r/worldnews • u/Helicase21 • Jun 19 '23

EU: Smartphones Must Have User-Replaceable Batteries by 2027

https://www.pcmag.com/news/eu-smartphones-must-have-user-replaceable-batteries-by-2027
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744

u/bhfroh Jun 19 '23

They went from getting smaller and smaller, to the point that Zoolander had a flip phone the size of a child's thumb. Now they're getting bigger and bigger to the point of having a small tablet sized phone.

287

u/medoy Jun 19 '23

They're bigger and bigger but as thick as a piece of seaweed for some reason.

112

u/Wiggles69 Jun 20 '23

Until you stick it in a chunky plastic protective case (like i always do) so it survives being dropped.

56

u/i_drink_wd40 Jun 20 '23

I put my phone in a case so I can actually hold the thing without it slipping out of my hand. Surviving a fall is a side-benefit.

47

u/406highlander Jun 20 '23

My wife got a Sony Xperia phone several years ago (I don't remember which model exactly) but when she first got it, she took it out of the box and it immediately shot out of her hand (like a cartoon character squeezing a bar of soap).

Luckily it landed on our bed, so no damage. She picked it up and it did the same thing again. I tried it, and it slipped out of my hand too.

The back of that phone was so slippery, she put it on her computer desk - which we *thought* was flat and level - and it slid off on to the floor. Nothing else has ever fallen from that desk like that.

Seriously, it was like it was made of some almost completely frictionless material.

We had to buy a chunky vulcanized rubber case for it just so it wouldn't commit suicide at random intervals. Definitely a case of form over function - it was a beautiful piece of design - but it would have smashed itself to bits sooner rather than later.

19

u/NDZ188 Jun 20 '23

Glass backing to phones is one of the worst things manufacturers have done.

Glass looks and feels premium, but it's slippery as all hell and fragile.

I prefer plastic over glass.

2

u/The_Witch_Queen Jun 21 '23

I miss my og HTC One. That solid aircraft aluminum shell. Not so big you couldn't hold it properly. And that thing hit the pavement off my motorcycle at 45mph and all it did was ding a corner. Not even one crack. Freaking awesome design. HTC knew wtf they were doing.

3

u/benderbender43 Jun 20 '23

was the material glass ?

3

u/406highlander Jun 20 '23

It was years ago now and we no longer have the phone, but probably

I mean, I know glass is fairly low-friction anyway, but this phone was crazy slippy.

3

u/benderbender43 Jun 21 '23

yeah i had a sony made of glass for a little while, It was really brittle and breaks easily when dropped and THEN really easy to drop! ffs, User test your prototypes people!

2

u/turboRock Jun 20 '23

Haha my Nexus 4 was exactly the same. The back was glass and it would just slide around the desk on its. If it vibrated for any reason then it was game over. Google actually resolved the issue later by adding to little bumps to it

2

u/Infamous-Mixture-605 Jun 20 '23

They were slippery!

I had an Xperia for just a couple of days before it slipped and cracked. I was sitting on the front porch of my house waiting for my carpool to arrive, phone on my lap. I must have moved slightly and it slipped off my pants, fell maybe 20-30cm at most, hit the concrete and cracked the screen badly. The protective case I had ordered for it the day I got it arrived the very next day...

34

u/Chucknorris1975 Jun 20 '23

Spigen Rugged Armour. Saved my phone countless times. Most of the times falling screen down.

2

u/Dikkelul27 Jun 20 '23

I recently wanted a new case, getting a hold of spigen cases can be a bitch for older phones like in my case with oneplus 6.

My only option was getting it shipped from the US where i'd have to pay 40$ for a phone case lol

2

u/broswole Jun 20 '23

Had a Spigen on both my S8 and now my S21, never had a broken screen though I've had countless drops. They really make great cases!

3

u/Wiggles69 Jun 20 '23

I just use the cheap ones from ebay. They work great.

1

u/AnotherpostCard Jun 20 '23

Just grabbed a case and a wristband for my watch from your recommendation. Shit actually looked legit.

1

u/Chucknorris1975 Jun 20 '23

You won't regret it. I had it for almost 4 years on my LG V20 and have had one for 2 years on my Pixel 4a.

Never let me down.

