Mobile World Congress marked the end of a trend. With the release of the Samsung Galaxy S6, removable batteries and expandable storage were pushed out of the mainstream. Samsung was one of the last major smartphone makers to rid their phones of these features. As you can see above, Samsung used these two major features as big reasons to switch from iPhone, but now they have become subjects of ridicule in their own commercials.
With only a handful of "high-end" smartphone makers still including these features in their phones, Microsoft could swoop in with new Lumia flagships and take the title as the "most practical mobile operating system." Let's see how they could do it. Well, let's look at the 3 major operating systems' abilities when it comes to these two functions: increasing short-term and long-term battery life and increasing storage capacity. Let's start with iOS, arguably the poorest competitor in these sectors. Batteries in iPhones are non-replaceable, unless you take them to an Apple store and pay an outrageous price for them to do so. This means you could increase the long-term life of your phone, but you can't increase the short-term life, unless you count external battery packs. Increasing the internal storage in iPhones is impossible, with no way to attach even an external portable storage solution. Android does fairly well in these categories. Many new Android phones have ultra-power saving mode, which turns off all unnecessary functions to increase battery life. The Yota Phone also has an ingenious feature that allows you to move the main screen to an e-ink screen on the back of the phone, very useful. Most Androids have removable batteries, but more recently, as seen with the Samsung Galaxy S6, OEMs have abandoned this practical ability in favor of a slimmer design for their phones. Most Android phones sport expandable storage, too, but again, many flagships these days are scrapping that functionality for a prettier look. Android devices also cannot store apps on SD cards, which means the amount of apps you can hold on your Android is limited. These two features of smartphones bring out the best of Windows Phone. Most Windows Phones have removable batteries, but a few high-ends such as the Lumia 1520, HTC One M8 (for Windows), Lumia 930/Icon, and Lumia 1020 do not have this ability, although most of those sport very large integrated batteries. Windows Phone, like Android, has a battery life-increasing feature called Battery Saver, which turns off unnecessary functions. Almost all Windows Phones support expandable storage, excluding the Lumia 930/Icon. With Windows Phone, users can completely store their apps on an SD Card, making the number of apps you can have almost limitless. As you can see, Windows Phone in most cases already has the best support for both removable batteries and expandable storage. Microsoft could definitely use these strengths to their advantage, as many other smartphone makers are pulling these features out of their phones. If the new Lumia flagships being released later this year had these two extremely important features, Windows Phone could easily claim the title of the most practical smartphone operating system on the planet. Like, share, and comment on this post. Support this feature suggestion here if you agree. Thanks!
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Windows 10The author of the Windows 10 Page Blog. Not much else to say about me. CategoriesArchives© 2015 Windows 10 Page. Office, Windows, and Windows Phone are registered trademarks of Microsoft. Lumia is a trademark of Microsoft.
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