Earlier quoted context omitted.
That doesn't invalidate their existence.
Did you actually use one of those ruggedized phones that were used by field service workers?
In a previous life I worked for Nokia...
European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
531–540 of 622 posts
Re: European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
#532Earlier quoted context omitted.
in my experience, it's the charge port that goes. My last two devices, each of which I had for 3 years, the charge port failed before the battery did. I just finished fixing my current one. Although I did decide to do a battery replacement anyways while I had the device open. But that was just because of how hard it is to open them at all. My battery health monitoring app said it was at ~80% health still. And while t…
> in my experience, it's the charge port that goes. I have had this problem on a regular basis with all of the iPhones I have owned, and the problem has never been that the charge port is dead, but that dust and/or lint has gathered in it. The solution is very simple: use a tootbrush or similar, preferably something plastic that won't break, BUT NOT ANYTHING METALLIC, to dig out the dirty stuff. Problem solved.
Compressed air has worked well for me.
Re: European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
#533The problem is not really the battery anymore, it's the software mainly. It's all closed source and is often deprecated before the hardware is dead. Then the manufacturer makes it hard to unlock bootloaders; keeps drivers closed source and effectively bricks the device. For recurring sales are the backbone of modern economy so we must force obsolescence. Why would you want to replace a battery in a useless device? Pl…
> Please, EU: bring a law that forces manufacturers to release their drivers / firmware whenever they stop updating a digital device.
I want to believe that something so good could happen.
Re: European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
#534Earlier quoted context omitted.
Galaxy S5 did it just fine
Only if you kept the flap on the headphone jack… https://www.gottabemobile.com/samsung-galaxy-s5-water-test-d... .
According to the article, the flap was to protect the USB port. The other internals were protected by an internal gasket on the removable back cover.
Re: European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
#535Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Please, EU: bring a law that forces manufacturers to release their drivers / firmware whenever they stop updating a digital device. I don't see much hope of such a thing being decided soon, if ever. The incentives for politicians are mostly not aligned in this direction. The much more realistic path towards having devices/software that can be used for more than 3-5 years is IMO if more people started supporting pro…
These phones are unusable in a large part because of marketplace lock-in, and in another large part due to unavailable drivers. These things cannot be changed through "grassroots movement", these need to be recognized as mobile phone companies violations of consumer rights and be treated as such.
Not all of them are unusable. Fairphone and shiftphone are more expensive, but perfectly usable.
-- sent from my Fairphone 4
Re: European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
#536Earlier quoted context omitted.
Did you actually use one of those ruggedized phones that were used by field service workers?
In a previous life I worked for Nokia...
They aren’t exactly things you carry around in your pocket.
http://www.n2ltd.com/intermec-introduces-latest-rugged-mobil...
Re: European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
#537Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The requirements for replaceable batteries may cause stagnation in other innovations What conceivable stagnation could requiring replaceable batteries cause?
History is littered with examples of policy creating unintended consequences causing more harm than good. Or at least negating the early good it created over time. It’s usually fine at the start until cracks start to show and policies are often a one way street, that only get reformed many years after the problems become apparent, if at all.
It's also littered with examples of a lack of policy causing untold harms. A light-hearted one would be the time libertarians found out that policy helps keep the bears away[0].
The answer isn't to abandon policy, it's to design it to be flexible and to respond quickly when problems are discovered.
[0] https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/21534416/free-state-...
Re: European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
#538Earlier quoted context omitted.
IP permissions, i.e., copyrights, are not natural rights, they are instead government "grants" of protection. And protection granted by government decree can also be taken away by government decree. So no "permission" to release would be necessary if government's modified ther copyright laws to withdraw their granted protections after some "event" occurred. The bigger problem is not the permission, it is actually fin…
The easy option would be to have a default law like "you open source your code 5 years after it was created for phones/tablets/cars/etc and it automatically applies to your suppliers as well and the necessary software tooling to get it working. If this requires hardware to program the devices, provide the blueprints of the devices as well". Then it would be understood and agreed that anyone making software they have…
> But really, I don't want an ugly phone because someone decided batteries should be user replaceable like in the old days. And yes, I like my iPhone to be sleek.
I don't know about ugly, but my galaxy s5 with a replaceable battery was barely thicker than an iphone 14 without one: 8.1 mm vs 7.8 mm, according to wikipedia. The difference is actually bigger between the 14 and the 7, so even without removable batteries, iphones are getting thicker.
The GS5 was also IP67 certified, and, indeed, it had no issues under heavy rain attached to my motorcycle handlebars, during multiple long trips.
I strongly doubt that having a removable cover would noticeably alter the phone's looks or thickness.
Re: European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
#539The problem is not really the battery anymore, it's the software mainly. It's all closed source and is often deprecated before the hardware is dead. Then the manufacturer makes it hard to unlock bootloaders; keeps drivers closed source and effectively bricks the device. For recurring sales are the backbone of modern economy so we must force obsolescence. Why would you want to replace a battery in a useless device? Pl…
It's not an either-or. We need both.
Re: European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
#540Earlier quoted context omitted.
Galaxy S5 had both and at 8.1mm/0.31in was thinner than phones are now. I don't see why I should have to choose 9 years later
You’re at least the third person to say this without the disclaimer - only if the rubber flap was securely covering the ports when it was dropped in water.
You repeat this everywhere. The port requiring a flap has no bearing on the waterproofing of the battery which used an entirely separately gasket on the back cover.
You can clearly see here[0] that the gasket on the flap protects only the USB port from water ingress. The battery and sim are protected by the grey gasket on the rear cover.
The opening for the rear speakers in the back cover reinforces the fact that the flap is there to protect the interface of the USB port and its housing. The rear cover does not contact the USB port at all.
[0] https://www.paulstravelpictures.com/Samsung-Galaxy-S5-USB-Ch...
