I joined Android and Samsung with the Galaxy S5 and I absolutely love this phone. And yes, I chose Samsung for it's replaceable battery and micro SD slot. I have seen lots of Galaxy owners, not once have I heard one lamenting of the "cheap" plastic back. As has been said numerous times, most people simply put a cover over it anyway. I was even able to replace myself very cheaply the camera lens that I scratched.
I think Samsung have been listening to the wrong people. The S6 is way too much like an iphone. The problem is now two fold. Iphone people won't switch to Samsung regardless. Android people (like myself in a few years) will now consider other products as Samsung have lost their unique features. I know that when it comes to replace my S5, I will consider HTC, LG etc, whereas if Samsung retained the replaceable back and micro SD, I wouldn't have even considered another Android device.
How would I have developed the S6? Firstly, I would have made a more premium replaceable back. If you just look on ebay, there are heaps of aluminium backs for the S5 for eg. Samsung could have made really nice brushed aluminium backs, like HTC, except removeable and replaceable. Or even something like carbon fibre. Making the back non replaceable is definitely a step in the wrong direction. Look at the LG G3, they did just that. Make a brushed plastic replaceable back. Samsung should have done that except with more premium materials.
Secondly, I would not have made the S6 slimmer than the S5. Again, I have encountered a number of S5 owners. Not one has ever said they wished their phone was slimmer. I would have bumped up the battery capacity and kept the same thickness as the S5. Can you imagine how good the battery life would have been if the S6 was a few mms thicker, with full HD instead of quad HD and the new 8 core processor? Now that would have been a selling point, far over and above quad HD. The new S6 should have had a slightly larger battery, say 3000mAh for a nice round number.
I NEVER would have entered the pixel war. I can guarantee that the vast majority of phone users, across all mobile platforms, care less for "quad HD" display. And now Samsung is committed to competing in an ever increasing pixel war. Look at the hugely successful iphone 6. It makes do with a mere HD display. And no Apple fan could care less. Samsung should have stuck to full HD with their Note 4 and let the pixel war die.
Finally, if I was marketing, I would have come up with 2 versions of battery capacity. A regular version with the same thickness as the S5 with something like a 3000mAh battery. I would have also offered a genuine extended battery version a few mms thickers. Let's say 9 or 10mm with possibly up to a 4000mAh battery. Can you imagine how many Samsung fans would gladly pay extra and don't mind a bit of extra thickness for a phone with that capacity? I would gladly have handed over my money for that. But not quad HD, an embedded and smaller battery, no SD and no waterproofing.
I hope I am wrong though and Samsung kick Apple's arse.
