For me, it was seeing the dev work on Phosh that convinced me to not cancel my order. I see Phosh as the most viable path to mobile Linux become a working alternative to Android.
My initial reaction in 2017 was “too expensive” and “I’ll never pay over $200 for a phone.” The more I studied the problem of planned obsolescence and surveillance capitalism, the more I thought “if I really care about these problems, I have to be willing to finance the change”, so I preordered in Jan 2019. I expected to get the phone by the end of 2019.
The more I studied the challenges facing mobile Linux, however, the more I realized the long-term importance of financing the dev work, and the less I worried about the final product or when I would get it. It has certainly been an evolution in my thinking. I didn’t understand how limited were the hardware options and I didn’t understand why Purism decided to create Phosh. The more I learned, the more I have realized the challenges that Purism faces. I studied why previous Linux phones failed and that gave me a much better appreciation for why Purism designed the L5 the way that it did.
My plan was to buy the Librem 5 and PineTab, but I don’t have any idea when my Librem 5 will arrive and the March update made it sound like there would be no PineTab in 2021, so I gave up waiting and ordered the PinePhone when the Beta was announced.
The April Update says that PINE64 is now planning to try to do a PineTab batch:
As for the PineTab, we’ve made it no secret that we’re prioritizing PinePhone production at this time. With very few available components, including the A64 SoC itself currently in short supply, we are opting to produce the much more popular device. Furthermore, if we were to open PineTab pre-orders at this time, it would have to be at a much higher price-point, which I believe makes for a far less attractive proposition. With all that said, we will seek to seize a window for a production opportunity opening this summer, and we will attempt to produce another batch of PineTabs. At present time it is impossible to tell if we will succeed in securing all the necessary components, negotiate sensible pricing, and ultimately offer the PineTab at an attractive price-point.
Before I close this section off, I want to make it abundantly clear that while this is the outlook as of today, April 15th 2021, and it is a subject to change. While the situation may seem less than ideal, it may change any day. The situation is so dynamic that everything I wrote above may be completely invalid in a day, week, or month’s time. Stay tuned for updates.
Seeing these kinds of announcements from other companies makes me more tolerant of the delays in shipping the Librem 5.
Meanwhile Purism continues with the lie: “Place your order now, get it in a few months!” Same shit since Nov. 2020. That’s way I try to not get a Librem 5 anymore by trying to sell my pre-order. They can’t estimate my pre-order from 2018, but it’s a “few months” if you order today. Ha!
I agree about the communication. Its a lovely clear explanation of why they are doing what they are and an estimate of when they will start producing.
Thanks for posting that. I’ll now keep any eye out for the pinetab. I can’t wait now to get the pinephone. I should have ordered the bloody thing months ago!
I had a shipping estimate for April. Today I received an email explaining the component shortage. I will receive my Librem 5 after that production resumes in October. My order date is 2017-10-06.
I‘ve got the same mail today and have had the same shipping estimate as April. My order date is 2017-10-07, in next October we have been waited 4 years and nobody knows if the production will resume in October.
Yep. Got that email too. My order date was 2017-10-06. So close. Considering they made the failed April estimate without having the parts, their October estimate without the parts holds no weight. I will be pleasantly surprised if it turns up.
The silver lining for me is that I have held onto my dying iphone 5S for an additional 4 years. In this time it has become almost unusable due to the dying battery. I now barely use it for anything but the occasional phone call. This has inadvertently cured my phone/data addiction! I will probably retire my iphone soon and crank out my trusty old Nokia. This has an easily removable battery so will help reduce the surveillance of me in the encroaching dystopian authoritarian nonsense world, which I envisioned a Librem 5 would be useful for back in 2017.
I thought the shipments planned until May were only for the models they were sure to have the components for.
It’s really not clear how they communicate…
At each step it seems like it’s only a matter of months and in the end it’s several years of delays!
It says “approximately 6 weeks” for the Librem 14, but this thread is about the Librem 5.
For the Librem 5 the shop page says: “Backorder shipping resumes October 2021. Place your order now, get it Q4 2021 – Q1 2022.”
And for the Librem 5 USA the shop page says: “Place your order now, get in a few months!”
But https://puri.sm/posts/the-ball-and-supply-chain/ says “Parity planned within Q2 2021” which would mean before the end of June. Perhaps that planning turned out to be, again, too optimistic.
Technically, the “Place your order now, get it in a few months” Label predates the update of getting it by end of Q2. I know it’s been there since I bought the L5USA back in Jan. At the time, recent updates suggested shipping parity in Feb 2021, so I’m sill optimistic about end of June.
Just to keep this topic alive as I see some that ordered in 2017 still have not received a phone. I ordered in 2018 and now do not expect a phone until 2023 if even then. I hope they did not use some of the money from the early backers to startup the USA version. Have any USA versions been delivered? If they have and the startup money was from early backers then this is a ponzi scheme. Going on 5 years and counting and still no phone does not look like we will have a good outcome. Ordering a phone and giving your hard earned money to Purism to wait is not recommended! I would recommend anyone wanting for a Purism phone is to wait until they get caught up with the orders before giving them your money due to so may promises being broken. Do not believe the hype! You have been warned.
I never “giving” the money to Purism just to wait. As a lonely Ubuntu phone user (bq) the risks where well known. My money was for backing the development of an open (Linux) phone with “convergence” in mind. I do NOT regret putting my money on Purism. I’m impressed by what Purism did en still doing. I can wait.
You are not a lonely Ubuntu bq user, me too since 2015. And I backed the project in October 2017 and bought a 2nd L5 a few days ago. I can and will wait too.