It's 2022, phones should be built to last five years or more
androidauthority.com
androidauthority.com
I've a mid-priced phone from 2017 and the battery is nearly stuffed, given its price it's easier to throw it away.
It's never ceased to amaze me how manufacturers got away with the sealed battery concept, it seems not one country anywhere challenged it under consumer fitness-for-purpose law. One day, someone will write a thesis about why and how governments failed to stop this happening.
- original Kindle (once I put it into a bag in the original cover, and the display was broken when put out of the bag. I never found out what caused the display damage);
- tablet display (OLED one, ouch, slipped on ceramic tile);
- a LCD monitor (the stand was loose, I didn't expect it, gravity did the rest).
- I've had a phone slipped out of the hand onto asphalt in the parking lot, but it ended with a bump in the frame (Nexus S, it was age of plastic phones), the display was untouched.
So not sure whether it can be explained by lifestyle ;)
Cars need new oil every year or so. Drivers don't generally throw out the entire car.
Any regular repair a normal car needs is probably something the average person can do with little to no technical knowledge. Changing the battery, headlights, or oil in your car is trivial compared to changing the battery in most phones. That's a subjective assessment, but I think I'm a fairly average person when it comes to repairing phones and cars: I don't do either on a regular basis and have no special experience that would enable me to do either type of repair better than the average person.
I'm good at breaking phones when I try to replace batteries, but I have yet to break a car when changing the oil or headlights.
I shouldn't need to take my car to a shop to replace disposable components--I don't need to take my car to a shop to replace disposable components.
I shouldn't need to take my phone to a shop to replace disposable components, yet here we are. I can try to do it myself, but I guarantee if I try to replace the battery in my Nexus 6P or first-gen Pixel, I'll crack the screen. Even repair shops probably have high failure rates on battery replacements for those two devices.
I've had places replace my iPhone battery in less than 15 minutes.
Some reasons for not permanently sealing them in:
First, batteries usually leak given sufficient time, and if one cannot remove them then damage to one's equipment will result.
Second, even with smartphones that use lithium batteries which are less prone to leak, old batteries often swell and can crush the internal electronics of the smartphone. In fact, this has happened to me and it rendered the phone inoperable.
Third, batteries that are sealed in cannot be inspected for swelling etc. As in my case, this proved dangerous. Phones with removable battery compartments and whose batteries start swelling are obvious, as the back battery cover always pops off and thus the danger is clearly obvious. A potentially dangerous battery that's been sealed in is rarely obvious.
Forth, removable batteries can be swapped out within seconds, this allows for an immediate exchange of battery when the first one goes flat. It's much, much quicker to exchange a flat battery with a charged one than it is to recharge the internal battery via the USB cable.
Fifth, when a removable battery is beginning to lose capacity and die, it is much more likely to be replaced at an early stage than if the phone is sealed - as it's very easy to do so. Take my case mentioned above, if the battery had been removable then I'd have a new battery installed by now.
Sixth, new batteries typically cost only one fifth of the price of having a repair shop change the battery.
It seems to me that the Right to Repair movement may be successful in lobbying government to have the law changed to ensure that users can change smartphone batteries. There are two ways of achieving this: the first is by regulation which would state that after such and such a date all smartphones would have removable batteries, and the second method is by way of a tax or surcharge levied at the point of sale - for example, all smartphones sold after a certain date will be subject to a 15% tax/surcharge unless they have removable batteries (if that were mandated then manufacturers would rush to implement the changes as the losses in sales would far exceed the necessary cost of design changes).
As usual, the US will likely be the laggard in mandating such changes. Given the mood in Europe and some other countries, these changes will likely be first mandated there. I'll cheer loudly when that happens.
Incidentally, the same tax surcharge ought to be levied onto phones that have the FM Radio circuity disabled. There's a very good reason to keep FM working in phones and that is in case of emergency when the cellular network is down, in bushfires, floods etc. The phone function may be out but at least FM broadcasts can keep those in danger informed with official news and reports.
