Librem 5 USA - Read Before Ordering

For the record, the important value to look for is amperage provided at 5V. To be able to comfortably charge while using the phone, you need at least 1.5A there (and ideally 2A or more). Currently Librem 5 does not use any other voltages than 5V.

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@dos will no doubt correct me if I am wrong :wink: but the charge current tails off quite significantly as the charge percentage rises, at about that charge percentage. If you “do the maths”, you can see that that is actually quite a low average charge current over the course of your drive. (It would be nice if the GUI exposed the instantaneous charge current, and voltage for that matter, somewhere.)

So … you need to begin with, say, a 20% battery charge. In a “40 minute drive” the increase in battery charge should then be significantly greater, albeit that it will be difficult to ensure that activity on the phone itself during the drive is exactly comparable.

Anyway though your answer for @TacticalPandaLE is helpful … yes, you can buy a car charger and plug it in and use it with the Librem 5 and … it just works (does charge the battery).

What I meant to say is that if you use a non-PD source, the current limit will be set to 500mA, which may be enough to slowly charge when idle, but will likely make it slowly discharge while in use. However, even for non-PD sources you can raise that limit, but it needs to be done manually.

Yes, that’s true. Generally, charging speed is limited by two factors - charge level and input current limit (which is negotiated via PD and defaults to 500mA for non-PD sources). Maximum charging current is around 1.5A. If input current limit is high enough to provide enough current to power the phone and charge at maximum current, it means you’ll be able to charge at full speed.

Not a GUI, but all these things (and more) can be checked via /sys/class/power_supply.

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Yes, that’s what I am doing but I hesitate to tell other people to do that, as that would be the blind leading the blind.

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Dumb question from the un-initiated, what is PD?

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Thanks, that helps. :+1:

Wouldn’t it make sense to split the topic? All this about charging was off topic. This topic is about delays in @aipei’s Librem 5 USA delivery and the associated communication with Purism.

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Where’s the fun in that? :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

The base topic has, for a the moment, died off. We’ll swing back on topic when @aipei or another L5 USA purchaser, like myself, comes back with new information. We’re just keeping the seat warm for him until he gets back.

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I originally pre-ordered my Librem 5 on 2019-04-05. When batches were announced on 2019-09-18, I got put into Evergreen, which was my last choice, but hey, I’m patient. When the USA model was announced, I immediately upgraded my order. I asked for an ETA in a support email on 2020-11-12, and I was told I should expect to receive it in 2021-01 — about seven months ago. As of today, I still have not received it, though I have finally received an email asking me to confirm my shipping address. (Very exciting!)

I know time estimates are hard, especially in hardware, and especially given the setbacks. Sure. But time estimates are not supposed to be honest assessments. They’re about expectations manaegment. The “honest” time estimate generally happens to actually be insanely optimistic. Always under-promise and over-deliver. If I had been told to expect the device sometime within the next ten years, I’d be impressed to receive it in less than five.

If it were me setting the shipping estimate for new orders, I’d say sometime within the 2020s. The details of current manufacturing expectations are irrelevant.

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Hi @bryankaplan

I don’t disagree with the rest of your post, but when did you receive your shipping email for L5-USA? I have a friend who upgraded to that, and it is exciting that the L5-USA line is moving again.

Not to mention I am also considering upgrading to it :slight_smile:

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Two days ago. That’s what prompted me to start reading the forums.

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Congrats and thanks for the update!

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It is now the first of September.
I have not received any notification as of yet.

Currently almost 4 weeks into the 6 to 8 week wait time provided 07/08/2021.
13 weeks since June 05, when 6 to 8 weeks was initially advertised.

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Same. I’m about 2 months into that “month or so” email I received beginning of July. Positive note, phones are at least shipping out, according to previous posts on this thread.

I upgraded from the Librem 5 to the Librem 5 USA on 2021-07-23, so just yesterday it is 6 weeks into the wait. I’ve been reading about all the great progress made, so I’m really looking forward to it.

Since I ordered the Librem 5 on 2019-12-31, I’ve had to buy a second phone after my previous phone’s battery started swelling and disassembling the phone. Since I have only 1 phone, I bought another one instead of trying to fix it myself and ending up with no phone, but at least they’re now only $120 (moto e, which is faster and cheaper than the previous moto g7, which was faster and cheaper than the previous moto g5 plus, which was faster and cheaper than the HTC One [M7]). All 3 of those previous phones were recycled at the same local Best Buy, the same store where a salesperson told me I should feel good that I got a phone that lasted longer than 1 year. So these phones are getting cheaper and cheaper, but failing faster and faster. It will be nice to break that cycle.

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Weird, in more than a decade none of my mobile phones had any hardware defects, neither did my wife’s phones. I always replaced them due to a lack of software support and security updates - usually after 3 years.

For example my current Android phone is in its fourth year and I’m now thinking of replacing it, because there won’t be any security updates anymore for the core OS. The hardware however still works flawlessly and I can still use it 2 days with one charge.

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@cbl It could be that my phones died because they were on the charger too much or because I used them as my primary Wi-Fi hotspot after my local ISP (CenturyLink) let the copper wires for my DSL line corrode to oblivion. After some years the highest speed they could deliver was less than 1 Mbps. I had to dump them in June 2017 and since then I’ve used T-Mobile and the Wi-Fi hotspot on my phone as my only Internet connection. Typical speeds to my Librem 15v4 are now 50 Mbps up/12 Mbps down with 4G LTE.

Just for fun, here’s what a swollen battery does to a smartphone. This is the 2013 HTC One (M7), which was their flagship phone and cost $580. I bought it in May 2014 and it died in April 2017, so it lasted 3 yrs 11 months. The last photo is after I got worried it might catch on fire before I could dump it at the Best Buy recycle station (I did not leave it on the wooden table).

The moto g5 plus lasted 2 yrs 6 months
The moto g7 lasted 1 yr 11 months
Hopefully the moto e (I could not find a phone with a removable battery that I could get in less than a week) will last long enough for the Librem 5 USA to arrive! :sunglasses:

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Yes, that might explain it. My phones are only on the charger when it’s absolutely needed and I also try avoid charging them to 100% too often.

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My daily driver is a Kyocera Torque KC-S701 (https://global.kyocera.com/prdct/telecom/en/s701/) which I bought May 2015(!) for 390 euro. It got no updates after Android 4.4.2 so by now most apps I used to run have seized to function. Luckily my banks all have fairly good support for mobile browsers so that replaced their apps.