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All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

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Re: All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

#581

Post by rythie »

eNV25 wrote: post #330
emtel wrote: post #258

One of the most frustrating things about HN is that people seem so unaware of how idiosyncratic their preferences are. If you stood on the street corner and asked every passerby what they would change about their phone, I think you would be there all day before someone said "I wish I could replace the battery". It's okay to have idiosyncratic preferences (I certainly do), but people should recognize that this law wil…

Modern phones have 7 years of software support, but the battery lasts only around 3 years.

The battery in my iPhone 11 pro (6.5 years old) is still basically fine as long as I charge it every day. None of my previous smart phones were able to keep enough charge to be useful after 3-4 years.

Re: All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

#582

Post by bobajeff »

emtel wrote: post #258

One of the most frustrating things about HN is that people seem so unaware of how idiosyncratic their preferences are. If you stood on the street corner and asked every passerby what they would change about their phone, I think you would be there all day before someone said "I wish I could replace the battery". It's okay to have idiosyncratic preferences (I certainly do), but people should recognize that this law wil…

Imagine getting a car without a replaceable battery.

Re: All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

#583

Post by greggoB »

emtel wrote: post #258

One of the most frustrating things about HN is that people seem so unaware of how idiosyncratic their preferences are. If you stood on the street corner and asked every passerby what they would change about their phone, I think you would be there all day before someone said "I wish I could replace the battery". It's okay to have idiosyncratic preferences (I certainly do), but people should recognize that this law wil…

Everything you just described as "what people want" translated in my brain to "what they're programmed to want".

Some products on the market are there to address some inherent need or desire people have; some are for more manufactured needs/desires.

To me the intent of this law looks to put a floor on the environmental cost of providing for the manufactured variants.

Re: All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

#584

Post by rythie »

It’s been long enough that people of forgotten what’s it’s like. Cameras still have replaceable batteries, there are several benefits:

I can have two (or more) batteries, if it runs out I just change it. I don’t need walk around with a USB battery pack and cable hanging off the device preventing me from using it properly.

I can put the battery on charge somewhere and leave it, even if not completely secure, because just the battery not the device. This way my expensive device and my data is not at risk.

I can use 40+ year old cameras, because I can just put a new battery in. This is not something you can do with newer device, e.g. and iPod and you can’t even find anyone who will fit them for the older models.

Battery tech moves on. There are now some batteries with charging ports on them. Other batteries offer more capacity than the original ones. Apple even did this once for me, when MacBook Air batteries were fairly easy to replace, I had mine replaced (it wore out) at the shop and they put a slightly bigger one in, which was the standard on the newer models.

Re: All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

#585

Post by tencentshill »

This must be paired with strong lithium battery import regulation. Even the highest quality OEM batteries can fail in dangerous ways (See many models of Samsung, Surface or Macbook). Cheap, dangerous Chinese imports must be eliminated as an option, because the secondhand owners doing this replacement will likely buy the cheapest replacement battery available on the market.

Re: All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

#586

Post by quesera »

patall wrote: post #342
marcosdumay wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think any single person I know would say they would exchange replaceable batteries for a 1mm thinner phone, waterproof up to 100m instead of 10m, or a $5 difference in price. In fact, the only place I would ever expect somebody to claim otherwise is here.

I know plenty. But not among the 18-20 year olds that do not know it any different, sure. But certainly my grandpa. Just thinking that you do not need a power-bank and just bring an extra battery on a longer trip will get millions of people interested.

I struggle to see the difference between "bringing an extra battery" and "bringing a power bank".

Except that the latter has more functionality than the former, and should be prefereable.

Re: All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

#587

Post by wolvoleo »

Alupis wrote: post #81
mentalgear wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't fall for the 'glue cuz of protection' myth - there are and had been water-resistant phones way before Apple started glueing to avoid customers doing their own repairs and them losing out on new sales.

Which phones? I ask as someone that's had to replace multiple phones after a trip through the washing machine. Modern phone water resistance is incredible. I've even seen people literally swim with their phones and not even question if it was a bad idea.

Samsung still make the rugged Xcover range which has both replaceable batteries and waterproofing. And 3.5mm jacks too.

These devices are mostly sold in enterprise environments (eg field use, factories) and as such get a lot of wear and tear. But they hold up well. They're not ultra rugged but a good compromise. We use tons of them in our factories, we replaced DECT handheld phones with the Xcovers loaded with ms teams. Not an ideal setup (teams for mobile kinda sucks) but at least this way they can easily communicate with people in the offices.

Re: All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

#588

Post by macNchz »

stoneman24 wrote: post #371
javier2 wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

same, my iphone 13 mini was great except for the fact i had to charge it twice a day in the end.

I still have my iPhone mini 12, in the desperate hope that it can last until Apple have another outbreak of common sense and decide that a mini iPhone has a place in the market. Battery is starting to fade during the day, despite minimal use. I think replaceable batteries should be mandatory and 10 years of security updates. In these times, phones are really expensive (however you pay for them) and we shouldn’t stand…

I recently broke my 12 Mini beyond reasonable repair during a battery replacement recently (mostly just bad luck, I've been doing my own mobile repair for a long time). I bought a 17 to replace it, and promptly returned it in favor of a used 13 Mini. It's wild to me how large the smallest mainstream phone you can buy these days has become.

Re: All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

#589

Post by gcanyon »

Noumenon72 wrote: post #66
Someone1234 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With respect, maybe read the article? You're against it, because you didn't read what is being mandated and instead just invented worst-case scenarios instead. You're against your own Strawman. The proposal is: batteries must be removable using commercially available tools, if the manufacturer requires specialist tools then they must provide them for free. Essentially they're banning specialized tools, and mandating…

> You're against your own Strawman. > The proposal is: batteries must be removable using commercially available tools That's exactly what he's against, plus the premise "Making batteries removable prevents them from being waterproof, dustproof, and collision resistant". Which may be true or false, but not a straw man.

Thanks, and yes, exactly this. As I acknowledged in my comment, maybe phones can be made waterproof, dustproof, and dropproof while also being user serviceable. If there is a tradeoff, I'll take waterproof over user-battery-replaceable. Apparently conditionals make me a strawman...

Re: All phones sold in the EU to have replaceable batteries from 2027

#590

Post by wolvoleo »

PunchyHamster wrote: post #362
nonethewiser wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Engage with the content of his comment instead of resorting to ad hominem. He's right - the market wants embedded batteries, although perhaps not directly. Embedded batteries have improved price, battery capacity, water proofing, size, and strength. If the consumer really wanted a removable battery and all that that entails then there would be more phones that offered that. The reality is people misjudge what all tha…

Incorrect. Replaceable battery is a feature that decreases sales. Why would you implement it when battery being weak will cause substantial amount of users to replace phone instead of paying for service to replace the battery ? If the feature isn't expected and it decrease sales, why would manufacturer put it in ?

And decreasing sales is exactly what the EU wants to accomplish. To stop people buying a whole new phone every couple of years.

Unfortunately I do expect other tricks towards planned obsolescence. Long-term support is now a thing but what they can still do is make phones slower over time. Even Apple did this with the iPhone 6.

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