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Have the battery replaced for free at a walk-in center in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, Singapore, or India or take advantage of a mail-in repair program (US-onl

Have the battery replaced for free at a walk-in center in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, Singapore, or India or take advantage of a mail-in repair program (US-only). Whatever else you think about Google, I think you'd agree that is a much better response than what Apple did.

chomp 2y ago
My battery wasn’t cut in half on iPhone, the duration improved
woodson 2y ago
What if you bought it in another country? (Directly from Google’s pixel store in that country.) Out of luck, that’s what.
- mixedCase 2y ago
  The article indicates these are also options: 2) Request a $100 Google Store credit that you can put toward the purchase of another Pixel phone or other hardware. 3) Request a $50 cash payment.
slavik81 2y ago
My Pixel 4a won't turn on. I wonder if this might fix that problem. I guess it's worth a shot.
- polka_haunts_us 2y ago
  My dad and I both bought a 4a (5G) at the same time, ours both died within a week of each other. With mine at least I know the issue was that it just stopped charging entirely, no cable plugged in would fix it. Unfortunately, the 5G variation doesn't appear to be part of this program.
scarface_74 2y ago
What exactly did Apple “do”?
- adgjlsfhk1 2y ago
  https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-stop-apple-throttling-iphones/ https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-stop-apple-throttling-iph... Apple does the same thing, but doesn't offer free repairs when they do this
  - scarface_74 2y ago
    No, it’s not “the same thing”. Apple throttled the phones because the alternative was the phone shutting off. It wasn’t a software bug. It’s physics that when a battery got old and you tried to run the phone at full speed, the battery couldn’t handle it.
    - zrobotics 2y ago
      How is that different? Apple 'throttled' the phones by reducing charge amperage and reducing battery capacity in software. TBH I think what Google did here is also bad, this should definitely trigger a system popup with an opt in/out. However, Apple did exactly the same thing, initially denied it, and people are still defending them years later. (edit):typo
      - scarface_74 2y ago
        The alternative was that the phone would shut off completely. Apple did not make the phone worse. So the pop up should be “Wouid you like your phone to shut off randomly?”
    - littlestymaar 2y ago
      You're repeating Apple's PR talking point, but we know it's not true. Why? Because we have a counterfactual observation: in France there's a law against "planned obsolescence" and to comply Apple never pushed their update here. And not only French IPhone kept working, but everybody could disable the speed nerf by switching their location to France on their phone. And it turns out that the phones handled it without issue.
tedunangst 2y ago
Sometimes it helps to be second.
m_fayer 2y ago
This borderline bricked my partner’s phone. We’re in Berlin. The “walk in centers” here are a few random sleepy repair shops barely aware of what’s happening who might be able to help you in a few weeks, maybe. She bought an iPhone.

chomp 2y ago

My battery wasn’t cut in half on iPhone, the duration improved

woodson 2y ago

What if you bought it in another country? (Directly from Google’s pixel store in that country.) Out of luck, that’s what.

mixedCase 2y ago
The article indicates these are also options: 2) Request a $100 Google Store credit that you can put toward the purchase of another Pixel phone or other hardware. 3) Request a $50 cash payment.

slavik81 2y ago

My Pixel 4a won't turn on. I wonder if this might fix that problem. I guess it's worth a shot.

polka_haunts_us 2y ago
My dad and I both bought a 4a (5G) at the same time, ours both died within a week of each other. With mine at least I know the issue was that it just stopped charging entirely, no cable plugged in would fix it. Unfortunately, the 5G variation doesn't appear to be part of this program.

scarface_74 2y ago

What exactly did Apple “do”?

adgjlsfhk1 2y ago
https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-stop-apple-throttling-iphones/ https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-stop-apple-throttling-iph... Apple does the same thing, but doesn't offer free repairs when they do this
- scarface_74 2y ago
  No, it’s not “the same thing”. Apple throttled the phones because the alternative was the phone shutting off. It wasn’t a software bug. It’s physics that when a battery got old and you tried to run the phone at full speed, the battery couldn’t handle it.
  - zrobotics 2y ago
    How is that different? Apple 'throttled' the phones by reducing charge amperage and reducing battery capacity in software. TBH I think what Google did here is also bad, this should definitely trigger a system popup with an opt in/out. However, Apple did exactly the same thing, initially denied it, and people are still defending them years later. (edit):typo
    - scarface_74 2y ago
      The alternative was that the phone would shut off completely. Apple did not make the phone worse. So the pop up should be “Wouid you like your phone to shut off randomly?”
  - littlestymaar 2y ago
    You're repeating Apple's PR talking point, but we know it's not true. Why? Because we have a counterfactual observation: in France there's a law against "planned obsolescence" and to comply Apple never pushed their update here. And not only French IPhone kept working, but everybody could disable the speed nerf by switching their location to France on their phone. And it turns out that the phones handled it without issue.

tedunangst 2y ago

Sometimes it helps to be second.

m_fayer 2y ago

This borderline bricked my partner’s phone. We’re in Berlin. The “walk in centers” here are a few random sleepy repair shops barely aware of what’s happening who might be able to help you in a few weeks, maybe. She bought an iPhone.