While we can't help but feel all warm and fuzzy inside whenever a manufacturer owns up to defects that originated on its end, it's even better when affected customers are looked after for their troubles. According to GigaOM, users dealing with a malfunctioning Sidekick Slide can swap their unit for a shiny new Sidekick LX free of charge, and if for whatever reason that doesn't get your juices flowin', you can opt to exchange it and put the purchase price towards another handset. If you're dead set on just keeping your current Slide, you can simply wait things out until a fix is announced, but you won't find us passing up on any offers to upgrade gratis.

When the time came and your battery died, you were probably thinking you'd have to send your iPhone off to Apple as part of their expensive and complicated battery replacement program -- but now you've got a sketchy DIY option instead. Once again, a mysterious Chinese company has stepped in and "created" a "solution" to your problem with its iPhone battery replacement kit. For just $20, which is cheap enough to elicit genuine concern, you get a 1400mAh, 3.7V iPhone battery, some type of screwdriver-like tool, a strange plastic shiv, and an instruction manual (presumably in English, but you never know). All you have to do is crack open your $600 phone, de-solder your old battery and solder in the new one... and probably some other, more complicated stuff too. At this price, it seems unlikely that this battery won't explode, so buy at your own risk, and definitely try at your own risk.

[Via I4U, thanks Luigi]

If you felt a bit snubbed after reading up on just how much loot you'd be paying out if and / or when your dear iPhone does break, you're not alone by a long shot. Reportedly, New York's Consumer Protection Board "issued a letter to Apple's CEO Monday asking for the iPhone to be a little more consumer-friendly," noting that the $79 charged to replace the battery, $29 "loaner fee" for using a temporary handset, and the ten-percent restocking fee were all asking too much. Moreover, the CPB suggested that "consumers should be able to replace the battery themselves," which admittedly seems to be a (somewhat) common belief. Granted, not all of these requests are exactly rational, but more importantly, we highly doubt his Steveness is gonna go change up price schemes to appease a few disgruntled board members, amiright?