Librem 5: status LED

I noticed that the current haredware specs for the Librem 5 does not contain a status LED.
This may easily be overlooked. For me it’s almost a given that a smart phone has that, as I only had a Galaxy S2 and S3 so far…
It’s invisibly embedded in the case, only visible when lit. It indicates
Power: low battery, charging, full
Communication: messages, missed call
Just wanted to ask if anyone else would find that handy.

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Yes, I’d most definitely find some kind of controllable LED indicator useful.

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Just as long as it can be disabled by those of us who don’t want it.

Also, make it easy to use it for whatever you like.

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@Alex: hey, it’s Linux :wink:

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Absolutely helpful… And Wikipedia on LEDs
Leads me to think an RGB LED is the way to go… So can assign different hues to different notifications and statuses. (Maybe that goes without saying) _:thinking:

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This seems like a more reasonable feature request then many I have seen…even mine. This would be appreciated.

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I see this “feature” as pretty necessary for a user-friendly device. Almost every device imaginable has one or more LEDs to indicate power status, activity, notifcations,… Not including a LED would be seriously inconvenient.

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instead of the LED could not a crontab with a message on screen be enough?

You do understand the difference between energy consumed by the single blinking led in your pocket and screen+backlight though?

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assuming the Librem 5 comes with an amoled display there wont be backllight. dont know if its possible to use parts of the diaplay as a replacement for indicator leds with not too much power consumption (similar to the soft-keys displayed by some mobiles).

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yes but led’s colorcodes are visible even without staring at the screen and from far away, to look at screen though you need to pull it out and check the status of small screen portion. Same like with eink - consumption is low but you need to peer at it.
In other words - led is a quick and cheap win, and if someone doesn’t like it - just disable it.

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I was referring to the possibility of displaying a summary of what I received (sms, mail, phone calls) when I pick up the phone and go out from standby, not that the screen is always on.

support for op’s request 100%

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Hello, are we getting this or not? I was just about to create a topic myself only about this. Can you please confirm? Only a few months before shipping, you need to have this already figured out. I can’t find any information about this. And yes @Caliga this is freaking useful to have, without one I’d throw the phone in the wall if I can’t even SEE I’ve got a message. No hate :heart::heart::heart:
@mladen @jeremiah @david.boddie @Kyle_Rankin @EveryoneElseICantFind

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It very much seems like it has one.
Check these reports for LED. Specifially “user LED” and “user/software-controllable LED”
https://puri.sm/posts/librem5-2018-11-hardware-report/
https://puri.sm/posts/how-we-designed-the-librem-5-dev-kit-with-100-free-software/

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I think a status LED is almost essential. I’m surprised it wasn’t included in the original spec. RGB and programmable. My n900 had one, my Jolla has one, I’d miss it a lot.

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As far as I know, yes. The development board has one and the phone should have one, though I am almost certain it is different. I know it’s not in this blog post or this FAQ entry but it’s not been forgotten about.

Also, THERE IS NO NEED TO SHOUT to get my attention. :frowning_face:

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Thank you so much for the reply. @david.boddie Didn’t mean to shout. It was late at night I was having a hard time with personal stuff. Just got my own phone to work with LED, that’s why I had to ask fast. Been bothering me for weeks not being able to see notifications without the LED flashing.

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No problem @Nami. :smile: I’m just as eager to see things like LED notifications, though I think I spend too much time worrying about them with my current phone. Sometimes I almost think I imagine seeing the LED blinking - it’s a bit like the effect where people imagine that their phone vibrates, even when it doesn’t!

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