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Motorola and iFixit partner to sell phone repair kits

ifixit.org

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Re: Motorola and iFixit partner to sell phone repair kits

#131
post #116
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? It’s like $80 to fix an iPhone 8 screen or %10 of the total price.

Someone I know dropped a new Samsung phone and it was $600 to fix.

Yep, Samsung list the prices: https://www.samsung.com/au/support/screen-replacements/

Unfortunately I then called Samsung support and was told because I hadn't bought the "Australian model".

Nevermind that there's only one glass/screen/digitiser combo worldwide for the S8+.

Re: Motorola and iFixit partner to sell phone repair kits

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only after apple was caught red-handed slowing down older phones to entice users to upgrade.

That's a gross misrepresentation of fact. Apple engineers slowed the CPU in the phone, in order to keep battery life reasonable, and prevent the phone from restarting when worn batteries couldn't deliver power. Windows does this with laptops. Apple's mistake was not disclosing it. There an argument for user experience that advocates making the best choice for the user and not over burdening them with options.

> Apple's mistake was not disclosing it.

They did, technically, in the release notes for the update that introduced it. That said, it could (and should?) have been more prominent.

Re: Motorola and iFixit partner to sell phone repair kits

#134
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iFixit actually has a rating system for that: https://www.ifixit.com/smartphone-repairability

Thanks! That list is really cool! Interesting that only a few phones have scores of 10. One of them is called Fairphone, which actually looks like it would be a nice device.

As far as I know the Fairphone 2 is the only phone with a score of 10. Coincidentally, I have one, and it's pretty amazing. I can detach and replace the screen of the phone without even needing a screwdriver.

Re: Motorola and iFixit partner to sell phone repair kits

#135
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not just not disclosing it. Their geniuses would actively tell you that the phone was not any slower and that you were imagining it.

I'm not sure why you're expecting miracles from what are essentially sales reps turned helpdesk. You have every right to be mad because they are representing their company but we get senior engineers from MS that don't understand basic things about Windows.

I guess that makes it OK? "Whataboutism" at its finest.

Re: Motorola and iFixit partner to sell phone repair kits

#136
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love the concept of Fairphone but I can't believe they're still selling their phone for €530. It's worth maybe 1/5th that, if that. Is it just hubris? I hope not, because even if their phones command a reasonable price premium over competitors, it's worth it to some people. They're definitely filling a need. It would be a shame if few of their phones get into people's hands because they price them too far above cos…

That's what they need to charge to make money. I think it demonstrates how repairability and fairness isn't worth it - I can just buy 4 equivalent phones for the same price (like the Nokia 5) and throw them out when broken.

You're missing the point here. Repairability and fairness isn't worth "it in the current world state".

In a true fair world, manufacturers would be charged for all externalities (pollution from mining, paying decent wages that ensure people don't starve, recycling thrown out electronics, etc), all phones would cost that. Currently, those externalities are just ignored, with the expected consequences.

Re: Motorola and iFixit partner to sell phone repair kits

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except hardware and software are patentable. If we didn't have that and companies could make true alternatives, sure, but as far as technology goes it's highly monopalistic. Your argument is also the definition of selfishness given that you only take into account your own circumstances. You're literally advocating against yourself.

I don't think GP is selfish - he's just outlining what works for him and what his use-case is. For example, I kind-of care about repairability, but not enough to go through the effort of switching from the iOS echosystem. Finally, what's wrong with being selfish? I think it's a completely rational approach to take.

I don't have a problem with selfishness, however, I do feel like not caring about repair ability of a device is a bit more complicated. Plus, apple likes to bully people, just take a look at the recent seizure of Rossmanns batteries.

Frankly, this is a much bigger problem. The world is moving to everything being a subscription rather than true ownership. Often, people that once did not care will start caring eventually. When your macbook pro breaks and you can fix it yourself for $100 but the apple store tells you it will be $1000....your point of view will shift drastically.

Re: Motorola and iFixit partner to sell phone repair kits

#138
post #117
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The problem is Apple makes the other option, battery replacement, extremely difficult Take it to an Apple store, call Apple support, or take it to any one of your friendly neighborhood repair shops? > ludicrously high amount Battery replacement costs: Google Phones: $79 Apple Phones: $79 Samsung Phones: Nothing 1st party, $50 was the cheapest 3rd party I could find. This honestly doesn't even seem like that much wh…

It took me like 15 minutes to replace the battery in my Mi5, 5 of which were spent watching a tutorial video. And I'm neither skilled nor did I have the right tools. The battery itself was 10 EUR including shipping from a local seller, fwiw. That said I don't think 79 USD every two years is ridiculous for a 700+ USD device. It better not take an hour, though!

iPhone is very water resistant which makes this a little harder. I also doubt it takes an hour if you know what your doing.

Re: Motorola and iFixit partner to sell phone repair kits

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meh, that requires you to create an account and ask them for permission to unlock. I'd rather take a Nexus or OnePlus where it's a much simpler offline process (allow unlocking in dev settings, `adb reboot bootloader && fastboot oem unlock`).

>I'd rather take a Nexus Pixels, the ones bought from the google store (as opposed to retail channels), do allow you to unlock the bootloader, but that is still an implicit network permission check. You cannot get to the oem unlocking screen without turning on wifi, which is basically how it phones home to check if you are allowed to unlock it.

That is because the phone has theft prevention feature which needs internet connection to know whether the phone was not stolen before allowing the user to bypass the theft check forever with a new rom

Re: Motorola and iFixit partner to sell phone repair kits

#140
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me it's been less the battery and eventually the screen itself. As the phone gets older, getting replacement screens or glass ends up more and more difficult and expensive to the point where it can cost almost 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of a completely new phone to fix my old one. At that point it's a harder decision to make to fix the old one when a single drop after that could mean that I've now spent as much to get a…

Really? It’s like $80 to fix an iPhone 8 screen or %10 of the total price.

Yea it's going to vary by the phone, iPhone 8 was very common and is still relatively new. In my case it was a Nexus 6p with an actual LCD problem so I needed the full assembly (couldn't find just the LCD). Lowest I could find was $250 to do it myself, and if I took it somewhere, they wanted $400 for the parts and labor, not entirely unreasonable from what I could tell since they also gave a 60 day warranty on the parts. I ended up getting a new phone for $799 instead.
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