The downside of Samsung Galaxy S6

Samsung Galaxy S6 is the greatest smartphone ever made by Samsung, at least according to the 20 million humans across the globe who have pre-ordered the device to date. Analysts such as Henry Kim estimate that Samsung is likely to sell over 46 million units of Samsung Galaxy S6 this year alone, and that’s a strong testimony that Samsung has finally got it right.

Ever since the launch of Samsung Galaxy S3 back in May 2012, fans of Samsung gadgets have called on the Korean firm to produce a truly high end device; a device that is truly premium, a device that when touched, it feels its worth. The tech/fashion savvy customers have not been satisfied with cheap plastics, no matter how expensive they are made to look. You don’t want to spend Shs 70K on a gadget yet when held it feels worse than some Shs 7K low end phone, do you?

For three years Samsung did not pay any attention to the calls, but thanks to the failure of Samsung Galaxy S5 to sell beyond break even point leading to massive falls  in profits to the tune of 60%, Samsung was forced to sit at the drawing board and include the customer fashion needs in the deliberations of how to bring Samsung back to its feet, and that’s why they made their 2015 flagship device a truly premium device – a device that is not water resistant, lacks memory card slot, and whose battery cannot be removed – a device that has taken away the fans” bragging rights over Apple’s iSheep.

Related: What to Expect from the Samsung S6’S Release

External memory

The downside of Samsung Galaxy S6 is not the lack of removable memory, far from it. I have owned smartphones with as low as 500 MB of storage and as high as 8, 16  and 32 GB of storage. The only time I have found myself in need of the external memory is when I use feature phones and phones with less than 2 GB of storage. If you have a phone with 8 GB and above of internal memory, I surely don’t know why you would need additional storage capacity.

This is because your smartphone should not the place to store your precious data. If you are a heavy smartphone user you should have noticed that once in a while you need to reset the phone to factory setting. This procedure will always delete all data stored in the phone thus one is advised to constantly save the important photos, music, documents and videos in some other external storage such as a comp’s hard disk.

Secondly, my experience has taught me that external flash memory chips with more than 4 GB storage capacity are very unstable. These flash memory chips, including flash disks and memory cards, normally require formatting every now and then; implying that they can’t be relied on for long term storage. Your timeless music files and those private videos you’d like to watch when you turn ninety are better stored in more permanent places – (multiple places) and probably cloud storage would be your best bet.

It therefore follows that the decision by Samsung to not include the ability to insert a memory card in Samsung Galaxy S6 is quite in order. After all the lowest Samsung Galaxy S6 will feature 32 GB of internal storage and this should be sufficient for your crazy selfies, music, videos and apps. Having used 32 GB phone for three years, there is no time my available storage went below 22 GB.

If 32 GB won’t be enough for your storage needs, Samsung is offering a version of the S6 that will feature 128 GB of memory – but you’ll have to be ready to empty your wallet. Okay, there’s is also a medium size S6 offering 64 GB of storage.

Related: Visa and Samsung Bring Mobile Payments to the New Samsung Galaxy S6

Key phone features of the Samsung Galaxy S6 that makes it premium

Sorry if you were used to bragging to your iPhone counterparts over your ability to use external memory cards, you will  no longer have that privilege if you buy Samsung Galaxy S6. But don’t be disheartened, there are a number of cool features that will come with Samsung Galaxy S6 that you will still be able to point at whenever an iPhone fanatic tries to downgrade you.

For example you know that iPhone 6 and 6 plus came with 1 GB of RAM, right? Feel proud as Samsung Galaxy S6 will come with 3 GB of RAM. The iPhone users have also boasted of their 64 bit processors ever since iPhone 5s was launched in 2013. They don’t have an edge over you anymore. The iPhone processors, as much as they have 64 bit capability, are only a dual core units clocking only 1.4 GHz each. On the other hand, Samsung Galaxy S6 has been powered by Exynos 7420 which has two separate processing units; a 1.5 quad core cortex-A53 with each core clocking 1.5 GHz and a second unit, also quad core, built on cortex – A57 each clocking 2.1 GHz. In total you have a 64 bit processor that is 4 times better than the one powering the latest iPhone.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge – Image courtesy of Mashable

With the Samsung Galaxy S6, your selfies won’t be ugly anymore. Samsung has upgraded the front facing camera from a mere 2 MP that came with Samsung Galaxy S5 and a slightly higher 3.7 MP front camera of Samsung Galaxy Note 4 to 5 MP front facing camera. This is not to say that the rear camera has been left untouched. As much as Samsung hasn’t matched the 20 MP camera that came with Nokia Lumia 930, Samsung Galaxy S6’s 16 MP is way better than the camera on Samsung Galaxy S5 as Samsung has tweeked the camera software and we anticipate that the photos by the S6 will be clearer, crispier, well lit and able to reproduce true and rich colours that are admirable. Did I mention the screen? If you have loved the screen on Samsung Galaxy Note 4 which is a QHD, the same screen has come to Samsung Galaxy S6 and given that Note 4 has a bigger screen than the S6, the S6 will offer better viewing, better quality pictures and videos, and better colour saturation. Expect no blurriness even at very close proximity. The iPhone guys? It’s when they are joining the HD (low end HD) bandwagon.

