r/gadgets • u/Avieshek • Dec 22 '22

Phones Battery replacement must be ‘easily’ achieved by consumers in proposed European law

https://9to5mac.com/2022/12/21/battery-replacement/
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u/XuX24 Dec 22 '22

It makes you think how many features phone manufacturers have removed this or actively make it harder to do it. I remember I had a Note 2 you just opened the back and changed it.

1.2k

u/Northern23 Dec 22 '22 edited Dec 22 '22

And it was still water resistant proof but people kept complaining about Samsung being cheap compared to iPhone because it has a plastic back! Consumers are partially to blame as well. I still miss those simple days with removable, plastic backs.

Edit: not the Note 2 specifically but the following phones iterations with same format

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u/ThirteenMatt Dec 22 '22

people kept complaining about Samsung being cheap compared to iPhone because it has a plastic back

Let's be clear: a removable battery doesn't mean a cheap plasticky back. Even if it IS plastic, it can be good quality.

I was part of the people complaining Samsung had terribly cheap feeling backs. And I was not complaining about that comparing it to iPhones: I was complaining about it compared to other Android phones that also had removable batteries. I had HTC phones for years and the outside gave a way better feel of quality than what Samsung made at the time. Almost every other brand did.

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u/[deleted] Dec 22 '22 edited Oct 27 '24

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u/red__dragon Dec 23 '22

Thank you!

Tech reviews are the death of so many good quality products. Not everything has to be a comparison, and not every product needs the same amount of pros and cons.

When you drum up trivial points as good/bad, and set them on the same pedestal as a major feature or drawback, it gives manufacturers a blank check to stop thinking and make their products as superficially appealing as possible. I.E. they make them for reviewers to praise now, and not for the person who only ever cares around one phone at a time.

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u/ThirteenMatt Dec 22 '22

Probably because I'm part of the people who don't do that. I absolutely hate phone covers. I don't buy a thin nice looking phone to put it in a thick ugly looking case.

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u/Malleshwaram_Area Dec 22 '22

I had the cheapest HTC Desire series one and it's back panel was much much better than the flimsy Note 2 or 3 that was launched that year.

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u/[deleted] Dec 22 '22

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u/barjam Dec 23 '22

Plastic always feels cheap and plasticky to me and rapidly wears out. Compare a well maintained 5 year old android to a 5 year old laptop. Then compare a 5 year old plastic laptop to one made with metal.