““A portable battery should be considered to be removable by the end-user when it can be removed with the use of commercially available tools””
Additionally, the manufacturer should make batteries available for SEVEN years after release.
A step in the right direction, IMO. Now mandate software support for that duration.
I wonder if this will finally take us back to the days of standardised battery sizes, instead of the random only-works-on-one-phone ones we get currently. I highly doubt manufacturers would want to invest too much for a single phone model for that long.
Europe has already standardized charging port to USB-C so standardization of batteries would be the most logical next step.
Agree it’s a step in the right direction.
I worry about “commercially available tools”. As it stands, lots of batteries can be replaced (at great difficulty and peril) with a heat gun and spudgers and patience. But that would be missing the point of this change.
The EU proposal doesn’t allow “proprietary tools, thermal energy or solvents”
Not providing software support for more than three or so years, is a planned obsolescence and should be made illegal.
Even better, consumers should be able to easily install alternative operating systems on old smartphones, just like one can install Bodhi Linux on a 15-year-old laptop.
