Librem 5

[...] Librem 5, the one I personally still consider the best out there right now, is now 6-7 years old! [...] There's still a lot of work to do, but the usual reaction when people are playing with my phone is being surprised at how usable it appears ("this is a Linux phone? [...]

I've had my Librem 5 for about a year and the improvement in that time has been amazing. I don't disagree with anything you said, but I also like to think about the Librem 5 differently from other smartphones. [...] With respect to the price, there is a lot of subsidizing that happens with modern phones (for example companies that want their app to come preinstalled and not be able to be uninstalled), Purism certainly doesn't do that yet and the assumption is that they never will. Also, volumes on the Librem 5 are pretty low. I expect that any large phone manufacturer would never develop a phone that they expected to only sell as many as the Librem 5 has sold. More volume means lower prices. I was never really all that interested in the privacy aspect of the Librem 5. I just wanted a smartphone running Linux and the Librem 5 is that. [...]

I have been using the Librem 5 as my daily phone since 1 May 2022 ( And the Librem 5 is getting better and better, and its PureOS Linux operating system is actively maintained, and patches are still upstreamed ( I really enjoy having a phone that gives me full root control, and that is very similar to the Fedora (GNOME) distribution that I have on my desktop and laptop. [...] Yes, the Librem 5 is a bit older phone with some rough edges, but for me it is a really good phone. It gives freedom in the free software sense, and consistency with my Linux computers. [...]

I'm currently using a Librem 5 with PureOS 11 and Phosh. PureOS is a bit behind on software releases compared to other available distros, but I find it to be the most polished and stable experience. In the past I have used a Neo Freerunner (with Om2007.2 and later SHR) and then a Nokia N900 (with Maemo 5). [...] Before I switched to a Librem 5 I had carried a second phone with Android for about 3 years as the N900 was already too old for comfortable web browsing and there was nothing else on the market that I'd consider worth switching to for a while - but that was the only such exception.

[...] Back in 2008 I was wondering whether I should spend my first-earned money on the first Android phone (HTC Dream, aka T1) or a "plain Linux phone" (Neo Freerunner) and I've chosen the latter. Ultimately it was a good choice, as Android quickly turned out to be not what I wanted and only got worse over time, while the other path had me eventually go through Nokia N900 and Librem 5, and both of them worked well as mobile phones and pocket-sized computers. [...] It turned out not to be very effective, but it would undoubtedly have kept being improved in later iterations, slowly eroding that unrestricted agency of the user that the N900 was famous for.

i wanted the librem5 to be awesome. some things really bothered me about it , as a smartphone alternative: shitty screen shitty camera shitty cpu shitty battery life shitty os shitty support for modern video codecs shitty physical security if i cant take decent pictures, watch locally stored hd h264/265 videos, have a full day of battery life, and resist cellebrite extraction attempts... [...] they shoulda targetted it as a secure hotspot for a wifi only or tethered device, rather than the smartphone usecase.

6:19 Might be worth the wait to test it after PureOS Crimson is released, hopefully soon. [...] I'm daily driving a Librem 5 with pmOS phosh and can confirm that everything really important works reliably enough for me to use. This includes VoLTE calls and SMS texts (although I avoid both now after Salt Typhoon), 4G data, Wi-Fi, GPS navigation with PureMaps, camera, Firefox web browsing, email, Signal Messenger, etc. Camera app doesn't record sound though atm and Bluetooth is hit or miss. I'm a headphone jack fan btw and don't put radiation sources beside my brain anyway : ) If the unit you got is old, make sure to update the modem firmware and enable VoLTE if you intend to use it with a SIM card. [...]

The (hardware) camera quality is about what you'd expect from a phone from 2019. Software processing to get JPEGs out of raw data is worse (with a huge room for improvement), but you get the raw DNGs and can employ any processing you want afterwards. Video recording, however, is the real Achilles' heel of the Librem 5, at it lacks both hardware ISP and video encoder (there are only hardware decoders). [...] That said, what's there already is enough for me to have plenty of fun with the camera anyway.

Taking photos is one of the things I got accustomed to not having. The picture quality on my Librem 5 is just too disappointing [0]. The quality of taken photos is fine (as long as you keep the lens clean :)), it's the quality of raw data to JPEG pipeline that's underwhelming. The default pipeline has been significantly improved recently, but it's still very basic, which really shows in low light. There's a huge room for software improvement there. [...] I've been shooting lots of photos and videos on my L5: I’ve never used Bluetooth for music or similar, it keeps stuttering horribly I've experienced that when using 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi together with Bluetooth, but never when connected to a 5 GHz AP.

