We never said the Galaxy Note 5 won’t have a microSD slot
Earlier this week, we published a column talking about how the Galaxy Note 5 might not have a microSD slot. It turns out that what was clearly an opinion piece was considered news and covered by a lot of publications out there, and it seems many took our article to be somewhat definitive proof that the Note 5 will not feature expandable storage. So we just wanted to clear things up with this post, and tell everyone that what we wrote about the Note 5 and a microSD slot was strictly an opinion and not a piece of information from Samsung or any of our insiders.
That article was based on the fact that Samsung’s UFS 2.0 storage is too fast for a microSD slot to be able to keep up, and one of our readers also chimed in with another technicality that would make it impossible/difficult for Samsung to include a microSD slot on its next Galaxy Note flagship. We still think that we won’t be getting that revered slot on the Galaxy Note 5, but we would also like to point out that it’s simply what we believe and not what could come to pass. It’s certainly not coming from someone at Samsung, so it would be great if people would stop taking that article as confirmation on what the Galaxy Note 5 may or may not have in the storage department.
We would also like to say that even if you don’t get expandable storage on the Galaxy Note 5, you shouldn’t write it off because of that single reason. Samsung’s new optimized TouchWiz coupled with the productivity features on the Note lineup, plus the company’s top-notch hardware – its processor, displays, cameras and new-found design chops – are sure to make for a phone that is notably better than the Galaxy S6 and possibly the best on the market at launch. Removable battery is another feature that might be killed off with the Note 5, but those unwilling to look past the lack of these features is bound to be left on the wayside while the rest of us enjoy the excellent flagships we know Samsung will continue to launch in the future.
43 Comments
Sign in »43
Leave a Reply
Samsung is now rolling out the much-anticipated Lollipop update to all models of the Galaxy S6 located in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden and Norway. As for as added functionality goes, this upgrade transports the latest build of the Android operating system to the handset, in addition to a truckload of bug fixes and stability improvements. All the changes you’d expect to find in the Lollipop software are bundled into this upgrade, including support for multiple accounts, improved notifications, stronger 256-bit encryption, a smoother multitasking experience and the recently-announced Material Design guidelines. As usual, the upgrade is being rolled out in stages,… Read more »
If Samsung ditches the microsd slot again, they wouldn’t sell as well as the Note 4.It seems like Samsung wants to borrow Apple’s route, but here is the thing. Samsung users have always dealt with expandability and removable battery which is not the case with Apple users. Apple has never included either microsd slot or removable battery in their devices and people got used to that.Nexus devices are good examples too, people got used to them because they began without microsd, removable battery and waterproofing exactly like Apple.Samsung shouldn’t just boycott their signature and what attract customers. As a Samsung… Read more »
i think Samsung will follow this in 2015 and 2016 (galaxy note 5) OS: lollipop 5.1.1 (out of the box) u know Google delay (android m) will make Samsung wont have the time to make note 5 have android m . display: 4k (Samsung doesn’t put same display in note series/ though it may be true to have 4k ) ram: 4 gigs ram (cause note 5 will have 64 bit CPU then Samsung may jump to 4 gigs ram i think they were thinking about it before with note 4 but u know Google delay lollipop release than they… Read more »
Not to be a troll incase someone thinks I am but honestly, what do you guys put on your sd cards that’s so important that you can’t just move them onto a laptop? Can’t you buy those flash drives that have a usb for the phone and a usb for the computer? I can understand filling the 32GB or the 64GB inbuilt storage but filling another 32, 64 or 128GB sd card and still complain about storage space? Put your contents in an external HDD, PC or use Cloud Storage.
This reads like a forced apology, with even more speculation about no battery tagged on the end.
I knew it was an opinion because it stated the exact same things as every other site that all stated they were opinions. I have the note 3 now, came from the I4 to the note 2, tried the S5, worst phone I have ever used in my life. I so rarely remove the battery or SD card, unless I am doing a restore, that having non removable battery and SD card would not be an issue IF they made the battery last 24 hours under heavy use and didn’t overcharge for 128g memory. To me, fast charge is a… Read more »
Yes, removing SD Cards and exchangable batteries MIGHT be only an opinion, it MIGHT not be a fact. But some of us still hope that our voices are heard. Several of Samsung’s decisions were smart in the past, so how about introducing a new, official rumour? Glad I introduced it 🙂 —- Samsung also plans in parallel to announce a Note 5 Classic with an SD Card slot and a removable battery and probably a little less speed and a little less slim design, just to satisfy the few people who insist on these features! Sounds like a fairly easy… Read more »
As far as the Note goes, the only feature that is a must for me is the S pen. If they did away with that, I would truly walk away from Samsung. Removable battery and SD card are features I use daily and very much want to have on the 5, but if there’re not there I’ll learn to cope and still buy it.
