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Re:If your iPhone is slow, try replacing the battery by Bud on Sunday December 10, 2017 @03:42AM (#15890555)
1) It is accounted for. Just not in the way you'd like, with your priorities.

2) No. It should not be simple, and there should not be a crappy "back cover" which "pops" open. If you do that, you've made a fragile piece of crap with no water resistance and much less durability and you've wasted a lot of space. Space which is in very short supply.

Re:If your iPhone is slow, try replacing the battery by lwansbrough on Sunday December 10, 2017 @04:17AM (#15890629)
> crappy "back cover"

Who said anything about crappy? High quality is achievable.

> If you do that, you've made a fragile piece of crap with no water resistance

As opposed to a fragile piece of crap with (some) water resistance? I'm not an expert on water resistance but I'm guessing something can be both resealable and water resistant.

> much less durability

Providing a back cover that would pop off if you drop the phone probably improves durability, due to the ability for energy to escape.

> Space which is in very short supply.

Why is it in short supply, other than because Apple tells you that you need a thinner phone?

Re:If your iPhone is slow, try replacing the battery by gaius on Sunday December 10, 2017 @05:10AM (#15890774)
Who said anything about crappy? High quality is achievable.

Indeed, in their heydey Blackberry had a leather-covered removable back cover. It was a premium product designed to be familiar to fancy people who wore hand-made suits and shoes. Indeed it was far more "quality" than the blingiest gold iPhone, which is just tacky.

Re:If your iPhone is slow, try replacing the battery by epicide on Sunday December 10, 2017 @10:14AM (#15891729)
Unfortunately, it's all about appearance.

A back cover that pops off _appears_ more fragile to most people.

Similar thing with water resistance. They could make a resealable back cover. However, you now have support trying to determine if someone's phone has water damage due to manufacturing issues or because they didn't put the cover back on. This leads back to the phone appearing more fragile (or Apple seeming petty).

You also have the scenario where the phone is dropped hard enough for the cover to come off and then land in water.

Re:If your iPhone is slow, try replacing the battery by achompas on Sunday December 10, 2017 @05:12AM (#15890781)
> I'm not an expert on water resistance but I'm guessing something can be both resealable and water resistant.

I’m not either, but you’d have to figure out an extremely special way to create a water-resistant phone with battery contacts that would not corrode on contact with water.

Re:If your iPhone is slow, try replacing the battery by icebraining on Sunday December 10, 2017 @05:53AM (#15890867)
My Nexus 7 has a pop out cover, yet when it fell in a stream of running water, it never even shut down. Opening it revealed only two small drops of water.

Plus, battery contacts don't corrode from a short exposition to water (otherwise, so would the headphone plug).

Re:If your iPhone is slow, try replacing the battery by summm on Sunday December 10, 2017 @06:35AM (#15890987)
Battery contacts and headphone contacts are usually gold plated, so corrosion is not really an issue.
Re:If your iPhone is slow, try replacing the battery by keganunderwood on Sunday December 10, 2017 @09:20AM (#15891461)
>My Nexus 7 has a pop out cover, yet when it fell in a stream of running water, it never even shut down. Opening it revealed only two small drops of water. Plus, battery contacts don't corrode from a short exposition to water (otherwise, so would the headphone plug).

I have a Nexus 7 as well and I have no idea what this pop out cover means. Can you please help me understand? Thanks

Re:If your iPhone is slow, try replacing the battery by icebraining on Sunday December 10, 2017 @11:07AM (#15891983)
Sorry, probably a wrong name, I mean the back cover just snaps together (and can be removed easily, even with one's nails) rather than having screws and such.
Re:If your iPhone is slow, try replacing the battery by Yetanfou on Monday December 11, 2017 @05:51AM (#15896258)
Uhhhh, not to rain on your parade but the device I've been using for the last 6½ years - a Motorola Defy - is waterproof (IP67) yet still has one of those 'crappy "back cover[s]" which "pops" open' (with a latch to prevent it from popping when popping is unwarranted). It is also supposed to be rugged and I guess this is confirmed by the fact that it still lives after those 6½ years in my care. Need I say I have a farm with quite a bit of forest, the which I regularly maintain using tractor, saw and axe? That phone has survived nevertheless. When it gets too disgusting to hold I clean it under running water. Just a week ago I happened to use the thing to provide some light when changing light bulbs in my wife's car. What do you know, it slipped down and landed on the plastic cover underneath the engine, there was no way to reach it without disassembling part of that cover. Since we were on our way home I just left it there, drove home (about 11 kilometres) and got out the tools required to rescue the phone. I found it wedged between the oil pan and the plastic cover. It was no worse for the wear other than possibly some extra scratches on that 'crappy "back cover"', I wouldn't know since the thing is scratched beyond recognition anyway. Yet... it still works.

I guess I don't need to elaborate on the survival chances of an iPhone - any iPhone - in these circumstances.

Re:If your iPhone is slow, try replacing the battery by hanbura on Sunday December 10, 2017 @10:24AM (#15891767)
>there should not be a crappy "back cover" which "pops" open. If you do that, you've made a fragile piece of crap with no water resistance

I'm quite happy with my Samsung Galaxy S5 mini. It is fully waterproof, despite replaceable battery located behind a removable back cover. The cover also never came loose on accident.