Comment by Aeolun
6 years ago
I don’t think a $700 phone is terribly expensive. I mean, yes, it is, but as long as they stay below iPhone pricing I don’t see how anyone can complain.
6 years ago
I don’t think a $700 phone is terribly expensive. I mean, yes, it is, but as long as they stay below iPhone pricing I don’t see how anyone can complain.
The Librem is $700 and, at launch, doesn't include basic functionality like calendars, calculators and notes.
Sure I'm comparing apples to lemons here, but the first iPhone was $500, twelve years ago, and much more functional.
> The Librem […] doesn't include basic functionality like calendars, calculators and notes.
From what I can see, this is untrue:
Calculator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esYJSNZrQWc
Notes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34XhhVlmYTU and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEzRgjHaIZo
It would surprise me if there wasn’t a calendaring program in there, too
I'm getting the information directly from the Librem 5 product page[0]:
"Upon initial shipment of the Librem 5 in 2019, it will offer the essentials: phone functionality, email, messaging, voice, camera, browsing. Your user experience will improve as we incrementally add commonly requested applications and features (such as calendaring, notes, calculator, PDF viewer, etc.) while keeping performance in mind."
[0] https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/
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It also cant make phone calls: "audio is not routed (no voice heard or sent)" https://puri.sm/posts/librem-5-birch-shipping-announcement/
You're comparing apples to gnomes.
Also, "initial shipment" is a bit odd since everything before batch Evergreen (next year) could be considered a "preview release" since they're still finalizing some of the hardware. The iPhone didn't release in batches, it was a complete product on launch.
We'll see what makes the cut by the time Evergreen rolls out.
Yes, the first iPhone was $500 12 years ago. And today, through the miracle of the free market an iPhone will only cost you... $599 with trade in.
adjusts glasses, shuffles papers
Gotta be missing some pages here...
To be fair, the iPhone 11 is well over two orders of magnitude more powerful than the iPhone 1.
Not bad for another $99.
That $500 was the pay in on the contract, not the price of the phone.
Doesn't it run Gnome and X/Wayland?
It's 2x the average phone price, so it's excluding the majority of the market.
https://www.vox.com/2018/1/23/16923832/global-smartphone-pri...
It's 2x other phones with superior specs, like a Moto G7. It's 3x other phones with similar specs.
The real cost in my view is not the price of the phone, it’s in the clunkiness. It’s really thick and looks from the outside like a device from 2005 compared to current phones from Apple and Samsung. I have a hard time believing they will sell enough of them to cover the development cost.
I think if you're worried about how it looks and not how it works, then you're not in their target market ;)
I would argue the weight factors into this. With Pinephone around the corner, which may very well end up being able to benefit from the work in GNOME (and I do appreciate that part), it seems like Purism might be at risk of that same small, niche market picking up and going over to Pinephone because it offers a better experience _in some ways_.
Of course I am supporting both of these projects because my income apparently doesn't matter to me, but I think it's still worth considering that a heavy, chunky phone may be somewhat of a detriment when their target base is already pretty small.
Mostly I worry about perfect being the enemy of good, and that Purism will end up going out of business before they can make a v2 which truly surpasses expectations. The existing Librem 5 is definitely a cool step in the right direction, but living long enough to fulfill their ultimate goal (having everyone be able to run and want to use ethical, open, and free as in freedom devices) is also important.
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Unless you plan not to pay taxes on it. For me it would be $860 phone. Comparable phones, like Lenovo K9 for example, cost $125-$150 around here, taxes incl.