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You don’t have to buy a new phone to replace the battery. Just take it to any repair shop.

by tosc 4y ago

don-code 4y ago
This may work for common phones (aka: Apple and Samsung phones). I had to retire a perfectly workable, but five years old, HTC phone after three such shops refused to fix it, citing unfamiliarity and cost. I now have an ASUS phone, and fully expect the same to happen in several years.
- tosc 4y ago
  It seems like weird logic to legislate that Apple and Samsung must make their phones less reliable for everyone simply because a 5 year old phone made by a cut price manufacturer is no longer supported. Why did you buy the ASUS phone if you don’t expect to get support for it?
  - don-code 4y ago
    I bought it used, and with the expectation that I'm going to be on the hook for my own long-term maintenance and support, as is true with more or less everything I buy. (Full-time Linux user here.) The sad reality is that the experience of running an off-brand phone with an easily-replaceable battery would, long-term, be much worse than running a locked-in flagship that LineageOS builds for.
  - janosdebugs 4y ago
    They can't really say Apple and Samsung have to do this, everybody else doesn't. And they are by far the market leaders, so they sell the most phones ending up in landfills.
dns_snek 4y ago
> Just take it to any repair shop. Device manufacturers see that as a bug, not a feature. They are starting to pair genuine parts to a specific device, which will completely lock us out of 3rd party repair options if we accept and normalize this behavior. See for example: - "The iPhone 14 Continues Apple’s Digital Repair Lockdown" by iFixit - https://www.ifixit.com/News/66879/iphone-14-parts-pairing-results-apple-is-still-trying-to-monopolise-repair https://www.ifixit.com/News/66879/iphone-14-parts-pairing-re... - "iPhone 14 Pro Programmed To Reject Repair" by Hugh Jeffreys - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2WhU77ihw8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2WhU77ihw8 - The long list of Louis Rossmann's rants on the topic
- tosc 4y ago
  Just because people who make money out of repair are making this claim, doesn’t make it true. See for example: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/04/apples-self-service-repair-now-available/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/04/apples-self-service-r...
  - fragmede 4y ago
    Ah yes, that 79-pound iPhone repair kit to fix a 1.1-ounce battery. The review of it was pretty interesting [0]. It's possible, but it's not exactly what I'd call user serviceable. There are a hojillion kits on Amazon which all include all the necessary tools to take the phone apart - triwing screwdriver, pentalobe screwdriver, impossibly small 00 phillipshead screwdriver, etc - so anyone that can follow youtube directions and has a steady hand can do it. It's just way harder than it needs to be so under the proposed law, they'd have to make it easier. [0] https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/21/23079058/apple-self-service-iphone-repair-kit-hands-on https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/21/23079058/apple-self-servi...
    - tosc 4y ago
      Yeah - it’s fairly obvious that linked article is in bad faith. The 79-pound repair kit is what Apple uses in its stores to avoid damaging phones that remain under warranty. If people want to buy a bunch of cheap tools and risk damaging a delicate phone, they shouldn’t expect Apple’s help.
      - Technetium 4y ago
        I'm going to assume ignorance over bad-faith and provide a video for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUpnrd-Xuho https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUpnrd-Xuho
      - fragmede 4y ago
        That's funny, I got the opposite read from that article and that it's Apple that's operating in bad faith here. Really though I think what's important is that we should expect help from Apple. It might take EU regulations to force that, but what that really says to me is that as consumer in the US, my bar for what to expect from corporations is set way too low.
krolden 4y ago
Pay extra for labor on top of parts, and theres a good chance theyll screw something up like the waterproofing seal or leave a loose connection that you won't notice until weeks later. Then you have to take it back and convince them its their fault and wait even longer while they hopefully don't screw the phone up even worse. Yeah that definitely sounds more convenient than a removable battery.
- tosc 4y ago
  > theres a good chance they’ll screw something up like the waterproofing seal or leave a loose connection that you won't notice until weeks later You must be strongly opposed to right to repair, since repair shops are incompetent to even replace a battery in your view.
  - krolden 4y ago
    Right to repair means being able to replace the battery without risking damage to the device

You don’t have to buy a new phone to replace the battery. Just take it to any repair shop.

by tosc 4y ago

You don’t have to buy a new phone to replace the battery. Just take it to any repair shop.

