iFixit's Kyle Wiens On the War On DIY Electronics

pigrabbitbear writes with an excerpt from an article at Motherboard: "Anyone planning on buying a new iPad should know what they're getting themselves into by now. In recent years, Apple and other hardware manufacturers have made it liquid-crystal clear that they're not fond of the idea that customers can tear open and fix products without the help of licensed repair specialists. Even if it's as easy as ordering a part online and following a few instructions gleaned from a Google search, hardware companies generally seem to prefer we keep the hood closed. It should not be surprising, then, that the latest version of Apple's much-desired tablet has one 'killer' feature that's finally getting the attention it deserves: A design that stops you from getting inside of it."

Comments

don't buy the fucking thing then

[Anonymous Coward]

everyone knows what apple is all about by now.

Re:don't buy the fucking thing then

[Squiddie]

Why is this modded down? For once, Anonymous Coward is perfectly correct. Don't buy their products. We already know that Apple is about walled gardens and taking control from the user.

Re:don't buy the fucking thing then

[0100010001010011]

And what does it matter? Is my refrigerator a walled garden because it's hard to get into and fix? Is my dishwasher a walled garden? How about my car? My car now has a fancy computer that needs a special adapter and software to interface, is that a walled garden?

My girlfriend and I have identical phones. I spent the weekend rooting hers and updating it past where the carrier did. I spent the other part of my weekend trying to figure out how to convert rle images to png and back, unpacking the boot package abootimg and trying to mount /sd-ext and move /data to it.

She hated what I did. She wanted it to 'just work'. No customizing, nothing. Sprint did a good enough job for her to be happy with it. She doesn't want root, or walpapers or anything fancy, she just wants a phone that works. She'd be perfectly happy with the iPhone (but Sprint didn't have it when she switched.)

My aunt, a doctor, loves her iPhone. She hasn't done anything but the most basic customization to it. SHE DOESN'T CARE. If it breaks, she buys a new one or pays to fix the old one. She walks into an Apple store and the transaction is done. She doesn't want to try and take her phone apart. She doesn't care how it was assembled. She doesn't care about walled gardens or who has 'ultimate' control. She wants her e-mail and a web browser in her pocket that syncs with her Mac. Apple gives her that.

Not everyone in the world is a computer nerd. There's a reason Dell, Apple, etc make a profit. You sneer at everyone that 'over pays' when it's obvious you just need an AM-3 socket motherboard and AM-3 socket AMD, matching fan and you could easily have a computer than is much cheaper. But people don't want to spend time building a computer, they want facebook, gmail and porn. If you came up with a device that did that, cost $100 and the end user had to sign away their rights to vote in the next election you couldn't keep the thing on the shelf.

If you want open sourced everything, go get the openmoko.

Re:don't buy the fucking thing then

[epyT-R]

anonymous coward only talks about half the equation.. it is a passive-aggressive reactionary tactic typically presented as the only 'moral' solution. the question it doesn't answer is what does one do when it's all locked down (as is the trend nowadays)? being painted into a corner is inevitable where one is forced into something one doesn't really want, but needs, to accomplish something else timely/conveniently. unfortunately, that something else is now less pleasant than it used to be because of its newfound dependency on user-hostile technology masquerading as convenience. Since the amount of activities computing affects are legion and growing every day, there could be a point where where one's whole LIFE is a list of things one is/was forced into but doesn't really want because of designed-in hostility to one's rights/personal sovereignty.

In fact, society at large is going down this passive-aggressive path when it comes to rights and it is a big problem if one cares for personal liberty, not just politically, but also in terms of what one may do with his property and existence. the only way to break this is constant, active effort to work around/break the locking put in place by corporates/governments who want to build artificial scarcity into their markets/societies at the expense of those who are footing the bill so they can charge/tax more money/power.

Re:don't buy the fucking thing then

[mjwx]

And what does it matter? Is my refrigerator a walled garden because it's hard to get into and fix? Is my dishwasher a walled garden? How about my car?

You think a refrigerator or washing machine is hard to fix?

Hand in you man card right now.

In the last six months I've replaced a leaky hose on a washer, Re-fixed the compressor on a fridge (it was making that shaking sound all night because it had come loose) and lets not get started on my car. In the last six months I've replaced an actuator in the right rear door (central locking stopped working on the rear RH door), replaced my left wing mirror casing (thanks to some douchebag trying to pass me on the left at 60 and that's a right hand drive and KPH, I live in Oz) and replaced the clutch. The engine my have "no user serviceable parts inside" but the engine is not the entire car and the only reason I dont touch the engine is because I dont know that much about their internal workings.

If you think whitegoods or cars are walled gardens, you clearly dont know much about either of them or walled gardens.

