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It's a trade-off. I am someone who repairs my own stuff. I've repaired my fridge, my dishwasher, my oven, my microwave, my garage door openers, my 1998 Jeep Che
by js2 4y ago
It's a trade-off. I am someone who repairs my own stuff. I've repaired my fridge, my dishwasher, my oven, my microwave, my garage door openers, my 1998 Jeep Cherokee, and on and on. 99% of people do NOT do this.
I've replaced the batteries in multiple first generation iPhone SEs.
I'll never replace a battery again in an iPhone, nor do I ever desire too. The phones have become too hard to open, but in return, Apple offers battery replacement for a reasonable charge and a modern iPhone is nearly water proof, more durable, more compact, and with better battery life than ever.
For a portable device like a phone, I'm happy with the trade-off, and I think the market shows that most consumers are too. The trade-off for a laptop is less clear to me, but nor is replacing the battery in a Macbook as hard as replacing it in an iPhone.
The things that really drive me crazy though are devices that don't need to be sealed that are. Homepods, Sonos speakers, previous generation Apple chargers with hardwired cords, those sorts of things.
I just had to order an entire new Vitamix S-series blade base for $75 that I could repair myself if they’d sell me just the rubber seals and a couple bearings — And I probably don’t even need the bearings from them since they look like standard 8mmx22mmx7mm skate wheel bearings, but who knows, maybe theirs are food safe.
https://www.vitamix.com/us/en_us/shop/s-series-blade-base https://www.vitamix.com/us/en_us/shop/s-series-blade-base
($75 is probably even a fair price. It’s just the principle of the matter.)
Anyway, I feel about this article as wfhordie does. It's not just descriptive of the process, which would be fine. It's filled with snark, and doesn't acknowledge the trade-offs in manufacturing a more easy to repair device. Engineering is always trafe-offs. Shame on The Verge.
- austinkhale 4y agoPlaying devil’s advocate for just a second, I really appreciate that my Homepod & Sonos are sealed. It allows for longer device longevity when placed in high humidity environments (bathrooms, tropical areas, etc.). Definitely a trade-off game with all hardware devices & Apple (and others) are not blameless when it comes to engineering things to be purposefully difficult. However, I think we often underestimate the sheer number of environmental constraints an international hardware retailer with near universal demographic appeal has to account for in designs. Agree on everything else. The article gets a thumbs down.
- gernb 4y agoI don't think it's all that hard to make a replaceable battery and have the phone be waterproof or small. My Go Pro has a replaceable battery and it's waterproof. Googling there are plenty of waterproof phones with replaceable battery.
- thedougd 4y agoI'm out of touch with 99 percent of people do. Can they really afford to call the repairman for every minor appliance issue? Or do they just live with it until replacement?
- panda888888 4y agoLabor is very expensive, more than parts. For something like a washing machine that costs $750 and has an expected lifetime of 10 years, it's hard decision of when to repair vs when to replace. Say my washer is already 6 years old, it breaks, and labor + parts to fix it would be $250. I might decide to give up and buy a brand new one instead.
- runamok 4y agoWhich means it ends up in the landfill. I wish there were more repair cafes that might takebin items like that.
- depereo 4y agoI had this Vitamix frustration with v-moda. I had a couple missing screws on a headset. They were totally unwilling to send a couple screws from the USA to New Zealand in an envelope (even at my own expense), instead insisting on the whole headset being shipped back to them, halfway across the world, at their expense. There is such a horror of simple parts being made available for home repairs.
- saiya-jin 4y agoSorry for my french but this is all a bit of bullshit. I have some old sport watch that I open with a cent coin, it is completely waterproof as it was 10 years ago (so seals work), its whole sealing part is tiny and doesn't interfere with design/size/weight/price. If one wanted to manufacture top of the class phone with removable battery, it would be entirely possible. But since we all know revenue is not anymore primarily function of units sold, but services continuously sold on top of those devices. Taking huge commission on every app sold, proprietary/brand stuff like cables (even if they fray worse than 1$ ebay ones), cases, buds, anything. Apple used to be pioneer of this bad behavior, but now most manufacturers jumped on that wagon since apparently people kept buying their products anyway. I used to just pop back lid on my Samsung S2 to change sim card or add memory card, now with S22 that's a pipe dream. I wouldn't call it a trade-off. I would call it what it is - customers are not pissed off enough to affect sales in negative way. So let's do it and milk them more. One step/slot/port/3.5mm jack at a time.
- alibarber 4y agoI get what you’re saying but I think a 10 year old sport watch and a modern iPhone aren’t really comparable. Unless you’ve turned off the “sent from my Casio” footer.
- least 4y agoIf you can open up your watch with a coin then obviously the design is affected by this being something you can do. Saying that it doesn't interfere with design, size, weight, or price is disingenuous. Of course it does. It might influence those things positively or negatively, but it absolutely is affected. If you have to put in a mechanism to easily remove a battery from a phone then how wouldn't that affect literally all of those factors? What sort of properties would this entail and what would be suitably easy to remove? That answer is different depending on the person. Some people perhaps just want the back to slide off, which would probably require a plastic back. You could add a hinged door, but that would certainly add to its thickness and affect the design. You'd also need to have a way to interface the battery to the phone. Phones that had easily replaceable batteries had contacts built into the phone and the battery that were sufficiently large as to make it nearly impossible for someone to fuck up the installation of a new one. This obviously added weight and thickness to the phone. I'd love to hear how you'd engineer it to be just like a phone without an easily removable battery without affecting the criteria you listed.