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Smartphone makers don't bother to comply with EU repairability requirements

theregister.com

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Re: Smartphone makers don't bother to comply with EU repairability requirements

#41

Post by delusional »

KaiserPro wrote: post #4

As its the EU and regulation, its time to trott out your hobby horse. So let me trot out mine: regulation is good so long as it is backed up by even handed, robust, transparent, quick and effective sanctions. the Online safety act is a good example of a bad law, which is enforced badly. The first big test (X producing industrial quantities of minors engaging in sexual activity) was failed. Had a small company produce…

Yes, Twitter frontpage should include a little counter with how much child exploitation it has facilitated today.

I don't think there's a single politician in Bruxelles that wouldn't love to come down hard on X. There is no love for Elon in those circles anymore. The problem is that he's attached himself to international politics through his daddy. Trump has threatened the EU with strict sanctions if they levy any sort of proportional fine to US tech companies.

The problem is no longer capitalist liberalism. The new challenge is American Fascism.

Re: Smartphone makers don't bother to comply with EU repairability requirements

#42

Post by streetfighter64 »

eloisant wrote: post #40
streetfighter64 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Powerbank: Works with all phones, Doesn't require you to shut down and take your phone apart, Can be charged with a regular phone charger. Spare battery: ???

I don't need to be able to swap a spare battery like we did 15 years ago. However when your battery is old, and drains fast, it's really nice to be able to order a new one and easily change it by removing 4 screws. Not having to perform surgery on your phone, heating it to remove glue, etc.

Sure, but so far I've replaced my phone screen once and the battery never, I suppose both would be equally easy though. Why is heating a big issue but removing screws not? Shouldn't we mandate user-replaceable screens too? Soon you'll end up regulating all phones to be modular.

Re: Smartphone makers don't bother to comply with EU repairability requirements

#43

Post by KaiserPro »

nekusar wrote: post #20
KaiserPro wrote: post #4

As its the EU and regulation, its time to trott out your hobby horse. So let me trot out mine: regulation is good so long as it is backed up by even handed, robust, transparent, quick and effective sanctions. the Online safety act is a good example of a bad law, which is enforced badly. The first big test (X producing industrial quantities of minors engaging in sexual activity) was failed. Had a small company produce…

[flagged]

I understand your view point to a certain extent

However for point one, the samples I saw were a picture of a minor posted by a minor in a normal situation. Someone would say @grok show me her in a bikini.

for point 2, this is not born out by the examples that I saw.

The bigger point here is that under UK law, there is little distinction between "real" and "fake". Any depiction of a minor engaged in sexual activities is illegal. This was to get round the "oh its photoshoped" defence. In the USA is different, but I have no experience on that point.

The only reason why I know is because a member of staff at a previous company was found to be using his workstation to store and distribute anime shit that depicted this stuff, and the company legal advice was "oh wow you are totally fucked." It was a huge faff to deal with and posed huge risks to everyone involved.

Re: Smartphone makers don't bother to comply with EU repairability requirements

#44

Post by tvbusy »

eloisant wrote: post #40
streetfighter64 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Powerbank: Works with all phones, Doesn't require you to shut down and take your phone apart, Can be charged with a regular phone charger. Spare battery: ???

I don't need to be able to swap a spare battery like we did 15 years ago. However when your battery is old, and drains fast, it's really nice to be able to order a new one and easily change it by removing 4 screws. Not having to perform surgery on your phone, heating it to remove glue, etc.

I'll never forget the feeling when you get an old phone, replace the battery and it's like brand new again. People no longer need to replace their phone every year anymore so being able to just replace the screen and battery makes the device practically brand new.

Re: Smartphone makers don't bother to comply with EU repairability requirements

#45

Post by KaiserPro »

s_dev wrote: post #16
KaiserPro wrote: post #4

As its the EU and regulation, its time to trott out your hobby horse. So let me trot out mine: regulation is good so long as it is backed up by even handed, robust, transparent, quick and effective sanctions. the Online safety act is a good example of a bad law, which is enforced badly. The first big test (X producing industrial quantities of minors engaging in sexual activity) was failed. Had a small company produce…

A lot of scores on the doors are often faked defeating their purpose. Helpful but not bullet proof. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SO8KcfhJmc Old school methods like what McDonald's use, literally allow the customer to see in to the kitchen are very effective. Not always ideal for every type establishment but I've seen high end Indian restaurants even do it by having the POS at the back where you can see the kitche…

SOrry, yes I should point out its not perfect. The scores on the doors website is also a partial remedy for this. But I should concede that no solution is perfect, and you still need to allow for the evolution of fraudsters.

