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Librem 5 Smartphone Final Specs

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Re: Librem 5 Smartphone Final Specs

#251

Post by opencl »

mrob wrote: post #18
JoshTriplett wrote: post #12

> 5.7″ IPS TFT screen @ 720×1440 Sad that this didn't end up using a low-power OLED screen. I can live with 720p resolution, but I'm surprised that for the cost an OLED screen wasn't possible. I was hoping that such a screen on an open device would help drive the adoption of dark themes in applications for power-saving reasons. Still looking forward to trying the device, though.

I prefer LCD. AFAIK, all OLED screens on the market use PWM brightness control in the 100s of Hz range, which for many people causes phantom array effect during eye movement. LCDs can have DC backlights, avoiding this annoyance.

Several of the Chinese manufactures have been adding a DC dimming mode to their recent OLED phones, i.e. Oneplus 7 and Xiaomi Black Shark 2.

Re: Librem 5 Smartphone Final Specs

#252

Post by bscphil »

voltagex_ wrote: post #206
bscphil wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similarly, I've pretty much given up on LineageOS ever getting the Nexus 5X to the 16.0 version. Their list of supported phones looks decent, but when you realize they can't keep even those phones up to date the project starts to look like a failure. I'm hoping to find an alternative for friends and family who still have the 5X - it's been dropped from Google's security updates for a while, because their support ends…

You hit the 5X jackpot - up to a certain manufacturing date, those phones were notorious for bootlooping and never working again. More on topic, the LineageOS support requires a volunteer maintaining a buildable tree for the phone, and testing will require the hardware itself. I'm not sure how much CI/CD helps here.

You're right: of the four 5X phones owned by close friends or family, only 1 bootlooped (and one was stolen). It would be great to have continued support for the remaining phones, but planned obsolescence is too strong.

The Nexus 5X supposedly has a maintainer with LineageOS, but maybe they're busy or no longer own the phone.

Re: Librem 5 Smartphone Final Specs

#253

Post by bscphil »

tapia wrote: post #250
bscphil wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similarly, I've pretty much given up on LineageOS ever getting the Nexus 5X to the 16.0 version. Their list of supported phones looks decent, but when you realize they can't keep even those phones up to date the project starts to look like a failure. I'm hoping to find an alternative for friends and family who still have the 5X - it's been dropped from Google's security updates for a while, because their support ends…

Maybe try Ubuntu phone? [1] It is an officially supported device of UBports. [1] https://ubports.com/de_DE/devices/promoted-devices

Unfortunately, I believe the supported phone is the Nexus 5. The 5X is not a different version of the 5, it's the next generation of the smallest Nexus phone line, since the "6" was already taken. The numbering went Nexus 4, 5, 5X.

Re: Librem 5 Smartphone Final Specs

#254

Post by jethro_tell »

ncmncm wrote: post #182
jethro_tell wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Signals going to be a no go right? From what I remember it needs google services for push notifications. As far as the non mobile version, I think that is an election app that uses a pretty good chunk of ram

Right, Signal won't be on it at release, maybe ever. They are recommending Matrix as a substitute, so I am getting used to that. Riot.im is the client, and Matrix is a little more capable than Signal (does interest groups), and doesn't demand your phone number or rely on Google Play services, so there's that. As usual, the problem is getting other people to switch, too. A Matrix Signal gateway server somewhere would…

I've been thinking of moving to matrix. Most of my people would but the clients aren't quite there at the moment. That should shake out soon.

Re: Librem 5 Smartphone Final Specs

#255

Post by Aissen »

vbezhenar wrote: post #3

5.7" screen is HUGE. I wish someone would build phone with 3.5-4" screen. It's so handy to operate phone with a single hand.

Screen size is a hugely personal preference. I prefer having a screen as big as possible, and used a 7" fonepad in the past (that bezel though!). Now the 6.67" Oneplus 7 Pro is more than enough, and fits in more pockets.

I respect people that want a smaller computing device, and I'm sad the market barely has options for you. Nowadays a 5.6" Pixel 3a is considered "small".

One could ask if the market really big enough ? I haven't heard the 3.3" 2018 Palm Phone being a huge success, despite being virtually alone on this market.

Re: Librem 5 Smartphone Final Specs

#256

Post by jdillaaa »

curioussavage wrote: post #189
jammygit wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me, I need authy, anki, and a couple of other apps or else I need a second phone. Luckily, anki is open source too and hopefully somebody ports the linux version for the smaller screen.

There is an Authy alternative ready for it.

There are also a ton of CLI tools to generate TOTP if thats what you're using authy for.

https://github.com/WhyNotHugo/totp-cli

Re: Librem 5 Smartphone Final Specs

#258

Post by jdillaaa »

andrewflnr wrote: post #65

The only real obstacle for me is that a large fraction of what I do with my phone is listen to Spotify. It's not clear to me whether or how well it will be supported. (More research: looks like I would have to install Ubuntu Touch and a third party app?) That said, I'm tempted to go for it anyway.

Spotify has a linux client that runs on electron. The Librem 5 runs a full Debian OS. So you should be able to run electron on it without any issues.

Re: Librem 5 Smartphone Final Specs

#259

Post by wpdev_63 »

It will be curious to see if these will be vulnerable to electronic device interceptions with the NSA TAO[0]. I'd imagine they are already working on building a replacement PCB to drop in and image.

There's alot people including journalists, whistleblowers, high level execs, people being targeted(T.I.'s) etc. would easily pay triple MSRP for a secure phone from government entities. It would be interesting to see if they can do it on a software level anyways.

[0]:https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/05/photos-of-an-nsa...

Re: Librem 5 Smartphone Final Specs

#260

Post by willtim »

flukus wrote: post #202
mpnordland wrote: post #25

So for me, this is roughly what I want in a phone. But the thing is, I bought a phone over two years ago, with better specs for $100 less. That same phone today is priced at $200-$300. The way I see it the real value add for this phone is the software, and this whole mainline Linux, FOSS, run whatever you want approach is very attractive to me. But is it worth $700? Is it worth $700 when my current phone is in great…

Assuming it's not an iphone, the phone you bought will likely be getting few/no more security updates and is obsolete, that's why it's so cheap now and in part why it was so cheap then. As you said, the value add here is in running mainline linux and that means your phone really will be usable for several years. Some of the other big pluses over android are ease of development, no java bloatware, more FOSS and no spy…

Yes Java has many issues, but writing complex GUI apps in plain C in this day and age is the wrong thing to do. The early Gnome founders learned this the hard way which led to Mono, which at least had automatic memory management. I fear this OS is destined to become like Samsung Tizen, which is riddled with security holes. It's not as if we don't have excellent libre languages, e.g. Rust and OCaml.

I applaud the open nature of this phone, but using the Gnome stack looks to me like a mistake.

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