SAMSUNG Galaxy S6 Edge+

VERDICT
In the absence of the Note 5, the S6 Edge+ is the best Android
phablet around, but at current prices it’s just not good value

WITH THE GALAXY Note 5 currently missing
in action in the UK, those after a big-screen
Samsung phone now have only one handset
to turn to: the Galaxy S6 Edge+. As the name
suggests, it’s essentially a larger version of
Samsung’s existing curvy flagship, the Galaxy
S6 Edge, adding a sizeable 5.7in display that
towers over the smaller phone’s 5.1in screen.
Big-screen phones don’t suit everyone, of
course, but the double-edged curves do make
the Edge+ one of the more manageable
phablets. It’s smaller than the iPhone 6 Plus,
despite having a larger display. It’s more
comfortable than the Galaxy Note 4, too, as
its slender, narrower frame provides more
purchase. The glass back is a touch slippery,
but there’s no denying that the S6 Edge+ is a
stylish handset. It uses the same premium
materials as the S6 Edge, and demands
attention when you take it out of a pocket.
As desirable as the S6 Edge+ is, though,
there’s very little to set it apart from the rest
of the S6 family. It even shares the same
2,560x1,440 resolution as the smaller phone.
With the same number of pixels stretched
over a larger screen, pixel density is actually a
fraction lower, at 515ppi compared to the S6’s
576ppi. However, this is still very sharp, and
you’ll be hard pressed to notice the difference.
As a result, the S6 Edge+ is essentially a
carbon copy of the S6 Edge, making the 0.5in
bigger screen its main distinguishing feature.
The large display provides more room when
browsing or using two apps simultaneously in
Screen mode.

The 5.7in, 2,560x1,440 display is excellent,
with the Super AMOLED panel displaying
full 100% sRGB colour gamut coverage.
Contrast also returned a ratio of infinity:1, as
peak black levels are a perfect 0.00cd/m2.
Admittedly a peak brightness of 388.7cd/m2
isn’t huge, and AMOLED panels are
traditionally much dimmer than their LCD
counterparts, but this figure shoots up to
around 600cd/m2 when you’re outside to help
combat screen glare.
Thankfully, the larger screen doesn’t
impact the phone’s battery life, as it managed
a respectable 13h 23m in our continuous video
playback test. While this is almost two hours
less than the standard S6 Edge, it’s only 10
minutes behind the regular S6, so you should
still get more than a full day’s use out of it
even if you’re a heavy media user.
The S6 Edge+ continues Samsung’s streak
of best-in-class performance, too. The
octa-core Exynos 7420 processor comprises
two quad-core chips, one running at 2.1GHz
for more intensive tasks while the other runs
at 1.5GHz to save on power when the phone is
idle. The S6 Edge+ also has the benefit of 4GB
of RAM over the S6 and S6 Edge’s 3GB, giving
it an extra boost while web browsing.
Its huge score of 1,549 in Futuremark’s
Peacekeeper test is the highest we’ve seen,
beating both the S6 and S6 Edge by a clear
300 points. Naturally, surfing the web is as
smooth as could be, with no signs of stutter
or jerky animations whatsoever. The extra 1GB
of RAM made less difference in Geekbench 3,
though, as its respective scores of 1,463 and
the single- and multicore tests are
less identical to those of the S6 Edge.
S6 Edge+ also didn’t fare any better
GFXBench GL’s offscreen Manhattan
test, with 1,514 frames (roughly 24fps)
putting it just behind the smaller Edge’s
score of 1,537 (or 25fps). In real terms,
though, the S6 Edge+ is still a highly
competent gaming machine.
The S6 Edge+ uses the same
megapixel sensor as the S6 and S6
Edge. It can produce clear, bright-looking
photos even in overcast weather conditions,
it banishes the gloom to make sure your
photos still look great even when the sun’s
not shining. Our test shots all had plenty of
detail, and Samsung’s excellent noise
reduction effectively eliminates all traces of
noise and grainy artefacts. Low-light
performance is equally brilliant. Noise was
practically non-existent, and colours remained
rich and vibrant throughout. The flash can be
a little harsh at times, though, as the warm
colours in our non-flash shots all but
disappeared when we switched it on.
With top-class performance and a superb
camera, the Galaxy S6 Edge+ rightly deserves
its title as the best Android phablet since the
Note 4. However, it is undeniably expensive
for what essentially amounts to a relatively
middling set of minor software tweaks and
some serious style points. It simply doesn’t do
enough to make it stand out from the rest of
the S6 family, so while it may be the best
Android phablet you can buy today, at its
current price it simply isn’t good value.

