Removable battery and sd card are a joke.

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Diorarat

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I know i will get a lot of negative reactions to this topic, but the thing is, I see removable batteries and sd cards as a big scam. In particular by Samsung. They are the only ones releasing flagships with removable batteries and external memory cards in this year's line-up. Nokia, HTC, Nexus Series, Blackberry, Sony, Apple and other big names don't bother with removable batteries with their flagship phones anymore.

Heres the thing with batteries:
Flagships today dont last a day on heavy usage, its natural to have the ability to switch batteries right? I don't think so. I had that mentality last year that's why I got the GS3. I never changed the battery on it on a year's use. There is just no chance for me to change batteries. When I go to work, I bring along my charger, when I am using it at home, I can always plug it in when it is about to run dry. When I go out and I know I won't expect to find a plug, I bring a powerbank. Powerbanks offers more convenience than bringing a spare battery. #1. It is easy to charge up the device by just plugging it. Changing batteries is a bit of a problem, most of us have protective casing to remove first, plus removing the back side of the Galaxy S series isn't pretty. The back is made of plastic, everytime I open it, I feel like the tiny bits of plastics on the sides of the back that hold it to the device are going to break. I want to avoid taking the plastic back off and on to prevent it from breaking. And most of all, I hate turning the device on and off just to change batteries. There are times when I am in the middle of a video conference and turning the phone on and off just to swap batteries is being a bit more of a nuisance. #2. Unless you bought a separate charging unit for your extra battery you'd wind up doing the whole process of changing batteries on your phone just to charge your extra battery. So how does removable batteries become an integral part in people's choice for their next smartphone? The only benefit of having a removable battery is you can change it personally when it starts to age. The most annoying part of the whole removable battery fiasco is that Samsung charges a hefty price for the Galaxy S line of battery because they said it has NFC in it. Why did you put NFC on the battery Samsung???? I dont get this part at all.

Removable SD Cards is a more tricky situation, people want SD Cards because it is an assurance of seemingly unlimited storage. But for me, I began to see it as something which can be omitted. Removable SD cards have been problematic for me with my GS3, normally you can only put media files on it and apps would go on the phones memory. Like all average consumers I thought its an awesome deal to get a 16gb model and upgrade it with a 32gb sd card. I discovered that SD cards write too slow making transferring large media files a bit too long, it is sometimes unreliable calling out a need to reformat it. These are just small details I can live with. My biggest problem is battery drain. Try to google media server battery drain problems. It is still unresolved (correct me if I am wrong) and it points to the external memory card as a culprit as the device constantly scan the SD Card. It takes 20-40% of some people's battery drain per day. Some suggest that removing media on the card solves the problem. But the thing is, if you can't put media then what's the point of having a sd card? You can't normally put apps in the card.

Unibody designs without removable sd cards and battery doesn't seem so bad considering these points. Without removable batteries, phones can be constructed with more focus on designs that can be seen in the Iphone series, xperia series, One series and Lumia Series which make the Galaxy series look like a toy. As for extended memories, 32 GB is the sweet spot. You get all the apps and media in a single storage. For tv series and HD movies I'd like to watch on my phone on long trips, there is the most under-appreciated feature on android phones(except nexus) people forget, USB OTG. Put all your HD movies in flash drives and plug it in when you want to start watching. It is whole lot easier than swapping a external sd card.
 

the1m.polo

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Dude this is strictly based on the user... U can't say something is a joke when some of us rely on a sd card.. I downloaded tons of hip hop mixtapes from mixtapetorrent.Com and others sites alike.. These things are nlt available on any service.. And the ones that have an app suck.. I also have project that i work on all night so me popping in my sd card when i have to go to work like now vs uploading huge wav. files from recorded sessions is a must... Not to mention when i purchase tracks from music producers.. I need the file.. To go.. With capped data i don't need the stress of worrying and waiting on a cloud service... Soooo. Speak for your self... People kill me trying to convince everyone of their ideas when the only person who knows what works for u is u

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the1m.polo

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Further more... While youe are seemingly bashing Samsung... Other than apple... Which of the OEM's u named are even effing with Samsung sales.. So why in the hell would they worry about what nokia and htc are doing... Not bashing those.. They make great phones.. But Samsung is doing its job... Selling phones!

