How important are a replaceable battery and expandable storage in a smartphone?


  

51 members have voted

  1. 1. How important is a removable battery?

    • 1 - not at all
      14
    • 2
      2
    • 3
      3
    • 4
      1
    • 5
      4
    • 6
      6
    • 7
      4
    • 8
      4
    • 9
      2
    • 10 - very important
      11
  2. 2. How important is expandable storage?

    • 1 - not at all
      7
    • 2
      0
    • 3
      3
    • 4
      4
    • 5
      6
    • 6
      0
    • 7
      1
    • 8
      2
    • 9
      7
    • 10 - very important
      21


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Prompted by some posts in the Samsung Silent On Disastrous Galaxy S6 Sales thread: How important are a replaceable battery and expandable storage in a smartphone to you?

 

For me neither is of huge importance. The battery in my phone lasts for a full day; as for storage, 32 GB are plenty for me - bigger files are moved onto the cloud, music is streamed.

 

Let's hear your opinions.

 

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Removable battery - 6

Expandable storage - 10

My phone has a removable battery at the moment but the only time I've taken it out is either when first putting in the SIM and SD Card or when I've been messing around with something.

The expandable storage is pretty much a necessity for me. Internal storage doesn't hack it, I use my phone for too many things.

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I don't care about removable batteries and to be honest, don't really see why you would. I don't see how carrying around an extra battery is of much benefit. If you really need the juice there are small external chargers you can just as easily carry around and you don't loose the smooth design when not having to cater not removable components.

 

I do like expandable storage though, especially considering we are storing larger and larger files and built in storage space isn't growing to cater for it. There are still plenty of 16GB phones which was the standard years ago! The other problem is increasing built in storage seems to cost so much. Much cheaper to get a cheaper SD card and spend less on a phone with less storage built in.

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Replaceable battery is very important to me. I replaced the battery on my Galaxy S3 twice before upgrading the the LG G3. I don't feel the like the design on the Galaxy S3 or LG G3 was compromised in any way by having removable batteries. 

 

External storage isn't of much importance to me, but I feel that there just isn't a good reason for a device not to have that option. 

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Removable battery - 5

Storage - 9

 

Think that I echo what others have said. Removable battery would be a nice to have, but not a deal breaker, I think that additional storage is now a must. 

 

I have an iPhone 5 and am now really struggling with storage of photos and some larger apps. 

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Removable Battery is a nice to have but really not that important to me. I've had my phone (Nexus 4) for just over two years now and with light to moderate usage it still lasts a day.

 

Storage - Its a slightly more "nice to have" feature, I've got 16GB (12GB usable) on my N4 and I've not really had an issue with space so I really don't need more however if I had it, I know I'd probably use it.

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Removable battery - 9
Expandable storage - 4

 

I've not had a smartphone that didn't have an extended battery or a battery case. Anything less than 5000 mAh is rubbish.

 

I've had a 32 GB microSD card in my phones for years and although I do use it, I wouldn't mind not having it as long as the phone itself had 32 GB storage or more.

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External Battery: 4 I can just as easily carry a portable battery backup that if someone else needs can also use.

External Storage: 1 I buy the phone that is of the required storage for my needs, and I store most of my files in the cloud anyways.

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Battery 6

Storage 10 (I use it a lot)

 

Currently have a S5.

 

*I really didn't pay much attention to the S6, I found out about the lack of a memory card slot by a co-worker looking into getting a new phone and when I told him the S6 just came out (he had a older Samsung) and he said it was off the list due to the lack of a SD card.

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Neither are important to me.

But then I have a phone which has 64GB of internal storage and a 3220mAh battery.

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Few years ago, I would have rated a removable battery pretty high.  One thing I like about Android devices is that it uses the micro USB cable to charge/data transfer.  Pretty much everyone has this cable for other devices even if they do not have an Android.  Even WP is using the same cable.  So I can always charge my phone if I ever need to but have no problem going a full day with a single charge.

 

Expandable storage, depends on your usage really.  Most won't care but the power users, or people playing music and taking vids/pics, will.

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For my particular uses, not important at all.  I use a couple apps occasionally on a phone, that's about it, it's just primarily a phone.  Got other devices for doing "stuff", most of my on-the-go work is done on a SP3, I read a Nexus 7 in bed occasionally, both are tied to my phone so I don't miss calls/texts/etc. 

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Neither are important to me.

But then I have a phone which has 64GB of internal storage and a 3220mAh battery.

You say 3220 mAh like it's a lot and that's the problem, it's not. It's one day of medium use (full brightness) at best.

