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

[DeusProto]

I make a point of boycotting any device that lacks user replaceable batteries.

 

I refuse to be swindled by having to pay $50 for a $10 battery to be replaced by some factory in a distant country when I can buy the battery off eBay, ChinaBuye, FastTech, BangGood, or any other number of places with rock bottom prices and free shipping for around $5 and replace it myself. 

 

Also any device that has DRM that prevents you from using third party replacement parts. Such as printers that refuse to work with third party ink, devices that will only work with Apple or Sony branded memory cards, etc. It's the principle of the thing: if you try to lock me in to a closed ecosystem I will simply not take part. 

 

10 years ago I had to find the leaked and confidential electronic diagram and specification sheet for a device so I could solder off the battery properly and get a replacement from a Chinese vendor. Never again. It was for a Norelco shaver. They designed it to be as hard as possible for anyone except someone experienced with a soldering iron and proper workstation could remove the battery without destroying the control board. And guess what? Even if its plugged into AC, if the battery refuses to charge it still doesnt power up. Such a scam.  I then shared these confidential documents far and wide so others didn't get hosed down by Norelco to replace their batteries. Took me a week to properly remove all the epoxy and desolder the battery carefully and resolder the new one. 

 

Now I just find Chinese clones of electronics, where available, with dirt cheap replacement parts. In my experience 9 out of 10 of them work just as well as the device they cloned (at the very least). The batteries have maybe slightly shorter recharge cycles, and maybe 5-8% less charge capacity, but other than that. Plenty of decent direct-from-factory vendors (I named 3 above) whom sell these - and they disclose clearly that they are clones eg "Housebrand Shaver Styled for Norelco [Model]". In fact, in cases where I've had an opportunity to use both the "real thing" and the knockoff, the knockoff either had features the original didn't, or worked better than the real thing. It's actually not uncommon for knockoffs to improve on the original design and fix hardware problems that exist in the "real thing." 

[FiB3R]

Both 10

My phone has neither

[Draconian Guppy]

Since I have now a proper DAP, I have no need for removable storage. my old iPhone 4 battery lasted me around 2 years without a hiccup (never let it go down past 50% except once every other month to calibrate).

[firey]

Removable battery I don't really care about.  My battery lasts just fine.  Expandable storage I said a 5 because it totally depends on the amount of memory in the device.  I don't take many pictures, nor store much on my phone but having the room to do so is nice.

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.

You keep a cell phone for for 4 or 5 years??

[Arachno 1D]

You keep a cell phone for for 4 or 5 years??

 

 

You replace a cell phone because its old?

[Charisma Veteran]

Removeable battery would usually be a 10 for me, but I have to admit that I never have to take this one out. I don't have any problems with my phone (an S4 Active) freezing and needing a hard reset like older phones have in the past. However, I like having the option to replace it, so I chose 8.

 

Expandable storage is a 10--I keep all my photos and music on an SD card, and I have many apps installed there as well. I like being able to move them easily between devices and swap them out.

 

As for the inspiration for this thread... I've been a Samsung loyalist for years, but I don't like how they're trying to become the Apple of the Android world. If I wanted an iPhone, I'd buy one. I'm waiting for the S6 Active, which should have a good battery and that Micro SD card slot. But I've also been looking at a few other brands now. If Samsung is going to try to be somebody else by crippling the functionality of their own devices, I at least do have plenty of other options...

[firey]

You replace a cell phone because its old?

Yes, after 3 years it feels quite sluggish and dated.  Plus every 2 years I am eligible to renew my phone plan and get a brand spankin' new phone at little cost.

[tsupersonic]

I have an s6 and iPhone 6, both 64 GB. Both get tremendous battery life, but the s6 gets slightly more than the iPhone 6. The s6 has quick charging, so I can charge it up quite fast in a pinch. In general, I get about 2.5 days out of the s6, and 2 days on the iPhone, but I still try to charge every day. You can get battery case for either phone, and/or you can carry a portable battery.

 

I hated swapping batteries in my last smartphone that had that capability - you had to stop what you were doing, shut it down, remove battery, start it up = hassle. Then you had to find a way to charge the other depleted battery.

 

Neither have removable storage, but that's a non-issue for me. I store/stream all my music on the cloud, I can also connect to my NAS to access other media (pictures, movies, TV shows, docs, etc.) 

[Astra.Xtreme]

Both 1, not important at all.

 

Even if I had a replaceable battery, I wouldn't carry one around.  I can't say I've ever had an occurrence where my battery died and I was crippled without the phone. I rarely charge my phone on weekends since it gets me through with medium use.

 

And with music streaming apps, even 16GB of storage would be plenty for me.  I don't want to deal with the speed and power consumption pitfalls of expandable memory anyway.

[vcfan]

replaceable battery - 1 (I could always open up the phone and replace it; don't need more charge either[batt pack])

expandable storage - 10 (phones never have enough space to fit my content)

[shockz]

Have never had issues with my iPhone battery and usually last a day under regular use. The need for a second battery before I charge again is nill. 0. Not important. Wish I did have expandable stroage, but iCloud helps buffer my storage limit. 4.

[The Evil Overlord]

7 on the battery

10 on the SD card

OK so I'm using a moto g 4g, but It's a.personal preference, and not having to worry about cloud sync or PC sync etc... Swap out the SD card and all my music and vids are there instantly

[Draggendrop Veteran]

I have a "black cloud" following me when I am near my phone,Samsung S4.  It works great but have had a bad battery and a glitchy sim that had to be replaced.Until I try a new version...I tend to like the ability to replace a defective battery.   Cheers

[astropheed Veteran]

Battery 5, It's a nice to have feature but I'm indifferent either way.

Expandable storage 10, It's extremely important and the only real reason I don't have an iPhone.