This is the problem people are trying to point out, so much could be repaired but people treat it as disposable, creating waste and wasting money.

Re:don't buy the fucking thing then

[Anonymous Coward]

My car now has a fancy computer that needs a special adapter and software to interface, is that a walled garden?

It is, and that's a problem. If your dishwasher is obfuscated to make it harder for third-party mechanics to fix it, that's a problem. If your washing machine refuses to work if it contains socks from a non-partner clothing manufacturer, that's a problem. Any time a device you own acts in a way to benefit its manufacturer at your expense, that's a problem which wouldn't occur in an ideal free-market, but may require legislation to prevent in the real world.

Re:don't buy the fucking thing then

[Grishnakh]

Bullshit. The HTC is larger because it has a bigger screen. It's just as thin as the iPhone4.

And Android has surpassed iOS according to the latest stats, so apparently consumers do give a shit about these things. Just not the morons like you who buy Apple shit.

Re:don't buy the fucking thing then

[tlhIngan]

This article is really full of it. It looks at Apple, and then says the entire electronics industry is going that way. It couldn't be more wrong. Yes, Apple crap is made to be as non-repairable as possible, but all the competition is completely the opposite. All the Android and Windows phones I've seen have easily-replaced batteries. I haven't looked at tablets, but I imagine they're the same. Apple is in a category by itself, and its practices do not reflect the industry in general. The fact that a bunch of morons happily buy their junk doesn't mean the whole world is moving to unrepairable electronics, and they're not a monopoly so consumers do have plenty of choices.

First, the reason why products are going adhesive sealed is not to impact user-repairability (I'd be surprised if anyone really cared) but because it's easier to assemble, and it looks a lot neater. And people care about looks.

Want to know what I hate most about Samsung phones? Especially after buying a Gnex? The damn battery cover! Such a flimsy piece of plastic holding the battery in and threatening to break if you pop it on or off a bit too often. Sorry, but for a premium smartphone I demand something more than a flimsy piece of plastic cheaply clicked in.

And you know why? It's because it's the only way to make a battery cover that doesn't take up huge amounts of volume with the latching mechanism. Short of going the Apple way, it's practically impossible. And the plastic has to be flimsy because it has to have elasticity so it doesn't break the first time you take it out of the box to put in the battery.

Hell, Apple does have something to the whole sealed battery thing. Outside of business users, who has purchased a spare battery for their laptop or cellphone? I'd bet a good 99.5% of the population doesn't. As long as the battery doesn't completely crap out, if it still works by the end of the contract, most consumers go for a new phone on contract. And I'm sure half the people who complain about their phone getting crap battery life could fix it by replacing the battery. But they won't - they'd just get a new phone.

Ditto with laptops - if the battery lasts 3 years, that's good enough. If the laptop still works, they'll just treat it as a computer without a battery. I know of a lot of people who run laptops with dead batteries. And no, they won't buy a replacement - even if they can buy it. Spending $50 to buy a battery for a computer now worth $50 on Craigslist?

So Apple realized if people aren't willing to change batteries, might as well make the whole device nicer and use the volume for more battery.

As for fixing, it's a niche. It's economically infeasible to repair technology these days, at least in North America. For example, you buy a TV for $1000. Three years down, it breaks and getting it fixed will probably cost you easily $500. Do you fix it, or buy a new brand new TV with gee-whiz-bangs? Ditto a computer - if the motherboard dies after 3 years, are you going to spend the $400 to fix it, or just buy a newer faster one for more?

And anything under $200 or so is not worth fixing. That 20" monitor? It'll cost $200 for a tech to fix it out of warranty, so just buy a new one.

Hell, some of the budget brand crap have horrendous warranties. Sure they'll fix it - just pack your 52" TV back in the box, and send it to our China repair warehouse. It has to get there in 30 days. Thus shipping alone would cost you couple hundred bucks to get a warranty repair.

Repairing stuff is a hobby. Treat it as such and you'll be happy - you'll get tons of broken and "broken" stuff from friends, family and neighbours that you can fix up and enjoy.

Re:don't buy the fucking thing then

[Pseudonym]

Even if you can't fix your fridge, there are plenty of people who can, none of whom require permission from the manufacturer. This prevents the manufacturer and the repairer forming a cartel.

Re:don't buy the fucking thing then

[macs4all]

The new iPad uses EXACTLY the same construction techniques as the iPad 2 and the original iPad. So why all the vitriol?

Two words: Page Hits.

I watched iFixIt's teardown of the new iPad. Even though getting inside was EXACTLY the same as getting inside the iPad2, iFixit saw fit to not only give the new iPad a "2 out of 10" score on "repairability"; but, IN AN UNPRECEDENTED MOVE, also "downgraded" the iPad 2 to the same score (former score was 4 out of 10). This is asinine.

