If you want a removable battery you have to build a clip or latch system to allow the battery to be removable as well as a component shielding so that grubby little fingers don't go in there gumming up the works. Finally, a removable battery will have different receptors on it to allow it to be more easily swapped by laymen as opposed to a ribbon cable which takes a bit more finesse.
You CAN replace the battery in these units..you just have to be better at your job than your grandmother replacing her cordless phone battery.
The only time I ever used a removable battery is to cut power to my phone to do a hard reboot because it stalled.
While this is useful, I wouldn't pay extra for it nor would it be a deciding factor.
SD Card? Why? What do you people put on your phones? I'm lucky if I break 3GB with apps. Photos, movies, etc. on Dropbox where I have 70GB worth of stuff.
And various social media apps have fairly large local caches. Examples include instagram, tumblr, and vine.
So if you're just using a bunch of cloud services you don't need a lot of space, but not everyone uses their mobile that way.
As lame as it might seem I just keep a spare battery with me at all times when the unexpected happens and I'm out later than usual or just use my phone too much.
I guess a case with a battery built in work work just as well, but I'm not willing to add the extra bulk.
Oh and get the 32GB model, that was obvious to me....
And whats worse is that if your streaming it, your gonna be eating your battery even more.
Perhaps I just don't look at facebook and instagram enough on my phone, but I never have issues under normal conditions. I'd say I usually have > 50% left at the end of the day, and I very rarely get under 20%.
The big problem with smartphones is that if you forget to plug it in at night, the next day you can end up without battery in the middle of the day.
I also have a dumbphone that I keep in my backpack for family emergencies. Battery lasts for at least 7 days, so I only have to remember to charge it once per week.
That said, it seems the portable chargers are the preferred way now. They often hold enough charge for 4-5 phone charges, so that is nicer than carrying around 4-5 batteries. And, I can charge lots of other things with it as well.
The computation is actually relatively cheap, it's keeping the camera open and on that's expensive. The camera is, bar none, the most power hungry component on modern smartphones.
I hear that complaint a lot as well. Just not something I've ever had a problem with. I set it on the nightstand and plug it in when I go to bed. I don't think I've ever forgotten to do that.
And with USB being so standard and available pretty much everywhere, it almost seems like a non-issue. It's not like back in the day when you had to have separate car chargers for different phones for example. I've seem USB charging ports in trains, airplanes, airports, hotel rooms, portable camping battery packs and even some power extension cables.
Something like this: http://amzn.com/B005X1Y7I2 seems to be small enough to be pocketable while having enough juice to help you out if you need it.
The only problem I would have is remembering to keep the thing charged.
The decision was a combination of a lot of things- I save money. I am aware of my surroundings. I think. A lot. Sometimes I talk to people on the train. Or I will print out a paper and not bring anything else with me. "You read this you lazy no-attention mfucka or you sit here and do nothing". I am learning to draw- also on paper. I do not care which wireless company has been revealed this week to have a direct back door for the NSA. No one ever calls me. This is a big deal for me. Even when I had a phone, there is rarely necessity or cause for disruptive synchronous communication.
And, for everything I miss about phone ownership, there is almost always something good that came out of it. I miss maps. But I also never learned where anything was. I always depended on my phone even after living in a city for years.
I miss being able to immediately find the results to some shitty singing compeition show. Others miss me being more responsive- my response time is now ~5-10 minutes during the work day but on the weekend it might be a few hours. But really, its ok.
I would consider a really nice dumb device though.
You've got a strange definition of "exact same functionality" when it means making the phone effectively double the size & weight for half of its operational time.