Taking photos is one of the things I got accustomed to not having. The picture quality on my Librem 5 is just too disappointing [0]. In the past I used Bluetooth for keyboard and mouse when I connected the phone to a monitor. (I no longer do because the USB port on my L5 has broken down so badly that it can no longer maintain a DisplayPort Alt mode connection.) I’ve never used Bluetooth for music or similar, it keeps stuttering horribly on my L5. [...] Signal barely works via the Electron app (and signal-cli), so that’s what I use for messaging. [...]

[...] Meanwhile to compensate on Linux mobile we have access to many programs from desktop Linux - not adapted for mobile screen, and many people use Android emulation - which should work very well on official SailfishOS but has limitations on other distros. [...] Sadly the Android one is still my main driver, mainly because I chose a not-fully-ready distribution like PureOS on a Librem5, and the battery duration is still too limited for me. Regarding the thriving software systems of Apple and Google, I think is more due to the popularity of mobile phones than to specific limitations they made on their OSes. I think even on a very open OS, as far as there is a good "famous" framework for development, you can gain the same amount of software.

I was working at an amazon warehouse fresh out of high school when I placed a preorder for a Librem 5. [...] Within ten days I got my refund. At first they were giving out refunds to everyone, but once people started putting in mass amounts of refund requests later on, they stopped likely because they were running out of money. I did end up buying a Librem 5 off someone brand new in 2023, when Purism was finally shipping theirs. [...] But it was slow, updates stopped coming through, and things like Bluetooth headphones in calls didnt work, and Bluetooth could be hit or miss. [...]

I have a Librem 5. [...] I use it for web browsing, SMS, XMPP, and email. The drawback I have is the battery life which usually lasts me 3-4 hrs. [...]

[...] There was so much technical stuff to cover, and I got a little lost in all that. If you look through the list of recommended devices for Nura (formerly postmarketOS), the only one that has full software support for all the hardware is the Librem 5, and the second best supported phone is the PinePhone. [...] The processor with the best support is the Snapdragon 845 from 2018 in the OnePlus 6/6T, POCO F1 and SHIFT6mq, and all of those devices have issues that a geek like me can accept (like downloading code from github and manually compiling to get a partially functional camera), but it isn’t really an option for ordinary people.

[...] The phone I've been using for the last 6 years, Librem 5, can just be docked to a screen, keyboard and mouse and used this way, running a Debian system. [...]

In 2008 I've got a Neo Freerunner, a few years later a Nokia N900, then a Librem 5. So at least the last 18 years, I guess? [...]

By such measure, GNU/Linux phones are already quite good. I use Librem 5 with Phosh as a daily driver, and it is really just fine. Except the battery life, app compatibility and smoothness of the UI.

[...] My daily driver, Librem 5, is as close to such device as possible. It runs an FSF-endorsed OS and has hardware kill switches for wireless and mic/camera. [...]

[...] A PinePhone or Librem 5 is just kind of meh-to-bad at almost everything.

[...] I don't think there's any significant component in the Librem 5 that has even existed a decade ago already. Perhaps the audio codec. Sure, it can be underwhelming today when it comes to performance, but it's still usable and was absolutely nowhere near "challenging" back when it was fresh - also, the software got significantly more usable and performant over time. [...]

[...] I've already traveled internationally with the Librem 5 and it can do what I need it to do. [...] Whatsapp I never use, Signal and Delta Chat work fine.

[...] All the things that make the PinePhone so painfully slow (GPU performance, RAM bandwidth, eMMC speed, small caches) are significantly higher spec'd on the Librem 5. It also takes much longer to thermal throttle. Performance isn't defined by CPU cores and RAM size alone.

It could be Purism, which have already created Librem 5 with its PureOS Store offering free software. My daily driver btw, Since it runs a desktop GNU/Linux, you can develop and run the same app on mobile and desktop with some adjustments in the interface. It already works well with Firefox and Gnome software. [...]

[...] but I just walk into the bank and say I don't have an Android or Apple 'smart' phone, only a Linux pocket computer (Librem 5). [...] or I take my money elsewhere. [...] If an institution is holding your money hostage until you are forced to run their surveillance-tracker-infested malware on your personal device, that is a much bigger problem than what OS or device you choose. That's why I understand the appeal of permission-less Open Source freedom money like Bitocin (BTC) and Monero (XMR).

