Ah so making it harder for new companies to develop a product while exempting the biggest offenders. Great.
It shouldn’t be any more difficult than it was when smartphones first appeared and had them - they worked just fine. It was about squeezing customers by forcing them to upgrade when the batteries wore out.
The law that exempts every device that it would apply to…
What! Change battery on a watch!! No, that’s not possible…
No special treatment for any company!
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I love the smell of regulatory capture in the morning
People getting click-baited. The reality is that ALL small wearables are exempted as is also stated in the article. This title is such a trash…
Apple Watch and other wearables gain exemption from EU battery rules
and
That includes smartwatches, smart glasses, fitness trackers, and other small wearable devices.
My opinion is it should not be exempted. Fairbuds and Pebble watch are proof that you can have swappable battery in small devices.
My wife and I both have a smart watch, both are about 1.5 year old and both have batteries that are starting to fail.
Replacing batteries innamart watches would not only be possible, it would be sensible. Then again, the world we currently live in makes no goddamn sense whatsoever, so at least that squares
yeah, sadly we are living in disposable world…
The only exception I’ve seen, based on a genuine engineering challenge: IP68 and higher ratings. If the device isn’t explicitly rated for water and dust proofing such that it requires specialized tools to disassemble, it should be user replaceable
Not on my watch!!
(As in I don’t own one)
Honest question, does anyone actually think a user serviceable smart watch is a good idea?
…yes? I do. For… what I would have thought, up until a few seconds ago, were overwhelmingly obvious reasons including, but not limited to: reducing our dependence on major corporations whose only concern is maximising profit, respecting human dignity, reducing the amount of our ever-diminishing natural resources being squandered, saving a bit of money…
This is a gadget you wear in your wrist. Corporate dependence can easily be avoided by simply not buying this.
I think that a user serviceable smart watch is a good idea. I want the freedom to service my devices. If a user does not feel comfortable in changing the battery they can go to the Apple Store. A user that chooses third party replacement parts has the same risk of a user buying a “third party” smartwatch. I have just replaced the battery of my Sony headphone. It was trivially easy and saved a good headphone from the junkyard. I see no reason why reducing the freedom of the consumer should be a good thing. Serviceable devices should be always the default position. It was the default in the past.
You can swim with an Apple Watch (and other such devices.) Hell, you can dive up to 100m with the Ultra. Many mechanical watches, and even some dive watches, can’t survive at that depth.
There is zero chance you can have that type of waterproofing being user serviceable.
zero chance
Swatch Scuba 200, user replaceable battery, up to 200m.
Before the “yes but apple is smarter/bigger battery” whatever excuses you find, this is a solved design problem. You use gaskets instead of glue. Glue is just cheaper.
Are you comparing a quartz analog watch with a smartwatch in a thread about water resistance?
In the '90s my $100 Casio could do the same and the battery was replaceable. Thirty years of technological advancement and now it’s suddenly impossible.
Okay, well, maybe the people who aren’t expecting their watches to work both on the Moon and at the bottom of the ocean can be allowed to swap batteries without asking a corporation for permission.
It’s not about it working on the moon, it’s an indication that you never have to worry about water.
You are all so blinded by your hatred for Apple that you can’t see that exempting this category of gadget is reasonable.
A watch that can survive a shower or a drop into a puddle can be perfectly user serviceable.
sure, there is 20 haters and only you see the truth… or maybe…
70 million Americans voted for Trump. Numbers alone don’t mean shit.
Just saying… that it might be an indicator to check if you are the blind one here. In reality the truth may be somewhere in the middle.
Nah you just gotta be smart with your design and use a proper gasket. It’s not that hard, it’s just companies don’t want to do it and most users don’t prioritize repairability, unfortunately.
I’d be more comfortable exempting a Garmin on the premise that it can be used 100m than I would an Apple Watch, because they have marketed their products specific to individual sports.
Apple has marketed their watch as general, everyday use. The average person does not dive 100m everyday.
I acknowledge there is a slippery slope with my argument. And that it could lead to more electronic waste. But at it’s core, not being abused by companies, the rule should be that it has to be proven necessary for its advertised use cases. Reducing unnecessary features is a good thing towards reducing waste.
Yes. Nowadays smart watch live only about 2 - 3 years and its mainly because the battery then doesn’t last a day or any decent amount. Imagine milions and millions of e-waste that doesn’t need to exist. I have a perfectly good Garmin watch that are almost unusable because of the battery now… after 2.5 years. Why wouldn’t we want swappable batteries? This has existed before. Even in watches. There are small smart gadgets with swappable battery. And it can give the product 2 - 3 times longer lifespan. Or maybe more.
I’m not going to disagree with you on the e-waste issue. I think every effort should be made to reduce e-waste, and smart watches are definitely e-waste.
I’m saying the uncomfortable truth is that smart watches currently have the following constraint. User-replaceable battery, acceptable size and water resistance, smart watch features; you can pick two. I’m not saying that’s okay, I’m saying that’s physics.
Proof that quartz watches cannot reasonably do it has no bearing on if smart watches can. Quartz watches don’t have a screen, they don’y have smart watch features (radios, etc). A battery in a quartz watch is a fraction of the power capacity of that in a smart watch. Hell, the entire movement of a quartz watch is smaller than just the battery in a smart watch. You cannot compare the two.
You can make the argument that smart watches should have user replaceable batteries. I agree they should. You can think that we can accomplish all three things I mentioned above now, and while I think that’s a nice goal, I don’t think we are there yet.
Proof that user replaceable is not currently feasible? The batteries in the Apple Watch aren’t even Apple replaceable; if you get a battery “replacement”, they send you a new watch. One would hope Apple recycles the old watches in a responsible manner.
User-replaceable battery, acceptable size and water resistance, smart watch features; you can pick two. I’m not saying that’s okay, I’m saying that’s physics.
How is that physics?
LG G Watch R had all three. I doubt LG can bend the laws of physics.
Quick side question, would you go swimming with your phone in your pocket? Your answer (and mine) is probably not, right?
The LG G Watch R had a rating of IP67, which is less waterproof than current phones. That is to say, no, it’s not effectively waterproof.
I did swim with my previous phone multiple times. There is no reason not to. Until my screen was cracked and I didn’t realize it until it was too late (tiny fracture). There is no reason to fear swimming with IP68 (most phones are actually rated for > than 1m) rated phones unless front or back is cracked.
I agree with what you say in all but the last paragraph. Apple is no proof. The reason why they replace the whole watch is because its cheaper to do that rather than pay a technician to do the swap. We have all technologies needed to make it work, but its currently cheaper not to. If there is a legislation, suddenly the companies will be forced to make the battery swaps cheaper. Without it, there is no incentive for company like Apple, products of which people will keep buying no matter what.
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Not really. It’ll apply to huge product groups like smartphones. Switch 2 will also get removable batteries for example.
