this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2024
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In two years time Apple, and every other smartphone manufacturer on the EU market for that matter, will be forced to make the battery user replaceable and that one will most likely benefit everyone; unless Apple wants to release two versions of every iPhone to comply with EU regulations which they won't.
When they do come to it. I hope its the easily swappable like the ones in Nokia 3310. Otherwise its pointless imo.
AFAIK, the EU defines "user replaceable" as literally that; you open a hatch, pull the battery out and stick a new one in.
Fuck, let's hope they at least allow screws. Click-in latches are prone to breaking and wearing out
How many often are you planning on replacing the battery in your phone that it would wear out the panel?
The ware would most likely come from someone that has a spare battery that is ready to go. Think of your phone burning 80% of the juice and you’re about to hop on a flight that you’re barely going to make (no time to charge). Slap that stand by battery in and off you go. That’s what I did with my old Nokia or blackberry back in the day. Oh and for my HTC aria.
Sounds stupid, arent there charging ports on planes?
And other than plane where external battery is an issue, i just have a small brick that connect to my phone by the magnets on the back and wireless charges it, this is only really needed if you are doing something all day on the phone, like going around a city, taking pictures
True there are places to charge on a plane or bus. My example is just what I could come with in terms of just needing instant juice. I like having the option to have power for my phone. Multiple ways to skin a cat. :)
Yeah, I just bring a battery bank on longer trips. My battery easily lasts a full day, often two, and my battery bank can recharge my phone like 4 times. So on trips, I put my battery bank in my backpack, so if I ever need to charge, I can.
Yup, I confirm, I've been on a plane with charging ports once. They exist.
With my N900 I used to travel with 6 to 10 charged batteries to have a few days of runtime. Things got better now with powerbanks - but for something like hiking just carrying a few spares would still be smaller and lighter.
Honestly for hiking I’d suggest a power bank with solar charge capability. One thing to charge them all.
Hust make sure, that you can detach the solar panel. Batteries don’t like the heat and the solar panel most likely lives longer than the power bank, so you want them to be replaceable individually.
The space used by the smallest solar charger I've seen on Amazon seems to be similar to 6 or more batteries in the format the N900 was taking - so if you look at space, slow charging from solar charger, and reliance on sun conditions taking individual batteries seems to be the better option for a few days hike. It's also easier to stow individual batteries to wherever you still have space left.
The n900 was truly the best phone ever to exist and I'm deeply upset about it not having a modern equivalent
Replacing the battery is pretty expensive, so I prefer to optimize my charging patterns so I never ever have to get it replaced. However, if I could do it myself, I might abuse the battery much more. I might even leave my devices plugged in overnight.
Is it though? Batteries themselves are something like $20-60 (e.g. Pixel 8 battery for $43, ebay listing for <$20). The battery is honestly not that expensive, the expensive part is the labor because taking modern phones apart is a massive pain.
It’s about 80-130 € depending on phone model, and that includes work and the battery. If I could just buy a battery online and replace it myself, the prices should be more reasonable. Apparently one day that will actually happen.
And that's the point here. The battery itself isn't the expensive part, it's the expertise and tools needed to do the swap. If phones are required to have user-serviceable batteries, users can just buy the batteries and service it themselves. Many will still go to phone repair places, but prices should come down there as well since it'll take them a lot less time and equipment.
Just realized, there’s also another benefit. You could bring multiple batteries to a trip and not worry about charging. You know, the way you have always done with DSLR cameras.
You could, but it would be a lot easier to just bring a battery bank. That way there's one thing to keep track of, and you can charge multiple times off one bank. I've charged my phone once and my SO's phone twice between recharges without draining the battery bank. Even if swapping batteries was dead simple, the battery bank is simpler.
That said, having the option is great! I will probably never replace the battery though, since none of the phones I've ever had needed a battery replacement, I usually run out of software updates, shatter a screen, or break the power button long before the battery is a serious issue.
Every time I'm on a longer trip and want to replace a battery with a charged one? Every time I want to be offline but carry a phone for emergencies?
Meh, most iPhones live in a case, it'll be fine
They should do, although I can't really imagine manufacturers incorporating plastic tabs into their sleek glass-metal sandwiches....
I have a Phone with a click-in latch and nothing wore our over the last 5 years
Yeah I don’t miss dripping a HTC phone and watching the pieces scatter.
Unfortunately, they do not define it that way.
And there are exceptions based on capacity and how long you guarantee the battery capacity will be good for. IIRC, if it still has 70% capacity by 3 years time, it doesn't have to be replaceable at all.
Can you really guarantee that? I mean, it's pretty much dependent on individual usage.
Sure you can. Car manufacturers do it today.
You will have to define "3 years" as well. It can't be a blanket 3 calendar year thing, it would have to be X number of cycles which the average user would realistically hit with 3 years of usage. Not someone glued to their phone playing games all day that need to charge three times a day.
Yup, probably one charge from 20% to 80% every day or something like that.
I do not remember reading that, the only exception I remember is for devices that are intended to be used under water, which phones are definitely not
Sounds really good to me!
They'll make the replacement so expensive nobody will do it. And then there will be a new rule mandating it needs to be a reasonable price. Apple will say it's reasomable because it factors in environmental costs, and so the dance continues.
Pretty sure the draft allowed "common tools" or specialised tools if they came in box.