Dimensions of Librem 5 (thickness)

I’ve looked but I can’t find hard numbers.

What are the dimensions of the currently shipping Librem 5? Is this expected to remain constant through to the mass production batch?

From what I can tell, it looks to be perhaps slightly smaller than an old TI-85…

I’ve seen where others have asked and there’s been some derision. I carry a work phone and a personal phone. I expected this to be thicker but the way this looks, is I would be carrying the bulk equal to three phones. (My wife had already offered to buy me a fanny pack for the Librem). If I still wore a suit all day it probably wouldn’t be an issue, just pondering how I’d carry it with me.

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I and others have asked around, including at Purism, and no one has provided anything concrete. I don’t think they’re being cagey about it, it’s just nobody’s job to put that out there have a pair of digital calipers, but won’t be able to use them until I get my phone (probably Dogwood). Hopefully someone in Birch will do this.

The dimensions for the Aspen Batch Librem 5 are 150mm x 75mm x 15.5 mm. We are working to make the chassis thinner for the later batches.

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It is not quite as thick as it looks. Thank you!

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I’m using a Nexus 5x right now and it’s about 8-9mm, so the Librem 5 will be around twice as thick.
(but also twice as awesome.)

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Thanks for the info, @Richard! To punish you for your kindness :wink:, do you know who I could talk to about more detailed descriptions, or perhaps CAD drawing? I’m working on a TPU (rubber) case for the phone (here,here), which many have requested.

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hm, indeed, my sony compact is 12mm so not that big difference, mere 3.5mm

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For comparison, I’ll be going from carrying about 17.1mm (s8, s10, both with case) to about 23.5mm. If I were to do a case (good info, I had been wondering if someone would do a case) then that’ll increase again accordingly. (Additional width for cases fudged, I don’t have anything accurate enough to measure with at my desk). That’s nearly 40% thicker.

Wearing business casual, you’re gonna have a (two phone) brick in your front pocket. Wearing a suit and jacket you’ve got a couple extra pockets. And if you don’t have to carry another phone then it’s pretty much moot and there’s no real problem with a single thicker phone.

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Remind us around when Dogwood/Evergreen are shipping as the chassis should be finalized then.

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Just thick enough for those three triple-A batteries I keep ribbing about. :smile:

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OK, sounds good. I don’t mind updating my script a few times to make an .stl for any Birch or Chestnut cases, though, before the chassis is finalized. I won’t print the case, but any future Birch/Chestnut owners who want to print a case on their own (but need a design) can post the dimensions when they get the phone, and I’ll post an .stl for them to use. I’d need the following measurements:
max/overall length
max/overall width
back plate length
back plat width
thickness of phone to bevel
thickness of bevel
diameter/position of camera lens
diameter/position of flash lens
position of 3 kill switches
position/length of volume rocker
position of power button
position of phone jack
position of micro-usb charging/data jack

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Just enough room for an audio jack :wink:

Would you consider doing a case that is a replacement for the back cover, as many of the cases for Samsung Galaxy S4 did? Or prefer to just put the case over the top of the existing back cover?
(Just out of curiosity)

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You mean a kind of case as discussed in theLibrem 5 case thread?

@Some_dude36 has made some inquiries about such a case (see links to YouTube videos on the Mozo shell/integrated versions), hope there will be good news soon.

I want that. I want to do that. I want a back case made out of polished black-flecked white granite.

Sadly, I don’t have a CNC machine (and I’d also need to make a plastic connector layer, since you can’t exactly make flexible snap-in tabs out of granite). Also, while it would be extremely pretty, it would also be extremely fragile. Drop it once and it’ll shatter into powder.

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The cover I reference above is designed to be 3D printed from a flexible material and fit over the existing chassis/case. I think it will generally work if the print material is flexible and the measurements and print quality are accurate to ~1 mm. It is therefore a fairly forgiving design.

Something like what you propose is certainly possible, and I would be interested to do this eventually, but it would be far less forgiving of small errors in measurement or production. There’s enough variability in 3D printer fidelity that depends on the printer and material, that it would likely be difficult to get a single file that works for multiple printers/materials. (ie., it would probably require more “fiddling” with the design by the user to get it to work. As a practical matter, though I need even more information (for example, precise location and size of screw holes) in order to start a project like that, and I don’t have that information either.

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