Upd: quote from the Purism forum:
"First hardware kill switches; first replaceable cellular modem and Wi-Fi/ Bluetooth (on M.2 cards); first smart card reader (for 2FF OpenPGP card); first running 100% free software; only current phone to offer convergence as PC without special hardware"
https://forums.puri.sm/t/will-the-librem-5-be-a-white-elepha...
In addition, the backers getting the phone now were explicitly told that the software isn't polished yet, and that they are getting beta hardware. The backers were offered also to be allowed to wait for a later batch if they wanted to.
It definitely is not ready to be a daily driver, don't get me wrong. But folks who wanted it early knew that.
That's like arguing you have a functioning heart because it's connected to your veins but can't pump blood.
But to your original comment, I'd argue it's not. Saying it can't make phone calls implies there's a much more severe issue than it apparently was.
Edit: it looks like the person also directly replied to another comment of yours, so I'll add that here:
" > and of course this "bug" hasn't been fixed
You can hear call audio if you use CI images since a few days ago already. Last rough edges are being sorted out right now before finally packaging it all into PureOS."
"In addition, the backers getting the phone now were explicitly told that the software isn't polished yet, and that they are getting beta hardware. The backers were offered also to be allowed to wait for a later batch if they wanted to."
> Q: If I receive the Librem 5 from one of the first batches, will I have a fully functional phone?
> A: Yes! Even the very earliest batches will be capable smartphone, including a modern web browser and core cell phone functionality.
> The other [problem] is that call audio isn't routed to the speaker. I haven't personally hit this, I'm just using a data-only SIM and can't remember the last time I actually used a phone to make a voice call.
That's false, the phone requires non-free software for things like the modem to work.
You don't usually say "printing requires non-free software" just because your USB printer runs some non-free firmware inside, even though it's technically true.
Some people (me as well) do. It is very frustrating that we have this legacy thing where any radio devices are ‘protected’ like this.
Also, counting the modem as making the whole device non-free would require you to count plenty of other things as well, such as microSD cards, accelerometers, audio codecs, SIM cards, even USB-C cables, as all of those things (and more) contain non-free blobs inside. In my opinion it's not a useful stance to hold if you care about freedom - even FSF doesn't do that.
If it's going to run a Broadcom/Qualcomm binary anyway to function, what do you really gain?
Someone who's concerned about this level of eavesdropping I would think shouldn't bother with cellular devices at all?
With this way, they can mainline the entire set up and not force non-free dependencies.