Android isn’t about choice, that’s just something android fans touted.
Google has been giving less choice/enforcing a more closed ecosystem for a long time now.
Android was about taking market share and stamping out other phone OSes, once they achieved that Google started tightening their grip and ramping up data collection.
Data harvesting is now what Android is supposed to be about. Everything else is secondary.
I hate how these headlines are always phrased as “Google/Microsoft/Apple to let users XYZ”
No. They’re not the ones “letting” it happen. They aren’t the ones calling the shots here. The EU told them to do something and they were forced to comply.
Remember that companies aren’t in charge. They can be put in their place if there is widespread political will to do so.
Also it’s an Android related community, not !privacy or !grapheneos ffs
Well firstly, this being an Android community doesn’t mean privacy is an off-limits topic.
And secondly, that’s irrelevant, seeing that he’s not the one posting here anyway.
And no, downvoting you because you mocked someone for not giving Google his address book, pretty much saying it brings his IT credentials into question, is not “toxic zealotism”.
Bear in mind the law isn’t for replaceable batteries in the way you describe, it just has to be easy enough for a person or a repair shop to do without too much risk of damage.
It’s unlikely we’ll see every phone having a back we can just pop off and pull the battery out.
Even then, there are exceptions. If the phone still retains 84% of battery capacity by year 3, and I think 80% by year 4, it doesn’t have to be user-servicable.