I disagree.
That metal is in my humble opinion adding protection.
Better option would be: a case that delivers better protection.
So you gain by not burning your fingers 
and I’m less afraid for dropping the L5.
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I’ve tested a portable USB-C drive with my Librem 5 and it works normally. SSD only though (not magnetic). And nowhere near 16TB. Unfortunately it doesn’t look as if I measured the speed.
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It’s difficult to tell without the “Core Team” page, but I recall that on one of the last “Core Team” pages, she is no longer CTO or even “Director of Product” … her title was “Distinguished Engineer”. Frankly,
who knows if she is even still working for Purism???
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Correct, she shares her title with @guido.gunther.
Her last post was this November, which is quite recent.
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Add a HDR Monitor/Display for Fir as the Freescale i.MX 8M+ s.o.c.s. still support h.d.r. Of course all under Free Software.
Purism is Emperor for Gnu Mobile Phone.
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Add an ultra low noise antenna to GNSS.
Add Carbon technology.
Add a Phosphorescent circle around the USB port, for visibility at night Charger.
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I think that Purism should cancel the Fir version alltogether and build another, more improved phone, from scratch.
The purose of the Fir version was actually to assure everyone that a reasonably completed final Librem 5 would eventually be released as it was necessary during the initial development prosess to rev the Librem 5 several times before the hardware could be considered to be complete and fully functional. But they got it right or close enough in Evergreen. To have a Fir version now would likely slow development. Samsung doesn’t release something like a Note 10 and then a few years later release a Note 10.1. They move-on, radically innovate, and give the next product either a new number or maybe even a new name. It’s all in the marketing. The next phone should be “new and improved”, as opposed to “the same but a little better”. Technology marches forward, hopefully in bigger steps.
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The arm architecture is ridiculous in performance and this arm cpus seriously depends on others accelerators to final purpuse, these accelerators are still on construction(Libre) to be enabled in the Librem 5. Asking for another phone with a better CPU is falling into the same hole again and start again.
Fir it is super super super import on the same SOCompat.
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Fir is a batch though, not a version. The differences between batches A through E are relatively minor, and if Fir comes into being, the same may be true again. That may not accord with the expectations of those who have deferred their order to the Fir batch however.
The Librem 5 v2 is a whole different (hypothetical) device. The Librem 5 v2 has unfortunately, in this forum, also been misleadingly named the Librem 6.
… so the extent to which Fir would slow development depends on what Fir encompasses.
A possible compromise: Fir is Evergreen but with the 4GB RAM upgrade and/or the 128GB eMMC upgrade (whatever is most practical without disrupting things).
One unknown for us as outsiders is … how many phone orders are in the Fir batch?
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Purism is in no position to dump what they have learned making the Librem 5 and starting from scratch. Samsung, sure they have very very deep pockets.
I think the main thing with the Fir batch is if they can improve the battery life/power management, network reliability (modem/bluetooth/wifi) and perhaps figure out a way to shrink the footprint a bit so it’s not quite so hefty, like a weight loss program.
These further refinements to the existing platform will set them up nicely for a next full revision of the device, but like I said there is really no starting from scratch here unless they get some sort of windfall of money in which to do so.
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Add a dedicated website for Librem 5 Fir plus Free Software Fundation VERIFIED Device stamp.
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Interesting. The chip can do “up to” 2.3TOPS (int8).
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I havent seen anything from Purism to support this claim.
I dont think were going to know what Fir will contain until theres an official announcement, and I suspect that there will never be an official fir batch but rather a new product, a Librem 5v2 or something similar as the amber - evergreen batches has too much baggage to keep with that naming scheme and it is more beneficial to the business to avoid the sins of the past where possible.
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Yes, looks pretty speculative.
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Not going to lie, I think if Purism was selling a version of the Librem 5 with 8+ GB of ram, a much faster processor, and a marginally better camera, I would probably throw like $5000 at it just to keep using this style of handset while getting marginal improvements.
If I had any financial advisors, they would probably tell me I was being extremely unwise, but luckily I probably won’t tell anyone acting in that capacity for me in the future about this behavior
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Just bedazzle your present L5 with jewels if you feel like spending so much.
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I think i would rather bedazzle it with the corpses of my previous android phones, ripped out from their circuit boards, just for the off chance that they might cause it to run faster
Edit:
How much faster does a Librem 5 run if it has the processor from a samsung ripped off its circuit board and glued to the L5 for inspiration? maybe that’s the question i should be asking
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