Those who are eagerly waiting for the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 with prospects for the return of the microSD slot and removable battery shouldn't get their hopes up too high.
As SamMobile notes, it is not likely that Samsung is going back to its old formula of offering microSD slot-fitted smartphones with batteries that can be removed and swapped for another. Instead, the South Korean smartphone maker will more likely forge ahead with the design-centric formula it introduced in the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge.
Indeed, the slimmer, sleeker, glass-and-metal flagship smartphones look more pleasing to the eye than their predecessors, but to make the new devices look and feel more premium like Apple's iPhones, Samsung had to introduce a few compromises that, unfortunately, some loyal Samsung fans were not ready to take.
The decision is not all about producing more iPhone-like Android phones, though. The Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge have Universal Flash Storage (UFS) 2.0, which is currently the fastest storage technology in the world. UFS is tested to read and write data up to two times faster than regular, old eMMC 5.0, which is what is used in the Galaxy S5 and the Galaxy Note 4, and the technology used on even the most advanced microSD cards are not able to keep up with the speed of UFS.
Moreover, UFS uses a new memory controller, a chip that handles data transfer and communication with the processor. eMMC 5.0 and microSD, on the other hand, both use an older memory controller that allows them to transfer data back and forth more efficiently. For Samsung to be able to include support for microSD in the Galaxy Note 5, it first has to find a way to make UFS compatible with the older memory controller.
All of these are speculation on SamMobile's part, but the latest leak from Steve Hemmerstoffer, more popularly known by his Twitter handle @onleaks, shows the Galaxy Note 5 will have a design very similar to the Galaxy S6, adding strength to the argument that we won't be seeing a microSD slot and a removable battery on the Galaxy Note 5.
The new video shows a CAD rendering of the upcoming smartphone featuring sleek curved glass panes and a SIM card slot on the side, which doesn't bode well for users who are looking for a comeback of the two features they miss the most.
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns | Flickr
