Slashdot Mirror
AppleCare+ Now Covers Batteries That Drop To 80%
Mark Wilson writes with news that Apple's AppleCare+ plan has been updated to address one of the biggest worries that people have about products with non-removeable batteries, and that become very expensive paperweights when the juice runs out. From BetaNews: "Previously, the extended warranty only covered batteries that would hold 50 percent charge or less. Now this has been updated so that you can request a free replacement within the coverage period if your device's battery is only able to hold 80 percent of full charge. The new terms to no apply to everyone — it all depends on when you bought your Apple device. If you bought your iPhone, iPad, iPod or Apple Watch before April 10, 2015, you're stuck with the old terms. I wish this change applied to my MacBook Air, with which I'm lucky to get 90 minutes of battery power.
Perhaps Apple could build usable phones that actually last a full day on their battery instead of competing for the biggest buzzword of the moment and be able to say: "Look, this is the thinnest phone on the market". It bends easily, it breaks easily, it's got an awful battery, but ei, they can state it's the thinnest phone on the market.
Removable batteries are bad design because they introduce seams. Seams are bad design. Apple tries to make their devices seamless both when it comes to the user experience and to the physical experience. My MacBook has a sleek and nearly seamless case. The only seams I see are around the touchpad and the keyboard keys and the ports. The rest of it is pretty much totally solid and smooth with at most a very tiny groove. A removable battery would inherently ruin that by introducing many more seams.
Used to be everything got smaller and smaller. Then they realized... no, people don't really want or need small. So then everything gets bigger and bigger. No where else to go so they decide to make thinner. Why? Sorry, that's beyond me.
But if they make it thinner they can't have a replaceable batt. And it seems more and more companies are pushing the thinner and not really stating you can't replace the batt.
Wuddooeyeno? IITYWYBMAD? Like nuts? eclecticallyincorrect.com
More importantly, in order to be able to remove a battery, that battery has to be able to survive outside the device's case. That means it needs a case. Not only that, the phone needs reinforcement to not get damaged when the battery is removed. All that space could be used for... more battery.
Because Apple is a premium brand whose users typically receive 'free' lifetime upgrades to the newest model whenever their contracts roll over.
So as long as the battery doesn't lose too much juice over that period, consumers will tolerate a slight drop since a replacement phone is just a few months away.
When people applaud Apple, design is often one of the things they applaud. How about non-removable batteries as bad design?
Also glossy displays, hard-to-repair assemblies, dust accumulation. Apple should be the "you pay to get a product in which everything is perfect" brand, but there are still glaring deficiencies from an engineering standpoint.
well, yes when power management on say a new tablet means that you can run for ten hours and more continuously with the wifi and bluetooth on.
Political debates have me rolling my eyes so much I think I got optical whiplash. I should sue. - Foamy The Squirrel
90 minutes is what I get from a crusty used laptop acquired from eBay. But we have moved into a world where 5 hour battery lives are not unreasonable to expect from new machines.
Hey Mark Wilson, quit whining and just replace your battery. If you can't work a screwdriver yourself, I'm sure someone around here still knows how. You can buy replacement batteries on eBay, Amazon, or ifixit.com even comes with detailed instructions. Most models take about 10 minutes.
But a few years ago, MacBooks had a seam for removable batteries. Who looks at the bottom of another person's MacBook anyway?
https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfr...
I agree - Apple products are unseemly.
The only people who care about removable batteries are the people who want to have multiple batteries so that they can replace them in order to maintain a more or less continuous duty cycle for the device.
I thought the only people who care about removable batteries are the people who love Android and haven't figured out yet that the latest Samsung Android phones come without removable battery. Oh well, and some people who love Android and figured out that the latest Samsung Android phones come without removable battery can complain about that as well :-)
That depends entirely on whether you think functionality matters or not. Clearly, Apple users don't.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
I know a guy who is a big Apple fan but he won't use certain functions/apps on his phone because he wants the battery to last all day. Mostly he will not use any app that turns on the GPS.
