Non user Replaceable Battery: alarming trend

[rui-no-onna]

It is much more affordable to exchange a phone that comes with a 100 $ contract with many other facilities like free talk time, free internet etc. It hardly puts a dent in the wallet.

Frankly, the contracts put a much bigger dent on the wallet as opposed to buying phones outright. Unfortunately, a lot of folks are of the instant gratification mindset so they'd much rather spend an extra $500~1000 over the course of 2 years rather than pay outright for their phones.

Another problem is most US carriers won't lower your rates or allow you to forgo data plans if you buy your phones for full price. I'd be more than happy to pay full price for my phones for a corresponding discount on service. However, why would I want to pay $600 for a Samsung Galaxy SII and pay $80 per month for service while others get it for $50~100 and still only pay the same $80 per month that I do?

 

[kach310]

Frankly, the contracts put a much bigger dent on the wallet as opposed to buying phones outright. Unfortunately, a lot of folks are of the instant gratification mindset so they'd much rather spend an extra $500~1000 over the course of 2 years rather than pay outright for their phones.

Another problem is most US carriers won't lower your rates or allow you to forgo data plans if you buy your phones for full price. I'd be more than happy to pay full price for my phones for a corresponding discount on service. However, why would I want to pay $600 for a Samsung Galaxy SII and pay $80 per month for service while others get it for $50~100 and still only pay the same $80 per month that I do?

Thanks for showing things that i didn't see. Yes, here we buy phones unlocked with a high price but we try to make the best use of the money by sticking with it as long as possible. That is the main reason I so much against non replaceable battery device. No matter what a lot of people say, I think it just another ploy of the companies to make buyers their own 'sheeps'.

 

[mikedt]

In parts of the world where phones are sold unsubsidized, I can definitely see people wanting to extend the life of their devices, and thus choosing to opt for a replaceable battery ... and I think that if enough people continue to do that, companies will still make at least some phones with removable batteries.

Here in China, some people like to keep phones going for as long as possible. Still see Nokia 3310s occasionally, these are 12 years old now and the batteries are still readily available.

2. If you have a smartphone, you need a data plan to make it useful, and most carriers require it.

I use a smart phone without a data contract, but then I don't have to be on Facebook all the time and I'm not streaming music. The phone is on wifi when it's at home, used to install apps and sync with Google.

 

[golemus]

I am very worried about the same thing. Battery is the first part that will die in your phone and in certain circumstances it can happen very quickly.

2 years ago I travelled to Indonesia for 2.5 months. I left my laptop to my country and I think that the battery was almost finished even before I left (I forgot to charge it). When I came back to my country and used the laptop for the first time in 3-4 months the battery was broken likely because it got fully discharged during this period.

The same think could happen with your phone. First you use your phone alot (HTC One X, Galaxy Nexus, Nokia Lumia) so that it is almost empty, then you put it to a drawer or storage and go for a long trip. When you come back your battery will be broken, permanently!

And the same thing with SD cards too, not anymore SD card slots in many of these models so you are stuck with whatever amount of memory you get in the beginning (and have to pay overprice for the high capacity models).

So vote by buying. Galaxy S II has still a replaceable battery and SD card reader and it is a pretty good phone (although android sucks, even ICS).

 

[ryancalif]

Is it a matter of worry that most phone makers now a days coming up with devices with no options for users to replace batteries. As if they are trying to keep the key of the Phone so that you need to contact them to open it up. Don't anybody find this alarming. Why no body is coming up with a class action lawsuit against this practice which prevents user to have full control over their phones for which they paid pretty good amount of money. Not only that, Users are also unable to change battery in case someone needs a higher capacity one and battery pull out resetting is also not possible.
I am really sad to say that Apple has initiated this trend and because of their insane success now other phone makers are following apple.

What is your opinion regarding this?
Do you support this trend or not? Can anyone come up with a poll on this?

Completely agree. Like you said, it's unfortunate that Apple started the trend for cell-phones based on the fact that ignorant customers who don't understand the implications of a sealed battery, just bend over and accept it. You'd be surprised how many people don't realize that rechargeable batteries have a limited lifespan. For me, it's an even bigger problem since I live in a climate where summer temps are very high, which tends to kill batteries even faster.

On a larger scale, companies pull this kind of s*** all the time... pushing the limits of what people are willing to tolerate, in an anti-consumer sort of way, with the goal of maximize their profits. Look what happened to the Kindle Fire HD with the non-opt-outable ads on the lockscreen for example. Amazon sold out.

Luckily, there are still a fairly large percentage of phone owners (myself included) who are adamantly opposed to sealed batteries, and will refuse to buy any phone with them.

 

[ryancalif]

But how many cycles has it gone through? That's what matters.


