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Apple Introduces AirTag

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Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#801

Post by fiznool »

calsy wrote: post #513
habibur wrote: post #16

> AirTag is designed for over a year’s worth of battery life with everyday use. The CR2032 battery is user-replaceable and widely available. Replacement batteries are sold separately. That's the piece of information I wanted to know first. Devices like this can be built, but those can't run on batteries for a reasonable time frame. Apple made it practical.

In Australia roughly 20 kids per week present to emergency having swallowed or inserted a button battery and in several cases many have tragically died. It is an agonising death over a period of days/weeks for the child and horrible for the parents to witness. Many times both the parents and medical professionals don't realise what is actually happening to the child until it is too late. There is growing support for…

Just wanted to say thank you for posting this. I have three small children and had no idea of the dangers these batteries pose. We seem to be changing button batteries every couple of weeks or so, they are in a number of sound books and toys we have around the house. I will be sure to take extra care with them after reading that article. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#802

Post by abestic9 »

fingerlocks wrote: post #734
neuronic wrote: post #691

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please, if possible, do not put collars on cats :( If they're outside they can get gravely injured as they pass through the smallest holes and cracks. There are very NSFL images of resulting injuries. The collars often lead to suffocation or very bloody scenes - no matter how well they seem to fit. https://www.pdsa.org.uk/taking-care-of-your-pet/looking-afte...

Breakaway collars are standard at the pet shops near me. Having a bell on a collar seriously hinders a cat’s ability to hunt birds and other wildlife, which is a huge problem in some places.

And a solution in places like New Zealand, where cats are harming the native bird populations.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#803

Post by jbverschoor »

pupdogg wrote: post #554
habibur wrote: post #16

> AirTag is designed for over a year’s worth of battery life with everyday use. The CR2032 battery is user-replaceable and widely available. Replacement batteries are sold separately. That's the piece of information I wanted to know first. Devices like this can be built, but those can't run on batteries for a reasonable time frame. Apple made it practical.

If you’re not intimidated by NDAs, devices like this can be built for approx. $15/ea. or less (based on your volume) with a battery option. A CR2032 will yield approx. 6-7 years of life for the tag as long as it’s setup to emit once every 30-60s. I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple’s cost is in $1-2 per device with the battery.

You can buy complete bluetooth beacons including battery for under $7 in the EU.

They can easily be built for a few bucks. Good profits, and I expect many people will have 5-10 devices, because they're so cheap

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#804

Post by cdolan »

labcomputer wrote: post #449
buzzert wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven’t heard about this. Can you explain more?

The app: * Constant nudging to buy more with all the usual high-pressure sales patterns (creating urgency, doubt, etc) * Implies tiles with non-replaceable batteries will stop working after a fixed time (they won't). Other things: * The tile network is not as complete as I'd want it to be. I once lost my keys at work, and someone turned them in to security. It took a week before I was able to figure out what happened…

* Implies tiles with non-replaceable batteries will stop working after a fixed time (they won't).

—> wouldnt the battery eventually die? This seems obvious that after some amount of time a non replaceable battery will stop functioning

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#805

Post by bouke »

prionassembly wrote: post #22

I've been thinking about a solution that would let me find a 4-10 year old child that gets lost in a big city crowd. Like a bracelet or something. Is the AirTag truly first or best in class?

Would like to know this as well.

The deciding factor would be the responsiveness of a lookup. How quick can one locate the tag when it is out of reach of your iPhone and needs to be located through the "public network"?

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#806

Post by mensetmanusman »

sydd wrote: post #724
dghlsakjg wrote: post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A CR2032 (disposable) has 2x-4x (200 mah under ideal conditions, compared to 40 mah) the capacity of the same sized LR2032 (rechargeable), and is more stable over a long period of time. In addition there is the necessity of additional charging circuitry, and I'm not sure how small they can physically make the charging antenna. Lithium rechargeable would mean higher price, larger size for equivalent specs, with an add…

Instead now we get millions of CR2032 batteries thrown into the garbage each day :/ Anything with non-chargeable batteries is a no go from sustainability perspective

That’s not true, it depends on the types of materials, how it is disposed, and what the alternatives are.

Recall that everything is made out of rearranged earth atoms. So long as you put them back properly, it can be sustainable.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#807

Post by tekknik »

oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #795
pharmakom wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Phone batteries stopped being user replaceable once smart phones started improving at such a rapid pace that even if you could replace the battery in your 2 year old device you won’t want to because the UI would be dog slow and the camera a blurry mess compared to current model. Funnily, the time for replaceable batteries in phones seems to have arrived, but users are now trained not to expect it. Sending your phone…

On the cusp of the transition, I attended a music festival with a couple of friends. They both had modern smartphones, I had something closer to an old-school feature phone. At some point on what was probably the first day, we all went to the phone charging tent. They stayed there for an hour or two with their phones plugged in. I walked in and walked back out again immediately, with a fresh battery for my phone hand…

Meanwhile modern smart phones charge to 80% in 15-30 mins. If they were in there for hours they wanted it at 100%

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#808

Post by tekknik »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #683
xondono wrote: post #637

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you want it enough to pay 20% to 30% more and have the phone be ~5mm thicker? Because the obvious issue is that most people won’t.

Why is that the requirement? The extra layers of plastic to enable removable batteries cost close to zero dollars and don't have to cost more than a millimeter.

There’s also connectors that wouldn’t be there normally, those connectors also have to be large enough to support the current. Then there’s the plastic lined battery well, as well as the plastic battery case. It’s not as simple as throwing plastic around a battery and calling it a day.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#809

Post by tekknik »

cool-RR wrote: post #640
ehsankia wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As pointed out above, this is already the status quo (replacable battery, 1 year life, etc). Tile has had it for years. I'm curious if it would've been technically feasible to have wireless charging on these instead of replaceable battery. Or would that greatly increase the price?

Audio jacks were also the status quo...

and so was 66Mhz 486 processors and RAM measured in KB and MB. things change.

Re: Apple Introduces AirTag

#810

Post by tekknik »

spoonjim wrote: post #327
gerry_shaw wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is ridiculous that something as basic as having a user replaceable battery is considered an unexpected nice feature.

For something where extremely small size is an essential feature (unlike a laptop computer), battery replaceability is a direct trade off with that.

> For something where extremely small size is an essential feature (unlike a laptop computer)

Say that to someone traveling for work.

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