It took some time to research on this “movement” and here are the results:
“LibRe-S Phone” is a part of a free/libre/open source software movement and appears to be active mostly in Europe but also worldwide. Made by private citizens -> for private citizen with a strong urge for the privacy of their own data like personal documents, photos, contacts, projects and communication.
The software that comes pre-installed seems to be selected as a collection of basic tools that support data privacy and efficiency. Apps are licensed under an open source license. Everyone can check the exact type of license (e.g. GPL3, BSD,…) of each app before downloading it from an app store. All apps are in general free/at no cost and delivered “as is” with no kind of guarantee/warrenty. The device/hardware also comes with no kind of guarantee/warrenty, so it seems. Therefore users of this devices are fully responsible for installing, adding, removing or changing the software.
We hear that “LibRe-S Phone” is the name connected to a specific kind of devices that are created – in a specific (good) quality. Also, each device has a specific sign (“logo”) on the backside.
Since everyone is free to create a similar combination of (used) hardware and software for private use, the name “LibRe-S phone” + Samsung hardware seems to be the most common identifier for these mobile phones – at least thats what we learned in Europe so far.
The individual cost of each device/including all software in general might depend on the time that it takes to:
.) repair/renew the device
.) install an alternative/secure system
.) install an alternative recovery tool for a complete *bit-by-bit* backup and recovery of all data and partitions
.) install a collection of helpful, 100% open source apps including an app for backup/syncing important data to a secure location
As far as we know today, no specific organisations or single persons are connected to these devices or the price of each device. Prices might be negotiated individually, depending on the model and also on the persons who sell it worldwide. The total number of similar “secure/de-googled” devices with that specific name is unknown since the idea of creating these devices is not limited to a specific amount of institutions/organisation in the worldwide FLOSS community.
