this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
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Google says it can’t fix Pixel Watches, please just buy a new one | With no official repair program and no parts, broken Pixel Watches are just e-waste.::With no official repair program and no parts, broken Pixel Watches are just e-waste.

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[–] [email protected] 95 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (4 children)

Same with the Google Nest Hub.

It cost me around $600 and has a known splash-screen issue which I just woke up to one morning.

No fix available when it happens. Nothing I did caused it. I just had to bin it.

It’s either planned obsolescence or just shitty design.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 11 months ago

It's probably a bit of both. They save money with a worse design and they make more money on more sales.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

Probably both tbh

Let’s mint a new razor: assume both malice and incompetence

[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago

Casmael's Razor. Has a nice ring to it!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Greed and incompetence is more accurate

[–] [email protected] 29 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Companies should have fines for at least as much as the revenue they generated with those devices. Designed obsolescence is something that needs to be *abandoned, even if it hurts really bad financially.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Even simpler: If you sell it, and it breaks or becomes useless, you're expected to take it back and dispose of it responsibly. Electronics retailers can charge a deposit, just like the supermarket does for beer and Coke.

Just imagine if things worked that way —

Find the broken husk of an iPod Shuffle on the beach? Take it to an Apple Store; they give you five bucks.

Find a roadkill Dell laptop on the side of the road? (I did earlier this summer.) Take it to any big-box store that sells Dell laptops; they give you five bucks.

Pixel Watch turned into e-waste? Mail it to Google; they give you five bucks. (Probably on your Google Pay account, yeah, but that's better than nothing.)

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago

But before that make it like a tire. Bought a pixel watch and it died in a year an a half? If the device should have lasted 3-5 years, you should be able to send it back to the manufacturer for a percentage of the cost back. Sure, google can say it's watches only last 12 months, but as a consumer would you buy such a disposable item?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Nest Hub for $600? Which one is that expensive?