Once you get past the use of industrial adhesives for the front glass (and actually including the use of adhesives), the iPads have relatively standard consumer-electronics construction techniques. Yes, the battery is also staked-down; but as you can see from the iFixit video, they were able to pull it free from the bottom "pan". It isn't like it was a one-piece-molded-in assembly, or even worse, a "potted" assembly. In fact, if you look at the pan, they only use a couple small puddles of glue (why waste money). Just enough to keep the battery from rattling-around. Certainly not enough to keep ANYONE from removing it. And obviously, that glue is meant to stay pliable (like silicone rubber adhesives), so it won't even deform the bottom pan when it is removed. Yeah, Apple sure wants to keep a reasonable repair tech (or dedicated hobbyist) from replacing that battery...

Please.

So, speaking as a former electronic bench-tech, and later, a designer of several industrial products that, since around 1992, have employed industrial-adhesives to solve assembly problems where basically no "fastener" would work (and, just like with the iPad, and with my industrial (DC motor-control) product designs, you will see adhesives used often in display-portions of a product's "packaging"), I submit that if having to use a hair dryer and some guitar picks is too much for you, then you really are too lame to be working inside of the device, anyway.

Many, many, many consumer and industrial packaging designs employ the use of industrial adhesives. In fact, you'd be amazed at how many things are "glued together". At least Apple used a thermoplastic (rather than thermosetting) glue. Any other design would have called for fugly fastener "wells" on the backside of the device.

A device that, aside from the (massively-custom) battery (which will likely last longer than the average person keeps that generation of the product, anyway), there truly are "no user-serviceable parts inside".

Not one person in 1,000 reading my words has the skill nor equipment necessary to do component-level repair on anything as densely-populated as your average smartphone or tablet; and for those who want to attempt "module-level" repair, then the iPad (all generations) is no harder to get into than thousands of other devices you come in contact with every single day.

Do you whine because you can't (for all practical purposes) replace the keypad on your remote control? (I'm sure SOMEONE does; but...). Do you complain because you can't effectively repair your DVD burner? Does it burn you to realize that the display portion of your modern, thin, laptop most likely employs the same industrial adhesives as are used on the iPad?

So again, why does Apple get singled-out for using the exact-same assembly techniques as the rest of the consumer-electronics industry?

As I said above: Page Hits.

Now, watch as some fucktard on slashdot dismisses all this logical argument, simply because of my username. You guys are really pathetic sometimes... Grow up, will ya?!?

Re:don't buy the fucking thing then

[jandrese]

So long, commercial-free e-mail.

Oh man, you're going to flip out when I tell you about this thing we call spam.

Re:don't buy the fucking thing then

[justforgetme]

The problem is that the apple2 came from a company that shared Woz' philosophy and the iPad came from a company that shares Jobs' philosophy.. Same trademark different companies.

Re:don't buy the fucking thing then

[justforgetme]

Now think of how much bone idleness stands between that and:

FBI’s Joint Regional Intelligence Center heavily implies this [tinkering being suspicious behavior], suggesting that individuals engaged in certain technical activities should be regarded as “suspicious” and specifically mentioning people who "download or transfer files with ‘how-to’ content, such as [] information about timers, electronics, or remote transmitters/receivers.”

Well done modern society, you made your visionaries and future inventors criminals in order to help the establishment to even more money.

Re:don't buy the fucking thing then

[Raenex]

Lets go back and look at what YOU said.

It wasn't me that said it, but he's spot on.

I posed the hypothetical question of devices being difficult to fix for any lay person of the general populous.

You tried to equate how hard it was to fix a refrigerator to the "walled garden" iPad, and specifically said it was difficult, then claimed in a later post that it wasn't, just not worth the time. There are a lot of do-it-yourself laypeople that can and do make simple repairs to their home appliances, which are often designed for accessibility. You can't even simply replace the battery on an iPad, the kind of thing that lots of laypeople do. In other words, your comparison was ridiculous.

Aside from just laypeople, this also impacts recycling. From a link in the article: "Apple claims the new iPad is environmentally friendly with a 'recyclable aluminum and glass enclosure.' The materials may be recyclable, but the assembled unit is not. We spoke yesterday with Steve Skurnac, president of SIMS Recycling Solutions--one of the largest electronics recyclers in the world. He told us, 'Sealed units make it difficult to remove the batteries. From a recycler's point of view, the hazardous components [like batteries] need to be easily separated or removed.'"

