So for you convenience is more important than supporting alternatives to the duopoly. I can understand that for sure, however keep in mind that duopoly is dangerous to the free market and its users in the long term. (See this: https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/26/ursula-franklin/). I do suffer from the lack of some features.
This is kind of like saying it would be better for me to take the train or bus to work and that car-based infrastructure harms everyone, but I live in San Bernadino or Indianapolis. You're not wrong but if you are in that environment it's clear which choice is more logical if I'm comparing a two hour bus ride or no transit at all to a 30-minute car ride.
Let's not forget also that Android is mostly open-source and that there are actual Google-free Android alternatives out there: GrapheneOS, /e/OS, LineageOS, CalyxOS...so Librem is competing with other open source alternatives that are far more capable and run on far better hardware.
Depending on your use case, Librem 5 may be more capable, since it runs full desktop OS, so you can run the same apps as on desktop, connect via ssh, install things with apt, use it in desktop mode, easier develop new apps etc.
Okay, I want to develop apps on the go and be able to plug my small device into a monitor and keyboard/mouse. If you bought an iPhone 16e and a Raspberry Pi, both devices together would be cheaper and individually have better specs than a Librem 5.
Or you could just get a tablet with a cellular modem like a Surface Pro, or a laptop like a Framework.
I know I'm beating this thread to death but I feel quite strongly that Librem is just many bars below other open source and/or fair/repairable device companies like Fairphone and Framework in terms of delivering a product that makes reasonable tradeoffs and isn't wildly behind other options in value.
Now you have to manage two devices, each not individually capable of what you want. You have to care about synchronization and backups, always being online. You can't use ordinary tools like ssh -X, you can't customize your working environment. By the way, Apple's artificial limitations on what you can and can't do with your devices are outrageous.
> Or you could just get a tablet with a cellular modem like a Surface Pro, or a laptop like a Framework.
Now, you're comparing a laptop with a phone. Seriously? Similar for the tablet, which is much larger and can't provide a good development environment, especially for Linux apps.
> Fairphone
What they're doing is great, but relying on Android is a dead end in my opinion, since Google decides its development direction and they have no reason to support user freedom. They're restricting the OS more with each update. (It's similar to switching from Chrome to Chromium trying to avoid the Manifest v3.) Can you even run LibreOffice on it? Supporting alternative operating systems is strongly needed.
