3 ms·

Sounds like a good idea for the environment

by acd 7y ago

ryanlol 7y ago
Do you actually think this will have a real impact “for the environment”?
- klingonopera 7y ago
  Yes. If you have a used phone with a dead and non-replaceable battery, you're gonna invest at least half of the amount of money to make it operational again compared to buying the cheapest new smartphone available (assuming your average Joe goes to a shop to service his phone). If all batteries can be replaced by the consumer, all that's left is the cost of a new battery itself, which makes that used phone very much an attractive option again, since it now would cost only a fraction of a new phone to make operational again.
  - ryanlol 7y ago
    How many people will actually do this with their five year old phones? Probably not many. The ones that are worth anything to anyone already get shipped off to third world countries and refurbished en masse. I have a really hard time imagining any significant environmental impact from this.
  - alkonaut 7y ago
    A new battery is $40-80, say. If the phone would have a hatch your cost of the replacment operation itself would be $0, and for a current iphone the cost of the replacement is maybe $20. I don't see how the $20 makes the difference between very attractive to keep and not.
    - klingonopera 7y ago
      Replacing the battery for a phone here in Germany would set you back about 50-100€. A somewhat usable smartphone costs 85-115€. Hm... I'd rather get a new phone. If I could replace it myself, I'm quite sure I'd find a no-name replacement part for a maximum of 20€ on eBay. Hm, I'm sticking with the old phone for now.
      - alkonaut 7y ago
        A replacement at an apple store in Germany is €55 [1]. That will get you an original battery that is probably at least €35. So they are probably charging around €20 for the work alone. A guy in the street will sell you a third party battery and insert it for you for maybe €30 or €35 total. Depending on how much you could buy the third party battery for yourself, you are paying maybe €10 or €15 for the work there. So what we are discussing is really this: is it worth changing the design maybe making phones bulkier, less waterproof etc, in order to save a €10-15 (third party) to €20 (original) expense that happens once? [1] https://support.apple.com/de-de/iphone/repair/service/battery-power https://support.apple.com/de-de/iphone/repair/service/batter... (All prices here are for older models as we were talking about cheap phones in the €100-€150 range, not X/11s)
        moooo99 7y ago
        > A replacement at an apple store in Germany is €55 Yes, for the older models (pre iPhone X). Every upcoming iPhone is likely to fall into the 75€ category. The main drawback however is the availability of the Apple stores. In Germany in total, there are only 15 Apple stores. For me, the closest store is 300km away. So, driving is not really an option just to get my battery replaced, if I'd send it in for repair, this can take up to 5 working days, so at worst, thats 7 working days without my phone (assuming shipping takes one day).
        alkonaut 7y ago
        I usually do it via my carrier which has stores in every shopping mall. They'll lend me a phone while they send mine away for repair. It's a hassle but it's better than nothing. For my old phones (which are still in the pre-X category) I just get a repair at an unofficial store at €30 or €35.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
  - scarface74 7y ago
    If it’s Android, what are the chances I can also run the latest OS on an old phone.
donarb 7y ago
People replacing their own batteries will most likely throw them in the garbage. Not really good for the environment.
- nolok 7y ago
  By that weird logic, better their battery than their entire phone battery included. In France any store selling electronic products is mandated by law to accept your used batteries and electronics, and I'm sure most of europe has a similar thing. So this is neither better or worse in any way on that front.
  - pkaye 7y ago
    > In France any store selling electronic products is mandated by law to accept your used batteries and electronics, and I'm sure most of europe has a similar thing. So what do they do with the batteries and electronics afterwards? Do they ship them to a developing country to dismantle and dispose of properly?
  - baylisscg 7y ago
    Yeah, its the EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive. For any item covered by it made after 2005 it's the producer or distributor's responsibility to recycle it.

Sounds like a good idea for the environment

by acd 7y ago

Sounds like a good idea for the environment

ryanlol 7y ago

Do you actually think this will have a real impact “for the environment”?

klingonopera 7y ago
Yes. If you have a used phone with a dead and non-replaceable battery, you're gonna invest at least half of the amount of money to make it operational again compared to buying the cheapest new smartphone available (assuming your average Joe goes to a shop to service his phone). If all batteries can be replaced by the consumer, all that's left is the cost of a new battery itself, which makes that used phone very much an attractive option again, since it now would cost only a fraction of a new phone to make operational again.
- ryanlol 7y ago
  How many people will actually do this with their five year old phones? Probably not many. The ones that are worth anything to anyone already get shipped off to third world countries and refurbished en masse. I have a really hard time imagining any significant environmental impact from this.
- alkonaut 7y ago
  A new battery is $40-80, say. If the phone would have a hatch your cost of the replacment operation itself would be $0, and for a current iphone the cost of the replacement is maybe $20. I don't see how the $20 makes the difference between very attractive to keep and not.
  - klingonopera 7y ago
    Replacing the battery for a phone here in Germany would set you back about 50-100€. A somewhat usable smartphone costs 85-115€. Hm... I'd rather get a new phone. If I could replace it myself, I'm quite sure I'd find a no-name replacement part for a maximum of 20€ on eBay. Hm, I'm sticking with the old phone for now.
    - alkonaut 7y ago
      A replacement at an apple store in Germany is €55 [1]. That will get you an original battery that is probably at least €35. So they are probably charging around €20 for the work alone. A guy in the street will sell you a third party battery and insert it for you for maybe €30 or €35 total. Depending on how much you could buy the third party battery for yourself, you are paying maybe €10 or €15 for the work there. So what we are discussing is really this: is it worth changing the design maybe making phones bulkier, less waterproof etc, in order to save a €10-15 (third party) to €20 (original) expense that happens once? [1] https://support.apple.com/de-de/iphone/repair/service/battery-power https://support.apple.com/de-de/iphone/repair/service/batter... (All prices here are for older models as we were talking about cheap phones in the €100-€150 range, not X/11s)
      - moooo99 7y ago
        > A replacement at an apple store in Germany is €55 Yes, for the older models (pre iPhone X). Every upcoming iPhone is likely to fall into the 75€ category. The main drawback however is the availability of the Apple stores. In Germany in total, there are only 15 Apple stores. For me, the closest store is 300km away. So, driving is not really an option just to get my battery replaced, if I'd send it in for repair, this can take up to 5 working days, so at worst, thats 7 working days without my phone (assuming shipping takes one day).
        alkonaut 7y ago
        I usually do it via my carrier which has stores in every shopping mall. They'll lend me a phone while they send mine away for repair. It's a hassle but it's better than nothing. For my old phones (which are still in the pre-X category) I just get a repair at an unofficial store at €30 or €35.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- scarface74 7y ago
  If it’s Android, what are the chances I can also run the latest OS on an old phone.

donarb 7y ago

People replacing their own batteries will most likely throw them in the garbage. Not really good for the environment.

nolok 7y ago
By that weird logic, better their battery than their entire phone battery included. In France any store selling electronic products is mandated by law to accept your used batteries and electronics, and I'm sure most of europe has a similar thing. So this is neither better or worse in any way on that front.
- pkaye 7y ago
  > In France any store selling electronic products is mandated by law to accept your used batteries and electronics, and I'm sure most of europe has a similar thing. So what do they do with the batteries and electronics afterwards? Do they ship them to a developing country to dismantle and dispose of properly?
- baylisscg 7y ago
  Yeah, its the EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive. For any item covered by it made after 2005 it's the producer or distributor's responsibility to recycle it.