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European iPhones are more fun now
(www.theverge.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
In two years time Apple, and every other smartphone manufacturer on the EU market for that matter, will be forced to make the battery user replaceable and that one will most likely benefit everyone; unless Apple wants to release two versions of every iPhone to comply with EU regulations which they won't.
Hopefully they keep selling a phone with no user replaceable battery. Id rather have the weather proofing than a battery i need to swap out one time after owning the phone for over 4 years.
How many times has your phone needed the weather proofing in the last 4 years? Mine is 0, at least twice. On the flip side, I have needed a new battery 2 times.
I'm all about replacable batteries but come on. Two times I was out and came back home soaking wet because of rain. Many more times I used my phone in the kitchen or bathroom while water was splashing with no stress, which I wasn't brave enough to do with a non-resistant phones.
That being said, I'd rather carry an extra battery or two like I used to than carry a power bank.
The soaking rain thing has happened to me with a not particularly water resistant phone and it was fine. The water ratings are more intended for direct splashes and full immersion.
My opinion is that this is a comfort we can do without, especially given the ecology and consumer rights implications (not that a phone with a user replaceable battery is necessarily porous to water, plenty of phones meet both criteria)