It had been in the works for a while, but now it has formally been adopted. From the article:
The regulation provides that by 2027 portable batteries incorporated into appliances should be removable and replaceable by the end-user, leaving sufficient time for operators to adapt the design of their products to this requirement.
I have seen countless videos on tiktok of people being against this move, and my question is why? why wouldn’t anyone want to be able to extend the life of their expensive devices, why wouldn’t people want easily repairable batteries that take less than 5 minutes to swap out?
the only argument ive seen against this is “OOH BUT BUT BUT THE AESTHETICS OF THE PHONE” who cares? function should always be over looks. and if anything it will end the trend of phones being glassy slabs and bring some innovation and new designs to the table. which will be interesting to see.
“Oh but the aesthetics of the phone” proceeds to put phone in case and never see the actual device it’s entire lifespan anyway
I owned a case for my iPhone 1.0 and used it for about two days. I kept taking it off to show people the actual phone and then realized, “Why do I have this stupid thing on the phone?”
I have never used a case since then. My phones have been fine because I take care of them. I’ve had a few dings over the years, but I’ve never shattered the display or killed one. I like that my phone is sleek and nice.
This is not a vote against user-serviceable batteries. I can’t predict whether this will make my phone shittier until I see how it plays out.
What about aesthetics? They used to have removable back covers before and there wasn’t any seam visible. This is not even a valid argument imho.
Battery pull was always a great way to unfuck a frozen phone
What do you have against waiting a day or two, not being able to use the phone, for the battery to run out so that you can reboot it? Simply removing the battery seems like to much effort. /s
Phones have a hardware interrupt. Just hold the power button for 30 to 45 seconds.
I had issues with my phone (OP8P) where that didn’t helped.
I pressed the power button for minutes and the phone stayed unresponsive, only letting it run out of energy solved it.
Honestly that is mostly solved, all have some mechanism to reset it even if is completely frozen. Plus nowadays is not a that common occurrence.
Sure, it doesn’t happen often. Those mechanisms are often just some software running in some microcontroller, which can also fail and manifactorers like to cheapen out where possible.
It did happen to me maybe 2 times in >5 years, where not even long pressing power button helps. I was traveling by rail the last time and luckly had my ticket physically.
They removed physical buttons and access to batteries and now I can’t do shit when an app freezes (other than attempting to turn it off, but even then the “turn off?” Can’t pop up)
Why do we love do design things like shit so much? It seems that every fist world struggle I ever had was due to bad design
Never get this point, if your phone froze and the screen is not responding, how another physical button would have solved the thing ?
And let’s be honest, there is still a combination of key to hard restart any phone.
Because back in the olden days you could just hold down the physical power button to force a phone to shut down, same as you can do on computers still. This bypasses the frozen software and forces the phone to shut down so you can reboot it.
You still can ? All phones have a power button.
If my phone is frozen it doesn’t respond to the power button because it’s software shutdown
Have you held it for 45 seconds?
Pretty sure if you hold power and sounds button there is an hardware feature that shutdown the everything and reboot.
This isn’t true. You just have to hold the hardware restart combination for longer.
You can still absolutely do it
iPhone X and later: Click Volume Up, then Down, then hold the Power Button for 10-15 seconds
Android Devices: Hold Volume Down + Power for around 7-15 seconds
Back in the day, when the phone froze, my power button shut the phone down and my home button still worked, even tho the screen froze.
Now, my phone asks me if I want to restart, make a call or turn it off. … or it opens bigsby
It’s just nerds bitching. This entire thread is a big old helping of I’m going to completely ignore 95% of the populations preference for a small compact phone.
Every single phone today can have the battery replaced for an extra $10 at your local shop.
This is a non issue for nerds to reeeeee about.
That’s absolutely not true. You cannot replace the battery of a flagship phone for $10 anywhere. The going rate at Best buy is $60. And some will flatly refuse because they don’t have the tools because Apple and others use ridiculous proprietary screws. Or intentionally stick a bunch of glue on the battery. Requiring repair shops to use heat, adding a huge degree of risk, and adding to the cost of the repair.
