Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

There is now a European standard for measuring how easy it is to repair stuff

de.ifixit.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 201 posts

Re: There is now a European standard for measuring how easy it is to repair stuff

#191

Post by foobar4567 »

silvestrov wrote: post #73
rsynnott wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I kind liked washing machines that properly heated to 90C Your washing machine is likely defective. Nothing about the rules makes this particularly difficult and modern machines with good energy ratings can do it (though, mind you, you'll notice if you read the small print that the energy rating is pretty much just for the mode they expect people to use; the 90 degree mode will use quite a lot of power). > vacuum c…

I think it would better if the EU had required listing the "sucking power" of vacuum cleaner in addition to the power usage, and require this number to be in bigger font size than power usage. And require "suckage per watt" also. People went by power usage because that was the only measure they got.

The EU did introduce a label with information about cleaning power and noise, in addition to energy use.

However, these were removed following a court ruling in favour of Dyson, which complained that the cleaning power tests were not realistic, as they were always conducted with an empty bag.

https://www.which.co.uk/news/2018/11/dyson-wins-eu-vacuum-ap...

Re: There is now a European standard for measuring how easy it is to repair stuff

#192

Post by stiray »

MikusR wrote: post #187
stiray wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me tell you a story. 4 Samsung smart TV models bought as a "pack" to bring down the price. Me and 3 friends bought them. 3 of them died in 5-6 years. One was just replaced with larger one but still works. Difference? First 3 were connected to internet, last one, mine, was on stock firmware, never connected anywhere (I have computer near it and lately raspberry pi 4). Coincidence?

Were they connected with ethernet cables? A lightning could do it.

Naah, no one was thinking of ethernet cables in old houses. Wireless all the way.

Re: There is now a European standard for measuring how easy it is to repair stuff

#193

Post by Vinnl »

moksly wrote: post #26
Vinnl wrote: post #14

I have a Fairphone [1], for which repairability was a major focus (the latest two models are the first smartphones to get a perfect 10 from iFixit, IIRC). At some point, it started having some issues. Likewise, a friend of mine who had one wanted a new phone as well. By combining parts from mine and his phone, I now have a properly working phone again with very little effort. This is so important. (That said, the rea…

This is anecdotal, but everyone in my circle of friends who bought a fairphone2 (2015) has replaced it. Meanwhile my mom is still using my old iPhone 5s (2013). And my wife uses her iPhone SE(2016). Hell the fact that they have released one in 2013, 2015 and 2019, kind of goes against their message doesn’t it?

Hence the part I wrote in parentheses. They're still learning, so I'd expect the FP3 to be much better than the FP2, just like the FP2 was an improvement over the FP1. I think it's unrealistic to expect a new company to immediately hit a home run, but I think their main contribution is that they're paving the way for other companies: they're making mistakes, but also openly documenting what they're doing and what challenges they're running into.

Re: There is now a European standard for measuring how easy it is to repair stuff

#194

Post by Vinnl »

moksly wrote: post #107
rowanG077 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn't surprise me. The crowd of people who are aware of the fairphone are most likely techies. And I would wager techies are much more likely to replace a Phone then the Generic Apple user.

No one I’d call a techie bought it, it was the artsy environmental types. The reasons for replacing it ranges from the OS not being updated to run modern Apps to the phone breaking. We’re pretty digitised in Denmark, so if you can’t download apps from the iOS or play stores you’ll have a harder time transferring payments to friends, using public transportation, ordering food online, interacting with the public sector…

> he reasons for replacing it ranges from the OS not being updated

They just released a beta of the upgrade to Android 9 for their five-year-old phone. Yes, that's just Android 9, but still way better than other phones that old, and they had to overcome major hurdles for it [2]. But yes, iPhones are much better than Androids at longevity.

[1] https://www.androidauthority.com/fairphone-2-android-9-11295...

[2] https://www.fairphone.com/en/2020/06/18/fairphone-2-gets-and...

Re: There is now a European standard for measuring how easy it is to repair stuff

#195

Post by Vinnl »

Derbasti wrote: post #77
Vinnl wrote: post #14

I have a Fairphone [1], for which repairability was a major focus (the latest two models are the first smartphones to get a perfect 10 from iFixit, IIRC). At some point, it started having some issues. Likewise, a friend of mine who had one wanted a new phone as well. By combining parts from mine and his phone, I now have a properly working phone again with very little effort. This is so important. (That said, the rea…

My wife and I had a Fairphone 2 as well. Fantastically repairable. I broke the screen on mine just before a vacation, priority-shipped a new one two days before we left and had it all repaired in time. My wife's phone had a strange headphone issue, bought the spare part, and even got reimbursed afterwards, because it might have been a manufacturing issue. But we have both since moved on. Why? Because the Fairphone 2…

> But for now, I choose buying used phones over fair new ones. And maybe that is actually better for the environment, too.

