With privacy as the center and love of freedom, Linux-based open source Purism Librem 5 smartphones will be available for sale in 2019. Purism raised $1.5 million last year to research and develop Purism Librem 5 smartphones. Purism has been making sure that hardware (not just software) is open source-friendly, which runs counter to the practice of mobile component manufacturers. This is a tough battle, but Purism is finally able to get development kits that should be made available to developers and some supporters as soon as possible.
Image: puri
The software is not hard. In addition to using only open source tools to develop user interfaces, Purism must also handle that hardware firmware. Purism also made progress in the user-oriented aspects of the software, which means that the mobile’s UI and applications, phone applications, and contacts applications have also been completed. And because the ultimate goal is to have these applications run on the desktop or on a larger screen, the design also includes these use cases.
Purism is confident that it will deliver the Purism Librem 5 smartphone in January 2019 and has accepted the booking. The $599 price tag may seem higher than other smartphones with similar hardware, but the appeal of Librem 5 exceeds the price, which not only allows users to install any favorite Linux distribution but also ensures data security and privacy.
