Being guaranteed the right to repair from every manufacturer is great and, more importantly, much needed. Nonetheless, most people abide by the culture fabricated by those very corporations, which is defined by an annual release cycle of devices which are minimally upgraded deliberately, their selling point usually being something visibly different from the previous year's smartphones--currently, being foldable or having a gazillion lenses on its back. If the users keep falling for those kinds of tricks and spending a whole month of their salary to buy a phone every year, the status quo isn't going to change. Of course, an easier way to recycle our phones wouldn't hurt, either. Even forcing companies to recycle first, manufacturing new components from scratch only if absolutely necessary, would be a beneficial measure, I reckon.
Europe Wants a ‘Right to Repair’ Smartphones and Gadgets
31–40 of 269 posts
Re: Europe Wants a ‘Right to Repair’ Smartphones and Gadgets
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
E-waste is a problem that affect everyone. Also I edited my answer to add the DRM and copyright on the manuals issues.
And how exactly does this change the fashion of buying the latest iPhone-looking phone every second year? The older devices are perfectly functioning, they just don't look like the owners wish. Most people I know have a drawer full of 100% working phones, some broken displays here and there but that is trivial to have repaired today.
Most people you know have a drawer full of 100% working phones?
I guess that suffices to conclude that you have an extremely a-typical social circle.
Re: Europe Wants a ‘Right to Repair’ Smartphones and Gadgets
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then you'll be out of luck. Same as you cannot legally buy leaded fuels in most countries anymore, even tho you might prefer them, and same as Bayer will not sell you Heroin(tm) to treat your cough anymore.
Wait so you think you should not be allowed to buy "unrepairable" devices?
I think so, yes. Think OP does as well.
Re: Europe Wants a ‘Right to Repair’ Smartphones and Gadgets
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then you'll be out of luck. Same as you cannot legally buy leaded fuels in most countries anymore, even tho you might prefer them, and same as Bayer will not sell you Heroin(tm) to treat your cough anymore.
Wait so you think you should not be allowed to buy "unrepairable" devices?
Oh, you should be allowed to buy them.
Manufacturers just shouldn't be allowed to produce them.
Re: Europe Wants a ‘Right to Repair’ Smartphones and Gadgets
#35Being guaranteed the right to repair from every manufacturer is great and, more importantly, much needed. Nonetheless, most people abide by the culture fabricated by those very corporations, which is defined by an annual release cycle of devices which are minimally upgraded deliberately, their selling point usually being something visibly different from the previous year's smartphones--currently, being foldable or ha…
Not everybody is changing the phone or computers as often. Say if someone gifts me an old iPhone and the battery is getting old I do not have any Apple store around to replace it, I will be forced to trash a working phone because sending it to the country capital for an approved person to install an approved battery is probably more expensive then buying a new phone.
Re: Europe Wants a ‘Right to Repair’ Smartphones and Gadgets
#36The article says this is needed in order to reduce greenhouse emissions. I don't feel that's true. In my country in Europe nothing is done to reduce pollution from the cars and plastic usage. Year after year more products are built with plastic instead of glass or metal.
Re: Europe Wants a ‘Right to Repair’ Smartphones and Gadgets
#37That will end in another monstrosity like WEEE making entry for hardware startups harder and harder: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Electrical_and_Electro... Only big players with dedicated departments will comply easily.
And about right to repair I have bad experience: broken cable is enough for lots of buyers to throw away electronic appliances. Let’s be honest: majority of users will cause more harm than do good when repairing something. Another thing is planned obsolescence when electronics die right after warranty period ends. Buddy had this with high end washing machine and I had this with display recently.
Re: Europe Wants a ‘Right to Repair’ Smartphones and Gadgets
#38I hope this doesn't result in a GDPR-like effect, but for phones instead of websites: "We're sorry, but iPhones aren't available in your region" followed by a redirect to google.com
On that note, it actually may be everyone but Apple saying that. Not sure about the laptops, but at least their iPhones are surprisingly repairable compared to Samsung, LG, OnePlus and more. And they use recycled metals inside, too.
Re: Europe Wants a ‘Right to Repair’ Smartphones and Gadgets
#39That will end in another monstrosity like WEEE making entry for hardware startups harder and harder: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Electrical_and_Electro... Only big players with dedicated departments will comply easily. And about right to repair I have bad experience: broken cable is enough for lots of buyers to throw away electronic appliances. Let’s be honest: majority of users will cause more harm than do…
This maybe happens if the product is cheap or if you have the enough money so wasting your time sending a product to a repair person costs you more. But don't forget that a major issue is companioes like Apple using copyright laws to forbid sharing of repair manuals, sharing of diagnostic software and forbiding selling of components to other people then Apple.
Allowing people sharing a repair manual, a diagnose software won't harm any consumer.
Re: Europe Wants a ‘Right to Repair’ Smartphones and Gadgets
#40The article says this is needed in order to reduce greenhouse emissions. I don't feel that's true. In my country in Europe nothing is done to reduce pollution from the cars and plastic usage. Year after year more products are built with plastic instead of glass or metal.
Are you sure? I mean, European directives are not always implemented perfectly, but all countries do try to. It may be that your country is doing something, it's just not noticeable, yet. This is long term stuff, results are only apparent years or decades after the laws come into effect.