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When unscrewed, users are likely to be greeted with an option to remove the battery as well as it isn’t attached to the device with the help of glue but rather

When unscrewed, users are likely to be greeted with an option to remove the battery as well as it isn’t attached to the device with the help of glue but rather with additional screws. What a horrible state of things that "not gluing the battery in place but screwing it in" is considered an improvement. IMHO smartphones have been on a horrible decline ever since ~2016. Before then, most Androids had [1] easily replaceable battery, no tools required at all; [2] microSD slot; [3] headphone jack; [4] (many) dual SIM; [5] (many cheaper models) easily rooted or unlocked by default. Now all we get are faster CPUs, more (non-expandable) storage, and far too many cameras. There was also this memorable ad from Samsung: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hIoyb9L5g0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hIoyb9L5g0

fulafel 1y ago
The article is misleading here in that the earlier Fairphones had removable batteries without glue.
- lawn 1y ago
  The Fairphone 4 at least you could replace the battery without any screws at all. It took seconds and it's been extremely useful for me.
  - littlestymaar 1y ago
    On the flip side, the battery of my Fairphone 3 had a tendency to disconnect when it was shaken too strongly for its taste, rebooting the phone… So I'd consider screws to be an improvement actually.
    - crossroadsguy 1y ago
      If in 2025 your unscrewed battery is disconnecting evening at vigorous shakes it is not your fault at all. So that doesn't explain the "bring in the screws".
      - littlestymaar 1y ago
        There must be something to tighten the contact between the phone and the battery, every other manufacturer uses glue, Fairphone tried to solve this problem with plastic clips before and it wasn't reliable enough, so I'm certainly not gonna blame them for doing it with the most effective method that doesn't compromise repairability.
        deleted 1y ago
        [deleted]
    - tcfhgj 1y ago
      haven't had this problem with fp3+ even when it drops on the floor
  - Vinnl 1y ago
    On the Fairphone 2 you could even replace the screen without screws. It made it unstable and prone to getting loose, and it was a huge improvement when the Fairphone 3 started using screws for that. It was a fun gimmick, but for something you replace that rarely, it's really not worth the sacrifice. Screws keep them repairable and sturdy. It'll no longer be as easy to bring a spare battery to replace on the go, unfortunately, but unfortunately, it's a trade-off, and with most people already not doing that, it makes sense where they ended up.
ben-schaaf 1y ago
FairPhone used to be a manufacturer still doing the right things. My FP3 has all of that, including an official guide for unlocking the bootloader. At least they've kept their promises regarding updates, because I won't be buying their newer phones.
- userbinator 1y ago
  The original Fairphone was basically just a branded version of the generic common Android of the time (MT6589 reference design --- I have an unbranded one that looks very similar but with a better screen and cameras), so they were "doing the right things" like everyone else. https://www.gizchina.com/2013/06/25/6-top-quad-core-mt6589-phones-china/ https://www.gizchina.com/2013/06/25/6-top-quad-core-mt6589-p... There were tons of these little-known companies making very similar phones at the time. Unfortunately most of them disappeared within the next few years. Hence 2016 as the year I mentioned of when things started going downhill noticeably.
  - Vinnl 1y ago
    Well, it also had more sustainably-sourced materials (both in terms of environment and labour conditions), and they provided their own open Google-free OS. But you're right that they truly started making progress from version 2 onwards. I'm still happy to have had the FP1 to enable that, though.
- forty 1y ago
  It's probably going to be the end of the FP3 updates sometimes in 2026, so it will be time to change. For me, it will certainly be a by a FP6.
  - palata 1y ago
    I was personally thinking about a Pixel phone (for GrapheneOS), but given the recent Google news, I'm not so sure where Graphene (and the Pixels) is going.
- 1dom 1y ago
mslansn 1y ago
I don’t miss dropping my phone and the battery and the SIM card flying away into the sunset.
- upcoming-sesame 1y ago
  if the back is still screwed low chance it will happen
  - mslansn 1y ago
    Does it matter that the battery is screwed if the back is screwed too? You will need a screwdriver to access it anyway. Batteries must be glued or screwed, otherwise sudden movements can turn the phone off.
    - borosuxks 1y ago
      Is this really a problem? I've had my FP3 for 5-ish years and the plastic clips have done their job without fail. Even when dropping it on hardwood floor
audunw 1y ago
I don’t see why I should care that the battery is glued in? It helps keep the battery stable with minimal overhead, and it’s still fairly easy to replace. Apple has even made improvements to make it even easier to remove glued batteries, not that it was all that hard before. Doing excess engineering to make it easier to replace something which I might replace once in the lifetime of the phone doesn’t make sense. The old use case of wanting to easily swap batteries to keep the phone going isn’t something people care about anymore since we got a billion options for battery banks that works for all the USB-C devices we have. Nobody cares about headphone jack anymore. It’s dead. Get over it. Why stick a crappy DAC and a bad and single-purpose bulky port in a device where space is critical, when 99% of users are not going to use it? Just stick a USB-C adapter on your headphones. Then you have a choice in DAC. I would much rather have two USB-C ports than a headphone jack. Dual SIM is also rapidly becoming obsolete. Micro SD would be nice still, I’ll give you that.
WhyNotHugo 1y ago
I saw some Edifier desktop speakers the other day which listed as a feature "No built-in microphone for privacy protection". It's sad what kind of things are considered "features" these days.
fastball 1y ago
Do you think they're screwing it in for fun? I'd rather my phone be more robust than worry about unscrewing a couple more screws when I need to replace the battery (hopefully a rare occurrence anyway). I don't know anyone that carried around spare batteries like in that ad, so although a good ad it doesn't really speak to customer usage. I'd also like my phone to be as-waterproof-as-possible, and am willing to sacrifice a back that comes open without any screws or similar.
- userbinator 1y ago
  They're doing it because they don't know better, or are deliberately ignorant to a generation of actually better designs. Waterproofing wasn't a feature people needed before the marketing told them they did.
  - fastball 1y ago
    Before my phones became waterproof, I lost multiple phones to liquid damage, so the idea that waterproofing is a marketing gimmick is nonsense.
  - fragmede 1y ago
    Ah yes, people. The group of users that famously doesn't interact with liquids in their day to day lives and needed to be told that they wanted to be able to spill a drink or soup on their phone and not have it break, or drop it into the toilet, pool, lake or river and not have it break. https://xkcd.com/641/ https://xkcd.com/641/ is true, but smartphones and liquids isn't that.
kevincox 1y ago
I loved older phones where you could just pop or slide off the back and replace the battery. So many people carry around portable battery packs to recharge which is large, heavy and clunky (you need to hold these two devices while the phone charges). I used to just carry a spare battery and could do a swap for an instant full charge in about the same amount of time it takes most people to get out and plug in their battery pack.

