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Comment by belval | Hacker News Reader

I see this comment every time something about the PinePhone is announced, but considering that this is more of a tinkering project and not so much an actual product I just don't see how relevant this is.

You are not buying a Pixel 4, you are buying something that still needs a lot of work.

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I personally don't expect the 2 years, but tell that to the regulator. You may be able to declare it as a DIY kit, but I have doubts.

But I suppose this type of stuff is exactly what the higher priced stores are for. If you want it cheap but without support, buy directly from China.

Sure, but I doubt that they ship any kind of volume that would draw the attention of EU regulators.

Also Pine64 is from China, they are based in Hong Kong iirc. The shipping warehouse in Poland is just a place where they keep stocks.

It's not about the volume. There were issues shipping into particular countries that may actually check items on the border for more than just price matching the product so customs/VAT is not gamed, and the state gets their proper cut. Things like manual in the language of the country, certifications, etc.

My country is more on the "we just want the cut" side, but some people in Germany had trouble getting individual shipments into the country, for example.

Does the EU law make exemptions for unfinished products? They're still providing you a product.

These laws were made to protect regular consumers when they buy a washing machine to ensure that the manufacturer could not screw them over.

This is Pine64, which is about as close to community driven hardware development as you can get. They give you the open-source design and source code. If you think you might need a two year guarantee just don't buy their product, it's probably not a good fit for you anyway.

> These laws were made to protect regular consumers when they buy a washing machine to ensure that the manufacturer could not screw them over over the last few decades:

That didn't work out very well. They just found different, more insidious ways of screwing people over.

https://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/help/buying-advice/washing-ma...

...

This isn't about needing it though, as far as I can tell it's legally required, so I don't know how (if at all) they're getting around that.

Regular consumers are not supposed to buy it. They probably wouldn't be able to use it and certainly wouldn't get much out of it.

Its a phone you can purchase from their website that they will send to you. The purchasing process is exactly the same as buying a galaxy s21. If companies could just say "this is an unfinished product" to get around mandatory warranties, everyone would do it. PinePhone should not be exempt because they are selling what they call a beta product.

This would effectively kill devices like PinePhone, because they wouldn't be able to test the product in development with the community. Is that really the desirable outcome?

It's not like we're talking about some kind of small print in the EULA here, either. It's prominently plastered all across the website, and during the ordering process.

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