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This toaster-looking gadget boosts your phone’s battery in seconds (www.theverge.com)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

71 comments fedilink hide all child comments

This is awesome! For only $450 you can get a machine that can automatically swap battery packs placed on bulky $120 phone cases.

You don't need to plug a cable in your phone anymore, your over engineered machine can swap battery packs for you

I never imagined that I would live this long to see the future

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[–] [email protected] 79 points 3 months ago (5 children)

Swapable batteries were common on cell phones in the 80's and 90's except no fancy machine was needed.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 months ago (1 children)

and... get this: while you were swapping your battery you could drop in a swappable expansion on storage. Utter madness.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago

Many phones let you upgrade storage without opening it. Madness, I know.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 months ago

I was using an LG G5 that had swappable batteries 3 years ago.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago (2 children)

IKR.

Why did we start building batteries into phones?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 months ago

So they can sell you a new phone instead of a replacement battery.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Because we kept buying thinner and lighter phones, and gluing the battery in makes thinner and lighter phones with better battery life possible. As a convenient side effect glue creates a nice watertight seal that can make devices more water resistant.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Hrm maybe.

I mean a wristwatch can be 200m water resistant and still be user servicable. A simple rubber gasket, some silicone grease and some screws.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I imagine it's a hell of a lot cheaper/simpler/more reliable in manufacturing to use the adhesive over screws, gaskets, and grease. It reduces both the BOM and the number of processes required to ship a unit, and probably fails less often, which means fewer RMAs. Plus it just plain takes up less space, which leaves more room for the battery.

I don't like it, my favorite phone I've ever had was a Galaxy Nexus with a zerolemon battery that was bigger than the phone itself, but I can see why gluing everything together would be an attractive solution for the engineers who design these things.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

90's, definitely.

Which 80's models mobiles are you thinking of, exactly?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago

The Motorola DynaTAC. They had a big Ni-Cd battery that is also the back of the case. You would need often need two batteries to get through a whole day, so they were made to be easily swapped.