European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
European Union votes to bring back replaceable phone batteries
Among the many changes, the new rules would require batteries in consumer devices like smartphones to be easily removable and replaceable. That's far from the case today...
Good, the biggest reason I have to buy a new phone is the battery effectively dying. I've already decided that when my current phone needs to be charged at least twice a day then I'm buying a phone with replaceable parts, something like Fairphone. From experience my phone has at least 2, maybe even 3, years left so maybe by that time I have a lot more options to choose from.
Batteries used to be considered to be a part that needs to be replaced as part of regular maintenance, because they deteriorate pretty fast compared to the other parts. The fact that anyone ever thought batteries should not be replaceable astonishes me.
The batteries last longer now than the phone is usable with newer versions of the OS.
Apple got caught throttling older phones
So basically we'd like a replaceable, thinner battery; a 3,5 mm jack, and let's keep it water-resistant/proof. That would be great.
This is great news!
This is great news, but I hope they also take steps to incentivise manufacturers to actually sell the batteries. Sure, you can get them on ebay, but the quality is variable.
It's always been absolutely crazy to me that a normally easy to replace part that has a known short lifespan would be moved deep in the bowels of the phone where you can't get to it.
If only they'd do the same for the headphone jack and storage slot.
Loss of headphone jacks was the worst change for me. I've never had a problem with batteries. My phones have become obsolete due to software updates that brick them or because the hardware can't get the latest security updates and I don't want to take the risk. A power button went on one phone (Google Nexus something or other) because LG(?) installed a weak plastic rocker and made it unreplaceable. Absolutely nothing else wrong with it but it was just out of warranty.
That's... Good news.
It wouldn't hurt to make them standardized somehow, otherwise it might be that you can replace the battery but can't find one to buy, or if you do it's more expensive than it's worth and it motivates you to buy a new phone entirely.
And +1 vote for the fucking headphone jack. A standard in the audio industry since (looking at wikipedia) for over a century! killed off by Apple (and subsequently everyone else's) corporate greed.
I'd love to see it this would actually give some phones a longer lifespan. Especially for people like me that "charge" their phone 24/7 because of USB-Tethering.
Remember that LG phone where you could slide the entire bottom off and it had a battery in it like a hdd cage. That would be totally doable.
No more thin phones then?
Why would a replaceable battery require a thicker phone?
Now that you say it true why would it
It makes it more difficult to design really thin phones because the battery needs a sturdier case and an additional connector to be easily replaceable. Generally making a phone smaller and thinner makes components less accessible. Personally I think it is more important that high quality batteries are available for a long time. In my opinion it would be fine if some tools were required to replace the battery. Ideally that only needs to be done once every 2-3 years so if it takes a bit longer it isn't such a big deal as when there aren't good batteries available.
They're not thin anymore since the 9 because they're was an issue with them bending in pockets.