I want to use everything on my phone and not worry about it, so unless I can have the GPS and Bluetooth on for a full day and still have a comfortable margin left to plug it in at night I'm looking for a phone with a removable battery.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
It is now 8 years old. And using the original battery, and not having charge or capacity problems.
The longevity of the battery depends on random chance and how it's treated. The AppleCare+ thing doesn't address the concerns, because it only lasts 2 years. MOST LIKELY the battery will last longer than 2 years, but still cut short the life of the device, Especially if the battery is frequently cycled too deeply.
I have a desktop that is over 8 years old, and it's still using the original hard drive. It does not mean I should not be very concerned, if the system had a non-removable hard drive. Just because mine didn't fail yet, does not mean these things don't fail.
Every time I use an Apple product I wonder if they test it for usability at all. Specifically, they should be bringing in people who have experience with every type of system out there and rate it in terms of usability in comparison with everything else.
It seems to me that their tests consist of bringing average people into the room while having someone experienced walk through some sort of script at the front of the room and the test subjects don't actually interact with the device. This would explain why they end up with pretty things that have a lot of issues once you take off the covers.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
You think when they put the battery in at the factory they are just going to inject pure battery 'juice' into the phone??
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Sounds like a general phone design issue as opposed to a removable battery issue. On my phone there is no individual door, the whole back comes off and there is no risk of it just coming off. Furthermore, the back is usually under the case that I have that clips tightly onto the phone.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
I find battery stats to be quite wrong in most cases. For one thing it is a known fact that smartphones drain the battery faster just when you are in an area with a weak or slow connection. So many variables involved it's a bit rediculous for any phone maker to make a claim on their battery life. Therefore I cannot rely on that number when dumping close to $1K on a handheld device.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
I would really like to know why my comment was modded down. Surely you would be frustrated at having cell phones that don't ring because they've randomly shut down.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Wherever the design problem lies it happened across three different brands of phone at different price ranges. The most recent phone was a 2006 model. Perhaos modern designs are better, and that'd be great, but I'd rather have a sturdier phone.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Clearly something you should have researched better before buying a second phone with the same issue.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
Remove the battery on an iPhone 6 in 27 easy steps. After that, reassembly is simply the opposite of disassembly!*
You just need some time and tools to do it!
*: You hope.
Kid-proof tablet..
A battery that is not user-serviceable still needs some sort of wrapper. But it doesn't need a separate case thick enough to shield the battery from rough handling while out of the device.
Just because heterosexuals tend to choose Android and Windows
I thought Windows had been for metrosexuals since Windows Phone 7 and Windows 8.
You forgot to mention that the huge majority are heterosexual and have no problem getting laid with a member of the opposite sex. I guess as a slash dotter without that kind of experience it didn't occur to you.
You think when they put the battery in at the factory they are just going to inject pure battery 'juice' into the phone??
Have a look on Apple's website at the design of the batteries in newer MacBooks. It's not quite "battery juice", but the batteries do come in shapes that fill the smallest gap, something that would be impossible with a removable battery.
Either that or pay a professional to do it. Apple will do it for you when you buy a new battery.
Yeah because reviewers keep their phones for a year so they can give you a heads-up on issues like that. Totally my bad.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
When the Retina Macbook Pros came out, these were the ones with the integrated battery, one of their key differences over their predecessors is that they felt a good deal more sturdy. If you lifted it without folding it up it felt like it had a good deal more structural integrity. This is partly because it's lighter and you're moving less mass around and partly because the case is just plain more rigid.
That's why the lack of seams matters.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
The iPhone 6+ is in fact less bendable than the Samsung phones, and the Samsung phones have screens that will shatter instead of bending slightly...