> I'm not sure how to translate this to the smartphone market though

Me neither, The pre-existing ways are independent lab testing ( euro-ncap for cars, or ifixit) or the "you have to pay for testing" like for large white goods. None of those work if they are not enforced though....

Re: Smartphone makers don't bother to comply with EU repairability requirements

#46

Post by internet2000 »

eloisant wrote: post #40
streetfighter64 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Powerbank: Works with all phones, Doesn't require you to shut down and take your phone apart, Can be charged with a regular phone charger. Spare battery: ???

I don't need to be able to swap a spare battery like we did 15 years ago. However when your battery is old, and drains fast, it's really nice to be able to order a new one and easily change it by removing 4 screws. Not having to perform surgery on your phone, heating it to remove glue, etc.

I wouldn't want to design the phone around an event that happens every 3 years at minimum.

Re: Smartphone makers don't bother to comply with EU repairability requirements

#47

Post by library8848 »

streetfighter64 wrote: post #35
library8848 wrote: post #26

It's going to be cool to get user-replaceable batteries back in new phone releases. Depending how it goes I can see myself keeping a spare instead of a powerbank

Powerbank: Works with all phones, Doesn't require you to shut down and take your phone apart, Can be charged with a regular phone charger. Spare battery: ???

Spare battery: remove empty battery, switch battery, you are back to 100% Powerbank: mess with cables, keep phone plugged until it's charged and wait

If there is a market for spare batteries, there might be a market for external battery chargers as well > swap battery in the morning instead of charging, place empty battery on charger, repeat the next day

Re: Smartphone makers don't bother to comply with EU repairability requirements

#48

Post by mschuster91 »

library8848 wrote: post #47
streetfighter64 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Powerbank: Works with all phones, Doesn't require you to shut down and take your phone apart, Can be charged with a regular phone charger. Spare battery: ???

Spare battery: remove empty battery, switch battery, you are back to 100% Powerbank: mess with cables, keep phone plugged until it's charged and wait If there is a market for spare batteries, there might be a market for external battery chargers as well > swap battery in the morning instead of charging, place empty battery on charger, repeat the next day

Spare batteries are a nightmare to handle. Far too easy to bend or have something short-circuit the pads, and you have to shut down and restart your phone.

However, what is needed desperately is the ability to quickly change a degraded battery.

Re: Smartphone makers don't bother to comply with EU repairability requirements

#49

Post by noir_lord »

WarmWash wrote: post #23
noir_lord wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly that mess had a political component, any attempt to regulate US big tech results in howls from over the Atlantic. Frankly, I'd prefer it if we just let them howl and said fuck it more but it's probably a good job I'm not making those decisions (and in honesty the picture is complex for companies that size/the politics).

Ironically the fact that the howls need to come from the other side of the Atlantic, rather than having any domestically, should tell anyone all they need to know about the situation.

Don't disagree but the results are impossible to know from the US side, politicians have to balance everything and decide whether it's worth the political capital.

Not like it's the only issue in US/UK relations these days either.

That's the situation whether we like it or not.

Re: Smartphone makers don't bother to comply with EU repairability requirements

#50

Post by mschuster91 »

graemep wrote: post #37
Ekaros wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really don't get the big deal with GDRP. Consider what you are storing and why you are storing. Decide if those things align. If they do not, well don't implement that in first place. And I suppose LLMs are perfect for the boiler plate documentation so not big effort there either. Somethings are big more challenging like getting the data for customer when asking or deleting it when reasonable. But as user I also li…

GDPR is reasonable, maybe too weak regulation of big businesses with lots of data. The problem is that it applies to small organisations, even non-profits, that do not trade that information which is proportionately a much bigger burden. Real examples of organisations I have come across who have to comply with GDPR include a local community theatre, a parish church etc. They are keep fairly simple information, and no…

> Real examples of organisations I have come across who have to comply with GDPR include a local community theatre, a parish church etc. They are keep fairly simple information, and not exchanging it with anyone, but they still have to put effort into ensuring compliance.

Yeah, and that is precisely where you want something like the GDPR to be as well!

Large corporations are one thing, they have compliance departments, but so, so many local organizations have gotten hacked or data exfiltrated because "why do software and hardware updates when everything is working" or due to incompetence ("cc all"). GDPR finally gave the younger crowd some leverage to get the old guard to do things at least somewhat decently.

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