Comments on: LPX Episode 5: Building a fair(er) phone https://lpxshow.com/lpx-episode-5-building-a-fairer-phone/ Home of the LPX Show Mon, 29 Dec 2025 17:15:03 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Brad Linder https://lpxshow.com/lpx-episode-5-building-a-fairer-phone/#comment-16 Thu, 17 Mar 2016 13:43:00 +0000 https://lpxshow.com/?p=138#comment-16 In reply to cerfcanuck ..

Yep… you could certainly argue that this is a side effect of the move toward thin-and-light design rather than the primary goal. But I can’t imagine it’s a side effect that disappoints companies that want to sell you new gear every few years.

As Wiens pointed out in a part of the conversation that I didn’t include in the episode, it’s possible to replace the battery in some devices that have “non-removable” batteries though. He lauded LG for using modular design even before the G5… it’s just that his definition of modular was a little difference, since he was talking about the design of the phones once you pried them open.

I discovered that my LG/Google Nexus 5 has a battery that’s pretty easy to replace, for instance. Unfortunately I’ve also found that it’s very difficult to find a reliable source for replacement batteries. The one I bought provides even less run time than the one that I’d been using for two years 🙂

]]> By: cerfcanuck . https://lpxshow.com/lpx-episode-5-building-a-fairer-phone/#comment-15 Thu, 17 Mar 2016 13:35:00 +0000 https://lpxshow.com/?p=138#comment-15 I continue to enjoy the LPX podcast and look forward to each new episode.
Although Kyle Wiens brought up some interesting points about why non-repairable designs might be more durable, I have to think that manufacturers are primarily interested in maintaining a continuing revenue stream (i.e. “planned obsolescence”). As with many trends in consumer electronics, Apple has led the way and other companies have simply followed. Unfortunately (at least from my perspective) non-serviceable designs have been extended from small portable devices to laptops and (possibly) desktop PCs. For example, I’m typing this on a five-year old laptop, for which I’ve replaced the battery and upgraded the RAM and HDD (scavenged from other machines) and the OS (from Windows 7 to Windows 10). From what I can tell, most newer laptops lack any provisions for upgradeability. As another example, my daughter relies on a three-year old iPod Touch for music playback, e-mail, and social media apps. For her purposes, it continues to work fine, performance-wise, but the battery is worn out. To have it replaced by a service shop would cost almost half as much as the original price of the unit and about the same as I paid for my (admittedly, low-end) smartphone (a ZTE Grand X2).

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