[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] jazzmachine:
To say that I'm concerned with the removal of these features from a convenience / versatility standpoint would be an understatement. However I haven't seen the most significant implication of this development fully addressed (people have mentioned the non-removable battery putting the hardware at much greater risk if it gets wet, but those comments have mainly been unaddressed, and I haven't seen the full implications of issues such as that stated).

By removing the micro sd slot and replaceable/removable battery for the first time ever, Samsung has released a flagship device with a

firm

expiration date as well as greatly increasing the risk that the device will even "survive" until that date. In that sense, pretty much ANY previous Samsung device was more resilient and could potentially be kept running for as long as you cared to use it. One of the main appealing element of Samsung devices to me, in the past, has been the ability for a "skilled" user to replace nearly any malfunctioning peripheral component quite easily and relatively cheaply. That is no longer the case with the fully sealed S6; if any component dies / begins to function abnormally (battery, for the most obvious example... also consider the inability to replace a damaged micro usb port, digitizer, etc..), the entire device is junk. Your options are try to get a warranty replacement, if eligible, or just replace the phone. Some very bad news for JUMP members is that the phone must boot (sole requirement) to trade it in. If it won't due to water damage (considering the much greater likelihood that getting the phone a bit wet will render it inoperable, lacking the ability for the user to take the proven steps to minimize / eliminate any permanent damage from the incident), your singular option is to eat the entire cost of the device, and buy an un-discounted new phone. Again, this has never previously been the case with an expensive Samsung flagship. From that perspective, not only is a purchase of the S6 or S6 Edge a 'vote' for the permanent removal of these extremely valuable features (from a variety of perspectives), but also a far riskier purchase than any other previous Samsung device.

I could also see this having a VERY negative affect on the resale value of the phone, for those who sell their current phone when upgrading. Even imagining a scenario where the S6 is insanely awesome, to the degree that it convinces "naysayers" such as myself that dropping the user accessibility was actually a

brilliant

move (I said imagine! ;) ). This is just not a phone that I'd even consider buying secondhand. With the phone having a discrete lifespan, there's simply no way to know how much of that lifespan remains on any particular unit. Even if a phone is aesthetically in "out of the box condition", a single, formerly user-replaceable, component could very well be on the verge of failure - taking the rest of the "perfect condition" phone that you just bought with it (I'd imagine that one bought a used phone to save money, and would not be happy to additionally pay whatever it will cost to have it "professionally repaired").

According to an article that I read, getting inside of an S6 requires a pro-level heat gun, other "specialty" tools that I can't even remember, and mad skills. As for the advice given for resealing it, if you managed to open it cleanly, without breaking any of the glass, "Good luck!" was all that was offered.

I do realize that this is clearly the case with many other devices, and thus was previously a major advantage of Samsung hardware. This design change, and the prospect of the same being to the Note series, simply has caused me to consider the above concerns for the first time in years, after owning the Note 2-4, which identifies a seemingly overlooked MAJOR downgrade of the S6 when compared to the N4, S5, etc... I'm tempted to try to further strengthen my argument about the importance of user replaceable parts by drawing a parallel between smartphones and "actual" computers (I'm actually currently replacing only the motherboard on my desktop machine... my Z68 mobo just crapped out, but I saw no reason that my 2500K CPU couldn't last me at least a couple more years, so grabbed an (upgrade) Z77 mobo on the cheap, as Intel socket 1155 compatible components about to disappear)... so I just did :p A last thought on that note is SSD/HDD configs... clearly quite popular, and some (myself included) would consider them "optimal". Among the many benefits of having two (or several) disks vs. one is the ease with which one can have the benefit of (one layer) of local data redundancy, i.e. local storage device #1 fails, not a huge problem, as it's backed up in it's entirety on storage device #2 (as well as elsewhere). In many ways, Samsung has seemingly become entrenched in a pattern of taking a step forward in some areas while taking one (or more) steps backwards in each of it's updated flagship devices. The S6 is clearly the most extreme in this sense, which is why I personally hope that its sales/after-release reviews will be the wake-up call that they need to break out of that pattern and return to the elements that differentiate them from other manufacturers, rather than continuing to "follow the crowd" (at least in terms of design and the dropped features) as the Note 5 is designed.