We're all wondering it, will Note 5 follow in the S6 direction?

[stormkroe]

I know lots of people are happy with the change of ideals for Samsung, no SD card slot and no removable back. I personally hate it, and am afraid the Note 5 will follow suite. I decided to skip the 4 because it was not a fully generational upgrade (based on my usage) over the 3. Unless another manufacturer with sd slot and removable batteries starts using wacom digitizers (I use the S pen for work VERY often and like the pressure sensitivity for drawing), I might be stuck with a 4 after all. Maybe Samsung will revert with the Note 6 if enough people whine.
Has anyone heard anything? It's about time for the Note 5 rumor machine to start up.

 

[GTRagnarok]

For me personally, no removable back and no microSD is not a deal killer. 128GB of that new super fast memory would be more than enough. I do have a 64GB card for my Note 4, but it's less than half full most of the time, and most of what's on there is a ton of music I never listen to. Since the next Note will probably have USB 3.0/3.1 Type-C to make use of that fast memory, I wouldn't mind ditching the SD card at all.

Removable batteries are just a safeguard to me. I like to think it makes it convenient to replace a worn out or dead battery 2 years down the road. But I always get so bored with a phone by that time that I'm replacing it anyway. I've never had to replace a phone battery.

All in all, I believe the microSD/removable battery crowd is a very small percentage of users. The Galaxy S6 looks like it'll be a record seller for Samsung, and that will put away any doubt they may have had about removing those features.

Anyway, still too early for Note 5 rumors. Maybe in 2-3 months. Well, there's the rumor that it'll be the first phone with a 4K display, which seems highly unlikely to me. That seems too big of a jump. If the Note 5 gets a resolution bump at all, it'll probably be something like the 3200x1800 that we see on laptops. Personally, I hope it stays at 1440p. The geek in me wants to see super high density displays, but practicality wins out at this point. Can't discern the pixels at all as it is now. I'd love an ever bigger display though. 6" would be nice. Oh and a huge battery would be nice. That new 5.1", 8.8mm thick S6 Active has a 3500 maH battery (can't wait to see the battery life on that) while we're stuck with 3220 maH T_T

 

[lopri]

I stick to my previous prediction and say no.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

man a non replaceable battery is the single biggest fail for me. that was the one good thing about samsung phones. does lg still make phones with replaceable batteries?

 

[darkswordsman17]

Yeah I doubt it since those are features aimed at power users who are also the customers the Note targets. I actually think that might have been part of the intention of dropping them on the S6, to differentiate the lines even more. The S6 is the mainstream iPhone competitor and the Note line are for more power users (I could even see Samsung even further that with software to try and make it popular in corporate/enterprise). I'd also expect its design to stay more conservative and maybe for them to split the larger curved phone off from the normal Note. I think most of the people that just wanted the big displays and good quality probably went (back) to Apple.

Plus if they want the slick wow design they have the top of the line curved versions of the Note. Although, I actually think that if the S line is going to ape Apple, they should ape the Surface Pro with the Note line. That would be really interesting.

I'm expecting the Note 5 to be fairly conservative and mostly be a Note 4 with newer SoC/specs (maybe the custom Qualcomm based ones, with using the SoC from the S6 outside the US, maybe they'd have A72 based ones by then too? And then the 20MP Samsung sensor that wasn't ready for the S6).

I wouldn't mind a bit of a shakeup though I'd want them to focus on features and not slick design. For instance front facing stereo speakers, doing something interesting with the camera (i.e. larger sensor instead of cramming more and more pixels into the smaller one, improving flash, etc), making the SD slot hotswappable, making it waterproof (but still easy to swap batteries).

I agree in hoping they don't try and push for 4K on it, just don't think there's a point to it yet (if anytime soon although I know a lot of people already feel like that's the case with 2K). Push the OLED and display quality instead of resolution if Apple decides to match it.

 

[darkswordsman17]

For me personally, no removable back and no microSD is not a deal killer. 128GB of that new super fast memory would be more than enough. I do have a 64GB card for my Note 4, but it's less than half full most of the time, and most of what's on there is a ton of music I never listen to. Since the next Note will probably have USB 3.0/3.1 Type-C to make use of that fast memory, I wouldn't mind ditching the SD card at all.

