Rotary Un-Smartphone Update No. 15

Tue Sep 6 10:32:33 EDT 2022

Hello dial dudes and dudettes,

I'm starting production for the initial (early order) batch of N. 
American phones tomorrow (Wednesday). This feels like something to 
celebrate, but my plan from Update No. 14 was to have that batch mostly 
/shipped/ by now. I've been working out software bugs and discovered a 
new hardware bug that I'm trying to work around.

Also, I just couldn't help showing off the phone actually working, 
especially the bell and the front display (which I haven't documented 
until now), and spent yesterday shooting and editing a new short "sneak 
peek" kind of video:

https://youtu.be/uV1C-41tq64

It's just a quick preview. An in-depth assembly guide video supplement, 
and a feature guide, will come after the first customers receive their kits.

NOW, for the early-order customers (order placed before 2/20/21):

It occurred to me that although you can finally get your phones this 
month, some of you may prefer to wait for the November batch instead as 
I continue to debug firmware and possibly tweak the hardware (there's a 
brownout issue relating to the bell ringer when the battery isn't full). 
Of course, anyone will be able to do firmware updates at home with the 
provided USB-C cable, so the firmware-side of it is a less compelling 
reason to wait.

In the next couple days all of the early customers will be receiving 
personal emails with a short questionnaire to finalize or confirm color 
choice, region, etc, and also a "yes/no" about whether you want your kit 
ASAP -- thus truly being one of the bleeding-edge first users -- or 
would elect to wait until November and the possible additional 
refinements that's likely to bring.

~Justine

***** UPDATE No. 14 (8/13/22) ******

>> Hello rotary friends,
>>
>> It would seem to me, by my personal assessment, that I now have a 
>> fully operational PCB assembly line! See some behind-the-scenes here 
>> <https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1htLNpPZcP65q82vckiRw5ktmBqCqnVRk?usp=sharing> 
>> if curious. *I feel confident that all pre-orders placed to date will 
>> be sent out in November, as previously promised,* and all new orders 
>> coming in still fit into the November shipment timeline. At a certain 
>> point the number of pre-orders will exceed my current parts 
>> inventory, but we're not there yet and when that happens, subsequent 
>> production runs will be planned every few months until component 
>> availability catches up with demand. At a certain point in 2023 I 
>> expect to be able to send phones as orders come in, like a normal 
>> business.
>>
>> Here's a quick photo I snapped yesterday of the complete kit, 
>> although I realize now that one important piece is left out, but 
>> whatever, you get the idea:
>>
>> Complete Kit
>>
>> As for N. America region customers who placed their orders before 
>> 2/20/2021, (i.e. those that are within the very first production 
>> batch) I also have good news. Here's the lowdown:
>>
>> -For the next few days I'll be testing functionality of the 
>> electronics (the actual boards pictured above that were produced on 
>> my pick and place machine, not hand-assembled ones as previously).
>> -Next week we'll be doing the pad printing for the early orders (by 
>> "we" I mean a family member I roped into this).
>> -Through the end of this month I'm going to be working bugs out of 
>> the firmware.
>> -I believe I'll be able to do the production of all 200 of the 
>> initial/early N. America phones from August 29th-31st.
>> -I want to ship these units to customers during the first week of 
>> September.
>> -I'll be rushing the documentation /after/ the first kits go out, so 
>> there may be a few days where customers have them but don't have the 
>> instructions yet.
>> -A new YouTube video showing functionality, etc, will go up some time 
>> in September.
>>
>> As always, if you've ordered but changed your mind about wanting one 
>> of these, or are otherwise tired of putting up with a stupid girl who 
>> got in way over her head, please email me for a refund. Really!
>>
>> ~Justine
>>
>> ***** UPDATE No. 13 (6/27/22) ******
>>
>> 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:
>>
>> 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/
>>
>> ~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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