• NightAuthor@beehaw.org
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    1 year ago

    By 2027, all phones released in the EU must have a battery the user can easily replace with no tools or expertise.

    • alehel@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      The no tools part seems a bit extreme. So a manufacturer can’t use a few standard screws to keep things in place?

    • upstream@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      Was hoping it wouldn’t be phrased that way. That’s going to make phones less waterproof and significantly reduce the battery capacity or increase the size.

      I’d be much more happy with a screwdriver and sliding the lid off, disconnecting a connector that’s made available for end user fiddling, swapping in the new battery and then putting it back in.

      On the other hand I hope manufacturers find a way. This might open up for bigger batteries where the battery is basically the outside of the phone and you just wrap it in a case.

      Actually, thinking about it - external batteries might be the solution to waterproofness.

      This will likely also see a rise in cheap knockoff batteries catching fire. It’s not unprecedented, and people are like “a battery is a battery”. Well, they aren’t.

      Will be interesting to see how this is handled.

      • massive_meatballs@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        The last time I heard phone batteries catching fire was the Samsung Note 7 and those weren’t user replacable. There’s a lot of fearmongering on what you wrote, it almost sounds like a script the manufacturers’ lobby would write to avoid this legislation. Are you really assuming the EU doesn’t have laws and safety regulations for Li-ion batteries et al.?

        • upstream@beehaw.org
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          1 year ago

          I don’t think Ali express does. Not trying to “fear monger”, but it’s an issue today, it’s just not interesting to report on due to Note 7 and people got used to reading about it so it doesn’t generate clicks anymore.

          I honestly just feel like I was stating the obvious ¯_(ツ)_/¯

          Not seeing it as a huge problem, just that it’s going to increase.

      • probably@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        My galaxy s5 was waterproof and had a removable battery by popping off the back case. They can manage.

      • alehel@beehaw.org
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        1 year ago

        This will likely also see a rise in cheap knockoff batteries catching fire. It’s not unprecedented, and people are like “a battery is a battery”. Well, they aren’t.

        If those batteries are being sold in the EU they would still have to meet EU requirements. This might be an issue if people go to buy them from places like aliexpress or something like that though.

        That said, phones were available for years and years with replaceable batteries. Don’t think I ever really heard of any of them catching fire before the Note 7 issues, and those were related to the phone not giving the batteries enough room to expand/contract, wasn’t it?

        • upstream@beehaw.org
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          1 year ago

          Plenty of cases before the note 7, just that it feels like they stopped reporting on it since the note 7.

          The note 7 batteries had manufacturing defects so they short circuited internally. Having been given more room they would still have caught fire.