Smart phones

Stuart333 said:

Open systems are better value

I've also found Android quality inferior and they are more prone to allowing dodgy apps onto the apps store, but I am looking to upgrade my old iPhone XS (I have 3 - don't ask why) and the Samsung A56 which a friend recently got and seems fairly cheap and robust.

I do all my own laptop, phone and tablet repairs just to keep my hand in tech wise since retiring but the manufactures are making this more and more difficult.

There is a clear drive to make phones a non-repairable option if they can do it, just replacing the devices and generating more sales. My last job had our supplier just do a replacement of device policy if there was an issue as they found repairs uneconomic and used insurance to cushion the cost for them.

Don't buy it you don't like it. I have always used Android. Open systems are better value.

Stuart333 said:

You can't price cap batteries, it's market interference. 

It is done on other services and products so why not batteries.

Think about energy price caps, vets fees ( https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c985617r7ejo ), travel ( https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/find-fares/capping ) and tickets ( https://secure.businesswire.com/news/home/20250514514972/en/Introducing-Ticket-Price-Caps-Could-Cost-the-UK-Economy-Over-%C2%A3180-Million-Across-Sports-and-Live-Music-Events )

The government is quite willing to interfere there so why not batteries? I just mean it is a tool the government has and uses.

Stuart333 said:

You're not allowed to sell stuff that is not compliant or CE marked now,

I saw that Apple have started firmware pairing components so you cannot even swap from other devices of the same model - you have to use one of their approved (ie they pay apple for the right to work on their devices) repair places who have the technology to pair new components, and they probably won't accept some part you brought in to add.

There is a grain of truth in it ensuring only "proper" parts are used but it is wrapped up in a big ball of greed and milking the customer.

Not entirely. Most users of more expensive phones used to change them before the battery was dead.

You can change the battery in your smartphone if you want to. You can change the battery on your laptop as well, although I don't know how many people actually do.

Manufacturers introduce new phones because it's a competitive landscape and they want people to upgrade. People skip iterations. Same as car manufacturers, and all other consumer goods companies.

You don't have to buy Apple. If people hadn't gone along with it they wouldn't do it 

You can't price cap batteries, it's market interference.  You can try banning batteries that don't meet safety standards but grey imports, dodgy people on the internet, eBay, guy down the market, direct sales from China etc. are impossible to stop.

You're not allowed to sell stuff that is not compliant or CE marked now, but loads of stuff that is not compliant is on sale. In fact more than half of all consumer electrical goods are in some way deficient, even if just in paperwork.

Stuart333 said:

The only way to make them safe is to stop people changing the battery. It also allows for slimmer designs and nicer more solid devices.

Or the government could ban 3rd party batteries and make manufacturers price cap theirs.

The drive to integrate the batteries was to accellerate the planned obsolescence and make you buy a new phone because the cost to replace component was prohibitive.

How else can the likes of Apple produce a new model each year and still sell loads when it is just a little bit better than last years offering? It is all greed driven.

The battery shouldn't make it slow down unless it gets low and/or there is a power saving mode. The main issue is the battery capacity gets lower after a few hundred charges which reduces the usable time.

Phones used to have separate batteries so people could buy spares. But the cost was high, so people bought cheap 3rd party ones. The problem was some missed safety circuitry and were dangerous. There were fires. It could harm the manufacturer image and caused problems and legal issues.

Putting chips in the batteries to make it so only official ones worked also is a problem as 3rd parties can copy this too. Same as for copying the holographic stickers.

The only way to make them safe is to stop people changing the battery. It also allows for slimmer designs and nicer more solid devices.

I can barely use the phones of yesterday and smart phones are a mystery to me, I suspect they will become evenmore incomprehensible in the future.

I have made a link in the past wirh photos taking up lots of storage and possibly causing havoc on the ram which would explain any stutter and glitches im not really that good with modern pcs and phones im more into cub radios and pre pc tech snd games consoles but im only good at fixing certain ones 

im not what you’d call naturally technical minded but with the autism indofind I can gain those skills if it’s  a passion and pcs and smart phones are nkt phones are just a tool and I don’t even like usijbg pcs unless I have too when phones do most of it easier and quicker and with a better ui experiance 

I don’t think so but I can have a look. Maybe it’s my photos I saved onto it. I might get my cousin to check the phone out as he’s very good with all that stuff 

Could it be clogged up I never use more than 39gb at a time and my XR is ace but I bet if I get rhe 13 or 14 I’ll notice the difference 

190E(Taylor’s version) said:

Does anyone else think that smart phones in the future should concentrate more on thinks like new screen types etc so that older phones aren’t forced to be replaced even though they’d still be fine without being forced onto the latest is which slows them

I think there is a niche for some manufacturers to do this but on the whole there is no big margin to be made so the major manufacturers will keep doing what they are doing and invest heavily in convincing the sheeple that they need the new phone to be cool.

An iPone costs between US$ 400 and 600 to manufacture and will sell for 2-3 times this, but if installing replacable components like a battery is to happen then this will inevitably lower the battery performance as it cannot maximise space in the same way.

Repairs are also a big money maker for these companies and theiur "approved agents" who have to pay for training and licenses plus use only genuine parts to retain the status - all pat of milking the customer.

There is no reason for them to do it unless they are forced to by legislation and their lobbying efforts are very effective, especially as they can afford them easily (Apple alone have $162 billion cash in hand)

Time to move to Android I think

Smartphones, you are lucky to have the latest one for over a year! I have an iPhone 13 as my personal one and the XR as a public one but I can hardly use the XR now as it won’t update and it’s just so glitchy. I can’t play apps or search the web or anything and I’m unable to get any system updates on it. Both the phones are second hand and I’m hoping to get a second hand 14 pro soon as my personal phone and use the 13 as the public one. I mean I want the latest and best iPhone but omg not at those prices!!! I could have like 2 nights at the shard for the price of one newest iPhone!