MOTOROLA Moto G 3rd Gen

VERDICT
It can’t match the value of its predecessor,
but is still a fantastic phone thanks to its
great camera and battery life

THE 2ND GEN Moto G was the best budget
smartphone we’d ever seen, until the
incredible Vodafone Smart Ultra 6 staged a
surprise coup last month. This means the 3rd
Gen Moto G finally has some competition, but
with a refined design, superb build quality and
a huge number of features on offer, it has a
real chance to win back its crown.
That said, it’s less of a bargain than its
predecessors once were. The cheapest model,
which has 8GB of storage and 1GB of RAM,
starts at £159. Choosing your own colours
with Motorola’s Moto Maker service adds
£20, and buying the slightly more powerful
version, with 16GB of storage and 2GB RAM,
costs another £30 on top of that. A microSD
card slot means the extra storage isn’t crucial,
but the extra RAM will make a difference to
speed and multitasking.
ANGLE POISE
The new handset shares design elements with
Motorola’s Moto X, with a metal-effect frame
that curves almost seamlessly into the
removable back plate, creating lovely smooth
contours. The edges taper to a pleasing
6.1mm, and the 155g handset feels very strong
and durable. We much prefer it to the flat,
angular edges of the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua.
The machined, textured finish on the power
button is a particularly nice touch, making it
easier to find next to the matt volume rocker.
The removable rear panels come in various
colours, and you can swap them as you
please, making the Moto G more customisable
than other handsets at this price. The subtle
ribbed texture on each panel gives it a
high-quality feel and provides plenty of grip.
When the back is properly clipped into
place, the Moto G becomes IPX7 waterproof,
meaning it can be dunked in up to a metre of
water for 30 minutes without being damaged.
It’s not entirely watertight, though, so if you
get it wet, you’ll need to take off the back and
give it a quick wipe. We found a few droplets
still lingering inside during our tests.
Motorola has also managed to squeeze an
extra 80mAh into the new phone’s battery.
With screen brightness set to 170cd/m2, it
provided an impressive 11h 12m of continuous
video playback – over 90 minutes longer than
the 2nd generation handset. It also beats
every other phone in its price bracket except
Samsung’s Galaxy A3, which lasted 14h 30m
thanks to an energy-efficient AMOLED panel.
The 2nd and 3rd Gen Moto Gs appear to
use the same 5in, 1,280x720-resolution display
panel, which we feel strikes the right balance
between screen size and pixel clarity. Our
colour calibration tests bore very similar
results, with the new handset displaying
85.4% of the sRGB colour gamut. We
preferred it to the older phone’s screen, which
looked very warm and pink by comparison.
Black levels were reasonably dark at
0.36cd/m2 on maximum brightness, and a
contrast ratio of 1,061:1 provided plenty of
detail. Viewing angles were excellent, but its
peak brightness of 339.38cd/m2 means you’ll
struggle to see images and dark video scenes
when using the phone outdoors.
SPEED BOOST
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 410 chipset appears
in many budget smartphones, but here it runs
at 1.4GHz rather than the usual 1.2GHz, giving
the phone a small speed boost. We tested it
with both 1GB and 2GB of RAM, and both
models proved significantly faster in our
benchmarks than the competition. Both
scored around 530 in the Geekbench 3
single-core test and 1,600 in the multicore
test, whereas the 1.2GHz Snapdragon
410-powered 2nd Gen Moto E managed only
470 and 1,397 respectively.

