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by cesarb
664 days ago
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> If this would be the case, then a SIM-enabled Windows notebook would also be competition for the iPhone. Can that SIM-enabled Windows notebook do phone calls using the cell operator network (that is, not over the Internet)? If not (that is, if it uses the SIM only for data), then it's not an iPhone competitor. The "smartphone" category (which is where all iPhone competitors reside) requires being both "smart" (that is, with PDA functionality) and being a "phone"; the Librem 5 (and, for instance, the Nokia N900) fits comfortably in that category. |
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To change to the Librem 5, I would need to:
- change the way I communicate with all of my friends and family by using SMS over the _only_ method used in much of the world - WhatsApp.
- be excluded from context surrounding many social gatherings due to not being in group chats.
- change the way I travel with very, very different navigation apps that lack turn-by-turn directions.
- stop using social media when on the go - mobile websites often lack many features, if they even exist.
- accept significantly reduced quality photographs of memories, especially in low light.
- meticulously acquire local files for tens of thousands of songs I have organised in Spotify playlists for over a decade, and totally change the way I discover new music.
- lose Shazam and apps like it, so I’ll forever be wondering “what was that song I liked…?”
- entirely change from the mobile-only bank that I use (and, even then, suffer the atrocious UX of most online banking).
- change from the convenience of Apple/Google/etc. photos to setting up Syncthing, my own NAS, and making sure it keeps running and never goes wrong.
- become stranded when public transport stops running at night, as I can’t get an Uber, or try to get a normal taxi at 3am. I’m not even sure they exist where I am.
- carry a wallet, or at the very least my cards, with me for the first time in 9 years.
Unfortunately, the duopoly is well-entrenched, especially for those born after 1995 or so and outside the US (SMS is very, very rarely used in much of the rest of the world). You could tell people that there are plenty of workarounds - I listed many above - and some sacrifices to use a Linux phone, they should try it! But then they would ask “why?” and you’d be hard-pressed to give any reason they care about.