EU have finally passed the law that requires all phones to have user-changeable batteries by 2027.

🍎👀

Apple doesn't care. Their batteries *are* user replaceable. Given, of course, that you pay a kidney for their "genuine" (chuckle) parts and tools.

I'm worried that phones will become bit weaker now only because we want to open it once in two years?

Hmm, maybe it will be done with just a few decent screws. As long the back can't fall off easily.

I had no issues my battery to be replaced at phone repair guy for not much money.

There is still a loophole for Water resistant devices

And because almost all Smartphones are Splash-/Waterresistant they don't apply to most Smartphones

https://theverge.com/2023/6/...

@CoreFusionX if I'm not mistaken, the EU definition of replaceable in this case is that either needs no specialised tools or that the tools are given for free. So it's not the case with Apple.

Good change. I like apple but battery is a problem after couple years. I hope it doesn’t make phones fatter in EU though…

Maybe Apple batteries will cost half as much as an iPhone, making people consider just buying the new one.

@retoor what do you mean by "become weaker"?

Cool, cool, but I really wish mobile phones had hot-swappable batteries. Camera manufacturers acknowledge the use case of taking more charge with you in a bag than the camera can store, or exchanging charge in a group so a specific camera can work longer, or continuously freely using the camera within travel range of an outlet by rotating batteries. Mobile phones have these same use cases, and yet the only way this can work is by connecting another box to the phone with a wire and managing these Nunchucks of Eternal Jank alongside your actual tasks.

RIP waterproof phones...

@Demolishun Pretty sure you can hold a plate with standard Philips screws against a loop of insulation between the line of screw holes and the inner electrical bits. Submarines aren't replaced when a lightbulb breaks, waterproofing isn't antithetical to repair ability.

@lorentz It just seems like it would be harder. I think a lot of the waterproof phones have their covers glued in place. That seems like a better seal.

@Demolishun It would be a bit harder, a bit heavier/thicker, and it would require some care to seal it back correctly after a battery change. I think this is an acceptable price to avoid loopholes in r2r laws.

@lorentz I would take a screw-down back panel over one held in place by some flimsy plastic hooks that flies away the moment your phone hits the floor any day

Aaayy. Now Apple just needs to make it so you can't open the phone without bricking it or the warranty and we're set

Checkmate EU

@retoor lg v20 had replaceable battery and I drop the phone every week. Screen never shattered. Most replaceable batteries are shit though.

@thebiochemic a phone is one hard brick now. Could change if it has a loose back panel or something

Different plugs for other countries, how hard can it be to make a different phone specific to EU that doesn’t have some features but has others. Want a changeable battery but still the same price? Better make some part of the device worse than.

@adamjkeith

Because of course having a replaceable battery means we gotta sacrifice something else. (Mind you, that's true, but should only be having fatter phones or so).

Plugs are another story where apple (as usual) shows their true colours.

Everyone uses usb-b. Apple "must" do lightning (but of course arbitrarily modifying the connector or wiring every release so you have to buy a new charger with every iPenis.

Now EU forces usb-c (which I support) and apple cries because it "staunches innovation". FFS, they haven't innovated shit in a decade. It just hits them right on flotation line.

@retoor wait what? thats silly.

my galaxy s2 lasted as long or longer than every phone i owned after the fact including this one so far.

And remember, it had a removable back cover and battery. What about the old sony Ericson phones? they were pretty sturdy too.

I'm pretty sure the removable battery doesn't change the static of a phone more than a removable CPU in a Desktop. Frankly i would argue, that it lasts less, when the stuff is hardwired or is not user removable because of it's nature of being repairable.

There are not many arguments against building repairable hardware other than optimizing costs and vendor locking.

Lmao I’ve been replacing the batteries on my iPhone this whole time. It’s pretty easy tbh

@chonky-quiche good for you, i did apple phone repair for some friends too, some of them are not too hard to repair. But you'd be surprised how few people actually have the tools and the knowledge in repairing this specific device. Which is the whole point of the law: being able to repair your shit as a mostly non technical person.

about the watertightnes:

my Galaxy S5 had this thing where you just rip of the backplate with your fingernails and the battery nearly falls out. it is watertight (IP 67)

the fairphone which markets itself as "designed to open" is only splash resistant (IP 54) (but it is a somewhat crappy phone so thats no limit)

water ain't no issue

@thebiochemic yeah u can buy the tool kits on Amazon for like 20 dollars

@CoreFusionX with USB-C I see both sides. It’s fast, using a standard reduces waste, no need to look through chargers to find the right one.
But I also understand the stunting innovation, if it’s required by law to be 1 charger type, people won’t try to make anything better because it won’t be allowed to be used, and if a new charger is better and becomes the new standard than the law means nothing.
I buy a new mobile every 5 years and get through 3 cables (approximately).

The problem with innovation is how long it takes, the new Apple AR glasses have been in development for about 10years

@adamjkeith If innovation really was the counterargument and Lightning really was an alternative, Apple could have offered to make Lightning an open standard, create a nonprofit to develop it and have it compete with type-c to be the standard.

Unfortunately, innovation in apple-land means "coming up with your own thing", explicitly neglecting whether you're in discourse with the greater professional community.

@lorentz I’m not sure what your obsession with Apple-Land is, but whatever floats your boat.
It was Apple who said it but it affects all companies. If I wanted to make a mobile phone company and wanted to experiment with creating new charging methods, there would be no incentive to as it wouldn’t be able to be sold in the EU, therefore forcing me to use USB-C otherwise I wouldn’t be able to sell anything to countries in the EU.

@adamjkeith Because the company that brought up this problem was one that very obviously doesn't give a fuck about innovation. The ones that actually are in discourse with the professional community and engaged in innovation seem to think that this isn't a big enough problem to campaign against, or they agree that the lack of standards is a far bigger problem.

Catastrophically rare european union W

@adamjkeith but what if the innovations of the people that came up with USB-C as a standard. That wasn’t one company