131–140 of 163 posts
How do they ensure that this modem (Gemalto PLS8 3G/4G) is truly respectful of your freedom?
How does it compare to UbuntuPhone?
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I can't see it working unless they support WhatsApp and friends. No network effect means it will die. Unfortunately.
To the average consumer it's slower, bigger and more expensive than the alternatives - I suspect that'd kill it even if it had WhatsApp. They seem very aware of both issues though. In the talk their CTO mentions that they see it being used alongside another device. She also mentions they are only making 10,000 units so mass adoption clearly isn't the target.
I do not believe that they target the average consumer.
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How? If you are stuck in one of the countries where more than 90% of citizens use WhatsApp, your choices are not to use WhatsApp, or to get an Android or IOS smartphone. Individuals might be willing to contact you via other channels, but group chats won't move to another platform unless you are dealing with people who actually care about their privacy. I don't use WhatsApp (can't use it due to not having an approved…
> How? If you are stuck in one of the countries where more than 90% of citizens use WhatsApp, your choices are not to use WhatsApp, or to get an Android or IOS smartphone. So you decide for the former.
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Parts of the memory interface have been mentioned previously: https://puri.sm/posts/librem5-solving-the-first-fsf-ryf-hurd... Similarly, they seem to have choosen the Wifi and Bluetooth chips as well because they have no downloadable firmware, and the isolation for the baseband probably ensures the same there: https://puri.sm/posts/librem5-2018-09-hardware-report/ If those would have meaningful updates is a good ques…
Okay, thank you. Is there any way to mitigate this if one wants to keep Wifi and Bluetooth? I guess if one really wanted to be pure then, they could just keep the second (of three, see below) hardware switches off, and even possibly de-solder a connection, to ensure they aren't accidently flipped on. Hardware Switches: - cameras and microphone - WiFi and Bluetooth - cellular baseband (When all three switches are off,…
https://puri.sm/posts/librem5-solving-the-first-fsf-ryf-hurd...
Purism can't guarantee someone won't try to flash that firmware. so the best solution they came up with was to create a parallel chip to store the firmware they have vetted to be safe and to overwrite the modem or wifi firmware with their version of the binaries anytime a change to the other firmware is pushed through
Obligatory mention of PinePhone which ● has a very similar CPU (but at 1.152Ghz instead of 1.5Ghz), ● also runs free software, ● also has hardware kill switches, ● also has USB C with video out ● has less memory (2GB vs 3GB) and ● has a similar screen size and same resolution (720x1440) ● has a 2MP / 5MP front/back cameras (vs 8MP / 13MP w/ LED flash) ● will cost only 150€ (vs $699 - was $599) https://www.pine64.org/…
It feels to me like these phones have very different audiences.
The phone is relatively thick compared to typical modern smartphones, which I assume is primary due to the separation of the cellular radio onto an M.2 card. I wonder whether it would have been possible to avoid this by putting the M.2 card to the side of the mainboard with an edge-to-edge connector, or re-embedding the components into the mainboard. I imagine flattening out the design would also help to distribute h…
Obligatory mention of PinePhone which ● has a very similar CPU (but at 1.152Ghz instead of 1.5Ghz), ● also runs free software, ● also has hardware kill switches, ● also has USB C with video out ● has less memory (2GB vs 3GB) and ● has a similar screen size and same resolution (720x1440) ● has a 2MP / 5MP front/back cameras (vs 8MP / 13MP w/ LED flash) ● will cost only 150€ (vs $699 - was $599) https://www.pine64.org/…
This project is clearly still super early days but looks very cool. It feels to me like these phones have very different audiences.
They've also made what I think is the sensible decision to focus on producing open hardware, and leave the problem of software to the community.
Why do you say they have different audiences?
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> How? If you are stuck in one of the countries where more than 90% of citizens use WhatsApp, your choices are not to use WhatsApp, or to get an Android or IOS smartphone. So you decide for the former.
That is fine, but it doesn't answer the question how Librem is purportedly solving that problem.
By not supporting WhatsApp, it forces the user to solve the problem that he/she makes a very bad decision with respect to his/her privacy.
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Quite right, but they still need enough buyers to stay in business, which looking how things in FOSS hardware and software business go, that isn't a guarantee.
> Quite right, but they still need enough buyers to stay in business, which looking how things in FOSS hardware and software business go, that isn't a guarantee. The problem rather is that many FOSS advocates are not willing to pay a multiple of the money (i.e. they do not put their money where their mouth is). If FOSS advocates were a very financially lucrative clientel, companies would care a lot more for them.