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Europe Wants a 'Right to Repair' Smartphones and Gadgets
The European Union is seeking to help consumers fix or upgrade devices, rather than replace them, as part of a 30-year push to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
LONDON — Hoping to replace that two-year-old smartphone in a few months? The European Union wants you to think twice about doing that.
The bloc announced an ambitious plan on Wednesday that would require manufacturers of electronic products, from smartphones to tumble driers, to offer more repairs, upgrades and ways to reuse existing goods, instead of encouraging consumers to buy new ones.
[ . . . ] "The linear growth model of 'take-make-use-discard' has reached its limits," Virginijus Sinkevicius, the union's environment commissioner, told reporters in Brussels as he presented the "Circular Economy Action Plan," which includes the "right to repair" initiative.
"We want to make sure that products placed on E.U. market are designed to last longer, to be easier to repair and upgrade, easier to recycle and easier to reuse," he added.
Hopefully this would put an end to the waste and cost associat... Look! Over there! A new Shiny!
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Snotnose on Saturday March 14 2020, @12:05AM (7 children)
I guess people also have issues with breaking their screens, so maybe make those easy to fix also. Me? I've never broken a screen. But I've replaced phones just because the battery gave out. It's bullshit, spending $300 instead of $30 for a battery.
My ducks are not in a row. I don't know where some of them are, and I'm pretty sure one of them is a turkey.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @05:08AM (4 children)
It supposedly has to do with waterproofing. I guess people just have to be able to drop their phones in toilets and pools.
I do want there to be more phones with easily removable batteries. It is possible to replace the batteries even if they aren't easily removable; I've done it. It's just a chore.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Saturday March 14 2020, @07:55AM (1 child)
The waterproofing thing is a bit of a half truth. It is true that waterproofing means the typical slide to open style battery door is not going to work. It does not mean sealing the thing so that even a decently skilled 3rd party tech can't do it without permanent damage and expensive special tools. Screws and gaskets will be just fine.
(Score: 2) by GDX on Saturday March 14 2020, @10:30AM
Well waterproofing. a phone maintaining the battery removable only add ad most 1mm and cost a couple of dollars.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @11:58AM
Yet, the only people have to be able to do that is because phones aren't otherwise repairable. Make them repairable, don't need to waterproof them.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Monday March 16 2020, @02:04AM
There was a waterproof sony walkman in the late 80s or very very first 90s. It had replaceable batteries (like any consumer item, and standard connectors). It didn't cost much more than the usual ones. Now we forgot how to go to the moon and how to waterproof battery compartments. Sad.
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(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 14 2020, @10:45AM
Exactly the sort of thing this is meant so solve. Providing means by which service shops can change battery in a phone or laptop without breaking the warranty. Imagine if you were only allowed to change oil at the dealer or you lose car warranty.
Remember when you had 10 devices and 10 fucking chargers and cables for it? Yeah, same type of EU directive that fixed that shit. And also allowed standards to develop, like Quick Charge and IQ charger. Things that would probably not exist if every company was making their own proprietary charger.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday March 16 2020, @03:50PM
Long ago, the Samsung Galaxy S 5:
* waterproof (look for YouTube videos of people swimming with their S5's, running them through the washer, etc)
* replaceable battery (the back of the phone could be removed easily, and revealed a huge water tight gasket)
* micro usb connector had water tight seal you had to pull off to charge (but attached to the phone so you didn't lose it)
* headphone jack (because they weren't "courageous" enough (as Apple says) to remove the headphone jack)
I think they suddenly realized that making such a great phone, so long ago now, was not a way to maximize profits above all else. So the Galaxy S6 wasn't waterproof, did not have replaceable battery, and the back was made of glass like Apple, to make the phone more breakable.
But the S5 shows that it CAN be done. And the phone wasn't particularly more expensive than its contemporaries.
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