What's Hot: Water and dust resistant. Rugged but not overly bulky or heavy. Significantly higher battery capacity than GS6 standard models.
What's Not: Just like the standard GS6, no removable battery or microSD card slot.
Reviewed June 23, 2015 by Lisa Gade, Editor
in Chief (twitter: @lisagade)
Last year's Samsung Galaxy S5 Active didn't make a whole lot of sense. Why make a water and dust resistant variant of the Galaxy S5 when that phone was already water and dust resistant? Sure you got the more rugged casing to withstand drops and bumps, but you could just buy a rugged case for the GS5. Fast-forward to 2015 and the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge are designer phones with glass fronts and backs. They're not resistant to anything. So this year's Galaxy S6 Active makes a whole lot of sense. Exclusive to AT&T in the US, the Active meets U.S. Mil-STD-810G for water-resistance and to withstand dust, shock, vibration, temperature extremes, humidity, and high altitude. It's submersible up to 1.5 m of water for up to 30 minutes. It's also shock-resistant when dropped from less than or equal to 4 feet onto a flat surface according to Samsung. We dropped it from waist high onto a hardwood floor and it survived unscathed.
The Galaxy S6 Active's specs aren't watered down in the least, and you get every bit of GS6 goodness here. We won't go over all the details since it is identical in terms of CPU, RAM, display, cameras, wireless and (lack of) memory expandability. If you haven't already, check out our review of the standard Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge to learn about display, performance and more. The Active's battery is sealed inside, just like the Galaxy S6, so some of you might still opt for last year's Galaxy S5 Active if that's a deal breaker. But wait a moment: the Galaxy S6 Active has a much larger battery--3500 mAh, vs. the 2550 mAh battery in the standard issue GS6. So you're gaining nearly 30% more runtime with the Active, which in our tests translated into 2 hours more screen on time. That might offset the desire for a removable battery. What else is different from the standard S6? It has hardware front buttons rather than capacitive (because capacitive buttons don't work well when wet), there's no fingerprint scanner and it's available in just one storage capacity (32 gigs).
Specs and Features
The phone runs Android 5 Lollipop with Samsung's TouchWiz software on the 2.1 GHz Exynos 7420 octa-core CPU. It has 3 gigs of RAM and 32 gigs of internal storage but no microSD card slot. It has a lovely and bright 5.1" Super AMOLED QHD, 2560 x 1440 display, dual band WiFi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.1, NFC and GPS. The display is covered in Corning Gorilla Glass 4. The phone has the same 16MP rear and front 5MP cameras as the Samsung Galaxy S6, and that rear camera is one of the best you'll find on a phone. The phone supports Qi wireless charging and quick charging (a quick charger is in the box).
Rugged Design
I won't make fun of the Galaxy S6 Active's looks. It's a rugged phone and clearly it won't look like the glass and aluminum design masterpiece that is the Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge. Everyone appreciates good looks and slim designs, but if you're a plumber, landscaper, work in construction or are out in the oil fields, good looks go only so far. The Active is certainly slimmer, lighter and better looking than an S6 in a seriously rugged accessory case (no offense to Otterbox). The phone is available in camo white, gray (with a blue camo pattern) or all black for those of you who aren't cool with the camouflage statement. It's not an ungainly phone, and honestly Samsung doesn't make thick phones. It's heavier than the standard S6 at 5.29 ounces, but not what I'd call a heavy smartphone. It's a little thicker and has a slightly larger footprint than the standard S6. The corners are molded hard plastic to withstand drops and bangs, and the ports are waterproofed so there's no need for annoying rubber covers.
Activity Zone
Like the Galaxy S5 Active, the S6 Active has Samsung's genuinely useful Activity Zone app. You can launch it using the dedicated left side button. That button can launch another app of your choice when you long press it, and you can assign a different app to the short press. Activity Zone has panes for weather, S Health, compass, barometer, stopwatch and a switch to turn on the flash light. It also promotes Samsung's Milk streaming music service, where you can pick different music stations for running, weight lifting and more.
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Benchmarks
The Galaxy S6 Active is one of the fastest Android phones on the market. It slightly outperformed the standard S6 that we benchmarked at launch, thanks to firmware updates and tweaks post-release.
If you're a klutz or work in a field where rugged devices make sense, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Active is a no-brainer. You get all the goodness of the S6, from super performance to a fantastic Super AMOLED QHD display to one of the best cameras on the market, in a dust, water and drop-resistant package. Our only caveat is that like the standard S6, the Active's battery is sealed inside. S5 Active owners looking to upgrade may miss the removable battery, though the S6 Active's big 3500 mAh battery ameliorates that.
Price: $695 full retail, $199 with 2 year contract