Re:don't buy the fucking thing then

[yoshi_mon]

The thing is not only could I fix my fridge if I so desired, I can shop around to see who is going to give me the best price on fixing my fridge. I don't have to only call Maytag and be beholden to whatever they say. I can get Joe's Fix-It shop to do it for me.

And further me or Joe fixing the fridge is not being classified by FUCKING FBI AS A POTENTIAL "SUSPICIOUS" PERSON!

And we are the ones that are insane?

"It's up to consumers to make a choice"

[rockout]

Thing is, 95% of consumers don't really care about repairing their own electronics, if not more. The remaining handful of people that choose not to buy an iPad because of its inaccessibility re:DIY repairs aren't going to make enough of a difference to make any manufacturer change their ways, even assuming ALL of them refuse to buy iPads.

If you look at it objectively, Apple, or anyone else, is pretty much just giving people what they want. It doesn't seem like this 'killer' feature is designed to keep people from accessing the insides of the iPad; after all, what percentage of iPad 1 owners were tinkering around with the insides of it? An insignificant amount, from the perspective of the company selling millions of the thing.

Re:"It's up to consumers to make a choice"

[Darinbob]

"Giving people what the want" sounds like a phrase recycled from tobacco companies.

It is true that most people don't want to DIY anything. The snag comes because what used to be an extremely common situation is now considered something that only approved technicians can do: replace the battery. Replacing a battery should not require complex tricks or the possibility of breaking a device and yet so many naive people are taking for granted that batteries are no longer replaceable because they have no desire to hang onto a product longer than a year or two.

Re:"It's up to consumers to make a choice"

[greenbird]

Thing is, 95% of consumers don't really care about repairing their own electronics,

It's not about people repairing there own electronics. It's about being forced to go to the manufacturer if you need even minor repairs or maintenance. Think how much an oil change in your car would cost if you were required to only go to the dealer or your warranty was voided.

Re:follow my lead

[Anonymous Coward]

microUSB is so widely used now i would consider it a standard...

Re:follow my lead

[93 Escort Wagon]

The majority of Apple consumers don't care.

The majority of consumers don't care. Period.

Re:It's all about size

[c.r.o.c.o]

Making it easy for things to come apart and be put back together takes space. The bigger the space budget, the more repairable and upgradable things have been. This has always been the case. This is why laptops have been more hassle than desktops, and why the iPad, which is shoved in there VERY tightly, is even worse.

So really, you figure out what's important to you. Is it more important to have a device you can easily repair, or is it more important that it be thin and light? With tablets, few people vote for heavy and repairable since they've been available for years in the Windows Tablet Edition space.

You were modded insightful, but you're wrong. One example in the smartphone realm is the HTC Sensation. It is slightly larger than the iPhone because it houses a 4.3in screen making it far more useable for my imperfect eyesight. However it is as thin, and if you drop it on concrete from ear height, nothing happens. I tested it. It has user replaceable battery, screen, and anything else you could reasonably want to replace without a soldering iron. HTC was very ingenious in the Sensation design, because unlike many manufacturers that either glue shut the entire device or use a flimsy backplate for the battery, the Sensation's entire casing comes off in one piece at the press of a tab. Solid, functional, slim.

Another smartphone example is the Nokia N9, and its cousin the Nokia Lumia 800. The casing is a single polycarbonate piece that wraps around the internals. On the surface it only has two flaps that cover the SIM and microUSB. Yet you take out two screws under the flaps and everything slides out, making it accessible. And it's as small as the iPhone.

In terms of laptops, the Sony Vaio SZ, the Acer Aspire 3820TG, and a whole bunch of others were MUCH faster than equivalent MacBooks, while still being fully user serviceable. I've taken dozens of laptops apart, replaced components inside including the motherboard, and NONE were as difficult to access as Apple products.

I can't comment on tablets from personal experience, but I have looked at a Samsung a friend has. Intel Core i5, 4Gb RAM, microSSD, plenty of ports, 5+h battery life running Windows 7 and it's marginally thicker but about the same size as the iPad. Again, user accessible as far as I could tell.

Face it, Apple CHOOSES to make their products the way they are. They even went as far as to invent a completely new screw type just to prevent people fro accessing their Macbooks. Sony used to be as bad, but a declining market share smartened them up a bit. Watching the iFixit video you can see the screen is glued all around, which may make sense. But why not put a few screws on the back so the back plate can detach, making battery replacement easy? Not swappable on a daily basis, just once every couple of years.

Stop making excuses for a company that is worth more than half a trillion dollars. They DO think different(ly), as they've gotten screwing their customers down to an art form. And their customers love it.

Re:Yes, very true of Android users

[yodleboy]

Instead Apple keeps things simple for those that need it, but allows expansive access for those that really want it.

You can't be serious. The entire Apple philosophy these days is one size fits all.