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I am looking to purchase either (or both) of those phones. Would you recommend buying one of them now or waiting until a future release? It seems that both co

I am looking to purchase either (or both) of those phones. Would you recommend buying one of them now or waiting until a future release? It seems that both companies have extended the release dates a bit.

fsflover 6y ago
If you order Librem 5 right now, you get it "in a few months", so the software will be much more mature (while hardware already is). Pine64 currently accepts preorders only for the "Beta-version" of Pinephone.
- Guest42 6y ago
  I see. It seems as though the price tag has gone up compared to the dev versions. With that price I imagine they’d want things to be stable. I haven’t looked to see if they have a vcs or chats to see what types of issues are being addressed.
  - fsflover 6y ago
    https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Frequently-Asked-Questions#33-how-can-i-check-the-progress-of-the-librem-5s-software-development https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Freque...
- hedora 6y ago
  Pinephone’s “Preorder” is mostly just to scare off people that want the software to work, from what I can tell. If you order a pinephone today, they estimate they’ll ship it to you in late April. Also, their “beta phone” is the Nth revision of shipping hardware.
  - blihp 6y ago
    Pretty much. They really don't want regular consumers to be buying the PinePhone from them. They've been very upfront about this: the phone isn't priced for, and they aren't equipped to provide end user technical support. It's priced to get it in the hands of people willing to take some pain and help with the work of getting Linux where it needs to be on mobile. If the phone hardware arrives defective/broken, that's one thing. If the issue is the state of whatever Linux distro you're running (including missing features/applications), that's not their problem. Mine is from the first batch of 'final' hardware (i.e. the UBPorts CE) for over 6 months and the hardware is solid. The distros (all of them) have come a long way but still have a very long way to go.
the_duke 6y ago
I'm personally waiting for the next PinePhone iteration with a better chipset, since the CPU is pretty slow for even budget phone standards. Combined with software improvements that will hopefully give a relatively smooth experience. Then again, the PinePhone is so cheap that it's not a big risk either way.
- fsflover 6y ago
  And why wouldn't you order Librem 5 now?
  - the_duke 6y ago
    The Librem 5 is a bit more than I'd want to spend on an alternate device. Online banking 2FA and some other apps sadly tie me to Android. Although that might change if Anbox works ( https://puri.sm/posts/anbox-on-the-librem-5/ https://puri.sm/posts/anbox-on-the-librem-5/ ).
    - Guest42 6y ago
      I have 3 android 9 apps that are important to me. Running those would allow me to switch forever. I went to the anbox site briefly but didn’t quite see a list of images.
- swiley 6y ago
  You can't compare performance on the pinephone to Android phones because the OSes and app ecosystems are completely different: You just run Linux desktop environments and apps that are designed to run without hardware acceleration. I run FVWM and Firefox on mine and it works very well.
  - linmob 6y ago
    FVWM sounds interesting. Would you like to share details of your setup? If so, I would like to interview you for my blog https://linmob.net https://linmob.net!
- 6y ago
kop316 6y ago
I would say "Yes", but I also have two Pinephones and have a Librem 5 order in the queue. One pinephone is my "dev" phone (since mmsd tinkers with core mobile networking stuff, I don't want developing to interfere with my normal usage). I do not think either the Pinephone nor Librem 5 will have any more significant hardware changes, so the Pinephone/Librem 5 you buy now will be the same one you buy in a year. If you're unsure, I think buying a Pinephone is a safe bet since its $150 for you to try, and if its not for you, you can probably get your money back by selling it. What do you want to use it for? For me, Mobian/Pinephone does everything I need it to do for typical daily usage except for Chatty supporting MMS (and hopefully this will be fixed within a month or so).
- Guest42 6y ago
  I care most about 2 android 9 apps I have that run in the background and use Bluetooth. Other than that sometimes I like to tinker and build small projects with the libraries available but am more concerned with the android 9 apps. Other primary usages are phone, text, and browsing.
  - kop316 6y ago
    In that case I would say either are stable enough for you to use. If you want something sooner than later I would get a Pinephone. If you go with a pinephone get the 3 GB version, as anbox takes up a fair bit of RAM.
craftkiller 6y ago
The version of the librem 5 that is shipping now is the "evergreen" model. Their next model is going to be named "fir" which is supposed to have a 14nm CPU[1] as opposed to the 28nm CPU in the evergreen model. This should mean better battery life, so if that is something that interests you then you might want to wait on the librem 5. Personally, I don't want to wait that long so I'm getting evergreen. [1] https://puri.sm/posts/librem-5-shipping-announcement/ https://puri.sm/posts/librem-5-shipping-announcement/
- fsflover 6y ago
  CPU is probably not going to be the only change for Fir: https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Frequently-Asked-Questions#71-what-will-be-the-changes-in-the-fir-batch-and-should-i-wait-for-it https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Freque....
  - prophesi 6y ago
    Not seeing anything new in that post. CPU is still the only confirmed change, and they go through the implications of the device using the i.MX 8M Plus.
    - seba_dos1 6y ago
      It's not even confirmed that it's going to use the i.MX 8M Plus. The initial Fir "announcement" assumed a quite different reality where all Evergreens would have been shipped long time ago.

fsflover 6y ago

If you order Librem 5 right now, you get it "in a few months", so the software will be much more mature (while hardware already is). Pine64 currently accepts preorders only for the "Beta-version" of Pinephone.

