Nokia says you can replace the screen of this new phone in 20 minutes

[mongeese]

What just happened? Nokia has announced today a new initiative and a new phone to go along with it: the Nokia G22 with QuickFix repairability. It's the first of a new line of phones designed from its conception to be repairable and have a long life.

Made with a recycled plastic shell and designed to be repaired by its owners at their desks, the Nokia G22 proclaims to be the most environmentally-friendly phone from a household name yet. It will launch in two weeks on March 8 in the UK, most of Europe, and some other non-US markets. It's set to cost £149.99 / €179 or about the equivalent of $185 USD, tax inclusive.

Nokia has partnered with iFixit to produce repair guides and sell the tools and parts required to swap out the battery, charging port, and screen. Nokia promises to keep those parts stocked for the next five years. It also says that performing a repair in accordance with a guide and with official parts counts as an authorized repair, so it won't void the warranty.

Adam Ferguson, the head of product at HMD (the Finnish company that owns the rights to the Nokia brand) was willing to put his money where his mouth was in front of a live audience of journalists last week.

He pulled apart and swapped the battery out of a G22 in under five minutes during his presentation, remarking that it would've taken an hour and a half to do the same to a previous-gen phone. When asked, he said that it would take about 20 minutes to replace the screen.

It's easy for companies to make spare parts available, but hard for them to make their phones user-repairable. It requires design concessions and sacrificing the profit margins in licensed repairs.

Said screen is a 6.52" 720p LCD with a 90 Hz refresh rate that costs £44.99 ($54 USD) to replace. A new battery costs £22.99 ($27 USD) and a new USB-C port assembly costs £18.99 ($23 USD) and all the tools required should cost about £5.

The battery has 5,050 mAh of capacity -- three days' worth of battery life according to Nokia -- and can be charged with 20 W fast charging via the aforementioned port.

Under the hood is a Unisoc T606 SoC with two A75 cores and six A55 cores, 4 GB of RAM, and the choice between 64 GB or 128 GB of storage. Around the back is a 50 MP camera flanked by a 2 MP macro lens and a 2 MP depth sensor, and adorning the teardrop notch on the front is an 8 MP selfie cam. There's also an audio jack. Unfortunately, the Nokia G22 hasn't been updated with Android 13 yet and is still on version 12.

Nokia also announced a pair of budget phones of regular repairability; the C32, which is very similar to the G22; and the C22, which is even more budget-friendly. Nokia also commented on its ongoing plans to start manufacturing a portion of its devices in Europe: it hasn't got an assembly line running yet but it hopes to start making 5G phones there this year.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/97732-nokia-you-can-replace-screen-new-phone-20.html

 

[yRaz]

If they would support alternate OSs we might actually have a winner.

 

[psycros]

If they would support alternate OSs we might actually have a winner.

If anyone could make the Linux mobile ecosystem desirable, it would be Nokia. They could throw in an all-day battery and maybe a new E-series while their at it. How I miss the reliability and user-friendliness of Symbian.

 

[rsmith222]

My favorite is the purple ink Pilot pen that is marketed for having replaceable ink.

Pilot doesn't and never has produced purple ink modules to replace the ink in the pen with.

My company's required (contracted) supplier sells the blue and black ink modules for more than the individual pens cost in a simple multi-pack.

So... is this 'right to repair' going to come with a right to access repair parts at reasonable prices?

 

[nismo91]

This phone is trash. I mean just go to ifixit and look at the battery replacement guide. it said moderate difficulty, 19 steps, and time required 35m-60m.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Nokia+G22+Battery+Replacement/157502

use a pick to snap on the back cover (no heatgun needed), remove the very fragile fingerprint flexible connector, and remove total of 11 screws before you can even see the battery connector tab. remove the battery adhesive, and install new battery. screw everything back, install the fingerprint connector and snap the back cover.

so the HMD head says all that is doable within 5mins. well then if you can do all that in 5mins then you definitely can do most budget android phones battery replacement today. just because an ifixit guide is present doesn't mean a phone is "sustainable".

HMD is a disgrace to the Nokia name.

 

[Athlonite]

Said screen is a 6.52" 720p LCD with a 90 Hz refresh rate

What the actual F....... 720p oh I think 2010 wants it's phone back

 

[OortCloud]

Would be nice if all phones and tablets allowed this. Although I think the ice caps will melt long before the human-horror-show that is Tim Cook agrees to something like this.

 

[Eldritch]

Even if repair process is more difficult than suggested, it's a step in right direction.

Seriously fellas, is there even a single person whose family has not disposed/sold a phone due to screen breakage? Such sophisticated devices and just for a cheap screen people keep disposing them off. Really need to make it more accessible, if not for ourselves then at least for our planet.

 

[Nicromancer]

I miss the day when we can just open the back cover and put in a new battery.

