Just broadly, let me just echo my full throated support for regulation in this space. Forget the vast majority of the goofy "innovation" arguments I hear, the fact that 3 family cell phones, 2 laptops, Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, and Oculus can all use the same charger makes insanely more sense that what we were doing before.
So you're really happy that there is regulation requiring what the market already did on its own?
European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
321–330 of 622 posts
Re: European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
#322Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is waterproof even a real needed feature? Like, I've been owning mobile phones for 22 years at this point and it's literally something I've never cared or benefitted from. On the other hand, having replaceable batteries is definitely something that's been useful in the past.
> literally something I've never cared or benefitted from I'm happy for you, for never having lost a phone due to an accidental encounter with water. I haven't lost one recently, but: - I fumbled an old flip phone while having a night out on the town and dropped it into the toilet. - I replaced it with a really cute small Kyocera candy bar phone, that my girlfriend at the time didn't notice was still in my pants pock…
Re: European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
#323Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Cameras have been weatherproof They usually can resist some splashes. Not in any way comparable with modern phones.
I wash my pentax under the tap if it gets dirty, not sure how that compares to an iphone?
Re: European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
#324Earlier quoted context omitted.
> many of them may not even exist any longer making it near impossible to get any sort of permission to do something like this So plan ahead. For the 2024 model of each iPhone, get all the permissions to release all of the firmware in year 2032.
The usual concern with regulation is not the big players. It’s the smaller products and businesses that cease to exist because it’s too expensive to meet regulations. Bad regulation raises the cost of entry into the market and strengthens the big players like Apple.
Regulations can be adapted to affect only the companies that reach X percentage in sales or in market share. The EU's Digital Markets Act does precisely this, for instance.
The regulators can let smaller players grow and thrive, and regulate them once they've exceeded a certain threshold.
Re: European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
#325Earlier quoted context omitted.
The usual concern with regulation is not the big players. It’s the smaller products and businesses that cease to exist because it’s too expensive to meet regulations. Bad regulation raises the cost of entry into the market and strengthens the big players like Apple.
Not sure how much weight this really has in a market such as mobile phones in which additional external competitors are never going to become a reality.
And that's one that got big enough to remember them. Wikipedia lists 188 mobile phone manufacturers [1]. A lot of them very local (e.g. EvertekTunisie making phones for Tunisia and Morocco) or defunct; But even my local (German) retailer offers 35 brands. Big ones like Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi, budget brands like Oppo or ZTE, niche brands like CAT or Beafon. It's a crowded market that doesn't seem particularly hard to enter.
And judging by the spotty compatibility of LineageOS they don't all use the same hardware either.
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Mobile_phone_manufact...
Re: European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
#326Earlier quoted context omitted.
You must be joking if you think its just a BOM adjustment and a small cost... way to oversimplify the actual implementation
All I'm saying is that you used to be able to get smartphones that were like this, and they weren't any more expensive than any other smartphones. (EDIT: I was wrong, they were about $25 more expensive.) So this is demonstrably possible. The only reason I can think of that it's not done anymore is cost savings.
Re: European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
#327Earlier quoted context omitted.
The usual concern with regulation is not the big players. It’s the smaller products and businesses that cease to exist because it’s too expensive to meet regulations. Bad regulation raises the cost of entry into the market and strengthens the big players like Apple.
Thankfully people here are asking for good regulation, once which states that at some point in the future every phone ever sold in market X needs to have its core software open sourced, so companies can plan ahead.
Europe has an unhealthy culture of naturalistic hippiedom, so this is just the same thing that causes Germany to shut down nuclear power.
(If you think this one's good, try combining it with their six other giant laws you haven't heard of some of which conflict with this.)
Re: European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
#328Re: European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
#329Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, it's batteries too. And water/dust/fluid ingress protection. Modern phones are sealed up pretty tight because users want them to be waterproof. This makes it very difficult to build in replaceable batteries!
I don't. I just want it splash resistant - it's more than enough. just because there is a promile of morons that can't handle the phone doesn't mean that a lots of users should be prohibited from easily changing the battery... because of that lots of devices end up on landslide because users can't get enough charge I fit anymore... I loved lumia devices - easily openable back to replace battery, nice materials (rubbe…
Re: European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
#330Earlier quoted context omitted.
Carrying around bulky power banks or worse, chargers to then tie you to sit close to an outlet and wait for the battery to charge, is not entirely ideal when you're on the go, foreign or domestic. It's also less anxiety-inducing to not have to worry about where will I get my next charge and how long will it interrupt my plans for.
I've got a little 2_000mAh 3.7V (7.4Wh) USB battery pack here that was vendor swag from a conference, a probably 3.7v? 10_000mAh () that I'll then assume is ~37Wh. and a Canon NB-13L 3.6V 1250mAh (4.5Wh battery pack) for my camera. For mm^3/Wh, the results are: Small vendor swag power bank: 96 x 21 x 26 52_416 / 7.4 7,083 Canon battery: 42 x 30 x 9 11_340 / 4.5 2,520 10,000mAh dual USB power bank: 139 x 22 x 60 183_4…