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benhmadison

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Further more... While youe are seemingly bashing Samsung... Other than apple... Which of the OEM's u named are even effing with Samsung sales.. So why in the hell would they worry about what nokia and htc are doing... Not bashing those.. They make great phones.. But Samsung is doing its job... Selling phones!

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I don't think sd cards are a bad thing, but they haven't been supported by Google in a long time. Samsung is really the only one that can't seem to grasp that. Sure they sell the most phones but it has very little to do with having an expandable memory option. They sell the most phones because they have the biggest marketing budget.
 

nedywest71

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You might missing the point that many people asking for removable battery not because of daily swap, but for replacement when it dies in approximately One-One and half Year, before even your 2 Years contract expires and you are still not eligible for upgrade.Even if it did not die it most certainly will not hold enough power to get you through the day.O yes you bring your boosters and chargers and .... And why not just NEW battery and you will give your phone another 2 Years on the go.
As far as SD Card slot a agree with you.It is not essential any longer, but if there is a room for it, as all new phones getting bigger and bigger, why not.Advantige of SD card comes if you play and try new root roms, as you keep back up on the SD card while master reset or flash original sbf on your device.Otherwise everithing will be erased when you perform any of these prosedures.
depends of how is been used.
I know i will get a lot of negative reactions to this topic, but the thing is, I see removable batteries and sd cards as a big scam. In particular by Samsung. They are the only ones releasing flagships with removable batteries and external memory cards in this year's line-up. Nokia, HTC, Nexus Series, Blackberry, Sony, Apple and other big names don't bother with removable batteries with their flagship phones anymore.

Heres the thing with batteries:
Flagships today dont last a day on heavy usage, its natural to have the ability to switch batteries right? I don't think so. I had that mentality last year that's why I got the GS3. I never changed the battery on it on a year's use. There is just no chance for me to change batteries. When I go to work, I bring along my charger, when I am using it at home, I can always plug it in when it is about to run dry. When I go out and I know I won't expect to find a plug, I bring a powerbank. Powerbanks offers more convenience than bringing a spare battery. #1. It is easy to charge up the device by just plugging it. Changing batteries is a bit of a problem, most of us have protective casing to remove first, plus removing the back side of the Galaxy S series isn't pretty. The back is made of plastic, everytime I open it, I feel like the tiny bits of plastics on the sides of the back that hold it to the device are going to break. I want to avoid taking the plastic back off and on to prevent it from breaking. And most of all, I hate turning the device on and off just to change batteries. There are times when I am in the middle of a video conference and turning the phone on and off just to swap batteries is being a bit more of a nuisance. #2. Unless you bought a separate charging unit for your extra battery you'd wind up doing the whole process of changing batteries on your phone just to charge your extra battery. So how does removable batteries become an integral part in people's choice for their next smartphone? The only benefit of having a removable battery is you can change it personally when it starts to age. The most annoying part of the whole removable battery fiasco is that Samsung charges a hefty price for the Galaxy S line of battery because they said it has NFC in it. Why did you put NFC on the battery Samsung???? I dont get this part at all.

Removable SD Cards is a more tricky situation, people want SD Cards because it is an assurance of seemingly unlimited storage. But for me, I began to see it as something which can be omitted. Removable SD cards have been problematic for me with my GS3, normally you can only put media files on it and apps would go on the phones memory. Like all average consumers I thought its an awesome deal to get a 16gb model and upgrade it with a 32gb sd card. I discovered that SD cards write too slow making transferring large media files a bit too long, it is sometimes unreliable calling out a need to reformat it. These are just small details I can live with. My biggest problem is battery drain. Try to google media server battery drain problems. It is still unresolved (correct me if I am wrong) and it points to the external memory card as a culprit as the device constantly scan the SD Card. It takes 20-40% of some people's battery drain per day. Some suggest that removing media on the card solves the problem. But the thing is, if you can't put media then what's the point of having a sd card? You can't normally put apps in the card.

