New Kobo coming? Which?

[Quoth]

Right to repair isn't the same as SOGA type warranties of 1 to 6 years depending on product.

The repair stuff is supposed to reduce scrappage, not affect warranty. It's also about repair outside warranty.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

(Spectrum of Protection™)

But realistically how many subassemblies could there be in an ereader? Battery, main board, screen, buttons, er...

Battery, screen, board, alloy chassis, case. Sometimes buttons are on the main PCB and sometimes not. They use inherently sealed ones as HZO getting in would stop them working.

The battery (a cell) is sealed so doesn't need HZO.
The screen is sealed so doesn't need HZO.
The case and chassis don't care.

So it's the main PCB after final assembly/test and probably after battery and screen are connected from what I see looking at the insides.

There is a lot of hype by HZO. An ereader is pretty simple compare to a phone or tablet.

[DrChiper]

Actually it is about constructing the device in such a manner that it can be completely disassembled for maintenance and reassembled again. Further, spare parts must be available for a (minimal) period of time to support that and affordable for independent repair-shops. In practice it will be a trade-off between original purchase price, the total involved repair costs, and the willingness of the public to make use of this right. For small cheap devices I doubt that.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by DrChiper

Actually it is about constructing the device in such a manner that it can be completely disassembled for maintenance and reassembled again.

Yes!

No glue to assemble. (Many Apple and Kindle Oasis 2 & 3. Original Kobo H2O was awkward double sided sticky tape.)

I've things that have no obvious disassembly at all, and that's evil.

[Calenorn]

Spectrum of Protection is a third level Illusionist spell.

[graycyn]

I'd just like to have a user replaceable battery again. That's the only *repair* any ereader device of mine has ever needed.

Not that being able to repair devices is bad, it's a good thing! But the cynical part of me says this is more of a marketing sop than anything terribly useful.

I had a Panasonic vacuum break once, several decades ago, and it was a circuit board issue. Replacing that circuit board was possible, when I inquired, but it was going to cost $1.00 less than the entire cost of the vacuum when I bought it new. A good vacuum, but not worth spending that much on it after years of use. I moved on.

There's like one independent phone repair place in town, and I doubt they'd have much, if any, experience with e-ink. Be more than likely I'd take a reader in for battery replacement and they'd break the substrate!

[Gone]

Originally Posted by graycyn

I had a Panasonic vacuum break once, several decades ago, and it was a circuit board issue. Replacing that circuit board was possible, when I inquired, but it was going to cost $1.00 less than the entire cost of the vacuum when I bought it new. A good vacuum, but not worth spending that much on it after years of use. I moved on.

It's true that parts often cost too much money. I just replaced a part in my fridge. A plastic rack that was holding the meat drawer. $74 including taxes and shipping. I think the fridge cost us around $700-800. So, 10% for a small part...

[DrChiper]

Originally Posted by Claude_C

It's true that parts often cost too much money. I just replaced a part in my fridge. A plastic rack that was holding the meat drawer. $74 including taxes and shipping. I think the fridge cost us around $700-800. So, 10% for a small part...

True. But you were still lucky to get those spare-parts. My recent experience was with my 8 year old e-bike. The seller, who also "manufactured" the bike (read=let it pre-build in China and just did the finishing touch), did tell me they no longer build bikes, the batteries were not obtainable anymore, the support motors were out-of-stock, the electronics non-existent today. So I have a perfectly functional and serviceable e-bike, with a life-span of at least 10 more years, unless something breaks (which surely will happen someday) and it becomes junk-yard material.

[chrisridd]

Originally Posted by graycyn

I'd just like to have a user replaceable battery again. That's the only *repair* any ereader device of mine has ever needed.

I think the main cause of failure in ereaders is a broken screen, certainly going by Reddit posts. If Kobo can keep a nice supply of Kaleido 3/Carta 1300 screens available at a reasonable price, that'd save a lot from ending up in landfill.

It might also be interesting for "makers" wanting to build things with good E-Ink screens.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Claude_C

It's true that parts often cost too much money. I just replaced a part in my fridge. A plastic rack that was holding the meat drawer. $74 including taxes and shipping. I think the fridge cost us around $700-800. So, 10% for a small part...

A replacement fridge thermostat, just for the part, was almost 20% of the cost of a new better fridge (under €300).

I've scrapped two otherwise good cars because a replacement part was about €800 (1998 and 2020). Not worth it on a old car.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by chrisridd

If Kobo can keep a nice supply of Kaleido 3/Carta 1300 screens available at a reasonable price, that'd save a lot from ending up in landfill.

It might also be interesting for "makers" wanting to build things with good E-Ink screens.

The E Ink almost monopoly and the technology used means a replacement screen can cost more than a new tablet or 1/2 the price of the ereader.

Any Eink panel for "makers" needs a controller board with specialist surface mount ICs.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Calenorn

Spectrum of Protection is a third level Illusionist spell.

Oh yes!

Originally Posted by graycyn

I'd just like to have a user replaceable battery again. That's the only *repair* any ereader device of mine has ever needed.

That's easy if the case opens sensibly and nothing worse than sticky tape holding it in place. Oddly the Kindle 3 and DXG cells are screw mounted and have a connector. The Original H2O is tricky to open but the battery has a connector and held on by sticky tape.

Some laptops have glued in cells (Apple) and others from Dell and Lenovo have screwed in cells. Sadly the plugin packs and ethernet sockets are a victim of too skinny design.

[DJUNGELSKOG]

Originally Posted by LDB

53 days? Who reads only 30 minutes per day? Who sets light at only 10%? Ok, maybe some keep both WiFi and Bluetooth off all the time. But seems like a couple of weeks would be a more reliable benchmark.

I never set my front light intensity higher than 5 or 6, I keep Bluetooth off unless I'm using the Voice View feature right now and only turn WiFi on if I need to upload a book to my device, and then I immediately turn it back off. What's the point of having it on all the time? It just drains your device's battery for no reason.

[John F]

The one thing I would want to be able to easily repair/replace would be the battery. My mom would still be using a Forma if I could replace the battery.

[John F]

For many people and electronics, repairing doesn't make sense if the device is no longer "supported".