 

[yannus]

If they would support alternate OSs we might actually have a winner.

Fairphone do that for a long time, the only problem is the price and performance.

 

[GeforcerFX]

Said screen is a 6.52" 720p LCD with a 90 Hz refresh rate

What the actual F....... 720p oh I think 2010 wants it's phone back

it matches the phones SOC, a higher res screen needs a more powerful SOC which means a higher price, this is a budget phone. Having the 90hz is nice though, will still scroll smoother then a lot of other phones that still run 60hz displays.

 

[rsmith222]

Even if repair process is more difficult than suggested, it's a step in right direction.

Seriously fellas, is there even a single person whose family has not disposed/sold a phone due to screen breakage? Such sophisticated devices and just for a cheap screen people keep disposing them off. Really need to make it more accessible, if not for ourselves then at least for our planet.

We don't break screens. What we have needed are replaceable batteries (especially in laptops) and expandable RAM (in Apple devices).

The iPad 1, for example, was quickly orphaned, with the justification that it doesn't have enough RAM to run any of the improved software. The main reason my iPhone 5 was said to be so slow with the Internet is because of it not having enough RAM. For tiny phones like the iPhone 5, the added difficulties of RAM upgrade may be enough to not allow it. (Apple used too-little RAM as a tactic for speeding up planned obsolescence way too quickly way back with the first Mac — to the point of even fooling the tech press by demoing the 'first Mac' using a not-for-sale version that had 4 times as much RAM.)

However, the batteries always go bad with time. The right to upgrade is more important than the right to repair, with the exception of replacement batteries, in my experience.

However, that definitely doesn't apply to some tech, like farm machinery. There, it's the opposite. The right to repair is much more important.

 

[Lew Zealand]

We don't break screens. What we have needed are replaceable batteries (especially in laptops) and expandable RAM (in Apple devices).

The iPad 1, for example, was quickly orphaned, with the justification that it doesn't have enough RAM to run any of the improved software. The main reason my iPhone 5 was said to be so slow with the Internet is because of it not having enough RAM. For tiny phones like the iPhone 5, the added difficulties of RAM upgrade may be enough to not allow it. (Apple used too-little RAM as a tactic for speeding up planned obsolescence way too quickly way back with the first Mac — to the point of even fooling the tech press by demoing the 'first Mac' using a not-for-sale version that had 4 times as much RAM.)

However, the batteries always go bad with time. The right to upgrade is more important than the right to repair, with the exception of replacement batteries, in my experience.

However, that definitely doesn't apply to some tech, like farm machinery. There, it's the opposite. The right to repair is much more important.

You're complaining about a 13 year old iPad? v1.0 of any new device type is a working tech demo which is why most people stay away until the product matures. Foldable screens are a current example. Using 13 and 39 year old examples don't prove a point for today very well.

And what's this about the difficulties of RAM upgrade in phones? You can't upgrade RAM in smartphones.

And if you want to replace a battery, that's why there's iFixit, to do it yourself. I've done this with many iPods and Apple phones, including replacing the only screen I ever broke (iPhone 4). And I only had 1 screw left over when it was done!

If you want a real example of form over repairability, look at replacing the battery in an iPod Nano 5. It's straight up impossible.

 

[kiwigraeme]

This type of product would be great in a third world country - but they probably cannibalize phones already.
The problem is for $150 you can get another cheap phone - so only effective in break early in phones life.

$15 for both cheap phone case for edges and 2 or 3 pack of glass - would stop 95% of damage

 

[rsmith222]

You're complaining about a 13 year old iPad?

I use a product of any age if I feel it's a relevant example. For example, the first Mac shipped with 128K of non-expandable RAM. Apple demoed a 512K Mac to the tech press, pretending that it was the 128K model that was actually the only one intended to be put on sale. Why? So the company could impress people with text-to-speech, which the 128K model couldn't run.

It was possible to concoct arguments in favor of making the first Mac non-expandable, with only 128K of RAM. It was also possible to concoct counterarguments.

v1.0 of any new device type is a working tech demo which is why most people stay away until the product matures.

This sounds like victim blaming, which is a fallacy rather than a rebuttal of the original subject. I don't agree with the claim that a major corporation should be given a free pass on releasing a product that doesn't live up to basic expectations, which is the logic behind this 'tech demo' claim.

And what's this about the difficulties of RAM upgrade in phones? You can't upgrade RAM in smartphones.

One can't upgrade the RAM in the iPad 1, can't upgrade the RAM in the 128K Mac, and can't replace the battery and SSD in some more recent Apple products.

The bigger question is about what lengths companies will have to go to to accommodate things like right to repair and how that fits into the rapid planned obsolescence context when it comes to product design. The 128K Mac was designed to be obsolete so quickly that Apple didn't even use it for its unveiling demo.