Guest42 6y ago
I see. It seems as though the price tag has gone up compared to the dev versions. With that price I imagine they’d want things to be stable. I haven’t looked to see if they have a vcs or chats to see what types of issues are being addressed.
- fsflover 6y ago
  https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Frequently-Asked-Questions#33-how-can-i-check-the-progress-of-the-librem-5s-software-development https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Freque...
hedora 6y ago
Pinephone’s “Preorder” is mostly just to scare off people that want the software to work, from what I can tell. If you order a pinephone today, they estimate they’ll ship it to you in late April. Also, their “beta phone” is the Nth revision of shipping hardware.
- blihp 6y ago
  Pretty much. They really don't want regular consumers to be buying the PinePhone from them. They've been very upfront about this: the phone isn't priced for, and they aren't equipped to provide end user technical support. It's priced to get it in the hands of people willing to take some pain and help with the work of getting Linux where it needs to be on mobile. If the phone hardware arrives defective/broken, that's one thing. If the issue is the state of whatever Linux distro you're running (including missing features/applications), that's not their problem. Mine is from the first batch of 'final' hardware (i.e. the UBPorts CE) for over 6 months and the hardware is solid. The distros (all of them) have come a long way but still have a very long way to go.

the_duke 6y ago

I'm personally waiting for the next PinePhone iteration with a better chipset, since the CPU is pretty slow for even budget phone standards. Combined with software improvements that will hopefully give a relatively smooth experience. Then again, the PinePhone is so cheap that it's not a big risk either way.

fsflover 6y ago
And why wouldn't you order Librem 5 now?
- the_duke 6y ago
  The Librem 5 is a bit more than I'd want to spend on an alternate device. Online banking 2FA and some other apps sadly tie me to Android. Although that might change if Anbox works ( https://puri.sm/posts/anbox-on-the-librem-5/ https://puri.sm/posts/anbox-on-the-librem-5/ ).
  - Guest42 6y ago
    I have 3 android 9 apps that are important to me. Running those would allow me to switch forever. I went to the anbox site briefly but didn’t quite see a list of images.
swiley 6y ago
You can't compare performance on the pinephone to Android phones because the OSes and app ecosystems are completely different: You just run Linux desktop environments and apps that are designed to run without hardware acceleration. I run FVWM and Firefox on mine and it works very well.
- linmob 6y ago
  FVWM sounds interesting. Would you like to share details of your setup? If so, I would like to interview you for my blog https://linmob.net https://linmob.net!
6y ago

kop316 6y ago

I would say "Yes", but I also have two Pinephones and have a Librem 5 order in the queue. One pinephone is my "dev" phone (since mmsd tinkers with core mobile networking stuff, I don't want developing to interfere with my normal usage). I do not think either the Pinephone nor Librem 5 will have any more significant hardware changes, so the Pinephone/Librem 5 you buy now will be the same one you buy in a year. If you're unsure, I think buying a Pinephone is a safe bet since its $150 for you to try, and if its not for you, you can probably get your money back by selling it. What do you want to use it for? For me, Mobian/Pinephone does everything I need it to do for typical daily usage except for Chatty supporting MMS (and hopefully this will be fixed within a month or so).

Guest42 6y ago
I care most about 2 android 9 apps I have that run in the background and use Bluetooth. Other than that sometimes I like to tinker and build small projects with the libraries available but am more concerned with the android 9 apps. Other primary usages are phone, text, and browsing.
- kop316 6y ago
  In that case I would say either are stable enough for you to use. If you want something sooner than later I would get a Pinephone. If you go with a pinephone get the 3 GB version, as anbox takes up a fair bit of RAM.

craftkiller 6y ago

The version of the librem 5 that is shipping now is the "evergreen" model. Their next model is going to be named "fir" which is supposed to have a 14nm CPU[1] as opposed to the 28nm CPU in the evergreen model. This should mean better battery life, so if that is something that interests you then you might want to wait on the librem 5. Personally, I don't want to wait that long so I'm getting evergreen. [1] https://puri.sm/posts/librem-5-shipping-announcement/ https://puri.sm/posts/librem-5-shipping-announcement/

fsflover 6y ago
CPU is probably not going to be the only change for Fir: https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Frequently-Asked-Questions#71-what-will-be-the-changes-in-the-fir-batch-and-should-i-wait-for-it https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/community-wiki/-/wikis/Freque....
- prophesi 6y ago
  Not seeing anything new in that post. CPU is still the only confirmed change, and they go through the implications of the device using the i.MX 8M Plus.
  - seba_dos1 6y ago
    It's not even confirmed that it's going to use the i.MX 8M Plus. The initial Fir "announcement" assumed a quite different reality where all Evergreens would have been shipped long time ago.