That’s actually making a comeback because the EU got pissed.
My phone’s brand new and it has a removable battery, not even in the EU
I think it is because the EU listened to the people. This is what you get when elected representatives are not bankrolled by big business, and are allowed to enact legislation that doesn’t only benefit one side.
This is what you get when elected representatives are not bankrolled
The car lobby in the eu: Am I a joke to you?
yet cars in the EU still have higher standards, so where does that leave us?
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The EU has politicians that manage to legislate against the interests of gigantic tech corporations because European tech corporations are far smaller, and thus have much less leverage. Even if the US political system was significantly less corrupt, they’d probably still have issues to legislate against them.
As far as I understand, Europe will push for removable batteries by 2027.. So we might actually get back to those glory days.
People misunderstand this rule.
It’s not about popping batteries out, but instead about making them more easily replaceable (so no gluing them in place kinda thing)
But even then it only applies if the battery degrades by more than a certain amount over the course of 2 years. If it doesn’t, or if it’s over a certain capacity, they don’t need to do anything different.
Yeah, the spirit of the idea is much better than it’s implementation
To sell you more phones. Duh.
OP up in here learning about late-stage capitalism like 😲
The only valid reason is waterproofing. If the phone isn’t waterproof, it’s only to limit repairability… Also one factor in that was, I believe, the thinness war, but that’s pretty much over now as they all got to the practical limit I guess.
Unfortunately we still see too many people push the “but my IP rating” narrative without realising that engineers are perfectly able to design gaskets for all kinds of applications.
Some phones with removable batteries even had them and were (to a certain degree) waterproof.
The ONLY reason phones are no longer servicable is profits. Why extend a product’s lifespan if you can just frustrate the consumer to the point where they will just buy another one?
Nuclear submarines don’t glue their batteries
Nuclear powered- or nuclear capable submarines? Though I guess in nuclear powered submarines the “batteries” are actively unglueing themselves, which is what powers them in the first place.
Fission power in phones when?
Nuclear powered- or nuclear capable submarines?
Both?..
in nuclear powered submarines the “batteries” are actively unglueing themselves
Fair enough. But I was thinking about other batteries in case something happems to “batteries”.
I want to know what all these people are doing with their phones… I’ve needed a phone to be waterproof exactly one time. 20 years ago when I got chucked into a pool with my flip phone in my pocket. I’ve had about a dozen batteries stop charging properly and needed replacement since then.
I have this habit where I try to squeeze every bit of use out of a device until something forces me to get a new one.
My latest two phones have both lasted for 7 years, and I’m still not planning on upgrading until someting breaks.
In all those years I have never encountered a situation where I would have benefited from my phone being more waterproof than just basic ingress protection. Higher IP ratings are only helpful for those who don’t want to be conscious of their possessions and want insurance in case of accidents instead of preventing the situations outright.
If we truly want to reduce our impact on the use of natural resources, we should start with eradicating the mindset that things being disposable is somehow fine.
The Galaxy S5 was IP67 waterproof and had a removable battery and a headphone jack.
Did they have a stipulation that if the consumer opened the phone the IP rating would be nullified?
Genuinely asking, sounds like something a corpo would do.
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When it was new. The more you opened the back plate, the more that hair thin gasket eroded and eventually just broke.
When I opened up my pixel to replace its screen I was able to replace the lining with a fresh one. Seems like that should be possible with a removable battery as well, no?
How often are you planning to open it? It’s not like you have to replace the battery every year…
Everyday, when it dies so you swap in your backup pack?
I’m not even sure thinness was something consumers ever would have demanded (at the sacrifice of battery life) if the mfrs hadn’t pushed it as a selling point.
In the flipphone days I didn’t know many people who didn’t have at least one spare battery, so they could swap to a fresh one on the go without having to charge, or bought extra thick batteries with higher capacity, extending the back of the phone.
Then when smartphones had removable batteries, lots of people still did those things. And all during that time I remember many reviewers and consumers reacting to many of the “thinness” claims with “I’d really like a bigger battery instead.”
I also remember it being proven that apple’s removal of the headphone jack impacted neither waterproofing nor thinness, despite their claims. (But then of course one by one others started following suit.)
I think it’s better for mfrs and that’s the only reason. It saves them money on mfr, or gets phones tossed in the bin faster. Possibly both.
I’d still take 2 or 3 more mm of thickness for an amazing battery.
I’m not even sure thinness was something consumers ever would have demanded
I am entirely convinced that most “features” on modern devices are not “something consumers would have demanded”. Sure, different lenses is nice if you’re a hobbyist photographer, but do most people really need more than a single back-facing camera? Do most people want to have wireless earbuds at the cost of not having a headphone jack? Do most people want glass backs and other such gimmicks that make their device more fragile? I’ve been told for decades that the modern economic system is great because competition forces manufacturers to prioritize what is best for the consumers. But in the context of smartphones, it feels like the roles are completely reversed. Manufacturers come up with some bullshit and then mount psy-ops (ad campaigns, online astroturfing) to convince the population that it’s worth their money
About thinness: I also like my phones bendy and snappy (iPhone 6), as well as exploding batteries (Galaxy Note 7 or 10, I don’t remember the exact model tbh).
