Previously on Lemmy:
Past Discussions:
As promised, we are talking repairability this week. I thought it’s not really possible to talk repairability without talking about it in relations to build quality.
It seems to me that over the years, the general trend is that phones have become more and more difficult to repair in general. To me, I don’t believe that this is some kind of nefarious plot designed to make people buy new phones every two years, here are some of the reasons why I think it is:
The first is the perceived build quality. It used to be that plastic is the most common type of material for the back of phones, and I would say plastic is the ideal default material for the back of phones: cheap, and versatile in hardness, color, and texture. However, the use of plastic in cheaper phones has resulted in a negative perception. Metal backs are durable but doesn’t allow for NFC signals through, and I can’t believe they settled on glass as the ideal material for the back instead, since it is actually extremely impractical to use.
The second is waterproofing. Waterproofing requirement means that glue is mandatory even with the presence of a gasket, which naturally discourages the
The third would the improvement in actual build quality. Modularity is very much still a trade-off, as if we can assume the phone cannot be easily opened, then more fragile components can be used in the phone that doesn’t have the requirement to be able to be repeatedly plugged and unplugged. One of the most important changes is the change from Micro-USB to USB-C, as the increased durability means that people won’t consider it to be a part that requires replacement as much.
I just think that what’s broken can eventually be fixed, but it’ll never feel the same afterwards.
Sorry if this is a bit messier and late this week, very interested in everybody’s thoughts on this topic. The Fairphones look interesting, but it’s not easy to get in the States.
I really like what Framework is doing with their laptops - what we need is an equivalent in the mobile space. It’s a shame that Project Ara never took off, their original idea was great and had a pretty good public reception, but they kinda sabotaged themselves and ultimately released a very nerfed version of their original idea. It’s been seven years since it was canned and I think it’s worth revisiting - technology has progressed a lot since then.
Also, more than repairability, I think the bigger question should be around sustainability, after all, repairability is only a small part of the sustainability equation. So in regards to that, we need to look at what we can do to make Android devices last longer. Updates is the most obvious thing - Apple is offering 6-7(?) years of updates, whereas in the Android world it’s more like 4-5, if you’re lucky. Even if updates cannot be offered for that long, there should be some sort of certification or recognition process for third-party custom ROMs such as GrapheneOS or LineageOS. The fact that custom ROMs fail to pass the Play Integrity checks is very unfair, especially for GrapheneOS, when they’re likely to be more secure and updated than stock ROMs. This is a major roadblock for people in switching to custom ROMs, and thus a roadblock in the sustainability pathway.
At least one positive thing to look forward to is EU’s mandate for smartphones to have replaceable batteries by 2027.
Yeah, that replaceable battery is a great step by the EU. Still a bit worried about waterproofing.
Also, on the subject of Ara, it’s a Google project. Best to keep your expectations low.
Replaceable battery and water proof is possible. Se this video of Louis Rossmann about this https://youtu.be/7k4AV7N5g3U
I’m 100% positive that companies could accomplish waterproofing and replaceable batteries of they wanted to. It’s been done in the past, it can be done again. But people replacing whole phones instead of just the battery is too profitable.
I think a large part of why Framework laptops worked and no mobile equivalent has come up is because most of phone ecosystem is not free. When I install Lineage OS on my phone I always expect a decrease in the quality of photos because lot of the camera stuff is proprietary and baked into the OEM ROM.
I get that the Framework equivalent of phones can manufacture their own devices and write FOSS firmware for it but it’s a big hurdle which not many can afford.
On the contrary in laptops/PCs you can install Linux and expect most of the hardware to work out of the box. So until phone ecosystem gets as free as PC ecosystem (I doubt it will considering how the corporations work) I doubt a Framework equivalent will be available for phones.
Fairphone do some modularity with their phone.