It doesn't. Removable or not has nothing to do with it. Power ratings do and they are what they are.

The cycle count doesn't matter for the vast majority of people, it's the age of the battery that is most important.

These batteries (li ion) typically have a very short shelf-life of only a couple years. Exacerbating the short shelf life problem is heat, which, for some people living in a hot climate (like myself), makes that lifespan even shorter.

 

[Gmash]

After eight months, I can already tell my battery isn't holding a charge as long. I will never accept the non removable battery.

 

[Rxpert83]

My battery is "non removable"... but I know its just a few screws to replace it.

There are OEM batteries for sale online too.

I'm not worried about it

 

[Satires]

I couldn't stand such a phone with a non removable battery... I have a bionic and I walk around with spare batteries and have a stand alone charger, this way, I'm never tethered to a charger!

Every smartphone I have ever owned I have had a spare battery and a stand alone charger. The phones I've had? Samsung blackjack, htc ozone, droid 1, droid 2, droid x and the droid bionic. All of which I had a spare battery (Or batteries) and a stand alone desktop charger.

This is one of the reasons I shyed away from the Galaxy Nexus, besides not having the ability to add an sd card further did tje Galaxy Nexus in for me. I have a 64 gig card and have it almost filled! I'm already waiting for an 128 gig! Lol

I agree, I hate phones that are sealed with out the ability to change out the battery...

 

[Rxpert83]

I have no issues getting a full day out of my device. I'm at a little less than 50% and the phones been off the charger being used normally for 14 hours

 

[zuben el genub]

Making the battery inclusive to the phone probably has positives. You can design a better camera, better microphone and hardware if you don't have to deal with a battery compartment. That said, I prefer changeable batteries.

 

[Joelgp83]

On a larger scale, companies pull this kind of s*** all the time... pushing the limits of what people are willing to tolerate, in an anti-consumer sort of way, with the goal of maximize their profits. Look what happened to the Kindle Fire HD with the non-opt-outable ads on the lockscreen for example. Amazon sold out.

It's worse than that. Those Kindle ads do have an opt-out, its just you need to pay Amazon an extra $15 to make the ads go away, from what I've heard.

About the battery issue, perhaps it is time to look into doing solar panel mods on phone cases? Of course, the cynic in me thinks the solar panel would only work when you're running a Calculator app....

 

[Hadron]

It's worse than that. Those Kindle ads do have an opt-out, its just you need to pay Amazon an extra $15 to make the ads go away, from what I've heard.

Is that worse than not being able to get rid of them at all?

Funny thing is, I reckon that if they'd presented it as a discount for the ad-supported version, and said so from the start, people would probably have just thought "same as the previous gen e-Ink Kindles" and it wouldn't have become such a story. Not saying I approve, just that I'm surprised that they handled it so badly.

About the battery issue, perhaps it is time to look into doing solar panel mods on phone cases? Of course, the cynic in me thinks the solar panel would only work when you're running a Calculator app....

My phone lives in a pocket when not in use, so wouldn't work for me.

Plus I live in Britain, so it wouldn't be much use anyway

 

[Joelgp83]

Is that worse than not being able to get rid of them at all?

Funny thing is, I reckon that if they'd presented it as a discount for the ad-supported version, and said so from the start, people would probably have just thought "same as the previous gen e-Ink Kindles" and it wouldn't have become such a story. Not saying I approve, just that I'm surprised that they handled it so badly.

I agree that it was handled badly; the way it was portrayed makes it look like an extortion racket -- sure, our other kindle fires don't have ads, but we'll get rid of the ads on this one if you pay us even more money! :deal:

Meh, I bet they'll get around the ad thing with a hosts file hack.

My phone lives in a pocket when not in use, so wouldn't work for me.

Plus I live in Britain, so it wouldn't be much use anyway

Well, the point of the solar panel wouldn't be to charge it when not in use, it would be to provide on-demand power in an emergency situation, i.e., need to make an important call and battery's nearly dead, so the panel kicks in when you take it out to make the call.

Or hey, set it down on your desk (assuming you have a desk job) and let it (trickle?) charge off the ambient light of the office, no wires needed.

If they move to a standard of non-removable batteries, I bet aftermarket battery makers may move to a design that includes a USB port to plug the phone into it. Not the most elegant design, but who knows what they'll do to stay in business?:dontknow:

 

[Gmash]

Its a plot to sell more phones. Battery wears out, no more buying a cheap replacement from Amazon, its time for a new phone! Sure, some tech savvy people might take their phones apart and switch them out, but I'd bet that's a very low percentage. Also a good way for them to put a big dent in used phone sales via craigslist, etc. Vote with your wallets and don't buy into forced obsolescence for such an expensive item!