That should be illegal.
this post was submitted on 17 Sep 2023
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Not to say that it's ok, but if it was illegal, there would be almost no smart watches available. They just admit it openly.
Oops it can't be fixed... Because it was designed in a way that its not fixable, but don't think too much about that.
Can we stop picking on this startup? They're just hobbyists, give them a break.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again:
There is no point to repairing a smart watch. The cost of a screen repair (including parts and labor) is nearly how much the watch costs. It's simply not economically wise to repair when a brand new product costs almost the same as the repair does.
If you're worried that you're gonna crack the screen on your smartwatch, buy a protection plan with it. Otherwise, you're doing yourself a disservice in getting it fixed. Unless you fix it, yourself - in which case, good luck, because those are some tough devices to take apart without causing further damage, even for a skilled technician.
They could at the minimum make the parts available though.
Maybe. But even having the parts does very little in terms of repairing a smartwatch. The parts would only be a tiny fraction of the cost to repair it, the rest would be the likely several hours of work it would take to execute the repair without further damaging it. I say this as somebody who bought a Pixel watch fully aware of the fact that Google doesn't offer repairs and that I would have to just shell out for a new one if I broke it (which is why I paid a little extra for a protection plan). If only more people did even half as much research before buying things.
I understand and fully agree with the RTR argument when it comes to phones and other devices. But a smartwatch is a fashion accessory, first and foremost, so the slim and stylish form factor is the point of the device's existence. And an attractive form factor comes at the cost of repairability, as getting the product to that point requires more advanced build techniques than your average device, which in turn requires more advanced expertise to repair.
This is really a non-issue that everybody's latching onto because "fuck google".
It seems you've missed out on the fact I can try fix it myself with the parts. Yeah it might take me hours but I'm not paying myself, it's my spare time.
Do you regularly repair these types of devices? If not, and you don't have a spec sheet available and know where all the easily-overlooked ribbon cables are located and have an array of very niche and specialized tools, there's a very significant chance that you'll end up breaking it even more than it already is. Now you're out a watch, and a replacement screen, and likely also the cost for the unique tools you'd have to have purchased to try opening it up in the first place.
Even some of the best repair techs avoid working on smartwatches, for this very reason. Maybe you're just built different and can do what most can't, but you'd be a lonely outlier if so. So much so that it'd honestly be a statistical anomaly if you managed to repair one of these devices without issue.
Just watch a tutorial of someone who does know what he's doing
That way you can at least try.
Also they shouldn't have released a watch that is that unrepairable in the first place
That would ultimately make for ugly watch that nobody would want. The Pixel Watch isn't targeting an audience who wants a utilitarian device, it's targeting people who want a watch that looks good.
It's quite easy to remove the screen on a Pixel Watch actually.
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Google+Pixel+Watch+Screen+Replacement/160350#s337082
It's not that it was designed in a specific way that just so happened to make it unrepairable, it's just that Google decided they will not offer repair parts.
What? There are already teardown guides online, I just need replacement parts.
No i've not repaired one before because it's not broken, I feel like you've got blinkers on mate and missing some key points. Repair techs don't work on them because of the time, they're not profitable.
but i'm not trying to be profitable, i'm just trading free time.
This is all very good but when considering the mandated repairability for all consumer goods rising in strenght in some parts of the world, products like this either avoid such markets (difficult to achieve) or will go extinct.
Companies need to end the mentality of "if I can, I will".
Sometimes people care more for environmental viability over economical viability. Some people would rather spend $250 to repair the watch than spend $250 to replace it with a new one because they value not creating unnecessary waste. Unfortunately in this case that just means they shouldn't buy Google watches in the first place.
Sometimes people care more for environmental viability over economical viability.
Well I've got bad news for those people: none of their devices are environmentally viable. Any tech company trying to convince you otherwise is lying through their carbon-rotted teeth.
799 USD for an apple watch...
By “$799 USD” i believe you mean “$249 USD”, don’t you? Even the cheap ones can be repaired. Google, not so much.
But of course Apple is “evil”. Right…right??
You're both being a little disingenuous. You linked to the budget watch Apple offers. The person you replied to is referring to their highest-end flagship watch, the Ultra 2, which is $799.
The person I was replying to made no distinction as to the model - that’s why I brought the base model into the conversation.
If anything, I’m clarifying his simple yet disingenuous, offhand comment.