It seems to me the steam deck already meets this regulation, or would with very minimal change. It does not say you need to have an access door like gamboys had. It just says the battery needs to be easily replaceable with commonly available tools (or included tools). To replace the steam decks battery you just need a size 0 Phillips screwdriver and something to pop it open like a guitar pick or a credit card. You would easily be able to get all the tools you need at any hardware store.
My understanding is the adhesive is quite strong. It’s also pretty nerve wracking having to take what is ultimately a sharpish instrument and poke around on something which can be extremely dangerous if punctured.
If that’s acceptable per this legislation, a lot of other products are already complaint as well. But I really, really hope this at least gets us something like screws instead of adhesive.
If anyone had the sense to make a law forcing the modem processor and peripherals to be fully documented with all registers, protocols, API, architecture, and a reproducible toolchain for compiling the software, we might just have a sustainable future. Governments and large corporations already require this level of accountability for what they purchase and use. Anything less than this level of support and transparency is exploitive theft of ownership. Retaining any digital rights for any products sold is criminal theft.
As long as tools to unclip the shell aren’t consider specialized, I think almost all existing handhelds are gonna meet the actual requirements here - they just have to be user replaceable, not use swappable, without the use of specialized tools or thermal energy. If you can unscrew it, disconnect the old battery and connect the new one, it complies. It’s really only an issue in waterproof devices, where they have to glue everything to seal it.
I read a lot of people claiming that waterproofing technology has come to a point where this isn’t too much of an issue, but that’s as far as my knowledge goes
It’s true. If you put a little gasket around the edges and make sure it’s held down tightly (clips, screws etc) it’s fine. Glue is cheaper and faster to manufacture, that’s why companies claim it’s necessary
Phones used to have replaceable batteries until they didn't. And they still won't in the next couple of years, until the law is in effect.
Game consoles could go the same way, but this law can prevent it.
I mentioned this in another thread about the same thing. The Samsung Galaxy S3 was great for that. It was a 10 second job to pop off the back cover and swap out the battery. No risk of breaking the screen, no glue, no miniature cables to unplug and replug. That really should be the norm. It would be even better if we also didn’t have to buy expensive branded batteries to replace them.
It also had an official extended battery, which came along with a special backplate. It made the phone a bit bulkier, but I didn’t care. Battery went from 2100mah to 3000mah and it was great. I miss these types of accessories. I don’t care about glass back or waterproof phones.
Waterproofing _is_an important factor for sustainability for phones though. Water damage was THE cause of death of smartphones for a very long time until waterproofing became the standard for phones.
The S5 had waterproofing with a removable back using gaskets. (Granted, the design was fugly, but that wasn’t the fault of the waterproofing measures. Someone at Samsung loved bandaids) If the S5 could do it, I suppose other manufacturers could achieve the same thing with rubber gaskets. I mean, other waterproof gadgets like dive computers use gaskets on their port covers and what not, so I fail to see why it wouldn’t work with battery compartments.
Huh, that could work pretty well! Gaskets would need to be secured and sealed well though, and I fail to imagine what an iPhone or any other modern device would look like with a removable battery lol.
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