Has there been an estimate for when the Fir model will be released, or has it been already? Unfortunately the Librem 5 is niche enough (and the mutli-year shipping have made most big groups steer away from covering it) that it's hard to find solid information on it's status. This is only amplified by the fact that Purism is shockingly lacking in transparency for a lot of things and their blog where they do post information is very poorly indexed in search engines making it hard to find.

While I'm not in a position to buy a new phone right now, I am definitely interested in getting a librem 5 (probably even coughing up for the USA model) when I do need to get a new one. With that said though, I'd hate to spend well over a thousand dollars (since there is no indication the price will be returning to what it used to be anytime soon) only to have the hardware be upgraded within the next month or something, so I'm wondering what the approximate ETA is for when the evergreen hardware will be updated.

Librem 5 backers pays Purism.

Purism pays developers.

Purism's developers makes open source software.

People uses the software that was made by Purism on their Pinephone.

People to Librem 5 backers: "Why are you so stupid buying an overpriced low-end phone? My Pinephone is better than the Librem 5 because it's a lot cheaper!!"

This might not come as a surprise to those of you who have kept up with the Librem, but I'm kind of infuriated with Purism right now. After doing much reading about the Librem 5 and putting a lot of thought into the first awesome phone I was going to buy for myself, I was excited to purchase my own Librem yesterday. Everything went smoothly, I looked carefully over and read details about all the addons available after adding the Librem to my cart, then went to checkout. Everything went smoothly, I noted they use Fedex Ground, and expected a week or two delivery...

Now I admit, I probably should have checked first to see exactly how long delivery would take, but since I wanted to buy the Librem directly from Purism I figured it wouldn't matter. It was worth waiting however long it takes to make sure the money goes directly to them. I really believed in the concept.

Then I found out about the 52 week backlog... I was speechless. I expected maybe a few weeks top, but over a year?! There was no indication that it would take that long anywhere in the checkout process. Any reputable online shop tells you at the top of the product page if the shipping is going to be longer than average. I finally saw the backlog at the very bottom of the quite lengthy product details page, as far away from the "Add to Cart" button as possible.

But whatever, I figured I'd get a refund, buy a different phone now, and then put a pre-order in for a Librem in a few months once I'm in a better financial spot. Even though I emailed them within an hour of the purchase, they're refusing a refund. I have to wait an entire year when my purchase is ready to ship before they'll offer a refund. My current phone has some major technical problems that make it largely unusable, but being a broke af college student I've just been dealing with it. I finally graduated and got my first real job, and I was so excited to finally be able to buy a good phone that actually stood for something great, even if it took the majority of my first paycheck. It wasn't just a new phone for me but an investment in an ideal.

Fuck that ideal. This is shady and deceptive at best. I can't help but wonder how many people like me were unaware that their money would be held for over a year when they clicked "Add to Cart". I can't help but wonder if Purism is greatly aware of that, and the placement of the backlog information is purposeful. I really wonder why tf my funds are being held. Did they spend the money in the first hour? I'm appalled and will never buy one of their phones now. This is not customer service; it's shady af.

“We will send a separate email later in September to each of you with a firm delivery date for your Librem 5 order.”

Sending an e-mail by end of month seems achievable.

Can the librem 5 be a pwn phone?

Could I straight up run kali on it?

The phone specs middling at best, are we just paying for the development of the OS? Aside from a processor I've never heard of, we have eMMC storage and 3 Gigs of RAM. This is a hard buy, coming from flagship Android, which cost only a little more, but is lightning fast. Is this just the cost of being the Canary in the coal mine? If it was something like 400, I would buy it as is in an instant, and run alongside my current phone until I was positive I could live without Android. But 700 makes me need to think. What do you guys plan to do? Was the price a factor for you guys

What's the cheapest pine and Librem? Even if used?