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US Government Investigates Apple Over iPhone Battery Slowdowns (phonedog.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the saga-continues dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from PhoneDog: The U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating Apple about its updates that slowed performance on iPhones with older batteries. Sources speaking to Bloomberg say that the agencies are looking into whether Apple violated securities laws regarding disclosures about its updates that throttled older iPhones. So far, the DOJ and SEC have requested information from Apple. Because the investigation is still early, it's unclear if the agencies will actually take an action against Apple. Apple apologized for not being more clear about its actions after the news of its performance-throttling updates came out, but we've still seen class action lawsuits and now this investigation come out. The good news is that Apple will be more transparent about iPhone battery health and performance in the future, but for now, it'll have to deal with the DOJ and SEC.

123 comments

  1. Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repairs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Apple has refused to repair any of our nearly forty affected devices at work. They give excuses like the finish is rubbed off therefore they cannot replace the battery. On my personal 6S Plus, there's a ding on the corner, and they said they can't replace the battery at any price because of that.

    1. Re:Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repairs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apple has refused to repair any of our nearly forty affected devices at work. They give excuses like the finish is rubbed off therefore they cannot replace the battery. On my personal 6S Plus, there's a ding on the corner, and they said they can't replace the battery at any price because of that.

      There is an update in the works to shut the part of the PM system off that caused this, it will put you where you would have been if this feature had not been implemented. After that there is a $29 battery replacement on offer:
      https://www.theverge.com/2017/...
      Did they said no to you showing up with a box containing every single iPhone you could find and angrily demanding forty free battery replacements?

    2. Re:Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repairs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      That's because they don't "replace" the battery in iPhones. They copy the data from the old one on to a new one, hand your that, and then ship your old one to be "refurbished" (which is, of course, basically just replacing the battery).

      Because they can't do the battery replacements in-store (because the phone is glued shut and impossible to open without special tools), that's the best they can do to enable a "quick" repair. (Still takes a couple of hours to do the copy.)

    3. Re:Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repairs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did they said no to you showing up with a box containing every single iPhone you could find and angrily demanding forty free battery replacements?

      Well when you put it like that you make me sound like a real asshole!

    4. Re:Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repairs by Rockoon · · Score: 1, Troll

      it will put you where you would have been if this feature had not been implemented.

      It will give people back all the time they lost waiting for their slow-assed phone all this time? No? Yeah.

      It won't. It does not people people where they would have been. Stop apologizing for apple using insane bullshit logic.

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    5. Re: Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repairs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I just don't get all the rage over throttled CPUs.
      Everyone is fine with throttled bandwidth. Gov won't even investigate that.
      Gov is just mad at Apple because they don't help the gov spy on iPhones. Oh! I do get it.

    6. Re:Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repairs by Freischutz · · Score: 3, Insightful

      it will put you where you would have been if this feature had not been implemented.

      It will give people back all the time they lost waiting for their slow-assed phone all this time? No? Yeah. It won't. It does not people people where they would have been. Stop apologizing for apple using insane bullshit logic.

      Congratulations, by trashing Apple for not extending your lifespan by the same amount of minutes you feel you lost waiting for apps to load you have finally taken Apple hatred beyond what the laws of physics can deliver.

    7. Re:Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repairs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did they said no to you showing up with a box containing every single iPhone you could find and angrily demanding forty free battery replacements?

      Well when you put it like that you make me sound like a real asshole!

      I merely attempted to confirm whether or not you had done what your comment made it sound like you had done.

    8. Re:Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repairs by magzteel · · Score: 1

      That's because they don't "replace" the battery in iPhones. They copy the data from the old one on to a new one, hand your that, and then ship your old one to be "refurbished" (which is, of course, basically just replacing the battery).

      Because they can't do the battery replacements in-store (because the phone is glued shut and impossible to open without special tools), that's the best they can do to enable a "quick" repair. (Still takes a couple of hours to do the copy.)

      This is nonsense. An IPhone 6 battery replacement is a ten minute job for someone who knows how.

    9. Re:Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repairs by tlhIngan · · Score: 2

      That's because they don't "replace" the battery in iPhones. They copy the data from the old one on to a new one, hand your that, and then ship your old one to be "refurbished" (which is, of course, basically just replacing the battery).

      Because they can't do the battery replacements in-store (because the phone is glued shut and impossible to open without special tools), that's the best they can do to enable a "quick" repair. (Still takes a couple of hours to do the copy.)

      Why are haters always the latest to get the news? I mean, if you're gonna parry some "facts". at least let it be recent enough to be true.

      The last iPhone to be glued shut was the iPhone 3GS. Circa 2009. The iPhone 4 (from 2010) and onwards are not glued shut and can be opened by removing 2 screws. Yes, 2 screws. Granted, replacing a battery in an iPhone 4 is a royal PITA, but the iPhone 5 and onwards is easy.

      Apple does it all in-store nowadays - takes 15 minutes. And since the affected iPhones so far are the iPhone 6 and similar, it's not too hard.

      Hell, that cellphone repair shop in every mall ought to be able to do it as well for $30 long before Apple offered it. And even iFixit will sell you a kit to replace your battery for $20.

      It ain't hard. And the battery has been easier to change for most of the iPhone's history, too. There's plenty of true things you can use to hate about Apple, so stick with true facts, not what's fake news today.

    10. Re:Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repairs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is nonsense. An IPhone 6 battery replacement is a ten minute job for someone who knows how.

      Well, yes, but we're talking about Apple "geniuses" here. (No, really, that's what Apple calls their support people.) Is it any surprise that they don't know how? Or at the very least aren't allowed to?

    11. Re:Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repairs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually the iPhone 3gs was not glued shut either. It required you to remove two screws. You did need a suction knob to pull the glass from the body because it was pushed in quite tight.

      However the battery was glued to the housing of the phone.

      Yes, I repaired my own 3gs, the headphone jack was broken.

    12. Re:Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repairs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It does suck they used the $29 battery replacement as a way of ducking a class action lawsuit then they refuse to honor that for the vast majority of people for any excuse they can find.

    13. Re:Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repairs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Awwwww poor apple worshipper upset? Kneel before jobs!

    14. Re: Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repairs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So then don't take it to an Apple Store.
      There are two places in my town that replace iPhone batteries in minutes. They're probably a lot cheaper than the Apple Store too.

    15. Re:Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repairs by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      it will put you where you would have been if this feature had not been implemented.

