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The EU’s fight for user-replaceable smartphone batteries

theverge.com

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

#201

Post by trazire »

908B64B197 wrote: post #195
tomjen3 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it? It is going to meant that Android can't take advantage of the high end features of the new phones that are being released, and that old and slow phones are going to get updates that makes them run even slower. To top it of, it is not like manufacturers are into throwing away money, so this will likely mean that prices on the cheapest phones will increase more.

It means you'll be getting a "This phone isn't available in your country" pop-up when shopping online and all SKUs sold in Europe by the maker's subsidiary will have different model numbers. Of course, because of the need to support the phone for longer on patched kernels and the impossibility of charging for updates, the phones will be more expensive. The removable battery will also mean that the phone isn't waterpr…

Wasn't the Samsung Galaxy S5 waterproof despite having a removable battery?

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

#202

Post by seba_dos1 »

sroussey wrote: post #155
andrewaylett wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently replaced the battery in a Pixel 4. Definitely not latest-and-greatest, but also still just about getting feature updates. I think the biggest challenge for most people would be confidence, rather than it being intrinsically difficult. iFixit sold me a kit with all the necessary (OEM) parts and (iFixit) tools, and they have a web page with sufficiently-detailed instructions.

Last time I changed a battery in a phone I paid apple $69 and walked the mall for an hour. Pretty painless.

Last time I changed a battery in a phone I used my fingernail to pop the back cover out and swapped an empty battery with a fully charged one in about 30 seconds.

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

#203

Post by jacquesm »

Tagbert wrote: post #190
noirscape wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's some degree of active involvement with this. I've long suspected Apple to do this for example. The best version of iOS for any iDevice is usually the one just before the one that they use as the hard cutoff point. Granted, my big example of this is quite old (the iPhone 4 would run iOS 6 really well, while on iOS 7 it was a glitchy, slow, battery-draining mess) but it does seem to be a common trend (my last A…

“ They were IIRC also caught red-handed a couple times deliberately releasing updates to older iDevices that would just wreck their battery life and have a few lawsuits pending about that.” Are you going to just drop an inflammatory statement like that and not even try to provide any information to back it up?

Is google down or something?

https://www.npr.org/2020/11/18/936268845/apple-agrees-to-pay...

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

#204

Post by jacquesm »

tomjen3 wrote: post #163
jacquesm wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is going to meant that Android can't take advantage of the high end features of the new phones that are being released That's perfectly ok, what you don't have you can't use. > and that old and slow phones are going to get updates that makes them run even slower. It would be up to the manufacturers to ensure that this is not the case. One way to do it would be to reduce bloat. > To top it of, it is not like manu…

>This makes no sense: manufacturers are competing with each other, if the prices on the cheapest phones will increase more then surely someone will exploit that. You assume it costs nothing to maintain software for old phones.

It wouldn't if they opened up the hardware.

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

#205

Post by vladvasiliu »

scarface_74 wrote: post #119
vladvasiliu wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Galaxy S5 was IP67 rated. The back cover could be opened with just a fingernail.

Only if the rubber port was on the port. Not exactly engineering excellence.

Right. Although there wasn't any cover on the headphones jack, and apparently newer phones can have waterproof open ports.

Engineering excellence or not, the fact is that that old phone was both weatherproof and had an easily replaceable battery.

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

#206

Post by torginus »

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?

According to the wording of the draft legislation (according to the article):

It also says that spare parts should be available for up to seven years after a phone’s release, and, perhaps most importantly, “the process for replacement shall be able to be carried out by a layman.”

This means, that basically every phone where you can unscrew the back, disconnect the connector, remove the glue with a pull tab, and put in a new battery, is already compliant. Its basically the same set of steps any corner shop repair tech would do (but its something you could do yourself).

It just states that manufacturers cant interfere with this process, and have to sell the parts to you for 7 years after purchase.

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

#207

Post by cududa »

jacquesm wrote: post #160
nonethewiser wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why are you ignoring what he means for an alternate interpretation of that particular sentence? He explicitly clarified that he’s talking about the EU not making smartphones. Your reply is more like hijacking his comment than actually conversing.

And he's wrong about that too.

Do any phones designed by EU companies move more than a million units per year?

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

#208

Post by 3836293648 »

trazire wrote: post #201
908B64B197 wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It means you'll be getting a "This phone isn't available in your country" pop-up when shopping online and all SKUs sold in Europe by the maker's subsidiary will have different model numbers. Of course, because of the need to support the phone for longer on patched kernels and the impossibility of charging for updates, the phones will be more expensive. The removable battery will also mean that the phone isn't waterpr…

Wasn't the Samsung Galaxy S5 waterproof despite having a removable battery?

It was less so than later phones, but it absolutely handled its intended use case of browsing reddit in the shower

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

#209

Post by scarface_74 »

vladvasiliu wrote: post #205
scarface_74 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only if the rubber port was on the port. Not exactly engineering excellence.

Right. Although there wasn't any cover on the headphones jack, and apparently newer phones can have waterproof open ports. Engineering excellence or not, the fact is that that old phone was both weatherproof and had an easily replaceable battery.

Don’t you think “only if the port was covered” and if the battery and the cover were put back just right are big caveats?

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

#210

Post by scarface_74 »

Barrin92 wrote: post #196
scarface_74 wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has the EU also made poverty illegal?

Sort of? Almost all EU countries have social welfare nets and public services strong enough to have people's basic needs covered. I think in most countries welfare even directly covers basic phone plans. We aren't in a situation where we need to allow environmentally damaging products here for the sake of the poor because they're not out on their own. This sounds like the old pro-sweatshop arguments people sometimes…

https://www.slowboring.com/p/they-have-homelessness-in-europ....
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