Hi all,
It took a while but I finally decided to get the S6.
There are reasons why I hesitate. Very good reasons. And I don't think that I'm alone.
Non removable battery and no micro SD card.
Yes, I'm sure that you are all sick of hearing it by now. Yet this is a big reason why I hesitate. It's not that I can't adapt. It's not that this is a new concept. It's that with Samsung this makes the cost grow exponentially.
Let's start with the battery.
When I got my S4 two of my friends/coworkers had the S3 for a year. Both were telling me that thier battery life was getting bad, one of them could barely hold a charge. A simple trip to Amazon and $20 bucks each later solved thier problem. My S4 also had a bad degrading battery, but it lasted a year and a half before I replaced it. As a gamer I expect to be harsh on my batteries. But mine got as bad as it wouldn't hold a charge and replacement was mandatory. My HTC One m8 is almost a year old and at worst I get about 15 minutes less of screen on time then new. I think at least HTC uses better batteries.
You can talk all you want about fast charging and dual wireless bla bla bla all you want. It is not going to help when in a year or slightly longer you'll need to have the battery replaced. The only solution NOW is to get a good insurance policy and then using it to replace the battery.
If you let others in your family use your old phones or sell them, replacing the battery is a must. And of course, this costs more money to do so and you'll lose your phone for at least 2 business days or more. Let's also not forget that this will incur an additional factory reset (not a big deal to me, but others will hate this.) I'll be looking at square traid and what Samsung is offering, but this troubles me as this is an added cost and time involved.
Let's call it an additional US $130 to guarantee a battery replacement for my future backup phone (compared to a $20 replacement for removables).
next we have micro SD card.
Sure we have the cloud, but that is only good for pics, documents and music as far as I know. But what about videos? Does the cloud help with that? I'm not sure, I've never tried. And this phone has a great camera that shoots even 4k video. So if I do start to shoot some videos at birthday partys, how will the cloud help me if I'm not on an unlimited data plan and I need to clear up some space because a 10 min 4k compressed video takes up almost 3.5 gigs of storage? Imagine it's Christmas and you shoot 3 videos and take 20 photos. Do you think that you can get by with only 32gb of storage? I'm a gamer too (the games I play are 1 to 2 gb each and some of the save files are as large as the game) , and this drastically magnifies the issue with storage.
But you say that SD cards are slower than system memory? True. But SD cards are fast enough to play videos and display pics without issue (even 4k). This forces me to skip the base model and get a 64gb model that might not have the color I want at the time of release or within the next 3 months. Of course this will increase my costs once again and let's say it's an additional US $100.
I would love to get an S6 edge in green to keep it as a collectable. I think it's drop dead gorgeous. But that is another US $100. I just don't think that I can do that with the already increased price of the standard S6 but I may if it's available within the first 2 months... And it will have to be the 64gb model or better for me to even think about it.
But with all that I said, I'm still going to get the normal S6 at least. Why?
Because I just don't think anything will be better for my needs. I'm not into phablets so the note 4 is out of the question. Yet the G3 did fit in my hand nicely and I love turning on and off my screen with gestures with my m8. so the G4 is still in the running regardless that the leaks of the 810 chipset on the m9 might be frantically Hot.
So what are my needs and why do I want the S6 so much? Is a combination of 3 things.
Camera:
While I don't use my phone as much as some of you to take photos. I do want to use it when I don't have my digital camera on me. I also realised that when I do take pics with my cellphone it is mostly in low light. Thankfully Samsung not only put out a phone with great camera software, but also had an F1.9 lens with OIS. This is very important to me and was one of the major reasons for wanting this phone. I'll finally have a phone that I can rely on to capture the moment in both the home and at bars/restaurants.
Dual wireless charging:
This isn't that important but is gratefully appreciated when I goto the mall or any Starbucks. I tend to never carry a spare cord or charger with me and thankfully I can now just plop my phone down on a charging pad and lauph at all the people who have a dying battery with no way to charge thier phone. And not having to care if I'm on a PMA or Qi charging pad only makes this better.
I have a huge feeling that more and more restaurants and coffee shops will install wireless charging pads within the next 2 years.