      It will give people back all the time they lost waiting for their slow-assed phone all this time? No? Yeah.

      It won't. It does not people people where they would have been. Stop apologizing for apple using insane bullshit logic.

      You know the one thing you can't receive in any Court Judgment?

      Time.

      So, in that sense, no Court Judgment can make anyone "whole".

      So give it a rest.

    16. Re: Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repairs by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      I just don't get all the rage over throttled CPUs.
      Everyone is fine with throttled bandwidth. Gov won't even investigate that.
      Gov is just mad at Apple because they don't help the gov spy on iPhones. Oh! I do get it.

      Exactly!

    17. Re:Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repairs by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      That's because they don't "replace" the battery in iPhones. They copy the data from the old one on to a new one, hand your that, and then ship your old one to be "refurbished" (which is, of course, basically just replacing the battery).

      Because they can't do the battery replacements in-store (because the phone is glued shut and impossible to open without special tools), that's the best they can do to enable a "quick" repair. (Still takes a couple of hours to do the copy.)

      You're full of shot, Hater!

      If every third party cellphone repair shop can do it nearly while-you-wait; so can someone in the back of an Apple Store.

      Stupid fuck.

    18. Re:Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repairs by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      This is nonsense. An IPhone 6 battery replacement is a ten minute job for someone who knows how.

      Well, yes, but we're talking about Apple "geniuses" here. (No, really, that's what Apple calls their support people.) Is it any surprise that they don't know how? Or at the very least aren't allowed to?

      The Geniuses don't do it. They have a dedicated repair tech in the back.

      Stupid, stupid, stupid.

      Fuck off and die, you stupid COWARD, or log in and take your Karmic whipping like an adult!

    19. Re: Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repairs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and you are not a whole lot brighter.

    20. Re:Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repairs by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Lies. Look at this guide to replace an iPhone 8 Plus battery: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/i...

      Two screws, then you have to remove the display (!) which is _glued_ in. They recommend a hairdryer to soften the glue prior to removal, and caution that removing the screen destroys the waterproof seals. There there are bunch more screws and cables, and the battery is stuck down with adhesive too.

      It's by no means easy for an ordinary, unskilled person to do.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  2. Investigate! by tripleevenfall · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What's there to investigate, really? They admitted that they did it. The information is public. Is it illegal to write software which could be construed to have a useful purpose even if it negatively impacts performance? That could describe features of just about any software out there. Is this something we really want the government doing?

    1. Re:Investigate! by Austerity+Empowers · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's easier to shake them down than to actually fix broken tax laws. This is the shake-down.

    2. Re:Investigate! by twotacocombo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's less about the technical facts and more about the intent. Did they truly slow these phones down for the sole intent of managing aging batteries, or did they do it knowing full well that it may discourage users of these phones enough that they would then see purchasing a new phone as the best course of action? If you cripple working phones in order to drive sales, is that not something you would want the government to investigate? Imagine if you had an older car and the manufacturer, without your knowledge or consent, dropped the performance of the engine down to a level that caused it to be sluggish and aggravating to drive. Would you not have a problem with this, no matter what reason they coughed up when pressured for an explanation?

    3. Re: Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Intel should be investigated over all the shitty Spectre and Meltdown patches then.
      Intel is throttling to fix a problem. Apple is throttling to fix a problem.

    4. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      What's there to investigate, really? They admitted that they did it. The information is public. Is it illegal to write software which could be construed to have a useful purpose even if it negatively impacts performance? That could describe features of just about any software out there. Is this something we really want the government doing?

      It's just a bunch of politicians whoring for publicity, nothing unusual about that. However, if we are lucky they may end up doing some good by stumbling onto a few others in the industry who are doing this because I have my doubts Apple is the only one anymore than VW was the only diesel manufacturer to install test defeat devices. Although VW got all the blame messing with software to enable totally illegal NOx emissions, this has since turned out to be something of an favourite industry sport on both sides of the Atlantic.

    5. Re:Investigate! by duranaki · · Score: 2

      I don't know what they are investigating, but I for one would be looking for documentation (emails, meeting minutes, etc.) that people inside Apple also considered this as having the bonus side effect of getting people to buy new phones and if there was a plan in place to avoid disclosing the nature of the change, not making it a user selection on purpose, etc. And I don't know where I draw the line between big-brother being nosy and big-giant corporation taking advantage of their market position and nerfing hardware customers bought out-right to trick them into buying more.

    6. Re:Investigate! by ljw1004 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What's there to investigate, really? They admitted that they did it. The information is public.

      From TFS: agencies are looking into whether Apple violated securities laws regarding disclosures.

      Is this something we really want the government doing?

      Do we want the government checking whether publicly companies illegally fail to disclose important information to their investors? And punishing any companies found to have done so? -- YES, emphatically YES.

    7. Re:Investigate! by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Interesting that they are investigating potential defrauding of investors, where as in Europe it's potential defrauding of customers.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    8. Re:Investigate! by cdreimer · · Score: -1

      Back in the old days, it was defrauding orphans and widows. These days it's defrauding the 1%.

    9. Re:Investigate! by Tulsa_Time · · Score: 1

      You have to document the impact to customers before the penalties can be assessed.

      Even if they admitted their mistake.

      --
      5 out of 6 people enjoy Russian Roulette & 6 out of 7 Dwarfs are not Happy
    10. Re:Investigate! by gravewax · · Score: 1

      What's there to investigate, really? They admitted that they did it. The information is public. Is it illegal to write software which could be construed to have a useful purpose even if it negatively impacts performance? That could describe features of just about any software out there. Is this something we really want the government doing?

      I would think their is potential for investigation, the actions of apple at best can be considered poor if you accept their reasons. At worst it is criminal if the motives were what many suspect which is to force users to upgrade.

    11. Re:Investigate! by networkBoy · · Score: 1

      ^ /thread

      --
      whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
    12. Re:Investigate! by networkBoy · · Score: 1

      If it's that or grenading the engine because they determined that piston ring wear (IIRC) was unacceptable at the higher torque?

      Dodge did just this with their computers. I have an 04 Hemi and no fuel gage because the newer pump (old fuel pump failed) requires newer firmware. Thing is, the newer firmware nerfed *all* the 5.7 Hemi's because some had a ring clearance issue... so I have a choice, decreased performance and (possibly) longer engine life, or keep it as is and have better performance, but might blow my engine up?

