Purism's Librem 5 July Update Cites Software Progress, No Hardware Update

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Purism's Librem 5 July Update Cites Software Progress, No Hardware Update

Purism has shared their July update on their Librem 5 Linux smartphone progress, which is mostly focused around inching along their software support but without any update on their hardware or final design. While their latest public information has continued to report a "Q3" ship date, that's looking increasingly unlikely...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Librem-5-Smartphone-July

[brent]

Oh well, this is going to be a shitshow after all these big promises.

[sarmad]

It's impossible at this stage to have the phones shipped during Q3, but shipping towards the end of the year isn't all that surprising. If they solidify the hardware and the few basic apps they can ship. The rest of the software can come through updates.

[Britoid]

Finally. We got a solid mobile stack. Other hardware vendors can use this as well.

The scary thing is battery life, keeping apps running in the background for notifications isn't very viable for a phone.

[Guest]

I don't think the future is looking bright for them, but they're not the first company to learn that the hard way. Mobile hardware is evolving at an insane pace, and it takes a major corporation with plenty of money to keep up.

By the time Librem 5 comes out, it will be obsolete, just like with Ouya (I'm talking just about hardware here).

Once you add the challenge of developing your own software stack, it becomes pretty much impossible to release something even remotely competitive and interesting to a potential consumer.

[starshipeleven]

Mobile hardware is evolving at an insane pace, and it takes a major corporation with plenty of money to keep up.

By the time Librem 5 comes out, it will be obsolete, just like with Ouya (I'm talking just about hardware here).

Not really. Mobile hardware has already plateaued years ago, this device won't be significantly more obsolete a year from now as it never was an Android device to begin with, so all the "Newer Android version needs XGB more RAM because reasons", and "5G yeeeet" or "no more audio jack" issues are completely irrelevant for it.


They are just finding out that hardware development and software-hardware integration is a huge PITA, as it always has been, and all this isn't a surprise for people that actually know that world.

[sarmad]

By the time Librem 5 comes out, it will be obsolete

Not obsolete for people who are ready to sacrifice anything for the sake of privacy. It's a very small market, but might be big enough to sustain Purism's business.

[oiaohm]

Not obsolete for people who are ready to sacrifice anything for the sake of privacy. It's a very small market, but might be big enough to sustain Purism's business.

https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/

Problem here is the Librem 5 is not going to be alone in that market. The pinephone is aiming for a 150 USD phone. Librem 5 has 1G more ram for over double the price yes $599 price tag. For a security mind phone the Librem5 has a mistake you need tools to remove the battery. Pinephone battery is removable without tools in current design.

Also do like pinephone support booting and running from removable sd card. Nice right you can audit your phone after crossing a check point.

I don't see how librem 5 is going to be that much better than the pinephone at this stage.

[Baguy]

https://www.pine64.org/pinephone/

Problem here is the Librem 5 is not going to be alone in that market. The pinephone is aiming for a 150 USD phone. Librem 5 has 1G more ram for over double the price yes $599 price tag. For a security mind phone the Librem5 has a mistake you need tools to remove the battery. Pinephone battery is removable without tools in current design.

Also do like pinephone support booting and running from removable sd card. Nice right you can audit your phone after crossing a check point.

I don't see how librem 5 is going to be that much better than the pinephone at this stage.

That said, it remains to bee seen if the pinephone too can deliver on it's promises.

[tildearrow]

Not obsolete for people who are ready to sacrifice anything for the sake of privacy. It's a very small market, but might be big enough to sustain Purism's business.

Time to go back to Commodore 64 for the sake of privacy.