Reviews

Purism Librem 5

> 05/07/2023

Background

So in 2019 Purism ran there crowd funding campaign to fund the Librem 5 phone which would run linux as it's OS (not Android or iOS). Pinephone had not launch there $199 braveheart prototype developer phone yet. They managed to cross the $1.5 million target to build the phone. Development was set at around 1 year at the time which was seen as a realistic time frame. The Covid, chip shortage, manufacturing problems and all associated problems followed. Techlore in the video linked below suggests that the delays where also due to Purism did not have the required FCC certifications and that shipping commenced of the Evergreen batch followed the certification being granted.

https://inv.makerlab.tech/watch?v=prNeLzMbytU

Aspen, Birchwood, Dogwood were the code names for the early developer phone which don't need FCC certification, where as Evergreen the production model did.

I did not see the crowd funding campaign but ordered the Librem 5 not long after this had finished. I pre-ordered x2 Librem 5 at $599 each which I received in April 2023.

I have been following update email, blogs and video's throughout the four years.

There have been many, many criticisms of the delays, communication, and final production phone now it has finally launched. Are some of them justified? Probably ...

Could the communication have been better and did it have long periods of time with complete silence, yes.

Was there over promise and is the hardware shipped out of date, arguable yes. Did all of this cause reputational damage to Purism, without a doubt.

My thoughts

Many moons ago Canonical crow funded for the Ubuntu Linux phone. They had funding for $12 million of $35 million needed. I funded this campaign and got my money back as they did not clear the threshold. I remember how disappointed I was at the time. We (the Linux community) now have such a device. Not just from Purism but also from Pinephone. Multiple flavours of Linux are actively developed. Are there compromises and can you put them in someone's hand who does not use Linux and find there way around, yes. Would they have a good experience compared to Android or iOS? Right now, probably not. Do I love my Librem 5, absolutely.

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