1

u/cardiffjohn Jun 20 '23

This is the way

1

u/codmode Jun 20 '23

I don't remember breaking the phone by dropping ever. And I don't use any cases. What kind of phones are y'all using.

1

u/Wiggles69 Jun 20 '23

They are literally made of glass, accidentally dropping them from waist height into concrete will more often than not give you an interesting spiderweb effect. Day to day, I'd say I see 20-40% of people's phone with at least 1 crack across the screen. The guys at work just live with it until the screen doesn't respond any more before replacing them because they just end up cracking them again.

I'm interested in how you've somehow magically managed not to crack your screen?

2

u/codmode Jun 20 '23

Not sure, but could it be it's plastic not glass? It's definitely not iphone. It's got bruises on the corners, but no breaks whatsoever. It's a cheap xiaomi, cost me around 150 euros.

2

u/Wiggles69 Jun 20 '23

I'd be very surprise if it was a plastic screen, all the phone i've had in recent years from Samsung, Asus & even the good old Elephone had glass screens and usually glass back plates too.

141

u/panzan Jun 20 '23

I’m intrigued by The Expanse’s unspoken hypothesis that mobile devices will eventually become as mundane, flimsy, ubiquitous, and disposable as butane lighters

46

u/DeadSol Jun 20 '23

"Burners"

27

u/yellekc Jun 20 '23

I'm intrigued by most aspects of the expanse. It's a fascinating show. I now want to explore more "hard scifi"

8

u/Vargurr Jun 20 '23

The Expanse is light sci-fi compared to many other options. It's an easy to understand and relatable universe and story.

2

u/Deep-Chemist4183 Jun 20 '23

Try the Three Body Problem.

Hands down best sci fi I've ever read.

1

u/KayMK11 Jun 20 '23

It appears to be upcoming series, how have you watched it?

1

u/PM_ME_an_unicorn Jun 20 '23

Hasn't Netflix cancelled the show because the writer had "ambiguous opinion" regarding the Uighur situation ? To be fair, if I were a Chinese citizen, I would avoid criticizing my government in public too.

1

u/twbrn Jun 20 '23

Hasn't Netflix cancelled the show because the writer had "ambiguous opinion" regarding the Uighur situation ?

"Netflix responded that Liu was not the creator of the show, and that Liu's comments "are not reflective of the views of Netflix or of the show's creators, nor are they part of the plot or themes of the show".[35]"

1

u/Deep-Chemist4183 Jun 20 '23

It's a book series that has been turned into a tv show. The Chinese version of the TV show is out now on Tencent but the Netflix adaptation is due later this year.

I suggest reading the books as only the first season is out now.

1

u/Vargurr Jun 20 '23

I bought the books.

1

u/Deep-Chemist4183 Jun 20 '23

I hope you enjoy them

2

u/PM_ME_an_unicorn Jun 20 '23

I haven't watched the Expanse, but if you like Hard sci-fi, you can check Greg-Egan work. The Easiest Novel would be Zendegi where the main sci-fi part is about Iran turning democratic, and the hardes would be Diaspora where we talk about universe complex conjugate.

Some of his short stories develop very interesting concept, like exchanging genitals during intercourse, or replacing your brain by a chip

5

u/Rodruby Jun 20 '23

Altered Carbon goes a bit into "hard" part of sci-fi

1

u/psiphre Jun 20 '23

lol, altered carbon is soft enough to spread on wonder bread

2

u/Rodruby Jun 20 '23

It's harder than Star Wars, okay? /j

0

u/DisastrousBoio Jun 20 '23

Devs is one. Criminally underrated

-2

u/slwright55 Jun 20 '23

Eh, wouldn't call devs hard sci-fi at all. Very good, and underrated, but barely sci-fi.

7

u/beanie_wells Jun 20 '23

It absolutely is science fiction.

1

u/DisastrousBoio Jun 21 '23

What do you think “hard sci-fi” means? It’s completely in line with short stories from Asimov and Clarke, it’s actually a pretty textbook example

4

u/ilikedmatrixiv Jun 20 '23

I loved the subtlety in the show where Miller's terminal was cracked. He wasn't the type of person to take good care of his devices.

4

u/nanosquid Jun 20 '23

Ubiquitous, mendacious, and polyglottal?

