this post was submitted on 16 Feb 2024
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Just build phones with the understanding that batteries are consumables and make them easy to replace and standardized. Then swap in a new $5 battery when you need to so. Make the raw materials reclaimable too of course.
But then you aren't forced to buy a new phone every few years?
The money is in the software services nowadays anyway. Subscription AI bullshit, cloud n stuff.
What? No just a new battery. That's the point.
That's the point of what this guy is saying.
But the point of making batteries not easily removable (besides the waterproofing factor) is that when a repair shop charges them $150 to do it, lots of people will justify putting that money towards a new phone instead.
As someone who works on phones as a hobby, I've seen that the percentage of people who will either hire someone to do it or buy a different phone is near 100. It's absolutely an intentional planned obsolescence.
Waterproofing is a lame excuse that I won't accept from these manufacturers. It may be not as easy as just permanently gluing the thing together, but it's definitely possible to have a sealed battery compartment.
For example cameras have been weatherproof for decades now. And you can both change the batteries and plug a bunch of stuff in them no problem.
They were being sarcastic and quoting something a phone manufacturer would say.
No one is forced. Especially with fast charging.
Sure, if my battery lasts literally 30min, I'm totally not forced to buy a new phone. I'll just fast charge my way through the world.
30 min? LMAO.
I literally know someone with this type of issue. Battery goes from like 70 to 20 in maybe 20 minutes
Their phone isn't even that old
I know lemmy hates Apple but HOW?!
My five year old iPhone lasts all day, and is as fast as what I bought it?!
That battery has to be bad. I loved the shit out of my HTC Dream but that only went from 30% to 0 when the battery was BUSTIN
It was probably abused. I've never had a phone get that bad and I really do not think that is some widespread thing. Otherwise you'd see a lot of three year old EVs with a 20 mile range.
not entirely sure tbh Just know their battery is shit at this point
Toward the end of my pixel 5's life, the battery in it lasted about 10 minutes. The phone itself was 3 years old. It happens.
How?! I’m currently on a five year old phone that lasts all day with its original battery?!
I get the feeling it has to do with how wireless charging works. On a wire, a phone can regulate how quickly it takes charge or whether it does at all. I don't think phones are capable of that with wireless charging, which is exclusively how I charged my pixel 5 at night.
So it would get to 100% and stay there for several hours every single night. I didn't realize it was bad at the time.
It could always just be that I was unlucky and got a defective battery to begin with. No way to know for sure.
Abuse or defects or environment. I've, for example, seen one phone which was constantly woken up (technical term in case it sounds odd) because of some event in the wireless signal and that made it use up the battery in a ridiculously short time. It was a combination of the way a network was set up, bad signal quality, and a firmware quirk. Clearly a defect, but hard to say whose. Forcing it to use some mode in the radio via settings circumvented that.
This is what the new European bill is forcing manufacturers to do.
Batteries of handheld electronics have to be easily replaceable.
No. People online have really misrepresented that bill.
All it says is that it should be easily replaceable by someone of moderate skill. I.e. still having to pry open your phone carefully, but now without using strong adhesive.
It also doesn't apply for phone batteries over a certain size, or batteries that will still retain a set amount of capacity after a few years (I think 73%).
People are heavily, heavily mistaken if they think it'll be a return to the days of trivially removable batteries.
The biggest barrier for "most people with moderate skill" is having to acquire equipment to replace the battery. Once it becomes too much effort and cost it's better for most consumers to take it to the manufacturer or 3rd party service for replacement.
I stopped replacing batteries once I needed to heat the adhesive to remove the back and screen as I don't have that equipment to hand, and initial attempts caused damage to the screen and back cover.
It's a start but pretty weak.
Weak in which sense ?
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/06/eu-wants-readily-removable-batteries-in-devices-soon-but-what-does-that-mean/
Looking forward to the first lawsuit about this.
Sure, but let’s also preserve current batteries as long as possible so we can lower our carbon foot print. We need to do both.
Do most people not have the option to protect their battery already?
I think that's a Samsung feature
It's built into my pixel as well. Shrug
You have an older Pixel or just rooted, maybe? My 7 on the latest vanilla Android doesn't seem to have it, and this thread seems to say it's not available in the stock os.
Is called adaptive charging
It's on my pixel 7 pro at least
Ah, I see. I was focused on the 80% limiter for that "Maximum" setting, which I think is not an option on Pixel. But I see now that "Adaptive Charging" sounds like it does what that middle setting "Adaptive" does.
These systems exist on pretty much all modern phones, but they all work the same (shitty) way, by assuming your schedule is exactly the same every day and giving you zero programmable control.
And on iPhone the system expects you want your battery to charge over 80% on a daily basis. On a Samsung phone the system knows you don’t want to go past 80% at all, so it sets that as the new maximum.
To be clear, you are still taking about rechargeable batteries right? I agree those should be replaceable. I sure as hell don't think phone should use single use batteries!
Yes, 18650 or a standardized rectangular equivalent.
A standard would be nice.... I mean all phones are basically the same size and shape.