Later on in your post, it sounds like you do not yet know how the hardware switches work. Namely, the bottom switch is not a speaker ON/OFF. Instead, it is a mic and camera on/off, so when it is off the other side can never hear you!! I tend to keep it off but switch it on when I hear a call ring, and this has worked reasonably well for me. Still not perfect perhaps, but calling support varies by cellular provider I think.
- keyboard button
- globe icon
- terminal keyboard
- ctrl button
- ‘c’ to copy
- ‘v’ to paste
- now your CTRL is stuck on and you cant turn it off because L5 was made by a small indie company
- switch to English keyboard and back and CTRL is turned back off
In terminal app where CTRL+C doesnt work and instead has terminal meaning, the keyboard has a “Menu” button with a copy option as a workaround. Only needed in that 1 app oddball case
I almost never plug in my L5. My friend showed me which charger to buy… so… I have 3 Kastar universal chargers. They cost $10 each and can charge a Librem 5 battery external to the device. If you plug in L5 you can rip out its battery while its on. So about every 4-6 hours or whenever Im at 40% battery, I plug in the L5, rip out battery, pop one off charger, put fresh battery in device, put old battery on charger, unplug L5 from power and walk away. So I never have to charge my L5 directly and fast charge it with this ritual, and it doesnt even have to turn off/on. Only problem is those cheap chargers keep breaking, because they’re $10 junk. Maybe there’s a place to buy better ones. Purism sells L5 batteries for cheap too though, but unlike Kastar universal chargers I find that my L5 batteries dont seem to be breaking down after a year.
It kills mic and camera. Also, Signal app is probably government funded and notifies google whenever you send a message, so, they probably dont want you using Flare and probably have every incentive to keep breaking Flare whenever they can.
This might be because of throwing the device at a wall. The WiFi card is removable unlike with crappy S10s, so you can replace it. But when I played with my M.2 replaceables in the back of my L5 like that I broke the connectors. Be careful with the small friction fit attachments on the ends of the wires.
I had tremendous help from an in person friend who also had a L5 and took it probably more seriously than I did.
I still use Google Fi for my cell provider here on L5, which means if I get a call and my life depends on it then I can answer from PC. Similarly, I can use data+browser on my L5 to check for missed texts, and cover for when it has issues. I have also had cases where sending text would show red X and fail to send, but sending from a browser works fine. Of course, this means running nonfree JavaScript in the browser… But hey, I’m daily driving an L5, and I don’t miss texts.
I rip my phone backs doing all the battery swaps. Been through 2 and my friend has been through 2 as well I think. Purism sent me a new one for free the first time. I’m waiting on an order that they said would include another one. At the same time, I ordered a 3D printed one made from some strong stuff using the designs purism published recently. We’ll see in a few weeks when the new custom back arrives if it is truly stronger.
I thought someone on the forums described buying and installing a replacement screen but I don’t have experience with that. I can say if you didn’t already update to Liberty Phone though, I’m using the 4GB ram / 132 GB storage unit and I don’t regret the extra RAM. As you said, I want it to “just work” so throwing money at making it bigger for me was worth it, even if perhaps a little silly. Obviously the “made in USA” part is a little questionable. First thing I see when I rip it open is a battery from Zhonshan or whatever in China.