I'm shocked they delivered all of them at all
They only managed that by not refunding tons of people and constantly lying.
All Librem 5 smartphones have shipped
71–80 of 132 posts
Re: All Librem 5 smartphones have shipped
#72Has anyone actually tried using the "convergent os" features for work? Could I hook this up to a monitor and actually enjoy using it for web/email/slack? I don't expect a good experience for using VSCode to develop locally on the device, but perhaps using VSCode via github codespaces or gitpod
the convergent UI is actually great. (i own a librem 5.) my keyboard, mouse, and speakers are connected to my monitor. i connect the phone via a single USB-C cable. suddenly i have full-blown gnome, exactly as i would on a desktop PC or laptop. applications and the launcher return to their normal, desktop layout when using the desktop mode. it's "just plain old linux with gnome" as long as it's connected to your peri…
> the oomph is obviously a little underwhelming but it's enough for lightweight development or (non-video) web browsing.
Does youtube work? Does zoom work?
Re: All Librem 5 smartphones have shipped
#73There have been a few "dumb" phones that have looked interesting lately but they have major issues or are really short run, two that come to mind: lite phone: https://www.thelightphone.com/shop/products/light-phone-ii-b... The reviews of this phone that I've seen have been pretty brutal so I've avoided it. mudita: https://store.mudita.com/store/mudita-pure-minimalist-phone-... Out of stock, but looked interesting. An…
The Light Phone not being open source killed it for me. Or at least having an easier option for alternative os.
Re: All Librem 5 smartphones have shipped
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not cell phones. I remember when the most expensive phone you could get was like $700. Then all the stories about how prices were about to hit a ludicrous four figures. Now there's a wide variety of phones that cost four figures.
Man, I miss the days when you could get a rootable phone that could run the latest LineageOS for like $80. (That's how much it was for my Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE which was extremely rootable.)
I miss the days when there was hardware differentiation at any price. There is literally one brand of phone right now that both A) has a headphone jack and B) doesn't have some kind of screen cutout for the selfie camera, and that's the Sony Xperia line. Despite the price (their entire line of current models is >$1000), I would probably pay it (or buy an older year model on ebay) except that they are not compatible with my provider (or at least uncertainly so, the internet has mixed things to say and they are 100% for sure not _officially_ supported.
I ended up going with a 3 year old phone from a different manufacturer that is officially supported but still had to give up the headphone jack.
Re: All Librem 5 smartphones have shipped
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
Probably because in the USA people aren't as willing to work for peanuts as people in the PRC?
I believe the USA manufactured version is the “Liberty Phone” starting $2199. The regular Librem appears to be made in China. https://puri.sm/products/liberty-phone/
Ah, got the 1 and 2 backwards, sorry; thanks for the heads-up.
Re: All Librem 5 smartphones have shipped
#76I have a Librem 5. It's currently collecting dust in my closet. I was enticed by the idea of having a user-replaceable battery (my last phone upgrade was 100% motivated by battery life problems). However, the Librem 5's battery is basically as bad as my Google Pixel's was after degrading for several years. The evening I opened it, I set it down after tinkering with it for a little bit and came back the next day to it…
It would have been helpful to specify the time when you had that disappointing experience with the Librem, and then put in the closet. At least for PinePhone, going to 1% within a day was a flaw of very early software, and good hibernation settings were released years ago already.
That said, I wouldn’t recommend the current Linux phones. Years after I got my PinePhone, the experience still pales compared to my old Nokia N900. I wonder if the lack of a physical keyboard discourages hacking. (Yes, a keyboard was released, but you have to order it separately and it has been reviewed as clunky.) Moreover, sometimes I wonder if the tough economy of the last decade has put a lot of idealistic people, who might have hacked FOSS in days of yore, into the precariat and there are just fewer man-hours available for mobile-Linux progress.
Re: All Librem 5 smartphones have shipped
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
I suppose they do not consider it a ‘truly convergent operating system’ since you cannot (officially) get root on it.
Can you get root on vanilla Android or iOS without jail-breaking, though? That seems generally true irrespective of the convergence factor.
Yes, so the point is that people who care a lot about such things may not consider vanilla Android or iOS to be ‘true’ operating systems, but rather a sandbox with limited functionality.
Re: All Librem 5 smartphones have shipped
#78I have a hard time understanding how regular people in need of "security/privacy" would pay 1200+ USD for this device. I'm not even touching on specs etc. The only ones I can think of needing such "security/privacy" would probably make a great sidestory in Breaking Bad or get their own post-mortem show on Netflix.
Kudos for using Linux, but that alone (and the hardware gimmicks) is really not enough to justify the cost.
P.S. For comparison the (somewhat) similarly spec'ed PinePhone costs 150-200 USD.
Re: All Librem 5 smartphones have shipped
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Man, I miss the days when you could get a rootable phone that could run the latest LineageOS for like $80. (That's how much it was for my Motorola Photon Q 4G LTE which was extremely rootable.)
I miss the days when there was hardware differentiation at any price. There is literally one brand of phone right now that both A) has a headphone jack and B) doesn't have some kind of screen cutout for the selfie camera, and that's the Sony Xperia line. Despite the price (their entire line of current models is >$1000), I would probably pay it (or buy an older year model on ebay) except that they are not compatible w…
B is super important to me, so my phone right now is a OnePlus 7 Pro. It was one of the last models ever made that can still pass SafetyNet while rooted (due to being whitelisted for "basic" / non-hardware-backed attestation). Unfortunately now it's several versions out of date and will stay that way for the foreseeable future, on top of the fact that nobody's figured out how to lock the bootloader on a custom ROM, despite the fact that it'll get you back Widevine L1 keys (the 7 Pro doesn't erase them on bootloader unlock like most phones do).
But this all stopped mattering to me when something accidentally activated a "feature"[0] of TWRP that erased my device and the maintainers have so far been completely hostile to the notion of adding an option to disable that functionality. ADHD now permanently bars me from any form of tweaking because the risk of TWRP suddenly erasing my device one day cannot be mitigated whatsoever. Even making backups from TWRP is off-limits because I'm afraid of it erasing my device instead.
Now I just use my phone because OxygenOS is great, the hardware mute switch is great, lack of camera cutout is great (fuck rounded corners though), and it has some serious flagship specs. Not an advertisement or anything, but this was $300 refurbished from Back Market.
[0]: https://github.com/TeamWin/Team-Win-Recovery-Project/issues/...
Re: All Librem 5 smartphones have shipped
#80Why do they keep getting more expensive? $1299??
Sad reflection of the realities of manufacturing, I suspect. They won’t ever achieve the kind of scale you’d need to make it cheaper. IMO it is what it is. Especially when you consider the hardware kill switches etc this is a niche product that the right small audience will pay $1.2k for.
The PinePhone guys must be marketing geniuses then to sell a true open source device for 150 USD.