But in fact the iPhone 6+ is easily good for more than a day of charge. So if you want an iPhone that you don't have to think about the battery, they already sell one.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I'm guessing you live in the US? If so, erhaps you should petition your local person of power (senator? congressman? whatever) to address the pitiful consumer laws in your country. In Europe such things are legally bound, in terms of products being fit for purpose for their intended lifetime. In the UK this is implemented in (amongst other things) the Sale of Goods Act which gives you significant ammunition in terms of demanding it be fixed for a period of (I believe) up to 5 years.
Genuinely not trying to be a smart ass; you could be in Europe and be unaware of such laws - hopefully you are. Companies, as a matter of course, will conveniently forget to mention these rights until you beat them around the head with them. But then, that's business - deny deny deny, until you're banged to rights.
Seams are ALWAYS bad design?
That's a mighty tough stance to defend, unless you're the type of zealot who believes that form trumps function in absolutely every circumstance.
From the article: The new terms do not apply to everyone -- it all depends on when you bought your Apple device.
So Slashdot decided to change that sentence for some reason.
The only people who care about removable batteries are the people who want to have multiple batteries so that they can replace them in order to maintain a more or less continuous duty cycle for the device.
You never had a device freeze where the only fix is to take out the battery because the OS is comatose? Forced power-off on desktops, smartphones and even cable boxes fails, courtesy of our 90's-begotten switch-less buttons that let some software decide what to do with a power press.
Technically, you COULD wait an hour or two for a battery discharge if you want as much as to even get the next phone call while your phone is frozen. I mean, a smartphone IS a phone too, right?
My laptop's battery lasts about 4.5 hours with regular usage. However, it is about 6 years old. I will readily admit that I'm on my second battery. It was pretty obvious when my first battery died. It would quickly go from 80% to 0% within only a few minutes. I then went onto Amazon, bought a replacement for 15 dollars, and changed it out in about 30 seconds. Anything less than this is frankly unacceptable to me. Others may feel differently, but it's 2015. Let's not pretend this is a problem that hasn't been solved, even if some companies are actively working against it.
You're right! The only people who care about removable batteries are people with the Samsung Galaxy S6! There's no reason at all to think anyone else would care about it. You're very clever. Perhaps you should write a book.
Palm Treo 700, Motorola generic flip phone, Nokia 3650. Not sure why you think I would lie about this. Is there a particular brand whose honor you're trying to defend?
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Perhaps you have this reaction because you have the intelligence of a used tissue.
Specifically, they should be bringing in people who have experience with every type of system out there and rate it in terms of usability in comparison with everything else.
Why? How does that help that at all?
Dude... We are engineers. Nothing like that is impossible. We could, and would, design around it if needed. More likely we'd just make an overly complicated and impossible to work (for mere mortals) batteries that required special tools to service BUT they would be open source, open standards, and have a dozen forks by tomorrow at noon. And we would like it... We would not even patent it - we would trademark it and copyright the design.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
Its probably due to something like that never happening to someone. Its never happened to me since I started using cellphones back in 2003. I tend to go through one a year.
Interestingly enough replacement battery doors were plentiful for all three of the phones. But whatever, no, I'm not making this up. I made no claims to how widespread the problem is, only that for me it traversed three brands of phones and two pricing tiers. Personally I find it hard to believe I am alone here, but I offer no proof
to the contrary.
Even if I was making this up despite a clear lack of motivation it is commonly understood that less moving parts means greater reliability.
There is no call for this philosophy to cause conflict, nor am I a liar because I don't have a fashionable complaint.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
And looking at my 13in MBP (mid-2014) from below and it has a nice "seam" going all around the back plate. And yes, you can easily remove it and gain access to the battery.
So yeah it does have a "seam" and your argument is quite weak in the case of apple laptops.
Trolls are like broken clocks. They show the truth two times a day. The rest of the day they talk nonsense.
So let's just leave it as you are one person who had bad luck.
Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
So long as it's agreed that an integrated battery means a sturdier phone. Afterall, my 'bad luck' was consistent.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
That was my point exactly. In fact, it could have been made easily replaceable.
Trolls are like broken clocks. They show the truth two times a day. The rest of the day they talk nonsense.