I think the battery system that’s best for everyone would be user-replaceable batteries. That way you can have an extra battery on hand to swap in as needed, or even extra-capacity batteries that make your phone a little thicker for people who are okay with that.
Those of us who do actually prefer thinner, lighter phones can still have them (maybe with a slight increase in thickness to accommodate the attachment mechanisms). Plus bigger batteries are a huge waste of resources if the capacity isn’t going to be used.
yep. first one i had with a non removable battery was the lg v30. battery was removable but you voided the warranty to do it and it required opening the entire case with a knife edge
There are phones that give you this choice. The Fairphones for example. The back cover is easily removable and you can pop out the battery like in the ol’ days. It has an IP55 as far as I know.
@sekki@copd if my device only cost around $500, that IP rating would be fine, but when you’re paying three times that, you want it to be fully waterproof, sorry, resistant.
I don’t know what a Fairphone costs where you live but where I live the Fairphone 5 starts at 550€ and the model with more storage and memory is 629€. That is no where even in the near of three times the price.
@sekki I didn’t say it was. I said at that price, a lower IP rating wouldn’t bother me. My device cost $1,600 so it better have the best IP rating available.
@copd@Sam_Bass here’s another aspect these people aren’t thinking about, wireless changing. That Qi pad is usually glued to the top of the battery or in some way attached that would make switching out batteries cumbersome at best.
Most batteries also get through the day and the ones that don’t, usually have fast charging, which makes giving up your ingress protection to remove a battery, that much more silly.
At that point I think many would just get a decent powerbank.
I’d prefer a larger capacity battery, 7000-10000mah even if the phone is slightly heavier and bigger. Especially for travel.
I disagree, swappable battery > power bank.
Used to have a swappable battery. It was great, you could have like 3 of em and instantly be able to get back to 100% without having to be attached to a cord. I wish I could do the same for my SteamDeck now, it would be great :'(
I used to have a power bank case for an old phone that had a weak battery. Battery got low I would just turn on the power bank in the case and charge the phone. It doubled the thickness of the phone but I don’t think it really bothered me at the time. This was the Amazon fire phone from 2014? You could get them for $100 and get a free year of prime. I rooted it and installed some custom os on it.
yeah I agree those are a good option too, but that doesn’t solve the issue of replacing a worn out battery. that’s why I think we need swappable batteries.
I think the battery system that’s best for everyone would be user-replaceable batteries. That way you can have an extra battery on hand to swap in as needed, or even extra-capacity batteries that make your phone a little thicker for people who are okay with that.
Those of us who do actually prefer thinner, lighter phones can still have them (maybe with a slight increase in thickness to accommodate the attachment mechanisms). Plus bigger batteries are a huge waste of resources if the capacity isn’t going to be used.
that was a thing in the early days. most clamshells had em and a few flat panels (called candybars)
First few galaxy phones. Pretty much all of the first few generations of smart phone except apple
yep. first one i had with a non removable battery was the lg v30. battery was removable but you voided the warranty to do it and it required opening the entire case with a knife edge
In fairness the removable battery came with a pretty significant tradeoff.
Water resistance.
Many would happily take a reduction in water resistance for replaceable batteries, the problem is no one gives us the choice
EDIT: inaccurate statement. Fairphone offers removable batteries
There are phones that give you this choice. The Fairphones for example. The back cover is easily removable and you can pop out the battery like in the ol’ days. It has an IP55 as far as I know.
That sounds sweet, I’ll consider Fairphone once my current android dies its not so noble death
@sekki @copd if my device only cost around $500, that IP rating would be fine, but when you’re paying three times that, you want it to be fully waterproof, sorry, resistant.
I don’t know what a Fairphone costs where you live but where I live the Fairphone 5 starts at 550€ and the model with more storage and memory is 629€. That is no where even in the near of three times the price.
@sekki I didn’t say it was. I said at that price, a lower IP rating wouldn’t bother me. My device cost $1,600 so it better have the best IP rating available.
For the kind of money flagship phones go for these days, I want that bastid waterproof down to 300 meters AND last a week.
@copd @Sam_Bass here’s another aspect these people aren’t thinking about, wireless changing. That Qi pad is usually glued to the top of the battery or in some way attached that would make switching out batteries cumbersome at best.
Most batteries also get through the day and the ones that don’t, usually have fast charging, which makes giving up your ingress protection to remove a battery, that much more silly.
It’s not 2014. 😝
At that point I think many would just get a decent powerbank. I’d prefer a larger capacity battery, 7000-10000mah even if the phone is slightly heavier and bigger. Especially for travel.
I disagree, swappable battery > power bank.
Used to have a swappable battery. It was great, you could have like 3 of em and instantly be able to get back to 100% without having to be attached to a cord. I wish I could do the same for my SteamDeck now, it would be great :'(
yeah and with a swappable system with a couple battery sizes you could do that. and I could choose a slimmer battery.
I used to have a power bank case for an old phone that had a weak battery. Battery got low I would just turn on the power bank in the case and charge the phone. It doubled the thickness of the phone but I don’t think it really bothered me at the time. This was the Amazon fire phone from 2014? You could get them for $100 and get a free year of prime. I rooted it and installed some custom os on it.
yeah I agree those are a good option too, but that doesn’t solve the issue of replacing a worn out battery. that’s why I think we need swappable batteries.