My Librem 5 and initial thoughts

[2disbetter]

I know a few people have posted things similar to this, but honestly I felt it was warranted given a lot of the justified negativity around here. I give props where they are warranted.

I found the packaging satisfactory, and the inclusion of the universal power plugs was nice! I forgot all about that. The phone is built and feels really solid. I really like that. I actually like the shape of the phone and size quiet a bit. The phone feels really solid.

I was already prepared for the performance thanks to the MNT Reform I have which uses the same SoC. What Purism have accomplished with their phone is impressive. Sure it is still not ready for mass adoption, but the improvements are evident, and the phone is very usable as it is right now.

I’m using Dino as my XMPP client, and it is awesome that the same desktop client I use is the same one I’m using there. The convergence is real, and it is already possible today with it. Using a dock similar to what Kyle posted earlier today would be a great way to have your phone and laptop at the same time, while also being able to improve the amount of time it takes for the battery to drain.

Standby works well, but I really wish wish there was a standby option in the power drop down options. Having to wait for the time out to trigger it is nice and all, but I would prefer to set them for much longer periods of time, and manually start standby when needed.

I’m sure that is possible. I really hope development continues with the phone, because I think the solid foundation is there. It really is.

[Skalman]

Congratulations on receiving your L5!

@2disbetter

I was already prepared for the performance thanks to the MNT Reform I have which uses the same SoC

If you feel like it and have the time, it would be interesting to see some performance measurements comparing the Librem 5 and the MNT Reform. The CPU model should be the same, but other things like disks (and memory?) probably differ.

[2disbetter]

Yeah I can tell you already that the Reform will win in most contests. It has single lane NVME drive in it, and an additional gig of RAM. But yeah they are the same SoC. I don’t really have the time to run any benchmarks per se, but I mean the Reform is basically not thermally bound, where as the Librem 5 is. There will be some speed concessions as a result.

[janvlug]

Could you provide order date and shipping date details in this thread, please?

[gondolyr]

Have you gotten a protective case or are looking at any?

[2disbetter]

No I haven’t. I might but probably not. I’m pretty good with handling my electronics with care. Still I guess it also depends on the case.

[spaetz]

AFAIK, the standard dino package is not mobile screen friendly, and there is an experimental mobile branch. Which are you using?

And I agree, comparing to the MNT reform is the right thing to do, still having to recharge a phone that often is still my biggest pain point and reason why I am not always daily driving the L5.

[2disbetter]

Their is an adaptive version in Octarine:

XMPP clients L5

Run the command: cat <<EOF >/etc/apt/sources.list.d/octarine.list deb https://repo.pureos.net/pureos octarine main EOF then do: sudo apt update and then run the command: sudo apt install dino-im/octarine dino-im-common/octarine Two things about the octarine repository: 1 - It has a lower pin priority than landing and byzantium, meaning that packages from octarine need to be explicitly selected to be installed hence the extra /octarine in the package name when installing. It also means t…

It works really well. Sometimes you have to rotate to landscape but so far only when doing some things in account management.

[2disbetter]

@spaetz

And I agree, comparing to the MNT reform is the right thing to do, still having to recharge a phone that often is still my biggest pain point and reason why I am not always daily driving the L5.

The power management is downright impressive on the Librem 5, and when you consider that it is literally blazing the trail for Linux on mobile it is even more impressive.

That said, my solution to the issue of charging is the laptop dock solution. I really want to minimize the number of charge cycles I am using in a day, and I really like how the laptop docks provide power without charging, greatly extending battery life.

[2disbetter]

A quick follow up, just out of nowhere the Librem 5 was making and receiving calls via VoLTE on Telekom in Germany.

With Signal now working on it as well, I am super close to being able to use this as my primary phone. Great work Purism!

[Skalman]

@2disbetter

Signal now working

Are you using the elagost Signal flatpak?

[2disbetter]

Yep! Works great although I am having problems with it freezing when forcing Wayland use.

[2disbetter]

Just wanted to update this with the information that my cellular modem is finally working as it should since switching carriers. Really was frustrating, but now the modem seems to be pretty reliable. Phone calls all work, and even wake the phone while sleeping. (Kind of an inadvertent wake on lan feature, no?)

I really appreciate all the work Purism continues to make on improving the phone and look forward to continued progress as things mature.

[st.boom]

Did I understand you correctly Volte works for you with Telekom Germany?
My firmware is updated, Volte is enabled but as soon as I make a call I get the fallback to 2g. The call quality is so bad that my girlfriend refuses to talk to me.

[carlosgonz]

@2disbetter

Kind of an inadvertent wake on lan feature, no?

Not sure what u mean.
There are tons of features and fixes to come for L5…

@2disbetter

I really appreciate all the work Purism continues to make on improving the phone and look forward to continued progress as things mature.

Purism

@st.boom

Did I understand you correctly Volte works for you with Telekom Germany?
My firmware is updated, Volte is enabled but as soon as I make a call I get the fallback to 2g. The call quality is so bad that my girlfriend refuses to talk to me.

Try different Firmware versions…

[st.boom]

support has sent me a new modem with the appropriate firmware.

[carlosgonz]

@st.boom

support has sent me a new modem with the appropriate firmware.

Why not just reprogramming the modem with other firmware? and testing…

[st.boom]

@carlosgonz I don’t want to break anything and I don’t know how it’s done.

Basically, it would be good to know which firmware works for @2disbetter.
But his statement sounds to me as if something has been activated on the Telekom side.

[2disbetter]

Hi st.boom, I can’t really say. I got an experimental pacakge from Purism support that basically makes the necessary changes to the modem config to permit volte, however if can brick your modem, etc. So it is risky. I did that, and then out of the blue the sim just stopped working.

I put a new Aldi Talk sim in, and it is working great. Calls seems to be volte as well.

[st.boom]

Ah ok that explains it Aldi-Talk uses the o2/e+ network.
With Vodafone and O2, VoLTE seems to work.