How important are Removable battery and MicroSD memory slot features when you buy a smartphone or ta

[froggyboy604]

A removable battery and MicroSD Card is important, but I probably still buy a smartphone or tablet if it does not have a removable battery or MicroSD slot if the smartphone or tablet is affordably price, and has a lot of other nice features like a fast cpu, lots of RAM, lots of storage, and a fast video chip.

I also rarely remove the battery because rechargeable batteries on tablets and smartphones last for many years of constant use in my experience.

Plus, the internal space on my tablet has enough space most of the time because I don't use it much for music, video, and playing huge games which are many GBs in size, so I usually have enough space on my tablets internal storage drive.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

I hear one of the cell phone makers are starting to do this, make it so you can't put in more memory or remove the battery. I think it's important, specially to the hacking community.

 

[lb]

I don't know if a removable battery is that important, but having a MicroSD slot is pretty important for me if the internal storage is less than 32GB. I tend to download a lot of apps and not delete the ones that I don't frequently use.

 

[VirusZero]

I think having an microSD card slot is important. I mean the size of media will only increase. They're already starting the trend towards 4K resolution stuff... And 4K resolution media takes a lot of storage space. And even without going into 4K media, having even 32GB is still easy to fill up. Especially since there is always some space on the device that is reserved for the OS that can't be normally accessed. And then you get into apps (games can take up a fair bit of space on their own... some games are upwards of 800MB by themselves). Not to mention if you listen to any amount of music or have TV shows/movies/video clips on your phone (like from iTunes or PSN or whatever) then those add up in a hurry.

Plus it's nice to be able to (fairly quickly) remove a memory card and insert a new (blank) one when you're on the go. (Like if you're taking video with your device and run out of space so you can quickly change to keep shooting.)


Removable batteries are nice since you can buy spares for relatively cheaply (~20-30$) which can give you an extra few hours of running time if you need it. I mean not everyone can charge their device any any given time (due to no outlets being around, not having the charger, not having time to get any amount of charge, etc...) where being able to just pop the back off and replace the battery would give enough power/time to do whatever necessary.
Plus if the battery in the phone does die for whatever reason (maybe it was defective? or just was used a lot?) then you can replace it without having to replace the entire phone or send it off for service (if you even can). 

Though admittedly having the ability to change the battery is less of a concern to me than having a microSD slot. I would consider buying a phone without a removable battery but if it has no microSD card then I won't even consider it.

 

[froggyboy604]

I think having an microSD card slot is important. I mean the size of media will only increase. They're already starting the trend towards 4K resolution stuff... And 4K resolution media takes a lot of storage space. And even without going into 4K media, having even 32GB is still easy to fill up. Especially since there is always some space on the device that is reserved for the OS that can't be normally accessed. And then you get into apps (games can take up a fair bit of space on their own... some games are upwards of 800MB by themselves). Not to mention if you listen to any amount of music or have TV shows/movies/video clips on your phone (like from iTunes or PSN or whatever) then those add up in a hurry.

Plus it's nice to be able to (fairly quickly) remove a memory card and insert a new (blank) one when you're on the go. (Like if you're taking video with your device and run out of space so you can quickly change to keep shooting.)


Removable batteries are nice since you can buy spares for relatively cheaply (~20-30$) which can give you an extra few hours of running time if you need it. I mean not everyone can charge their device any any given time (due to no outlets being around, not having the charger, not having time to get any amount of charge, etc...) where being able to just pop the back off and replace the battery would give enough power/time to do whatever necessary.
Plus if the battery in the phone does die for whatever reason (maybe it was defective? or just was used a lot?) then you can replace it without having to replace the entire phone or send it off for service (if you even can). 

Though admittedly having the ability to change the battery is less of a concern to me than having a microSD slot. I would consider buying a phone without a removable battery but if it has no microSD card then I won't even consider it.

I'm not sure that 4K video would be popular on smartphones in the near future since the smaller screen will make it harder for users to see the difference in video quality between 1080P and 4K, or the better quality of 4K is not worth the higher price of 4K smartphone screens. A lot of smartphones screens are still 720P or lower resolution, so 4K video would use up more space on a storage drive, and drain your phones' battery faster because of the higher bit-rate, and size of 4K video being played back.

I do agree with your other points like storing media like video, and large games on a smartphone where a MicroSD would be useful. I think if you are mainly a fan listen to a few songs, and singers, using the internal space on a phone could be enough since MP3 files are mostly 5-10MB in size, so you can fit a hundred or more songs on 1GB of space. 

I think it is generally not a good idea to have smartphone Lithium-ion batteries stored in your pocket without a protective casing to protect them like the protective cover on a smartphone since they can catch on fire, or explode if you somehow bent them, or damage them in your pocket. There are now $10-50 Battery powered Chargers with a protective case to protect the battery which can also charge your smartphone, tablet, and MP3 player with a USB port on them.

I also think the battery cover and battery slot in some smartphones may not be designed for you to change out the battery on a daily basis, so there is also a risk of damaging the cover, and battery slot and connectors when you change the batteries too many times a day or week.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

I'm not sure that 4K video would be popular on smartphones in the near future since the smaller screen will make it harder for users to see the difference in video quality between 1080P and 4K, or the better quality of 4K is not worth the higher price of 4K smartphone screens. A lot of smartphones screens are still 720P or lower resolution, so 4K video would use up more space on a storage drive, and drain your phones' battery faster because of the higher bit-rate, and size of 4K video being played back.

I do agree with your other points like storing media like video, and large games on a smartphone where a MicroSD would be useful. I think if you are mainly a fan listen to a few songs, and singers, using the internal space on a phone could be enough since MP3 files are mostly 5-10MB in size, so you can fit a hundred or more songs on 1GB of space. 

I think it is generally not a good idea to have smartphone Lithium-ion batteries stored in your pocket without a protective casing to protect them like the protective cover on a smartphone since they can catch on fire, or explode if you somehow bent them, or damage them in your pocket. There are now $10-50 Battery powered Chargers with a protective case to protect the battery which can also charge your smartphone, tablet, and MP3 player with a USB port on them.

I also think the battery cover and battery slot in some smartphones may not be designed for you to change out the battery on a daily basis, so there is also a risk of damaging the cover, and battery slot and connectors when you change the batteries too many times a day or week.

I know that phones can record and take pics at 4k res, which would take up a lot of storage to allow them to share elsewhere.

 

[froggyboy604]

I know that phones can record and take pics at 4k res, which would take up a lot of storage to allow them to share elsewhere.

Some smartphones maybe able to record video at 4K, but the video framerate maybe lower than 30 frames per second, does not have good image stabilization and has a poor quality camera lense compared to a better video camera like a GoPro Action video camera, Digital SLR Camera, or some higher quality digital cameras. 

Sometimes you end up getting lower quality video or pictures by shooting in 4K because of a low quality lense, camera sensor, and low frame rates instead of 720-1080P video resolution at 30-60 frames per second.

 

[Cierra]

Battery not important to me, but removable SD card yes. 

 

[Demon_Skeith]

Some smartphones maybe able to record video at 4K, but the video framerate maybe lower than 30 frames per second, does not have good image stabilization and has a poor quality camera lense compared to a better video camera like a GoPro Action video camera, Digital SLR Camera, or some higher quality digital cameras. 

Sometimes you end up getting lower quality video or pictures by shooting in 4K because of a low quality lense, camera sensor, and low frame rates instead of 720-1080P video resolution at 30-60 frames per second.

I know my note 4 can take photos and video at 4k, not sure how it looks as I don't want to eat up my storage.