Librem 5 — painpoint assessment 2021

So… dear Librem 5 owners and users: In succinct bullet points, what are you missing, what needs improvement, what is annoying?

(possibly with issue or forum link)
I’ll add your points here:

Improvement needed

annoyances, paper-cuts, usability

missing feature (or missing integration / availability for mere mortals)

The purpose of this topic is to compile a list of pain-points, rough edges, polishing needs perceived by users.
The resulting list shall serve in several ways:

  • figure out which ones are most urgent (by means of a later poll)
  • spark ideas on how to solve some of them, or spark interest in contributing
  • measure progress in the future

Focus is on software, but hardware, documentation shortcomings etc. are also valid.
Naturally, there might be some overlap with the PureOS bugtracker, the Librem 5 projects / trackers and Fund Your App, but the scope is a bit different.

12 Likes

VoLTE!
((echo))
((echo))
((echo))

10 Likes
  • Charging and battery life
  • No HDMI over USB-C
  • Ringtone when answering the call - thats really confusing
5 Likes

Signal, having the Signal desktop client working would be acceptable as a start.
Without Signal support, I will not be able to use my (soon to be arriving) Librem 5 as a daily driver, because it is the messenger I use for ~98% of my contacts.
Signal is number three in Purism’s Fund you App.

12 Likes

VoLTE for me too. AT&T already disabled my previous phone’s access to the network because of their upcoming 3G Sunset. They sent me a $35 trash phone as compensation.

1 Like

Huh? What do you mean by that?

@dos would I be correct in summarizing this as “the Librem 5 supports HDMI out, but usually you don’t want that”

No, we haven’t physically connected the HDMI lines to the USB port. There’s only DisplayPort there.

3 Likes

Virtually any practical use of “HDMI over USB-C” means “using a USB-C -> HDMI adapter which uses DisplayPort alt-mode”, so while mentioning lack of HDMI alt-mode is technically correct, I doubt it would ever be useful to any actual user :stuck_out_tongue:

4 Likes

I think you have my main pain points.

A few things that annoy me:

  1. The need to login to stop the alarm (thus if I leave my phone home and the alarm goes off no one can stop it,except to turn the volume down).
  2. GPS Doesn’t work (might be a hardware issue or just where I live)
  3. Lack of a Calendar app that fits the screen

edit: VOLTE is definitely the biggest pain point

7 Likes
  • battery life / suspend implementation
3 Likes

Improved photo and barcode scan functionality

(P.S. Some of the things in this list may already be working better in Byzantium.)

1 Like
  • Map/GPS combo capable of being used for navigation (car/public transport/walking)
  • Signal messenger client (with push notifications)
  • Adaptive Gnome calendar
6 Likes

Is it okay to post what I miss on Mobian@PinePhone assuming that it’s the same on the L5? Of course I can’t be sure, until I get my L5.

In convergence mode the app switcher is only on the phone’s screen and not on the external screen. I think it should be on the external screen, maybe on both. For productive use a classical task bar would be a good alternative. Or how do you people use convergence? Do you install another desktop environment and switch at login?

Also some windows do not have a title bar. I guess these are non GTK programs. Also I would like to see the classical minimize, maximize etc. buttons.

1 Like

You can switch the main output in settings.

If those are Qt applications, then this is a matter of distro configuration and doesn’t happen on PureOS.

3 Likes

After (re)starting the Librem 5, after unlocking with the pass code, I get this pop up window:

Authentication required
The login keyring did not get unlocked when you logged into your computer.
Password:

The password for me is the same as the pass code to unlock the screen. I think this “Authentication required” window is a small annoyance that reduces the smoothness of the initial login process. Not really a pain point, but more a paper cut.

2 Likes

I believe the conclusion of that topic was “3G audio doesn’t sound as nice as VoLTE” :wink:

From what I heard, making GNOME Calendar adaptive will be the focus of this release cycle.

What’s missing there? Megapixels seems to work fine for me.

As said above, that can be already configured via GUI, phosh chrome follows the primary screen.

2 Likes

Currently with the latest version of megapixels on byzantium. You can detect but not copy or launch the code. Even though there is a copy button, it doesn’t seem to copy anything.

This works a lot better on mobian with a newer version of megapixels.

edit: I’d be thrilled if the L5 got the updated qr settings for megapixels. I’ve been working on expanding what codes can be used and should have a release available in the next few weeks.

Ah, indeed - I only tried with an URL and launching it in a browser works, but copying does not. I’ll take a look at it.

4 Likes

For me, the most important piece still missing is a calendar app.