~ MamakTalk ~: A Closer Look: People & App Edge on the Galaxy S6 Edge+

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When Samsung announced the Galaxy S6 Edge earlier on in the year, they also announced a few features to take advantage of the curved display. One of those features was People Edge. Where in you can swipe over from the right side of the screen (this can be changed to the left side in the settings) and have access to five of your favorite contacts, which you can assign a specific color. Now if you tap on that person, you will see their contact info. And depending on what you have saved in the contacts app, you can call them, email, or text them straight from the People Edge. Additionally, if you have your phone face down on the table, and that person calls, the phone will flash that color. Which is actually really cool.

This time around with the Galaxy S6 Edge+, Samsung have made a few changes. One is being able to use People Edge from anywhere in the OS, and not just on the home screen. The other is the addition of App Edge. It’s exactly what you think it is. Swipe in from the right and you’ll see the top 5 apps that you have assigned. It makes multi-tasking even faster than it was already with the Exynos 7420. So for instance, if you are in your email and need to do a quick calculation, you can swipe in using App Edge and then open the calculator to do some math. Or just switch to another application.

While this feature does sound a bit like a gimmick, I can assure you that it is not a gimmick. I’ve actually found myself using this quite often. Especially the App Edge. Seeing as I use Google Voice, hence I use Google Hangouts, the People Edge doesn’t really do much for me. Simply because I don’t use the stock dialer or contacts app. But the fact that I can be in app, then jump into App Edge and open up another app that I want to use, really quickly, is a brilliant idea.

Samsung has built in a few features here when it comes to the App Edge and People Edge. If you jump into Settings > Edge Screen and towards the bottom under “Additional Settings” you’ll see “Edge Screen Position”. From there you’ll be able to choose whether you want it on the left or right. Also if you want to be able to use it in all of the screens. Finally, the most important setting, is that you can move Edge Screen handle up and down on the side of the screen to wherever you want. Now this is important because wherever that handle is, is where you will need to swipe in. So if you don’t want to reach all the way to the top, you can move it about halfway down the screen if you want.

With the Galaxy S6 Edge, I wasn’t a huge fan of People Edge. But Samsung has improved on the idea with the Galaxy S6 Edge+ and have made it even more helpful. It’ll be exciting to see what they do with it next year.