It is! And very much in line with the Fairphone philosophy. But yes, definitely still a long way to go in terms of repairability and longevity of Android phones. Fairphone's pushing the limits, but those limits are still disappointingly low.

Re: There is now a European standard for measuring how easy it is to repair stuff

#196

Post by Vinnl »

mobilemidget wrote: post #16
Vinnl wrote: post #14

I have a Fairphone [1], for which repairability was a major focus (the latest two models are the first smartphones to get a perfect 10 from iFixit, IIRC). At some point, it started having some issues. Likewise, a friend of mine who had one wanted a new phone as well. By combining parts from mine and his phone, I now have a properly working phone again with very little effort. This is so important. (That said, the rea…

you left out some important information, and leaving me in thoughts.. "I now have a properly working phone again" But what about your friend? What did he have to do to call you again, or you guys simply stopped calling each other? ;)

He got a new phone :) So instead of us both having to get a new phone, just one sufficed.

Re: There is now a European standard for measuring how easy it is to repair stuff

#197

Post by rasz »

barrkel wrote: post #189
theandrewbailey wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I watched one of Louis' videos[0] yesterday where he doesn't think Apple's ARM transition won't make things harder. He mentions that CPU failure is rare, and replacement CPUs aren't easy to get today, because they are salvaged from other machines, and can't be ordered from places like Newegg or Amazon. Almost all of his repairs involve components that aren't the CPU. [0] https://youtu.be/T_2LnFAGypM?t=175

Switching away from a PC architecture is the issue more than moving to using an ARM CPU in particular.

Not to someone already repairing ipads/iphones.

Re: There is now a European standard for measuring how easy it is to repair stuff

#198

Post by fluffything »

YeGoblynQueenne wrote: post #174
fluffything wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm still using my iPhone SE (2016). I've changed the battery once, and the screen twice (I should probably stop dropping it). Changing the screen takes ~20 minutes, and a new screen costs ~16$. I will probably upgrade to the iPhone SE2 at some point, but given that my phone works perfectly for what I use it for, paying 550$ for an upgrade just does not make sense.

Well, I'm using an HTC phone from 2014. I haven't had to change or repair any parts and it costs about half an iPhone, I think. To clarify, everything seems to be working just fine. Unfortunately, Google. But that's the only problem with it. I was actually going to stick with a flip-top but then I started working as a dev and figured that getting a smartphone would give me some extra cred. Nowadays it's probably the…

> I haven't had to change or repair any parts and it costs about half an iPhone, I think.

I've dropped the iphone dozens of times. I should stop doing that. I guess that if I had been more careful, i wouldn't have had to change anything, except for the battery (the old battery was "fine", ~65-70% capacity, but given that changing it takes 15 min and 20$, and makes the phone feel like brand new, it is a change that I happily do). Can you comment on the battery life of your 2014 HTC phone after 6 years of use? What kind of battery does it have ?

Re: There is now a European standard for measuring how easy it is to repair stuff

#199

Post by dx034 »

MikusR wrote: post #186
HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the bit that people keep skirting around. No one is intentionally making items hard to repair (at least I have never seen any evidence to suggest it); they're making them easy and cheap to manufacture. And cheap to manufacture often means hard to repair as a side effect. To anyone working with complex industrial devices this isn't a surprise. A good manufacturer will involve their Service people in Manufactur…

Apple is intentionally making things harder to repair. They already have added drm checks to batteries and screens.

Fake batteries can cause explosions and exploding iPhones are bad for Apples reputation. Furthermore, iPhones are by now stolen pretty much only for parts as the iPhone itself is already protected. Sure, it'd be better if they offered replacement parts. But DRM is actually good for product safety and theft protection.

Re: There is now a European standard for measuring how easy it is to repair stuff

#200

Post by wizzwizz4 »

advisedwang wrote: post #188
wizzwizz4 wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alternatively, you could look at the version on the EU website. This article[1] links to the standard[2]. [1]: https://www.cencenelec.eu/news/articles/Pages/AR-2020-008.as... [2]: https://www.cenelec.eu/dyn/www/f?p=104:110:877190265864601::...

As far as I can see that site does not provide a free download.

You're right. This is just another proprietary standards body.
Post reply on HN