I do miss being able to swap out a phone battery and this will certainly be a step in the right direction in terms ewaste and device longevity.
One thing that I wonder about is waterproofing or water resistance. Some phones are basically waterproof in shallow water. How achievable is this with a device with a trivial way to remove the battery?
They can just seal the rest of the components exposing just a connection for the battery. There were water resistant phones before, the major reason they decided to make the battery unremovable was to make people buy new phones. Nobody wants to charge their phones multiple times a day.
This is my concern as well. Having a phone that is water and dust resistant is far more important to me than being able to replace the battery. I haven’t had the need to replace a phone battery in probably more than a decade.
I imagine water resistance comes in handy quite often for many people. It has certainly saved me countless times. Not that I need to go swimming or deep sea diving with my phone, but I have dropped phones in water, been stuck in the rain, spilled a glass of water, etc. I ruined many phones before it became common.
Water proofing is for more than just taking it underwater though. It’s also for getting caught in the rain, leaving it on a bathroom counter while you shower, or accidentally dropping it in a puddle.
That’s not waterproof though in the marketing world. That’s water resistant. Waterproof means you can dump your phone in your toilet after you took a piss standing up drunk at the bar and pick it up piss covered and it will still work.
You don’t ever really ‘need to use’ the waterproof feature on your phone. It’s more insurance for most people.
I have personally known dozens of people for who’m it’s saved their phone including:
Dropped it in the toilet.
Dropped in pool.
Dropped it in the bath.
Bag flooded when water bottle broke.
Flooded when coffee cup failed.
Rained out.
Pouring rain on a bike ride.
Pouring rain when needed GPS on motorcycles.
The above are things that happened both to people I know individually and also all of the above have happened to be at some point.
I don’t necessarily like the lack of being able to swap out the batteries for a cheap replacement but I do like that waterproofing to a high degree should be a default feature for things like phones. It could be argued to get waterproof cases or keep it in a bag and that’s all good and well (except the waterproof cases as they suck and break) but isn’t it nice for the default to be that the device itself is waterproof if that was an option?
You know, I really like my Essential Ph-1. It was a lovely little phone. I had the little 360 camera accessory that snapped on magentically and everything. It was so cool! Then, 1.5 seconds, dropped into water from which I grabbed it instantly, and it was done. No warranty coverage for dropping it in water, and zero waterproofing, and toasted phone. So, yes, more of us “use” waterproofing on our phones than you would think. The thing is that it didn’t need to be this way. There were waterproof phones back before everything was glued glass slabs all the time. Galaxy S5 Sport as mentioned by @HubbleST@lemm.ee above (and other “sport” edition phones). We have a lot of hygrophobic coatings and tech we didn’t have in the day of the Galaxy S5 series. We can do better now, if manufacturers are forced to.
I agree that is isn’t really necessary for mot people, but I do know quite a few people who use it because they know they know the phone will be safe. My partner uses her phone in the pool all the time. I’m often dripping wet after coming in from surfing, even after drying off with a towel. It is nice to be able to check my phone without worrying I’m going to mess it up.
I’m not saying it is a feature every phone needs, but it is something that some people use. I’m all for replaceable batteries and would like to see them more available. They will improve the longevity of devices as long as they aren’t damaged in other ways.
I do miss being able to swap out a phone battery and this will certainly be a step in the right direction in terms ewaste and device longevity.
One thing that I wonder about is waterproofing or water resistance. Some phones are basically waterproof in shallow water. How achievable is this with a device with a trivial way to remove the battery?
The Galaxy S5 sport had a battery door and water resistance. They just used gaskets.
They can just seal the rest of the components exposing just a connection for the battery. There were water resistant phones before, the major reason they decided to make the battery unremovable was to make people buy new phones. Nobody wants to charge their phones multiple times a day.
This is my concern as well. Having a phone that is water and dust resistant is far more important to me than being able to replace the battery. I haven’t had the need to replace a phone battery in probably more than a decade.
People make this argument and barely anyone really uses the waterprooding features of a phone
I imagine water resistance comes in handy quite often for many people. It has certainly saved me countless times. Not that I need to go swimming or deep sea diving with my phone, but I have dropped phones in water, been stuck in the rain, spilled a glass of water, etc. I ruined many phones before it became common.
Water proofing is for more than just taking it underwater though. It’s also for getting caught in the rain, leaving it on a bathroom counter while you shower, or accidentally dropping it in a puddle.
That’s not waterproof though in the marketing world. That’s water resistant. Waterproof means you can dump your phone in your toilet after you took a piss standing up drunk at the bar and pick it up piss covered and it will still work.
My cheap not-waterproof phone survives mild rain just fine, as does being in the bathroom while I shower, or being in my pocket under very heavy rain.
Waterproof means it can be submerged, but most technology meant for daily use have a fair bit of resilence baked in…
You don’t ever really ‘need to use’ the waterproof feature on your phone. It’s more insurance for most people.
I have personally known dozens of people for who’m it’s saved their phone including:
The above are things that happened both to people I know individually and also all of the above have happened to be at some point.
I don’t necessarily like the lack of being able to swap out the batteries for a cheap replacement but I do like that waterproofing to a high degree should be a default feature for things like phones. It could be argued to get waterproof cases or keep it in a bag and that’s all good and well (except the waterproof cases as they suck and break) but isn’t it nice for the default to be that the device itself is waterproof if that was an option?
You know, I really like my Essential Ph-1. It was a lovely little phone. I had the little 360 camera accessory that snapped on magentically and everything. It was so cool! Then, 1.5 seconds, dropped into water from which I grabbed it instantly, and it was done. No warranty coverage for dropping it in water, and zero waterproofing, and toasted phone. So, yes, more of us “use” waterproofing on our phones than you would think. The thing is that it didn’t need to be this way. There were waterproof phones back before everything was glued glass slabs all the time. Galaxy S5 Sport as mentioned by @HubbleST@lemm.ee above (and other “sport” edition phones). We have a lot of hygrophobic coatings and tech we didn’t have in the day of the Galaxy S5 series. We can do better now, if manufacturers are forced to.
I agree that is isn’t really necessary for mot people, but I do know quite a few people who use it because they know they know the phone will be safe. My partner uses her phone in the pool all the time. I’m often dripping wet after coming in from surfing, even after drying off with a towel. It is nice to be able to check my phone without worrying I’m going to mess it up.
I’m not saying it is a feature every phone needs, but it is something that some people use. I’m all for replaceable batteries and would like to see them more available. They will improve the longevity of devices as long as they aren’t damaged in other ways.
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