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Comment by braiamp | Hacker News Reader

I'm baffled that we still are thinking that we want thin phones. We have a gigantic camera bump that would be removed if the phone was thicker. Who wants a razor in their pocket, like really?

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Not only that, but if phone batteries were user replaceable, they could be sold in multiple capacities. So people that want "thin" phones can keep their camera protrusions, and the people that want more battery capacity could get a pack that allows the phone to sit flush on a table.

Literally win win win.

You say that like it'd be a simple process to accommodate the different thicknesses of battery..

I'm not sure what you're trying to say? The replaceable battery is either thicker, or it isn't. There's not much to accommodate.

This is already a thing for some [dedicated] cameras like the Canon EOS series.

A thicker battery would need a new back built with a hump or standoffs across the whole back to increase the overall thickness to match the new larger battery thickness...

Correct. This used to be done before on flip phones, and is still currently being done for dedicated cameras.

This is a solved problem and not an issue.

A modern cell phone is very different from the old flip phones and SLRs/large dedicated camera. Resealing modern phones after upgrades/repairs is one of the harder parts of the whole process with fiddly little sealing glue gaskets to maintain IP ratings.

Again, solved problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairphone_6

'Solved' by having measurably worse ingress protection than leading smartphones?

Yes, this is solved. Samsung makes rugged IP68 phones with user swappable batteries that are thinner than an iPhone 17 Pro when factoring the camera bump [1].

It's kind of comical how accurate this comment is https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48807174

[1] https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_xcover7-12784.php

My experience with phones like that are that they tend to fall apart when subjected to impact, which is pretty counterproductive to features like, I don’t know, being able to use the phone immediately after an impact (car crash, fall).

Sony Xperia Z solved in 2013: Water jet protected & Waterproof up to 1 meter in 30 minutes

I've had a HTC HD2 that had exactly that[1] - an extended battery with a bump. It looked silly, but did its job and in daily usage wasn't that big of a deal, actually provided a resting spot for my index finger.

[1] https://www.phonearena.com/news/Extended-battery-with-kick-s...

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