Non-removable batteries, what happens after your warranty?

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soulesschild

Supreme [H]ardness
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Feb 18, 2007
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So I'm really curious. My TB was on the verge of being an unusable POS until I bought some new third party batteries for it. What are all the people with the new non-removable battery phones gonna do when the battery starts malfunctioning/dying after their 1 yr warranty??? I mean this sort of just perpetuates the cycle of upgrading every 2 yrs no? Or has battery technology gotten pretty advanced since my TB?

Hell I think even Apple charges what, 100+ to replace the internal battery? But at least Apple still supports some of their older products. I doubt HTC for example would offer that level of support especially since they have no retail presence over here like Apple.
 
I think this is what you would call planned obsolescence. I suppose the truly determined might be able to figure out a way to pry the things open and replace the battery, but most people will just get a new phone figuring they have no other choice.
 
Well for some devices people open them up and replace the batteries despite being told they cant but your pretty much expected to throw it away and buy a new one this is why i will not buy a phone with a battery built in like the nexus 4 and iphone...
 
Unless you live out in the middle of nowhere you can find a shop that will take it apart and replace the battery and for reasonable prices. Most places around here charge around $40 for a 3gs or 4 for example and I'm sure they'll start doing nexus 4's when the time's right.
 
The Nexus 4's battery is pretty easy to replace and is something you can do yourself. iPhones are tougher to take apart, but it depends on the model. The 3GS and 5 require taking off the screen, but the 4 isn't too bad.
 
Some devices are just a huge PITA to take apart, I had to replace some parts for my mom's IPAD2 and it turned out to be a nightmare, almost would have been better to send it out and have someone else fix the thing.
 
The Nexus 4 has some very easy way to remove the battery for an embedded device.

There are also third party battery extender cases.

The iPhone's resale value doesn't seem to hurt despite its embedded-ness. I also know plenty of people using used iPhones; they don't nearly complain about their battery life as much as I would imagine.

The top two reasons for embedded batteries are 1) thinner device and 2) more reliable due to less moving parts. Quite frankly if all Android phones are designed like the RAZR Maxx HD, I don't think people will have too many issues.
 
Can't stand non-removable batteries for my hand held devices. When I was shopping for a new phone this past October, the GS3 was the clear winner out of my short list of GS3, Evo LTE, and a couple others.

Thought about getting the Google Nexus, but it was still priced at $99 vs $129 for the GS3. With a non-removable battery in the Evo LTE, the GS3 was my clear winner.

Batteries wear out, that's nothing new to any of us, so I want to be able to replace the damn thing myself if/when that happens.

I feel that non-removable batteries are nothing more than a ploy by the phone/device company to either get the user to buy a whole new device when the battery fails, or pay even more money for the battery and labor on top of that. Either way, we lose.

Glad to see that there are some "non-removable" batteries that are actually quite simple to replace thanks to the above links.
 
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