Crowdfunding attempt for a GNU/Linux smartphone

[niubboxp]

if someone is interested finally there is a company who try to make a gnu/linux smartphone take a look

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

[catweazel]

One would have to be nuts to invest in that after Canonical dropped their efforts.

[z31fanatic]

It sounds good but I seriously doubt that it will be produced and sold.

[niubboxp]

and linux was just an hobby when torvalds wrote the mail, but here we go

ubuntu phone was not open source friendly, and have alot of blobs and closed hardware (like the cpu) so i never got the point to buy it, with this phone a see for the first time a different approach

[Portreve]

One would have to be nuts to invest in that after Canonical dropped their efforts.

What does Canonical have to do with Purism's products?

[Moem]

I can imagine myself being interested in such a phone.

[excollier]

would love to see this work but a bit expensive for me to actually buy outright

[dcrowder]

Sounds good, but I do not see it getting off the ground.

[niubboxp]

One would have to be nuts to invest in that after Canonical dropped their efforts.

What does Canonical have to do with Purism's products?

Canonical have dropped Ubuntu Phone. There is no market.

ubuntu phone was not made with privacy in mind, alot of closed stuff were inside the phone, so not much better than android or ios
this project aims to be privacy friendly and with open hardware

the target is different, i think everyone who belive in free software and respect himself or just love gnu/linux should buy or support this project, i think the community need an open enviroment for mobile

but there is just my2cent

[jimallyn]

One would have to be nuts to invest in that after Canonical dropped their efforts.

Or in light bulbs after so many failures. Or in heavier-than-air flight. Or in any one of the devices that you use every day.

[Moem]

Sure, the project may fail; in fact, this is pretty likely. Nevertheless, it's interesting, and it may succeed against all odds.
Personally I do not want to pay this amount for a smartphone, but I'm still happy to see people try to make a GNU/Linux smartphone happen, and who knows what will come of it.

And yes, for me the fact that this project focuses on privacy would make me more likely to buy the product. I'll have some onions with my red herring, please.

[xenopeek]

Canonical tried 4 years ago with a crowdfunding goal of USD 32 million of which they got backers for almost USD 13 million. Purism's crowdfunding goal of USD 1.5 million sounds like more attainable. While Purism doesn't make the cheapest products they offer something unique. Interesting Though for what I use my mobile phone for (WhatsApp groups and such) this doesn't look like a match for me.

[Hoser Rob]

One would have to be nuts to invest in that after Canonical dropped their efforts.

Agree 100%. It is nuts.

Phones/tablets are built around web apps running on cloud servers. It doesn't make one bit of difference if you run a FOSS OS
like GNU/Linux on the device if you need a billion $ server farm to actuall run it.

This is what all those MS hating Linux users don't get. Cloud computing is the problem for Linux/FOSS, not Microsoft.

[MintBean]

This is nothing like Ubuntu phone.
-Canonical were trying to target a broad range of hardware, whereas Purism is targeting specific hardware.
-Canonical have a track record of trying things, failing, then blaming others for lack of support. Purism has a track record of delivering the promised products.

And yes, mobile OS does make a difference. Android is not privacy and security focussed but Purism is all about privacy and security. Hell it would be worth it just not to have my phone keep prompting me for updates to software I don't want on there in the first place.

[Portreve]

There are some things I've come to depend on which would really need to be replicated elsewhere (so, it's not a simple switch-over proposition) but I'd love to run UbuntuTouch or, frankly, the port of Debian that Purism is developing for the ultra-portable form factor.

Right now, I extensively leverage Google's Calendar and Maps/Driving capabilities because I drive for a living. Every week when I get the schedule, I go in and create calendar events which include the address, driving time, etc. This way, all i have to do is bring up the event for that given day, and I can directly have voice (and on-screen) navigation. To *not* have that would be a serious hindrance for me.

Moreover, I want certain specific apps, like Signal and WhatsApp, and not having them would be deal-breakers for me.

[wutsinterweb]

Could a phone really be spy proof? Wouldn't the connection provider have ways to intercept?

This does sound so appealing, but I know so little that I don't know how seriously to take this.

[Portreve]

Could a phone really be spy proof? Wouldn't the connection provider have ways to intercept?

This does sound so appealing, but I know so little that I don't know how seriously to take this.

One can intercept any and all data transmitted from and received by devices using that given network.

The question is whether the data itself is intelligible or not.

The other way around this, which is well documented, is to plant spyware on the target phone which can then do its own monitoring of activity and separate transmission of whatever data it is designed to collect.

My previous comments address the former, but not the latter, point.

[sphyrth]

Finding out about Linux's history regarding smartphones also makes me pessimistic about it... even if I also hope that one would finally succeed someday (not referring to Android, of course).

[NessM]

A Security and Privacy Focused... Phone

Hmmm... No.

[Hoser Rob]

... I want certain specific apps, like Signal and WhatsApp, and not having them would be deal-breakers for me.

Bingo. That's the problem. I read an article recently by a Ubuntu Phone dev who said that WhatsApp wanted a seven figure sum just to LOOK at their API, and other cloud computing companies are the same. It doesn't matter one bit if you have FOSS apps if they need a server farm backend.

What you'll end up with is a $250 phone with the features of a $50 feature phone, and you'd have to be completely nuts to think that's going to have a market. It's just so Spinal Tap.