Checkout @TheLinuxGamer’s impressions (far from an extensive review however) on the “final” hardware of the Librem 5 - it’s nice to have a video instead of a Purism forum post to read. Unsure if this is his own unit due from backing or if Purism sent him the device (he mentions it’s a review device im the video so I assume the latter?) but nice to see either way.
It’s true that most buyers probably know what they’re getting into, but back in the good old days of Reddit I saw there quite a few dissatisfied comments too. Those customers obviously didn’t realize the product was far from finished.
You’re absolutely right that lurking just a little while will give a better idea of the current state of development, but some people decided to skip stage entirely. They just went with the marketing, imagined they would get a finished product, and ended up with something more geared toward developers and tinkerers rather than normal consumers. That is very unfortunate for Purism, because these comments aren’t doing them any favors.
@Hamartiogonic
Well, I don’t want to sound like I’m victim-blaming, but I find it essential to research anything more significant than a pencil before purchase, not just premium (price-wise) phones.
In an ideal world you could trust marketing, but we don’t live in that world, so even soviet monopoly marketing that didn’t need to lie (or exist, because monopoly) did oversell it’s products.
So I try to promote the idea of “lurk before you buy” any chance I get.