Man, I really miss the removable battery and microSD card slot

Watching a video of the Fairphone 5 disassembled is one thing, holding it in your hand for the first time and realizing how different it feels from today’s Android phones is quite another. It immediately reminds me of Nokia under two identifiers: the good Nokia with its customizable back cover and removable battery, and the new Nokia HMD with its pure Android hardware design and somewhat utilitarianism.

Before turning on the Fairphone 5, I opened the transparent back cover and took out the battery. I feel like I’ve gone back in time to my first phone experience back in 2003. Back then, phones were designed around convenience and repairability; you can remove the back and/or front bezel and change the color of your entire phone for $20. Batteries have a lifespan of about a year, so you will buy a new battery when the original battery begins to show signs of aging. And the retail stores always have a few screwdrivers ready if you need to fix something.

When the battery ran out, I saw another relic of the past – the microSD card slot. With the exception of some smartphones with expandable memory, today’s flagship smartphones add $100 per memory tier which makes me forget what this is like. What do you mean when I can insert a $12 microSD card and suddenly I have 128GB more storage?! What a great money saving tip!

This makes me think of the shoddy experience that Apple, Samsung, Google and some other smartphone makers are imposing. When my 128GB Pixel 7 Pro started warning me I was running low on storage a month ago, I could have stuffed one of my empty microSD cards from my drawer instead of messing around with freeing up techniques. different memory for days until I got few GB. preventive. How silly is it that a phone with a built-in camera can only shoot a few dozen 4K HDR videos before it calls for help?

And when my Pixel 7 Pro runs out of battery in the afternoon of an extremely busy day, I can buy another one and keep charging. Remove the empty battery, insert a second battery, and turn it off. No dangling cables, no on-the-go chargers, and no overheating phones. Not to mention that I can just change the battery every few years to keep my Pixel fresh for four years of security updates.

These solutions should have worked in the early 2010s, but somehow progress has set us back. Looking back, I can see companies making arguments against a 3.5mm port, for example. It’s hardly waterproof and takes up a lot of precious space inside the phone, but you can still use the USB-C DAC for wired headphones or connect it wirelessly to some Bluetooth headphones. Those are possible options and solutions.

But there’s no tangible reason to get rid of the microSD card slot (aside from corporate greed and eventual profits) nor are there any practical alternatives to non-removable batteries. The only solution is to pay more for a higher level of storage and send your phone in for repair to have the battery replaced. (Some right to repair initiatives are making the latter more accessible, but this task generally still requires expertise.)

It’s been almost 10 years since I gave up both of these good features. When I switched from the Samsung Galaxy S3 to the LG G2, I found myself living in a world where I couldn’t buy a replacement battery or add extra storage on the cheap. Even worse, I had to find a way to quickly transfer all the photos, videos, offline music, and podcasts I was storing on my microSD card to my new phone. Spoiler: It took a long time and a crappy micro-USB card reader/adapter.

From then on, I could no longer rely on the SD card to easily store and transfer data. I had to adapt and remember to regularly use the cable to transfer data to my computer. I also can’t carry much data with me; 32GB on my G2 should be enough for all my media. I’m not happy about it, but the tech world is moving in that direction and if I want other cool specs and features, I have to deal with these limitations.

Since then, I’ve switched between the LG G series, Galaxy S series, and Pixel phones with two constants: no removable battery and no microSD card slot. I have also become desensitized to this. “It is what it is.” And honestly, as a tech writer with access to a bit more modern flagship devices than your average Joe, I don’t have to deal with the consequences as much. So. I change phones every year, before the battery degrades or the memory fills up (generally speaking), and give my older devices to relatives who have less need.

But with the Fairphone 5 in hand, I’m rethinking that complacent view. Why does it take a niche company and the European Commission to fix a problem that shouldn’t have been a problem in the first place?

Removable batteries are awesome and I can’t wait until phone manufacturers figure out how to implement them by 2027 (the European Commission is forcing them to), hopefully not having to sacrifice a strong IP rating. And microSD storage is incredibly useful at a time when smartphones can shoot 4K HDR video (if not 8K). Paying $100-200 more for the same phone with a little more memory when expandable memory is so cheap is a shame.

I don’t think I’ll list a removable battery or microSD card slot as absolute requirements for my next purchase, but they will seriously influence my decisions from now on. Their absence now feels like a real bummer and the roster of pros will have to get over it.