I'm really happy they got phone support working at all, this is the biggest stumbling blocks with alternative phones. Everyone can get a tablet working but few have got the phone/4g functionality.

At the moment I'm wishing I'd bought the dev kit, I'd be happy with it slapped into a 3D printed case as my phone.

This sounds to be just for the development board, right? My understanding was that they were aiming to use a USB interface or something for the radio connectivity so that you could get a radio that suited your needs hopefully, and was certified and approved independent of the phone itself.

This would be kind of interesting do you have any more info on this?

The original crowdfunding page specified "We aim to support 3G and 4G for the most common international frequency bands and carriers, with an interchangeable module. Exact specifications will follow as we are evaluating the data+voice modems that will be used." and "Separate mobile baseband" as a key tech spec on https://puri.sm/shop/librem-5/

I know that, for instance, Verizon has certified a variety of modules to work on it's network, and a phone (or laptop) that uses that module need not be certified by Verizon to work on their network, for instance. Every Verizon compatible laptop doesn't get certified, it just tends to use one of a handful of Sierra Wireless LTE modems which are. Similarly, my understanding (and hope) is that Purism is going to support dropping in various LTE modems so that people can get support for the networks they need.

Mildly disappointing, if that. I would gladly give up optimal LTE performance for everything else this device promises (running legitimate Linux distros, physical sep. baseband/camera/etc).

I really hope the final product will support more bands! I’ve been putting off buying an Android phone since I heard about the Librem 5 and this will be a deal breaker.

Agreed, that radio they link to will mostly work with AT&T, and maybe some T-Mobile coverage areas. Were going back to 2013!