an Expensive option for freedom from Google and Apple in the Smartphone world

[AZgl1800]

https://shop.puri.sm/shop/librem-5-usa/

at $1,999.00 it is out of my budget, but if you are super paranoid about security, this one is for you.

Planned Obsolescence? nope, not going to happen.
just improved software for it,

and it has a user replaceable battery, 4,500 mA hour worth, that ought to hold it for a couple days.

oh, no China chips either, just the outer frame to hold the guts that go in it, USA made, with a few selected chips from stable sources.

[motoryzen]

Yeah..I'd buy it if it wasn't for the following:

1. There is still no 1080p resolution screen option..only 1440 x 720p ( I'm NOT downgrading from well from 395 ppi to 322 at best). For me, it's not about gaming but better ppi = easier to read things quicker such as text on some sort of maps app while riding ( motorbike rider here) and the longer I have to focus on reading a location's text, the more time I'm taking my eyes off the road which can = much more danger for me.

2. Ties some into point number one in that I occasionally watch bluray movies on my phone. That's too many pixels left out. Nope and most of my bluray movies I'd care to put on my phone are wider than 16:9 aspect ratio...so thus..fat black bars on top and bottom versus my phone zte axon 30 5G

3. Tying into point number two...yes..technically VLC ( flatpak version) will work on this phone..BUT..it's a messed up cluster-3#$% experience. having to do a voodoo dance with the phone to finally see menu items and it's only temporary. Also it's still that deal of the screen resolution on bluray movies. nope.

4. The camera experience is STILL...garbage per actual owners as of a handfull of months ago. Look i'm not expecting it to be a freaking iPhone 13, but seriously this is ASININE considering the price range even the typical Chinese made let alone the 99 or 100% american made model.

5. I will NEVER pay even 800 bucks for a phone let alone 2 grand if they don't even have a 1080p screen.

6. Fairphone seems like a worthy competitor to this phone overall given price and the modularity involved. *shrugs*

[Moem]

Yeah, that's out of my budget, too. And I'm happy with my cheap option: a Oneplus One running Ubuntu Touch. I have a Oneplus 3 lined up (and installed) as successor but for now I like the Op1 just fine.

[Pierre]

another Freedom Phone .. with an UN-tracker:
https://robolinux.org/
and it runs on Debian v12-2

this very customised Phone is supposed to be able to be used, in most countries.

[Portreve]

Yknow, I admire Todd Weaver's stated ethics and goals (and, therefore, those of Purism). I really do, and I'd like nothing more than to just drop everything and buy their hardware. However, very likely there's not going to be much of a point for most (i.e. "normal") users to buy the Librem 5 for probably the next 3 to 5 years. The platform itself has to mature. The ecosystem has to broaden and flourish. Their mobile OS has to start getting a ████-ton of apps written for it. Programs like Signal, Telegram, and yes WhatsApp as well must be ported to it. It must have a drop-in replacement for Google Maps and Navigation (or, at a minimum, Apple Maps).

Now, that last bit having been said...

Right now in the U.S. there is a lot of effort (and wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth) to get a pair of bills passed through our Federal Congress, and in one of them is a provision to fund a feasibility study on taxing private citizen and business alike on a per-mile basis for all driving. Even at a fairly low rate, my present job would probably see me paying anywhere from $2k - $4k a year in driving tax, should the study lead to a future law. In that event, I will likely have little choice but to walk away from my present job and find something else. I'm very certain I'm not the only one who will not wish to pay that tax, and every system which can track you potentially could be a data point the government could demand access to. Maybe if Purism got together a replacement nav system which could operate in a way where neither our government nor any other which might decide to pull this stunt could collect the data, it would be viewed as a significant asset to the general public.

[Portreve]

On Purism's Librem 5 FAQ page, the section titled What screen does the Librem 5 have and why is it 720p instead of 1080p? explains the rationale for why the hardware thus far has a lower spec'd display. It sounds like they kind of boxed themselves into a corner, at least until such time as other, libre hardware becomes available. Also, it really concerns me that, by their own admission, the Librem 5 isn't very power efficient.

Quite apart from, oh I dunno, let's call them "well-reasoned objections" folks like us might have, I'm looking at this with some trepidation. I'm worried that we may be seeing "The Year of Linux" all over again, and the last thing the subset of the tech industry to which companies such as Purism belong is that sort of bad press.