Will the Galaxy S6 right the ship for Samsung?

I can live with the non removable battery, i don't like it, but i can live with it. No SD card slot! SERIOUSLY Samsung?!!?
I don't use, a laptop, so the SD card is how i would upload videos to YouTube. I put the SD card from my POV camera into my S4/S5 and would upload from there. May not be a total deal breaker, but i will probably look at another device that offers and SD card. That sucks because i have my family and my company on Samsung devices.

Non removable battery and no SD card slot aren't major losses in my opinion. When is the last time anyone needed to replace a battery because the battery degraded do much that it couldn't hold a reasonably long charge. It has been a very, very, long time since that was an issue. As far as the SD card slot, I think the 3 storage options (32,64,128) will be more than enough for most consumers.

jdduncan12 said:

Non removable battery and no SD card slot aren't major losses in my opinion. When is the last time anyone needed to replace a battery because the battery degraded do much that it couldn't hold a reasonably long charge. It has been a very, very, long time since that was an issue. As far as the SD card slot, I think the 3 storage options (32,64,128) will be more than enough for most consumers.

Click to expand...

I agree with you about the battery. Like i said, i can live with that. The expandable memory is where i get lost.... i change cards occasionally. And use the card from my POV camera for uploading videos. I don't "need" more than 16gb if i have an SD card slot. Now i will have to get a laptop to do that, or carry my Samsung tablet along. Also, i am sure there's a way around it, but my Doubletwist player is on my SD card as well. I guess I'll have to learn some new stuff all the good people here on Androidforums.com

excav8ter said:

I don't use, a laptop, so the SD card is how i would upload videos to YouTube. I put the SD card from my POV camera into my S4/S5 and would upload from there.

Click to expand...

Plug in an otg card reader/ or a $2 OTG cable and a standard SD card reader and Bingo... thats how you do it.

psionandy said:

Plug in an otg card reader/ or a $2 OTG cable and a standard SD card reader and Bingo... thats how you do it.

Click to expand...

See.... i KNEW I'd learn how to do something new that would get around this..

I am a LOT more excited about the S6 now than i was 2 hours ago...

I've been doing that for 2 years with my M7, and also have a Meenova microUSB microSD reader, but TBH a microSD slot is more convenient. But yeah, there are work-arounds for stuff you don't need on-device at all times.

I suspect these will work for Samsung, because there will be more people who like the design and don't care about the lack of expansion than there will be who refuse to buy because of the lack of SD support. But I may be wrong. To me the Edge is much more appealing - may not add much if anything functionally, and is probably more vulnerable, but it is a very nice-looking phone.

One funny thing: I just visited the Samsung UK site and they only listed 2 capacities for the Edge: 64GB and 128 GB, but not the 32GB of the S6. That may just be an omission in a pre-release site, of course, but if the Edge is the premium product it might be real.

for me on Verizon, it is a deal breaker. We never get the option of more memory space... and, I personally won't buy a phone that does not have a removable battery. My S5 has a 64 gB SDcard in it, glad it does, as mapping applications use a lot of space.

I think the more Samsung tries to suck up to critics who like iPhones, the more share they will lose. Key differentiators for Samsung were replaceable battery, micro sd slot and the ability to handle drops a little bit better than the iPhone. They are now going to sell the Samsung version of the iPhone, but without Apple's ecosystem. IMO a big fat fail.

They are trying to please critics that would never buy an Android device anyway and are further sealing their fate of distant second in market share- at best. Apple must be smiling now more than ever.

My hope is the Note 5 does not follow this direction. Perhaps I am right and Samsung sees their changes were the wrong ones and all then needed to do was increase storage size and get rid of Touch Wiz.

A 128GB S6 will cost more than simply having a 32GB or 64GB model with micro sd. Samsung must have competitors making decisions for them as part of industrial sabotage.

There's been a lot of talk about specs, but what about space. I've heard rumors about Sammy is reducing their bloatware, but I haven't seen anything about available user space, except for removable storage space going away. I have a 64GB sd card in my 16GB s5, which has been necessary because of Samsung's bloat. I'm not the only one that had to put my phone on a diet to install the lollipop update. Now, if I want to stay in the Samsung universe, I'll have to get at least the 64GB version, or sell a kidney for the 128GB model.

an interesting read, that would have been better if an English speaking editor has previewed it first for grammar.