Please tell me a place where they will replace a battery for $10. Batteries themselves usually retail for $20 and then you have to account for labor.
Well I love compact phones sales suggest that they do not do very well. S10e and iPhone mini have been discontinued for that reason.
You are just including the cost of the battery. That’s completely unrelated. You are all acting like there is this huge barrier to getting an inexpensive replacement.
Phones have a hardware interrupt. Just hold the power button for 30 to 45 seconds.
i sure dont miss picking up three pieces and then reassembling my phone when I dropped it. my s2 had that issue for a long time until I ditched it. maybe bad design? havent had a removable battery phone since though.
even fairly modern ones are slick, LG G4 (ok not exactly modern) is light and thin and with replacable battery. Gigaset smartphones are quite the bricks but it’s actually quite hard to open the batt compartment, that’s how well they’re fitted.
Aesthetics are the same bogeyman excuse used to justify really any significant change in a phone since IP ratings first came in with. I recall back when USB-C was first showing up in smartphones, there was a time where simultaneously some manufacturers were pushing for the change and others trying to push back on it, with both groups citing aesthetic reasons.
I want a laptop keyboard like ThinkPad T60, and usually the explanation why not is “aesthetics”. Because we don’t type on keyboards, we bloody look at them all day feeling fancy.
Yeah besides aesthetic preferences change over time and people just grow to prefer what’s ever modern. Or to tolerate it and then that becomes the standard. I don’t remember people bitching that phones were too thick back in the day. Obviously their primary motivation is planned obsolescence and increased phone sales.
It’s incredibly naive to assume there’s any other reason. I’m just absolutely no reason for them to stick glue on the battery or the serialize parts, other than to sell more phones and warranty plans.
People are so deep in the corporate drug. They defend anything against their own interests.
Holy fuck you are arrogant.
Please daddy tell me again why my preferences are wrong.
I don’t use TikTok and welcome replaceable batteries, but I also still hope for a waterproof iPhone I can take swimming. Probably be harder to do.
There are a few Samsung phones that are water tight and have removable batteries. They just stopped making them since glued in batteries are more profitable.
I do. I still think it’s a good idea to have swappable batteries, but I indeed do care about how it looks.
while yes i do agree that i want my device to look nice, its more of a secondary to me,
I also feel like there’s ways companies could make new designs that incorporate a removable battery that dont look ugly or old, hell even if the design is not as easy to take the back door off as some of the older phones thats fine, as long as i dont have to disassemble the entire phone just to swap the battery im happy.
It’s amazing how much people talk out there asses.
This shit is the epitomy of truthiness.
I have zero experience but I could totally make a small phone looks good and it’s water proof. Easy peasy.
TikTok is for the brain dead.
You’re smart enough to be on Lemmy, you deserve better.
The reality is: “oh but Samsung gives me money!”
Well a lot of it is just people that identify culturally with Apple for some reason and we’ll basically oppose anything that they lobby against like right to repair. Side loading…etc …
Also some people have wrongly interpreted this to assume it means batteries have to literally be hot swappable. I kind of wish that was the requirement but I don’t think it’s that militant. I think it’s just requiring that the end user could remove the battery with one screwdriver as opposed to having to find proprietary screwdrivers and use multiple different tools and remove multiple different parts.
You can tell them that this regulation does not seem to target phones or tablets.
It doesn’t target phones or tablets specifically, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t include in “portable devices and appliances”. The sentence you quoted simply suggests that there should be additional regulation on top of the currently pending in the future.
If you don’t think aesthetics is a valid argument I don’t know what to tell you. Just because you don’t care about it doesn’t mean other people don’t, or that it’s an invalid opinion.
