There's a number that makes me uneasy about Verizon's Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+. That number is $768 (for the 32GB model). The S6 edge+ is the single most expensive smartphone Verizon Wireless sells, and it's likely to stay that way. For a smartphone to demand such a commanding price, it better have some killer features to set it apart from lesser devices. I'm afraid the S6 edge+ doesn't.

Most of the Verizon Galaxy S6 edge+'s features are the same as the international model we recently looked at. We'll focus here on what makes the Verizon model different, and thus whether you should buy it. Read our international Galaxy S6 edge+ preview for all of our other assessments.

To recap: The edge+ is a very fast phone with two excellent cameras and a gorgeous screen that curves down on both sides. The very flat glass back is handsome, but is fragile (one of our four test units cracked). The curving 5.7-inch, 2560-by-1,440-pixel screen has a lot of real estate, and the sloped edges make the phone easy to grip, but can reflect light in a slightly distracting way.

The S6 edge+ and the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 are based on the same hardware and software platforms, with some design changes (that we feel are to the edge+'s detriment, to be honest). So performance is very much like the Verizon Galaxy Note 5.

Call Quality, Networking, and Battery

Call quality was extremely similar to the Note 5 in my tests. Voices are bright and sharp, noise cancellation is aggressive and accurate, and the speakerphone is loud enough to use almost anywhere. Verizon's voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) system enables HD calling to other Verizon phones, but we found that it makes calls to landlines surprisingly quieter and slightly muddier, and disabled it after a few tries.

Editors' Note: The slideshow below is of the international Galaxy S6 edge+, which is physically identical to the Verizon model.

The S6 edge+, like the Note 5, supports both Verizon's CDMA and LTE networks, as well as international GSM, HSPA, and LTE networks. Verizon's model has the weakest set of LTE frequency bands of the carrier versions we tested, but the best battery life. With LTE bands 2/3/4/7/13, this phone is clearly designed for Verizon's network and also for some foreign LTE roaming, but it will not work optimally on other U.S. networks. The AT&T and T-Mobile versions have more international roaming bands, most notably bands 1, 8, and 20. While most foreign networks are on bands 3 or 7—and will thus work fine with the Verizon phone—the additional bands will get you faster speeds in Japan, South Korea, and some European countries.

As we saw on the international model, the Galaxy S6 edge+ gets even longer battery life on its 3,000mAh cell than the admirable Galaxy Note 5 does. We were able to eke out 8 hours, 2 minutes of LTE video streaming, one of the best test results we've seen in a while. The Note 5 got 7 hours, 35 minutes, and the Galaxy Note 4 came in at just under eight hours. The Galaxy S6 edge+ will go the distance, even though it lacks a removable battery. It also charged in just about 80 minutes using the included quick-charge adapter, just like the Note 5 did.

Android and Bloatware
The Verizon S6 edge+ has the same massive bloatware load as the Galaxy Note 5 does—11 undeletable Verizon apps, six undeletable Amazon apps, and four free-to-play games you can delete. Because there's no S Pen software, 8.6GB of the available 32GB is taken up by system software, as opposed to 8.79GB on the Note 5.

See How We Test Cell Phones

Also like the Verizon Note 5, the edge+ lacks Samsung Pay, Samsung's new payment system that is touted to work with every credit card terminal in America. The other three carrier models will have this feature; Verizon says it's still assessing and may add it as an update.

The edge+ doesn't have the Note's S Pen stylus, or the apps which focus on drawing on the screen. Instead, you get the ability to swipe a list of your favorite contacts, or five app shortcuts, out from the curved edge of the screen. This is a less powerful and more cosmetic edge than on the Galaxy Note Edge, which gives you calendar alerts and application UI elements. But we tested the night clock mode and found that it doesn't have light leakage like the Note Edge does, so the edge+ is a lovely alarm clock.

Comparisons and Conclusions
Samsung is trying to sell you some curved glass here for $72. Verizon's most expensive phablet is actually less capable and slightly less appealing than its pen-enabled Note 5 sibling, even though it offers a bit more battery life. We don't see why this phone is worth $768.

The iPhone 6 Plus costs $749, but it has a huge differentiator: It's the only way you can get iOS apps and Apple's support community in a phablet form factor. Apple can charge a premium for that.

For the ultimate Android phablet experience, we suggest going with the $696 Galaxy Note 5, our Editors' Choice. Or, even better, wait. Within the next month or so, we're going to see the $399 Moto X Style, the Huawei Nexus 6, and likely some Verizon-branded Droids coming to market. That's going to make for some critical competition, and it's worth assessing before dropping seven+ C-notes on your next device.