What is so different about my Pexel7a that's any different to my 5?
Nothing that I even notice. Except for missing convenience such as the rear finger sensor.
And that's the same for most models.
In fact in a desperate bid to make phones exciting again, manufacturers are trying to bring back the folding concept. And that's just going to be a total fad since it doesn't actually bring anything functional to the market.
If you read the article, it details pretty early on that they've been built specifically. And that's the best case, the worst cases are that they get thrown in a random basement.
I'm anti car? Sure thing buddy. Excellent assumption there given that I'm a big petrol head.
But because I also believe that they're not the solution to 99% of urban mobility that means I'm anti-car?
There are a multitude of viable alternatives to car reliance, many of which are currently already in application and shown to be incredibly effective already. But of course that doesn't fit your narrative of trying to make out that cars are the only way to get around.
Remember that American cities were demolished for cars in the post war era. If you can demolish to make room for cars, then you can build to accommodate people.
You're missing the point of the article and the discussion.
Wearing a helmet only adds a hurdle to something where the very core concepts of which is supposed to be the accessibility and freedom it offers.
For the statistical likelihood of a helmet saving someone's life or from serious injury, is it really worth the spotlight that is constantly placed on them?
Ironically, all they seem to be used for is as a weapon for battering the idea of making cycling easier for the masses around the head.
The amount of comments I've seen from absolute meat heads who can't bear the idea of not driving their cars literally everywhere justifying their behaviour towards a bike rider or that one is somehow responsible for an incident that wasn't their fault because they didn't wear a helmet is fucking barmy.
Cycling is a method of transport no different to any other. You don't have to cart around bulky, awkward and fairly fragile items with you when you get to your destination in your car, on the bus or via train. Why mandate it for the cleanest form of transport beside walking?
Bluntly put, you can fall over, hit your head and die without a bike at all. Should you have to wear a helmet all the time in your day to day? Silly notion and simply an appeal to emotion/but sometimes fallacy.
Edit: to those downvoting, please explain how you feel my comment hasn't added to the discussion, since that's what it's for. It isn't a 'disagree' button.
What they gonna do? Sue a decentralised network that noone owns by it's pure design?
Except that doesn't happen, no matter how much you want it to.
I don't see the strawman? And it's more than just the 'oh it's only once every 3 years'. It's the environment. Why are we making phones to be replaced needlessly every 2 or 3 years and all the waste that comes with it when you should just be able to replace the one common failure point?
You've got to be on a very old phone before you stop getting updates pushed through though? I know Apple are actually pretty good at legacy updates, but Android has got to be 5 or 6 years? Although the challenge is probably more to the variety of Anroid options out there in both the OS configurations and the hardware, where iOS is just iOS and the hardware is known.
I feel that when you get to that age then your battery is pretty much cooked anyway unless it's had very light use or the owner has been absolutely meticulous in it's care.
I think the biggest reaction will be that it will likely also impact the US and other markets. Just like with the previous EU regulation that mandated that everyone standardises on the same cables (USBC) it benifited the rest of the world as it was just cheaper to design and manufature one phone rather than multiple for the different markets. Probably the same here to.
I am curious to see how they will design around this requirement though. Curretly we've been 'spoiled' with some very sleek and clean designs, but if designers have to find a way for them to be easily openable either tooless or with non-propreietry tools and all the rest of it then it may change this.
Although, to be fair, I have noticed that phones have recently started getting bigger, heavier and clunkier. For example the difference between my recently retired Pixel 5 and new Pixel 7a is night and day. I actually regret upgrading - if it wasn't for my son being 'due' for a new phone and being a little skint at the moment (easy 'free' birthday present), I wouldn't have switched.
Just to move away from the article, I want to make a comment about the car itself.
Over the 2010s, the SUVs were really at the point where they all looked like totally generic boring blobs. Just an shape. Souless and dull. All the same. You'd really struggle to pick a stand out one out of a line up of Vauxhall, Citroen, Ford, Kia, Hyundai, VW etc. There of course was some brands like Porsche, BMW and Audi which were different, but they were genuine evolutions of an already pretty timeless and classic look.
Then Ford and Hyundai came to the table with some absolutely great striking and honestly futuristic designs to kick off their EV range a couple of years ago with the 2020 F-series and Tucsons respectively and by extension the IONIQ ranges. Not to mention the absolute beauty of the Rivian.
And now everyone is doing the same. Rather than look to find an individual and unique design language, everyone copies the pioneer (most times). With the rare exception of the marques who have the confidence to go their own way (a-la BMW, Porsche, Volvo).
Anyway, there's my totally off topic 2p on the matter.
It amazes me that the Soviet concept of a truck with some pipes on the back has remained in service and firmly part of their doctrine for all these years.
Of course the technology of the rockets have advanced, but only in terms of accuracy, range and payload.
It's also a bit daft, because not only do they now have your fingerprint, but your DNA and all the other unique identifiers that come with your blood and flesh.
I suspect that it won't be long until they're found, unless they're one of the few people who are totally off the system.