So. All of you being mad at the idea of no sd card… I challenge you to go buy a cheep ass sd card. And stuff it in your phone.. And then use it for a couple days. Pull it out, and use it and feel the difference… that is exactly what you would do to a s6 if you plugged an sd card into it. Even if it’s a 100$ sd card. The fact that the system has to take into account there is a sd card, and I might have to read from it, makes the whole system… Read more »
I’ve had a MicroSD card in my Note 2 since day one. I now have a 64gb card in it and it’s right full. I like to archive my photos, videos and movies on it. Filling up 32gb internal takes no time at all. And cloud storage is a joke. Obviously Samsung is going to do what it wants and consumers will buy accordingly. And with that said, that’s precisely why the S6 has literally tanked in sales. Big time. The Note 5 can be their saving grace if they don’t make the same mistake.
We pay a lot of money for expensive smartphones. That, I believe, gives us the right to demand (as clients) all the comforts it should have. I don’t like to compromise with the design abstract requirements. Really how much volume does a card slot gives to the phone? I don’t care about design as I believe most of Note users take it for its productivity (s-pen) and not for its beauty. Why do you think the S6 sales are not the expected(reduced)? Is it possible due to the fact that people felt disappointed from the absence of the advantages (sd-card)that… Read more »
I can live with a non-removable battery. But I use a MicroSD card to save al my photos and music on, only because I don’t like saving anything in the cloud. So if my phones gives up on me, I still have everything. You can install all the apps you have just over again, but you can’t take the pictures once again. You feel me… So I don’t need to think to connect to my macbook once in a while to save everything. When I had the iphone in the past, I didn’t need to care about a microsd, because… Read more »
If it does not have a microSD slot, it’s very important to have large internal storage capacity starting at 64GB to 128GB option. Also more RAM is absolutely necessary with these new phones, they need a minimum of 5GB to start.
Maybe change “Columns” to “Opinions”??
I never liked the battery replacing procedure. I feel that opening the phone’s back shouldn’t be a regular/daily thing to do. I do have spare batteries for my phone but I rarely used them and not because I didn’t run out of battery. I’d rather find a wall socket for a quick charge, or carry a battery pack. So…the lack of quick battery replacing option I can live with, but having to pay a premium for extra storage instead of getting a cheap SD for my MP3s, pictures, videos is something which really frustrates me. Currently the difference between the… Read more »
Micro SD card and Removable battery:
-Micro SD card: It`s removal is necessary to reduce lag. The slowest component in a computer system creates a bottleneck in IO, slowing down the system aka Lag. If you want a micro SD, You can get a full metal body Samsung A series phone.
– Removable battery: This is now a non issue with Samsung fast charger( at least from my angle), given that you can get a lot of juice into your phone even before leaving the toilet.
No removable battery I can maybe come to live with. My Note 2’s battery has held out fine so from experience, that’s okay. But no MicroSD support to me is on par with the Zack Morris brick phones. No thanks. Brand loyalty is key and I’ll be another to jump ship the second it’s 100% confirmed to not have MicroSD. In protest, I’ll avoid all Samsung products altogether, TVs, etc. The S6 sales have been a disaster for Samsung and it seems they either refuse to listen to their customers for whatever reason, or someone in power is an iPhone… Read more »
lol. If you think that you should boycott Samsung products I bet you cannot. Because PS4 has Samsung’s parts, Iphone 6s will have the Processor, Storage, RAM. A few months ago I had a graphics card in my dads office which used Samsung components. They are everywhere. So Boycotting is a pretty tough job. I am sure Note 5 wouldn’t have Micro SD
Not a boycott. Just no longer brand loyal or interest. There’s a difference. When people are more inclined to purchase a Samsung TV that pairs well with their Samsung mobile, there’s no longer that interest/inclination if you don’t own the mobile. Just one of many examples.
Cloud storage will never be a viable cost-effective alternative until governments and bureaucrats take away the ceilings imposed on network bandwidths. Australia is a perfect example of this. Right now, we’re getting infrastructure hardware installed in our cities which is capable of gigabit-per-second asymmetric data transfer speeds. Thing is, our Government regulators have throttled the network, capping DL to 100mbps and UL to 40mbps on a residential connection. Then they’ve got the hide to advertise how wonderful the new network is, and how much your life will change once you connect, while charging ridiculously high fees for that access. My… Read more »
Exactly. Cloud Storage sucks. Its not a viable option.
Would be nice if Samsung know how to make existing Micro-Sd cards backwards compatible with the current internal UFS 2.0 storage, that way I will be satisfied.
One can only hope. Maybe they will figure it out, especially now that Google is giving Micro SD card more support with newer versions of Android (read/write permissions in Lollipop, app storage on Micro SD cards for M).
maybe note 5 s7 may get it
Well… people nowadays tend to believe ur writings even it’s merely a rumor or a personal opinion. This thing has not surprised me as u hv millions of followers or readers.