I don’t care hugely about aesthetics, my concern is non-standard form factors. I don’t know how a phone like the Z Folds can be made with removable batteries, one of the 2 batteries is literally sandwiched between 2 screens. Implementing this would take it from feeling like a brick to being literally the size of a brick. Hopefully tech improves enough by 2027 to negate my concerns but I don’t see how.
It improved enough in the last years to allow foldable smartphones… it can improve enough by 2027 to make batteries replaceable.
Always possible, and given the choice between a phone without a replaceable battery vs [functionally] the same phone with one I’ll always take the latter, but consumer battery tech has moved at a glacial pace compared to screen tech. Samsung plays in both industries though so maybe this’ll light a fire for them to speed up battery development.
I don’t think it’s requiring the battery to be hot swappable. Just requires that the user can remove the back with a screwdriver and not have to worry about a bunch of different proprietary screws or absolutely require a third party repair option.
Someone can correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t see any reason why you couldn’t make a flip that can have the battery removable with just using universal screws and no glue etc
The flip is possibly doable, but as someone with a Fold4 there simply isn’t room in the device to start incorporating screws in the half with a screen on both sides. Only way I can see it working is putting the whole battery on the side with a normal back, but there isn’t enough room for the same size of battery. It’d probably also throw off the balance in the hand when open.
I guess because they’re used to the current state of things where they are replacing their phones every 1-2 years for a newer shinier one anyway. Getting the newest shit regulaerly for them is a central point of using their phone status as personal validation.
Or they just like it? I’m far from the person you describe, yet I buy a new phone every year, simply because I like new phones.
Or they replaced it at a shop for $10. But yeah, I can’t wait for shitty phones nectar you fuckers are too anti social to leave your hobbit holes.
There are 0 shops near me that do a battery replacement for $10. Idk where you are going and are they giving you the replacement battery for free cause that usually costs around 30-50 dollars alone if you get a reputable one. Even after all that, the shop usually has to keep your phone for a few hours at least and people typically don’t have a backup or like to be completely offline for that long.
Of fucking course you pay for the battery how is that a factor in the least bit? Gimme a general location and I’ll find a shop for you.
I love these strawmen where people are buying iphones and don’t have access to a repair shop. If that’s a reality, you are on the slim minority.
I didn’t say there weren’t any shops but the cheapest battery job is $60. I’m not even making a strawman argument you’re doing that. Lots of folks would save $30 if they could. Lots of folks are too busy or lazy to go to a shop. I’ve known lots of iPhone users who have failing batteries and they just suffer through an unreliable phone until they have money for a replacement. This would definitely help those people.
The argument that user replaceable batteries forces phones to be significantly bulkier or uglier is just unfounded, companies could easily engineer solutions that are both thin and look good. I had a Galaxy S5 that was waterproof and reasonably thin.
Bullshit. Gimme a general location and I’ll find a local shop to replace batteries for far less than $60.
So you know idiots? If they are dumb enough to 'save for a replacement ’ while a cheap repair is available what makes you think they are going to take the time to figure out there batteries? You’re pissed off with lazy wasteful people, not batteries.
the argument I’d make is that with newer, faster, better tech being available year after year, very few people actually want to keep using the same phone for more than a few years, tops. having a replacable battery may prevent some waste but it’s not going to stop most folks from ditching their phones after a year or two.
some people are far more concerned about fashion over form - most of apple’s userbase, for example.
Let’s be real here - this hasn’t been the case for smartphones like 5 years at this point. Barely anything has changed in that time frame besides like a “telephoto” lens and foldables.
People are just sold on the idea that things are changing.
i disagree, got a 2021 model phone last year for a very reasonable price that is loads faster & has a better battery life than my 2020 model phone.
assuming my current phone doesnt break in a year, I’ll replace it anyway - because the upgrade will be worthwhile
Aesthetics are a huge deal for the vast majority of ppl? Personally, im all for repairable phones, and therefore repairable batteries. As in theres no artificial hurdles to replace a battery like limited access to the components needed or silly proprietary tools or loss of functionality.
