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Nintendo announces new product revisions in Europe with replaceable batteries

nintendo.com

131–140 of 229 posts

Re: Nintendo announces new product revisions in Europe with replaceable batteries

#131
post #22

"There is no difference in functionality between current products and revised products containing user-replaceable batteries." So there was nothing "limiting" them from making it already with user-replaceable batteries, they just didn't care enough until EU forced them (like all the smartphone brands). Love EU.

> they just didn't care enough

Of course there are extra costs. The parts and the extra assembly isn't free and it does add up.

Re: Nintendo announces new product revisions in Europe with replaceable batteries

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand why battery failure is a "when". The only batteries I've ever had fail in rechargeable electronic devices were replaceable packs where water got into the compartment. Perhaps I've just gotten lucky?

The Switch 1 is almost 10 years old. Batteries don't have that much longevity. And it was unnecessarily hard (actually dangerous due to fire risk) to replace it with a 3rd-party battery replacement due to excessive amounts of strong adhesive holding the battery in place.

My 8 year old switch is happy.

The switch doesn't fast charge at absurd rates and generally has good thermals.

Re: Nintendo announces new product revisions in Europe with replaceable batteries

#133
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear, all the mentioned Nintendo products are already designed for battery replacement, with well-contained battery units and easy connectors, and the batteries are available and problem-free to replace unlike for a certain fruit company. The redesign is because the ease of accessing the batteries did not comply with the new rules. The pro controller in particular requires almost complete disassembly to get to…

Torx is also common and also way way better than philips. Really we as a society need to phase out philips screws yesterday.

The prevalence of Robertson in Canada is amazing.

Re: Nintendo announces new product revisions in Europe with replaceable batteries

#134
post #84
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I expect smartphones to look more like the Pro Controller tradeoffs than the joy cons. The issue with replaceable batteries is you need the extra space for the battery structure so unless phones grow they'll have lower capacities. There's also IP ratings, phones have pretty good IP ratings these days often surviving drops in puddles etc where none of these products have any official IP rating to preserve when adding…

I'm baffled that we still are thinking that we want thin phones. We have a gigantic camera bump that would be removed if the phone was thicker. Who wants a razor in their pocket, like really?

Not only that, but if phone batteries were user replaceable, they could be sold in multiple capacities. So people that want "thin" phones can keep their camera protrusions, and the people that want more battery capacity could get a pack that allows the phone to sit flush on a table.

Literally win win win.

Re: Nintendo announces new product revisions in Europe with replaceable batteries

#135
post #116
post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoting just one of the smallest one feels a bit... charged. There's small tradeoffs among all of them when you account for weight. For everyone else here's the full list: Switch 2 Battery capacity: 5172mAh, approximately 1% smaller than current version (5220mAh) Weight: Approximately 411g, around 10g heavier than current version With Joy-Con 2 controllers attached: Approximately 548g, around 14g heavier than current…

They quoted what matters the most as it's for a device which has single shortest runtime on a battery: the Switch console itself. Because who cares if the controller lasts 27 or 30 days? (Or so, don't quite me on exact numbers).

It is typically a 40hr battery life.

~6 hours is quite a drop.

Re: Nintendo announces new product revisions in Europe with replaceable batteries

#136
post #131
post #22

"There is no difference in functionality between current products and revised products containing user-replaceable batteries." So there was nothing "limiting" them from making it already with user-replaceable batteries, they just didn't care enough until EU forced them (like all the smartphone brands). Love EU.

> they just didn't care enough Of course there are extra costs. The parts and the extra assembly isn't free and it does add up.

We are talking about plastic parts and metal tabs. I'd be shocked if the actual impact on per unit price was above $0.10.

Perhaps the most expensive part of this whole process is then engineering time to figure out how to place a replaceable battery.

Re: Nintendo announces new product revisions in Europe with replaceable batteries

#137
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be clear, all the mentioned Nintendo products are already designed for battery replacement, with well-contained battery units and easy connectors, and the batteries are available and problem-free to replace unlike for a certain fruit company. The redesign is because the ease of accessing the batteries did not comply with the new rules. The pro controller in particular requires almost complete disassembly to get to…

Torx is also common and also way way better than philips. Really we as a society need to phase out philips screws yesterday.

Philips is great for what it's designed to do, strip out.

But for electronics I basically never want that behavior.

Re: Nintendo announces new product revisions in Europe with replaceable batteries

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think customers need to be protected from themselves. If they don't like the hardware but buy it anyways because they really like the game, that's a choice. And I feel that when we're dealing with luxury goods, we should give consumers very broad discretion to vote with their money.

"Vote with money" is such a funny talking point in this discussion. It's a metaphor for actual voting, with votes, which the people already did, for politicians who are now protecting their interests. You just don't like corporations being told what to do.

"Vote with your wallet" in a K shaped economy simply becomes the slogan of modern feudalism.

Funnily enough, these regulations were made by policy makers who were voted in with votes, and put such a regulation to its own vote. It's the most democratic way to approach this.

Re: Nintendo announces new product revisions in Europe with replaceable batteries

#139
post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that they didn't care, it's that they did care in the wrong way. A non-replacable battery means people will be more likely to buy a whole new device if (when) the battery fails.

To be clear, all the mentioned Nintendo products are already designed for battery replacement, with well-contained battery units and easy connectors, and the batteries are available and problem-free to replace unlike for a certain fruit company. The redesign is because the ease of accessing the batteries did not comply with the new rules. The pro controller in particular requires almost complete disassembly to get to…

>it uses JIS screws rather than Philips (in addition to triwing)

I don't think this is an issue for anyone who has had to disassemble a japanese device before, and the bits are widely available online. Countless youtube videos have discussed that JIS vs Philips in the consumer space are largely compatible outside of american aircraft construction.

Re: Nintendo announces new product revisions in Europe with replaceable batteries

#140
post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not about games consoles. It's about reducing the mountains of e-waste. We shouldn't be throwing away laptops, smartphones, or consoles - or soon, entire EVs, just because the battery has degraded.

All of those things can be recycled and almost all of them can be replaced whether or not its end-user-servicable.

"Can" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there
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