5 ms·

So I'm reading this and I'm wondering, is Librem pulling a BlackBerry here? When the BlackBerry PlayBook came out it had no native email or calendar or contact

So I'm reading this and I'm wondering, is Librem pulling a BlackBerry here? When the BlackBerry PlayBook came out it had no native email or calendar or contact management capabilities. Purism is going to ship the Librem 5 without the ability to do calendar, notes app, calculator app, and PDF viewer. My question is why? Why is this a good idea? Edit: Reference their site: "Upon initial shipment of the Librem 5 in 2019, it will offer the essentials: phone functionality, email, messaging, voice, camera, browsing. The featureset will expand after shipment and over time to more free software applications. 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."

smacktoward 8y ago
What makes you think that? The application developer docs for the Librem 5 (https://developer.puri.sm/Librem5/Apps/index.html https://developer.puri.sm/Librem5/Apps/index.html) are pretty clear that its default environment is based on GNOME, and that it will run apps built with both GTK+ and Plasma Mobile...
- NedIsakoff 8y ago
  They say it on their site: Upon initial shipment of the Librem 5 in 2019, it will offer the essentials: phone functionality, email, messaging, voice, camera, browsing. The featureset will expand after shipment and over time to more free software applications. 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.
  - smacktoward 8y ago
    That sounds less like "this device will never do these things" and more like "it will take some time for us to port software to do these things to this device." Which doesn't strike me as unreasonable, given the scope of what they're trying to accomplish. And since they're building on existing open-source systems like GTK and Flatpak, if you don't want to wait for them to port a calculator to the device, you could presumably port one yourself. The source for GNOME Calculator is right here: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-calculator https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-calculator ;-)
blacksmith_tb 8y ago
There most recent update was discussed on HN just a day ago[1], and showed the basic apps running. 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18866533 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18866533
ams6110 8y ago
The phone is going to be niche regardless, and its likely users will be able to solve those problems their own way if GNOME apps are usable. Everyone is different, but for me, 90% of my phone usage is: phone calls (I have no landline phone at home), text messages, and maps/navigation. If there's no maps, I'd pass on this phone. Calendar, notes, calculator, etc. are relatively unimportant for me. Other apps are relatively unimportant to me. I don't use Facebook or other social media on my phone. I don't use ride-hailing services. I don't rent bikes or scooters. I don't use my phone to make retail payments. So none of that stuff matters to me.
- kgwxd 8y ago
  I'm willing to go back to paper maps, I just want a damn Linux phone and I will gladly pay more than iPhone prices for it.
  - O_H_E 8y ago
    Fortunately nobody will have to, as this phone supports the internet. In addition, I am sure there are many OSM maps that will work on it anyway.
    - kgwxd 8y ago
      What about the location and GPS hardware and the security and privacy concerns that come with them? I'd rather just give up nav. Again, I'd still pay more than an iPhone without the location hardware. Could still do manual direction searching on the web, though I secretly want to go back to paper maps.
      - megous 8y ago
        That's only a problem if you don't control the software.
        int_19h 8y ago
        When you're using web maps, you do not control the software - they request location, you give access to it (because you want your maps to show where you are), and you don't control that location information once it leaves your phone.
s_tec 8y ago
This is supposed to be a phone Richard Stallman can use. A phone that doesn't betray your freedom is more valuable than a phone with a PDF viewer, at least according to some people. At the same time, the whole point of free software is that you can hack on your own computer. If you need some missing feature, you can just port it over from Gnome. That can be either exciting or annoying, depending on whether you have a hacker mindset or a consumer mindset. They are banking on enough people having a hacker mindset.
- 8bitsrule 8y ago
  My fingers are so crossed on this one. I've never wanted a phone to be anything else. (Nor been willing to put up with proprietary extortion and anonymous blobs.) I have been waiting (seems like forever) for a phone-sized computer with an FSF-approved philosophy. I'm sure I'm not alone. I rather imagine that (as with the early 8-bit era) such a device will be adopted quickly by thousands of us. It's just so ... BASIC. To hell with tollbridges.
  - madez 8y ago
    You are not alone.
curioussavage 8y ago
I've been following the software side of things fairly closely. Pretty sure most of the gnome apps have had work at least started to make them mobile friendly.

