Librem 5 August update

this is the most beautiful phrase of the whole article :heart_eyes::heart_eyes:

We are preparing everything for the Librem 5 to be delivered soon…

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“Soon” would be anytime between now and end of September (Q3 as they estimated) , so I don’t see how this statement should change our expectations.
What you should be looking for an email asking you which modem you want the phone to be shipped with :slight_smile:
Also, look for “pre order” link being replaced by “order” underneath the actual photo of the phone.

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Realistically
if I was Purism and I was saying Q3 i would probably mean the last few days of September.
which means I would only start shipping - on th 29th of Septmber - and i would still be bound by my word. and have earned my self more time.
then depending on how many devices they can ship per day - I would expect the pone to take another period of time few weeks a month? maybe even two months? before it is in my hands.
Personally if I get the phone before xmass i would be very happy.

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I would have said what @Tatatirci and @sherab_kelsang said but they said it first, but @antpanlinux don’t let our cynicism take the music out of your party. :smile: I was late in the ordering, so I’m expecting mine around Christmas.

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If I were Purism I would wait until End of August to outline what pre-order customer can expect and when actual shipping will start. Also, I would finally actually show the device in all its glory. I would be happy with any additional evidence that we are on the right track. Otherwise, long term silence means either something really good or something not so good. And these days, we all need something really good.

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Apparently, the first PCBs have arrived a few days ago.

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I have wanted a hardware update for a while. I guess that video counts as one.

I suspected that when they raised the price, it was because they were ordering parts, not about to ship. Once you commit to a specific quantity from suppliers, additional preorders consumes the future stock of this batch, and no longer goes toward better quantity discounts for components and other economies of scale. The video mentioned a lead time of up to 20 weeks (almost 5 months).

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It’s very frustrating to be so excluded from the hardware development process but at least the ‘board images’ show progress.

I believe it would be more correct to read the sentences in the context in which they are found …

what challenges us…

  • suppliers - this is a huge undertaking and managing all of this is an immense effort
  • for making consumer electronics almost no way to not do it in China
    - Language barrier is a pain to work around
  • Component lead times - up to 20 weeks!
    Or even more :frowning:
  • Regulation and Certification - OMG!

in the video they are at the 30:13 minute
… and then continue to watch the video in the minutes immediately following.
(excuse me for edit for only max realization)

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I went through this waiting for a bitcoin mining rig coming from Mainland China; BlackArrow.
They were just working their hearts out and communicating poorly to the prepaid customers who were obviously sharpening their pitchforks and oiling their torches.

I don’t know if I had antyhing to do with it but I emplored them to post pictures of the development process. They did, and it was wild to hear how many hurdles they had to get through. Chips bursting into flames was one. They made a great product in the end and delivered, but they came so late that it wasn’t affordible to mine with the device after it was delivered.

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From what I can gather, the hardware might be ready by Sept 30, 2019, but the software probably won’t be ready. The kernel commits from Purism indicate that they are still solving a lot of fundamental issues. During the presentation, Faerber said that they still have heat and energy consumption issues in the Librem 5, and those kind of problems can be hard to solve. Playing with the latest images in Qemu, the software looks pretty far from being ready to ship. Faerber commented that “hardware is hard” and everything takes longer than expected.

I personally am OK getting hardware that doesn’t work correctly due to software issues, but most people will flip out if they get a phone like that, so I’m guessing that Purism won’t ship in Q3. I’m sad, because I will be in the US in early October, so I expected to pick it up while in the States, but if it arrives later, I will have to send it through horrible Bolivian customs.

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Yeah
I am totally with you on that one.
I will also be in the US early October and hoped to pick the device up.
Anyhow, after Nicole’s presentation I simply relaxed about it all.

Its not about us having the device it is about the journey our whole society is going through and the folks from Purism are amazingly brave and visionary!! And they need help.
So for me - because i cannot write code etc the way I support the journey to privacy and respecting human begins digital life is supporting Purism.

In another topic about 2.6 weeks ago, @nicole.faerber wrote this:

So maybe we will get an official update soon.

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