The Librem 5 is awesome

Hardware Librem 5
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I find some of the topics here to be a bit stale (IMHO). I thought I would try to start new thread about things I like about the Librem 5:

  1. Freedom: I can do what I want when I want, how I want. I am also free to break the thing - which is good and bad.

  2. Linux software: There are some really cool things going on in the mobile space. I get to use yt-dlp. Flathub (with all of its caveats and bloat) is very functional, very useful, and has a great selection (albeit, not perfect). I also like all of the software available already in Debian and Apt. Pretty amazing, really.

  3. Linux hardware. I suppose there is not really something called “Linux Hardware.” Maybe I mean I believe it is awesome that a mobile device runs as well as it does with fully integrated Linux software for mobile.

  4. Privacy. This one is a bit torn for me. I still use many things on the internet that I am sure track me and give away my privacy/freedom/purchasing habits, etc. However, I think the Librem 5 gets about as close as a company can get to trying to make my privacy a priority. Pretty awesome.

  5. The community. There are some really intelligent and interesting people on this forum, on the Fediverse, in the Linux user-space, etc, that I never would have known about without using this device. It has truly and awesomely opened my horizons to new facts, technology, etc. I am a better person because of it.

  6. Possibility for Improvement. What I mean by this is that people who are smarter than me will continue to work on this device and the software because those same smart people know that Linux and alternative mobile systems are important. I still use a old (circa 2006) 32bit machine for various tasks because of Linux. Awesome.

  7. It makes phone calls and texts people. Ok, this is lame, but it is true, it mostly works. I am mostly happy here. Would I love some improvement on this topic, absolutely. But, I remember my old dumb phones. This device is so much cooler than those old things.

  8. Tinkering. I could go on-and-on here. Long-story-short: if you like to tinker, this device is awesome.

  9. Convergence. When it works, the convergence is awesome. Enough said.

  10. Webapps. Who knew that I could have so many web-apps and they could replace so much of what I relied on with Android? Awesome.

  11. Offline Maps. Ok. I realize Android does this, the offline maps thing is new to me and I dig it. I can drive around without Google tracking me going to my children’s sporting events and keeping a database about it.

I could go on, but I need to get some work done. Anybody else want to be positive and chime-in why the Librem 5 or Liberty Phone is awesome?

Remember, this is a positivity post so no negativity or rants.

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Fully agreed. For all the bumps along the way, it’s been a long time since I’ve felt optimistic or excited about tech and it’s amazing it took such a simple premise to feel that way.

It’s cool to know the device in my pocket isn’t actively hostile towards my desire for privacy. Phosh is a work of art. Convergence and “Let’s not make mobile apps. Let’s fix desktop apps so they work on mobile” is such an elegant way to not have to double development efforts. The L5 was one of the trailblazers (along with the Pinephone) that renewed enthusiasm towards encouraging mobile Linux as a viable alternative to the current duopoly at a time when people were clinging to their old N900s and Openmoko devices. Mainline Linux support means we can trust we’ll see device support for longer than any one manufacturer dictates. So much of the ecosystem can be shared to encourage new operating systems, new platform and new ideas.

All super cool stuff!

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One thing I would like to add is that the Librem 5 helps me make a point, an important one.

It’s very common nowadays that some company/organization/government agency/whatever are doing things in a way where they silently assume that everyone uses a Google/Apple phone. Like the only way to access their thing, whatever it is, is to use “the app” which is only available for Google/Apple phones. Lots of people will agree that this is bad in principle, but they have no strong point to make because they are anyway themselves using Google/Apple phones, so it is only a hypotetical issue for them. But for me, it’s not hypothetical. My phone is a Librem 5, I don’t use any Google/Apple crap and the company/organization/whatever will have to explain to me why the f*** they have chosen to make their thing work for only Google/Apple phones.

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Yes! Great point here. I am not sure your point makes the Librem 5 awesome but I am sure tired of this attitude/assumption.

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I would like to add one huge point for me personally: Development

It is so much easier to develop scripts, small apps and even more complex applications and games for the Librem 5 than many Android or iOS devices. I don’t need to rely on specific complex APIs, accept license terms for development or buy extra hardware only to get access to development tools. No, I can even develop on the device itself.

Most software just needs to be rebuilt for arm64 and it runs. From there it’s only a matter of time to adjust UI for the mobile form factor to get full desktop applications with all major features available at hand. There’s no need to restart from zero to support the platform or port every little feature from desktop to mobile.

