Samsung is going big, again. The company unveiled its latest behemoth smartphones, the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+, on Thursday at an event in New York City.
Both the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ feature 5.7-inch high-definition screens, four gigabytes of memory and 16-megapixel rear-facing cameras. The new Note and Edge both have built-in wireless charging that Samsung says can get the battery to full in two hours.
The Galaxy S6 Edge+ is a big increase in screen size from the 5.1-inch Galaxy S6 Edge -- even though the actual phone is only 5 millimeters wider than its predecessor and actually 0.1 millimeters thinner.
"Bigger screens have gone from nice to have to must-have," Justin Denison, Samsung's vice president of product and strategy, said at the New York launch event.
For those who miss their Blackberry, Samsung also revealed a physical keyboard cover for the Galaxy Note 5, which can be snapped onto the phone and sensed by the screen below -- eliminating the need to connect with Bluetooth like other keyboard accessories. The phone also includes Samsung's S Pen stylus.
Samsung also announced Samsung Pay, a new mobile payment system. The service gives consumers the option to pay with near-field communication (NFC) technology, like Apple Pay -- or a technology called magnetic secure transmission (MST), which transmits the same magnetic code used by debit and credit cards.
The MST capability gives Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+and Note 5 owners more options, Samsung said, because it lets them pay anywhere that lets people wave their card over a credit card terminal, not just places configured to accept NFC payments.
Pre-orders for both phones start Thursday at 3 p.m., and the devices will begin shipping August 21.