The phone itself is enticing.... at 128 gB, I might even be tempted to get one..... but I would hate loosing the replaceable battery..... but, my Galaxy S is 4 years old now, still registered, and still using the OEM battery. That battery is definitely not as good as it was, but it is 4 year old technology too.

The battery, oh no!! I hope it's not as terrible as it seems,really. The downside/weakness of any top-notch device running on android platform is the darn battery life.. So, while I shipped for Samsung., I'm little leery about S6

The removable battery is a deal breaker for me, I find it convenient to carry a fully charged battery round with me and "hot" swap it as needs be, I have always bought Samsung because it has the removable battery and SD card slot, but after many years I will just look for something else. Phil

Although i am in the group that doesn't care for the non removable battery, i don't think i have ever had a need to pull the battery on my S5. I generally only keep a device for 12 months. Sometimes less than that. So i rarely see battery trouble. All my equipment has 12V outlets and we supply chargers for all the equipment so our guys can keep their device charged.

psionandy said:

Plug in an otg card reader/ or a $2 OTG cable and a standard SD card reader and Bingo... thats how you do it.

Click to expand...

Nowhere near as convenient, nor as practical as simply having the card in the device. The point here seems more that Samsung's Apple fetish is now complete, short of having iOS. Added: Heck, even their new 2015 tablets are iPad clones and 4:3 ratio as well.

Like Apple they now have a closed storage system that costs more, no battery option and an all glass crack magnet. Also, the unibody design with VR Gear will mean a hotter running device. I love the Gear VR with my Note 4, BTW. Worthy purchase.

excav8ter said:

Although i am in the group that doesn't care for the non removable battery, i don't think i have ever had a need to pull the battery on my S5. I generally only keep a device for 12 months. Sometimes less than that. So i rarely see battery trouble. All my equipment has 12V outlets and we supply chargers for all the equipment so our guys can keep their device charged.

Click to expand...

Really? I've never had a Samsung OEM battery last more than 2 years. After the first year, the performance drops dramatically. I also carry a spare battery, just in case. While, I enjoy having the micro SD card, I plug my phone into my computer on a regular basis, sometimes just to refresh the charge. It is no big deal to empty my SD card at the same time, or refresh it with new items. For me, the real deal breaker is the non-removable battery.

When I saw the leaked photos of the S6 I hoped they were fakes, sadly on Sunday that wasn't the case. For me Samsung are really putting their efforts into stealing iPhone consumers, the resemblences on the S6 of the iphone 6 ...speaker grill, pertruding camera, no SD expansion, non removable back cover or battery, 32,64,128 storage models seems a bit of middle finger to Samsung enthusiasts like myself. I know they had to change there game plan at some stage but to mimic a large portion of what the iPhone 6 offers is a bad move in my opinion, I won't be purchasing the S6, and any future devices with such build qualities. When the alpha and the note 4 were launched Samsung were demonstrating something which was long overdue, aluminium edges but still removable back and battery was the pinnacle for me, something which I like a lot, I know it's business and Samsung have a great marketing structure and they do aim there devices to improve not just on a technological scale but to also impact your day to day life with features like S Health, heart rate monitor and others and as gimmicky as people might say they are and useless it is a relevant bit of marketing from Samsung but in the end do people really care !? The edge revelation is truly innovative and I won't be told otherwise on that front, credit to LG aswell for the flex as well and again is it necessary!? That is irrelevant as need is always certainly replaced with wanting. Elegant and smart the edge was a good move from Samsung and I expect the edge to see strong sales as it's very quirky and different but going back to the S6 carrying the torch that has some what dimmed since the S5 on the mobile front and the gear series, people will a lot of the time stick to what they know, and almost for certain the S6 will tempt iPhone users well at least on the build front anyway. I appreciate some people on this thread have said the non removable back and SD expansion or the lack of it isn't an issue as battery's will last and 32GB internal is sufficient enough but as with earlier devices that option was always there irrelevant of preference to bothering it was or it wasn't almost a blanket to fall on, and cost wise the price of a previous Samsung flagship plus an SD card almost always under cut a base model iPhone and that was a strong argument at any given time. I just hope the Note series will continue with how the 4 landed as I will definitely invest in a Note if future S devices continue in the same fashion as the S6.

Skynet11 said:

Samsung clearly departed from the plasticky wonder that was the Galaxy S3, erm, S4, erm, S5, using a metal-glass chassis design, and eliminating the removable battery and expandable storage that were hallmarks of the Galaxy line long after HTC, LG and Motorola ditched them. Do you see Samsung's new flagship phone bringing back the Apple lawsuits, erm, mojo of yesteryear? Or did they lose you at "no more replaceable battery or SD card expansion"? Feel free to sound off below!

