Rotary Un-Smartphone Update No. 13

Mon Jun 27 20:33:30 EDT 2022

Hello again customers and subscribers,

It's June 27th! June 27th and I haven't sent out a single phone yet.

Progress report: I can now assemble boards. Here's one coming out of the 
reflow oven:

Out of the fire, into the pan.

An observant eye will note that only one (of three) boards in that panel 
are stuffed, but proof of principle, I can now assemble and solder 
boards in a mass-production pipeline. Right now I'm setting up the 
machine to do the back side of the main board, and then of course, the 
entire panel.

If your ordered early and are fed up, please ask me for a refund. 
Otherwise, anyone who ordered before 2/20/2021 should still be getting a 
kit soon (as soon as I finish sorting the growing pains described in 
this and previous updates), and everyone who ordered after is still on 
track for the autumn production run, targeting deliveries in November.

~Justine

***** UPDATE No. 12 (5/23/22) ******

Hello all,

I've been neglecting (dreading) sending updates, so if you've been 
wondering where No. 12 is, voila.

The initial order batch remains seemingly-perpetually 2 weeks out. Right 
now I'm waiting for some additional parts for the pick and place machine 
(tray and stick feeders), which should arrive soon now. Once I get to 
this point I'll be posting a demo video and written documentation. As 
always, email for refunds.

Another piece of news is that we're now back to THREE regional variants. 
I'll be emailing all customers for final selections before shipments 
this fall, but the attached datasheet describes which carriers are 
approved in which regions. The "Global Version" is LARA-R6001 in the 
datasheet, the "EMEA, APAC, JAPAN, LATAM version" is LARA-R6801, and the 
"North American Version" is LARA-R6401. Note that carriers indicated 
with open, not filled, circles, will not be available until the third 
production run some time in 2023.

I've been expecting to be able to fill orders continuously as they come 
in beginning this November, but the relentless nature of the chip 
shortage is forcing semiconductor manufacturers to secure orders well in 
advance for the foreseeable future. *Orders placed now are still in the 
November delivery block.*

Umm what else. I guess that's it for now.

~Justine

***** UPDATE No. 11 (4/12/22) ******

Hello again subscribers, customers, and generally-interested personnel,

My pick and place machine is fixed and working, which is a relief. Since 
I got it fired up I've been learning how to use it, which is taking some 
effort (to give a sense of it, it runs a modified kernel of Windows NT 
with an expectedly abstruse UX), but it's starting to do things 
resembling what it needs to do and this is exciting. Okay, it was 
probably conceitedly optimistic to think I'd be able to turn out boards 
on this in a few days, having never used such a machine before, but 
here's a short clip of it trying to place a capacitor: 
https://youtu.be/xKAfQlkbDaw

Okay, but now on the most recent board I assembled by hand (an effort 
parallel to that of learning the machine), which had small design 
tweaks, the audio isn't working. It looks like it's the codec chip, 
which blows me away because I haven't changed anything about the audio 
circuit. I suspect an assembly problem but reflowing solder and 
replacing the chip hasn't effected it. I'm hoping that there's some odd 
thing I just screwed up with the hand assembly of that component 
(twice), so the next board assembled will be the first one done by the 
pick and place machine, and hopefully the audio is working again with that.

Stay tuned. I'm trying, I'm trying. Cancellations honored on request as 
always!

~Justine

***** UPDATE No. 10 (9 was skipped somehow) (3/23/22) ******

Hello everyone,

I finally took photos of the different colors. There will be more and 
better pictures and a new video showing functionality around when I sent 
the first units (seemingly perpetually a month out), but here we are for 
now:

Atomic Hotline Red:

Some more high-res pictures here: 
https://skysedge.com/unsmartphones/RUSP/Photos_P5/ 
<https://skysedge.com/unsmartphones/RUSP/Photos_P5/>

~Justine

***** UPDATE No. 8 (3/15/22) ******

Hello everyone,

What I have here is a "bad news" situation. The part I've been waiting 
on for my pick and place machine to produce the first batch of phones 
(see past updates pasted below for detail) arrived, but it only 
partially fixed the problem. This knotted up my stomach nicely. I've 
been working on it every day that I can, and believe I've localized the 
issue (which, if you're interested, relates to an internal braking 
resistor for the six Z-axis BLDC motors). I'm going to try replacing the 
power-module for the Z-axis motors, which is a little rack mount module 
that I'm ordering today. By the time I get this fixed, produce, and test 
all the boards (the production/testing part should just take a few 
days)... well, we will slip another month on the scheudle. Stomach knots.