Yeah, we were simply surprised that even big tech blogs didn’t realize it was just an opinion article, so we thought we’d clarify things. 🙂
The Note 5 will do fine without you guys busy crying about sd cards and removable battery. Yes they were important features and it was one of the few things that set Samsung apart from the competition. If you want to be nostalgic do that. Samsung will still make phone of the year phones and people will just have to move on with the times. Go with your LG G4s, and we’ll enjoy our Note 5s
No, it won’t “do just fine without us”. The note is not an iPhone that everyone goes buying with eyes closed and cash flowing from the pockets. My family has a NiteNote because i had one. Some of my friends have a Note because i had one. My wife had a NiteNote before me, because i showed it to her. The Note market is basically rooted into early adopters and people who are seen as buying phones “informed”. Nobody from the mainstream market just walks into a phone shop and hey suddenly decides to buy a Note. So no, i… Read more »
Very well said! It is a grass roots device with a very high learning curve, and lots of new adopters who took a big risk. But with that risk not paying off and Samsung making unfamiliar but drastic changes, they may lose a lot of the momentum they were gaining.
You’re right, nobody walks into the store and just decides to buy a Note. Yes the Note is a niche product but the Note’s are the S series on steroids. You look at the history of the Note line and see what I mean. The first 3 Note’s are upgrades of the S’s that came before them. The Note 4 is a combo of the S5 and the Galaxy Alpha. The reason why I said what I said is because there’s a 100% chance of history repeating itself with the Note 5. You know as well as I do that… Read more »
The Note WAS a niche market, but is No more. It`s now mainstream and most women in my church just walked in and bought a Note, because they knew what they wanted, even with the 6 Plus in the market. The mainstream name is called Phablet, and that is why Apple had to release the 6 plus in order not to miss on the juice.
Apple only got on to the phablet scene because even iPhone users wanted bigger screens but did not make the switch to Samsung or any other brands for that matter. Now that they have, it gives iPhone users a reason not to switch to bigger screened phones that ran android, and phablet users to Apple. Now Samsung has retailed by bringing out a new design language to bring back or to make more people switch to Samsung’s phones. People wanted Samsung’s phones to be more like iPhone in terms of build but when they do bring a new design language,… Read more »
That’s right, I agree with you.
From all the stuff I read from many users I can just say they will have a huge problem if they won’t give customers the removalbe battery and the SD-Card Slot. They didn’t sell as much Galaxy S6 as expected and they WON’T sell as many Note 5 Smartphones as they currently expect.
My first Smartphone was the Galaxy S2 and the current one is the Note 3. This year it will be time for the Note 5 but only with the mentioned features.
Exactly! What makes me forget about the lack of removable storage on my G920i is the fact that – when I had them both running 5.0.2 – the whole UI is so much faster than my G900i. Its as though my S6 is no longer preoccupied with that external storage, and can now concentrate on what we all want the most from our portable comms devices. You’re nuts if you think ‘storage’ is the top of the Wants List, ‘cos for me I’ll vote for processing power and network connectivity first, closely followed by the best display panel, then the… Read more »
I disagree with you. Some people don’t need the extra storage so they don’t see how important getting more than 32GB is for many other people. Like people which carry tens of GBs of MP3s, and shoot lots of family photos and videos. For me having more than 32GB is very difficult to be without. That being said, why should I pay several times the price of a larger SD for built-in storage expansion? Currently the Galaxy S6 64GB is $200+ over the price of the 32GB variant. These drawbacks of the Galaxy S6 is exactly what’s stopping it from… Read more »
Huge mistake if they do not have the SD card and removable battery. If any of their devices need it the Note is it. I would not have bought the Note 4 without those things, obviously then will not buy the 5. Telling me touchwiz is better will make me buy it?
this comment nothing but a troll i think this should be removed he just try to make longer comment / sammobile should add a button called (read more of this comment ) under every long comment cause this is not acceptable look how many lines he took to write his nonsense comment please sammobile take action imagine a fans of you using his smartphone and reading those longer comment nonsense
I think mods should ban this trolling Q8PEACE user once and for all. Most of his comments does not pertain to the article, but instead accuses users as trolling. Please mod lay the ban hammer on this troll.
‘broo wt*** only 2TB internal storage???and just sd card up to 4TB???
OMG OMG OMGGGG it not enough -.- I will not buy this phone,i will stay on my note 4 whit 32GB and SD CARD(up to 128gb)’
How can you enjoy your flagship when you ran out of battery? While others can just replace the current battery with an extended one without the need to to carry around a powerbank.
The sd card i can live with. The battery i just can’t.
So I’ll keep rocking old phones then with replacable batteries, or no phone at all. Like the slogan of OnePlus, i will not settle for a mediocre batterylife, it defeats the whole point of having a phone.
Then you can settle for Yellow Screen, Poor Support, No spare parts, Buggy OS etc.
There is nothing stopping samsung fitting a usb 3.0 based microsd slot in the note5
its rather simple and trivial
the 7420/7422 has a usb controller does it not..
people use sd cards for mass storage not for blazing speed
a uhs usb 3.0 based slot is more than enough
I for one wont go near any device that doesnt have the following
1 hardware buttons
2 micro sd card support
3 removable battery
Ther is is, the size and battery and OS, please also show the phone on the market with this setup
They red to put in a 2nd USB controler, is ther 2 on the CPU and so on