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

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

theolivepress.es

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

991–1000 of 1001 posts

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

#991

Post by ahf8Aithaex7Nai »

Ray20 wrote: post #908
ahf8Aithaex7Nai wrote: post #886

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You also can't simply assume that an existing solution on the market is not the best already. What kind of rash response is that? No one here is making a blanket claim that the market solution is categorically suboptimal. > I mean, who told us that smartphones with user-replaceable batteries are better... Let me repeat: you have to FIRST define what you mean by “better” and then ask that question. I want a phone wi…

> Are these people also upset about safety and environmental standards for cars By the way, this is a good example of what happens when regulators lose to the market. By what year was initially planned the complete ban of internal combustion engine vehicles for some European countries? And where are we now? The regulator lost, the market suffered, but survived, and many people are unhappy with the regulations. And th…

Yeah, yeah, I know the story. Enjoy your unregulated capitalism if you like it so much. These kinds of ideological debates are pointless. It’s better to just say “China” in that typical Trump voice while waving your hands around in the air.

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

#992

Post by rythie »

snowwrestler wrote: post #944
rythie wrote: post #584

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 j…

People do forget what it was like. Device battery life was way shorter and the manufacturer was incentivized to keep it that way because it sold more batteries. Devices all had proprietary batteries. If I had 3 devices on me, I was carrying 3x extra batteries, one+ per device. My Nikon D1H required 5 huge proprietary batteries to cover a day of shooting sports. Plus a battery for my BlackBerry, plus batteries for my…

My points are about what it’s like current with removable batteries in cameras with current technology. Battery usage is dependant on usage to some extent. For casual use my cameras last weeks on a battery and even shooting all day e.g. in a studio, I would only get through one battery. Modern cameras also have usb-c charging and can be used whilst you do that, so that’s an option too, though less practical in my view. Yes, camera batteries are proprietary and it would be better if they weren’t, though they are generally the same across similar cameras from the manufacturer and the same in the successor cameras. Many mirrorless cameras are water resistant (with the right lenses) so the can be used in heavy rain, though not under water without a housing. Action cams like the GoPro 13 Black are waterproof with a removable battery.

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

#993

Post by johanyc »

bitmasher9 wrote: post #747
johanyc wrote: post #608

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's planned obsolescence through price. Your wife paid >50% of the phone's value just to replace the battery. Many people won't think that's worth it. It could have been a $30 user replaceable battery.

Or she spent 7% of the purchase price of a new device to defer requiring to upgrade for another 3 years. $100 is worth it, but you can get a good discount by going to that one mall kiosk instead of the Apple Store.

> I don't know that I buy that it's "planned obsolescence".

I'm responding to this. It might be worth it for your wife. But if for a lot of people, paying $100 to revive a 6 year old phone is a bad deal, then it's planned obsolescence

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

#994

Post by treebeard901 »

lxgr wrote: post #969
treebeard901 wrote: post #968

Being able to remove your phone battery also stops all tracking and surveillance for that device. If that sort of thing matters to you.

Which tracking and surveillance stays on on a device shut down but the battery not removed?

Most phones are not really off when shut down with the battery still inside. It is still responding to E911 services and other forms of tracking. I know this will try to be debunked that if the phone is off, there is no power or communication to the various radios and transmitters. But there are different power states depending on your phone and firmware. You're only really "off the grid" when the battery is removed or you have a faraday bag.

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

#995

Post by iggldiggl »

svnt wrote: post #759
6510 wrote: post #698

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried to find a phone battery once and found very similar looking ones with prices ranging from expensive to terrifying with everything in between. I don't trust the ones that are to cheap as I don't know how they cut the corners. I don't trust the more expensive ones because they look the same. I cant see the profit margins. I was unable to pick one. I ask a guy with a repair store. He said he always buys from the…

This is what happens when the market for phone batteries only exists for OEMs who buy millions at a time, custom. It will stop only when there is a reason for consumer-detectable battery quality indicators — ie non-tech people have a reason to buy them. Which will now be the case with this law.

> This is what happens when the market for phone batteries only exists for OEMs who buy millions at a time, custom.

Even a few years ago when phones with replaceable batteries weren't that rare and I was in possession of one – by the time I started thinking about a battery replacement, offers of original OEM batteries usually seemed to have vanished into thin air and it was having to find out which aftermarket battery seemed reputable enough…

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

#996

Post by PunchyHamster »

adolph wrote: post #483
PunchyHamster wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is not "user replaceable" by any reasonable definition.

I suppose what is "reasonable" might be different for different people. I already had pentalob bits although a fresh spudger is always welcome. But these are not exotic tools. The "glue" under the battery was a bit like "command strips" commonly used to hang things from walls. It is interesting to think about the range of physical tool usage that is within a reasonable expectation. Is owning and being able to operate…

the watch have no glue keeping battery in.

I do think "turn few screws" is reasonable level of replacement. As long as it is some ISO standard fastener like torx not vendor specific one. We should not require someone to stock increasing variety of screwdrivers based on manufacturers again wanting to make it more annoying

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

#997

Post by account42 »

bko wrote: post #660
rythie wrote: post #584

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 j…

The fact that pretty much no phones have a replaceable battery says something. And it doesn't mean that all manufacturers are somehow colluding with each. The market is very competitive and pretty much every manufacturer decided the trade offs are not worth the benefit. If Samsung or Xiaomi or Google could sell you a better phone with a replaceable battery, they would. But everyone came to the conclusion that the tra…

All it says is that thinner phones look better on advertisements. Let's not pretend that product decisions are the rational best result for the market even if they are industry-standard.

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

#998

Post by account42 »

BenFranklin100 wrote: post #740
heavyset_go wrote: post #714

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If it's such a superior product that people want despite the tradeoffs, why don't they just fund a company to create such a phone? Why doesn't anyone? Because legislation is direct and gives better results to consumers. Thank god the EU standardized on USB-C. There's no reason to jump through extra hoops and rely on the whims of investors to do something good for the people.

With that attitude, we’d still be using D-sub connectors.

D-sub connectors are still pretty common in embedded applications.

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

#999

Post by account42 »

Oxodao wrote: post #946
Oxodao wrote: post #827

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trade-off is basically having a thicker phone. Nobody except apple thus all manufacturers 6 month later want paper-thin phones. Never the actual consumers.

customer*

No, the consumer is no longer the customer these days. The customer are the advertisement companies.

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

#1000

Post by SergeAx »

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…

On the contrary. If you really do this street-corner experiment, 80% of answers would be "I want my phone to last longer on one charge." Other 20% will be "I want my phone to charge faster". No one will say, "Oh, I want it to be foldable," or "Oh, I want an AI inside my phone." Zero. Zilch. Nada.

Mobile phones are totally okay the way they are now. No one needs new ones, and almost no one wants new ones. My previous phone lasted for 5 years. I changed the battery halfway, of course - it took a repair guy in a local shop about an hour.

Post reply on HN