My current phone, a Samsung Galaxy S4, is now almost 2 years old (just a week shy).
For the last six to nine month, battery life has been pretty horrible, and the USB connector also doesn’t work all the time anymore either. It’s definitely time for a new phone. But which one?
Here are things I like:
- Android
- Large battery
- User-replaceable battery
- User-replaceable SD card storage
- Thin
- Not too big (5″, perhaps even a bit less)
- Water-proof would be nice
Unfortunately, here are the candidates:
- The Samsung Galaxy S6 doesn’t have a replaceable battery or storage, and it’s not water-proof.
- The Samsung Galaxy S6 Active is only on AT&T, and I’m not on AT&T and won’t be.
- The LG G4 is really big. The battery is big, but with it’s big display, it probably won’t last longer than the S6 battery. But the battery is replaceable. The worst is the button placement — next to the camera? Who came up with that terrible idea?
Of course, I have never since my Palm Treo 755p replaced the battery. And I’ve never replaced the SD card I put in. But I do have a 64 GB card in there, plus 16 GB in the phone, and I’m using about 60 GB of the 80 GB. So for the Galaxy S6, I would have to go for the 128 GB model, and even that isn’t really future-proof.
| Category | Samsung Galaxy S6 | LG G4 |
|---|---|---|
| Battery | 2550 mAh, not replaceable (-) | 3000 mAh, replaceable (+) |
| Storage | 128 GB, not replaceable (-) | 32 GB + SD card (+) |
| Size | 5" (+) | 5.5" (-) |
| Waterproof | No (but lasts over 10 minutes) | No (but supposedly lasts 2 hours) |
| UI | I know it, and I like it (+) | Seemed shrill and gimmicky in the store |
| Button placement | Sides (+) | Next to camera (-) |
| Sum | 2x (-) 3x (+) = +1 | 2x (-) 2x (+) = 0 |
So what am I going to do? I don’t know yet… But I think I’m leaning towards getting the 128 GB version of the Galaxy S6, even if the battery and storage aren’t replaceable.