Lastly the body of the Samsung Galaxy S6 is truly premium. Whereas iPhone users are accustomed to metal unibody phones, Samsung has gone a step further and put a Corning Gorilla Glass 4 that protects the AMOLED QHD display to also be the back casing. I can already imagine how premium that feels!

Related: Samsung S6 edge most innovative and creative product of our time

The downside of Samsung Galaxy S6

I am a Samsung lover, and I have tried to convince myself that the non-removable battery by Samsung is not as bad as one would imagine. According to this article, the battery is actually not permanently fixed inside Samsung Galaxy S6. With expert assistance, if need be, one can remove the battery.

Li-ion battery

However, it is important to know that you are not an expert and that you are strongly advised never to attempt removing the battery once you get your Samsung Galaxy S6 in your possession. Any attempts to remove the battery will make your two years warrantee agreement null and void, even if that removal will be by an approved technician. It is there appropriate to treat the battery in Samsung Galaxy S6 as practically non-removable.

This then makes your Samsung Galaxy S6 to have a lifespan exactly as that of the Lithium-ion Battery that powers it. The battery dies, the phone dies alongside it.

As I mentioned in this article, my Samsung Galaxy S3 is dying. The first thing that died as we started this month was the battery. Since this year, the battery was draining to zero within three or so hours after full charge then as March approached the battery could not power the phone even for 20 minutes, I had to replace it. Replacing it was easy, I just bought a new one. But for your Samsung Galaxy S6, once the battery will die, you’ll probably need to upgrade to Samsung Galaxy S8, or S9 if luck is on your side.

This is because Li-ion batteries have been found to have roughly 1,000 charge-discharge cycles; and that counts whether you charge the battery from completely zero charge to 20%, zero to full charge, or from 80% charge to 100% charge. If for instance you charge your battery only once per day as most smartphone owners do, then your battery, together with your S6, will last slightly under 2 years and 9 months.

Practically therefore, your Samsung Galaxy S6 that is likely to cost you any figure between shs 70K and 80K will be useless after three years, thanks to the non-removable battery. Okay, you’ll be able to replace the battery but at an expensive cost since other than buying a new battery, you’ll also be required to seek the help of a technician approved by Samsung.

That’s not the only downside of Samsung Galaxy S6’s battery. As I have mentioned above, Samsung Galaxy S6 will come with a more powerful processor, even more powerful than the processor in Samsung Galaxy S5.  The processor in Samsung Galaxy S5 is a quad core (not an octa core) which each core clocking 2.5 GHz. Remember S5’s processor is a mere 32 bit processor.

Then there is the screen. The display on Samsung Galaxy S5 is a paltry (sorry it’s an HD) 1080 by 1920 pixels having a pixel density of 432 ppi yet Samsung Galaxy S6 will boast of a QHD display featuring 1440 by 2560 pixels for a pixel density of 557 ppi.

By pixel density alone, Samsung Galaxy S6 should consume 30% more power than Samsung Galaxy S5. Although the processing unit in the S6 could have been made more efficient, the fact that it is more powerful means that, on a practical level, it should consume more power.

That necessitates Samsung Galaxy S6  to come with a battery that is rated at least 30% higher. But no, people want a premium body and feel and that can only be provided if the battery is compromised; not only on the ability to remove and replace at will, but also on the power rating.

The battery on Samsung Galaxy S5 is rated at 2800 mAh allowing for up to 390 hours stand-by time, 67 hours of music play and 21 hours of talk time. Samsung Galaxy S6 on the other hand has a battery that is rated at only 2550 mAh, even lower than the battery on Samsung Galaxy S4 that has a battery rated at 2600 mAh. Stand-by time, music play time and talk time for S6’s battery have not been tested as the phone is yet to go on sales.

Conclusion

As discussed, Samsung Galaxy S6 is a true premium phone and if you are one of the 20 million guys who have placed an order, great. However you need to really consider the implications of the inability to remove the battery before finally putting your money on the gadget.

The phone itself has a a premium body and features that can last many years, but the battery might force you to upgrade to Samsung Galaxy S8 or S9, even if such an upgrade won’t be necessary.