Or you have to ‘hold it right’ (OG iPhone).
These were all huge issues that could be fixed without sacrificing the thinness.
Thinness shouldn’t be used as an excuse for otherwise shitty phones, since it’s clearly a non-sequitur.
lol I first thought that “mfrs” meant “motherf***ers”
I just reread that entire sentence substituting that word both times, and made myself lol.
I feel like I have done my good deed for the day.
Well if the shoe fits…
Well, there’s another change that made it more viable - back then people had spare batteries cause they needed them. Now most devices will last a full day of normal use, so the ‘average user’ doesn’t care much about swapping batteries.
My gripe was physical keyboards. Until they basically disappeared entirely, I tried to buy exclusively devices with physical keyboards. I liked my T-Mobile Sidekick except it could stand to be thinner.
Yes, I don’t care how good Swype/etc is, I’m still much faster and more accurate on a physical keyboard.
I’m not even sure thinness was something consumers ever would have demanded
Something popular back in the removable battery days was to replace them with thicker extended capacity batteries. So no, battery life was more important to a lot of comsumers.
My casio watch is waterproof. [100M Water Resistant] And it has a user replacable battery. With a gasket inside and cool looking screws. (yes, I consider screws to be cool) Also, it costs less than $20
Screws are an incredible wonder. Itty bits of metal with fine threading to attach two things? And we just produce like billions of the things? Truly amazing.
I’d love to have a phone with 8 screws and a gasket in the back cover instead of the fixed plastic latches that the Fairphone and others have. Easily more water tolerant and love the industrial feel.
Your Casio watch also has a manual with a warning inside saying it won’t be waterproof anymore after a battery replacement unless you send it in to Casio to replace the battery.
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Casio watch warranty period: 24 months
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Casio watch advertised battery lifetime: 10 years
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My Casio watch actual battery lifetime: 5 years
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I didn’t have to open it until 2x the time of official warranty.
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The gasket had gunk in it on the outer side, so I cleaned it, but I could have gotten a replacement from one of the local Casio stores.
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The strap has broken 2 times until now (yeah, I’m kinda rough on it) and replacing that doesn’t void any warranty.
- The standardised nature means, I can get either Casio branded straps (even from other models if my model is discontinued) or other generic straps.
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I am nearing the point at which it might require another battery change, but either way it’s worked pretty well.
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I take hot water baths with it and even though I never used it up-to 100m (I’m not really into diving), I haven’t seen rust or moisture in the inside.
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Of course, if you open the stuff and change something yourself, it’s up to you to warranty it. You can’t expect them to trust every tom, dick and harry who might:
- Not tighten the screws well enough
- Not place the gasket back in place
- Do any other random stuff
and officially say that they will cover that. I know I wouldn’t.
The point is, they let you do what you want and help you at a reasonable price (the replacement straps were priced appropriately).
I can’t say the same for the fancier models though.
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For legal reasons. Because they can’t check if you didn’t fuck up the gasket.
You can have ip68 removable battery phones. Check out samsung xcover
You can, but every hardware feature you add takes physical space in the phone. Making a phone waterproof requires adding stuff to the phone, which takes away space for other things. Usually battery size ends up being one of the things that takes a hit. You want a phone that’s waterproof and has a removable battery? Then the battery size gets reduced by X%, or some other features people care about get dropped.
Ffs make it thicker. Most phones are already too tall to fit in most pkckets, and the added thickness would make them more comfy to hold
Take away user choice, use really bad excuses like water proofing and space saving, and you can be sure consumers will iteratively buy more frequently and spend more for cloud services.
Bye battery Bye bye headphone jack Bye bye user expandable storage.
Capitalism has steered us to this as the preferable product.
It really sucks that they charge so much money for the storage difference. Why are the pricing tiers based on the storage? It’s so strange.
Anyways, I recall having a lot of issues with external storage in the past. Like Android just didn’t integrate that shit properly. It was kinda painful having the phone data and photos in separate places. Don’t remember specifics, I just know I constantly wished they were a single location.
It’s fine now, external storage. Been that way for 5 years or so. Works as any computer does.
I blame Apple. They slowly got rid of features and still sold a shit ton of phones. This is obviously more profitable so other companies followed.
So you’re telling me that capitalism works, and that it’s working as intended.
I agree that this is a result of capitalism. But I would surmise that this is exactly the standard by which capitalism is based. Reduce complexity, reduce operating costs. That generally means that whatever you’re making is going to be generic with no customizability and no ability to be repaired or changed by the end user. Complete vertical integration with optimizations in productivity, materials cost, and other operating expenses, all while charging “as much as the market will bear”
Thank you for defining capitalism.
