EU votes to mandate removable batteries in smartphones in a landslide; no more glued together junk!
EU votes to mandate removable batteries in smartphones in a landslide; no more glued together junk!
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How is this a win? My non-Android device is at 89% health after 5 years. I’m not going to replace the battery, I’m going to replace the device.
I’d prefer that we get paid $20 to recycle an old phone so that they actually get recycled.
How is it a loss for you in any way? Just because the battery can be replaced more easily doesn't mean you have to replace it if you're at 89% after 5 years. I use my phone a lot and burn through batteries in 18-24 months. This shouldn't have any effect on people who only have light usage like you but benefit the rest of us tremendously.
It'd be like only driving 1,000 miles a year and saying there's no need to make oil changes easier to accomplish. Some of use have to change it orders of magnitude more frequently than you and would appreciate not having to disassemble the whole front of our cars to do it.
Replaceable battery means extra plastic,extra size, and reduced design parameters because the design has to be around the battery and it’s ability to be replaced using connectors. Look at what blackberry devices looked like. Battery and OS tech got a little better, but they used the same batteries for a long amount of time. I’m not saying that we’ll have blackberry devices again, I’m saying that things like connectors, latches, and the extra size of a battery that’s designed to be held all adds up to extra space being used.
My usage is probably above average. Probably closer to your average fediverse/redditor. I’m far from a “light user”.
That being said, your average user doesn’t burn through batteries like you do. Maybe you should be pressuring the market to build your phone instead of forcing everyone that has no need for a replaceable battery to put up with the deficiencies of that form factor?
Because not everyone has the same anecdotal experience as you?
I manage around 200+ mobile devices and battery life isn’t an issue that comes up.
So probably work devices that sit idle for 8+ hours a day before being shut back off and thrown into a backpack overnight/weekend?
I wish. Most are their primary device for work and personal use.
How old are those mobile devices?
iPhone XR for myself, and most are 11-13. We regularly have to replace older devices as they reach EOL/EOS.
Because you are an outlier when it comes to most people's experience of battery life in their phones.
The recycling scheme is a good idea too, we should do both.
Reducing is just as important as recycling. And reducing the amount of people buying new phones because their battery dies is a win.
Also there are these well-used battery recycling boxes in plenty shops where I'm from. If people could remove their phone battery, they might still throw away their phone, as there's not as obvious, easy and visible a recycling system for those yet, but perhaps some might at least take out the battery first and chuck it in the recycling bin next time they go to shop.
Opposite boat. My perfectly good device gets replaced after about 4 years because it struggles to hold a charge. I don't give a shit about iterative phone specs, and I say that as a tech enthusiast.
And wht's stoping you from paying the 80 bucks for a battery swap? After 5 years, that seams like a very reasonable maintenance cost to me...
I agree, I think this is a miss. This will just mean more batteries will be manufactured. Most people will replace the device before the battery performance degrades.
Unless the battery is a universal/interchangable model this will increase waste as the manufacturer will have to make replacements available per model.
People will also perhaps then buy replacement batteries when handing down/selling devices, where they would have just have managed with degraded performance in the past.
Sounds good but I don't know really.
Typically, replacement parts are only manufactured during the lifetime of the device. Because of that, I don't think that the replacement batteries would contribute significantly to waste.
People will also perhaps then buy replacement batteries when handing down/selling devices, where they would have just have managed with degraded performance in the past.
What's the problem with this?
Most of the enviromental impacts are from mining and disposal, or lack of recycling. I looked it up and there is a 90% recovery rate for the minerals in the batteries alone if done properly.
Maybe asking manufacturers to make more batteries per model isn't a good answer, it has an additional cost of resources per model/battery and most people do not dispose of batteries correctly anyway and just dump them in the trash. It might be better enviromentally to offer real incentives to manufacturers, retailers and people to return their phones and recycle,reproccess the existing components.
I worked in enterprise IT support for 10 years and battery degredation/failure in laptops and mobile devices was not that much of an issue. Waste electrical and electronic equipment however, who knows how much is actually recycled properly, even most house hold batteries are thrown in the trash.