The Librem 5 dev kit's hardware is done and shipping! We are beyond excited for our backers to receive their dev kits before year-end. Our entire PureOS Librem 5 development team will getting the same dev kits, upgrading the generic i.MX 6 boards (which most of the demos you have seen have been based on) to the Purism i.MX 8M based dev kit.
[...] With about four months to go until we ship the phones, we are going to need the community to help in the final sprint to the finish line. So we look forward to your help with testing, feature requests, and of course code!
2019 is going to be an amazing year with the introduction of the first privacy and security focused mobile phone and we can't wait to get it in your hands.
[...] Furthermore, the phone's early-bird preorder pricing at $599 will end soon; after January 7th the preorder price will rise to $699 to cover our expenses for the phone. The money coming from this will be used to fund further engineering of the phone and to help people from the community to work on upstream projects.
https://puri.sm/posts/2018-devkits-are-shipping/
Also at:
https://www.notebookcheck.net/The-Linux-smartphone-is-back-Purism-Librem-5-developer-kit-now-shipping.383531.0.html
https://thenextweb.com/plugged/2018/12/19/dev-kits-for-purisms-ultra-private-librem-5-smartphone-are-now-shipping/
Related Stories
Purism has finally released the specs of the up and coming Librem 5 smartphone!
Librem 5 Specs
What are your initial reactions?
Though I'm not a hardware expert by a long shot, I'm not incredibly impressed with the specs. I do feel that smartphone hardware has been "good enough" for most uses for a while now and I know they have to start somewhere. What has not been good enough is freedom, flexibility, and, you know, actual ownership of the device. Sure you could get some level of freedom by jumping through a bunch of hoops, but who has time for that? Also, in case you haven't been paying attention, most of the work-arounds are becoming more and more difficult, if not impossible to implement.
Like it or not, smartphones are the way most people interact with computers, and beyond the basics for survival, are probably among the most important of our possessions. I want devices that I control and I want my kids and grand-kids to live in a world where they don't have to be the "product". In the wake of so many failed open-smartphones, is there any way Purism has a shot?
Previously:
Lockdown Mode on the Librem 5: Beyond Hardware Kill Switches
Librem 5 Dev Kits Are Shipping
Progress Update From the Librem 5 Hardware Department
(Score: 1, Troll) by driverless on Thursday December 20 2018, @11:11AM (4 children)
Yes, I know you can Google it, and eventually find something useful about it, but if it's this obscure then perhaps it doesn't really merit a front-page article.
For those who don't know, it's some sort of open-source phone platform, at which point I lost interest.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 20 2018, @01:42PM
Not open source, but free software, and phone, not phone platform.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 20 2018, @02:53PM
Its a phone with hardware kill switches.
(Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday December 20 2018, @05:14PM (1 child)
>lose interest for an open phone platform
Wew lad, that's like a caged man losing interest for crowbars.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday December 20 2018, @11:44PM
No, that's someone who's seen way too many of these appear and sink without trace a few years later not seeing anything about this one that would make it very different. I mean look, it's a nice effort and all, but I can't see this taking off when numerous earlier, much better-funded and resourced, attempts have all failed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 20 2018, @10:22PM
I need that in order to get my apps from Google Play Store.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @03:24AM
The price is high (for me), and the size is way too big for my preference, but I still would love to have one of these.
I had an n900 that ran a (slightly bastardized) Debian. It was the best phone I have ever owned. If this Librem phone is even half the phone the n900 was, it will be a success in my book. And, Librem has a pretty good* track record of delivering on promises with their laptops, so no reason to believe they won't be competent with their phone.
I now have a phone with that steaming pile of java-- android. Damn thing is the least trustworthy thing I have ever owned. I reflashed it with lineageOS, but I still don't trust any of the applications in the ecosystem at all. All are privacy violating stalker apps for a privacy violating stalker platform.
*Some features took a little while after shipping, but Librem seems to have worked most issues out by now, from the reports I have read.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @06:41AM
The word "Librem" reminds me of phlegm.