Samsung Galaxy S6 review: Security updates come to an end

Samsung Galaxy S6: Camera, audio and call quality

The Samsung Galaxy S6's camera isn't a massive upgrade. It has the same 16-megapixel resolution as the S5 and retains that super-quick phase-detect autofocus, but this year adds a wider aperture and optical image stabilisation.

These sound like small changes, but in practice they make a dramatic difference to the S6's photo- and video-capture capabilities, and despite nine months of new smartphone releases, including the highly capable Google Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, it remains among the best cameras in a smartphone anywhere. In all but the darkest of environments, the S6 is capable of capturing stunning images and smooth, stable video. Noise is still visible when capturing murky objects in low light, but even then you'll get usable results in most circumstances.

It isn't vastly superior to the iPhone 6's camera or the iPhone 6s, but it's as quick and a better all-rounder in tricky light; we particularly love the live HDR feature, which displays on the screen, in real-time, what your processed photo will eventually look like. And it has a deft touch, balancing areas of bright and dark in a scene well without making the resulting photograph look unnatural.

The camera also boasts some new features on the software front. There's a new quick-launch feature, which allows you to double-click the home button to launch the camera app – in 0.7 seconds says Samsung. The camera software has been simplified, making it easier to access all the various settings. Samsung has made snapping selfies easier, too: you can now tap the heart-rate sensor on the rear to capture a self-portrait.

The front-facing camera provides 5-megapixel images and, with an aperture of f/1.9, selfies look impressively sharp even in poor light.

Impressively, video capture now benefits from object-tracking autofocus, a feature normally associated with dedicated camcorders. This worked pretty well in testing, but there's a catch: you can't use both object tracking and optical image stabilisation simultaneously; it's either or. 

Audio is almost as impressive, both in-call and from the single speaker on the phone's bottom edge. The earpiece speaker goes superbly loud and doesn't distort at maximum volume, and speaker output is very good, matching the HTC One M9 for volume, if not body. The microphone is decent, too, picking up vocals at close and long range with admirable clarity.