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The EU’s fight for user-replaceable smartphone batteries

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Re: The EU’s fight for user-replaceable smartphone batteries

#31

Post by croes »

f6v wrote: post #28

I don’t know. I already have to click cookie buttons on every goddamn web site I visit, it’s annoying as hell. These EU initiatives can be a bit pointless. Battery needs to be replaced like once every 2-3 years. Why change the device design to make battery user-replaceable when I can bring it to the repair shop?

They cookie banners are the fault of the website owners. They did this on purpose so the users would blame the laws.

Could have simple valued the Do-Not-Track flag but they didn't want to.

Re: The EU’s fight for user-replaceable smartphone batteries

#32

Post by jacquesm »

onli wrote: post #27
jacquesm wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you! Edit: Hm, I re-read the article and I still can't find that passage, the word 'laptop' doesn't appear. Can you point it out for me?

Almost didn't find it myself this time. But here it is: > In addition to not offering the longevity loophole, Opsomer also points out that the battery regulation covers all products with a portable battery; it’s far wider-reaching than the phone and tablet-focused ecodesign regulation.

Ah! Then they really should give that factoid much better billing, including the title. Thank you once again.

Re: The EU’s fight for user-replaceable smartphone batteries

#34

Post by onli »

jacquesm wrote: post #32
onli wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Almost didn't find it myself this time. But here it is: > In addition to not offering the longevity loophole, Opsomer also points out that the battery regulation covers all products with a portable battery; it’s far wider-reaching than the phone and tablet-focused ecodesign regulation.

Ah! Then they really should give that factoid much better billing, including the title. Thank you once again.

Np :) And I agree, that really is an awesome part of this progress.

Re: The EU’s fight for user-replaceable smartphone batteries

#35

Post by veave »

onli wrote: post #8
veave wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which goes to show that the option is there and people don't take it because they simnply don't want it so this regulation is the EU being the EU.

Disagree. First, the devices with removable batteries are exceedingly rare right now. They also often enough are niche products. Second, it is not reasonable to expect every consumer to always think about what is right, and not instead to follow what marketing tells him to buy. This is exactly what regulations are good for and historically have solved.

Interesting argument against democracy that you have in there - we should go back to monarchy. After all, it is not reasonable to expect every citizen to think about what is right, since instead they follow propaganda.

Re: The EU’s fight for user-replaceable smartphone batteries

#36

Post by poetaster »

systemtest wrote: post #22
hef19898 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't hear about them, but they do exist...

Nokia has been sold, I don't know about any EU smartphone brands outside of Fairphone. The market is so small that adding regulation isn't hurting the EU, which is why its an easy target compared to the automotive industry.

Gigaset is a German company who manufactures and assembles in Germany. https://www.gigaset.com/hq_en/smartphones/ A German remarkting firm Volla sells them with their own Android. The swiss company Rephone also rebrands with upgrads the GS5 (6GB RAM instead of 4).

All the recent Gigaset phones have replaceable Batteries. I use a GS5 and a Rephone with SailfishOs.

Re: The EU’s fight for user-replaceable smartphone batteries

#37

Post by pizza234 »

bjackman wrote: post #4

I think this is fantastic news. It will be interesting to see how it affects the amount of phones that get discarded. I think the next bottleneck is likely to be software longevity. This has improved a lot lately! But basically I think phones have now reached a place like laptops and desktops where HW capabilities are stable, and there's no good reason for devices to be obsolete in 5 years any more. I wonder if regul…

In my experience, the current bottleneck with (Android) phones is that the get very slow without any apparent reasons after a few years.

I've had multiple reports of acquaintances complaining about their phones getting slow after a few years, and I've always assumed that they were just full of apps... until it happened to me. I can't find an unambiguois explanation; my guess is a mix of CPUs deteriorating over time due to heating, and disks due to cell degradation, but it's certainly a mystery.

Re: The EU’s fight for user-replaceable smartphone batteries

#38

Post by 05 »

ekianjo wrote: post #21
mantas wrote: post #9

Iphone battery is already pretty close to replaceable by this law. You need a common tool to get in (trident screwdriver is available in most DIY shops), then glue tabs can be pried by hand. Doable for layman? Well, some people are afraid of opening up a device in any way. How do we (or, rather, lawyers) draw a line?

> then glue tabs can be pried by hand. There should be no reason to use glue for batteries. Unnecessary hazard that can easily lead to house fire if you have to use force of a thermal source to remove the glue.

If you discharge the battery first it won’t catch on fire if you puncture or overheat it.. so, don’t replace a fully charged battery and you should be fine.

Re: The EU’s fight for user-replaceable smartphone batteries

#39

Post by BiteCode_dev »

f6v wrote: post #28

I don’t know. I already have to click cookie buttons on every goddamn web site I visit, it’s annoying as hell. These EU initiatives can be a bit pointless. Battery needs to be replaced like once every 2-3 years. Why change the device design to make battery user-replaceable when I can bring it to the repair shop?

Because most people won't:

- it's expensive

- it takes their phone away

If changing the battery is a one hour cheap deal, a lot more people may do it.

And I am very happy about those EU initiatives: this way I know what sites are tracking me and how much. This tells me which sites values annoying me with their banner so they can sell my data.

Have you noticed there is no banner on Hacker news despite the fact that:

- they serve in Europe

- they use cookies

That's because it's not about cookies, and the banner is only for privacy abusers.

Re: The EU’s fight for user-replaceable smartphone batteries

#40

Post by poetaster »

systemtest wrote: post #22
hef19898 wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't hear about them, but they do exist...

Nokia has been sold, I don't know about any EU smartphone brands outside of Fairphone. The market is so small that adding regulation isn't hurting the EU, which is why its an easy target compared to the automotive industry.

It's also perhaps of interest that one of the few alternative OS efforts is still being led by ex-nokia folk out of Tampere, Finland. Jolla.

Much of the Plasma development for mobile is spear headed by devs in Germany (KDE folk).

Point being, the heritage of Nokia is not quite dead yet.

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