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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I always thought removable batteries were clearly a good thing, until I watched this YouTube video: Techquickie - Why Removable Batteries Are NEVER Coming Back
While acknowleding the pro side, it also gives some arguments for the con side:
- phone cases are easier to make water proof if they are not meant to be opened
- sturdier battery case for safe and easy handling makes the phone heavier and bulkier
- customers favor metal/glass phone cases, but those tend to break when frequently opened
- non-rectangular batteries allow for more compact hardware design
The video is 4 years old and I haven't followed the topic too hard. I just found it interesting to have some fairly reasonable counter points for a nuanced discussion.
It's good to understand the motives of the manufacturers. Skimming through a subreddit for finding a good phone for my needs showed me just how differently other people use their phones than how I do (basically as a handheld web browser, camera, and photo album) and I buy them so seldom I'm definitely not their real market.
But man I hate the trend of making phones ever thinner and more slippery. I'm just going to put it in a bulky armored case anyways. My ideal phone would be some kind of ruggedized device with the back held on with screws and a rubber gasket, with removable SD cards and battery. I'm excited to see what design changes the EU requirements drive.
Actually having the rugged case removable instead to attached to the phone is quite nice, but I just wish there was some sort of standardized form-factor for phones so that your can have standard cases as well. The phones these days all look nearly the same anyway, but there is always some small bulge here or the camera placed 1cm lower or so that requires getting a case just for that exact model of a phone.
Standardization I'll definitely agree with.
I owned a Kyocera DuraXT for a while. Lovely waterproof phone I frequently launched into walls and concrete whenever the iPhone crowd asked me why. Battery easily removable and replaceable. Flip phone. Able to make calls while drowning up to 5 metres underwater.
Only reason I don't use it anymore is I moved back to a country that doesn't support CDMA. Would get another one immediately if it supports Signal.
Lovely waterproof phone I frequently launched into walls and concrete whenever the iPhone crowd asked me why. Battery easily removable and replaceable. Flip phone.
I understand it is possible to make. From my general understanding of physics and engineering, I assume it requires more effort to achieve both (replacable and resistant) than to just achieve one.
So while I approve to have the option to have a replacable battery, I'm a bit worried forcing manufacturers to include that feature would raise the price, even for customers who don't need it.
My DuraXT cost me like USD70. It's been done before with older stuff for dirt cheap. Plus waterproofing is not necessarily covering all ingress points. It includes a coating on the parts as well.
That's how I can read on my Kobo ereader, spill curry on it, and clean it off at the sink.
This new EU legislation actually explicitly exempts phones and tablets if in turn the manufacturers give a certain lifetime guarantee for the battery or something like that (I need to re-read the details).