cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/5176306
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.
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”.