Why is Samsung the only company with Replaceable Batteries for higher end phones?

I dunno, to me the "feel" of the phone matters a lot. As a phone it's a device that I spend a lot of time holding in my hands, so having a premium feel to it is definitely a huge plus.

 

There are some Samsung phones that are better than others as you state, and a phone doesn't need to be metal to feel premium (see Nokia). There are countless materials that Samsung could use to make many of their models not feel cheap in the hand. As others have said, I use my phone more than any other devices in my life - I want the overall experience to be pleasant, and a cheap feeling phone or a bulky case doesn't help that.

I brought up Otterboxes simply to say that if you slap one of those on your phone, then obviously you don't care what it looks or feels like. I never use cases on my phone, and I never break them (because I tend to buy well made phones). I shouldn't say I never put cases on phones - because I did once on my Samsung Focus, I had to because it was ridiculously light and the plastic was cheap (read non-high-grade-poly-carbonate).

Truthfully, my main complaint with Samsung is they are the big kid on the block and I don't think they do enough to progress forward. The industry leader should always be pushing the envelope, if they're not then they won't be the industry leader for long.

Samsung in their mobile space seems to be focused more on jamming as much tech in to them as possible, than they are in making the best all around phone. They are crushing everyone else in sales, which should give them more freedom to do more - and I don't think they do.

 

You guys have taken this way overboard. The Note II has great build quality. Just because something feels well built doesn't mean it is.


Way too big of a picture:

Spoiler

 

Most iPhones I've seen in public have cases on them. I'd guess most smartphone users place cases on their phones and aren't upgrading as often.

Does that mean all these users don't really care about the "premium" feel of the unibody design? Or maybe they need the extra protection because even if a phone doesn't break when dropping, it certainly doesn't help the resell value.

Personally, I'll take the benefits of cheap expandable storage and a replaceable battery than the unibody design and slap a slim fitting case on it.

It's a phone, not a fashion statement.

I would love a less obtrusive TouchWiz, but you can't win them all.

Btw, screen shatters are going to be more prevalent with the trend of larger glass screens.

 

It is Gorilla Glass 2, if you break it you did something terribly wrong and/or it was just dumb luck... like hitting at the perfect angle. The image you posted looks like something actually punctured the very edge of the glass, you know where it is at it's weakest.

Either way, screens break regardless of phone. However, if a phone flexes/twists or bends it has a much higher screen/glass break rate. The Lumia line doesn't flex or bend. They are easily the most rigid phones on the market.

Samsung makes a lot of phone variations, some are better than others - but most are still inferior to the competition in build quality, not specs.

Phones are a fashion statement for a huge portion of the market space, and that is fine. It isn't a fashion statement for me however. I use the phone I use because I like the way it functions, the way it feels in my hand and the build quality. Knowing my phone will take a beating and keep on ticking is important to me... it isn't important to everyone. I use my phone for hours and hours a day, and travel constantly - I need a phone that I can use all day comfortably, and a solid device is one of the keys to comfort in the hand for me.

Users having cases has more to do with not wanting to break their phone than anything. There are users with Lumias that have cases (no idea why). Generally it is due to not wanting to spend money on a replacement or repairing damaged phones. Most people I know don't want a case on their phone, but they have one because they are afraid they'll break it. I don't have that fear with the phones I buy - I make sure of it.

This is the very reason many manufacturers have gone to a unibody design. they know that consumers put their devices through hell, and it is "bad for business" if their phones break under normal stress when the competition doesn't. Stronger phones means less replacements and fewer frustrated users who could badmouth their brand. Word of mouth is still the biggest sales factor in consumer electronics.

I've never said that I was "right." Consumer electronic devices are going to be purchased on user preference, and the market is big enough to have enough variety for everyone. However, the point of this thread was asking why more manufacturers don't have removable batteries - and that has easy answers that have been provided time and time again in replies here.

 

Only Gorilla Glass 2? Nokia needs to step their game up to Gorilla Glass 3. What a cheap POS phone.


PS: That is more about scratch resistance. Case design protects shatter.

 

It is Gorilla Glass 3, I misspoke.

http://www.corninggorillaglass.com/products-with-gorilla/nokia/Nokia-Lumia-1020

 

Can you get your facts right before you post about these extremely important matters? Otherwise we will all look like fools when we scream at each other over cheap consumer electronics. TIA

 

So, Samsung is killing the market in sales. And one of the major selling points they have over other Android phones is expandable storage and replaceable batteries.

Market is big enough for variety of phone types, but no one else is willing to make phones that have replaceable batteries?

Seems like other manufactures are missing out on a market segment that doesn't want to pay $100 for 16GB upgrades or carry around battery packs.

On one said other manufacturers have to make only one type of phone.

 

What's ironic is that whenever I have had iPhones, I have always put cases on them because I know a drop would be really bad. When I have had plastic Samsung smartphones I didn't bother putting a case on it because I wasn't worried about it breaking.

