455
submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

The Android phone maker says go ahead, fix your own phone.

The right-to-repair movement continues to gain steam as another big tech company shows its support for letting people fix their own broken devices.

Google endorsed an Oregon right-to-repair legislation Thursday calling it a “common sense repair bill” and saying it would be a “win for consumers.” This marks the first time the Android phone maker has officially backed any right-to-repair law.

The ability to repair a phone, for example, empowers people by saving money on devices while creating less waste,” said Steven Nickel, devices and services director of operations for Google, in a blog post Thursday. “It also critically supports sustainability in manufacturing. Repair must be easy enough for anyone to do, whether they are technicians or do-it-yourselfers.”

In the Oregon repair bill, manufacturers will be required to provide replacement parts, software, physical tools, documentation and schematics needed for repair to authorized repair providers or individuals. The legislation covers any digital electronics with a computer chip although cars, farm equipment, medical devices, solar power systems, and any heavy or industrial equipment that is not sold to consumers are exempt from the bill.

Google has made strides in making its Pixel phones easier to fix. The company enabled a Repair Mode for the phones last month allowing the protection of data on the device while it’s being serviced. There’s also a diagnostic feature that helps determine if your Pixel phone is working properly or not. That said, Google’s Pixel Watch is another story as the company said in October it will not provide parts to repair its smartwatch.

Apple jumped on the right-to-repair bandwagon back in October. The iPhone maker showed its support for a federal law to make it easier to repair its phones after years of being a staunch opponent.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] [email protected] 122 points 6 months ago

Makes sense because google certainly doesn't support their own shit lol

[-] [email protected] 37 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

It almost doesn't even matter for Google products: I've had more Google products die due to lack of software support rather than any sort of hardware issue...

[-] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

Their phones keep on updates for longer than any other androids. Crap thing is they use cheaper apu's so I still don't want one.

[-] [email protected] 31 points 6 months ago

As a former Pixelbook user, I agree 100%. A firmware update crippled my touchscreen, and the touchscreens of quite a few other users, from the look of their support forum.

Rather than investigate and issue a fix (which they haven't in years, also according to their support form), they literally told me to buy a new laptop. WTF?

Well, I sure did. I got a Framework. Now I can fix it whenever I want with ease, and with every part readily available, too!

Thanks, Google!

[-] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago

The constant multi-year tide of Pixel support and RMA horror stories helped push me into getting an iPhone

[-] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

The refusal to allow side loading is what really stops me doing the same

[-] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago

I remember back in /r/Pixel on Reddit that Google had a mid tier or higher customer service rep in the subreddit. Why? Because their regular customer service sucked so bad they needed someone in /r/Pixel to do damage control. If a person wasn't in the subreddit, they'd basically be left twisting in the wind.

I had my OG Pixel XL get compromised and my Google account stolen. Asking to get it back was basically "Fill out this form and we might get back to you at some point. You won't receive any communications from us except to tell you your account has been recovered. And there's no way for you to talk to a real human."

[-] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago
this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2024
455 points (95.4% liked)

Technology

55960 readers
3030 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS