A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.
Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.
Subcommunities on Beehaw:
This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
This is great. I have the Fairphone 4, which does have a couple of issues, but the fact that the battery can be replaced will increase the usable lifespan of the phone.
I have a Pixel 2 used for messing about with Lineage, but the battery only lasts fifteen minutes, but is otherwise still a great phone. If it was easy enough to swap out that battery, I'd probably still be using it as my main.
This is a step in the right direction, but because phones are now extremely sophisticated they frequent need security updates, but phone manufacturers only support a phone for about 3 years that also needs tackling because that will also help reduce ewaste.
Five years software support are mandatory in the EU. Germany wanted at least seven but couldn't convince the rest
That is the dumbest ewaste for "smart" devices ever!
If the manufacturer isn't willing to support it then they should be mandated to release the firmware to the world.
Good!
I had the battery for my OnePlus 6T replaced, extending the phone lifetime for probably 2 years. It cost me about $100.
Forcing manufacturers to make batteries easily replaceable by the user without special tools and skills seems like it could make phones less lightweight and less waterproof. I would be fine if they just require manufactures to make it available as a reasonably priced service.
@withersailor Hopefully it doesn't end here, but also includes the option to easily replace parts and to forbid using glued parts.
Is blanket forbidding glued parts practical? It's the obvious simple way to attach some things. I'm not sure if the tools even exist to package a wafer with just screws, for example.
Of course, this is the EU and they've shown themself capable of legislating away only the dumb parts of an industry.
@CanadaPlus Show me where - for example - the Fairphone uses glue.
I was actually asking. It depends on how you define "glue", too. Solder is glue by a lot of definitions. You could restrict it to organic resins, but then like I mentioned the ICs are packaged in those.
A better legislative approach would be to require removable connectors whenever it's a reasonably equivalent option.
This is great news! Even better than the USB-C regulation. Changing a battery on a modern phone is a huge pita… And it’s definitely getting worse since some companies are trying everything to prevent you from doing so…
I would absolutely buy a phone twice as thick as my iPhone SE 2020 if it has an easily swappable battery. Bonus points if it is able to be used as an actual phone without a case to prevent it from dying instantly from a light breeze or some evil look by a person…
About time. I got two batteries on my Samsung Omnia i900. Is faster than carrying a clumsy external battery. Instantaneous 100%
non-replaceable batterys are also safety hazard. what if one starts swelling up due to age or fault? Only reason why they started doing that is so phones would become unusable faster.
To be fair though, I've never heard of a modern phone battery swelling. That's something that will happen years after it's EOL, and at that point the company is no longer obligated to supply a replacement (as ideal as that would be).
An integrated battery allows the company to minimize the size and design of the phone. It's not 100% greed and planned obsolescence, though its virtually guaranteed those are components of the design decision.
I want replaceable batteries too. But I want them to be standard so I don't need 3 chargers for each company's phone. And I want them to be sleek like modern phones so they fit in my hand and pocket like I'm familiar with.
It is/was a huge problem with the Pixel 3
It was only 6 years ago Samsung note 7's were exploding all over the place.
As for chargers eu has already mandated usb-c interface so that's already solved.
Yeah, it was so big of a meme that there were popular mods for GTA replacing explosive charges with Note 7's.
It happened to my Pixel 4a.
While that's great, what I'm more concerned about is pricing for original replacement batteries. I don't really care if I have to send my phone in for 2 to 3 days (which is what it took last time I sent an iPhone 11 Pro to Apple), what concerns me more is pricing. Especially with older phones, having to pay $69 to $89 for battery repair (plus shipping) is quite a lot. Self-service parts cost the exact same price from Apple currently.
The EU should forbid charging more for replacement or repair parts than the cost to manufacture them plus a small (!) markup.
Also, please extend this law to include all kinds of electronics (smartwatches, laptops, tablets etc.).
Especially AirPods and other true wireless earbuds should have replaceable batteries, as they are basically dead after 3 to 5 years, which just feels wrong considering everything except the batteries probably lasts a lot longer and when you get an expensive "battery repair" they just give you new AirPods.
I like replaceable batteries but there is no doubt that the simplified unibody designs have other benefits besides the planned obsolescence companies seek. Battery life or thickeness will certainly take a hit. I feel like having some form of incentives for more repairable phones would work better to bring better, more renuable options without blockingotherr designs
Does this also apply to EVs? Would be really nice if we could save such large and expensive appliances from planned obsolecense.