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Librem 5 USA

puri.sm

71–80 of 148 posts

Re: Librem 5 USA

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The PinePhone will likely be preferable to most LineageOS phones, since it will run a closer-to-mainline kernel. It's also expected to be available for a "fraction of the cost" compared to the Librem.

> The PinePhone will likely be preferable to most LineageOS phones IMO an android app runtme would be essential for any of these efforts to be comparable to Lineage. Anybody working on that?

I doubt that this would be nearly as useful as you think since so many apps are dependent on Google services these days and even the client libraries for them are proprietary. And then there's the fact that you're constantly playing catch up with what is effectively a closed platform with no real public roadmap that throws the occasional source drop over the wall and says 'good luck!'

It's unlikely today's Google is going to be interested in seeing these efforts succeed. So an Android app runtime would likely only really run software from 5+ years ago well. Better to focus on making a really solid Linux mobile experience, IMO.

Re: Librem 5 USA

#72
post #14
post #12

I'm unsold on spending $2,000 or even $700 on a new phone, but I also care deeply about privacy and security. Is there any strong reason to choose "Librem" over a cheaper Android running LineageOS or GrapheneOS? They can be purchased for a fraction of the cost and have been quite reliable for me.

Why Librem 5 costs that much: https://puri.sm/posts/breaking-ground/ Upd: quote from the Purism forum: "First hardware kill switches; first replaceable cellular modem and Wi-Fi/ Bluetooth (on M.2 cards); first smart card reader (for 2FF OpenPGP card); first running 100% free software; only current phone to offer convergence as PC without special hardware" https://forums.puri.sm/t/will-the-librem-5-be-a-white-elepha..…

It's also one of the few phones to have hardware baseband isolation - making you immune to IMSI catchers and other cellular-based attacks.

Re: Librem 5 USA

#73
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The problem is no matter what custom flavor of Android you run, you are still running an OS made by an ad company designed from the ground up to spy on you. LineageOS and GrapheneOS are based on AOSP, which is an open source project not really "made by an ad company". I agree with your latter point about supporting their hardware and typically buy used phones/computer for that same reason.

AOSP is not an open source project, despite the name. It is an export of the parts of the proprietary Android project which Google sees fit to release to the general public. Android is developed in secret and then the AOSP version is exported out of it. As such, AOSP is definitely still very much "made by an ad company".

AOSP is absolutely open source: the code can be viewed, modified, built and deployed as desired. There's good reason to be skeptical of Google-developed software, but your characterization of AOSP as "not open source" is simply not tenable.

Re: Librem 5 USA

#74

Wow, this version is $1,999, and if you've pre-ordered you can upgrade to the US-produced model for an extra $1,300. Does this pricing accurately reflect the increased cost of producing everything but the chassis in the US?

Having just come from seeing Black Friday sales: is it actually 2k, or is it “2k” with regular sales making it the actual price (which we will see before Christmas)?

Re: Librem 5 USA

#75
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why Librem 5 costs that much: https://puri.sm/posts/breaking-ground/ Upd: quote from the Purism forum: "First hardware kill switches; first replaceable cellular modem and Wi-Fi/ Bluetooth (on M.2 cards); first smart card reader (for 2FF OpenPGP card); first running 100% free software; only current phone to offer convergence as PC without special hardware" https://forums.puri.sm/t/will-the-librem-5-be-a-white-elepha..…

It's probably also the only "phone" that can't place phone calls.

Not sure why the downvotes, here - it’s incredibly valid that a phone of this price should be able to place a normal phone call - it also should’ve been a priority for the developers.

Re: Librem 5 USA

#76
post #43
post #12

I'm unsold on spending $2,000 or even $700 on a new phone, but I also care deeply about privacy and security. Is there any strong reason to choose "Librem" over a cheaper Android running LineageOS or GrapheneOS? They can be purchased for a fraction of the cost and have been quite reliable for me.

The former CTO of Purism itself recommends the PinePhone instead: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Zlatan-T...

Very interesting interview!

Re: Librem 5 USA

#77

Wow, this version is $1,999, and if you've pre-ordered you can upgrade to the US-produced model for an extra $1,300. Does this pricing accurately reflect the increased cost of producing everything but the chassis in the US?

No, this is a desperate attempt to raise money.

Pricing something this high is not a way to make money. Even at 3/4 of this ludicrous price I bet they would sell far more units.

Re: Librem 5 USA

#78
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's Libre Baskerville: https://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/libre-baskerville I find Baskerville pretty readable. Is it the same font you're seeing on the page? I wonder if something caused your browser to show a fallback instead. I think it reflects that all phones made in China have the potential to be compromised by malicious actors. That risk shouldn't be in most people's threat model, and if you're comparing the…

Looks odd on Brave on Windows https://i.imgur.com/rikvSNw.png

that's what it looks like to me, under chrome/windows

Re: Librem 5 USA

#79
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The former CTO of Purism itself recommends the PinePhone instead: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Zlatan-T...

Very interesting interview!

I'm definitely not saying that guy is wrong about anything he is saying, but take it with a grain of salt. A lot of what he says in his interviews are based on 1+ year old info since he no longer works there and a lot of it sounds like hearsay.

Re: Librem 5 USA

#80
post #43
post #12

I'm unsold on spending $2,000 or even $700 on a new phone, but I also care deeply about privacy and security. Is there any strong reason to choose "Librem" over a cheaper Android running LineageOS or GrapheneOS? They can be purchased for a fraction of the cost and have been quite reliable for me.

The former CTO of Purism itself recommends the PinePhone instead: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Zlatan-T...

But that same CTO claims he wasn't interested in the phone project[1]. Evidence of his apparent disinterest-- the phone still doesn't properly route audio for calls.

So why is it important what phone he recommends?

1: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Zlatan-T...

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