If S6 fails then Flagship is dead for Android

[sc302 Veteran]

replacing crappy mAh batteries with higher mAh batteries... also when the device hard locks up it's easier to pull the battery.

Yeah, the iphone has done so miserable with their non removable battery....so bad that they have been the phone that most people are buying.

[astropheed Veteran]

I don't understand Samsung's train of thought at all.

 

The reason I bought Samsung's were for the Micro-SD, plastic body and removable battery. It seems they didn't like having me as a Customer. No worry, I'll just go to the next Phone Company that has all of those features, and if I find none, I'll just get an iPhone which is what all these featureless "premium" metal phones are trying to be.

[TAZMINATOR]

Yep, that's one of the main reasons alone why I won't bother with the S6.

 

Maybe Samsung might learn their mistake and might put removable battery and SD card slot back in S7...  I hope!

 

If not, oh well...  Farewell, Samsung!

[Thomas the Tank Engine]

Google Android 5.0 is not really a good OS in general. There are a lot of issues only 1% of the users are using the latest version most are on 4.4 and we still have 2.3 users at double digits percentage in market shares.

That has nothing to do with it, it's up to the smartphone manufacturers which handset will get the newest OSes, some of them are too old to support the newer versions of Android!

[sc302 Veteran]

See, to me the microsd has no use..... same with the removable battery. 

 

So I can put pictures on the microsd as well as video and music, can't put apps on it.  My phone mainly has apps, not pictures, videos, or even music.  Get phone with more storage is the solution to my problem.  As far as battery goes, I can get one of these http://www.amazon.com/Battery-13000mAh-Portable-External-Cellphones/dp/B00K64WR9C/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1425501203&sr=8-7&keywords=external+battery to charge and keep my phone alive in case it dies during the day and I am not near power.  Charges it fast too

[Thomas the Tank Engine]

As far as battery goes, I can get one of these http://www.amazon.com/Battery-13000mAh-Portable-External-Cellphones/dp/B00K64WR9C/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1425501203&sr=8-7&keywords=external+battery to charge and keep my phone alive in case it dies during the day and I am not near power.  Charges it fast too

Or, you can get this to charge the battery!

[+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹]

Maybe Samsung might learn their mistake and might put removable battery and SD card slot back in S7...  I hope!

 

If not, oh well...  Farewell, Samsung!

 

we will have to see how S6 sells...      if people will buy in on the good looks (and i have a feeling they will)   then samsung will never put this stuff back in the flagships.

 

 

 

i am deeply disappointing they did not make it waterproof.   i mean they did in s5 (though it was not very good, since you had to close the port manually i think... which was annoying)  

but the tech for waterproof devices with open ports is there.   but it is mostly sony who is doing the phones with it.

[astropheed Veteran]

See, to me the microsd has no use..... same with the removable battery. 

 

So I can put pictures on the microsd as well as video and music, can't put apps on it.  My phone mainly has apps, not pictures, videos, or even music.  Get phone with more storage is the solution to my problem.  As far as battery goes, I can get one of these http://www.amazon.com/Battery-13000mAh-Portable-External-Cellphones/dp/B00K64WR9C/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1425501203&sr=8-7&keywords=external+battery to charge and keep my phone alive in case it dies during the day and I am not near power.  Charges it fast too

 

You can put apps on the SD card too. You go to the App in the manager and tap "Move to SD", many apps support this. On a rooted phone I believe you can send all the apps to SD. I haven't rooted my phone in some time, so I'm not sure about that.

 

Also, when you consider the cost difference between a 64GB model and a 128GB model of some phones you quickly realise it'd be far cheaper to slap a 64 GB Micro-SD in there instead of buying the 128GB model. Not to mention you can buy multiple Micro-SD cards.

 

As for removable battery. Sometimes its use-case is simply a quick fix on a hard freeze. I've done it. It's also nice to quickly pop it out when someone has accidentally thrown a water balloon on your phone when you weren't paying attention.

 

I see no reason to remove these options, the uniform 'premium' body may be their excuse but considering the need for a removable SIM tray... they're just jumping on the Apple bandwagon of charging more for the larger storage models. It's poor form. And it's enough to make me completely avoid Samsung.

 

And I've owned the S2, S3, S4 and Note 3.

[+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹]

well, lets see what they do with next Note

 

i always though it was too big, but everyone i know who bought one, say they got used to it in a few days, and will never want a smaller phone again.

 

i hope they keep the sd card and removable battery in new Note and this will be the new powerhouse samsung, instead of Galaxies.    In fact, sales already show that it is.

[TAZMINATOR]

i am deeply disappointing they did not make it waterproof.   i mean they did in s5 (though it was not very good, since you had to close the port manually i think... which was annoying.

 

Send your current (or new) phone in for waterproofing here: http://www.liquipel.com/shop/treatment/treat-my-phone/

 

I don't trust the factory's waterproofing but I prefer the company as I mentioned in the link above.

 

They do waterproof the tablets as well.

 

 

well, lets see what they do with next Note

 

i always though it was too big, but everyone i know who bought one, say they got used to it in a few days, and will never want a smaller phone again.

 

I have a Note 2.   

[remixedcat]

 

 

 

 

 

A lot of devices, you just hold down the power button and they reboot/restart from a hard lock. Tablets have been doing that for years.  Higher capacity batteries, sure, but battery defects, in my experience, are not to comment these days and hard locks dont need a battery pull.

 

I was a big advocate for removable batteries years ago but now they are bigger and can power my needs most of the time for a full day.  And with all Androids using the same charge cord, there isnt anywhere I go where I dont have access to a cable to charge it if needed.

