Hello, I felt like I should share my perspective on the Librem 5 USA. For the previous 2 years I had not used a smartphone; relying only on my laptop and a 90s flipphone for SMS. I did this because I refused to participate in the child-slave-trade of Chinese-built phones. I am an experienced Linux user with some background in C programming.
I have been using the Librem 5 USA for a week. Here are some positives:
Not manufactured by Chinese child slaves.
Basically functions well enough to meet my primary needs (a micro-laptop).
Subtle branding
Here are some things that could be improved:
Documentation is okay; the but re-flashing instructions instantly caused confusion. Rather than going into details, I advise that someone observes a new-user actually trying to follow these instructions.
The mobile SIM card slot managed to nuke a SIM because I ejected it with the phone powered-up. Although you can blame me; engineers should anticipate this sort of user-error and make it impossible. Perhaps place the SIM slot under the battery, forcing the power-off. Then get rid of the Apple-style side-loading SIM-tray. It was stupid when Apple did it; donāt copy them.
On the topic of copying Apple: The implementation of PureOS looks like it was designed by people who think Apple dominates the smartphone market because of good design. This is not the reason. In fact, Apple dominates through the exploitation of cheap labor; specifically children. Ignore all of Appleās design strategies. The iPhone is horrible to use.
That said, the original iPhone (iPhone 1) was, from a UI perspective, okay. If Purism is looking for inspiration, they should revisit those original concepts.
Essentially, the UI on the Librem 5 USA looks like an Apple copycat. For this reason, it is badly designed. Letās face it: child-slavers will not inherently be good designers. In fact, you could argue that Appleās ādesignsā are some of the worst in the world.
The Librem 5 USA lock screen behaves oddly when the screen sleeps from within the Terminal app. Again, I wonāt go into details, but before adding a āChessā game, or a āWeatherā app, the engineers on this phone should fix the basic functioning of things.
Headphones: Goes without saying, but why bother? If youāre not going to build something with integrity, then just leave it out. I would have preferred the money spent on these pseudo-Apple-style accessories was just redistributed to the software engineers. We can buy our own headphones; most of us canāt re-code the OS. Focus on that.
My thoughts on how to fix the Librem 5 USA:
Ignore what Apple is doing. Start again from scratch with the PureOS mobile user interface. Apple has ruined phones and there are better ways to organize a handheld-computer system.
Remove all of the apps from the phone apart from a few key items: Web-browser; phone calling system; and a message app. Then focus entirely on fixing the UI and performance issues. Let the community decide what extra software we need.
In summary: The Librem 5 USA has a lot of potential, but the immensely-powerful processor inside it is struggling to run a bloated-mess of Apple-esque UI-nonsense. There seem to be a lot of layers of frivolous graphical effects slowing everything down.
A final thought:
Can a privacy conscious phone really come with Firefox? Sure, let us install Firefox ourselves if we want. However, Firefox contains 21 million lines of code. Has someone at Purism actually audited this code for security? Obviously, no. Therefore, it is extremely disingenuous to include Firefox on a privacy-conscious phone.
I have nothing against Firefox; I use it. However, I use it on some systems with an awareness that it is inevitably back-doored. I do not use it on secure hardware. I would not bundle it with any hardware I was personally vouching safe.
Please note that my objective is to help the Librem 5 USA project. For this reason, I have been quite clear in my critique. All this said, Purism have fixed the main problem with smartphones: Child slaves and communist dictatorships.
For this alone, I give the Librem 5 USA nine out of ten. It can easily get to ten out of ten if the company fixes the UI and OS. A starting point for this would be to minimalize the interface and reduce the app selection to three or four core apps.
Stop trying to do everything; and do just a few things well. Good luck.
(Not sure whether thereās room under there when the OpenPGP card slot is already in that vicinity but)
Technically, no, because if plugged into a power source (via USB-C), the phone is powered even without a battery. Sure, that raises the required level of user error.
Iām not an electrical engineer but ā¦ I would like to think it is possible to engineer a SIM card or SIM card interface where the SIM card doesnāt get nuked if you eject it while powered. Isnāt that the direct approach to fixing this problem?
I guess the other (future) approach is to replace the SIM with an eSIM. Then thereās nothing to eject, as well as simplifying the hardware layout, as well as more readily admitting the possibility of having a dual-SIM phone.
Better add the āapp storeā app to that list of inclusions.
Better add the āapp storeā app to that list of inclusions.
Perhaps; but I feel that it would be best even to leave this out. We can use the command-line for adding software if it means the Librem programming team can focus on fixing the core problems with the phoneās UI and OS.
Although I tested it; I didnāt mention the app store on the Librem 5 USA in my review, but I feel the same general rule applies to it: Donāt copy Apple. Look where it led them.
Librem 5 current sim slot it just TERRIBLE. I really advise to Purism to use Sony Xperia SIM Slot or Nokia N900 or scratch one.
Gnome is a clone of Apple, everybody know. : ( Poors Gnome creative peoples.
I really agree with you, Phosh also is copying to Android Design and Apple, they included a bar top notification on Lookscreen, just TERRIBLE on mobile, also terrible keeping the bar notification visible on an opened app because for a the small monitor ratio. : ( @guido.gunther
We can use the command line but I think that Purismās target market includes people who will not want to learn the idiosyncrasies of the apt command and of the shell just to install extra software.
Absolutely agree.
I donāt know the slot of N900, but the slot of Sony Xperia is more suitable to the concept of Librem 5, because it does not require a pin for ejection and this is good for being able to get rid of the SD and SIM in case of emergency.
It would be nice to be able to hot swap the SD card.
Btw. what is actually the purpose of a SIM tray on the side in the first place? Could it be that companies started to use it when they stopped delivering phones with replaceable battery? If this is the case, then maybe Librem 5 does not really need a side tray.
The problem with your āsimpleā solution is that adding existing apps is super-simple and many users would notice it and benefit form it, whereas āfixing the basic functioning of thingsā is the hardest and most time-consuming part.
Isnāt iPhoneās interface designed in the US? So you have any links saying otherwise?
Software will be fixed at some point. Hardware canāt ever be. Purism chose the long-term strategy, and I agree with them.
In fact, it does not come with Firefox. It comes with Debian repositories and you can install Firefox from the command line AFAIK. Using Debian saves a huge amount of time in the development, but it does not have to be the final destination (see SXMo).
Most people canāt live without a browser on the phone. Firefox is the most privacy-conscious browser among the existing (well, maybe GNU IceCat is better).
I agree with the donāt copy apple sentiment. Iām excited because, unlike with other smart phones, users of the librem 5 will have an opportunity to DO something about the aspects of the software they donāt like. They may not be able to, but theyāll have the opportunity.
