by y0ghur7_xxx on 1/20/19, 11:16 AM
I will buy it and I am sure I'm gonna love it. I will feel good having it in my pocket and knowing nobody gets my data if it's not me giving it to them.
I will develop software for it and I hope others will too.
I really hope THIS is the future of personal mobile devices, and I want to help make that happen.
by mark_l_watson on 1/20/19, 2:13 PM
I used to be skeptical of non-mainstream products like this. Late last year I bought a Linux laptop from System76 that was by far the most expensive laptop I have ever bought (mostly because it has a 1070 GPU for machine learning) but so far it has been a great experience.
I love my iPhone/Apple Watch combination with perfect interop with my MacBook but I can see myself buying something like a Librem 5 in the future. The biggest drawback would be giving up my Apple Watch: it has been a game changer for me to be able to leave my cellphone at home, sort of disconnected but people can still get ahold of me while I don’t spend time staring at my phone instead of enjoying the world around me.
I would like more information about hooking a Librem 5 up to a monitor and Bluetooth keyboard. Even with a lower power phone, for me it is a compelling idea to have just one device.
by solarkraft on 1/20/19, 10:55 AM
I love that it exists, but I don't think I'll buy one. The processor having half the power of my 2016 mid-range phone is concerning me a little, especially for the price.
I hope they keep developing because I really do want a linux phone, but with enough power to emulate Android somehow (just can't go around it for some things).
Again though, congratulations for making it this far. The Librem 5 will probably be the standard hacker-phone for a few years.
by mehrdadn on 1/20/19, 11:59 AM
Are we expected to order the phone without knowing its features/specs...? I can't find them.
by Improvotter on 1/20/19, 2:12 PM
This phone is something I'd see myself using in the future. This way you could really have a Linux desktop/laptop machine for work and a Linux phone where it's a lot easier to bridge the gap between the devices. Imagine the ability to use most of the features of your phone from a Linux PC like MacOS has some features of: quick Bluetooth tethering, USB tethering, answering to messages, calling someone, and more! But it's missing some key features imo like responding to phone notifications from your desktop, using IR blaster, using the Bluetooth on your phone if your PC doesn't have it, sleep mode that's synced, and so so so much more that I cannot even think of.
But for now, I cannot afford a phone like this. Not only because of its price for what you get. But also because I want my phone to "just work".
by nixpulvis on 1/20/19, 2:28 PM
I believe we've found our next phone! Replaceable battery, headphone jack, Linux support. Hello, indeeed.
by lettergram on 1/20/19, 3:07 PM
That’s actually a pretty expensive phone: $600. I think it’s a fair proposition given what they are offering and attempting, but in this post they provide none of the phone specs. I suppose it’s not their target, but should probably still list it.
by NedIsakoff on 1/20/19, 6:43 PM
"Upon initial shipment of the Librem 5 in 2019, it will offer the essentials: phone functionality, email, messaging, voice, camera, browsing. The featureset will expand after shipment and over time to more free software applications. Your user experience will improve as we incrementally add commonly requested applications and features (such as calendaring, notes, calculator, PDF viewer, etc.) while keeping performance in mind."
A phone without a PDF viewer or calendar app? :)
by lucb1e on 1/20/19, 3:06 PM
I wonder why they very carefully avoid giving a hard minimum for how long the software will actually be supported. "For years to come" could be a third of your device's physical lifetime like everyone else does.
by secfirstmd on 1/20/19, 3:43 PM
I love this idea but without Signal and Whatsapp I basically will have a phone but no one to actually communicate with on it. Matrix is great but it's UI/UX needs work and barely anyone is using it.
by NedIsakoff on 1/20/19, 6:46 PM
Real question: does anyone see anywhere on the site where they say what LTE/3G/GSM bands it supports? Or TD-LTE vs FD-LTE?
I like to know before I pre-order if it will work in my region.
by Something1234 on 1/20/19, 3:29 PM
Anybody know if this phone will be able to work on Sprint's network in the United States? It's always a pain to get BYOD to work with a lot of the carriers.
by wpdev_63 on 1/20/19, 11:46 AM
Is the baseband firmware open source?
It would be exciting to have an open source phone based on the risc-v processor. Until the hardware is open source, it will never be truly secure.
by mac01021 on 1/20/19, 5:55 PM
Does this come with the same gnome 3 that I would install on a desktop?
Can I make apps that look consistent with the rest of the phone's OS just by using GTK?