Removable batteries are just a safeguard to me. I like to think it makes it convenient to replace a worn out or dead battery 2 years down the road. But I always get so bored with a phone by that time that I'm replacing it anyway. I've never had to replace a phone battery.

All in all, I believe the microSD/removable battery crowd is a very small percentage of users. The Galaxy S6 looks like it'll be a record seller for Samsung, and that will put away any doubt they may have had about removing those features.

Anyway, still too early for Note 5 rumors. Maybe in 2-3 months. Well, there's the rumor that it'll be the first phone with a 4K display, which seems highly unlikely to me. That seems too big of a jump. If the Note 5 gets a resolution bump at all, it'll probably be something like the 3200x1800 that we see on laptops. Personally, I hope it stays at 1440p. The geek in me wants to see super high density displays, but practicality wins out at this point. Can't discern the pixels at all as it is now. I'd love an ever bigger display though. 6" would be nice. Oh and a huge battery would be nice. That new 5.1", 8.8mm thick S6 Active has a 3500 maH battery (can't wait to see the battery life on that) while we're stuck with 3220 maH T_T

I think Note users are quite a bit different from the normal S series users. I think that's the draw for a lot of people with regards to the removable battery is less about hotswapping (although there's plenty of those and seems like most of them I encounter are Note users) and more about being able to put in a bigger one (with a commensurate bulging back cover) and/or keep the battery life high after lots of use.

Not really sure where you're going with USB Type-C and memory.

If Samsung was smart they'd market these features even more. The Note could be the pro/business focused phone (especially if they work with Microsoft to make good use of the S-Pen with MS Office apps), but it could also be the photographer's preferred phone (large high res good quality display for previewing images, stylus for editing/marking), and it could be the portable media consumers phone (large OLED display for watching movies, storage for all the media you'd want to carry with you thanks to the SD slot).

 

[dawheat]

I think Note users are quite a bit different from the normal S series users. I think that's the draw for a lot of people with regards to the removable battery is less about hotswapping (although there's plenty of those and seems like most of them I encounter are Note users) and more about being able to put in a bigger one (with a commensurate bulging back cover) and/or keep the battery life high after lots of use.

Not really sure where you're going with USB Type-C and memory.

If Samsung was smart they'd market these features even more. The Note could be the pro/business focused phone (especially if they work with Microsoft to make good use of the S-Pen with MS Office apps), but it could also be the photographer's preferred phone (large high res good quality display for previewing images, stylus for editing/marking), and it could be the portable media consumers phone (large OLED display for watching movies, storage for all the media you'd want to carry with you thanks to the SD slot).

Agree - Samsung has always tried to push the Note series as productivity/business focused. I hope they increase the separation of the Note and S line instead of keeping them in sync and the Note just being a bigger S series with s-pen.

I've bought every Note since the Note 2 - and will buy the Note 5 as long as it has the following:
- mSD - no excuse not having it considering the extra real estate to put in a SIM-type slot like other OEMs.
- Either a bigger fixed battery (3500mAh+) or keep removable. Yes component efficiency will be up, but I'd like another 20% battery buffer from the Note 3/4 which pretty much plateaued in real world usage.
- All the other Samsung norms - the newest AMOLED, touch biometrics, the best SOC available, the best Android camera, S-pen, multi-tasking.

 

[rudeguy]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2423871

Samsung said it didn't go metal unibody on the Note 4 to prevent it from feeling "cold". From what I know, the unibody is what dictates the non-removable battery. So if the Note stays with the plastic construction, it should be removable. But if it goes metal, probably not. BUT Samsung has said that the textured battery cover is a feature they like on the Note series, so that leans towards a removable battery staying. But who knows what Samsung is planning?

My guess is they stay with the same body, improve the display, do some minor tweaks and do away with the expandable memory. Basically make it a big Note Edge but with a better display. But until some leaks come out, I'm just guessing.
__________________

 

[Dulanic]

My prediction is no since it is kind of targeted towards business users and removable battery & SD card is pretty important I'd think.

 

[sweenish]

I'm failing to see how an mSD is important for business users.

Removable battery for guaranteed uptiime, I get, but not the mSD.

 

[Midwayman]

Note is the "pro" line. It would be a mistake not to have the mSD and removable battery.

 

[rudeguy]

I'm failing to see how an mSD is important for business users.

Removable battery for guaranteed uptiime, I get, but not the mSD.