The 7,000 mAh battery in my Galaxy S5 lasts two full days of medium use (full brightness) and that's the lowest I aim for.

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I didn't think removable batteries were very important until a friend of mine, who years ago bought a brand new Samsung S3, found out his battery couldn't hold a charge anymore, money is extremely tight for him now, tight to the point that he can't afford a new phone, but he could buy a new battery and now his phone runs fine again.

 

As for expandable storage I think that's more subjective in my opinion, it really depends on what you use your phone for, if your phone becomes your portable media player and e-reader, your camera and your portable gaming device then more storage does come in handy, it's also important because you can buy a phone with little storage, thus paying less money, and then expand it later, phone + sd usually costs less than phone with larger internal storage.

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battery technology has improved so much that there is really no need to have a battery that can be taken out, as there are power bars that can provide a charge should you device need one during the day.

having a battery that cannot be removed also provides security for the device as it cannot be powered off if it was stolen as long as a pin was set on the device.

 

but additional storage would be something i would want, so removable battery = mehhh / additional storage = 3

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battery technology has improved so much that there is really no need to have a battery that can be taken out, as there are power bars that can provide a charge should you device need one during the day.

having a battery that cannot be removed also provides security for the device as it cannot be powered off if it was stolen as long as a pin was set on the device.

 

but additional storage would be something i would want, so removable battery = mehhh / additional storage = 3

Carrying around a second device and having to keep it connected with a cable whilst it charges whilst you're out and about, eugh.

 

Integrated (i.e. a larger third-party battery) is much better.

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You say 3220 mAh like it's a lot and that's the problem, it's not. It's one day of medium use (full brightness) at best.

The 7,000 mAh battery in my Galaxy S5 lasts two full days of medium use (full brightness) and that's the lowest I aim for.

 

It lasts me 36-40 hours - plenty for me.

Even under heavy use (by my standard), I get a comfortable 24 hours out of it.

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I think a 10 stage poll is a bit heavy, 3 choices would've been better!

 

Having owned a HTC One (M7) for over 2 years, I really can say it doesn't bother me that much. Sure, both are nice, but not 'deal breakers'.

A couple of my friends were both very adamant they needed both, yet I've never seen either of them change a battery, let alone use more than 8gb of storage on their cards...

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It lasts me 36-40 hours - plenty for me.

Even under heavy use (by my standard), I get a comfortable 24 hours out of it.

I've got a very lightweight ROM on my Galaxy S5 and with its 2800 mAh battery, there's no way I get a confortable 22 hours of heavy use (with full brightness) out of it.

You and I clearly have a different idea of "heavy use".

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Both are essential for me as I travel a lot.

My phone survives a day but still I keep a spare battery always with me and has helped in quite a few situations. I always felt extra packs are more convenient than power banks.

External Storage is a must for my phone. I don't use internet when travelling and the media I carry is not enough for my internal storage. Also I don't have any other entertainment device other than my phone.

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Neither are important for me at all. I don't keep phones for more than 18 months, and I save everything in cloud storage. They aren't important to the majority either, hence the massive iPhone sales figures

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I've got a very lightweight ROM on my Galaxy S5 and with its 2800 mAh battery, there's no way I get a confortable 22 hours of heavy use (with full brightness) out of it.

You and I clearly have a different idea of "heavy use".

 

I would agree.  We clearly do have different definitions of heavy use.  I only commented about my own experience of my own phone based on my own use, before you chose to weigh in with why it wasn't enough.

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removable battery is a nice thing but not necessary if the integrated battery is good enough so I give that a 6

 

I hate the idea of fixed non expandable storage for one reason and that's how the companies treat it (ex. oh you want 32gb of storage instead of 16gb? that'll be $100 extra thank you). I HATE that policy and every phone manufacturer that does fixed storage seems to follow apples footsteps on that front. for this reason alone I give expandable storage a 10

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I rank both of them very high when I do purchase a new phone. I gave the replaceable battery a 10 and expandable storage a 9. If there is no expandable storage for the model I want, I sure as heck will look for the model with the most internal storage (though I'd rather have the microsd card slot naturally).

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Given the unreplaceable battery era we seem to be entering its going to become a disposable technology we adopt and usually it wont be down to the life of the electronics but the lifespan of the battery.So say four of five years down the line once the battery begins to fail or dies thats the device totaly out of commision.

Im sure some of those who say storage is not important and to use the cloud work and live in an area of good connectivity so both are a subjective answer depending on how frequent you chance your devices and the facilitys available in your area.

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