Google says it can’t fix Pixel Watches, please just buy a new one
arstechnica.com
With no official repair program and no parts, broken Pixel Watches are just e-waste.

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.

    • _number8_@lemmy.worldEnglish
      231·
      1 year ago

      it’s hard to get invested in anything they do because unless it’s gmail, search, or youtube it could be gone in a month. even those, they’d do it if they could get away with it

      • arin@lemmy.worldEnglish
        12·
        1 year ago

        YouTube algorithm turned to shit since 5 years ago. There used to be really good YouTube rabbit holes where every autoplay video was interesting, but now it wants to go to a video you stopped playing(WTF we stopped watching for a reason) 💀

        • lustrum@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          8·
          1 year ago

          My kid has recently been allowed some tablet time. I’ve had to keep an eye on YouTube especially.

          After 2-3 videos of Nursary rhymes or learning you end up into the cesspit of over the top reactions, pranks and trying to sell shit.

    • itsJoelle@lemmy.worldEnglish
      101·
      1 year ago

      To be fair, Apple Watches work the same way too, right?

      When I was in the Apple camp Apple Care just replaced the watch over fixing the component. I may be wrong however. Dear reader, please correct me.

      • bluefirex@lemmy.worldEnglish
        71·
        1 year ago

        You got a new watch but they refurbished your old one and sold it again. They just do it that way with watches because it’s way faster for the customer.

    • Louisoix@lemm.eeEnglish
      7·
      1 year ago

      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.

      • madcaesar@lemmy.worldEnglish
        54·
        1 year ago

        It absolutely is fair. Google’s customer service is virtually nonexistent. They frequently just abandon their products without warning. Going into the google ecosystem in 2023 is a recipe for disappointment.

    • fiah@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      101·
      1 year ago

      I purchased a phone from this advertising company and they could fix it just fine when I broke it. They could fix watches, but they just think it’s economically more viable to create waste

      • random65837@lemmy.worldEnglish
        21·
        1 year ago

        They could, and the repair and parts cost along with the back and forth shipping and paying people to actually repair then would superceed the value of the watch. Very simple math.

        • fiah@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
          2·
          1 year ago

          yes, but when the whole planet is going to shit because of wastefulness up and down the stack, shouldn’t the question eventually become “what is the least bad for our planet”?

          edit: the answer could still be “trash it” but perhaps it isn’t

  • kubica@kbin.social
    131·
    1 year ago

    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.

  • everett@lemmy.mlEnglish
    142·
    1 year ago

    Can we stop picking on this startup? They’re just hobbyists, give them a break.

  • Chozo@kbin.social
    89·
    1 year ago

    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.

      • Chozo@kbin.social
        73·
        1 year ago

        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”.

        • lustrum@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          5·
          1 year ago

          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.

          • Chozo@kbin.social
            22·
            1 year ago

            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.

            • newIdentity@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              6·
              1 year ago

              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

            • lustrum@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              2·
              1 year ago

              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.

            • qyron@sopuli.xyzEnglish
              1·
              1 year ago

              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”.

    • Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.caEnglish
      8·
      1 year ago

      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.

      • Chozo@kbin.social
        23·
        1 year ago

        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.

      • Chozo@kbin.social
        3·
        1 year ago

        This isn’t exclusive to Pixel Watches. The repair cost is about the same (~$300) for most comparable devices. Same with Apple’s and Samsung’s watches. The only real difference here is that Google acknowledges (at least, indirectly) that it’s a more economic option to just buy a new one, because that’s just how the math works out.

      • HollandJim@lemmy.worldEnglish
        72·
        1 year ago

        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??

        • Chozo@kbin.social
          7·
          1 year ago

          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.

          • HollandJim@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            1 year ago

            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.