 

I can't do that with nexus devices. They don';t respond even to that.... I have to pull the batter for my gnex.

 

Yeah, the iphone has done so miserable with their non removable battery....so bad that they have been the phone that most people are buying.

 

iphones are only bought for the apple name/marketing

[sc302 Veteran]

 

iphones are only bought for the apple name/marketing

 

right, it has nothing to do with their phone simply working.  everything to do with marketing hype and apple name. 

 

I own both, guess which I throw when I get mad at it...I will give you a hint, the one with the fruit has never hit glass or a filing cabinet before.  I don't get mad at the fruit, for whatever reason it doesn't test my patience or my ability to type and it seems to understand me when I talk to it.  The space cadets ears and mind are in space, doesn't seem to want to be here or to service me.

[xpablo]

oh well charging will be fast on the S6 and as for an SD card, there's plenty of online storage now, although it's costly with data usage and/or storage fees.

 

I think that's Samsung's logic anyway for the S6.

 

Yeah the price of the phone is a little too rich for my blood, so I'll wait for 9-12 months before upgrading my S3 and the price should

drop significantly by then as well as my mobile contract should have expired by then.

[Raa]

I'm loving the HTC One... I'd call that a nice flagship phone.

[MorganX]

As far as I'm concerned the Galaxy Note 4 I just switched to is the greatest phone ever and it will be a good while before I even think about another phone.

[MorganX]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can't do that with nexus devices. They don';t respond even to that.... I have to pull the batter for my gnex.

 

 

iphones are only bought for the apple name/marketing

 

 

While no longer my top choice, the iTunes/Store ecosystem just works and is probably the most seamless. Android/Windows aren't really close though Google's app purchase/management has come close.

 

Also, facetime is big and for the most part, iPhone, everything just works or is easy to discover.

[simplezz]

tl;dr - Anti-Android rant full of specious arguments that have been proven false a thousand times over yet pro-Microsofties on Neowin keep repeating them ad nauseum. 

[firey]

I have an S5 and it works 100% solid.  Battery life isn't the best.. but it's not awful.  Does everything I need and then some.  As much as some people want Android to go the way of the dodo.. it's just not going to.

[+E.Worm Jimmy Subscriber¹]

I'm loving the HTC One... I'd call that a nice flagship phone.

 

Expect HTC One M9 is not even better in any way then my HTC One M7  expect a slight bump in specs that makes no real difference to me running the apps that i do.

visually it is same, and i question the value of the large dual speakers if they are the cause of the large bezel on the display.    why keep a giant (and, now, useless black bar with HTC logo under the screen)

 

 

looks are nice, but it the same 3rd year in a row.     so the novelty is lost.     other then that, i am not liking the direction that HTC is taking with software either.

[remixedcat]

itunes is a joke for windows os media players. even people that use macs don't like it. even jriver made a mac version

[Raa]

<snip>, i am not liking the direction that HTC is taking with software either.

Well, to each their own I guess. That's why there's choice in the market.

 

I'm happy to upgrade my M7 to the M9 personally.

[MorganX]

itunes is a joke for windows os media players. even people that use macs don't like it. even jriver made a mac version

 

iTunes is used synonymously with the App Store. Same client. But speaking of iTunes, it's better for modern phones (meaning WP8, than anything Microsoft has IMO). Having said that, I use media monkey to sync playlists and music to my Android Phone and Surface Tablet. I don't like streaming or having to copy my entire 30GB music library to my mobile device. I dynamically sync playlists and only the music files in those playlists on the fly.

[MorganX]

Smart Remote app for Android makes a phone without an IR blaster obsolete for me. Has fully complaint media center remote that can power on and off my HTPC, TV, and A/V Equipment. With Air Keyboard I don't even need the wireless keyboard w/touchpad in the living room anymore. I can control everything from the phone. Fantastic!

[123456789A]

What?

 

What part did you not understand? Flagship, it's an OS. I hope Microsoft releases a phone soon running Flagship.

[DevTech]

I think the original post was trying to articulate the idea that top android phones may reach a point of diminishing returns as the entire mobile market shifts downward to sell phones to the remaining 3 billion people on planet earth for which even one dollar in price difference can determine a buying decision.

 

The market of people who currently own a smartphone is on a 2 year or longer replacement cycle.

 

Not everyone on planet earth will purchase a smartphone so it seems likely that somewhere in the next two years the market will hit a mature saturation point and perhaps what it means to be a flagship android smartphone will change in some way.

 

It is very clear that some percentage of tech enhusiasts have a "feel" for the market place that is based on their personal viewpoint and does not correspond to the underlying reality. The current mobile landscape that is being discussed is not sustainable but what will replace it is uncertain.

 

For example, even if android flagship phones end up with an insignificant marketshare compared to the vast low end sales to come, it seems likely they would have "promotional sales" value.

 

I imagine that Apple has also been crunching numbers and has some sort of plan in place for a market that eventually has to stop growing. Their current plan of capturing the profitable "cream" of decreasing marketshare in an overall expanding market will hit a brick wall when the overall market stops expanding.

 

Microsoft's focus on the low end appears to be efficient business resource planning where their number crunching must be telling them that the "promotional sales" value of a flagship phone really has almost no effect on actual sales. Which means that the remaining 3 billion customers on earth are not surfing tech web sites...

 

The author of this topic is sniffing out the winds of change and most of the replies are about people's fav flagship phone. I don't have a clue how the next 2 years will play out but it seems to me that as a topic it is more captivating than S6 versus M9...