Design Critique: Products For People

DC147 Purism Librem 5 Smartphone Hardware Impressions

Informações:

Synopsis

The Librem 5 is Purism's re-envisioning what a smartphone could be and should be. It runs on Purism's own Linux distribution PureOS, which is certified by the Free Software Foundation to be free of non-transparent, proprietary code such as many commercial products use. The "Evergreen" batch of Librem 5 phones is the first official production model, and possesses unique qualities not found in most smart phones: * Hardware switches to turn on/off camera, microphone, WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular connection. * Easily removeable battery for easy replacement. * Easy access to replace the cellular modem and the WiFi/Bluetooth circuitry * Updates to the PureOS operating system for the long term, not just a few years. * Connection via USB-C to an external monitor. * Does not inherently track customers' usage of the phone and apps. As of December 2020, this "Evergreen" batch of phones does not have a sleep function, so battery life is very short. The microphone of this particular Librem 5 is described as sounding "muf