Being able to quick charge at home with or without on a wireless charger is only icing on the cake.
Finally Samsung pay:
Winter is almost over (Ok not here in the north east) and summer is just around the corner. So I'll no longer be dressed with coats that offer plenty of pockets. I'll be in shorts and Polo shirts with minimal pockets. I tend to not even carry my wallet when I'm in bathing shorts or basketball shorts. During this time of year I mostly carry just my keys and my phone... maybe some money.
Now while it might be quite normal in Japan and in most places in Europe, FINALLY in the US I'll be able to make mobile payments using my phone at almost every retail store and restaurant. This my friends is a huge deal with me during the summer months. I'll no longer have to carry my credit card on me as I'm always worried that it will fall out of one of the few pockets I have during this time. Instead all I'll have to do is tap any MST reader in the store and be in my way with a huge smile on my face. You know that I'm going to freak out allot of cashiers in the first month or two before they are used to me doing this!
Of course there are other reasons why I'm getting the S6 too. but without a good camera, dual wireless charging, and Samsung pay I might have looked elsewhere.
But Warpdrive, your a big HTC fan how can you do this? While I could live with the m9 I just don't see it as an upgrade compared to the m7 or m8 in the camera department. Especially if coming from the m7 the loss of an F2.0 lens with OIS to me is just going backwards. It was bad enough that the m8 lost the OIS, but now having an F2.2 lens w/o OIS is bad for low light. I just can't do that to myself and go another year or two without being able to shoot in low light. The rest of the phone is barely an upgrade if you have the m7 or m8. It's still going to be a great phone and HTC never gets enough credit for the UI and the wonderful idea that they put all of thier software in the playstore so you never have to wait for a carrier to launch a major update for your camera or something. I'll also miss text reflow when reading online... I hope that Firefox still has reflow, but I'm not sure and will have to test it out. Also a naked m8 on a Seidio holster while all dressed up gets you lots of compliments.
While I still worry a little about the battery life, the rest of the S6 is intriguing.
Posted via Android Central App using the all new HTC One (m8)
It took a while but I finally decided to get the S6.
There are reasons why I hesitate. Very good reasons. And I don't think that I'm alone.
Non removable battery and no micro SD card.
Yes, I'm sure that you are all sick of hearing it by now. Yet this is a big reason why I hesitate. It's not that I can't adapt. It's not that this is a new concept. It's that with Samsung this makes the cost grow exponentially.
Let's start with the battery.
When I got my S4 two of my friends/coworkers had the S3 for a year. Both were telling me that thier battery life was getting bad, one of them could barely hold a charge. A simple trip to Amazon and $20 bucks each later solved thier problem. My S4 also had a bad degrading battery, but it lasted a year and a half before I replaced it. As a gamer I expect to be harsh on my batteries. But mine got as bad as it wouldn't hold a charge and replacement was mandatory. My HTC One m8 is almost a year old and at worst I get about 15 minutes less of screen on time then new. I think at least HTC uses better batteries.
You can talk all you want about fast charging and dual wireless bla bla bla all you want. It is not going to help when in a year or slightly longer you'll need to have the battery replaced. The only solution NOW is to get a good insurance policy and then using it to replace the battery.
If you let others in your family use your old phones or sell them, replacing the battery is a must. And of course, this costs more money to do so and you'll lose your phone for at least 2 business days or more. Let's also not forget that this will incur an additional factory reset (not a big deal to me, but others will hate this.) I'll be looking at square traid and what Samsung is offering, but this troubles me as this is an added cost and time involved.
Let's call it an additional US $130 to guarantee a battery replacement for my future backup phone (compared to a $20 replacement for removables).
next we have micro SD card.
Sure we have the cloud, but that is only good for pics, documents and music as far as I know. But what about videos? Does the cloud help with that? I'm not sure, I've never tried. And this phone has a great camera that shoots even 4k video. So if I do start to shoot some videos at birthday partys, how will the cloud help me if I'm not on an unlimited data plan and I need to clear up some space because a 10 min 4k compressed video takes up almost 3.5 gigs of storage? Imagine it's Christmas and you shoot 3 videos and take 20 photos. Do you think that you can get by with only 32gb of storage? I'm a gamer too (the games I play are 1 to 2 gb each and some of the save files are as large as the game) , and this drastically magnifies the issue with storage.