fulafel 1y ago

The article is misleading here in that the earlier Fairphones had removable batteries without glue.

lawn 1y ago
The Fairphone 4 at least you could replace the battery without any screws at all. It took seconds and it's been extremely useful for me.
- littlestymaar 1y ago
  On the flip side, the battery of my Fairphone 3 had a tendency to disconnect when it was shaken too strongly for its taste, rebooting the phone… So I'd consider screws to be an improvement actually.
  - crossroadsguy 1y ago
    If in 2025 your unscrewed battery is disconnecting evening at vigorous shakes it is not your fault at all. So that doesn't explain the "bring in the screws".
    - littlestymaar 1y ago
      There must be something to tighten the contact between the phone and the battery, every other manufacturer uses glue, Fairphone tried to solve this problem with plastic clips before and it wasn't reliable enough, so I'm certainly not gonna blame them for doing it with the most effective method that doesn't compromise repairability.
      - deleted 1y ago
        [deleted]
  - tcfhgj 1y ago
    haven't had this problem with fp3+ even when it drops on the floor
- Vinnl 1y ago
  On the Fairphone 2 you could even replace the screen without screws. It made it unstable and prone to getting loose, and it was a huge improvement when the Fairphone 3 started using screws for that. It was a fun gimmick, but for something you replace that rarely, it's really not worth the sacrifice. Screws keep them repairable and sturdy. It'll no longer be as easy to bring a spare battery to replace on the go, unfortunately, but unfortunately, it's a trade-off, and with most people already not doing that, it makes sense where they ended up.

ben-schaaf 1y ago

FairPhone used to be a manufacturer still doing the right things. My FP3 has all of that, including an official guide for unlocking the bootloader. At least they've kept their promises regarding updates, because I won't be buying their newer phones.