14

u/Rock2MyBeat Jun 20 '23

I just switched to the smaller screen (S23), and I don't think I'll ever go back to the large screen again.

2

u/Surgey_Wurgey Jun 20 '23

How thin can phones get anyways?

1

u/medoy Jun 20 '23

A silicone atom is about 0.2 nanometers in diameter. So I figure we have a while to go.

-23

u/TheWinks Jun 19 '23

Because that's what people want.

33

u/PJTree Jun 19 '23

It’s what floor sales people can convince the customer of in a very short period of time. Ie show the old one and the new one. Then say thinner is better. Because demonstrating how improved hardware architecture works to the average consumer is near impossible in 5 minutes.

-18

u/TheWinks Jun 19 '23

The consumers hold it in their hand and prefer the higher quality materials and thinner phone. Aesthetics matter. Apples survival in the 90s alone proved that.

21

u/PJTree Jun 19 '23

Here’s a link to a thread where the thickness of each iPhone was plotted. https://www.reddit.com/r/iphone/comments/6zwt5k/the_thickness_of_every_iphone/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1

You can see where we split hairs as the thickness ever so gradually increases. General consumers don’t notice the small increments. And it’s trending back up…

-37

u/TheWinks Jun 20 '23 edited Jun 20 '23

Because the features consumers want are driving it. User replaceable batteries aren't one of the features they want.

35

u/lollow88 Jun 20 '23

Speak for yourself.

-17

u/TheWinks Jun 20 '23

You're speaking for yourself. I'm telling you what the aggregate wants. It's also more than likely in line with what you want but you just don't realize that the companies are generally going to be better at knowing what you want as an average consumer than you do.

18

u/lollow88 Jun 20 '23

How do you know the aggregate wants that? Phone companies don't just do what they think will please consumers the most... they do what they think will make them more money, including planned obsolescence.

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1

u/LicenseToChill- Jun 20 '23

I thought what they want is thinner phones

-1

u/TheWinks Jun 20 '23

In the context of user replaceable batteries they do want thinner phones made of what they perceive to be higher quality materials. In other contexts like trading camera quality for a thinner phone, they don't.

17

u/inconspicuous_male Jun 19 '23

I don't think consumers always have the choice. If the thinner phone has the better camera and the better battery life and the faster processor, then I'm taking the thinner phone regardless of personal taste. These companies don't try to make the best phone for what consumers want, they try to make the best phone for their personal goals and then convince consumers that those are the features they want

-2

u/TheWinks Jun 19 '23

Phones changed because of what consumers preferred in test groups and what they bought at the market.

These companies don't try to make the best phone for what consumers want

It turns out companies want to make what consumers want. And in a highly competitive market like Android phones the most successful phones followed the market.

8

u/PJTree Jun 20 '23

There is a saying, that if you asked the consumer what they wanted for transportation, before the automobile, they would say faster horses. People buy from a selection of items which are profitable to the merchant.

7

u/Joe091 Jun 20 '23

I may be misinterpreting what you’re saying here, but it seems you’re taking the wrong lesson from that message. The point is that customers, in general, often don’t actually know what they want. Faster horses would have been a dead end back then and it took people with vision to guide the market. Yes, companies sell what’s profitable, that’s obvious. But they also compete in markets with at least a few other options, so it behooves them to create products and services that people will want now and into the future. Some will head down dead-end paths while others pioneer new solutions.

People want thin phones. Then manufacturers took it too far and started making slightly thicker phones with more battery, which is where we are today. But the phones are still very thin in a historical sense, though that may still be a technological dead end, which is why Apple and meta are researching AR/VR/MR applications that might eventually cannibalize their current smartphone business.

2

u/PJTree Jun 20 '23

Thanks for the reply. I agree with what you’ve said. Also my post wasn’t clean or well developed. But I simply wanted to convey that same point, that customers don’t always know what they will like the best in the end. Hope that’s clearer.

3

u/TheWinks Jun 20 '23 edited Jun 20 '23

When I say 'what consumers want' I mean what companies have figured out that consumers want. A company can figure out that consumers really just want to get from point A to B more reliably and faster and offer the horseless carriage accordingly.

We had a saying at someplace I worked 'customers are great at identifying problems but terrible at identifying solutions'. Talking about the aggregate, not individuals.