      No one is censuring Chrysler about this, in fact it's considered a recall. It is the directly analogous automotive issue for this apple battery issue. Battery is not strong enough to run the phone in some situations, so they nerf the CPU such that the battery can handle the load.

      --
      whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
    13. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There you are spamming amazon and youtube affiliate links with yet another fake account, you revenue stream hogging disgusting fat sexist tube of lard, Christopher Dale Reimer!

      You can be sure I will be watching this fake account too. I know this is you because you told me you were working on your freepass 11 file server and you are so dumb that you can't even masquerade yourself properly.

      Now, I told you I was out of meds last week and you didn't even care to contact me you lazy fucker.

      How many times do I have to express the emergency of the situation??????

      The python click script you wrote for my pheromone revenue stream web site suddenly stopped to work!!!!!!

      You fucking incompetent python script writer!!!

      When it works, I get 4000+ clicks a day on my pheromone revenue stream web site but only 5 or 6 without it!!!!

      Now, it seems like you dont care and that you have abandoned me you heartless fucking pig!

      Bonus:
      Here is a story that creimer told me when convincing me what a hard life he had:

      The tree was him and the tree knot was his butt hole!

      So, his uncle packed his fat ass with lard and with his cock! Not that it makes much of a difference but anyway, there it is!

      Signed:
      Ethell, The girl that used to love you and now hates you, burn in hell where you belong you sexist pig!

    14. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shut your shithole.

    15. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Here is the story of creimy the mountain and his royalties!

      This story was inspired by cdreimer, the parent poster. The story was written by a visionary on cdreimer birth date.

      The story of creimy the mountain explained:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      Creimy is a typical mountain who poses for postcards, living with his wife Ethel, a tree, between the cities of Rosamund and Gorman, California. The main features on his mountainous face are two large caves, resembling eyes, and a cliff for a jaw, which moves up and down when he talks, puffing up dust and boulders.
      click above link to read more, he even destroyed Edwards Air Force Base just by passing by...

      Listen to the audio version here:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

      "Creimy The Mountain"

      includes quotes from Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in D major (Edward Elgar), Johnny's Theme (Paul Anka), Off We Go Into The Wild Blue Yonder (Crawford), O Mein Papa (Paul Burkhard), Over The Rainbow (Harburg/Arlen), Star-Spangled Banner (Smith/Key), Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (Stephen Stills)

      One, two, three

      CREIMY the Mountain
      CREIMY the Mountain
      A regular picturesque
      Postcardy mountain
      Residing between lovely
      Rosamond and Gorman
      With his stunning wife ETHELL, A tree! A tree!

      CREIMY was a mountain ETHELL was a tree Growing off of his shoulder

      CREIMY was a mountain
      (CREIMY was a mountain!)
      ETHELL was a tree Growing off of his shoulder
      (ETHELL was a tree growing off of his shoulder)
      (hey, hey hey!)

      Creimy had two big
      Caves for eyes,
      With a cliff for a jaw
      That would go up 'n down,
      And whenever it did,
      He'd puff out some dust,
      And hack up a boulder (HACK!) Hack up a boulder (HACK! HACK!)
      Hack up a boulder (HACK! HACK! HACK!) Up a boulder

      Now, one day, now I believe it was on a Tuesday, a man in a checkered double-knit suit drove up in a large El Dorado Cadillac, leased from BOB SPREEN

      ("Where the freeways meet in Downey!")

      And he laid a HUGE, BULGING ENVELOPE right at the corner of CREIMY THE MOUNTAIN, that was right where his 'foot' was supposed to be.

      Now, CREIMY THE MOUNTAIN, he couldn't believe it! All those postcards he'd posed for, for ALL OF THOSE YEARS, and finally, now, AT LAST, his Royalties!

      Royalties! Royalties Royalties! Royalty check is in, honey!

      Yes, CREIMY THE MOUNTAIN was RICH! Yes, and his eyeball-caves, they widened in amazement, and his jaw (which was a cliff), well it dropped thirty feet!

      A bunch of dust puffed out! Rocks and boulders hacked up, (hack! hack!) crushing 'The LINCOLN'!

      I gave him the money He acted real funny He hocked up a rock and It TOTALLED my car!

      Oh, do you Know any trucks Might be bound for THE VALLEY?
      I don't wanna stand here All night in this bar (Dear Lord)

      I don't wanna stand here All night in this bar (No shit!)

      I don't wanna stand here All night in this bar!

      By two o'clock, when the bars are already closed down, CREIMY had broken 'THE BIG NEWS' to ETHELL. And with dust and boulders everywhere, CREIMY, choked with excitement, announced

      "ETHELL, we're going on a VACATION!"

      Yes, and they WERE going on a vacation! (Oh, and ETHELL, ETHELL, ETHELL, like every little woman, she of course was very excited! She creaked a little bit, and some old birds flew off of her.) CREIMY told ETHELL they were going to Yes! They were going to NEW YORK!

      "ETHELL, we're going to New York!"

      But first they were gonna stop in LAS VEGAS

      It's off to LAS VEGAS to check out the lounges Pull a few handles,
      And drink a few beers, (Oh, ETHELL!)

      ETHELL, my darling, you know that I love you!
      I'm glad we could have a Vacation this year! (Oh, NEET-O!)

      Glad we could have a Vacation this year!

      They left that night, crunchin' across the Mojave Desert

    16. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Chris' case is getting worse, he spends all day replying to himself as AC on /.

      The tests we ran on Chris have shown that Chris has the intelligence of an ameba:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      So, technically, he is able to conceive some kind of agenda but it will be silly or impossible to follow on a human scale.

      For example, Chris had an agenda to post anything he felt like on Slashdot which did not work well because it was based on his false beliefs that he had an infinite number of karma points as he wrote here several times.

      Several people here explained to Chris that karma maxed out at some level like 50 or so but Chris kept on insisting that his python script had confirmed that he had millions of karma points!

      Oh well, as I wrote before: "It isn't Chris' fault if he is the way he is. We do the best we can do with him and he is partially integrated into society. We try to cure his abnormal need for attention but he is kind of stubborn and won't listen to anybody."

      For the valuable /. users that might already have read the following, please note that there is an important update.

      IMPORTANT UPDATE:
      Special Education for the Santa Clara County Office of Education has invested money to buy Chris a new chair:
      http://www.keynamics.com/image...