Blaming buyers for purchasing a 'working tech demo' misses the point. Apple knew what it was doing. It could have put out a 512K model instead of a 128K model. It could have put expansion slots in the machine and made the RAM expandable.

It could be possible to design a product like the iPad 1 to have expandable RAM, too. How worthwhile that is is debatable — like debating the virtues of soldered RAM, glued-down SSDs, and batteries that can only be replaced by the device maker and its minions. There are pros and cons but in some cases, things like the first Mac are bad tech in my view. I am not a fan of artificially speeding up planned obsolescence. I am also not a fan of corporate plutocracy.

 

[Lew Zealand]

I use a product of any age if I feel it's a relevant example. For example, the first Mac shipped with 128K of non-expandable RAM...

I'm well aware of Mac history, but we're wandering off topic here.

IMO for devices that are pocketable (phones) or designed to be as small/light as possible (tablets), many longevity compromises are valid, including soldered everything for weight and bulk. And early adopters for new types of these products will get low-performing and more quickly obsolete versions as the balance of compromises are worked out in subsequent models. That's how tech works, nobody is being blamed for anything but they should be aware of those risks.

Instead, for pocket devices I wish more phones made the front glass easily replaceable like this Nokia claims. That's a real feature that more people can use to extend usability. And also the battery. To stay with the theme, Apple's phones are OK at this right now and have been reasonable since the iPhone 5 days. LOL, and the iPhone 4 is the only glass I ever needed to replace, that was a bear! I did an iP6 battery replacement and at least that was easy.

For bigger, more capable devices like laptops and of course desktops having upgradeability is necessary and Apple has been pretty bad about this during the Intel era, closing those options slowly off over time in laptops and many desktops. LOL and now with their lineup being portable-silicon based, the Memory is not easily separated from the CPU/GPU which leaves only the SSD as the remaining possible upgrade path, and that hasn't been upgradable since 2018 in anything aside from the halo Mac Pro.

Which is why I build PCs now, way more fun.

 

[pcnthuziast]

Imagine what an Apple exec would think the time and labor involved in something like this would be worth. Take that figure and divide it by 10. This pos phone is worth about a tenth of the aforementioned figure. If that. Truly a steaming third world turd.

 

[nismo91]

Even if repair process is more difficult than suggested, it's a step in right direction.

Seriously fellas, is there even a single person whose family has not disposed/sold a phone due to screen breakage? Such sophisticated devices and just for a cheap screen people keep disposing them off. Really need to make it more accessible, if not for ourselves then at least for our planet.

the problem is not it's more difficult, it's the promise. they promised 5mins which most would assume is very easy while the expert at ifixit has decided it would took 30mins for the average users. it's no comparison to the fairphone which you could change the battery in a matter of seconds.

if you look at the construction of this phone, there is nothing that suggested this phone is "repair" friendly. all the other competitions such as samsung a13 use similar construction anyway. so saying G22 is easy to repair would be like saying all cheap android phones with no back glass is easy to repair.

repairability has been a problem for high end devices with strange construction or back glass. it has never been a problem for low end devices because they're cheap aka manufacturers doesn't even bother to glue the back cover, you can pick them open with your fingernails.

and lastly no, we don't dispose phones when we broke the screen. only dispose the device if the screen replacement costs too high, which is the case of those high end android phones with on-screen fingerprint. when you do a screen replacement of a 2-yo Nokia G20 and Samsung A11, it's gonna cost the same. and so will this G22 and Samsung A13 in the next two years.

but hey now they got a free headline that says Nokia is coming with a "quickfix" phone. what a disgrace.

 

[pmshah]

I have been using smartphones for 12+ years. Have never even scratched the screen of one. What I would be more interested in is for how many years would they make replacement battery available that is user replaceable. Another equally or even more critical is the country it is manufactured in. Any place other than China is acceptable. But that only if it is not just assembled from any Chinese made components but literally manufactured in other county.

 

[Sir Sparkles]

I think it's a great step in the right direction and would definitely consider buying a mid tier phone built around the same concepts as these entry phones.

Bravo Nokia, it's been a while since you've done much good but I like this.

 

[Athlonite]

it matches the phones SOC, a higher res screen needs a more powerful SOC which means a higher price, this is a budget phone. Having the 90hz is nice though, will still scroll smoother then a lot of other phones that still run 60hz displays.

It's SOC is easily capable of 1080p@90Hz the Mali G57 M1 GPU is pretty good despite being a couple of years old already an as for the Unisoc 606 it's only a little slower than an Qualcomm Snapdragon 665

UNISOC Tiger T606 Processor - Benchmarks and Specs

Benchmarks, information, and specifications for the UNISOC Tiger T606

www.notebookcheck.net

Yeah OK so it's not a gaming beast but it's not meant to be but 1080p 90Hz screens aren't that costly and will look a whole lot better than 720p even at only 270ppi