Both models were equally fast at web
browsing, too, and their impressive score of
781 in Futuremark’s Peacekeeper web
browsing test is one of the faster scores we’ve
seen from this chipset. Web pages loaded
quickly and there were only a few signs of
visible stutter on multimedia-heavy sites.
However, the real difference between the
1GB and 2GB Moto G is its ability to multitask,
as apps and games loaded much faster on the
2GB version – often only by a second, but the
extra RAM does make a surprising difference.
That said, there are plenty of other handsets
available for around £200 that use the
octa-core Snapdragon 615 chipset, such as
the EE Harrier and Sony Xperia M4 Aqua,
which are faster still, making the 2GB Moto G
seem sluggish by comparison.
A processor with a faster clock speed
doesn’t necessarily equal smoother graphics
performance, as the score of 105 frames in
the GFX Bench offscreen Manhattan test
indicates. The Moto G can handle 2D games
perfectly well, though, and when playing
Blizzard’s more demanding Hearthstone we
didn’t see any warnings that the phone didn’t
meet the recommended specifications, as we
have with other Snapdragon 410 phones.
LIVING COLOUR
The 13-megapixel camera sensor is a big step
up from the second generation handset’s
8-megapixel sensor. According to
Motorola, it’s the same sensor
used in the Nexus 6, which
costs more than twice as much.
It also has a dual LED flash,
which is supposed to adjust
colour temperature
to make flash-lit shots look more natural, and
a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.
We were a little disappointed by the flash’s
performance in our indoor photo tests, as it
made our still-life arrangement look rather
green. This was particularly noticeable on the
teddy bear’s fur, and the blocks of
watercolour paint were also less vivid than in
our non-flash shots. Admittedly, it eliminated
a lot of noise, but colour quality suffered.
Plenty of detail was visible, though, and
outdoor shots in particular looked superb.
Colours were rich and vibrant, even in areas of
shadow. HDR was a little strong at times, but
it helped preserve finer details and made
clouds look particularly dramatic. Shooting is
fast, too, with a simple interface that’s easy to
navigate. A quick swipe in from the left
reveals the camera’s settings, while a swipe
from the right opens the Gallery.
SKIN DEEP
Like Motorola’s other handsets, the latest
Moto G runs pure Android – in this case the
latest 5.1.1 update. With no skins to worry
about, Motorola can push out updates much
sooner than other manufacturers. There are
still a few Motorola-specific apps and
features, though. You can set the
phone to enter silent mode
automatically when you’re at
home or in a meeting, or
turn off the screen and all
notifications while
you’re asleep, allowing only favourite contacts
through or anyone who calls twice in five
minutes. It also takes Android Lollipop’s
lockscreen notifications further, displaying the
time and up to three interactive notification
buttons when the screen is turned off. This is
good for the battery life and incredibly handy
if all you want to do is check the time.
With a higher base price and additional
£209 version, the new Moto G isn’t the
budget bargain its predecessors were.
However, we feel its exquisite design and
improved features are enough to
counterbalance the slightly disappointing
choice of chipset, and even the faster
Vodafone Smart Ultra 6 and Sony Xperia M4
Aqua can’t beat its amazing battery life or
stunning rear camera. Likewise, the Moto G’s
5in display makes for a much more
manageable handset than the 5½in screen of
the Vodafone Smart Ultra 6.
The 8GB version is a better buy on
contract, as you can get 1GB of data, 300
minutes and 5,000 texts for £15.50 per month
with no up-front cost from Carphone
Warehouse. Equivalent deals for the Sony
Xperia M4 Aqua and Samsung Galaxy A3 cost
£20 or more per month. Three also has some
good deals on Pay As You Go, with prices
starting at £140 for the 8GB version and
Moto Maker models available on contract.
While the increase in RAM is nice, it’s not
essential, especially when it costs so much
more. The 3rd Gen Moto G might not be the
best-value budget smartphone any more, but
it’s one of Motorola’s best.
Katharine Byrne

GREY IMPORTS

It can often be cheaper to buy tech products from sellers based overseas,
but that discount might be down to tax avoidance

THESE DAYS, THE best price for a gadget
can be only a click away. Google even helps by
listing promoted suppliers at the top of your
search results – but when some retailers offer
goods for 30% to 40% less than others, is the
deal too good to be true? Not necessarily.
Welcome to the complex area of grey imports.
Grey importing is when products are sold
outside normal sales channels. The sale itself
is legal, but the goods are often shipped from
outside the final market, raising issues of tax,
duties, warranties and returns. The practice
also enables you to buy products that have
never been launched in this country, such as
the Nokia N1 tablet (see page 28).
So how can you spot a grey importer? The
presence of a UK phone number on a website
is no guarantee that the firm is based here.
Many such sites operate from Hong Kong,
and if you buy from one of these, your usual
consumer rights won’t apply, so check
customer reviews before buying.
A good source of ratings is Trustpilot,
which is like TripAdvisor for retailers. Most of
the reviews you’ll find on this site are glowing.
If a site isn’t mentioned on Trustpilot or found
in Google-sponsored results, it might be a
scam – you can verify this by searching for
the name plus “review” or “problem”.
COMMON COMPLAINTS
Unfortunately, not all resellers provide a good
service. Many buyers of camera kit report
receiving lenses or bodies that have been split
from kits and then repackaged, for example,
reducing their second-hand value. There have
been reports of inaccurate photos and orders,
while ‘in stock’ can be an elastic term. A wait
of five or six days is usual, but there are
stories of items not showing up for a month.
SLRHut’s customers noted that the firm
phoned them before processing their online
order, and while some appreciated the
personal touch, others objected to being
offered alternative products.
Don’t expect to receive stock from the UK
– goods may come from China, Russia or
anywhere outside Europe. Whether this
matters depends on the manufacturer.
According to several users, Olympus, for
example, will honour an international warranty
based on any valid receipt, while lens-maker
Sigma is opposed to grey imports. Apple
reportedly doesn’t care where a product was
bought, but make sure you watch out for
technical differences, such as PAL versus
NTSC or different power-supply requirements.
Since you’re not buying your goods within
the EU, you don’t get a two-year guarantee as
standard either. Grey importers usually offer
their own warranty bought in from an
international provider. If you need to claim
against it, you’ll have to send your product to
a third-party workshop.