smacktoward 8y ago

What makes you think that? The application developer docs for the Librem 5 (https://developer.puri.sm/Librem5/Apps/index.html https://developer.puri.sm/Librem5/Apps/index.html) are pretty clear that its default environment is based on GNOME, and that it will run apps built with both GTK+ and Plasma Mobile...

NedIsakoff 8y ago
They say it on their site: Upon initial shipment of the Librem 5 in 2019, it will offer the essentials: phone functionality, email, messaging, voice, camera, browsing. The featureset will expand after shipment and over time to more free software applications. 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.
- smacktoward 8y ago
  That sounds less like "this device will never do these things" and more like "it will take some time for us to port software to do these things to this device." Which doesn't strike me as unreasonable, given the scope of what they're trying to accomplish. And since they're building on existing open-source systems like GTK and Flatpak, if you don't want to wait for them to port a calculator to the device, you could presumably port one yourself. The source for GNOME Calculator is right here: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-calculator https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-calculator ;-)

blacksmith_tb 8y ago

There most recent update was discussed on HN just a day ago[1], and showed the basic apps running. 1: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18866533 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18866533

ams6110 8y ago

The phone is going to be niche regardless, and its likely users will be able to solve those problems their own way if GNOME apps are usable. Everyone is different, but for me, 90% of my phone usage is: phone calls (I have no landline phone at home), text messages, and maps/navigation. If there's no maps, I'd pass on this phone. Calendar, notes, calculator, etc. are relatively unimportant for me. Other apps are relatively unimportant to me. I don't use Facebook or other social media on my phone. I don't use ride-hailing services. I don't rent bikes or scooters. I don't use my phone to make retail payments. So none of that stuff matters to me.

kgwxd 8y ago
I'm willing to go back to paper maps, I just want a damn Linux phone and I will gladly pay more than iPhone prices for it.
- O_H_E 8y ago
  Fortunately nobody will have to, as this phone supports the internet. In addition, I am sure there are many OSM maps that will work on it anyway.
  - kgwxd 8y ago
    What about the location and GPS hardware and the security and privacy concerns that come with them? I'd rather just give up nav. Again, I'd still pay more than an iPhone without the location hardware. Could still do manual direction searching on the web, though I secretly want to go back to paper maps.
    - megous 8y ago
      That's only a problem if you don't control the software.
      - int_19h 8y ago
        When you're using web maps, you do not control the software - they request location, you give access to it (because you want your maps to show where you are), and you don't control that location information once it leaves your phone.

s_tec 8y ago

This is supposed to be a phone Richard Stallman can use. A phone that doesn't betray your freedom is more valuable than a phone with a PDF viewer, at least according to some people. At the same time, the whole point of free software is that you can hack on your own computer. If you need some missing feature, you can just port it over from Gnome. That can be either exciting or annoying, depending on whether you have a hacker mindset or a consumer mindset. They are banking on enough people having a hacker mindset.

8bitsrule 8y ago
My fingers are so crossed on this one. I've never wanted a phone to be anything else. (Nor been willing to put up with proprietary extortion and anonymous blobs.) I have been waiting (seems like forever) for a phone-sized computer with an FSF-approved philosophy. I'm sure I'm not alone. I rather imagine that (as with the early 8-bit era) such a device will be adopted quickly by thousands of us. It's just so ... BASIC. To hell with tollbridges.
- madez 8y ago
  You are not alone.

curioussavage 8y ago

I've been following the software side of things fairly closely. Pretty sure most of the gnome apps have had work at least started to make them mobile friendly.