, OnePlus had to resort to throttling.

Anyway, the chipset works in concert with up to 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage.

As for the Galaxy S6, this is Samsung’s first flagship that is based entirely on the company’s own Exynos 7420 chipset. And as we have seen so far, the Korean tech giant made a good call. The silicon is powerful and no nasty issues related to it have been reported until now.

The Exynos works hand in hand with 3GB of RAM and up to 128GB of internal storage (32GB and 64GB versions also exist).

OS

The Galaxy S6 comes with a trimmed-down version of its TouchWiz interface plastered on top of Android 5.0 Lollipop, which runs more smoothly than before.

However, since the phone launched, Samsung has provided the Android 5.1.1 Lollipop update, which brings forth a lot of problems, basically ruining the whole experience on board. We talked extensively about these problems in an earlier piece.

As for the OnePlus 2, the device ships out with Oxygen OS 2.0, which is based on Android 5.1 Lollipop. Nevertheless, the company says a bunch of Android M features have been baked into the OS.

Oxygen OS does bring some nifty features into the equation, like the ability to fully configure capacitive keys, a brand new feature called Shelf (a home panel for frequently used apps/contacts), or the ability to fully customize alternate icon packs.

Cameras

The OnePlus 2 has a main camera of the 13MP variety with dual LED and f/2.0 aperture size. The camera sensor size is 1/2.6”. The main snapper can shoot video in 4K, as well as 720p HD at 120fps. The secondary camera is of 5MP capacity.

As for the Galaxy S6, we have a 16MP main shooter with LED flash and f/1.9 aperture size and focal length of 28mm. The camera’s sensor size is the same as on the OnePlus 2.

In the video department, the camera can produce 4K video at 30fps, 1080p video at 60 fps, and 720p footage at 120fps.

The selfie snapper is also of 5MP capacity, just like on the OnePlus 2.

Connectivity

The OnePlus 2 spec list also includes LTE, HSPA, HSPUPA, EDGE and GPRS, while the Galaxy S6 takes advantage of LTE-A Cat 6 (300/50Mbit/s), HSPA, HSUPA, UMTS, EDGE and GPRS.

On top of that, the OnePlus 2 also offers dual-SIM, Bluetooth 4.1, Wi-Fi, USB Type-C port, GPS with AGPS and GLONASS. No NFC on board, though, because users of the OnePlus One weren’t really interacting with the feature.

The Galaxy S6, on the other hand, has Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, Wi-Fi direct, GPS, AGPS, GLONASS and microUSB v2.0. The phone utilizes NFC for Samsung Pay and such.

Battery

Battery is a very touchy subject for the Galaxy S6, which only bundles a 2,550 mAh unit. What’s more, battery life seems to be even worse after the handset gets updated to Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. So don’t expect too much from Samsung’s current flagship which has traded form for functionality. There’s no removable battery either.

As for the OnePlus 2, the device is sustained by a loftier 3,300 mAh unit. Couple this with the fact that the device only has a 1080p display, and you should be seeing a better life cycle with this phone.