      Information about Christopher Dale Reimer and autistic people:

      Autistic people have obsessions about things normal people don't care. For example, one of our autistic patient went haywire when he realized that there was a penny missing in his pocket change.

      To calm him down, one of our educator pretended to have found it on the floor and gave a penny to him.

      The autistic patient condition went even worse because he realized it wasn't the same penny!

      Chris has an obsession with budgeting every penny. He doesn't understand that most people do not budget to the penny and have a flexible amount they allow for miscellaneous items.

      I am Nancy Guerrero and I am Director of Special Education for the Santa Clara County Office of Education. We use Chris' (a.k.a. creimer,cdreimer) picture in our document because he is the hardest case we have ever had to handle:
      http://www.sccoe.org/depts/stu...

      Our artists were inspired by the low carb diet that Christopher follows scrupulously for the small lunch box and by the picture linked below for the rest. I am sure that you will notice the similarities such as the bump on the side of his chest and more:
      https://ibb.co/gVad65

      Please be easy on Christopher although, I am aware that some of our staff handling Chris post joke comments here and obvoiusly, the Santa Clara County Office of Education disapprove that behavior vehemently:
      http://ibb.co/mRVSaG

      But it isn't Chris' fault if he is the way he is. We do the best we can do with him and he is partially integrated into society. We try to cure his abnormal need for attention but he is kind of stubborn and won't listen to anybody.

      Thank You dear users,
      ---
      Nancy Guerrero
      Director
      Special Education
      Santa Clara County Office of Education

    17. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lol...imply that Apple isn't all rainbows and unicorn farts and you get modded a troll.

    18. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey creimer!

      What are the preliminary results of your youtube poll about people in favor of a 2 or 3 weeks government shutdown?

      --
      Balena!

    19. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      the agencies are looking into whether Apple violated securities laws regarding disclosures about its updates that throttled older iPhones.

      It sounds like it's less about whether or not it's illegal to write malware, as it may be illegal to sell malware without telling customers and (more importantly) investors.

      They admitted that they did it.

      But nobody knows whether or not it was illegal. The "investigation" might be less about probing what Apple did, as asking lawyers what they think about what Apple did.

      The issue is probably going to come down to whether or not Apple should have been compelled to tell stockholders and potential stockholders about the reasonably-expected consequences of the malware to the value of Apple's stock. Imagine if you bought Apple stock, not knowing that their customers were about to get pissed, while maybe people in the company knew there was about to be a big stink and might have sold.

    20. Re:Investigate! by twotacocombo · · Score: 1

      Well, was Dodge open about what they were doing and why? Or did it take a lot of digging after people wondered why their cars felt a decrease in performance before Dodge owned up to the fact that they gimped everyone's engine below the advertised specs without announcement? To me, it's less the act of doing what was done and more the total lack of information and transparency regarding it. Keeping something like this hidden just reeks of ill intent. If they came out and said "We're worried about blowing up your engines so here's what we're doing...", that's completely acceptable. Apple was not that forthcoming.

    21. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Do it? Gub'mnt ?? Of-course, if APPLE gets screwed ... fucked-in-azzwhole ... sodomized for making 8-YO chi.com kids lick glue into the case-joints of iPODs! Pain & piss ... anything like that is much well-earned fun while APPLE howls.

    22. Re:Investigate! by greenwow · · Score: 1

      And don't let them weasel out of the class action lawsuit with their fake $29 battery replacement offer. A coworker's son works at the local Apple store, and he said they're refusing to do about 90% of the replacements. I know the devices I took in from work were all denied due to one excuse or another.

    23. Re:Investigate! by networkBoy · · Score: 1

      The initial TSB just said:
      "Reliability update for PCM"

      While Apple didn't communicate and that may be an issue, what they actually did is no different than this. The only way to get "pep" back in your engine was to buy a new PCM that wasn't flashed, or a newer model of the engine all together that had revised components.

      --
      whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
    24. Re:Investigate! by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

      I'm an Apple fan (though I like to think I'm not a fanboy), and I'm okay with this investigation. While the facts about what happened aren't in dispute, the decisions that led to those actions are in dispute, and depending on what they end up being, they might point towards misdeeds on Apple's part. For instance, while I doubt the government will find any indication of it, if Apple was slowing already-purchased phones down for the purpose of driving people to purchase new phones, there'd be some serious problems for them, given that they would have effectively been engaging in a bait-and-switch.

      I expect that the government will subpoena the relevant e-mails, investigate whether that was the intent, and then will almost certainly come to the conclusion that there's no evidence of Apple engaging in any wrongdoing. At the same time, I expect that the investigation will be dragged through the news cycles every few months whenever a politician or competitor who's opposed to Apple in some way needs a quick way to make Apple look like the bad guy.

      I.e. Politics as usual.

    25. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      These days it's also fat men defrauding their online peers by trying to sell them horrific ebooks.

    26. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you still trying to spread that lie about creimer selling e/books on Amazon?

    27. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The only one lying in these threads is creimer himself, duh! creimer is the most renowned /. liar!

      --
      Balena!

    28. Re: Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Aaaaand, VW is throttling to fix emissions. So all these companies are deceiving mofos and deserve to be sued into oblivion.

      What was your point again?

    29. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But if you go to the cdreimer account on Amazon it lists ebooks (albeit ones that you stopped selling).

      I really don't understand this latest weirdness of saying it's a lie. It's right there on the site.

    30. Re:Investigate! by rtb61 · · Score: 2

      More importantly, the issue is a non user replaceable battery, which saves Apple money and generates big profits at replacement. So if more people noticed bad battery and more people replaced them, more people would be pissed off about the price. So in terms of longer term outcomes, the idea of non user replaceable batteries, designed obsolescence, loss of user capital worth in the products, also need to be checked. Should expensive phones need to last say a decade, with reasonable care and repair. How much repair should an end user have access too, replace screen, replace battery, replace sim, replace memory at minimum. Are laws required.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    31. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But if you go to the cdreimer account on Amazon it lists ebooks (albeit ones that you stopped selling).

      I'm not cdreimer, asshole.

      I really don't understand this latest weirdness of saying it's a lie. It's right there on the site.

      It's a verifiable lie because no e/books for cdreimer appears on Amazon. Want to provide some links to prove otherwise?

    32. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why are you calling me an asshole for just stating the truth?