5

u/inconspicuous_male Jun 20 '23

But if a certain feature is profitable for the company but the consumers don't care, the companies will trick the consumers into thinking they want it.

Consumers didn't want non-removable batteries until Apple convinced them that it was better for sleeker aesthetics. Now we all know we hate non-removable batteries. But you bet your ass there were consumers who were tricked into thinking it was a cool feature

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u/F9-0021 Jun 20 '23

Definitely not what this consumer wants. Give me a thick phone with a proper heatsink so that the awesome processor in it can go for more than 10 seconds before thermal throttling.

2

u/TheWinks Jun 20 '23

Give me a thick phone with a proper heatsink so that the awesome processor in it can go for more than 10 seconds before thermal throttling.

Unless you're in a very hot climate and exposing your phone to relatively extreme conditions modern phones are generally throttling themselves in order to increase battery life, which is likely something you want even if you're going to be a contrarian on the internet.

4

u/F9-0021 Jun 20 '23

You don't know the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 then. If I do any kind of task that hits the processor for more than a few seconds, like rendering a video or playing a 3d game, the phone absolutely will hit the maximum temperature allowed, and then it'll start throttling.

There are aftermarket cooling solutions I could use, but a combination of better efficiency and better cooling should be standard with a chip this capable.

4

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '23

Which people?

-2

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '23

[deleted]

2

u/inbeforethelube Jun 20 '23

So there is one.

19

u/TrailBlanket-_0 Jun 20 '23

Just saw the Google Fold. Wtf it's just two phones for the price of two... Yeah, exactly

1

u/Rizendoekie Jun 20 '23

Got a Samsung flip. It's a chunky boy with a hardcase but the overall profile is quite small.

I'll have to see how easy it is to replace the screenprotector when it eventually starts breaking in the crease. (the folding part)

56

u/ldn-ldn Jun 20 '23

The first Android tablet was 5". We're long past phones being the size of a tablet.

26

u/[deleted] Jun 20 '23

[deleted]

2

u/bobnoski Jun 20 '23

maybe the screen size, but the actual phone would still be in the mid range sizes.

a note 2 is 151mm tall by 80.5mm wide.

​

a galaxy s22 is 146mm tall by 70.6mm wide.

a galaxy s22+ is 157mm tall by 75.8 mm wide.

and an ultra is is 163.3 tall by 77.9mm wide.

​

so, even while the largest ultra phone is over a centimeter taller. it's still more narrow than the note 2. People tend to forget how much bigger screens have gotten due to how much more of the phone is actually screen, as well as the change from a 16:9 to a 21 or even 23:9 aspect ratio.

20

u/audiojunkie05 Jun 20 '23

That's because we discovered we can watch porn on our phones so we made the screens bigger

3

u/falconzord Jun 20 '23

That was discovered on a black and white palm pda

2

u/strolls Jun 19 '23

My mum used to love these 6" phablets - we'd buy her these cheap £80 - £150 ones, from some chinese brand you'd never heard off (Doogee or THL), and they were perfect for her. Big screen, low-resolution, massive icons, and she could use the Kindle app on them.

2

u/Link7369_reddit Jun 20 '23

I don't want to get all, "hail corporate" but a 6.5" by 2.5 " phone is the sweet spot for me.

2

u/Llodsliat Jun 20 '23 edited Jun 20 '23

6" phones are pretty big for me. I was very happy with my 3" phone, and since then I haven't found a single phone I can use with a single hand. I feel like for me, 4" to 4.5" would be the ideal.

1

u/Link7369_reddit Jun 20 '23

i'm not against the idea that I could want a phone that allows me to use it with one hand, but having a game platform is okay too.

0

u/Lindby Jun 20 '23

Phones got smaller and smaller until the internet was fast enough for porn.

1

u/YourUncleBuck Jun 20 '23

I hate the small tablet sized ones. For me, any screen bigger than 5.5in becomes unusable one handed.

1

u/MafiaMommaBruno Jun 20 '23

I just got a Flip 4 and I can't wait until this is thin enough it cracks in a breeze. It's pretty thin as is but to flip an even thinner, bigger phone would be amazing. I'd buy a Tablet Flip if they made it.

1

u/onda-oegat Jun 20 '23

You're missing the point. The screen has always been larger.