I'm using a Librem 5 as my daily phone. [...] Monthly development updates are published here: Personally, I do not use Android apps on the Librem 5, but Waydroid is available in the PureOS repository. [...] Convergence means here that the same app can be used on a phone and on a big screen, the GUI adjusts to the available screen size. [...] Phosh was originally initiated by developers from Purism for the Librem 5 phone but is nowadays used on many different devices covering smartphones, tablets and convertibles. [...]

I can use most native GNU/Linux apps on my Librem 5 like gnome-calculator, gnome-calender, gnome-weather etc. [...]

[...] Freedom of computing on Librem 5 doesn't end with the root account. It also allows to natively run any desktop software and develop it in any language, without reliance on Google's decision on how one must use the phone, how your OS must evolve and when you may get your updates. [...] I do not call Librem 5 more secure. [...] And I only run trusted software, so it can be secure.

What I'd like to know is what software runs adequately under it in 4 GB RAM I daily driver Librem 5 phone running a Debian-based operating system with 3 GB of RAM. [...] By the way, unlike the discussed device, my phone runs a mainline Linux kernel.

So PureOS 11 (crimson) on Librem 5 has become daily driveable, as evidenced by me upgrading the system of my daily driver to it and not having much to complain about. From oldoldstable to oldstable - heading towards modernity one step at a time 😂 pureos librem5 linuxmobile mobilelinux

[...] I thought it would be a neat experiment until I saw my phone logs and the sms data that was being used even though not one single sms could be seen or sent... [...]

I bought a librem 5 and sold it within like 2 months that shit was ass 💔💔

I had wondered about Pine-phone. I bought a Librem 5 early on and initially it had lots issues with battery life and functionality, but now, after lots of software updates, it's improved a lot. Battery life has improved significantly.

I have been waiting for Liux phones. Love the fact you can physically shut off the mic and camera.

I have a PinePhone (for development purposes). I'd recommend Anthony get back to this in a year or two, things are improving a lot thanks to us having these devices!

[...] Sure, the interface is far, far slicker than what is available on the Librem 5, but there are already hints of "you are not really the owner of the device" (for instance default "safety" contacts in the contact app that you cannot delete, the inability to easily use "reverse tethering" (getting Internet by USB through a computer) and so on) that will make me keep the Librem 5, with all its own issues, as my daily driver for the foreseeable future. [...] What it does (if anything) is fully handled in software.)

For starters, the Librem 5 costs $799. [...] Also, PinePhone is so much slower than Librem 5, which in practice feels closer to the (now discontinued) PinePhone Pro. [...] Though of course, Librem 5 being a 2019 design isn't a speed demon these days either - but I'm still using one and it's manageable.

Day 1 of using my Librem 5 w/ PostmarketOS as a daily driver: almost everything works, except I disabled auto suspend because it would log me out and phone wouldn't ring for calls. So battery life sucks but it's otherwise quite cool

I'm loving the potential of the FLX1 but sadly I can't use mine yet as it isn't working with my sim card. Also having issues logging into Firefox Sync. Overall though I can see it being my daily driver before my Librem 5 because the battery life is great.

[...] I have a Librem 5 though. [...] I use Librem 5, because I do not believe in the future of AOSP. [...] Librem 5 is less secure than a GrapheneOS phone today, but nothing prevents the community to change that. [...]

the need to disable JS to render some modern sites You hatred towards Librem 5 spread all over HN prevents you from correctly reading my statements. The correct statement is "I disable JS for more security and for unreasonably JS-heavy websites. I do have it on when I want."

How so? To make it work on Librem 5 I had to fix some issues in Waydroid's gralloc and hwcomposer implementations, but that was back in 2022. It has just worked out-of-box ever since.

Between a T480, Librem 5, or Pinephone, I wonder which is most powerful. I have a soft spot for my Pinephone, but fast it is not.

[...] Note that various phones handle GNSS differently and for fast fixes, depending on the phone and distro, you may have to configure or trigger retrieval of assistance data from the Internet ([1] is an example for Librem 5's Teseo LIV3) - the module will be able to download all this stuff from the sky as well, but it may take several minutes or even fail under poor conditions, while getting fresh data online and acquiring a fix based on it takes seconds. [...] But if you wanted to keep it loaded for fast access (booting it up takes about half a minute) you can either freeze the container or just suspend the entire phone and it shouldn't influence anything other than keeping RAM occupied. [...]

Android runs on a variant of the Linux kernel, but it's not Linux, I've used Linux since vers. 0.12, I used Unix when I worked at Bell Labs. I've seen versions PureOS, Sailfish OS, and PostmarketOS for devices, such as the Librem 5, PinePhone or Jolla, I'm an open source and DIY guy.