It is miles ahead in that regard comparing it with other mobile platforms because it is truly open. Then looking at current efforts of Plasma Mobile and GNOME, it is only getting better with every update. Really awesome!

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I wonder why there are not more developers then? Is it a money issue? Lack of users?

I greatly appreciate your post as I see it as being part and parcel of most of what I am so very interested in: freedom.

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I would assume most developers go to the platform where they can make a living. So in that regard Linux (on desktop and mobile) simply lacks the option to sell software via stores. Some distributions like Elementary have tried to embed donation recommendations into their software center and I think Flathub wanted to work on a solution for this as well.

But as long as most users don’t financially support software development on a platform, I assume the only developers sticking around are interested in your other listed points as well (from their own user perspective) or they believe in the project to work long-term in their favor.

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Yes, well said. And this goes directly to why people (myself) should support “free” software with their money.

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There are thousands of GNU/Linux developers out there! (They just have to be convinced to adapt their thousands of apps to the mobile Linux architecture and screen size.) :wink:

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Ok! Let’s convince them!

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Or in some cases they just need to be convinced to use an adaptive API even if they never even test the application on a phone.

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I really enjoy that the files and folders on my phons are simple and straightforward, and that I can reasonably expect no application uploads their contents to a server without clearly indicating the matter to me.

This is sort of a case of the function of programs being contrary to expectation or contrary to what we are told.

We are told that Android Security Model means all your files are ultra secure - because cached information from App A cannot be accessed by App B and everybody is distinctly permission locked. By contrast, we are told than on Debian/PureOS security model any program can access any file owned by the local user, allowing App B to malicious read the information cached by App A.

But despite these claims about low level technical design, on a high level the Android ended up built in a way that the camera saves to a public folder and I would tend to have 3 or 4 corporations vying to be the arbiters of “cloud” and “backup,” each sending themselves a “backup” of my pictures and data and feeding it to their AIs.

Likewise, because of the design decisions, if I just use vim or a text editor on the Librem 5 to make a note, or if I pop open the camera and snap a picture of something containing personal information, I don’t have 3 corporations auto-installing upload-by-default services that upload those text files and images to any server…

What is mine remains mine. Android generally does what you ask, and it also does what it wants. More often Librem 5 is only doing what I ask and not more.

This is extremely subtle but after a longer period of time, I’m spoiled. I know some day the world will try to force me to use the duopoly again… and I am just going to hate it. I was at a music concert and I saw thousands of people turn on “flashlight” and waive their phones. We are in an ocean of duopoly. It’s amazing anyone even got this far without Purism leadership being assassinated or anything. It’s an uphill battle but the good in the Librem 5 is that it has spoiled me with this truth.

“We could have done it right. We can do it right. Here is an example of doing it right.”

I am not always in the right and not always making correct choices, but when I use Librem 5 for my phone, I can feel I am doing something right.

My files are mine. When my drive dies, and I lose them, that will be my fault. But that’s worth it if in return, I can take a phone picture of my driver’s license for some secure need without it leaking to the backup clouds in 3 countries without me even asking for that to happen…

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It can try…
I’m 60 years old; I was computing before Microsoft existed, and I have never had a Microsoft OS on my personal computers. There’s getting to be enough phones out there running Linux to keep the option alive for at least the next 50 years. (Remember you can still buy an actively supported OS/2 as ArcaOS 18 years after IBM ended support.)

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Great point. Thank you for your post.

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Except cellular protocols have been coming and disappearing much faster than that. It’s not clear the L5 modularity will mitigate that more than a generation or two.

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A Librem 5 that had that problem could become a non-cellular device - as I have done with some old iPhones that run ****ty blackbox unavoidable apps.

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In your estimation, could we maybe expect 10 years out of this device?

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What was that a reply to and what constraints are you envisaging?

If it’s me and you are talking about the 4G network being shut down then … it will vary widely from country to country, and within a country from region to region, but in my case it is my wild guess that I will get 10 years (or more). [3G hasn’t even finished being shut down and temporarily at least I have lost 5G. The 3G shutdown is highlighting all sorts of issues and is being delayed, and who will want that all over again with 4G and how soon?]

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Isn’t this exactly why you get modular modems with the Librem 5?

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It’s been said in other threads that even if you change the modem, that won’t save you from the antennas not being compatible with the radio bands

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