[HN Gopher] EU endorses right to repair as a circular economy es...
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       EU endorses right to repair as a circular economy essential
        
       Author : mrzool
       Score  : 36 points
       Date   : 2022-08-13 18:20 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.ifixit.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.ifixit.com)
        
       | scarface74 wrote:
       | Yes because the "right to repair" your phone is important even
       | when manufacturers of most Android phones don't bother about
       | supporting them with operating system upgrades or security
       | upgrades for more than two years if at all.
        
         | zamalek wrote:
         | That would presumably be part of right to repair.
        
           | scarface74 wrote:
           | So they are going to force all Android OEMs to keep their
           | phones updated? Will they get updates as long as iOS? An
           | iPhone 6S from 2015 can still run the latest OS. Apple
           | released a security patch within the last year for phones
           | back to the 2013 iPhone 5s.
           | 
           | Going to an Apple store or authorized dealer isn't as big of
           | a deal to get a $69 battery replacement as it is to ask an
           | Android user to hunt the internet to hopefully find a
           | community supported Android variant that still supports their
           | phone and still not have access to Google Play Services .
        
             | CommanderData wrote:
             | Probably not but it's speculation at the moment. Maybe
             | support for open source firmware versions allowing the user
             | to switch should they need to. In terms of drivers these
             | could be opened but that'd require a huge amount of change
             | from chip manufacturers.
        
               | scarface74 wrote:
               | So yeah, good luck with getting Qualcomm and the other
               | chipset manufacturers to open source their drivers and
               | then depending on volunteers to support your phone.
               | 
               | Even Google once had to drop support for some Nexus
               | devices because it couldn't convince chipset makers to
               | support their latest OS on the phone.
        
         | public_defender wrote:
         | What's important here is that right to repair might require an
         | unlockable bootloader so you can install something that does
         | get updates instead of relying on your crappy phone
         | manufacturer's planned obsolescence timeline.
        
           | scarface74 wrote:
           | Yes because most users want to depend on a third party to
           | support their phones and not have access to updated Google
           | Play Services.
        
             | _aavaa_ wrote:
             | - A custom rom can still get updated google play services.
             | 
             | - most users currently don't get support, so idk what
             | you're arguing for here
             | 
             | - you already have to rely on countless 3rd parties in
             | order to use your phone
        
               | scarface74 wrote:
               | Most _Android_ users don't get support. _iOS_ users can
               | just go to Settings and get official updates from Apple
               | without trawling the internet hoping some volunteers
               | decided to support their phone.
        
               | _aavaa_ wrote:
               | Until apple decides to no longer update their phone. And
               | then they're in an even worse position.
               | 
               | So if that is cause it's just an old device and new
               | feature don't have what they need. But others is a
               | decision they make.
               | 
               | Look at the recent redesign of the Reminders app, the
               | fact that the new and old version are incompatible is not
               | because of hardware. Nor is their choice to not backport
               | it.
        
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       (page generated 2022-08-13 23:01 UTC)