      Anyway, just enter "The Cabbage Patch Doll Fight: A Christmas Shopping Tale" in Amazon search. You made the book unavailable, but you forgot to take it down. I don't understand why it's something to get angry about, but on the other hand you're clearly deranged so I guess there's no understanding.

    33. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh oops, you can't go straight there. You have to load the cdreimer store, and then the ebooks you were selling show up.

    34. Re:Investigate! by LostMyBeaver · · Score: 1

      No shit... I used to be part of writing a web browser (with a ridiculously large user base world wide) that intentionally reformatted web pages and shrunk content to reduce bandwidth consumption. I wonder if they'll come after us for altering content to save the user money. And no... we didn't give an option to download the full quality items if they requested. So if you really want to see Kim Kardashian's ass in all it's nasty glory, you'll have to use another web browser.... I wonder if that in itself is able to be called a public service.

    35. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What!? You mean I can't buy original C.D. Reimer literature anmore?

    36. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why does creimer have an "author blog"?

    37. Re: Investigate! by Brockmire · · Score: 1

      You don't have to read TFS, but the second sentence does answer your question.

    38. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      creimer is busy watching the state of the union. creimer hopes Trump will announce forcing a review of the views required for earning money on YouTube. Make america great by promoting small authors like creimer!

    39. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You mean right here on your own site?
      https://www.cdreimer.com/ebook...

      You pulled your vile digital vomit from Amazon... so why did you keep Author Profile - Amazon ?

      https://www.amazon.com/Worlds-...

      "This title is not currently available for purchase "

      Used to be, you have two reviews...

    40. Re:Investigate! by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      What's there to investigate, really? They admitted that they did it. The information is public. Is it illegal to write software which could be construed to have a useful purpose even if it negatively impacts performance? That could describe features of just about any software out there. Is this something we really want the government doing?

      Mod Parent UP!!!!

      This is THE crux of the biscuit!

      Score 100 Insightful!

    41. Re:Investigate! by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 2

      Don't sully the sacred memory and lyrics of the GREAT Francis Vincent Zappa (and the performances of Mark Vollman and Howard Kaylan) by making it into some dumbass, halfassed ad hominem attack on ANYONE, even cd Reimer!!!

      Just. Don't.

    42. Re:Investigate! by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      And don't let them weasel out of the class action lawsuit with their fake $29 battery replacement offer. A coworker's son works at the local Apple store, and he said they're refusing to do about 90% of the replacements. I know the devices I took in from work were all denied due to one excuse or another.

      Prove it, or STFU.

    43. Re:Investigate! by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      I'm an Apple fan (though I like to think I'm not a fanboy), and I'm okay with this investigation. While the facts about what happened aren't in dispute, the decisions that led to those actions are in dispute, and depending on what they end up being, they might point towards misdeeds on Apple's part. For instance, while I doubt the government will find any indication of it, if Apple was slowing already-purchased phones down for the purpose of driving people to purchase new phones, there'd be some serious problems for them, given that they would have effectively been engaging in a bait-and-switch.

      I expect that the government will subpoena the relevant e-mails, investigate whether that was the intent, and then will almost certainly come to the conclusion that there's no evidence of Apple engaging in any wrongdoing. At the same time, I expect that the investigation will be dragged through the news cycles every few months whenever a politician or competitor who's opposed to Apple in some way needs a quick way to make Apple look like the bad guy.

      I.e. Politics as usual.

      Bullshit.

      Don't you find it a bit COMBEENIENT that this "investigation" come STRAIGHT on the heels of the FBI testifying in Congress about "unbreakable encryption"? Especially since we ALL know who has the best track record I. That regard...

      Conveeeeeenient, indeed.

    44. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      DANGER DANGER DANGER

      creimer is using his techniques to annoy everyone and distract us, in the meantime he is activating his old sockpocket accounts!!!

      https://slashdot.org/~anonymou...

      Don't let this fat fuck build up karma!

    45. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Frankly, on this rare occassion, I believe Apple enacted the correct and responsible action, and should continue to stand behind their action, reducing load on older batteries by whatever means deemed necessary. Li-ion cells bring down airliners. With all the iDevices out there, it is only a matter of time before an abused Apple Li-ion cell kills, and not just mames, a bunch of people. It has likely already happened. Maybe you're not seeing the larger picture, but Apple is.

    46. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What delusion makes you think anyone owes you proof of anything. The righteous power of being an apple shill?

    47. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Respect and fear the lithium ion battery. All of them are made in China, and China is really the best source of these cells, and their failure rates are far lower than anyone would expect, a credit to the Chinese. But there will always be spectacular failures with those massive kinds of large numbers. With great power comes great reponsibility. Boo the ignorant and entitled Apple consumers! Boo! Hooray Apple, for once!

    48. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/man-bits-iphone-battery-explodes-face-article-1.3781042

      This is one great reason why Apple denies the omnipotent and omniscient and brilliant know-it-all Apple consumers user-replaceable batteries. Apple has done a fantastic job so far not allowing their customers to blow themselves to pieces, regardless of their insistance that they be allowed to do so because they paid for the right to do so. Everyone always thinks they know better. Anytime this occurs, chances are good they do not. Sometimes there are not any nepharipus reasons behind Apple's actions, as in the case of Apple updates intentionally slowing down their consumers' iDevices to reduce load and wear on aging Li-ion cells, and refusing to adopt a platform with user-replaceable batteries. These Li-ion cells are not your older brother's Li-ion cells. These ones have so much energy they can kill you if you abuse them, and you are very likely to abuse them because you are very likely to be ignorant concerning how not to abuse them.

    49. Re:Investigate! by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

      Like I said, politics as usual.

    50. Re: Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My point was super obvious. You're just some blind bastard who wants to attack the messenger because you can't beat the message.

      Also VW wasn't fixing emissions at all, they were rigging the test.

    51. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How can you defraud orphans? As you stated yourself

      https://slashdot.org/comments....

      "Children don't have money"

      So how can you defraud orphans, Chris?

      Or is your obsessive need to spew something, anything, so overwhelming that you just have to type whatever drippy diarrhea pops into your sick brain?

    52. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In the past, the term "widows and orphans" was used to describe stocks with a relatively high degree of safety and dividend income. Because they had relatively minimal risk and provided income to feed the family, these kinds of stocks were literally thought to be the only investments suitable for widows and orphans.

