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Smartphones are power hungry. In order to keep them running for more than a few minutes they need high capacity batteries. In order to put suitably high capacit
by giantrobot 6y ago
Smartphones are power hungry. In order to keep them running for more than a few minutes they need high capacity batteries. In order to put suitably high capacity batteries in smartphones that fit in pockets manufacturers have gone to lithium polymer batteries. In order to get the most capacity out of the available volume manufacturers have done away with hard puncture resistant casings on the batteries, letting the phone chassis be the protective shell. Without a protective shell no insurance underwriter or regulatory body is going to approve the batteries as user serviceable.
You could make a LiPoly battery with a hard user serviceable hard shell but it would have far less capacity than a glued in battery. Not only would the volume of the hard case take away from electrical storage volume but there needs to be free space for the electrolyte material to expand when it heats up. Batteries heat up when charging and discharging in addition to heat absorbed from components like a phone's internal circuitry. Without expansion space the battery is just a small bomb.
Older cell phones and smartphones had far less power draw than modern smartphones. The old Nokia BL-4 batteries were around 800 mAh. The original iPhone's battery was almost twice the capacity and a modern iPhone is 3-4 times that capacity. Smartphones would weigh twice as much and easily be twice as thick if they had replaceable batteries with the same capacity as their non-replaceable ones. While you might be fine with phones being thicker most buyers would rather have the thinner and lighter phone if the extra weight and bulk didn't offer any extra run time. They definitely wouldn't go for phones that had a quarter of the run time because they could replace the battery themselves.
It's not a conspiracy, it's just battery technology and physics. Also concerns about safety by way of insurance liability.
- abawany 6y agoyet the new Samsung Xcover Pro, targeted for the rugged/business market, managed to make a modern high quality phone with a removable battery: https://www.samsung.com/us/business/products/mobile/phones/galaxy-xcover-pro/buy/ https://www.samsung.com/us/business/products/mobile/phones/g... . Edit0: specs: https://www.samsung.com/us/business/products/mobile/phones/galaxy-xcover-pro/buy/ https://www.samsung.com/us/business/products/mobile/phones/g... - 4000+mAh battery.
- scarface74 6y agoAnd it has a substandard camera, heavier, thicker, face detection that is not secure, a less than top end processor and a fingerprint reader that isn’t reliable. https://www.samsung.com/us/business/products/mobile/phones/galaxy-xcover-pro/buy/ https://www.samsung.com/us/business/products/mobile/phones/g... And since it is a Samsung device, by the time you get ready to change the battery, Samsung more than likely won’t be updating the operating system. The $399 iPhone SE has a better processor, camera, finger print sensor and given Apple’s history, will probably get operating system updates for five years. You could get the battery replaced, and have an updated operating system for years and still be at slightly less than $499.
- abawany 6y agoThese are irrelevant digressions to the post that I was responding. The parent comment appeared to be implying it was technically impossible and that does not seem to be true. Your ad hominem and irrelevant attack on Samsung is weird: 1) you don't know the support cycle of this commercial device, and 2) often options such as LineageOS become available for such devices.
- scarface74 6y agoYes it’s technically possible if you want a heavier, thicker device. And you don’t save any money. The $399 iPhone SE with a battery replacement will be cheaper, smaller, lighter, supported, and faster. you don't know the support cycle of this commercial device Has any Samsung device ever had six years of upgrades like the original SE/6S? often options such as LineageOS become available for such devices. Yeah that’s something most consumers are going to do. As opposed to just going to settings and click upgrade. So tell me again what is the advantage of the phone again? It’s not price, longevity, weight, size, or performance.
- abawany 6y agoYou keep changing the narrative to one that favors your Apple advocacy. You can think of no reason why I might strongly prefer this Samsung over your Apple? Not one? I have seen hundreds of your comments on this site on Apple threads and you never seem interested in seeing the opposing parties point of view. Why? Before you accuse me of the same, know that I have a MBP 2020/16, an iPhone 6s, and other Apple devices. I have recommended Apple to people to whom I felt it would be a fit. I ask you again: can you think of any reasons why I would prefer this particular Samsung?