Among the many changes, the new rules would require batteries in consumer devices like smartphones to be easily removable and replaceable. That's far from the case today...
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
this is true, but usually my hand isn’t gripping the camera bump. A theoretical thicker phone would feel materially different to hold than an even bigger camera bump
We heard the same things from the laptop industry. But framework proved you can make laptop that’s modular and still thin. And battery density keeps improving so even if it adds 2mm it’ll catch up in a generation or two.
This is a much bigger demand than the usbc charging. I wonder if they can actually pull it off. I’d be happy with simply the right to be able to use a fully independent 3rd party to replace a battery.
I was put off when looking at a Fairphone and checking what spares they sold to find almost all of them sold out… think it was the FP2 or maybe 3 at that point…
FP really needed to have their house in order way sooner. FP4 looks ok, but their “we’ll try our best” update schedule isn’t… great…
I think they’re learning though and expect they’ll get it nailed. Just a shame they didn’t come out with such a solid proposition as Framework in the laptop world!
To be fair, framework is an oddity when it comes to tech startups, they must have some sort of business magician over there making sure releases are timely and everything is mostly kept in stock
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.
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.
Oh yes. And I’m not debating they do that purely as a form of planned obsolescence.
We’re talking laws here, though. Saying “but that’s dumb” doesn’t hold up in court (nor should it). You have to write exactly what you mean, because people’s money and sometimes freedom is riding on it.
There’s currently a law in the pipeline that would scan all conversations, videos and images sent over social networks as well as chat apps like Whatsapp for illegal material. It would also include backdoors in encryption technologies and possibly banning any services that don’t comply with the scanning, e.g. Signal. Love the EU in principle, but unfortunately it’s often used by national governments to push things like increased surveillance.
Well… I can cite a few laws. First, the part that protect DRM, second, the law that require search engines to make contract to quote article, third, the interest in policing private communication, and last, a project that isn’t really advanced to infringe net neutrality.
I doubt a US citizen will be shocked about them. But they are likely to dislike them.
(but I tend to see the greener side of “for 1 bad things, 2 good things come next”)
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.
I used to have a phone with a replaceable battery and it was awesome. I would charge the other battery while using the phone all day, carefree. When it was about to die, I’d swap out the battery. It was basically like I had an instant charge of 100% on my phone. Those were good days.
Anyone remember the LG V10? Mine came with an extra battery and a charging dock for the external batteries. Never plugged that phone up once in 2.5 years, just took 10 seconds to swap in a full battery.
All for this. The amount of times I’ve needed to do a full reset that would’ve been so much easier with a removable battery is wild. Waiting 10 hours for it to discharge is nuts
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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
Modern phones tend to have a big bulge for the camera, so the rest of the phone can be thickened easily without impacting the maximum thickness.
this is true, but usually my hand isn’t gripping the camera bump. A theoretical thicker phone would feel materially different to hold than an even bigger camera bump
We heard the same things from the laptop industry. But framework proved you can make laptop that’s modular and still thin. And battery density keeps improving so even if it adds 2mm it’ll catch up in a generation or two.
Laughing in Fairphone
It’s unfortunate that Fairphone sucks in other ways (such as having limited firmware updates due to using an old SoC, as I understand it).
And the headphone jack. Et tu Fairphone
This is a much bigger demand than the usbc charging. I wonder if they can actually pull it off. I’d be happy with simply the right to be able to use a fully independent 3rd party to replace a battery.
I recommend checking out Fairphone. The phone is completely modular so when something breaks, you can buy a new part and replace it yourself.
I was put off when looking at a Fairphone and checking what spares they sold to find almost all of them sold out… think it was the FP2 or maybe 3 at that point…
FP really needed to have their house in order way sooner. FP4 looks ok, but their “we’ll try our best” update schedule isn’t… great…
I think they’re learning though and expect they’ll get it nailed. Just a shame they didn’t come out with such a solid proposition as Framework in the laptop world!
To be fair, framework is an oddity when it comes to tech startups, they must have some sort of business magician over there making sure releases are timely and everything is mostly kept in stock
deleted by creator
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.
deleted by creator
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.
deleted by creator
Oh yes. And I’m not debating they do that purely as a form of planned obsolescence.
We’re talking laws here, though. Saying “but that’s dumb” doesn’t hold up in court (nor should it). You have to write exactly what you mean, because people’s money and sometimes freedom is riding on it.
It must be nice to have leaders that actually do useful things.
For every good thing they do 2 bad things come next. The grass is always greener on the other side.
Curiously as someone who only usually sees the greener side. As a US Citizen, what EU laws would I be shocked to see?
There’s currently a law in the pipeline that would scan all conversations, videos and images sent over social networks as well as chat apps like Whatsapp for illegal material. It would also include backdoors in encryption technologies and possibly banning any services that don’t comply with the scanning, e.g. Signal. Love the EU in principle, but unfortunately it’s often used by national governments to push things like increased surveillance.
Well… I can cite a few laws. First, the part that protect DRM, second, the law that require search engines to make contract to quote article, third, the interest in policing private communication, and last, a project that isn’t really advanced to infringe net neutrality.
I doubt a US citizen will be shocked about them. But they are likely to dislike them.
(but I tend to see the greener side of “for 1 bad things, 2 good things come next”)
I’m fine with internal batteries, but please use some form of standard cell size and connector.
The EU already standarized chargers IIRC.
Yeah, even Apple has to comply
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.
I used to have a phone with a replaceable battery and it was awesome. I would charge the other battery while using the phone all day, carefree. When it was about to die, I’d swap out the battery. It was basically like I had an instant charge of 100% on my phone. Those were good days.
And you used to be able to buy super battery packs too. You could get a pack that would power your phone for days.
Any battery is replaceable if you pry it hard enough
Every component is replaceable ~by buying a new iPhone~
-Apple
Anyone remember the LG V10? Mine came with an extra battery and a charging dock for the external batteries. Never plugged that phone up once in 2.5 years, just took 10 seconds to swap in a full battery.
All for this. The amount of times I’ve needed to do a full reset that would’ve been so much easier with a removable battery is wild. Waiting 10 hours for it to discharge is nuts
Holy Shit if that holds up it will have massive consequences
Good!
I wouldn’t even care about it being super easily replaceable. It would just be nice if the phone wasn’t basically filled with glue…