💾 Archived View for jsreed5.org › log › 2021 › 202109 › 20210926-removable-batteries.gmi captured on 2021-12-04 at 18:04:22. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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Once I purchased my Samsung Galaxy Note 8 in late 2017, I decided to use my retired Galaxy Note 3 as a music player. We set up a Bluetooth speaker in our bedroom, and we play sounds to help us sleep--sometimes soft music, sometimes sound effects such as rain.
Today my wife wanted to use the speaker with her current smartphone, so I grabbed the Galaxy Note 3 to shut off its Bluetooth connection. When I picked it up, I noticed the screen was pushed slightly upward out of its frame. I quickly took off the back and discovered that the battery was quite swollen. A local hardware store recycles batteries for free, so I took the bad battery there immediately. A replacement is already on the way from Amazon.
Such situations are just one example of why I value, and why I so dearly miss, removable batteries. Had my Galaxy Note 8 suffered a similar problem, I would likely have needed to take it to a professional to open it up without breaking it, then properly replacing the defective battery.
Removable batteries are also a major convenience. I traveled to Chicago with a friend in 2016, who at the time owned a Galaxy Note 4. He carried a spare battery in his backpack when he traveled, and when one battery ran down, he simply swapped it out and instantly had a full charge. The fact that modern smartphones can't do that seems like a regression to me.
The F(x)tec Pro1 X doesn't have a removable battery in the same sense, but it's at least user-serviceable. That's a step in the right direction. But I would love to have a smartphone with a fully removable battery again one day.
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[Last updated: 2021-10-28]