Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

birchtree.me

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

281–290 of 385 posts

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#281

Post by philjohn »

samatman wrote: post #38

Literally every one of the existing options still works. Ok with charging at 5w? Plug your lightning-to-A cable into the little tiny cube charger they've been selling since forever. Already have a faster USB charger? It works. Ok with Qi at 7W? Works Oh, you want the new shiny MagSafe puck system? Great. Buy it. This analysis completely ignores that the new shiny system is supposed to be a better experience . It's co…

Plus that MagSafe charger will likely last through multiple phones, nobody is going to move away from Qi.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#282

Post by pfranz »

nicbou wrote: post #277
pfranz wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know people have ragged on non-removable batteries for a decade now--and I'm not saying there shouldn't be any phones with that option--but it was terrible in practice. I've tried juggling batteries and it was super annoying. Sure, on a plane you could swap your dead battery for a new one (after turning off your phone). At the end of the day you have two dead batteries and have to charge one, then swap. Most phones…

The goal is not to swap them out during the day (that's why we have power banks I'd say), but to replace a battery when it can't hold a charge. Think of it like buying shoelaces for old boots, instead of replacing them. My phone is fine, but the battery is slowly becoming too weak for my needs. I don't want a new phone, just a new battery.

If you only need to swap it out once every few years it seems like a huge waste to have a removable plastic door and separate housing taking up space. It's not too difficult to swap an iPhone battery yourself. iFixit has detailed instructions, but there's a bunch of mall kiosks or small shops that will do it for you in an hour and around me they only charge around a $30 premium ($110 total) more than the cost of the battery ($89) (I was comparing an iPhone Xs).

With the iPhone 4 it was literally removing 3 (sadly proprietary) screws and something like a guitar pick to safely pry it out. Those replacement batteries sell for $11. With newer iPhones, because of waterproofing there are more sealing adhesives and to make room for the stretch-tape you might have to pop off a few components.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#283

Post by funnybeam »

ashtonkem wrote: post #143

I really hate arguments about how much electricity wireless phone charging wastes because it makes people feel like they’re doing something when in fact they aren’t. Charging a cell phone every day for a year consumes about 1-2 kWh per phone. The average American household consumes 10,399 kWh per year, meaning that a typical smart phone consumes one 5000th, (0.02%) of a typical home’s electricity (excl. natural gas)…

Just because the waste is small doesn’t mean it is insignificant when you consider how many phones there are.

A quick search indicates there are 3.5 billion smart phones in the world, assuming these are all wirelessly charged and wasting 1kWh per year that gets you 3.5TWh which is more than the annual consumption of many countries

I had a similar discussion with a friend recently about all the cars driving around with lights on in the middle of the day - even if they might be using LEDs, when you multiply by the number of cars on the roads that is still a lot of petrol being wasted for no reason at all

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#284

Post by BlueTemplar »

pfranz wrote: post #263
leptons wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Even a simple ability to swap your phone's battery for a new one would reduce a lot of emissions. And add to that every other manufacturer that thinks they have to copy what Apple does (looking at you Samsung), and also removes ability to swap batteries and other things we used to be able to do every easily.

I know people have ragged on non-removable batteries for a decade now--and I'm not saying there shouldn't be any phones with that option--but it was terrible in practice. I've tried juggling batteries and it was super annoying. Sure, on a plane you could swap your dead battery for a new one (after turning off your phone). At the end of the day you have two dead batteries and have to charge one, then swap. Most phones…

> Most phones didn't have a way to charge a battery separate from the phone for some annoying reason.

Yes, this is the main issue. But phone manufacturers didn't care that's how batteries are supposed to be used, most likely because it would have sold less phones.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#285

Post by ashtonkem »

luma wrote: post #266
lemmonii wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s absolutetly not very easy. I would say it’s very hard, indeed it requires a set of specialized tools.

The same is true of watches and nobody is calling for an act of congress about it. If you want something to be waterproof and small and lightweight, you are probably going to trade off some service accessibility. They haven't gone out of their way to make replacing batteries difficult, but it is more difficult than it used to be before phones were waterproof and tightly packaged.

