The Era Of Fixing Your Own Phone Has Nearly Arrived

[sl8]

https://www.theverge.com/23017361/ifixit-right-to-repair-parts-google-samsung-valve-microsoft

The Era Of Fixing Your Own Phone Has Nearly Arrived

Fresh off big wins with Google, Samsung and Valve, iFixit says more parts deals are nigh

By Sean Hollister | @StarFire2258 | Apr 9, 2022, 12:00pm EDT

WhenWhen I called up iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens, I figured he’d be celebrating — after years of fighting for right-to-repair, big name companies like Google and Samsung have suddenly agreed to provide spare parts for their phones. Not only that, they signed deals with him to sell those parts through iFixit, alongside the company’s repair guides and tools. So did Valve.

But Wiens says he’s not done making deals yet. “There are more coming,” he says, one as soon as a couple of months from now. (No, it’s not Apple.) Motorola was actually the first to sign on nearly four years ago. And if Apple meaningfully joins them in offering spare parts to consumers — like it promised to do by early 2022 — the era of fixing your own phone may be underway. Last October, the United States effectively made it legal to open up many devices for the purpose of repair with an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Now, the necessary parts are arriving.

What changed? Weren’t these companies fighting tooth and nail to keep right-for-repair off the table, sometimes sneakily stopping bills at the last minute? Sure. But some legislation is getting through anyhow... and one French law in particular might have been the tipping point.

“The thing that’s changing the game more than anything else is the French repairability scorecard,” says Wiens, referring to a 2021 law that requires tech companies to reveal how repairable their phones are — on a scale of 0.0 to 10.0 — right next to their pricetag. Even Apple was forced to add repairability scores — but Wiens points me to this press release by Samsung instead. When Samsung commissioned a study to check whether the French repairability scores were meaningful, it didn’t just find the scorecards were handy — it found a staggering 80 percent of respondents would be willing to give up their favorite brand for a product that scored higher.

[...]

[exboyfil]

1. Planned obsolesence based on the battery

is environmentally criminal. Also dropping iOS support shouldn't be a death sentence for devices. I have a perfectly good first generation IPAD. If I didn't already have access to the software, then I can't software to do the most simple functions. There is a point to be made about security, but if you are willing to take that risk, then the devices should continue to work.

My wife is irritated that she will be losing her 3G phone. She likes the phone and doesn't want to upgrade. My prior Tracfone was obsoleted as well. It is still a good phone and works (I store audiobooks on it).

[OldBaldy1701E]

2. Well, we can't 'consume' if we already have one. (n/t)

[Strelnikov_]

3. Seems to me there is a national economic interest in promoting this concept

Considering the current shortages, seems to me repairability should be a priority. Having a perfectly good device obsoleted because of the battery is ridiculous.

[Volaris]

4. Ive never understood why the damn things can't be charged off the same radio signal that

carries data...all you need is a converter and a small amplifier, right?

[sl8]

5. A good cell signal ( -50dbm) is about 0.000000001 watts.

That's 0.01 microwatts (if I typed it correctly). No good.

I'm not sure if you were serious about the amplifier. Amplifiers take power to run. If you had the power available to run an amplifier, you could just use it to charge the battery, instead.

[Volaris]

6. Thank you!, stuff I DIDNT KNOW yesterday, is one of the reasons I love you all!