Live data from Hacker News

All Librem 5 smartphones have shipped

puri.sm

111–120 of 132 posts

Re: All Librem 5 smartphones have shipped

#111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

YouTube works on Firefox but you need patience. As in: it takes 20 seconds for the front page to fully load and render. Then add another 10 secs to start a video and put it into full screen.

Took me a couple of days to get used to that. But now it’s the new normal for me. And that’s after having a snappy iPhone for years.

Re: All Librem 5 smartphones have shipped

#112
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Purism paid for all the development and the PinePhone folks took it for free. Which is perfectly ok – it’s open source.

But that doesn’t make Purism’s business case any less valid.

Re: All Librem 5 smartphones have shipped

#113
post #23

I'd like to know what percentage of people who bought this are using it as their smartphone? I heard the battery life and hardware quality isn't great.

Been using it as my daily driver for two weeks.

Battery life is not great but manageable. I bought two spare batteries as backups. I charge the phone at home, and put it into suspend when I’m on the go. Battery life may even improve as software and drivers mature.

Build quality is very decent. Hardware performance is barely enough for web browsing. But you get used to it quickly.

Re: All Librem 5 smartphones have shipped

#114
post #23

I'd like to know what percentage of people who bought this are using it as their smartphone? I heard the battery life and hardware quality isn't great.

Been using it as my daily driver for two weeks. Battery life is not great but manageable. I bought two spare batteries as backups. I charge the phone at home, and put it into suspend when I’m on the go. Battery life may even improve as software and drivers mature. Build quality is very decent. Hardware performance is barely enough for web browsing. But you get used to it quickly.

What does putting into suspend look like? Is that just you'd do on a normal smartphone by locking the screen? How fast does it come back from suspend?

Sad to hear it's not performant at all. Have you looked at Pinephone?

Re: All Librem 5 smartphones have shipped

#115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Bingo! I don't consider my phone a 'full computer', it's more like a 'computing appliance'.

Re: All Librem 5 smartphones have shipped

#116
post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Been using it as my daily driver for two weeks. Battery life is not great but manageable. I bought two spare batteries as backups. I charge the phone at home, and put it into suspend when I’m on the go. Battery life may even improve as software and drivers mature. Build quality is very decent. Hardware performance is barely enough for web browsing. But you get used to it quickly.

What does putting into suspend look like? Is that just you'd do on a normal smartphone by locking the screen? How fast does it come back from suspend? Sad to hear it's not performant at all. Have you looked at Pinephone?

> What does putting into suspend look like?

Two ways to trigger it: timed (via Settings) and ad-hoc (via a software button in a separate Mobile Settings app). When suspend is triggered, the screen turns off. (You can tell it’s suspend because the phone cools down considerably after a while.) Calls and SMS will wake it up but other events won’t. Waking up with the side button is instant, but it takes a few seconds until wifi and mobile data come up again.

Re: All Librem 5 smartphones have shipped

#117
post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does putting into suspend look like? Is that just you'd do on a normal smartphone by locking the screen? How fast does it come back from suspend? Sad to hear it's not performant at all. Have you looked at Pinephone?

> What does putting into suspend look like? Two ways to trigger it: timed (via Settings) and ad-hoc (via a software button in a separate Mobile Settings app). When suspend is triggered, the screen turns off. (You can tell it’s suspend because the phone cools down considerably after a while.) Calls and SMS will wake it up but other events won’t. Waking up with the side button is instant, but it takes a few seconds unt…

Suspend button is now available in the power menu (top right on the drop down overlay), after being enabled from Mobile Settings

Re: All Librem 5 smartphones have shipped

#118
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It was $700 two years ago and has almost doubled. I have no issue with a $1300 phone (I own one) but generally tech things get cheaper as time passes.

Not when you had to split already relatively small production batches into even smaller ones because the entire supply chain has collapsed and you couldn't obtain components in any helpful quantity for about two years.

Re: All Librem 5 smartphones have shipped

#119
post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What does putting into suspend look like? Is that just you'd do on a normal smartphone by locking the screen? How fast does it come back from suspend? Sad to hear it's not performant at all. Have you looked at Pinephone?

> What does putting into suspend look like? Two ways to trigger it: timed (via Settings) and ad-hoc (via a software button in a separate Mobile Settings app). When suspend is triggered, the screen turns off. (You can tell it’s suspend because the phone cools down considerably after a while.) Calls and SMS will wake it up but other events won’t. Waking up with the side button is instant, but it takes a few seconds unt…

Mobile data comes back up pretty much instantly, it's just WiFi that takes some time. For the record, WiFi connects back very fast after switching NetworkManager to (experimental) iwd backend instead of wpa_supplicant, but it breaks WiFi-based location because Geoclue only knows how to talk to wpa_supplicant.

Re: All Librem 5 smartphones have shipped

#120
post #27

My Purism phone worked for about 48 hours. Then it bricked. Disgusted with myself for buying it on an impulse, though in my defense I was - at the time - happy with my Purism laptop. Purism is forever on my do-not-buy list after my phone experience.

Doesn't it come with standard warranty?

It does.
Post reply on HN