userbinator 1y ago
The original Fairphone was basically just a branded version of the generic common Android of the time (MT6589 reference design --- I have an unbranded one that looks very similar but with a better screen and cameras), so they were "doing the right things" like everyone else. https://www.gizchina.com/2013/06/25/6-top-quad-core-mt6589-phones-china/ https://www.gizchina.com/2013/06/25/6-top-quad-core-mt6589-p... There were tons of these little-known companies making very similar phones at the time. Unfortunately most of them disappeared within the next few years. Hence 2016 as the year I mentioned of when things started going downhill noticeably.
- Vinnl 1y ago
  Well, it also had more sustainably-sourced materials (both in terms of environment and labour conditions), and they provided their own open Google-free OS. But you're right that they truly started making progress from version 2 onwards. I'm still happy to have had the FP1 to enable that, though.
forty 1y ago
It's probably going to be the end of the FP3 updates sometimes in 2026, so it will be time to change. For me, it will certainly be a by a FP6.
- palata 1y ago
  I was personally thinking about a Pixel phone (for GrapheneOS), but given the recent Google news, I'm not so sure where Graphene (and the Pixels) is going.
1dom 1y ago

mslansn 1y ago

I don’t miss dropping my phone and the battery and the SIM card flying away into the sunset.

upcoming-sesame 1y ago
if the back is still screwed low chance it will happen
- mslansn 1y ago
  Does it matter that the battery is screwed if the back is screwed too? You will need a screwdriver to access it anyway. Batteries must be glued or screwed, otherwise sudden movements can turn the phone off.
  - borosuxks 1y ago
    Is this really a problem? I've had my FP3 for 5-ish years and the plastic clips have done their job without fail. Even when dropping it on hardwood floor

audunw 1y ago

I don’t see why I should care that the battery is glued in? It helps keep the battery stable with minimal overhead, and it’s still fairly easy to replace. Apple has even made improvements to make it even easier to remove glued batteries, not that it was all that hard before. Doing excess engineering to make it easier to replace something which I might replace once in the lifetime of the phone doesn’t make sense. The old use case of wanting to easily swap batteries to keep the phone going isn’t something people care about anymore since we got a billion options for battery banks that works for all the USB-C devices we have. Nobody cares about headphone jack anymore. It’s dead. Get over it. Why stick a crappy DAC and a bad and single-purpose bulky port in a device where space is critical, when 99% of users are not going to use it? Just stick a USB-C adapter on your headphones. Then you have a choice in DAC. I would much rather have two USB-C ports than a headphone jack. Dual SIM is also rapidly becoming obsolete. Micro SD would be nice still, I’ll give you that.

WhyNotHugo 1y ago

I saw some Edifier desktop speakers the other day which listed as a feature "No built-in microphone for privacy protection". It's sad what kind of things are considered "features" these days.

fastball 1y ago

Do you think they're screwing it in for fun? I'd rather my phone be more robust than worry about unscrewing a couple more screws when I need to replace the battery (hopefully a rare occurrence anyway). I don't know anyone that carried around spare batteries like in that ad, so although a good ad it doesn't really speak to customer usage. I'd also like my phone to be as-waterproof-as-possible, and am willing to sacrifice a back that comes open without any screws or similar.

userbinator 1y ago
They're doing it because they don't know better, or are deliberately ignorant to a generation of actually better designs. Waterproofing wasn't a feature people needed before the marketing told them they did.
- fastball 1y ago
  Before my phones became waterproof, I lost multiple phones to liquid damage, so the idea that waterproofing is a marketing gimmick is nonsense.
- fragmede 1y ago
  Ah yes, people. The group of users that famously doesn't interact with liquids in their day to day lives and needed to be told that they wanted to be able to spill a drink or soup on their phone and not have it break, or drop it into the toilet, pool, lake or river and not have it break. https://xkcd.com/641/ https://xkcd.com/641/ is true, but smartphones and liquids isn't that.

kevincox 1y ago

I loved older phones where you could just pop or slide off the back and replace the battery. So many people carry around portable battery packs to recharge which is large, heavy and clunky (you need to hold these two devices while the phone charges). I used to just carry a spare battery and could do a swap for an instant full charge in about the same amount of time it takes most people to get out and plug in their battery pack.