Librem5 sale for 6 more days (DEAL EXPIRED)

I happened to check on the Purism site. Librem5 is on sale for $599.00 until Jan 31 2019, then goes to $649.00 until shipping date, then to full price.

https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/

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There are a lot of questions on why it will actually ship. It may be near end of the year judging by the problems they have had with the Dev boards

Went ahead and pinned this so more people will know about it :slight_smile:

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I still don’t really like the concept. Android exists and is open source, why not base the OS on that? Also I don’t want to spend that amount of money on a phone ever again. I do like the idea of control and openness, I would absolutely spend money on it… But not that amount and definitely not as a pre-order.

Is there any info on what the “full price” will be?

Blockquote

All proprietary software and operating systems are provided as binaries without source code. Therefore all proprietary software and operating systems cannot be verified to protect your rights to privacy, security, and freedom. MacOS, iOS, Android and Windows all ship binaries for which the source code is not provided, so there is no way to verify that the software provided by their parent corporations truly protects your privacy, security, and freedom.

Blockquote

Copied from librem5 site.

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I would really want to know a couple of things before I would make the decision to buy one:

  • does it have dual sim?
  • is it reasonably water resistant? (IP rating)
  • how long is the battery life?
  • other hardware specs?
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What! I thought $599 was the full price.

There are already million devices that use their version of Andriod. The whole point of this phone is that it runs something other than iOS and Android.

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Not that I could find yet. I can’t afford to buy it outright but I saw some text saying you could buy it on payments with no interest charged.

What forms of payment do you accept?

Credit card, cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Monero, Litecoin, Dogecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Decred, Ethereum) and direct bank transfer. We also offer interest free monthly payment plans. If you need any assistance or alternative options for payment, email ops(at)puri.sm for assistance.

I don’t think so as yet. Other stuff I don’t know. check the site.

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Well…

Android is an open source operating system for mobile devices and a corresponding open source project led by Google. This site and the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) repository offer the information and source code needed to create custom variants of the Android OS

Every piece of additional software Purism has to make instead of using binaries is specific to the hardware, it’s drivers basically. By not basing their OS on android they are excluding all other devices from the benefits of their development.


That is a point of view that I can understand … but why? Look at the history of mobile operating systems and think about how many have died regardless of quality. Why reinvent the wheel?

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I have been looking at the site on a regular basis but I either can’t find the info or it isn’t there.

For me the pricepoint is quite a bit outside what I would usually pay for a mobile phone (usually around 170 Euro). I see the value in the product though. However, my current phone will likely last a while still. It’s only 3 years old. :thinking:

from site faq.

Can the Librem 5 phone run Android?

Quite likely, although we will not expend resources to test this.

I don’t know enough about this stuff to make any informed decision. I just like the philosophy of the company and thought others might like to check it out.

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I’m completely with you on that. I just wanted to give my reason why I won’t put money into it. Just a second perspective. :wink:

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From site faq;>

Development is still ongoing, so most of the specs are not finalized yet. What is certain at this moment is:

CPU: NXP® i.MX 8M Quad or NXP® i.MX 8M Quad Mini
GPU: Vivante GC7000Lite
RAM: 3 GB minimum ( subject to change )
Screen: 720×1440 high-DPI 5.7″ ( glossy )
WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n
Bluetooth: Yes
GPS: Yes
NFC: No ( subject to change )
FM Radio: No
Card slot: microSD
Loudspeaker: Yes
3.5mm jack: Yes
SIM cards: One
Camera: Front and back
Replaceable Battery: Yes ( with tools )
Smart Card Reader: Yes ( OpenPGP-compatible )

Everything else is To Be Determined . This applies to: dimensions, weight, supported modem frequencies, internal storage capacity, maximum SD card capacity, camera specs, other screen specs, battery life, SAR values, etc.

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Thanks! I remember seeing that list but I couldn’t find it right now. As far as I can tell it’s mostly unchanged since a couple of months ago.
The IP rating would be especially important to me.

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I took a look at it and man it looks shady. There’s basically nothing other than marketing buzzwords. I know a company needs money to start a project but paying upfront for a blueprint it’s something nobody should ever do.
A better way to start their business would’ve been making an OS that users can install on their actual phone, enjoy it with all it’s features and than move on to making a whole new device.
As @noenken said the Android core would’ve been a much better idea. Blackberry is using it and made it really secure. Android itself has monthly security patches the manufacturer can push. So it’s not a bad place to start from in my opinion.
If you’re trying too hard to differenciate yourself you end up going way off and make something unusable that will never gain any traction in the market.

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This isnt really possible. Android phones for the most part aren’t really open, its difficult to get other OS’ working on them, and when you do, you don’t have hardware support so you’re screwed there anyway.

Android also isnt necessarily a great option, its tied to what google wants, java based etc. and will eventually be dumped by Google once they get their new OS in play.

The interesting problem seems more to do with financials, as far as I can tell they must be running on bare minimum as they don’t have enough money to last more than a few years.

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That’s not true for every phone. Many manufacturer release source code for their phone. Also it would be a stunt move to start showing what their company is capable of.

Yes, you’re absolutely right about that. But that’s the strenght of the Android core: compatibility and market diffusion. As the market has shown over and over is that it’s getting harder and harder to shift the entire market to a new technology. Even moving the market from Symbian to Android was hard. It worked just because you could go to different brand and get the same OS.

Yeah, it will eventually happen but it’s going to be Google, the giant that it is, to dictate the change and manufacturer, developers will follow through because they must do it to survive.

This seems quite expensive for what you get.

The Moto X4 looks like it’s half the price, possibly more powerful (?), and you could slap Lineage on it.

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