Live data from Hacker News

Apple Shipped Me a 79-Pound iPhone Repair Kit to Fix a 1.1-Ounce Battery

theverge.com

441–450 of 558 posts

Re: Apple Shipped Me a 79-Pound iPhone Repair Kit to Fix a 1.1-Ounce Battery

#441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> show just how deep the hole Apple has dug for themselves really is I guess it shows this hole to the public , but Apple's know this the whole time. They scale out in-store iPhone repair to 500 stores around the world where they have low-paid retail workers performing the repairs.

And it's a great service, too. You pay $50 and wait a few minutes. You get a new, genuine OEM battery with a warranty that extends the life of your phone indefinitely. The right-to-repair people have just lost contact with reality. This is the way people want it to work. It is a great product experience.

The nearest Apple Store is hours away, this is definitely not convenient and how I want things to work.

Re: Apple Shipped Me a 79-Pound iPhone Repair Kit to Fix a 1.1-Ounce Battery

#442

Apple can’t win here. If they had sent the sleek, easy to carry tools this author asked for, the author would complain about the pathetic tools they are providing. Really disappointed in The Verge on this article. Could have been a cool piece about the specific tech that Apple provides, but instead it’s framed so disingenuously that I come away not feeling particularly good about right to repair in general. It no lon…

I view this differently. This article is documenting a process people are surely curious about. But the costly deposit and multiple heavy pelican cases of supplies show just how deep the hole Apple has dug for themselves really is. Apple is so anti-repair they have no provisions for a reasonable at home process. You must realize that a $1200 deposit alone means this process is out of reach of many people. Meanwhile I…

> Obviously newer phones are waterproof and arguably more durable, but Apple has gone so far towards a factory sealed design as to require absurd equipment to do a proper job.

I'm not too familiar with the matter but wouldn't other manufacturers' waterproof phones have a similar construction to enable said waterproofness?

Re: Apple Shipped Me a 79-Pound iPhone Repair Kit to Fix a 1.1-Ounce Battery

#443
I am just flabbergasted that anyone would think of this process to change a battery as "ok". I mean batteries have a pretty short life time. And iPhones are really expensive. A LOT of resources are used to build an iPhone. And then this process for changing the battery.

The product, the battery changing process, the whole company, everything feels like it is the 1980s, it feels like a tech dinosaur.

If this is the way that most people think that things should work in 2022, than we are all doomed.

Sorry, but this makes me so sad... It is unbelievable...

Re: Apple Shipped Me a 79-Pound iPhone Repair Kit to Fix a 1.1-Ounce Battery

#444
I just want to point out this gem from their agreement that covers the use of purchased—not rented—tools. Purchased. You paid the full price, you own the tools, and you agree not to use them on anything other than an Apple product. You’re the proud new owner of $300 in expensive screwdrivers that you can’t use.

From https://www.selfservicerepair.com/terms-of-use:

> You agree to use the Self Service Repair Products to repair the Repaired Apple Product in a manner consistent with these terms and conditions. Self Service Repair Products are for use in the repair for which they were purchased, and may not be resold or otherwise transferred.

Ah, but maybe they only mean the replacement parts, right? Surely they wouldn’t have such a requirement if you pay $100 for a generic Wera screwdriver.

But no, it includes the tools:

> Self Service Repair Parts” and “Self Service Repair Tools” are collectively referred to as “Self Service Repair Products.”

Is that even legally enforceable? I suspect it’s not. If I buy a generic screwdriver, it’s mine. It doesn’t have DRM, and I will do with it as I please. If I want to use it to repair an Android phone, I will. If I want to sell it on eBay or lend it to my neighbor, who’s going to stop me?

Re: Apple Shipped Me a 79-Pound iPhone Repair Kit to Fix a 1.1-Ounce Battery

#445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The tire shop who mounted the tires on the wheels, or a simple bike pump.

Repairs can be pretty easy when you pay someone else in a shop to do the hard part for you. In my case, replacing my iPhone battery required no tools at all after I paid the Apple shop to mount the new battery in the phone.

money can be exchanged for goods and services?? you tell me this now??

Re: Apple Shipped Me a 79-Pound iPhone Repair Kit to Fix a 1.1-Ounce Battery

#446
post #438

Apple can’t win here. If they had sent the sleek, easy to carry tools this author asked for, the author would complain about the pathetic tools they are providing. Really disappointed in The Verge on this article. Could have been a cool piece about the specific tech that Apple provides, but instead it’s framed so disingenuously that I come away not feeling particularly good about right to repair in general. It no lon…

Are they dead common for consumers? I wouldn’t be surprised that business owner tooling they needed to run, that’s outside the budget for most consumers

Yes, dead common for consumers, but consumers don’t really buy them because there are places that do the repairs so cheaply everywhere.

Re: Apple Shipped Me a 79-Pound iPhone Repair Kit to Fix a 1.1-Ounce Battery

#447
post #269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The reality is that with the way devices are designed to be IP rated and as compact as possible, your only option is these fancy PSA adhesives. There is a direct disagreement between what a consumer wants in their device and making it easy to repair, especially since most people don't expect to repair the device they are buying.

Like 50 years of wrist watches kinda calls BS on that. Mass produced, low cost, waterproof devices with easily removable batteries used to be the norm. We as a species certainly haven't forgotten how to do that, these adhesives are far from necessary. They exist not for IP rating, but to make the device appear to not have any screws. Both for aesthetic reasons and to keep people out reasons.

An Omega Seamaster weighs anywhere between 100 and 200 grams, depending on the model. Extrapolating that to the size of a phone, you'd have to lug around a 1kg brick. Now, I'm not a fan of the trend of thinness and lightness above all, I'd prefer a slightly beefier phone but one that weighs a kilo is ridiculous.

Re: Apple Shipped Me a 79-Pound iPhone Repair Kit to Fix a 1.1-Ounce Battery

#448

I just want to point out this gem from their agreement that covers the use of purchased—not rented—tools. Purchased. You paid the full price, you own the tools, and you agree not to use them on anything other than an Apple product. You’re the proud new owner of $300 in expensive screwdrivers that you can’t use. From https://www.selfservicerepair.com/terms-of-use : > You agree to use the Self Service Repair Products t…

> resold or otherwise transferred

how is that even legal

that's just absurd

Re: Apple Shipped Me a 79-Pound iPhone Repair Kit to Fix a 1.1-Ounce Battery

#449

Apple can’t win here. If they had sent the sleek, easy to carry tools this author asked for, the author would complain about the pathetic tools they are providing. Really disappointed in The Verge on this article. Could have been a cool piece about the specific tech that Apple provides, but instead it’s framed so disingenuously that I come away not feeling particularly good about right to repair in general. It no lon…

By the way. The tools this guy used are common, dead-common in China. Go to any repair mall in Shenzhen and you’ll see hundreds of these. This is an issue with hobbyist electronics projects in the US. The US hobbyist market is still using 1970s packaging technology - 0.10 inch pin spacing, solderless proto boards, and through-hole parts. I designed a hobbyist board that was all surface mount. Smallest parts were 0.5m…

This was quite a wakeup call for me too. I was always into hobby electronics but a couple of years ago I got into multicopters. A _lot_ of parts were these tiny SMDs. I remember having to figure out how to attach FETs and even (once) a little BGA microprocessor. It was a very steep learning curve and nobody else in the hobby scene here had really done anything with it, so it was a lot of trial and error. Industry has moved on, there are so many things now that are practically out of reach for hobbyists nowadays :/
Post reply on HN