Unibody designs without removable sd cards and battery doesn't seem so bad considering these points. Without removable batteries, phones can be constructed with more focus on designs that can be seen in the Iphone series, xperia series, One series and Lumia Series which make the Galaxy series look like a toy. As for extended memories, 32 GB is the sweet spot. You get all the apps and media in a single storage. For tv series and HD movies I'd like to watch on my phone on long trips, there is the most under-appreciated feature on android phones(except nexus) people forget, USB OTG. Put all your HD movies in flash drives and plug it in when you want to start watching. It is whole lot easier than swapping a external sd card.
 

the1m.polo

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Yes i know marketing.. But u could put billions of dollars in marketing crap.. And its still crap...so that's only a portion of it...
Samsung got the memo from Google I'm sure but they got a better memo from their accountant.. If it ain't broke don't fix it..

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the1m.polo

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I personally know about 5 - 10 people who don't buy phones if it can't take an SD card : just sayin

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Diorarat

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SD card is a tricky situation. I have to agree with you on your point about wav file you need. It just bugs me that some oems can get away selling 16gb models at 32gb models just because it has an SD card. Save them cost of putting more expensive internal memories yet charge a premium. But i have to admit it is brilliant marketing.

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Diorarat

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SD card is a tricky situation. I have to agree with you on your point about wav file you need. It just bugs me that some oems can get away selling 16gb models at 32gb price models just because it has an SD card. Save them cost of putting more expensive internal memories yet charge a premium. But i have to admit it is brilliant marketing.

Sent from my HTC One



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garublador

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SD card is a tricky situation. I have to agree with you on your point about wav file you need. It just bugs me that some oems can get away selling 16gb models at 32gb models just because it has an SD card. Save them cost of putting more expensive internal memories yet charge a premium. But i have to admit it is brilliant marketing.

Sent from my HTC One
My guess is that the phones have to be priced a certain way to be accepted by the carriers. The OEM's have to decide if they'd rather have more other features and hardware or larger internal storage. With so many people demanding uSD slots it's an easy decision for them. My prediction is that will continue to tip towards not having a uSD slot until a vast majority of phones have only internal storage.

The removable battery thing is going to be harder to get rid of. Li-Ion batteries will usually last at least two years, but depending on how you use your phone you may only get a year and a half. If the processing power and RAM required for a smartphone slows down and we don't "need" to upgrade as often then a removable battery will become more necessary. If not then it will continue to be as necessary as it is now unless there are bigger advancements in battery technology.
 

Geodude074

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In South Korea, most phones come with external storage and removable batteries - they even include an extra battery for you.

Nokia still uses external storage on their Lumia 520.

A buttload of tablets use external storage - Samsung, Asus, HP, the Nook, to name a few.

All Windows tablets use external storage.

The notion that external storage "is just a joke" is just dumb. Also, your qualm that external storage drains the battery is also dumb, since streaming data off the cloud to access your data uses both more data and battery life than simply having a microSD card.

"The only benefit of having a removable battery is you can change it personally when it starts to age" - this is blatantly false. Having a removable battery allows you to upgrade to an aftermarket battery. They make 7500 mAh batteries for the GS4. Having a removable battery also allows you to easily change the battery if it ever fails after the warranty has expired.

"When I go to work, I bring along my charger, when I am using it at home, I can always plug it in when it is about to run dry." What if you go camping for a week? What if you're staying at your grandparents' house for the weekend and you forgot your charger? There are so many "what if" scenarios where having an extra battery/aftermarket battery could mean the difference between a dead phone, or a phone with a battery. This is a REAL issue with tangible consequences, compared to your whiny girly issues such as "I'm afraid the plastic might break when I take the cover off" or "It's annoying that I have to turn the phone off to change the battery."

Also, having external storage and a removable battery provides consumers with options, and having options is never a bad thing. If you want to support a company that makes all your decisions for you, buy an Apple product.
 
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Diorarat

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I was a bit harsh when i said it was a joke. And it's my bad. I'm just trying to point out that having a removable battery and card isn't such a big thing that people really exaggerate them to be. It's great and all if it is removable as it gives an assurance for the future. And some people really have specific needs for them. But most of the people really just worry it over too much when they get their next smartphone. I just posted this to give some people an idea of how having no removable battery and card could actually work out for them.

Battery replacement on unibody phones isn't impossible. It just takes an extra effort of going to service centers.

