Purism is crowdfunding a new version of its Librem 5 Linux smartphone, this one powered by RISC-V rather than Arm.
Librem 5 v2 will use an octa-core SpacemiT K1 RISC-V SoC, replacing the quad-core ARM64 NXP CPU This platform shift will provide much better performance and longer battery life than the existing Librem 5 – and not run as hot in use.
Memory is increased to 8 GB RAM, up from 3 GB in the first-generation handset, and storage leaps to 128 GB from 32 GB.
SD card reading speeds are boosted, and on-board hardware encoding means the Librem 5 v2 can take 13 megapixel photos with and shoot high-definition video for the first time.
The rest of the phone is familiar to the first. The same case design, 5.7-inch (720×1440) display, removable 4,500mAh battery, audio jack and physical kit switches. This is intentional as it will make repairs and upgrades between generations easier.
Wireless connectivity also stays modular, though the v2 handset will ship with an improved 4G modem. A 5G module is planned.
Librem 5 v2 will run PureOS, Purism’s Debian-based operating system using Phosh as its UI.
Librem 5 v2 costs from $1599
“RISC-V is the future, and Librem 5 v2 is the perfect product to bring it to a mainstream audience”, Jonathon Hall, CTO at Purism, says of the launch.
“Freeing us from the control of Big Tech starts with the foundation, and RISC-V’s foundation frees us from the oligarchy. The Librem 5 v2 puts you in control of your data, combining that with the ease of use we expect in the modern era”.
Given that general feedback to the first-gen Librem 5 – beset by delays, price rises and patchy build quality – was mixed best. But, to it credit, Purism is still out there making, selling and supporting the phones (and their other devices and services).
Transitioning to RISC-V for the follow-up won’t be trivial, mind. Graphics acceleration, new drivers and power management (which on a phone is rather critical) will be big undertakings.
And more work is needed to make the day-to-day software stack editable, like browser performance (sluggish on the newest and fastest RISC-V chips) and providing an Arm64 app compatibility layer to run software not made for RISC-V. Available to back until February 2027
If you’ve got at least $1599 burning a hole in your pocket and you don’t need anything to show for it before 2028, you can go pledge to the campaign. It runs until February 2027, so don’t feel pressured to decide just yet.
OMG! Librem.
Fool me once shame on me, fool me twice, I’m a dumb fuck who deserves what you did to me. I hope that no one buys this scam shit of a brick “phone” that was made in 1776.
I received an invite to this campaign… as someone who selected the Fir batch for v2 of the phone during the initial Librem 5 campaign. I asked them to confirm that a final production build of the Librem 5 v2 will ship with priority to those with my same selection and received this:
We regret to inform you that, while we would love to convert your order to a Librem 5 v2, we are legally prohibited from doing so at this time. As a US-based customer who backed the Librem 5, had not requested a refund, and had not yet received the product, you are a potential member of an active class-action lawsuit. As such, we have been prohibited from fulfilling orders from members of this class. Fulfillment of your order must instead be resolved through a settlement administrator, who will be contacting class members in the coming months.
Only problem is that I did request a refund, which they denied saying that their refund policy had changed.
Scammers gonna scam
OMG why does it have to be so expensive! Why would they go with 8GB of RAM? Isn’t that overkill for a Linux phone?
The ram isn’t bringing the price up. Could be 16gb and it would only add $100.
This is… ambitious. RISC-V is the future, but it’s not the present for smartphones. Hopefully the rich nerds who buy this understand that they’re subsidizing the development of future phones, not getting viable phones today.
Wasn’t the first one also an experimental toy?
I hope they realize they are throwing away their money.
Prism well never get a dollar from me. How they handled their first phone was redixulous and why anyone would preorder anything from them is beyond me.
And don’t expect to get it by the expected date.
Is there one for like $300?
I could afford that much yes.
that display…smh
That’s a lot of money for no headphone jack
It says audio jack above.
it’s too bad they went with the K1 instead of the K3 :(
(the K1 is not RVA23)
Yeah, I intend to never get involved with any pre-RVA23 chips.
The k1 is also quite slow. And bythe time the phone releases k3 should be well and truly in mainstream availability.
roflmao