Buying goods on the international
wholesale market and offering them direct to
UK customers isn’t illegal (although it may
involve a breach of contract somewhere), but
in today’s global market, it’s not obvious why
that should make them cheaper. Retailers
such as Cam2 and Tin Cheung advertise the
same prices online as in their Hong Kong
shops, and you’ll rarely find them for less than
the pre-VAT price in the UK. Yet much lower
prices are advertised for UK imports.
PAYING VAT
Presumably, UK suppliers know where to go
for the best wholesale deals, so might grey
imports involve an element of tax evasion?
When goods are shipped from outside the EU
to a personal customer, a tax bill is sent –
usually through the courier firm – to the
supplier (if they’ve agreed to pay it) or to the
customer. A known method of VAT evasion is
to mark packages with a value below the £15
threshold rather than the real price paid.
We’re not suggesting that any of the
companies named here are involved in this
practice, but plenty of customer stories are
doing the rounds. One affirmed that his
supplier had failed to “do an accurate customs
declaration, to dodge the VAT. My camera was
declared as a low-value toy accessory.” The
gamble doesn’t always pay off: “I’ve since
ordered a camera from another Hong Kong
firm, which was delivered after being held by
customs for seven weeks. I’ve paid the VAT
and hope to be refunded [by the supplier].”
The Home Office’s Border Force is
responsible for customs enforcement. A
spokesperson told us that the agency aims to
“disrupt any fraud that cheats UK taxpayers
and undercuts honest businesses”, and that it
carries out checks to “assess whether the
values on customs declarations are credible”.
Border Force will also “respond to any specific
intelligence about the suspected
undervaluation of goods”.

Some grey suppliers promise a refund if
you receive a tax bill. That’s highly suggestive
that there might be some attempted
misdeclaration, although it could occur due to
error. Others just state that you won’t have to
pay any tax but don’t explain why. Simply
Electronics is unusual in disclaiming
responsibility for tax and duty, correctly
warning that the customer may have to pay it.
We phoned several grey-importing
companies for details. Twice we reached
automated messages. A third supplier, based
in England but under a name listed by
Companies House as “dormant”, answered.
After four attempts to track down an elusive
manager, we gave up. Finally, at Expedite
Electronics, a woman with a professional
telephone manner answered our questions.
Did the prices include VAT? No, because “the
main company” was based in Hong Kong. Did
that mean we might get a VAT bill? No: “You
don’t have to pay any VAT and the import
duty and tax is already included.”
If companies bring goods from outside the
EU into UK warehouses and sell them on,
they’re responsible for the VAT, not the
customer. If the goods are shipped directly to
you from abroad, however, you’re probably
liable to pay the VAT on receipt. One problem
is that there’s no easy way for a consumer to
check that the tax has been paid.
GREY ADVICE
If you’re thinking of buying grey, go in with
your eyes open. First, do the research. We
found many items for hundreds of pounds
less than UK prices, but a few were cheaper in
the UK. Read the terms and conditions, which
are often on a page called FAQ or Shipping.
These range from explicit – requiring you to
return faulty goods within a limited period, for
example – to the unnerving, such as when
‘shipping insurance’ is an extra cost.
Make sure you pay by credit card, because
then the card issuer is jointly liable for

purchases of more than £100, no matter
where it’s from. Some debit cards offer
voluntary protection too. You can request a
chargeback against any card if goods aren’t
delivered, but you’ll be relying on the
cooperation of the merchant’s bank, so don’t
hold your breath for a quick resolution.
If things go wrong with a purchase, badger
the retailer until it has been put right. Insist
on a replacement or refund, not a repair – if
goods arrive faulty, cite breach of contract, a
concept understood by courts everywhere. If
necessary, log in to Trustpilot and post a
complaint: many of these companies monitor
reviews and they may reply. At worst you’re
warning others of the pitfalls.

Other ways to buy abroad
Grey imports are not the same as
personal imports. Many foreign retailers
offer delivery to the UK, leaving you to
pay the VAT and duty. Reputable New
York company B&H (www.bhphotovideo.
com), for example, usefully shows a
calculation of shipping, tax and duty
while you’re browsing an item. Foreign
eBay sales usually work in a similar way,
but misdeclaration is not unknown.
A few UK-based firms, such as HDEW
Cameras, sell grey imports. With low
prices backed by the reassurance of
English law, this could offer the best of
both worlds, although some users have
said the company could be clearer about
what you’re getting, including kit splits.
One legal way to avoid some of the
tax is to bring products with you when
travelling to the UK from outside the EU.
If the goods are worth more than £390 in
total, you must go through the red
channel and pay VAT and duty on the
rest of the value.