iPhone 5 to Galaxy S5: Unbridled (Battery) Power...

...to easily change your own battery.

My King Theoden Moment...

I had iPhones for so long, I forgot 1) that other phones had batteries that I (a lowly user) could change myself and 2) how much I cared about this.  It reminded me of The Lord of the Rings, when Grima Wormtongue & Sauron's hold over King Theoden was broken...

I think back to when I first bought an iPhone and discovered that my battery could only be changed by a special snowflake, for a fee, and I might need to go without my iPhone for days or weeks to do that.  It kinda ticks me off anew when I think about it.

So, I was actually caught off guard when I saw that Samsung had an accessory that was basically a charger and case for an extra battery, because my first thought was, "wait, I can change my battery once again?"

Longer Use in the Short Term

Obviously, the immediate impact is a longer time of use before you need to get to a charger.

For travel, it means peace of mind.  If you travel, you know the tiresome bother of having to manage power consumption by your devices.  And if you travel internationally, you know how much worse that can be.

Or maybe you just keep that phone lit up most of the time, for work or play.  Whatever the device, you need to keep plugging in because you are always seeing the red bar of death.

Either way, the ability to swap out a fresh battery when plugging in is not a viable/convenient option is a big deal.  Sure, lots of creative folks came up with portable charging options for iPhones, but slapping in a fresh battery is hard to beat.

More Convenient Recharging

Another nifty side effect is that when you need a recharge, you can swap in the fresh battery and use the recharge case to charge the depleted one, so you won't necessarily need to sit within cord's reach of an electrical socket if you need to use your phone while recharging.

Longer Device Lifetime in the Long Run

As much as I like new technology, I also like to squeeze as much as I can out of things I buy and old batteries can really make an otherwise fine device pretty annoying to use.  Take, for example, my iPhone 4S.  It saw a lot of heavy use and already we are seeing a dramatically shorter battery life, so much so that it is common that it runs out of power before the end of a workday (and with relatively light use, compared to a typical user).

So, for the price of a battery, you are empowered to correct that problem.

Not Having to Give Up Your Device For A Battery Change

As mentioned, Apple takes the phone from you to change the battery. For many this is a big deal, whether it is an inconvenience or a feeling that "the man" should keep their hands off their phone as much as possible.

What Was I Saying?

Hopefully, I will remember this in the future when I weigh the pros and cons of smartphones, I will remember this important consideration.

If You Are Curious...

I did go ahead and order the very product pictured up top, the "Galaxy S 5 Spare Battery Charging System" from Samsung.  If its performance is surprisingly good or bad, I will certainly post something about it.