Librem 5 Shipping Batches

Then the whole board? :wink:
Well, I am a bit anxious about this v2 announcement. What is the objective here? Are they themselves not convinced the v1 will be usable (as a daily driver)? So they just take out the pressure/expectations that way?

I will wait for feedback on the first two batches and decide then. Of course also depending on the batch I am assigned to.
But why would you even announce to release v2 just two quarters after v1 goes stable. Like nobody in batch Evergreen would not opt for v2…

It’s great and all but just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I consider getting a pinephone first and then I can easily wait for v2.

How amazing, that we even have this option now, to choose from more than one linux phone.

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I also don’t think announcing the upgraded cpu know is a bad thing. I even thought i had read some where else that nxp is planing on upgrading the from 28 to 14nm but i couldn’t find the source. So i was not surprised by this at all. And i think it’s only fair to pass this information on to customers. The difference will be mostly on the energy efficiency and some performance (i guess below 5%) and ironing out some bugs. (There are always some bugs even in hardware) Improving the production process is also no uncommon thing, as well as starting the improved efficiency on the lower end of the cpu range and upgrading the higher end cpus later. Intel is doing the same.
I think the naming with v1 and v2 is a bit miss leading.Because it suggest major improvement. But the have this naming schema for there laptop also. There is sometimes just a relatively small upgrade to the cpu and nothing else. In software this would be more of a 1.0 to 1.1 upgrade i think.
If it comes close to the transit from v1 to v2 i think there will be a clearance sale for the v1, Maybe puism even get cheaper cpu from nxp as the same holds true for them. Why should purism ramp up there production with the v1 cpu to fill up the warehouse if they know there is an improved version coming.
Purism reaching out to customers to check who wants which version might even be connected. So purism know how many of the v1 cpu they should order. And i wouldn’t be suprised if the v2 cpu got pushed back also. As NXP has no clean slate in keeping delivering dates i think.
So i don’t see any bad in announcing this roadmap including v2. There are clearly different interests in the community From “i want mine as early as possible, just let me hake on it” to “ohh i have just pull the triger but i hope someone has figured out android apps when i got the phone because other wise its useless to me.”
And purism has found a good way to satisfy both ends.

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Might be, but it doesn’t make sense to decide that before r2 PCBs have even been tested.

Jep i would read it like that too. To batches to catch any problems with the board which only surface with more user then they have in house. And than a mass production till the cpu upgrade which should be a drop in replacement. So same board with another cpu soldered on. No big change for production. Could be as simple as feeding a robot just another kind of cpus.

But as i wrote before. Purism might also not know how much the should produce of which version. So they are asking the customers.

Case designed seams a lot harder than they thought so they have these additional 2 and 4 iterations in total to get it done.

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When I paid 100$ almost two years ago (and later ordered the L5 September 19th 2017) I did not expect to get any phone at all but I considered the project so important that I paid for the development anyway. It does not matter which batch I will get. The early is a collectors item and I can always buy a later version if necessary. The Librem 5 is certainly going into my “museum” where I have the first heavy Ericsson which needed a tractor battery to work all day.

I do not complain about the price - those snooping Androids cost much more and I value privacy and open systems very much.

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For those worrying about the batches before Evergreen: Listen to what the Linux Gamer has to say (who chatted with some Purism reps).
It’s about as I expected: “loose fit” should be much tighter than some fear it to be. They’re being cautious about the wording so nobody feels betrayed by merely 90% (Aspen) or 95% (Birch) perfection.
(percentages randomly chosen by me)

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It’s actually nice of Purism to let you choose to ship early or next year. Instead of actually just creating a shipping delay/adjustment again.

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SteveC: When did you buy your phone? It would possibly help others to know when they will receive their devices.

That info would be on my home machine–and I forgot to look last night. My guess is that it was in early 2018.

However, I think the E-mail I was referencing was just the generic announcement. It wasn’t asking me about my shipping address or anything like that.

What I find a little funny is all the fuss over the case, since 99.9% of people end up putting a protective case on their phones anyways. Reminds me of Apple users talking how svelte their phones are and then they show me something wrapped in some huge rubberized casing.

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No, it’s not. It is the way they communicate things. They talk about being transparent and all but leave out the important information. They don’t explain why they are doing things this way etc.
Gardiner adds already some needed information in his video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So_rCYArL3s
Transparency is not always better if you leave the important things out. It seems they are all nerds lacking a PR guy :wink:

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That’s true. And they could have anticipated the reaction.
But it’s still better to under-promise and over-deliver than making themselves accusable of the opposite. In that sense it’s better if it is an unofficial info that the cases will be pretty good.

As the poll shows, it’s a vocal minority (as always on the Intent), possibly not even entitled to Aspen, wondering who the the heck would want unfinished hardware, while others would “sell their grandmother” to get one of those early collectors items.

Most likely, we will get much more details during the next weeks.

I assume, due to the above mechanisms they kept some setbacks for themselves to avoid needless speculation and shitstorms. Sadly, the little one we now have is possibly nothing in comparison to those we would have had if they made every move and setback public immediately. It’s hard to balance the wish for (public) success with transparency if those who understand the technical details the least are the loudest to question whether they will be able to work it out :neutral_face:

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About those certifications…
Are all batches suited for use in Europe? Or will we have to wait for the latter ones?

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I am thinking the Dogwood batch will be a bit larger than the first three. The Aspen, Birch, and Chestnut batches will each ship over a one month period, the Dogwood batch will ship for three months. So, I would hazard a guess, the Dogwood batch will be the same size as the first three put together.
Still completely in the dark about the exact sizes of the course. But I would expect them to range in the hundreds of copies, and not thousands.

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So has anyone been contacted about getting a phone in the Aspen batch?

(I assume that, regardless of batch, they still have to contact you to confirm delivery details and get choice of modem.)

Not knowing the size of the batches and not knowing where a customer is in the queue - means that it is hard for the customer to set expectations.

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It is reasonable to assume that the first 3 batches are no more than 1000 devices each (or less).

The first 1000 slots were taken by 2017-09-25. If you came later, there’s little chance you’ll end up in Aspen.
For those who didn’t order 2017, there’s little chance to get one 2019.

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I ordered quite early on - in September 2017 - but there simply isn’t any way for me to know what that means in terms of the current shipping schedule.

I could be first 1000 (I’m not saying I am because I don’t know but let’s say I am) but what would that mean if Aspen is “1000 devices or less”?

The point of my question “has anyone been contacted about getting a phone in the Aspen batch?” is that if someone has and I haven’t then I would tentatively conclude that I am not in Aspen, whereas if noone has then it is still unknown as to whether I am in Aspen.

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@kieran: My hypothesis is that they will write an email to all of the backers at the same time to inform everyone of the batch they’re in. So don’t worry and try to be patient for a couple more days, you will probably get your answer very soon. :slight_smile:

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I only got an e-mail where the say that they are going to contact me to verify the shipping adress. No further detail yet :-/

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Re: steven.ellsworth40’s inquiry:

It turns out my confirmation e-mail is dated 1 Jan 2019…which means I got in just under the wire for one of the price hikes.

And I’m therefore probably in Batch Yew or maybe Batch Willow. :slight_smile:

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On the brightside your not Batch Zelkova

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