User-replaceable batteries

[SERO wireless]

Does anyone else find it obnoxious that many OEMs are starting to eliminate user-replaceable batteries? It's a thinly-veiled scam designed to force users to buy a new phone sooner and limit the trade in used phones. It really hurts the road warrior who needs the option of swapping multiple batteries out or buying an extended battery to make it through a business trip without an armload of cables and adapters.

I've heard:"We had to to make a phone with a solid body" (LG rep), "This allows us to make the phone thinner" (Motorola rep) and, "The iPhone does it" (MS Store minimum wage earner). The one bright spot is that it seems to be the down and out 2nd and 3rd tier OEMs (HTC, LG, Motorola) who have adopted this practice in the last year or so. While Apple does it the difference is that a trip to the local shopping mall will allow most folks to get a new battery at their local Apple store. Good luck finding an HTC store in your local mall.

I'm hopeful that as these market bottom-feeders continue their slide towards irrelevance that they abandon this desperate tactic. Of course, this will only work if they continue to make crappy phones that no one wants and enough people care about resale value or not having to replace their phone BEFORE their contract runs out simply because they have a dead battery.

 

[GMJeff]

This and many other reasons lead to a term called, planned obsolence. If companies did not build this into their devices, how would they survive in a capitalist society like ours.

They are tasked with making money quarter after quarter to keep the company afloat.

If manufacturers made a device that would cover everyone's needs and make it invulnerable to complications, why would they keep their doors open after the first run.

Or as it is called, financial suicide.

Sure, the iphone and nexus 4 have a non replacable battery, but a lot of us know how to use the internet to order a replacement and use a screwdriver and spudger to replace said new battery.

It is just a design thing. The iphone was deemed "art" by some reviewers, so other OEMs are trying to follow suit and make their devices look beautiful instead of being user friendly and functional.

As for seeing HTC, LG or other OEM stores here, good luck. They don't have the sales in the US like Apple, so i can see why that would be a no. Besides, sometimes those OEMs contract with authorized retailers to repair devices when required.

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