Popping out one memory card and popping in another is much faster than transferring files from one phone to a pc and then back to another phone. There have been plenty of times where having a removable memory card has came in handy. The biggest is when I know I'm going to be in airports and airplanes for 12+ hours and need to have some movies and music on hand. Without removable memory, I'm stuck trying to decide which files to delete to make room. With it, I just pop in my "flying card" and go.

 

[sweenish]

File transfer kind of makes sense. I suppose that expecting any old professional to ftp into their phone with clonezilla and a client like solid explorer is a bit much. File transfer would arguably be just as easy by plugging the phone in via USB.

But that's without getting into the security issues that mSD would introduce. We weren't allowed to plug thumb drives into our PC's unless they originated from the company and never left the premises.

But you spent the majority of your post describing a consumer solution.

 

[rudeguy]

File transfer kind of makes sense. I suppose that expecting any old professional to ftp into their phone with clonezilla and a client like solid explorer is a bit much. File transfer would arguably be just as easy by plugging the phone in via USB.

But that's without getting into the security issues that mSD would introduce. We weren't allowed to plug thumb drives into our PC's unless they originated from the company and never left the premises.

But you spent the majority of your post describing a consumer solution.

I was trying to think of something common and flying was all I could come up with. I also think the vast majority of people don't *need* removable storage but trying to take it away from them would be bad. There are people like me who use it so much that it would be a deal breaker but I don't think my use is common.

Another factor is conditioning. iPhone users got used to limited storage years ago. Android users are used to it. Our owner uses an iPhone but never stores anything on it. He could not care less about removable storage. Our CEO uses Android and uses it for email while traveling, so he has to have a ton of storage at his disposal. He also needs to be able to transfer his files to a new phone if he gets one. Samsung showers him with phones, so that happens a lot. I had to spend 2 days trying to get his old blackberry up and running to pull his files. That was a nightmare. If he had used a phone with removable storage, it would have taken 30 seconds.

In my humble opinion its about giving the customer an option instead of telling them what they need. Or heck...just spend the extra $10 per phone and put 128gb chips in instead of 16 or 32.

 

[Crono]

I was trying to think of something common and flying was all I could come up with. I also think the vast majority of people don't *need* removable storage but trying to take it away from them would be bad. There are people like me who use it so much that it would be a deal breaker but I don't think my use is common.

It may not be as convenient, but you can also use USB OTG if they do away with microSD slots.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820242009

 

[rudeguy]

It may not be as convenient, but you can also use USB OTG if they do away with microSD slots.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820242009

I've used it before and didn't mind it.

I wasn't sure if it worked with all phones though. I used it with my Gnex and it was usable but having a tail on your phone is just weird.

I wonder if I could use that to get a video input on my phone :hmm:

 

[sweenish]

Emails aren't just stored locally, they should just transfer as they log in, as they should be saved on a server to comply with retention policies.

I do agree that we should be well into the era of 128+ GB storage instead of just entering it.

 

[lopri]

It may not be as convenient, but you can also use USB OTG if they do away with microSD slots.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820242009

Great point. They became so small with increased capacity, and go well in a key chain. Very affordable, too.

 

[rudeguy]

Emails aren't just stored locally, they should just transfer as they log in, as they should be saved on a server to comply with retention policies.

I do agree that we should be well into the era of 128+ GB storage instead of just entering it.

Oh crap, I left out part of my thought

His life is in spreadsheets, reports, power points...large files that are important. Did I mention that he doesn't organize his email either? His inbox is beyond out of control. The other thing is he spends at least 10 hours a week on one of our planes. He loves to download his email before taking off, reply to them all while in the air, then send them when he lands. I would hate it but he says it's his favorite way of doing things.

 

[stormkroe]

Oh crap, I left out part of my thought

His life is in spreadsheets, reports, power points...large files that are important. Did I mention that he doesn't organize his email either? His inbox is beyond out of control. The other thing is he spends at least 10 hours a week on one of our planes. He loves to download his email before taking off, reply to them all while in the air, then send them when he lands. I would hate it but he says it's his favorite way of doing things.

I have a 64gb in my note 3, in addition to the 32 internal, and am about full. Large pdfs and lots of photos chew it up like crazy. It looks like 64gb will almost do a year for me, so the sd card slot is awesome in that I can actually replace it at the beginning of the fiscal and actually have an archive.