Please request a refund if your inclination is to get mad that this is 
taking so long.

If you placed your pre-order before 2/20/2021, you're among the first 
200 customers, and if you ordered before 11:09 AM EST on 1/17/2021, 
you're among the first 84 customers.

Also, I should have those new pictures for my next update email (in 
about another week).

~Justine

***** UPDATE No. 7 (3/6/22) ******

Hello rotary un-smartphone customers and subscribers!

I'm still waiting on the replacement part for my pick and place machine. 
The plan remains to send the first 84 N. American units out this month 
(nor March). I'll also taking photos of completed phones in all the 
different colors (finally) this week, and I'm working on the assembly 
instructions. A demonstration video is also coming. As always, please 
ask for a refund if you're done with waiting.

Note that the previous couple updates are pasted below.

~Justine

***** UPDATE No. 6 (2/21/22) ******

Hello customers and subscribers,

Sorry for sending this email is going out a day later than promised. The
next one after this will be next Sunday, 2/27.

My assembly (pick and place machine) is still broken, so the possibility
that I'll get orders out in the next week (before the end of February)
is vanishing. March. I'm planning to get those first 84 orders shipped
in March. Please wish me luck getting this machine running, and again,
if you'd like a refund, just let me know.

~Justine

***** UPDATE No. 5 (2/13/22) ******

Greetings pre-order customers and subscribers!

I'm trying to send the first 84 North American phones out this month*.

An additional 114 will be able to go out about a month after that, but 
the front OLED display is out of stock until summer, so I will give 
those 114 customers who are next in line the option to receive the 
complete kit minus the OLED display, and they would receive the display 
separately when I get them in the summer. The phone will function fine 
without that front display, but without the ability to display incoming 
calls and other messages.

Outside of those initial 198 N. American orders, all other components 
will be available again (including for the global versions) in October, 
so that's when the remaining pre-order backlog should be produced and 
sent out. I'm hoping to be in "normal production", with orders being 
filled as they're placed, around November.

Considering the ongoing protracted timeline, which I know is frustrating 
most of you, I would like to emphasize that I'm *encouraging folks to 
request refunds*, and then re-order when the chip shortage is behind us 
if so desired. It's indeed been difficult -- much more so than I ever 
expected -- but this phone WILL be at full-normal production status 
eventually. *Failure is not an option. The only way this won't happen is 
if I drop dead *(knock on wood).

OK, regarding my promise to get the first orders out this month, it's 
actually dependent on my new pick and place machine, which is is the 
centerpiece of my newly put-together basement production facility:

The thing is, due to a bone-headed mistake that was entirely my own 
fault, I managed to bork one of the circuit boards that makes the thing 
run when hooking things back up after having it moved, which was a 
4000lb project in its own right. I'm waiting on a replacement from 
abroad to get the machine running again, but can't actually start 
producing the RUSP boards (in a lay speak: "soldering the electronics 
together"), until this is working again. At the end of January I was 
positive I'd be able to get the first phone kits out this month, in 
February, as described above, but every day that goes by at this point 
without this machine working is a day of schedule slip.

Again, if you're not comfortable with me always saying "soon, soon, I 
promise... very soon", please request a refund. But I do have the parts 
for a batch of kits as described above, and it's just a matter of 
getting this machine going again.

Also, the colors of the phones are slightly refined from the photo I 
sent in the last update. Better, more true to what folks envisioned. I 
don't have the chips to spare to assemble one of each color fully for a 
photo op, so very soon (by the time I ship the first 84), I'll take 
photos of each color by recycling the same electronics.

 From now on I'm also going to be sending updates weekly. Expect the 
next on Sunday, 2/20.

~Justine
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