On a side note, please don't turn this thread to an apple vs android thread.

Sent from my HTC One
 

erinpac

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My phone doesn't crash all that often, but when it does sometimes I can only reset it by pulling the battery. I'd be afraid that without that, a crashed phone would mean no phone at all for a day or two until the battery ran down - which would be very very slow with no actual use going on. If none of the buttons can force the phone off when crashed, as the 'reset' instructions they give appear to be software implemented, there's not much of another option. It also is reassurance in case anything happens to the battery - they are sometimes prone to heat damage and seem more vulnerable than the phone to wear(unless you crack your screen). If the breakable phone back is the problem... well, they have been making gadgets for decades now with battery covers, they've got to have some better options available.

The SD card I could forgo.... except that none of the companies seem to significantly up their storage to make up for it. For a while all the top phones had 16GB + a slot usually with a 32GB card. It's not like the last few years have made apps smaller, made us use less media, or made us keep less on our phones (no, cloud does not cut it for many things and many places you bring a phone - and would be even more battery drain than using the card). Put a 64GB in it, and that'd be okay... though it is simpler to put a lot of media on a card from the computer, and it is somewhat helpful to move things to another phone.
 

Rule9

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people in AC go to such total extremes on this issue which to be blunt but not aimed at you, I think is dim-witted. It's just another feature but people either for or against them blow it way out of proportion.
 

Golfdriver97

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I was a bit harsh when i said it was a joke. And it's my bad. I'm just trying to point out that having a removable battery and card isn't such a big thing that people really exaggerate them to be. It's great and all if it is removable as it gives an assurance for the future. And some people really have specific needs for them. But most of the people really just worry it over too much when they get their next smartphone. I just posted this to give some people an idea of how having no removable battery and card could actually work out for them.

Battery replacement on unibody phones isn't impossible. It just takes an extra effort of going to service centers.

On a side note, please don't turn this thread to an apple vs android thread.

Sent from my HTC One

I like SD cards. I use them to hold my backups Nandroid, and a fair amount of custom ROMs require the .zip file to be on external and flashed in that manner.

Sent from a SlimROM S3.
 

dale2381

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I want a removable battery and a memory card for my phones. I have seen the battery chargers and they are much bigger than the battery in my phone. The battery in the Droid Bionic is smaller than a credit card and only slightly thicker. I can carry four batteries with me and they take up less space than the charger. The back on my phone slips right off. No issues. It is difficult to talk on the phone while the charger is attached. I am in the outdoors most weekends without access to an electrical outlet so having four batteries is a big deal. Also, for the memory card slot I can store many movies, music, and other things. I don't always have data service such as when I am on an airplane. Have the storage is very useful.
 

Jay Sacks

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Not when your buttons won't respond. As to the sd card? will not buy a phone without one until 64gb phones are the norm. Can't stream 4 hours a day without killing your data plan. Of course google wants to sell cloud services and carriers want to charge for data. Why not force the manufacturers to help them. Thanks to samsung and others that still provide a choice.

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cnotes2019

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The point of the matter is until most manufacturers get that we need BIGGER batteries and MORE storage than removable batteries will matter a lot! No battery should be below 3000 mah and storage capacity should be at a MINIMUM 32GB and climbing nowadays! NO MORE 16gbs! But I do agree about back ups for ROMs etc :) we really need someone to break the 128gb on a phone this year !

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Nelson Guerrero

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Thats the great thing about the Samsung Galaxy S4. Theres a reason it sells so much. It has something for everybody. It appeals to the average person and the tech geek. The average person is looking at all the little "features" like eye scroll while the Tech geeks are looking at the specs and flashing roms and putting huge sd cards in it.

All these other new smartphones are eliminating a certain group from purchasing them.

I just purchased the Galaxy S4 because of the SD card. And I was debating on the G2 and Maxx but they don't offer micro sd card slot it so they lost a customer.

And I cant be like the OP and have my phone charging everywhere I go with wires everywhere and always being tied down to a power outlet. Or buying external battery packs where you going to have your phone hooked up to a battery pack with a cable and you just sit there and wait for it to charge all the way... When you can easily switch out the Galaxy S4 battery in seconds and booting up takes less than a minute.
 
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