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Comment by progfix | Hacker News Reader

> Why change the device design to make battery user-replaceable when I can bring it to the repair shop?

You'd rather go to a repair shop and pay a service fee for something that you can probably do in a couple of minutes at home?

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I think that making battery replaceable by user will affect the phone design. I had a ton of first-wave Android devices back in the day. I don’t remember carrying an extra battery with me. Maybe someone did, but how many of total users?

Another point is that making a phone water-resistant is likely not trivial when you can take the whole back panel away.

My point is: are these dramatic changes worth it when the battery degrades only couple years after purchase?

Yeah, the waterproofing concerns me. Neither of the examples they brought up in the article had ip67 water resistance, which I consider a bare minimum after water damaging too many cheap phones. The best phones are more water resistant than that. As a meche, you'll always get a better water seal with glue than with screws or snaps. I can see this being a real issue.

I've replaced batteries with tools. It's a slab inside the phone and it tends to get somewhat hot, there really aren't that many places to put them, I have a really hard time believing making repairs difficult is not the main reason defining the current standard.

Now, things like bluetooth earphones, those I'm curious about.

>You'd rather go to a repair shop and pay a service fee for something that you can probably do in a couple of minutes at home?

HN userbase in a nutshell

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