      Do "Widow And Orphan" Stocks Still Exist?
      https://www.investopedia.com/articles/analyst/121802.asp

    53. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why are you promoting creimer again?

    54. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have a hilarious story about this. I saw "home" and thought it was..."homo"! Over and over! And I did a double take, it made me want to look again!

      This is a totally normal thing! A lot of people see the word "home" and always think they're actually seeing the work "homo!" It's very funny! I did a double-take!

      LOL!

    55. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why are you promoting creimer?

    56. Re:Investigate! by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I think the original problem of phones crashing or the charge indicator suddenly going from 70% to 2% was just a genuine design flaw, a standard engineering cock-up due to lack of testing. Apple kind of has a history of similar mistakes over its whole product range.

      It's the response that is problematic. Did they take advantage of the situation to both cover up the flaw and enrich themselves? It certainly looks that way. In some countries they appear to have a legal obligation to offer free replacements or 70%+ refunds.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    57. Re:Investigate! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is this not why creimer comes to Slashdot? Self promotion, narcissism, and obsession? creimer should be pleased.

    58. Re:Investigate! by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      The battery that isn't easy to replace allows a larger battery inside the case. My iPhone 5S is about 7mm thick, and if a millimeter had to be lost for an easily replaceable battery that would either have reduced battery life significantly or thickened the phone significantly. People seem to buy slimmer phones, so making it thicker wasn't attractive.

      Seriously, if your battery is going to need to be changed every three years or so, how easy does it have to be?

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
    59. Re:Investigate! by david_thornley · · Score: 1

      Why are you calling the changes malware? They serve the useful purpose of preventing the phone from crashing with too much power draw. The fact that they have some negative aspects doesn't make them malware. Consider Meltdown: Intel got maximum performance, but included a major security flaw, which is roughly the reverse.

      --
      "When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
  3. SEC. Really? by Fly+Swatter · · Score: 1

    I think they might be overstepping their charter a bit. About the SEC from the horses mouth. I guess someone with too much money that happens to know someone high up, and owned one of the effected phones got all butt hurt.

    1. Re:SEC. Really? by Luthair · · Score: 1

      Depends, did executives trade stocks knowing they had this time bomb?

    2. Re:SEC. Really? by gravewax · · Score: 1

      They are not overstepping their charter at all. The SEC deals with company disclosures and they are investigating whether Apple breached the disclosure laws.

  4. investigate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That is, that's what they're doing on those off and extremely rare days when they're not investigating the president to throw his ass in prison for treason.

  5. Meh. by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

    The government "investigates" a lot of things. However, Tim Cook was recently seen kissing The Donald's ass. No connection of course.

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
  6. More transparent? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    More transparent? lol?

    More than half the people posting here defend their actions, saying throttling without notification is a perfectly acceptable behaviour. They've never been transparent before... what makes anyone think they'll change now?

    1. Re:More transparent? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Slashbots are guzzling the Applel Kool-Aid harder now than they ever did. And with these guys, that's saying something...

  7. iPhone usage by jahir.social.012 · · Score: 1

    It's better to use android over iPhone. I know it is style, it looks better but for better benefits android should adopt. If you have money but you don't know where to spend, then the Apple store is for you. https://brillins.com/

  8. Pretty soon it will investigate DrDos too. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

    Apparently the rumors about "DOS is not done till Lotus wont run (in DR-DOS)" has reached the ears of the government. It will start an investigation anytime soon.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    1. Re:Pretty soon it will investigate DrDos too. by freeze128 · · Score: 1

      I thought that was MS-DOS...

    2. Re:Pretty soon it will investigate DrDos too. by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Apparently the rumors about "DOS is not done till Lotus wont run (in DR-DOS)" has reached the ears of the government. It will start an investigation anytime soon.

      The USDoJ found that Microsoft had acted in basically every anticompetitive way possible, and then John Ashcroft (GWB's AG) declared that any punishment would not be in the best interest of America. Shortly thereafter, Gates formed his Foundation and continued the work on strong IP law that he began at Microsoft, this time largely on behalf of Big Pharma — financially benefiting both the Foundation, and Gates directly. This is merely an escalation of the earlier strong-arm tactics of the Business Software Alliance.

      Call me a nutter if you like, I'm used to that. But Gates is a career criminal, and the only reason he's still wealthy is that some kind of deal was struck with the Bush Administration. It's not like government doesn't like to take money from people.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    3. Re:Pretty soon it will investigate DrDos too. by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 1

      DR DOS was the competitor to Ms-DOS. They kept modifying MS-DOS to make sure Lotus, if maintained compatibility with Ms-DOS would not run in DR-DOS. Well, it is so long ago, may be I am misremembering it..

      --
      sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
    4. Re:Pretty soon it will investigate DrDos too. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you are a nutter. like him or hate him gates has done more good for the world than bad, especially since his retirement. He invests in big pharma as guess who one of the biggest big pharma customers is BILL GATES as he gives away billions of dollars worth of free immunisations and underwrites poor countries investments in immunisations (or in some cases pays their debts in full for it).

    5. Re:Pretty soon it will investigate DrDos too. by freeze128 · · Score: 1

      I remember that Microsoft was developing Windows 3.1 at the time, and kept changing it so it wouldn't run under DR-DOS. Digital Research had to release a patch to allow Windows to run. Maybe that's what you remember.

    6. Re:Pretty soon it will investigate DrDos too. by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      you are a nutter. like him or hate him gates has done more good for the world than bad, especially since his retirement.

      Computing is important to all fields of science, and Microsoft set back computing a decade at a time when science is more important than ever before. The Gates Foundation has not stamped out a single disease, because they can't even get into some countries because they are not a humanitarian organization, but an arm of Big Pharma.

      he gives away billions of dollars worth of free immunisations and underwrites poor countries investments in immunisations (or in some cases pays their debts in full for it).

      You can't get the Gates Foundation to come into your country unless you support IP law so strong that you will not be allowed to manufacture medications for your people even if there is no other way to save their lives. Instead, they insist that your country go into debt to Big Pharma. So this is very much about debt: It's about creating debt in the future.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  9. bigger battles by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How about you skip this and spend time investigating Drumpf for treason.

  10. opportunity for "extra tax" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i guess they saw a opportunity to squeze the billions they did not have to pay on tax reductions.
    they will always get you in the end no matter what.

  11. Don't buy fucking phones with non-replaceable batt by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...stupid fucking idea for stupid fucking apple pawns.