 

Haha. I never thought about it but I'm the same way. The 3 iPhones I had previously I got Mophie battery cases for them. My Samsung S3 is naked.

 

Ran my Note II nekkid as well. Doing the same for my Note III. Had a Spigen hybrid case for my Nexus 5 but that was because it was too slim for me to hold and the case gave it a nice rubber grip on the side.

I just don't get people who buy a thin, "premium"-feeling device and put an Otterbox or thick-ass case over it. DAT SLIM, PREMIUM FEEL, DOE.

 

How does a plastic, high-end phone not give you a pleasant experience? Do you die inside every time you pick one up or what? Not enough premiumzzzz to show it off to other people?

LAWL, you keep trying to make your premium devices act like they're only the durable phones while plastic ones like high end Samsungs don't which I pretty much debunked by stating my Note 2 took more drops and beating than any phone I've used.

A Samsung Focus is not a high end Samsung device. It is a budget device hence the cheaper plastic and overall build quality.

LAWL, they brought the stylus back to mobile phones when Steve Jobs said it was dead and not necessary. They started the big phone trend and every one is jumping on the bandwagon. They literally made Steve Jobs eat crow for that matter.

I believe my Note 3 is the best all around phone, especially with the active digitizer, large screen, Snapdragon 800, and awesome battery life. I don't know what "pushing the envelope" is in the mobile phone world, so please explain what you expect them or anyone else to do (including Apple and Nokia).

All I see are bigger camera sensors, more megapixels, higher resolution screens, bigger screens, buttons moved to the back, and what have you. What exactly do you expect the mobile phone to do next? Cut the grass for you? There are already curved displays coming out and from the general consensus, they're pretty much a non-factor at this point in time so, I can't see anything that will push the envelope. I mean, they're already on Smart Watches and not many people find it appealing.

 

Mods, please change thread title to: "Why do whiz-bang bleeding edge phones catering to early adopters not have a feature that will sacrifice some whiz-bang-ness but will extend service life beyond when those phones are not in any way shape or form whiz-bang bleeding edge anymore? [Caution, circle-jerking inside.]" TIA.

 

What are you 12? Is it that hard to actually have an adult conversation? I said Samsung made good phones, I just said they could do more as they have the capital and market presence to do so. I am a technology evangelist, I want every single company that can push the envelope farther and faster to do so. Those in the lead, should use their place to enact radical change. Samsung does a lot, but it could do more in my opinion.

I'm not going to get in to an argument about what pushing the envelope means. People radically change what the perception of previous devices were. Apple did it with the music player, then the smart phone and then the tablet. Apple then did what Samsung is doing now. Resting on their laurels with incremental updates. I don't think curved screens are the future, but they will lead to improvements in tech for future generations.

This is one reason I have always been a huge fan of Nokia, even before they had Windows Phone. And now that they have Windows Phone they not only pushed the hardware envelope, but they also put out the best software and apps for their phones across any platform. The camera software they have on their Lumia line is nothing short of brilliant as an example.

Nokia has always made the absolutely best devices that they can, and I simply don't think Samsung does that, nor Apple at this time really. That is my opinion, and I have a right to it regardless of how many extremely intelligent "LAWLs" you throw at it. I want them to stop doing incremental upgrades and get back to innovating each release. Competition breeds success, and I want all handset makers to bring their A-game, and those in already positions of success like Apple and Samsung have no excuses really.

 

All "unibody" is is a ****load of glue.

That's what "premium" feels like.

It doesn't have to. Those PITA hinge designs don't add any extra mass except for the fact that everyone hates getting around them and they were popular around the time when you had to open up a phone to insert a SIM or memory slot frequently.

Just make it hard to open given that the only reason to open it is to replace a battery. Even make the option of taking out the battery when the phone freezes not an easy fallback.



So I'm more inclined to believe wizkid82's theory than the ones above. Very few phones has truly incorporated a coverless design philosophy to warrant the lack of a cover.

 

You're confusing unibody tablet design with unibody phone design. Tablets have a lot of glue in them to absorb energy when dropped, protecting the oversized screens.

I don't know of any unibody smartphone filled with glue. The Nokia Lumia 1020 as an example has no glue, and they provide steps for taking it apart in the manual (source).

 

Gee #1 Microsoft fan, I didn't know Nokias had smartphones, or that they even existed anymore.

For the other phones people mostly talk about ::cough::IOS::cough::Android and have talked about besides you:

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/HTC+One+Teardown/13494
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone+5s+Teardown/17383
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Motorola+Droid+RAZR+Battery+Replacement/8057

Seriously though... that's a pretty handsome and rugged series of unibody phones. It's like that time when they called some terribly ugly Windows laptops ultrabooks but weren't really "ultrabooks" in the Apple design model that everyone's trying to copy or evolve from, like thin...or sleek...or even good looking.

Someone can defend themselves with it in case they get mugged.

 

I don't have any idea what point you're even trying to make. None of those phones are filled with glue either.