Watches are a luxury product, and their environmental impact is effectively 0. The same can’t be said of smart phones anymore.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#286

Post by ponker »

lemmonii wrote: post #252
vbezhenar wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Replacing battery in iPhone is very easy. It's stupid to replace the entire phone because of battery. iPhone is a good citizen in that regard. You can either do it yourself or ask any repair shop.

It’s absolutetly not very easy. I would say it’s very hard, indeed it requires a set of specialized tools.

You do not need to make it end-user serviceable to make it environmentally friendly. You can make it serviceable with the tools and skills available at a mobile phone repair shop, which almost everyone has access to.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#287

Post by ashtonkem »

imtringued wrote: post #267
sgerenser wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well put. I’ve noticed a definite condescension towards those “wasteful” people in climates that virtually require air conditioning in the summer (e.g. almost anywhere in the Southern US). Yet they conveniently forget that heating in cold climates is usually more energy intensive than A/C is in warm climates.

Thermal power plants generate lots of waste heat that can be used for district heating. If you don't use that waste heat it will still be there. Worse if you need electricity for cooling you end up with even more waste heat. Your assumption falls flat because a lot of people don't need to generate extra heat from electricity, they already have too much of it.

First off, AC is a heat pump, and heat pumps are always much more efficient than direct heating. A well designed AC system can be up to 500% efficient, since it only needs to move heat and not generate it.

Secondly, municipal heat is pretty rare in the US; few cities have it and the number keeps getting smaller each year. What few municipal heat systems that do exist are largely for business districts too, unless if you live in NYC as an American you most likely will be using either AC or forced air natural gas heat. Given the choice between the two[0], AC would be the best possible one from an efficiency perspective.

0: Heat pumps can be used to heat too, which is even better. Its my hope that heat pumps will become more common in the coming decades to assist in electrification.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#288

Post by vbezhenar »

jzl wrote: post #269
vbezhenar wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Replacing battery in iPhone is very easy. It's stupid to replace the entire phone because of battery. iPhone is a good citizen in that regard. You can either do it yourself or ask any repair shop.

It used to be easy to do yourself but it's becoming increasingly difficult and risky given all of the advanced parts that can be damaged or improperly put back when closing it. And starting with the 12, Apple now requires authorized repair shops to use heat to open the phone, something that was previously only done for iPads and was prone to causing repair problems for the casual tinkerer. https://www.macrumors.com/2…

That's bad direction indeed, I wasn't aware of this change, thanks.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#289

Post by jiggawatts »

funnybeam wrote: post #283
ashtonkem wrote: post #143

I really hate arguments about how much electricity wireless phone charging wastes because it makes people feel like they’re doing something when in fact they aren’t. Charging a cell phone every day for a year consumes about 1-2 kWh per phone. The average American household consumes 10,399 kWh per year, meaning that a typical smart phone consumes one 5000th, (0.02%) of a typical home’s electricity (excl. natural gas)…

Just because the waste is small doesn’t mean it is insignificant when you consider how many phones there are. A quick search indicates there are 3.5 billion smart phones in the world, assuming these are all wirelessly charged and wasting 1kWh per year that gets you 3.5TWh which is more than the annual consumption of many countries I had a similar discussion with a friend recently about all the cars driving around wit…

Those lights are on for a reason. They're called Daytime Running Lights, and are mandated by law in most countries because they reduce accident rates by as much as 20% for a negligible cost.

If you think running some LEDs are expensive, you don't want to know what a serious accident costs society. The type that totals two cars and puts multiple people in hospital.

I have a car that pre-dates DRLs, and I always drive it with the lights on. The "horrendously" inefficient incandescent bulbs might cost me an extra dollar or two in fuel, but could save my life. I'd rather have my life.

Re: A Guy Walks into an Apple Store

#290

Post by [deleted] »

ashtonkem wrote: post #285
luma wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same is true of watches and nobody is calling for an act of congress about it. If you want something to be waterproof and small and lightweight, you are probably going to trade off some service accessibility. They haven't gone out of their way to make replacing batteries difficult, but it is more difficult than it used to be before phones were waterproof and tightly packaged.

Watches are a luxury product, and their environmental impact is effectively 0. The same can’t be said of smart phones anymore.

[deleted]
Post reply on HN