  12. Battery Replacement Scam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Do you remember how Apples PR team quickly jumped at offering customers a solution of replacing their cell phone battery for cheap?

    Well what good is a solution if the company will not "act" on it?

    I have two clients that were turned away from Apple after attempting to get their battery replaced for their IPhone 6.
    They were told by the reps that there are no batteries available, "they may come in April". Then the rep immediately tried to encourage my client to buy a new phone.

    Has anyone else experienced this?

    It is becoming tiring that companies can say whatever suites them to make problems go away.
    Will we ever live in a world of corporate accountability?

    1. Re:Battery Replacement Scam by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 2

      Do you remember how Apples PR team quickly jumped at offering customers a solution of replacing their cell phone battery for cheap?

      Well what good is a solution if the company will not "act" on it?

      I have two clients that were turned away from Apple after attempting to get their battery replaced for their IPhone 6.
      They were told by the reps that there are no batteries available, "they may come in April". Then the rep immediately tried to encourage my client to buy a new phone.

      Has anyone else experienced this?

      It is becoming tiring that companies can say whatever suites them to make problems go away.
      Will we ever live in a world of corporate accountability?

      Hey dumbass!

      There ARE no batteries available, thanks to everyone FORCING Apple to replace batteries that are still at 90+ capacity, like the battery on my iPhone 6 Plus that is over THREE years old, and sitting at 93% battery capacity.

    2. Re:Battery Replacement Scam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe apple should have thought about this before designing a defective phone

    3. Re:Battery Replacement Scam by swb · · Score: 1

      How do you know how much capacity is left in the battery? Is there a diagnostic that shows?

      I have a iPhone 6 Plus that has some weird battery behavior (jumping battery charge levels from like 80% to 49% and then staying at 49% for ages).

    4. Re:Battery Replacement Scam by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't be the dumb-ass here. They're emphasizing the fact that it gives the sales reps another excuse to hock gullible customers a new phone. Whether they're out of batteries or not; this extremely shady. And, another reason why the government should be looking into them.

    5. Re:Battery Replacement Scam by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      You are basing your remaining battery capacity on Apple's down app. When they used that app to check my girlfriend's battery they found it had 87% remaining, but that didn't stop it from suddenly jumping from 50% charged to 2% charged, or randomly powering off.

      I think all the app does is measure the amount of energy that the battery stores, not its ability to deliver high currents. As such even if your battery still stores 90% of its rated energy, it might not actually work properly in your phone.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    6. Re:Battery Replacement Scam by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      How do you know how much capacity is left in the battery? Is there a diagnostic that shows?

      I have a iPhone 6 Plus that has some weird battery behavior (jumping battery charge levels from like 80% to 49% and then staying at 49% for ages).

      I believe that Apple is going to add that to a future version of iOS; HOWEVER, there are several Apps that show Battery "Health" as a Percentage.

      The one that I used, and that several people on MacRumors were citing as "coming up with the same value as Apple's Genius-Bar Diagnostic" is called "Battery Life". But beware! There are actually TWO Apps that have VERY similar Icons, both are called "Battery Life". But one gives you the "Battery Life" as a Percentage of "Wear", and the other gives you the Percentage of Life-Left. So, one would show "7%" (wear), while the other would show "93%" (life-left).

      The one with the little lightning-bolt in the middle of the battery depicted on the icon is the "Wear" one. The one with the Exclamation Point in the middle of the battery depicted on the icon is the "life-left" one. Sorry I can't get back to the exact name of the App with the Exclamation Point...

      But, something interesting just happened. I pressed the "Rate and Review" button in the App with the Exclamation Point; and it promptly said that the App "was not available in the U.S. App Store" (!!!) So???

      So maybe the "Battery Life" with the Lightning-Bolt is the one you want. And this is the link:

      https://itunes.apple.com/us/ap...

      Sorry for the confusion!

    7. Re:Battery Replacement Scam by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      You are basing your remaining battery capacity on Apple's down app. When they used that app to check my girlfriend's battery they found it had 87% remaining, but that didn't stop it from suddenly jumping from 50% charged to 2% charged, or randomly powering off.

      I think all the app does is measure the amount of energy that the battery stores, not its ability to deliver high currents. As such even if your battery still stores 90% of its rated energy, it might not actually work properly in your phone.

      I was using a third party app that many people on MacRumors were recommending as "agreeing" with the Apple "Genius-Bar" Diagnostic.

      https://itunes.apple.com/us/ap...

      It is called "Battery Life", and displays a "quickie look" of battery "wear", or you can look at the Raw Data. In the "Raw Data" view, it shows both the current battery charge, as well as an obviously-averaged "Capacity", in which it compares to the design-spec for the particular battery. So, for example, that bargraph shows that my "Capacity" is 93%, or 2700 mAh, rather than the "ideal" of 2915 mAh for my iPhone 6 Plus. So, there's your numbers, and how they are derived.

    8. Re:Battery Replacement Scam by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Right, so it's only showing capacity, not current delivery capability. This it is worthless for diagnosing this issue.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    9. Re:Battery Replacement Scam by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      Right, so it's only showing capacity, not current delivery capability. This it is worthless for diagnosing this issue.

      not unrelated, generally; so definitely NOT "worthless". And the current delivery capacity involves measuring the battery's effective series resistance, which is kind of hard for a simple App to do.

      So, of you're so smart, why don't you show us all how it's done, and release an iOS App that can accurately measure "current delivery capacity" with any reasonable accuracy and repeatability whatsoever.

      Tool.

    10. Re:Battery Replacement Scam by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Measuring the current delivery capability is easy, and in fact exactly what Apple does to detect when throttling is required. Since V=IR it's a simple matter of loading up the CPU to draw some fairly consistent current and measuring how much the battery voltage collapses.

      It should be possible to do in an app if apps can measure battery voltage.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    11. Re:Battery Replacement Scam by swb · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the info. I looked at the screenshots and I guess it's not clear to me that this one really has what it takes to do real analysis against the battery.

      It's not clear to me that Apple provides a public developer API for reading more than battery percentage (I actually looked it up).

      I would think any battery diagnostic app would have to monitor low level battery details while presenting a well-calibrated load (ie, that produces a known mAh real electrical load) against the phone's electrical system. The app would have a table derived from running it on new phones with known good batteries showing "ideal battery drain rate" which would then be compared against the data provided by the battery in question.

