TL;DR
- The European Council has ended its adoption procedure for rules related to phones with replaceable batteries.
- By 2027, all phones released in the EU must have a battery the user can easily replace with no tools or expertise.
- The regulation intends to introduce a circular economy for batteries.
Although I support the idea, I’m not sure how useful this is for android phones. All android phones I’ve owned have long gone out of update support before the batteries have noticeably degraded.
4 years since the last update on my phone, I really don’t see why I would change unless core apps like Firefox were to stop working.
Software doesn’t stop working. Up to date software becomes so slow on obsolete hardware it makes you pull your hair out trying to use it.
Other than now lemmy, the only other apps I use are Firefox and email/messaging apps. Hardly need that much performance.
Security updates
Get a Pixel phone. 5 years of updates (technically I think that’s only for security updates, which, arguably are the most important kind of updates. Sure, new features are always nice to have, but if your phone is vulnerable to security flaws because it’s outdated that’s an immense problem)
Even better, get a Pixel phone and put GrapheneOS on it for a more secure and more private phone.
I have a pixel 3a. It went out of support last year. I have no need for a “better” or newer phone. I have dabbled with other os in the past with a pixel 1 and moto g, I should look into it again.
loved the pixel 3a. traded mine in last year when the pixel 6a came out because they had such a good deal of a $350 trade-in value, essentially making the new phone just $150 (which, sad to say, is low for a new phone. So I had to jump on that deal. Plus, with having a nonreplaceable battery it was time for an upgrade anyway since battery life was beginning to sufer.
So excited for the day when I can just replace the battery and keep using my phone (for as long as it received updates at least!)
Exactly. I don’t even keep a phone for longer than 3-5 years. The batteries on my last few phones were still great when I traded them in.