I know we have an endless amount of discussions regarding shipping of the Librem 5, and I do apologize in advance for starting another one, but we don’t have a thread specific to the USA edition of the Librem 5.
Last update from Purism on the subject was that all the Pre-orders for the Librem 5 USA would be completed by Jan 2021 and shipping parity would be reached by Feb 2021. I know the winter storm that blew through the U.S. likely put a kink in that, but, seeing as we’re at the end of Feb, I’m curious if the above still holds true.
I don’t know how many here put in orders in for the Librem 5 USA, I know my order was placed late Jan 2021, but has anyone received theirs yet or at least been given estimated ship times?
P.S. to all the soldiers out their waiting 2-3 years to get their phone, kudos! After a month, the wait is already killing me
I ordered somewhat recently as well, partly based on the idea of shipping parody being about now, and it certainly seems like the wait will be much longer.
My first thought is what to do in the mean time? Buy a Pine, load Ubuntu touch onto a compatible phone?
My second thought is that the phone is old tech, and aging, and by the time I get one will it be relevant?
Given that I don’t see anyone else coming to market with a comparable or superior product anytime soon I’m just waiting on the Librem and have a Pine on the way as a interim step.
Depends on how you define relevant. Every year when they churn out a new android or apple device, it usually only means a marginally better screen, maybe a little bit faster processor, etc. But will these even be noticeable in the long (or short) run?
For me, the big questions are: can I make phone calls? send texts? access email/internet? The biggest concern for me is how long the modems will be supported by cell towers, and whether or not the move away from 3g will affect us. As long as the phones are technologically usable, I trust we will get enough software support to stay relevant.
The PinePhone 2 with the RK3566 will be coming at some point, which should have performance similar to a Raspberry Pi 4B. It will be based on the Quartz64 board, but I wouldn’t expect it for another 2-3 years.
If the Librem 5 v2 is released with the i.MX 8M Plus, it will have a chipset that supports up to 8GB RAM and should have roughly 20% better CPU performance, but worse GPU performance than the Librem 5 v1.
My hope is that Purism will skip the i.MX 8M Plus, and adopt the RK3588 for the Librem 5 v2, but it is unclear at this point whether it will be able to run on 100% free software. That will give us a competitive phone that is capable of running a convergent desktop, capturing 4K video and driving a 8K external monitor.
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