Thoughts on Liliputing's article regarding the Liberty Phone?

https://liliputing.com/purism-found-a-way-to-make-its-linux-phone-even-more-expensive-meet-the-2199-liberty-phone/

I had seen this, and started to wonder, is the processor really the same IMX8? It was my understanding that our Librem 5 boards have the version of the chip that supports a maximum of 32GB of eMMC and up to 4GB of RAM…

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Also, being honest, if I had the extra cash to do so, I would definitely buy the Liberty phone, but it is definitely way more than my original L5 and my secondhand L5 combined…

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instead of 3GB of RAM and 64GB of storage

Is the 64GB storage correct for the earlier Librem 5 USA? I thought that it was the same as the Librem 5 (non USA) i.e. 32 GB - but on no evidence, since I don’t own a Librem 5 USA.

support for WiFi 4 and Bluetooth 4

This is definitely wrong unless the SparkLAN card is not available with the Librem 5 USA.

But, yes, the price of the Librem 5 USA is not determined by the specs. See also: Introducing the Liberty Phone

I would think so. Hence why the RAM can only go to 4 GB.

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I have the Librem 5 USA, and as mentioned, it is the same specifications as the non-USA version: 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of eMMC.

The Redpine and SparkLAN Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module are both available for it. I had to manually install the SparkLAN module for mine, but there was a window of time where newly ordered Librem 5 USAs also had the SparkLAN module installed.

The processor on the Liberty Phone is the same as the Librem 5 (USA). The only difference is the name, amount of RAM capacity, and amount of eMMC capacity.

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In theory, we can self-upgrade our RAM and eMMC if we #gitgud

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I think both are soldered on so not realistic for almost all customers. In devices at this form factor, the connector pins tend to be very close together so this is not just an average soldering job, never mind if it’s LGA or BGA. So that would be #gitfinggud :slight_smile:

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I plan to do it with a hot air reflow station, at least for the RAM…

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OPINION:
It’s been a year-to-the-date since the article first appeared.
Stepping back and having read many of the comments on Liliputing’s article regarding the Liberty Phone, Made In USA and $500/600/700 (whatever) phone I believe the difference are the costs of USA assembly wages verses Chinese wages, and parts+wages in USA (or ‘safe supply chain’) verses Made in China parts.

Even assembling the parts in USA is in US wages ($'s) Tack on US exchange rates and exorbitant shipping fees and a phone that costs Americans $1,299.00 becomes $3,000 in Canada. Plus fees, import tax etcetera, and it still isn’t smart.

The article, IMO, doesn’t do the phones any good. Not included in the article is that specs try to meet USA’s major carrier requirements. In Canada , there shouldn’t be the need to go carrier hunting to ask what they support, as they seem to do in the US. In Canada, phones must be compatible between carriers - period. So I was told and it appears that is the way it is.

My only wish is that Puri changed the shadowed refund and/or repair services and product explanation as to what the phones are sans the glitz and bling.

I really do hope that they can make it to the top and be the very best privacy respecting phone+ at a more reasonable price outshining the duopolies.
Just say’n s’all
~s

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