This may work for common phones (aka: Apple and Samsung phones). I had to retire a perfectly workable, but five years old, HTC phone after three such shops refused to fix it, citing unfamiliarity and cost. I now have an ASUS phone, and fully expect the same to happen in several years.

tosc 4y ago
It seems like weird logic to legislate that Apple and Samsung must make their phones less reliable for everyone simply because a 5 year old phone made by a cut price manufacturer is no longer supported. Why did you buy the ASUS phone if you don’t expect to get support for it?
- don-code 4y ago
  I bought it used, and with the expectation that I'm going to be on the hook for my own long-term maintenance and support, as is true with more or less everything I buy. (Full-time Linux user here.) The sad reality is that the experience of running an off-brand phone with an easily-replaceable battery would, long-term, be much worse than running a locked-in flagship that LineageOS builds for.
- janosdebugs 4y ago
  They can't really say Apple and Samsung have to do this, everybody else doesn't. And they are by far the market leaders, so they sell the most phones ending up in landfills.

dns_snek 4y ago

> Just take it to any repair shop. Device manufacturers see that as a bug, not a feature. They are starting to pair genuine parts to a specific device, which will completely lock us out of 3rd party repair options if we accept and normalize this behavior. See for example: - "The iPhone 14 Continues Apple’s Digital Repair Lockdown" by iFixit - https://www.ifixit.com/News/66879/iphone-14-parts-pairing-results-apple-is-still-trying-to-monopolise-repair https://www.ifixit.com/News/66879/iphone-14-parts-pairing-re... - "iPhone 14 Pro Programmed To Reject Repair" by Hugh Jeffreys - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2WhU77ihw8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2WhU77ihw8 - The long list of Louis Rossmann's rants on the topic

tosc 4y ago
Just because people who make money out of repair are making this claim, doesn’t make it true. See for example: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/04/apples-self-service-repair-now-available/ https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/04/apples-self-service-r...
- fragmede 4y ago
  Ah yes, that 79-pound iPhone repair kit to fix a 1.1-ounce battery. The review of it was pretty interesting [0]. It's possible, but it's not exactly what I'd call user serviceable. There are a hojillion kits on Amazon which all include all the necessary tools to take the phone apart - triwing screwdriver, pentalobe screwdriver, impossibly small 00 phillipshead screwdriver, etc - so anyone that can follow youtube directions and has a steady hand can do it. It's just way harder than it needs to be so under the proposed law, they'd have to make it easier. [0] https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/21/23079058/apple-self-service-iphone-repair-kit-hands-on https://www.theverge.com/2022/5/21/23079058/apple-self-servi...
  - tosc 4y ago
    Yeah - it’s fairly obvious that linked article is in bad faith. The 79-pound repair kit is what Apple uses in its stores to avoid damaging phones that remain under warranty. If people want to buy a bunch of cheap tools and risk damaging a delicate phone, they shouldn’t expect Apple’s help.
    - Technetium 4y ago
      I'm going to assume ignorance over bad-faith and provide a video for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUpnrd-Xuho https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUpnrd-Xuho
    - fragmede 4y ago
      That's funny, I got the opposite read from that article and that it's Apple that's operating in bad faith here. Really though I think what's important is that we should expect help from Apple. It might take EU regulations to force that, but what that really says to me is that as consumer in the US, my bar for what to expect from corporations is set way too low.

krolden 4y ago

Pay extra for labor on top of parts, and theres a good chance theyll screw something up like the waterproofing seal or leave a loose connection that you won't notice until weeks later. Then you have to take it back and convince them its their fault and wait even longer while they hopefully don't screw the phone up even worse. Yeah that definitely sounds more convenient than a removable battery.

tosc 4y ago
> theres a good chance they’ll screw something up like the waterproofing seal or leave a loose connection that you won't notice until weeks later You must be strongly opposed to right to repair, since repair shops are incompetent to even replace a battery in your view.
- krolden 4y ago
  Right to repair means being able to replace the battery without risking damage to the device