I just saw this news story about a new Samsung cell phone with a removable battery about to hit the market. I certainly hope this is the start of things to come.
I do not like that one can no longer easily replace a phone or laptop battery. Until I got my current Chromebook laptops, I never even installed the battery in any laptop I have ever owned. I only run them when I can plug them directly into a power plug.
Now, I no longer have that choice, as all laptops sold now have the battery sealed inside.
Anyway - interesting to see this return, if only on 1 product:
Imagine if they could completely standardize batteries some how. Imagine being able to buy a phone for its features and not for its battery life, and in fact you could buy the battery as a secondary purchase from a different provider. Imagine if battery design was like case design, and you could express your personality by the colour and design of your attachable battery. Oh now wake up and imagine you weren’t just dreaming.
The other critical side to this issue’s coin, IMO, is a kill-switch on the hardware’s ability to ping and/or be pinged by the network. Even a phone powered off can be pinged, and I doubt that an embedded battery for that couldn’t be small enough to side-step the main battery. Librem phone by Purism has one, but I worry about its reliability, plus administering it requires one of their laptops so is a non-starter for me on my budget.
The XCover Pro is intended to be used by workers in industrial settings or out in the field
I doubt it will get much usage outside that market do to the big bezels and chunky look and feel. Consumers have been demanding thinner & lighter with vanishing bezels for many years now and the demand does not seem to be changing. This has driven manufacturer’s to use batteries that are custom shaped and not user replaceable. When the majority of the market starts demanding replaceable batteries and no longer cares about bezels, size and weight then the manufacturers will respond.
I don’t know if it is “the market” that wants these things. It just gets stuck on us… Maybe the tech writers want it…
I think a lot of people miss the headphone jack - another thing supposedly changed due to “the market.” But, it seems like it was just a company decision.
Same with replaceable batteries. Most people I know would prefer a replaceable battery in a phone.
From my research, I work in consumer product design, it is the market. Also from asking family and friends they all want thinner and lighter with best battery run time by leaps and bounds over a replaceable battery.
Speaking to family and friends, losing the headphone jack is no big deal to them.
The problem with the built in battery is that after a couple of years - your battery starts to die, and you have an otherwise great phone. You then live with a dying battery or ya gotta go buy a new phone.
I have a Samsung S8. I love that phone, and have no need to buy another… But, I will have to, sooner than I will want… Why? Because of the non replaceable battery
The battery is definitely replaceable… Just not easily lol. I’ve done it several times on S8 and S9 Phones that I have bought really cheap because the battery was either bad or bloated and cracking the phone open and replacing them. That is actually how I get most of my phone upgrades. The current S9 I have now I bought for $20 with a bad battery. Purchased a used OEM battery for $10 and replaced the battery I now have a perfectly functional S9. Granted not everyone can do this but I’ve replaced them for other people as well for like $30 including the battery cost and they were much happier with that then having to go buy a new phone.
Your right if you haven’t done it before it is difficult, after doing it a few times its really just more annoying and tedious removing the glass covers from the adhesive slowly so you don’t break the glass. I’ve never had an issue with killing a phone’s hardware. I have cracked the back glass before but I have a drawer with replacement back glasses in different colors just in case that ever happens. Mine came from dead phones that I got for free and disassembled for parts. But you can buy replacement aftermarket back glass online pretty cheap and they work fine. Most of it is just taking your time and utilizing a heat gun or heat pad, removing the glass a little then put it back on the heat to keep it heated constantly. Oh and most important not over heating it. That’s why heat pads with variable temps are better.
