7 ms·

And on top of that, remove most of the paper manuals that come with the phones. They can be put as .pdf files, right on the phones.

madeofpalk 8y ago
Phones come with paper manuals? Isn't the bulk of the paperwork that comes with electronic devices like that compliance/regulatory documents in like 13 different languages?
Jonnax 8y ago
I'm under the impression that sustainable paper isn't that bad on the environment.
- magicalhippo 8y ago
  But the manuals adds weight and bulk, which contributes to CO2 when shipped. I agree tho. My mom just got her first smart phone, a Samsung S8+. She's 72 years old, she'll figure it out but not thanks to that tiny booklet that came with the phone. If she needed the manual, I'd have to print it out on A4 paper or something anyway.
  - kkarakk 8y ago
    on the other hand,the pdf manuals i see are all bloated messes of technical jargon that i have to google search to understand-ofc the only time i need to look at the manual is when i can't figure out some behavior, like oneplus 6t's fingerprint scanner animation
  - thfuran 8y ago
    >But the manuals adds weight and bulk, which contributes to CO2 when shipped. I suspect that that is a rounding error next to the manufacture of the phone itself.
    - magicalhippo 8y ago
      For fun I ran some ballpark figures, a 30 gram manual, 1 billion smartphones, primary shipping by sea, and it's on the order of 5000-10000 metric tons of CO2 to ship the manuals. Sure, the "CO2 budget" is measured in gigatons so not a huge dent. But add up a lot of these rounding errors and it might actually make a slight difference. And since the climate interactions are non-linear, slight differences can have a large effect over time.
      - benj111 8y ago
        At first I was impressed by 30 billion grams (with little finger to mouth) But that's only 30,000 tonnes. 10,000 tonnes of co2 for 30,000 tonnes of cargo seems... Wrong. This seems to back me up https://timeforchange.org/co2-emissions-shipping-goods https://timeforchange.org/co2-emissions-shipping-goods 10 - 40g co2 per tonne. So about an order of magnitude less. Edit: Doh see below. This is per km
        magicalhippo 8y ago
        I used the same page :) The key is it's per ton per km transported. For reference, Shanghai to Rotterdam route (a bit of a worst case I guess) is just shy of 20000 km[1]. [1]: https://sea-distances.org/ https://sea-distances.org/
        benj111 8y ago
        You're right (sorry) wow so worst case 800kg of co2 / tonne. And that's excluding the return journey which is typically empty. So could well be 1:1! Airfreight is 500g /tonne/km so 10 tonnes of co2 / tonne of freight. Guess that's why co2 calculators always ask about flying.
        magicalhippo 8y ago
        I missed the per km at first as well. Air freight is not clean indeed. Which leads to a kind of ironic situation here in Norway. Salmon export is hailed as one of the primary income sources once the oil is gone, yet significant portion of the salmon is exported via air to Asian markets. Not exactly a very green change...
Farradfahren 8y ago
Its usually three pages per language, and half a phone book legal advise because the us must inform you how creative its citizens are at maiming themselves and others.
dragonwriter 8y ago
The only paper documents I've seen with smartphones have been getting started guides that address initial setup, warranty documents, and advertising material for accessories. Neither of the first two is suitable for being exclusively on the phone for obvious reasons.
skookumchuck 8y ago
When I get a product that comes with a paper manual, I scan the manual and throw the paper one away. I'd be fine if manuals were just URLs that I can download.

madeofpalk 8y ago

Phones come with paper manuals? Isn't the bulk of the paperwork that comes with electronic devices like that compliance/regulatory documents in like 13 different languages?

Jonnax 8y ago

I'm under the impression that sustainable paper isn't that bad on the environment.

magicalhippo 8y ago
But the manuals adds weight and bulk, which contributes to CO2 when shipped. I agree tho. My mom just got her first smart phone, a Samsung S8+. She's 72 years old, she'll figure it out but not thanks to that tiny booklet that came with the phone. If she needed the manual, I'd have to print it out on A4 paper or something anyway.
- kkarakk 8y ago
  on the other hand,the pdf manuals i see are all bloated messes of technical jargon that i have to google search to understand-ofc the only time i need to look at the manual is when i can't figure out some behavior, like oneplus 6t's fingerprint scanner animation
- thfuran 8y ago
  >But the manuals adds weight and bulk, which contributes to CO2 when shipped. I suspect that that is a rounding error next to the manufacture of the phone itself.
  - magicalhippo 8y ago
    For fun I ran some ballpark figures, a 30 gram manual, 1 billion smartphones, primary shipping by sea, and it's on the order of 5000-10000 metric tons of CO2 to ship the manuals. Sure, the "CO2 budget" is measured in gigatons so not a huge dent. But add up a lot of these rounding errors and it might actually make a slight difference. And since the climate interactions are non-linear, slight differences can have a large effect over time.
    - benj111 8y ago
      At first I was impressed by 30 billion grams (with little finger to mouth) But that's only 30,000 tonnes. 10,000 tonnes of co2 for 30,000 tonnes of cargo seems... Wrong. This seems to back me up https://timeforchange.org/co2-emissions-shipping-goods https://timeforchange.org/co2-emissions-shipping-goods 10 - 40g co2 per tonne. So about an order of magnitude less. Edit: Doh see below. This is per km
      - magicalhippo 8y ago
        I used the same page :) The key is it's per ton per km transported. For reference, Shanghai to Rotterdam route (a bit of a worst case I guess) is just shy of 20000 km[1]. [1]: https://sea-distances.org/ https://sea-distances.org/
        benj111 8y ago
        You're right (sorry) wow so worst case 800kg of co2 / tonne. And that's excluding the return journey which is typically empty. So could well be 1:1! Airfreight is 500g /tonne/km so 10 tonnes of co2 / tonne of freight. Guess that's why co2 calculators always ask about flying.
        magicalhippo 8y ago
        I missed the per km at first as well. Air freight is not clean indeed. Which leads to a kind of ironic situation here in Norway. Salmon export is hailed as one of the primary income sources once the oil is gone, yet significant portion of the salmon is exported via air to Asian markets. Not exactly a very green change...

Farradfahren 8y ago

Its usually three pages per language, and half a phone book legal advise because the us must inform you how creative its citizens are at maiming themselves and others.

dragonwriter 8y ago

The only paper documents I've seen with smartphones have been getting started guides that address initial setup, warranty documents, and advertising material for accessories. Neither of the first two is suitable for being exclusively on the phone for obvious reasons.

skookumchuck 8y ago

When I get a product that comes with a paper manual, I scan the manual and throw the paper one away. I'd be fine if manuals were just URLs that I can download.