Great experience with Ifixit repair kits - Right to repair movement.

[vlad01]

I've heard good stuff and also was there in the tech news cycles over the years with the right to repair movement and a company that helped push this, Ifixit.com which also made tools and documentation, then provided parts and kits to carry out self repairs on consumer electronics normally locked out by big corps like apple, samsung etc... and the like.


My phone being only purchased brand new in the middle of 23, had it's battery really decline in the last 12 months. This was the first brand new phone I bought since like 2007 or 2008, I was disappointed that the battery lasted less than used phones I bought over the years from apple. Normally a phone used, lasted an additional 4-5 years on top of the 2-3 ish year age on average they were when I bought them, this one was worse at 2 years from new than all the used phones I had period.

Like all consumer electronics these days aimed at the general customer, they got progressively more locked down and hideously expensive, and never so true since the crypto boom of 17 when companies realized that people would be willing to pay whatever price they put on said goods.

I was pretty familiar with the Ifixit approach, but I decided to look into it when my phone barely could function anywhere where there wasn't good reception, and I bought a battery replacement kit for about $65 landed, they shipped from a branch or something in Sydney even though it's a US company.

I was not disappointing, the online guide was great, I had all the tools I needed and within 3 hours my phone was all back together and the performance and battery life was like new again.

Mobs like these and other advocators like Louis Rossmann have pushed for laws for big corps to allow users to repair and provide technical documents now and the device's OS and software to allow changing out parts without too much issues or needing to authenticate said part. My battery is just an aftermarket OEM type deal and it worked fine other than the phone noting in the battery section that a genuine battery couldn't be verified, but all else worked.


Instead of taking my phone to a repair shop or apple dealer, costing me likely a couple 100 bucks at least, close to the cost of the new phone ,500-600 price range at the time, which is money I don't have, I spent well under 100 bucks, almost half that, an afternoon of my time and I know I did a proper job repairing it and much satisfaction and also importantly, didn't chuck an otherwise functional piece of technology to waste.


I have replaced a battery, a home button, a screen and other things in the past, like on the old Nokias and my first smart phone the iphone 3, but there was no proper kits back then, with the iphone it was lucky I had some ultra thin double sided tape a customer at work gave me that allowed to re-attach the LCD on the iphone 3 back then.

All that is now replicating the factory adhesives, fasteners sealants etc... Making as easy as possible for even the first time novice to repair something themselves. This is the better world we really need, like the old days before throw away became the norm. And I think one of the big drives in this is that even throw away items are too expensive to throw away now for most people, but still designed and aimed at a throw away market, given that the wealth gap is bigger than it's ever been and many of the tech items are essential in modern life to be able to function in society it is no wonder a gap in the repair market has opened up quickly, but laws had to be fought for the right to repair.


If anyone ever considers repairing a smart device, def check out Ifixit. They were far above my expectation and even gave be the confidence to carry it out myself with low risk of damaging something.

[antus]

Yeah 100% agree. My wife and myself happened to break both of our old phones within a couple of months of each other recently. Also my NAS lost a hard drive at the same time and she lost a bunch of photos, because even though she had put them on the nas, the periodic nas backups hadnt fired yet. Bad timeing. But I did watch the ifixit vids about how to open and disassemble the phones and was successful at doing a screen swap (which is part of the body in these phones) which meant it became possible to unlock the phone which we were otherwise locked out of and get the photos off. Previously and without that information (and some plastic tools) I would have thought that was not possible to do at home.

[DavidBraley]

Thanks for sharing all of that! I agree 100% as well.

I can't speak for other countries, but here in the US, it seems most people are heading toward a place where they just don't care enough any more to understand how the things we use everyday work. Whole generations are programed to believe that when something quits working, you just through it away and get a new one. It's scary to me. I worry about it.

I can't remember where I originally saw this quote, but it's one that fits these times: "Never underestimate the danger of a large group of stupid people!"

[vlad01]

I recall a saying that really painted a picture with technology and human nature for the most part and this was from a tech business I think from like the 70s or 80s. It was something like "convenience trumps quality" Basically if it's convenient over all else, all else loses out every time from the general consumer's point of view. It was a basic business principle to strive for in order to be successful in technology aimed for the consumer.

Sort of off topic but it relates, what the general population and the ways things are and going for me at least is the complete opposite to convenience for most things. Good example is most things need an app, where a simple switch or something like that is now seen as inconvenient for most people, but for me an app is as inconvenient as someone could possibly make it. At lot of basic stuff now done in the tech world is extremely convoluted and often has multiple deal breaking steps where one requirement that can't be met or a bug just breaks the entire chain and wasting a heap of your time and energy.

I am always told that it's because I am old fashioned, but as someone only in their 30s and had grown up on the internet and very computer savvy for the most part, I find that seems ridiculous as no one seems to remember how simple and easy a lot of things were, even just from like 10 years ago. Not saying all things are harder or worse, but I feel like the majority are now.

Surely I am not the only one that feels that way?