It had been in the works for a while, but now it has formally been adopted. From the article:
The regulation provides that by 2027 portable batteries incorporated into appliances should be removable and replaceable by the end-user, leaving sufficient time for operators to adapt the design of their products to this requirement.
GDPR
forcing usb-c
forcing removable batteries
The EU sure is handling tech laws and tech giants a fuck of a lot better than the US is. Damn.
Jealous.
I’m really liking what the eu is doing here.
while we are at it please get rid of that “premium” glass back
Great! This “water-resistance” bullshit is the biggest bigtech scam ever, it’s insane how they almost killed repairability in the name of “water-resistance”, that scam should have never been allowed.
Thank God!
I hope the UK follows this one.
I respect that there’s a government out there that actually does things good for the individuals. US government would probably allow laws to make it illegal to replace your own batteries even if you knew how to. Or to outlaw making batteries that are compatible with a company’s devices.
Why isnt this common sense? Why is modifing the things i own illegal now?
It’s not illegal, but you better not fuck up, because we ain’t covering that
- The manufacturersBehold the Holy Sticker. Thou shall not remove It for thou art a mere mortal. It keeps secrets way above thy primitive perception, for it’s a domain of certified wizards, proprietary witchcraft and manuals on applied necromancy.
Because you don’t really own the product. You get a license to use it with some major caveats - Including no modification/reverse engineering etc.
The real issue nowadays is the software, although this is still a good step.
But being stuck with no software updates after 2-4 years still renders them unusable (when also locked down).
They should be forced to provide open bootloaders, firmware and kernel drivers once the devices reach end of life. Maybe even include hardware details and schematics, etc. for full repairability.
The efforts of devices like the Framework laptop and Steam Deck should be commonplace. It’s insane we put some corporation’s patents and trade secrets above the environment.
While they have other not-friendly practices, Apple does well on the software side. The iPhone 8, going on 6 years old this September, is still running the latest version of iOS.
I’ve been away from Android for a while now. Is it still the case that there is a lot of fragmentation and updates end prematurely? Or is there another OS / software you’re thinking about?
Both Samsung and Apple offer 5+ years of software support nowadays. It seems unreasonable to expect much more IMO. Devices don’t stop working after no longer receiving updates, and there is also the option of jailbreaking/installing custom ROMs for those who really care.
Once again the EU showing the world that they are pro-consumer.
this is more sustainability oriented though
Honestly, the EU’s where it’s at.
- Universal standards like USB-C instead of proprietary ports that cause waste
- Removable batteries
- GDPR
- Universal healthcare
- Right to repair
Invest in your people, and you’ll go far.
Just a small note, universal healthcare isn’t an EU thing and not really adopted properly across the EU’s constituent countries
I love clicking to accept cookies so I can see the bottom portion of a website
lol I saw someone else last year complaining about GDPR because they thought clicking cookie banners was annoying. But it’s like… don’t be mad at GDPR for making you click banners that warn you about invasive practices, be mad at the fact that the invasive practices are allowed in the first place.
I actually run a directory of companies and products that don’t use invasive tracking cookies called CookieSlayers in an effort to make people aware of better alternatives, and ultimately build a better web. Feel free to contribute to it.
Cookies are not invasive, you need them to log in to websites
First-party cookies, yes, third-party cookies, no. There are good cookies and there are bad cookies. CookieSlayers is a directory focused on good cookies.
I have all third party cookies blocked at the browser level, GDPR or no GDPR
That’s good, although it shouldn’t have to fall to you (the consumer) to do that.
It shouldn’t fall on me to click cookie banners either
Is it possible, by having a removable battery, our phone won’t be as water resistant as it is now? I love that my phone is water resistant. I have a couple of water related accidents of my phone for at least two times. One happened on a not water resistant device. If I can choose between removable battery and water resistance, I’d choose water resistance all the time. I am changing my phone every 2 years anyway.
There are, and always has been, waterproof devices with replaceable batteries. Phone manufacturers love that they can lie and say that a removable battery affects waterproofing. By making the battery hard to remove, and some other tricks, they make the phone less repairable. They then can convince consumers that they need to replace their phone every 18-24 months.
The only reason to replace your phone every two years is that you want the new shiny. All other reasons are artificial, marketing garbage created by manufactures who profit off of creating e-waste.
Question.
Will this force smartphone makers to use removable batteries outside of the EU as well? Or is it just devices within the EU?
EU is such a large market that it would likely force manufacturers to adopt the standards, since making two variations would be prohibitive cost wise.
Didn’t Apple throw around the possibility of usb-c iPhones for Europe and Lightning ones for everywhere else? It seems like they gain enough from the proprietary cables to make it worth.
Next iPhone is pretty solidly confirmed to be USB-C, barring something drastic, which would spell the end for lightning, unless I’m forgetting something.
From what I saw they confirmed there will be iPhones with usb-c, but not explicitly that all of them would. Though they also didn’t mention that anymore after the initial law announcement, so it might’ve just been an hypothesis that got scrapped along the way. We’ll see I guess, I’m in Europe so it doesn’t really matter either way to me.