      Battery "health" would then be the deviation between the canned data for known good batteries vs. the battery in the phone it's being run on.

      The downside would be you would have to run the app for a fairly long time (minutes to possibly tens of minutes or longer) to get a reliable measure, and I'm also not sure how it would easily match background consumption variations (notifications or apps with frequently polled notification data). I suspect while testing you'd want to go into airplane mode.

      I also am not sure how well such an app would deal with actual bad batteries like mine which are normal for 100-80% charge states but then have weird levels after that, such as jumping between levels at some power states.

      I do a lot of boating and battery monitoring is a big deal and even where you have unrestricted access to batteries and can do a lot of load monitoring with good instruments, actual battery charge state and health are really hard to know well. The best instrument I've found, the Balmar SmartGauge, which has been extensively bench tested, nobody really knows how it works. It was developed for military vehicles, and the best anyone can figure is that it pulses the batteries with high frequency pulses and has some kind of internal tables from many well-calibrated tests of various chemistries.

    12. Re:Battery Replacement Scam by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

      Measuring the current delivery capability is easy, and in fact exactly what Apple does to detect when throttling is required. Since V=IR it's a simple matter of loading up the CPU to draw some fairly consistent current and measuring how much the battery voltage collapses.

      It should be possible to do in an app if apps can measure battery voltage.

      I understand V = IR, but there is no way to accurately determine "I".

      You say "just keep loading up the CPU and watch battery Voltage." The problem is, it really isn't that simple. Even asuming that Apps can read battery voltage directly, There are still too many variables to ACCURATELY predict current draw from just Instantaneous CPU load.

      Sorry, the ONLY way to measure DC current flow accurately is with a current shunt. But I VERY much doubt that something as power sensitive as a smartphone would want to waste even a little power with a resistive shunt. So, there is just no practical possibility that an App could directly measure current, and even a rough guesstimate using your suggested method (even assuming V can be measured) would be so wildly inaccurate as to be virtually useless.

    13. Re:Battery Replacement Scam by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I is the thing you are calculating by measuring V and using a fixed R. Well, not R exactly, but a fixed load, which is the CPU at 100%.

      Say you decide that your test will be CPU at 100% on both cores, screen on maximum brightness, radios turned off. That's going to be fairly consistent across devices. If you are Apple you can even measure I under these conditions, but you don't actually need to. All you need to do is measure V, and do it on a decent number of sample devices, checking at what point the drop in V causes the device to reset under load.

      Now you can calculate battery health based on V under your fixed load, and predict with a fair degree of accuracy when it won't be able to run the phone under load.

      That is certainly what Apple does. They monitor voltage, and when it drops to a certain point start to throttle the CPU before the phone resets. Add some code to ignore those low readings when calculating battery % left so it doesn't jump from 50% to 2%, and quietly slip it into an iOS update.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  13. Re:Don't buy fucking phones with non-replaceable b by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyone can buy replacement batteries, apparently stupid fucking apple pawns have opposable thumbs.

  14. Re: Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repair by Brockmire · · Score: 0

    Because you are dumb.

  15. Re:Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repa by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 0

    Awwwww poor apple worshipper upset? Kneel before jobs!

    Sez the Anonymous COWARD about the LOGGED IN User.

    Slashdot REALLY needs to figure a way to reign-in the ACs. Perhaps Slashdot's comment system could keep track behind the scenes of who the AC TRULY is, and have the Karma against their particular Postings be visited upon the AC's REAL account.

    That way, those who wish to remain anonymous could still do so; but it could no longer be used as a way to spew hatred and bigotry (I'm looking at you, "NIGGAS" poster-person!); which is EXACTLY is what it is used for 99.999999999999% of the time on Slashdot.

  16. Re:Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Another awww. Useless shills like you should be outright banned. Your worse than paid advertising for apple. If you dont like it here maybe /. isnt for you. Spread your lies elsewhere; appleinsider seems pretty tech ignorant, try your luck there.

  17. Re: Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repai by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, that must be why I got +1 as AC with no bonus.

    Meanwhile you just get +1 because you have them an email address to sell.

  18. Glued components, special tools by DrYak · · Score: 1

    The last iPhone to be glued shut was the iPhone 3GS. Circa 2009. The iPhone 4 (from 2010) and onwards are not glued shut and can be opened by removing 2 screws. Yes, 2 screws.

    Did replace the battery on my SO's iPhone 5.
      - Those two screws are shitty Apple pentalobular proprietary stuff, requiring you to buy special tools, because "fuck standards".
      - The glass still requires you to use custom tools to pull it out (luckily, any object with enough suction that you have laying around would do : car dashboard GPS holder, kitchen towel holder, etc. combined with a guitar pick/plectrum for lever. But in theory that would have been even more tools to buy).
      - The battery is still glued inside the case.

    At least the good news is that you can easily source good quality replacement for really cheap prices from reputable 3rd party source, so you don't need to rely on some shady sellers from Shenzen on ebay or alibaba.

    My phone at the exact same timeframe (Jolla 1 - JP1301) :
      - unclip plastic cover
      - remove old battery
      - put new battery
      - close plastic cover

    (Again, battery from 3rd party source, because Jolla doesn't have any more in tock).

    Any other gadget without a clip-on back cover (wireless mouse, etc.) :
      - unscrew the back cover (often standard screws like philips, sometime weird but common stuff like torx)
      - unplug the old battery's connector
      - plug the the new battery's connector
      - screw back everything into place.

    But yeah, the iPhone is 1mm thinner than the other gadgets thanks to all the stupid stuff.

    --
    "Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
  19. Re:Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repa by Freischutz · · Score: 1

    Another awww. Useless shills like you should be outright banned. Your worse than paid advertising for apple. If you dont like it here maybe /. isnt for you. Spread your lies elsewhere; appleinsider seems pretty tech ignorant, try your luck there.

    Dang, it's been a while since I came across somebody who sucked as much ass at trolling as you do.

  20. Re:Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Another ignorant ass hat that wants to cover up apples design flaw with some apple only physics bullshit.

  21. Re:Hopefully they'll force Apple to allow repa by Freischutz · · Score: 1

    Another ignorant ass hat that wants to cover up apples design flaw with some apple only physics bullshit.

    We seem to have hit a Fuckface Von Nervestick.
    -- Jon Stewart

  22. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion