After making the news with its secure Linux-based laptops that have been selling relatively well over the past year, Purism has now reached its $1.5 million funding goal for developing its Librem 5 smartphone . The device promises total protection of your privacy, thanks to custom hardware, support for Linux-based software platforms (including PureOS ), and features like end-to-end encrypted communications as well as hardware killswitches for the camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and baseband. While it’s great to see a brand focusing on a product that’s all about security and privacy, its appeal will likely be limited to folks who can live without mainstream apps and services from Google, Facebook, Twitter et al. That doesn’t mean it’ll be a barebones device: in addition to supporting 2G/3G/4G bands and offering voice/video calling, Purism says the Librem 5 will eventually work with ‘thousands’ of apps that run on ...