Click to expand...

Samsung has dropped the ball very badly for me with the s6, i have been a long time samsung fan from the s2, s3, s4, s5 and i was fully prepared to buy the s6 but then no memory card, no water resistance. Not having a removable battery was not a deal breaker for me. Now im stuck on which phone to get, i dont see LG or Sony making a phone that has a fingerprint sensor and is waterproof and has a memory card slot. Here is hoping the G4/Z4/5 have these features so i can ditch samsung. I was reading another forum somewhere where someone from samsung commented that they did extensive market research and that most customers now use online storage and dont require a memory card anymore.

PhoneMatt said:

Really? I've never had a Samsung OEM battery last more than 2 years. After the first year, the performance drops dramatically. I also carry a spare battery, just in case.

Click to expand...

The battery on my s4 died in about 4 months of use and if that phone didnt have a removable battery it would have been horrible.

No SD card, no removable battery... The S6 is basically an iPhone. I get it. Samsung has finally given up on the high end of the market.

I appear to be in the minority that doesn't care about the SD card but will be bummed about the swappable battery (I just swapped the battery on my S5 a few minutes ago). Portable chargers are no real substitute since you have to be tethered to the charger until the battery gets back to full. Mophie cases add unwanted bulk.

Typically, the fast charging only works with a capable charger, so you couldn't fast charge from a typical external battery. Not sure if this is the case with the S6, but I'd bet that's the way it is.

The built in wireless charging will help a lot, since I can just plop the phone on the charging mat at work when I'm not using it. But when I know I'll be away from an outlet for an extended period, not having a charged spare battery will kinda suck. But it's not the end if the world.

If we use sites like this and the traffic, the S6 is in trouble like the S5 was. Samsung is touting sell in order numbers just like they did with the S5. They did not admit the S5 was not the big seller they touted until analysts started questioning what the actual sell though to consumers were (the REAL numbers that count).

The S4 traffic here was legendary and so were sales. Now Samsung decided to kiss up to media critics and kill the differentiation they had with the battery and micro slot.

I also do not think people will buy the higher size versions due to their prices and then complain about not enough space. Again, Lollipop eats 20% more space than Kitkat due to the file format and now no sd slot?? Not to mention the Samsung roms hog space already.

Sasmung is trying to act like Apple, which plays into Apples hands. Samsung must be brainwashed by Apple like a Manchurian candidate. The more Samsung acts like apple, the more share they will likely lose.

Love my Note 4 though WITH the micro d and battery options. Especially the micro sd.

With 16gb, the extSD was necessary for a lot of users, especially if you were a shutterbug or liked to keep a large music collection locally. But 32gb is more than enough for most people. Of course, many posters here will personally disagree, but they're not most people. I bought my wife a 32gb Nexus 7 that I upgraded to a Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 over the holidays. I was worried about the 16gb internal and checked her storage on the Nexus to see if she was getting close to 16gb. Turns out after 2 years, she was only using 9gb including OS (also, I wasted $70 on the upgrade). I stuck a 16gb micro SD in the Galaxy Pro just on case she liked taking pictures.

32gb internal without expandable memory is a better deal for most people than 16gb and micro SD.I know if they actually offered a 32gb S5, I would have gotten that and ditched my micro SD card.

The catch is Samsung wants to push the Gear VR with the S6. Having a space hogging OS like Lollipop, no expandable memory and then VR content that is inherently larger with a device that can not use OTG when hooked to Gear is downright silly. Samsung is thinking with tunnel vision and the only thing they see is an apple at the end of it.

KialReece said:

For me Samsung are really putting their efforts into stealing iPhone consumers, the resemblences on the S6 of the iphone 6 ...speaker grill, pertruding camera, no SD expansion, non removable back cover or battery, 32,64,128 storage models seems a bit of middle finger to Samsung enthusiasts like myself.

Click to expand...

Speaker grill? Okay. Heck, the placement of all the elements on the entire bottom edge are very similar.
Protruding camera? You mean like the S5 had? By that logic, the iPhone 6 is copying the S5.
Non removable back cover and battery like the iPhone... but also like the Nexus 5 onward. This is the way Google wants it.
The iPhone goes 16, 64, and 128. The fact that the S6 has 32gb base is much, much more consumer friendly than Apple. 16gb just sucks.