

Samsung announces Galaxy S5 - bottomless
http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/02/samsung-announces-galaxy-s5-launches-in-the-us-in-april/

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PeterWhittaker
I'm on an S4 right now, and it may be my last Samsung product - the bait and
switch of the 64GB S4 has soured me on Samsung.

When the S4 was released, Samsung took heat for the memory capacity: The S4
was more expensive than the iPhone 5, but the 5 had 64GB while the S4 had
16GB. Samsung was likely peeved, since the S4 beats the iPhone on pretty much
everything else, but critics blasted them for the memory - which was a fair
criticism, see below.

Samsung relented and indicated 32GB and 64GB variants would be available,
created spec sheets, even put some into the hands of reviewers.

But try buying one. Samsung and its carriers are convinced that 16GB, max
32GB, is all most people will need, which, for the carriers, is self-serving,
because the less room you have on your phone, the more data you use - and
carriers ding for data.

Apple understands storage requirements, primarily because of iTunes: Your
music, etc., are local, and synced. Consumers with music collections are
largely on iPhone; Samsung and Google want to differentiate themselves,
somehow, but don't have a full clue. Google wants you to stream everything, so
they believe you can live with less space.

Yeah, maybe in downtown NYC, but try streaming in rural or even semi-rural
Ontario sometime.

So Samsung is playing bait and switch. Part of me is pissed beyond all
reasonable belief. My choice came down to the Nexus 5 (32GB, no bloatware, no
external SD card) and the S4 (64GB, bloatware up the wazoo like you wouldn't
believe, external SD card, but WTF it has 64GB!!!).

I chose based on storage - knowing it would take me hours to disable all the
bloatware. But knowing I wouldn't have to muck with external SD cards anymore.

My admin orders the phone, a 16GB arrives, I say "whoa, what's up", she does
some research, I am gobsmacked, I do some research, validating hers and
leading to the above rant.

Lying bastiches.

My next phone will be a decent Android phone with 64GB of internal storage -
64GB available to me, not 8GB sucked up by the OS thank you Samsung - and no
bloatware. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

(Too bad I cannot stand the iPhone - used one for two months while waiting for
my S4, and couldn't abide the kindergarten level of one-click-at-a-time-a-
tude.)

------
purephase
I'm in the market to move off iOS, but still pretty unimpressed with Android
hardware. I'm not sure why these phones have to be so large.

Maybe the HTC One 2 (or whatever it will be called) will get it right for me.

~~~
pvinis
exactly. I was looking at the Xperia Z1 Compact. Kinda expensive, but Android
hasn't completely won me over..

------
discostrings
I'm happy to see that Samsung has stuck with the design philosophy of its
previous Galaxy S-series flagships.

In a world where other manufacturers of high-end mobile devices have adopted a
unibody, no-replaceable battery, no-storage expansion approach, it's nice that
Samsung sees the value of a device that works for users who like expansion
possibilities and who don't really care about the added expense of shiny
metal. They're serving a huge market that other mobile device designers are
increasingly ignoring.

~~~
cbaleanu
When was the last time you had to replace a phone's battery?

~~~
medikoo
I have always spare battery on me (fits small pocket), and it's quite often it
has its use.

When I travel I always have 2 spare batteries, so I have assured battery live
for long day of heavy usage (GPS navigation etc).

With such option you never worry about battery drain and you can freely use
your device up to maximum.

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bichiliad
Samsung, unfortunately, seems to formulaically try to stuff new hardware and
gimmicky features into an otherwise thoughtless, without taking much time to
design it to run well and look good. Their skinned version of Android is
hideous, and I can't imagine their build quality has improved much.

Sorry, I'm just grumpy and unimpressed and needed to rant.