Hot swappable batteries are a feature, a niche one id say, that will necessarily require tradeoffs. Be it less or worse water/dust resistance, increased thickness, marginally easier to steal as anyone can pull the battery, or aesthetics.
I find hot swap batteries adds no value to me. I don’t want it. Id also wager thats the case for plenty of people. My phone is 2yo and battery still lasts the whole day and then some. External batteries are cheap and universal. Its fine that a repair takes a bit of know how and finesse as long as companies aren’t adding unnecessary hurdles.
Every phone with removable I had had a pretty flimsy back cover that started to crack during the lifetime of the phone. The gaskets started to go or weren’t even there in the first place, so they weren’t even splash proof (so better avoid getting rained on or even get sweaty).
And none of my phones ever required a battery replacement during its life time. My Galaxy S4 mini ram out of support, I flashed it with a custom rom then that stopped being supported (and the hardware really couldn’t deal with later android version). My Fairphone 2 started crashing regularly which ended its life. And my iPhone 6s had a solid 5 year life with no battery issues before I retired it to get a better camera.
So for me requiring every phone to have an easily replaceable battery has pretty much zero upsides but a bunch of potential downsides.
my current phone rn has 65% out of 100% battery life, so even if it doesn’t need the battery replacement, it would still be nice to have a new battery for the extra capacity, only thing stopping me is its way to much work to actually replace said battery without taking it to a shop, so i would greatly benefit from it.
How old is that phone if you don’t mind me asking? My battery seems to lose about 2-3% a year but that seems unlikely in this case.
I think you’re assuming that the new phones have to be hot swappable. They don’t, they just want it to be relatively easy for someone to do with a screwdriver. The phones can look virtually identical to the way they look today with the exception of a couple of non proprietary screws. This would be no more of an obstacle to water resistance than a button.
This is not a requirement that people can hot swap the battery while they’re out. It’s just getting rid of the egregious obstacles like glue or hiding a battery behind a bunch of other parts or using different types of screws.
Lolololol is hard to take anytime seriously when they argue dumb strawmen like that 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Remote!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Do I carry the remote around in my pockets all day? Jesus Christ lol, if the answer to that is yes then I wouldn’t mind at all trading off one minor inconvenience every 3 years for a better form factor. And being small isn’t an beauty thing. It’s more god damned practical.
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?
They don’t need to be replaced. They need 30 minutes of handy work that cost $10 if you can’t do it yourself.
Except that doesn’t happen, no matter how much you want it to.
And you think forcing everyone to have removable batteries is going to stop that? It’s never been about cost. It’s about having the latest features.
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.
Better camera, better battery life, better screen, latest versions of GA with the most up to date features (eg sleep data). The jump from 60 to 90 or 120 is a huge quality of life improvement.
Because I take my phone to a shop and spend $10 to have it replaced every 3 years currently. And that is infinitly worth a smaller more practical phone.
You people really ought to rub at least 2 brain cells together before making the stupid I DON’T UNDERSTAND PROCLAMATIONS.
You just sound dumb as fuck to anyone who has spent twenty seconds thinking it through.
Not everyone has affordable and convenient access to such services around them.
Anyway, when did batteries become such advanced technology that they require specialized personnel to have them replaced? Do you want to bring your TV remote to them too?
It’s ridiculous honestly, I replaced three modern phone batteries and every time I need to watch a disassembling video to be sure I don’t mess up something along the way, then I need a heat gun just to get into the phone, all that to simply replace a battery, risking to damage other components with the heat or when removing the things by force.
By the way, is your service really that affordable or do you pay regularly for an insurance on top of that?
Yeah that’s not true and you’re obviously lying. Unless you live in a country where the purchasing power of a dollar is about five or six times greater than everyone else.
Batteries cost $20 as a retail item before you even factor in their labor.
Of fucking course I’m not including the battery. It an independent unrelated variable.
The cost to have the battery replaced is $10-15 dollars. You are grasping at straws here my man.