If you were interested in purchasing, or more exactly pre-ordering, a privacy-focused, open source Linux smartphone with clearly defined hardware specifications, Purism Librem 5 was not quite for you. Until today that is, as while the company did not commit to exact specifications at the beginning of the project, Purism has now revealed the full specifications of Librem 5 Linux smartphone.
Librem 5 specifications:
- SoC – NXP i.MX8M quad-core Cortex A53 @ up to 1.5GHz, Cortex-M4 real-time core, 3G GPU with OpenGL/ES 3.1, Vulkan, OpenCL 1.2 support
- System Memory – 3GB RAM
- Storage – 32GB eMMC flash, MicroSD slot up to 2 TB
- Display- 5.7″ IPS TFT touchscreen with 1440×720 resolution
- Connectivity
- Cellular
- Option 1 – Gemalto PLS8 3G/4G modem w/ single sim on replaceable M.2 card
- Option 2 – Broadmobi BM818 (made in China)
- nanoSIM tray
- Dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n WiFi 4, Bluetooth 4.0
- GPS – Teseo LIV3F GNSS
- Cellular
- Cameras – 13MP rear camera with LED flash, 8MP front-facing camera
- Audio
- 1x earpiece speaker, 1x digital microphone
- 3.5mm headphone jack with stereo out and mono microphone input
- Audio DAC: Wolfson Media WM8962
- 1x loudspeaker
- USB – 1x USB-C port with USB 3.0 data, USB PD, and video out (DisplayPort alternate mode)
- Sensors – Acceleration, gyro and compass sensor (STMicro LSM9DS1 “9-axis” sensor), ambient light and proximity sensor (VCNL4040), and haptic motor
- Misc
- Hardware kill switches – 1x WiFi / Bluetooth, 1x Cellular baseband, and 1x cameras & microphone. If all 3 are off the IMU, compass, GNSS, ambient light and proximity sensors are also disabled
- Power button, Volume ± buttons
- Smartcard reader with 2FF card slot (SIM card size)
- RGB LED with PWM control.
- Battery – User-replaceable 3,500mAh battery
- Power Supply – USB Power Delivery via USB-C port
- Dimensions – TBD
Beside publishing the hardware specifications, Purism has done a lot of work on the software side and showcased over 28 programs that run on the phone including the company’s PureOS app store, various GNOME programs, Emacs, Apache server, the web browser, and so on.
Time is also running short to pre-order the Librem 5 for the early bird discounted price of $649, as the price is going up $50 after July 31st. Shipping is scheduled for Q3 2019.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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Holy crap, 650$ for a A53 based smartphone… Crazy.
This is not a mainstream product! You can get low price if you use ship maker dev kit with minimal development and high production volume, far from open source and open hardware.
A53 is totally sufficient for 90% of users. The price is relatively high because they cannot finance nor sell large quantities.
There’s RPi 4 if you want to build the A72 based smart phone. Also with 4 GB of RAM. Many are waiting for the compute module.
Yes and the suitcase to carry the huge and heavy resulting device (not even mentioning the size of the required heatsink).
Let me make a joke. Will Armbian go on this? Something thin I see NXP soc? cosmic price for NXP soc. some linux. I do not invest in it …
Please, stop raising the price of the things just for the sake of exclusiveness. This is like a deja-vu, over and over and over the same thing. The business is clear, the world companies do things in one way, then to counter that other companies start to release something against it, then the other companies release something else agains their counter and the other side continues to change things to keep countering the others.
That’s a neverending business that will have us paying like a bunch of idiots. The world can work in a different way, but it’s not profitable so it works the way it does. Poor thing…
Upstream open source projects are incredibly capital intensive. Even very few large companies dare engage in it. Most of the contributors or sponsors of consultancies are public sector companies with millions to throw at it. If they are able to launch with just 1.5M raised and their own money, it is already a huge accomplishment. $650 is not asking much give how much they spent on software.
You cannot compare such products with Chinese shops that slap together some SDKs to make it work and call it open source. The effort contribution is 1/100 of this project.
I’m not waiting on this one. Expensive, underpowered and quite often delayed.
650 for a decent spec smartphone that respects your privacy and freedom. Instead we get “omg those specs suck for the price” Well, go buy your Samsung for $1000 for the specs and convenience. Or spend 600 for a mid ranged phone packed with bloat, malware, and unneeded UI skins.