this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2024
456 points (95.4% liked)

Technology

59534 readers
3195 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

The Android phone maker says go ahead, fix your own phone.

The right-to-repair movement continues to gain steam as another big tech company shows its support for letting people fix their own broken devices.

Google endorsed an Oregon right-to-repair legislation Thursday calling it a “common sense repair bill” and saying it would be a “win for consumers.” This marks the first time the Android phone maker has officially backed any right-to-repair law.

The ability to repair a phone, for example, empowers people by saving money on devices while creating less waste,” said Steven Nickel, devices and services director of operations for Google, in a blog post Thursday. “It also critically supports sustainability in manufacturing. Repair must be easy enough for anyone to do, whether they are technicians or do-it-yourselfers.”

In the Oregon repair bill, manufacturers will be required to provide replacement parts, software, physical tools, documentation and schematics needed for repair to authorized repair providers or individuals. The legislation covers any digital electronics with a computer chip although cars, farm equipment, medical devices, solar power systems, and any heavy or industrial equipment that is not sold to consumers are exempt from the bill.

Google has made strides in making its Pixel phones easier to fix. The company enabled a Repair Mode for the phones last month allowing the protection of data on the device while it’s being serviced. There’s also a diagnostic feature that helps determine if your Pixel phone is working properly or not. That said, Google’s Pixel Watch is another story as the company said in October it will not provide parts to repair its smartwatch.

Apple jumped on the right-to-repair bandwagon back in October. The iPhone maker showed its support for a federal law to make it easier to repair its phones after years of being a staunch opponent.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] stefenauris@pawb.social 121 points 10 months ago (4 children)

Makes sense because google certainly doesn't support their own shit lol

[–] Venat0r@lemmy.world 37 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

It almost doesn't even matter for Google products: I've had more Google products die due to lack of software support rather than any sort of hardware issue...

[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 10 months ago

Their phones keep on updates for longer than any other androids. Crap thing is they use cheaper apu's so I still don't want one.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 31 points 10 months ago (1 children)

As a former Pixelbook user, I agree 100%. A firmware update crippled my touchscreen, and the touchscreens of quite a few other users, from the look of their support forum.

Rather than investigate and issue a fix (which they haven't in years, also according to their support form), they literally told me to buy a new laptop. WTF?

Well, I sure did. I got a Framework. Now I can fix it whenever I want with ease, and with every part readily available, too!

Thanks, Google!

[–] Archer@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The constant multi-year tide of Pixel support and RMA horror stories helped push me into getting an iPhone

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] WHYAREWEALLCAPS@kbin.social 8 points 10 months ago

I remember back in /r/Pixel on Reddit that Google had a mid tier or higher customer service rep in the subreddit. Why? Because their regular customer service sucked so bad they needed someone in /r/Pixel to do damage control. If a person wasn't in the subreddit, they'd basically be left twisting in the wind.

I had my OG Pixel XL get compromised and my Google account stolen. Asking to get it back was basically "Fill out this form and we might get back to you at some point. You won't receive any communications from us except to tell you your account has been recovered. And there's no way for you to talk to a real human."

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] hal_5700X@lemmy.world 49 points 10 months ago (7 children)

🤔 What's really going on? Very time I see a big company back something good. I get a funny feeling.

[–] themurphy@lemmy.world 15 points 10 months ago

They have to because of the EU. So now they will get a good story out every time a state in the US "forces" them to do so.

Apple did the exact same thing a few months earlier.

[–] Lancoian@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago

https://lemmy.world/post/10678878

here you go. This is why you get funny feelings.

[–] piecat@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Enemy of my enemy is my friend

Android has always been easier to repair, apple is notoriously against repair.

Force policy to cut out a large portion of your competition's revenue strategy (Apple authorized repair only)

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] jayandp@sh.itjust.works 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Companies see the writing on the wall with all the right to repair legislation going around, so they're trying to make themselves look good now instead of fighting it anymore. At least publicly.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] DannyBoy@sh.itjust.works 39 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

That's a Samsung S4 in the stock photo. Those things were like Lego, I used to have a few that I'd swap out parts to keep running. I changed out screens, charging ports, cameras. And you could swap batteries on the fly. Those were better times.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] KpntAutismus@lemmy.world 32 points 10 months ago (3 children)
[–] verysoft@kbin.social 66 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

TLDW: They are basically advocating for selling assemblies of parts for "user safety". So for example, if one chip on a motherboard was broken, instead of selling the individual part, they want to sell you the entire board with all the other parts attached (which can cost nearly as much as the device was new).
Video also highlights how you can buy a device cheaper than the cost of buying a genuine part from the manufacturer.

Google are grabbing good PR headlines with backing one complaint point in the right to repair scene, but then also backing a bunch of anti-repairability in the rest of their post, neatly snuggled away in a bunch of corpo talk bullshittery.

