HTC? Well, I'll never forget the HD2 ...ever! Finally they got it....it's the screen, folks, the screen! You can't have too much screen (well, until its a tablet ). I came from windows mobile (pocket pc through windows mobile 6.5) to android. At one point I was offered a free iPhone 3s, but I couldn't stand the iOS operating system. I'd become soooo used to hacking my phone's registry to do EXACTLY what I wanted and iOS is sooooooooo restrictive; I gave the iPhone back. Then, Microsoft went to Windows Phone (ugh).....I came to android SGS2, SGS3, Note 3 (Nirvana) !
Although, I wish Samsung would learn the lesson that windows mobile learned.....swallow external storage whole (i.e. completely assimilate it with all storage as one - either ROM or RAM, not internal and external RAM.)
However, you are right....I'll never buy a phone without user removable storage and battery! My ext SD card holds all the important stuff and I back it up regularly. (Old windows mobile habits die hard .) And, eventually, I always end up with extra batteries just in case .