The EU Proposes New Mobile Device Regulation to Extend Product Life Time

[jigar2speed]

Yep. This will get you anywhere...

Politely first and enforce later.

 

[1d10t]

Phone are just lifestyles nowadays, not just necessity but personality as well.

 

[hat]

Making more reliable batteries is a good step, but what about the phone itself? What about all the phones out there that seem to go to shit and slow to a crawl after a year or two? I know it's not simply a case of user error when I've personally factory reset a few phones, only to have them exhibit the same behavior afterwards with a clean slate. Planned obsolescence is a real thing, hell it was even in my history books back when I was in high school over 10 years ago... Until manufacturers start building to last rather than building to fail, this issue will always exist.

 

[big_glasses]

3G service uses a precious RF spectrum. Operators need it for the much faster 4G/5G and stuff. However, they can't just switch 3G off because many phones still use it.

Thats' wrong. Lotsa operators have turned off 3G already, and are keeping 2G for legacy (one of the main reasons is not phones, but MCM like payment terminals)

Couldn't this somewhat be circumvented by providing worse usable battery capacity through firmware?
as in the phone can't be charged over actuall 80% and less than 20% (or other numbers)? more actual capacity than the phone says.

 

[zlobby]

Thats' wrong. Lotsa operators have turned off 3G already, and are keeping 2G for legacy (one of the main reasons is not phones, but MCM like payment terminals)

And lotsa operators, like 90% (mostly in developing countries) still can't afford to do that simply because they will leave ~70% of their subscribers without service. Numbers from recent Broadcomm, Eriscsson and Huawei reports. Gotta find those .pdfs...
Their network or subscriber phones don't support IMS (still CSFB to 2G/3G even if phone is LTE-capable), so switching off 3G will dump the entire traffic in 2G, which in turn will congest badly. It also has to do with VoLTE roaming.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Making more reliable batteries is a good step, but what about the phone itself? What about all the phones out there that seem to go to shit and slow to a crawl after a year or two? I know it's not simply a case of user error when I've personally factory reset a few phones, only to have them exhibit the same behavior afterwards with a clean slate. Planned obsolescence is a real thing, hell it was even in my history books back when I was in high school over 10 years ago... Until manufacturers start building to last rather than building to fail, this issue will always exist.

This. And the big brands like Apple and Samsung are VERY guilty of it. Google is one of the bad brands that actually invests in their phones long term.

 

[TechLurker]

While I support being able to replace the battery, I'd also just make do with strapping a slim external battery bank (such as those 5000mah ones with the thickness of 2 stacked credit cards and only slightly larger L/W than a credit card) onto the back of the phone case, perma-plugged to the phone (since I can just recharge the battery bank at the same time it recharges the phone).

If anything, I'd like a return to the short period when replacement phone cases had a larger integrated battery and replaced both the back of the phone and added a protective edge around the back and sides of the phone.

 

[lexluthermiester]

And lotsa operators, like 90% (mostly in developing countries) still can't afford to do that simply because they will leave ~70% of their subscribers without service. Numbers from recent Broadcomm, Eriscsson and Huawei reports. Gotta find those .pdfs...
Their network or subscriber phones don't support IMS (still CSFB to 2G/3G even if phone is LTE-capable), so switching off 3G will dump the entire traffic in 2G, which in turn will congest badly. It also has to do with VoLTE roaming.

That situation does NOT apply to most of the EU and all but the southern most reaches of North America, and as this is an article about the EU...