Samsung Flagship Line Rebooted: The Galaxy S6

The latest flagship smartphone from the Korean electronics giant is a polarising proposition. On one hand, the latest Galaxy S6 eschews many features that Samsung fans have loved. These features have been touted by Android fanboys and girls to their iOS loving friends, for many years, as definitive advantages of using a Google powered smartphone. The features are: removable and expandable storage in the form of an SD, SDHC or SDXC card and a removable battery. In fact, with previous generations of Galaxy phones, Samsung even highlighted the ability to easily swap batteries on their phones, in advertisements that poked fun of iPhones.

Thus, it comes as a great loss to diehard Samsung fans who also liked the idea of being able to swap out a dying battery with a fully charged one in less than a minute. Also gone is the ability to buy replacement Samsung Galaxy S6 covers and swap them with the ugly covers that Galaxy phones shipped with. In the past, this was the only way to cover up the hideous, fake leather effect backs on Galaxy phones such as the Note. On some models, Samsung truly got carried away and even added fake stitching that was just moulded plastic.

But all that is gone with the new S6. You can still buy Samsung Galaxy S6 Cases if you want to add a little style and protection to your phone but you no longer have to do it just to hide the ugly plastic back or the tacky metallic accents on your phone. This is because every shiny metal accent on the latest S is actually metal and not just plastic with a thin layer of silvery paint on top of it. While the Galaxy has lost a removal battery and expandable memory, what it has gained is a sexy metal chassis that makes it stronger and thinner on the inside and much better looking on the outside.

The metal chassis also means that with wear and tear, there is no paint that will fade off the S6 like it did with previous generation Galaxy phones, so the latest version should keep looking as good as new for much longer. Samsung may have roused the ire of many of its long time fans but most other smartphone makers are also moving in the same direction. The trend now is towards manufacturers making thinner phones that lose the removal memory card slots and the removable batteries in the interest of making thinner, sturdier phones. Apple has had huge success with its iPhone line despite the fact that it has never ever had either of these two features and now Android phone makers are realising that they can get away with it as well, as long as the phones make up for the loss of features, with other advantages.