News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Pixel 8 Pro by jfengel on Wednesday October 04, 2023 @03:44PM (#37770575)
The battery is replaceable, just not by the user (at least not easily). I've had my Pixel battery replaced; the cost didn't seem exorbitant.

It would be nice to be able to pop batteries in and out on the fly, but I suspect that would make it a lot harder to waterproof. I've lost more phones to water damage than I have to battery death.

Re:Pixel 8 Pro by imiric on Wednesday October 04, 2023 @04:56PM (#37771666)
The Samsung Galaxy S5 from 2014 had a removable battery, headphone jack, a microSD card slot, and was IP67 dust/water resistant. We lost removable batteries because it was an easy way to make devices obsolete.

IMO smartphones peaked around that era, and we've only seen incremental improvements and enshittification ever since. I used to be excited about every new device, but these days all manufacturers are grasping at straws trying to differentiate their rectangular slabs from the competition. AI is the latest gimmick in this trend.