Just playing Devil's advocate... (because I happen to agree with you that batteries should be user-replaceable, especially with phone battery life as bad as it is)
> I've just replaced the battery on my Lumia 820 after 9 months.
If your Lumia's battery needed to be replaced after 9 months, it was already under warranty and should have been replaced by the manufacturer.
> a safety nightmare
You know what's also a safety nightmare? Batteries. Which is why stopping third-parties from replacing certified batteries with random bought-off-eBay batteries is definitely a good idea.
> purely a cost cutting exercise for the manufacturer and make it even harder to recycle the nasty chemicals
Apple does have a recycling programme where you can bring your old electronics for free (and they'll even pay you for it with some products). http://www.apple.com/recycling/
As for the glue itself, I imagine it's trivially removable by qualified techs (there's probably a solvent that brings it right up?). And the excessive amount we're seeing now could be equally due to initial assembly issues (c.f. thermal paste a few years back) as much as any conscious decision.
I would definitely be interested in hearing more about why glue is bad though!
> I've just replaced the battery on my Lumia 820 after 9 months.
If your Lumia's battery needed to be replaced after 9 months, it was already under warranty and should have been replaced by the manufacturer.
> a safety nightmare
You know what's also a safety nightmare? Batteries. Which is why stopping third-parties from replacing certified batteries with random bought-off-eBay batteries is definitely a good idea.
> purely a cost cutting exercise for the manufacturer and make it even harder to recycle the nasty chemicals
Apple does have a recycling programme where you can bring your old electronics for free (and they'll even pay you for it with some products). http://www.apple.com/recycling/
As for the glue itself, I imagine it's trivially removable by qualified techs (there's probably a solvent that brings it right up?). And the excessive amount we're seeing now could be equally due to initial assembly issues (c.f. thermal paste a few years back) as much as any conscious decision.
I would definitely be interested in hearing more about why glue is bad though!