I ended up buying a Motorola razr because at least the fucking thing fits in my pocket for once. That’s honestly the biggest tangible benefit I’ve gotten out of a phone purchase in a while.
Each iteration of phone seems more like something I don’t want to even be involved with. Maybe I’ll just buy a light phone next time.
I remember when I could do everything with my phone using a single hand. I never grabbed my phone with two hands. Now I need two hands much more than before.
I don’t know why phablets are a thing. Phones are too big imo.
I had a Motorola g power from 2020? I think? That’s about the right size. I actually wish they could make a usable phone that’s about the size of the bottom half of this one I’m using right now, but it would take some UI innovation which nobody is interested in. It’s funny too because the bigger flagship phones are more expensive, but I’d never pay for that.
You might be interested in the unique looking designs on https://www.unihertz.com/ .
They’ve got some really tiny ones and some with physical keyboards even. I like the designs but dunno about their update commitment or hardware specs much.
This sounds almost perfect. I’m missing the option to install a custom ROM or as you said specs on support.
Installing custom ROMs on devices is still way too difficult. Recently tried to install divestOS on an old Oneplus phone and it is currently in brick hell. I followed the instructions. Unlocking is easy, rooting is still a massive PITA.
Thanks, these actually look really cool. I hadn’t heard of this before.
A lot of anti-user design choices were first introduced by the iPhone. As someone who has owned iPhones since the iPhone 3G, I blame myself.
Computers were not stopping you from running any software you want, until they got small enough for people to forget they are still computers.
Ah yes, the software battery.
Just a similar thing that also could be for this meme, not a comment to the situation with batteries 😆 .
Some still do. I just started working at Walmart, and they give you a Samsung phone to do your job. You use the camera for scanning tags, shelving, check item status, and a bunch of other shit. It’s a modern phone, with USB c, fingerprint sensor in the power button, android 13, stupid hole-punch camera, etc. And when I pulled off the otterbox case they gave me with it, I found that the back pulls off and the battery pops out, like all of my phones used to do back in the day. I assume that’s so they can more easily keep these phones in use, as they can pull out a failing battery and pop a new one in without having to send the phone sent off for servicing.
Likely being provided to a business rather than a consumer means that there’s incentive to make a product with what the purchaser wants.
Capitalism removed!
Capitalism removed!
I wish capitalism was removed.
Need to double tap it and put it out of its misery.
Burn it and bury it too so it can’t resucitate itself.
That’s how you get a Dry Body.
Recently switched from a certain predatory fruity phone to a phone from a certain Dutch manufacturer that has removable battery and replaceable parts. At some point, it got water damaged, and the charging circuit stopped working. While I’m waiting for the replacement part to arrive, I can continue using it by charging the battery with a bench power supply. Feels good man!
But the biggest reason for non removable battery is protection from water damage soo…
Come on, give us a name. I need to replace my phone and something repairable appeals.
Probably the fairphone
They also had keyboards that worked well and there was even real competition for on-screen keyboards until Google bought out and dissolved the best keyboard because they really want your ducking typing data.
I’ve been using Google’s keyboard for like…10 years now. When has it ever not been the best? I’d tried so many alternatives.
SwiftKeys was a popular alternative , looks like it was purchased by MS and is still alive. Prediction based on learning+dictionaries and swipe-typing/gestures were the top features
I suspect that this was considered a feature when it was fist envisioned and technology progressed so quickly that you needed a new phone each year just to use available services. In that light, it didn’t matter if your battery only lasted 2 years.
Now that you can run your cell phone easily for 5 - 7 years, batteries are important again. Thank you EU for requiring replaceable ones in the future, you may have helped the entire world.
Planned obsolescence
Fairphone is doing it
Did they solve their quality problems in the newest iterations? I had a 2 and a 3, and boy were those pieces of crap. Not the 3 I had to replace so many modules over its life span of 5 years that it kind of defeat the purpose, as it probably was a total of electronics enough for three phones. And it had so many weird bugs which took months to fix (the mic stopping to work after using a certain app, the not working auto brightness, just to name the annoying ones).
I really, really like the idea behind the Fairphone, but I just could not see past the crappiness of the phone (especially at their price point).
I think that 4 and 5 should be generations ahead. But I haven’t had them in my hands.
I’m on a fp4 right now and yes, it feels like a completely different brand. There used to be a bug, where sometimes the display would spazz out, but that got fixed.
As a concept Fairphone would be the ideal smartphone in my worldview. The only thing lacking is mainline Linux support, so not only hardware can in theory live forever but also software, like desktop and laptops have right now.
Is fairphone compatible in the US? Or would another phone work with US carriers?
Couldn’t tell, I’m from Europe
I know the newest one isn’t available in the US, not sure about compatibility
EU, I belive in you!
The EU, despite (valid) criticisms and pravacy mis-steps, is right now the only large, powerful organization fighting for consumer rights. I wish I, as an American, could support them, because the laws the EU is passing benefit me as well.
Go EU, indeed!