[–] macattack@lemmy.world 16 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

That was my sentiment exactly. The benefits of being able to buy parts to fix a device is more muted when the replacement part cost the same as a buying an entire used phone. Maybe I'm in the dark, but the cost of screens feels inflated and like a deterrent to fixing devices, in spite of it being likely the leading reason for repairs.

[–] KpntAutismus@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

"buzzword, buzzword, buzzword, anyway consume product. don't worry about how we group unreliable parts in with the expensive ones."

[–] AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago (3 children)

I mean it's better than nothing. Hopefully it leads to more economical repair kits. On a personal note, of the repair required soldering chips onto/off the board I would much rather buy a working board then try to replace a single chip.

[–] verysoft@kbin.social 9 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Sure, but most people wouldn't even want to attempt a board replacement and would rather take it to a repair shop. Replacing an entire section of a device because one tiny part is broken is not helping the e-waste problem repairability is trying to work on.

These companies just want to upsell you to a new device, they want to group parts into assemblies to increase the price, and if the repair is going to cost just a small amount less than buying a new device, people are likely just to buy a new one, now that old device becomes e-waste and the company made a sale. Instead of it being a cheap repair, keeping that device going for as long as possible.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

the e-waste problem repairability is trying to work on.

Just to be clear, reducing e-waste is just a fringe benefit and kinda beside the point. The real reason for repairability is that it's the device owner's property right, and to try to restrict repairs (or worse, make them "illegal" via inserting frivolous DRM and invoking the DMCA) is to infringe on that right.

[–] TimeSquirrel@kbin.social 9 points 10 months ago

would much rather buy a working board then try to replace a single chip.

That's perfectly fine for you, but I do own a hot air rework station, so give me the option.

[–] KpntAutismus@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

yeah, you basically need to be a pro at reflow soldering. but that's the thing about independent shops, they're willing to put in the extra work to be as economical as possible. ends up being cheaper as well.

[–] PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks 3 points 10 months ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

https://piped.video/rV5bBSZX00E

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.

[–] smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de 28 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (9 children)

Until they publish the schematics and drivers for device components for usage in making the device software last as long as possible, those are just empty words. Yeah, sure I can finally replace the broken camera sensor, as I should be able for years, but I must buy whole another phone if I want something slightly different in the OS image.

load more comments (9 replies)
[–] _sideffect@lemmy.world 26 points 10 months ago (2 children)

"We'll make our phones almost impossible to fix yourselves, much like cars that place the easily changeable battery under light fixtures and other metal pieces of the engine!

But please, by all means, fix your own phones!"

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 22 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (4 children)

Google doesn’t really sell phones, this is just a cheap way to match Apple.

You don’t see them backing open access anywhere else. In fact, they’re trying to lock down all the client software to stymie ad blockers.

[–] dog_@lemmy.world 16 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I guess the pixel I'm currently typing on doesn't exist.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] Thetimefarm@lemm.ee 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

They made a big deal of being the first manufacturer to officially offer parts through ifixit, but a replacement kit for the internal display on the Pixel Fold is over $900 USD. It's almost the same price as a brand new 512 GB Pixel 8 Pro, but that will have a warranty and is guaranteed to be waterproof, unlike a repaired phone.

[–] deegeese@sopuli.xyz 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Got any non-folding examples? I’m not surprised to hear a low volume folding screen is $$$.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] FunnyUsername@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago (3 children)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] BigTrout75@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This is good news but, I gave up my last phone after 3 years because they stopped security updates. My new phone was marginally faster and worse in many ways.

[–] camelbeard@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (6 children)

I once had a phone with a replaceable battery, headphone jack, IR blaster (so it was also my TV remote) and SD slot.

I feel after this we gained waterproof phones.

(although I only once dropped my phone in water and it was before waterproof phones and it still worked 48 hours later, so I don't care that much for waterproof phones).

Anyway I feel we just got downhill after this phone, my current pixel has no: headphone jack, IR blaster, SD slot, replaceable battery, etc.

I wonder what would happen when a major smartphone maker would make a phone with all those features again.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] reMaster17@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It's literally a policy in the EU for new devices so nothing newsworthy here.

[–] piecat@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago

It's newsworthy because common sense doesn't apply to the USA.

If R2R doesn't pass in the USA, hardware is going to be region locked by software, like game consoles in the 90s and 00s. So only the EU will be able to use replacement hw.

[–] yokonzo@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

Still waiting for the other shoe to drop with Google phones being accessible and user friendly

[–] mtcerio@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago
[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

Notice how John Deere is exempted.

[–] Titou@feddit.de 5 points 10 months ago

It's good news, even if i think , because we know how Google work, there's a catch

[–] samokosik@lemmynsfw.com 4 points 10 months ago
[–] tabular@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

What's the opposite of slander, propaganda?

[–] drbluefall@toast.ooo 3 points 10 months ago

Well, slander tends to be fictitious, so its inverse would just be facts that paint someone in a positive light.

load more comments
view more: next ›