That governments haven't mandated this requirement for FM is as fucking disgrace. Remember, it's no longer that phones are considered a luxury, it's just a fact that everyone expects others to have one in one's possession at all times. As such, governments have a responsibility to accept smartphones as a necessary adjunct to an emergency service/utility etc.
I've had the battery in my iPhone 6S replaced four times, but if I could choose between that phone and one with a removable but lower-capacity battery, I'd still choose the former!
IMO, the most reasonable middle ground is for batteries to be relatively easy for a professional to replace in < 15 minutes. Which seems to be about how long it takes Rossman Group with my phone.
"I've had the battery in my iPhone 6S replaced four times"
I've learned never to argue with an iPhone owner about such matters but I'll make an exception here which is the fact that the battery has had to be replaced four times only proves my point. What the hell's wrong with your phone or phone/battery combination? I still have an iPhone 3 and it still has its original battery - and it still works!
We each come from different worlds. The trouble is you've never been spoiled like me. I've owned a Nokia with a detachable battery: phone rings/vibrates, don't want to take call, hand in pocket, push battery release button, phone instantly dead. Disruption all over in seconds without others even knowing about it if the phone's on vibrate.
That's a real feature, as I have complete control. (Phones with sealed-in batteries cannot be turned off completely and the pseudo-off control takes forever to power the phone down.)
By definition, iPhone owners consider such a modus operandi as being inconceivable.
Incidentally, I can still achieve the 'Nokia' control on my Android phones that have removable batteries. Take the back/battery cover off the phone and discard it, stick a short tape to the battery to act as a pulling tag then pull tag when necessary.
Do keep in mind that I’ve had this phone since 2015!
> What the hell's wrong with your phone or phone/battery combination?
Basically, with a fresh battery, my iPhone lasts just long enough to make through a day of heavy (for me) use. As soon as the capacity drops to the point where that's not possible, I like to get the battery replaced.
I can turn my phone off without taking it out of my pocket by holding down the lock and home button for a few seconds, I’ve done that a few times.
Phone’s got more cpu power anyway, and better connectivity. If you’re ponying up for a new car, I think it’s a safe bet you have a smartphone.
There are a few apps you can get for it. None work.
Minimize risk. Put the boring stuff like heat and a/c back into old-style interface. Provide a means of connecting with smartphones and leave it at that. Who’s going to pay for non google non apple maps?
There is a small per-year fee to keep the car updated. That's fine with me.
Or even better the app would learn one's charging habits and maintains the minimum unless requested otherwise.
At 50% the lifetime is +500%. At 10% it is +3000%.
Me myself, however, have made such a magic charger doing max 70%, and 2017 phone battery capacity is basically the same as when brand new.
You can check the battery voltage on Termux, but you cannot stop the bloody charging. I have external charger, which can be stopped with Termux Wifi-command.
Now, this rule of "better not bringing the battery near 100%" should of course also be valid for laptops. Any such management option in relevant OS - Penguins, Apples, Fixtures?
Only now has my battery health flagged up as needing a service.
iPhones seem to have a 6 year lifespan for updates.
Cars with higher resale value and longer life command a higher purchase price. I don't know why it should be any different in phones.
First you break a bunch of trusted boot security features possibly using random binaries.
Then you install lineageOS or similar.
Then you hope that your new kernel does not go backwards on security patches by being a snapshot of a vendor kernel that someone may or may not be trying to keep up to date.
While LineageOS doesn't advertise or provide support for re-locking, GrapheneOS explicitly does and I can highly suggest it over the rest of the AOSP-based projects if your goal is maintaining high security on a supported device.
GrapheneOS supports the Pixel 3 and 3 XL, which have been out of support from Google for months now. While this arrangement will not last forever, it disproves your claim.
GrapheneOS has worked quite well for me, and as someone who used nothing but iOS since 2007 until this year, that says a lot.
> after the manufacturer has stopped supporting it..
But, once you replace the battery so it doesn't crap out right when you're trying to make an emergency call, it's actually a better phone than its successor. Just better. Doesn't crack as easily, and less compatible with crappy apps. No 5G. So so much better.