But you say that SD cards are slower than system memory? True. But SD cards are fast enough to play videos and display pics without issue (even 4k). This forces me to skip the base model and get a 64gb model that might not have the color I want at the time of release or within the next 3 months. Of course this will increase my costs once again and let's say it's an additional US $100.
I would love to get an S6 edge in green to keep it as a collectable. I think it's drop dead gorgeous. But that is another US $100. I just don't think that I can do that with the already increased price of the standard S6 but I may if it's available within the first 2 months... And it will have to be the 64gb model or better for me to even think about it.
But with all that I said, I'm still going to get the normal S6 at least. Why?
Because I just don't think anything will be better for my needs. I'm not into phablets so the note 4 is out of the question. Yet the G3 did fit in my hand nicely and I love turning on and off my screen with gestures with my m8. so the G4 is still in the running regardless that the leaks of the 810 chipset on the m9 might be frantically Hot.
So what are my needs and why do I want the S6 so much? Is a combination of 3 things.
Camera:
While I don't use my phone as much as some of you to take photos. I do want to use it when I don't have my digital camera on me. I also realised that when I do take pics with my cellphone it is mostly in low light. Thankfully Samsung not only put out a phone with great camera software, but also had an F1.9 lens with OIS. This is very important to me and was one of the major reasons for wanting this phone. I'll finally have a phone that I can rely on to capture the moment in both the home and at bars/restaurants.
Dual wireless charging:
This isn't that important but is gratefully appreciated when I goto the mall or any Starbucks. I tend to never carry a spare cord or charger with me and thankfully I can now just plop my phone down on a charging pad and lauph at all the people who have a dying battery with no way to charge thier phone. And not having to care if I'm on a PMA or Qi charging pad only makes this better.
I have a huge feeling that more and more restaurants and coffee shops will install wireless charging pads within the next 2 years.
Being able to quick charge at home with or without on a wireless charger is only icing on the cake.
Finally Samsung pay:
Winter is almost over (Ok not here in the north east) and summer is just around the corner. So I'll no longer be dressed with coats that offer plenty of pockets. I'll be in shorts and Polo shirts with minimal pockets. I tend to not even carry my wallet when I'm in bathing shorts or basketball shorts. During this time of year I mostly carry just my keys and my phone... maybe some money.
Now while it might be quite normal in Japan and in most places in Europe, FINALLY in the US I'll be able to make mobile payments using my phone at almost every retail store and restaurant. This my friends is a huge deal with me during the summer months. I'll no longer have to carry my credit card on me as I'm always worried that it will fall out of one of the few pockets I have during this time. Instead all I'll have to do is tap any MST reader in the store and be in my way with a huge smile on my face. You know that I'm going to freak out allot of cashiers in the first month or two before they are used to me doing this!
Of course there are other reasons why I'm getting the S6 too. but without a good camera, dual wireless charging, and Samsung pay I might have looked elsewhere.
But Warpdrive, your a big HTC fan how can you do this? While I could live with the m9 I just don't see it as an upgrade compared to the m7 or m8 in the camera department. Especially if coming from the m7 the loss of an F2.0 lens with OIS to me is just going backwards. It was bad enough that the m8 lost the OIS, but now having an F2.2 lens w/o OIS is bad for low light. I just can't do that to myself and go another year or two without being able to shoot in low light. The rest of the phone is barely an upgrade if you have the m7 or m8. It's still going to be a great phone and HTC never gets enough credit for the UI and the wonderful idea that they put all of thier software in the playstore so you never have to wait for a carrier to launch a major update for your camera or something. I'll also miss text reflow when reading online... I hope that Firefox still has reflow, but I'm not sure and will have to test it out. Also a naked m8 on a Seidio holster while all dressed up gets you lots of compliments.
While I still worry a little about the battery life, the rest of the S6 is intriguing.
Posted via Android Central App using the all new HTC One (m8)
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