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Greetings Rotary Cell Phone pre-order customers and subscribers!<br>
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<b>Partial Shipments for Solstice by Request<br>
</b>We're approaching a year since I first started accepting
pre-orders for the Rotary Un-Smartphone. At the time, it was
inconceivable to me that I wouldn't be able to fill orders
even by Christmas of 2021. The rest of this email details that
topic, but the first thing I want to say is that, considering
that many of you pre-ordered this kit as a gift, I would like
to offer partial shipments for arrival by December 21st (in
time for Christmas) for anyone who requests it. These partial
kits will include everything <i>except</i> the electronics,
which will ship later, when available. If you've pre-ordered
and would like to take me up on this offer, please email me. <br>
<br>
<b>Dealing with the chip shortage:</b><br>
I decided to take somewhat drastic measures to mitigate the
effect of the global chip supply problem. Normally, one in my
situation would accumulate all the parts needed to produce a
printed circuit board (PCB... hereafter "board"), preferably
enough to make thousands at a time to be cost effective, and
then send them off to an "assembly house" to have everything
soldered together in a mass production workflow. Given the
current situation, waiting to accumulate thousands, or even <i>hundreds</i>,
of all the needed components simultaneously would take too
long.<br>
<br>
Instead, I decided to build up my own PCB assembly line, which
will let me be dynamic and produce boards in arbitrarily low
quantities as parts come in, potentially having them in the
mail the same day that bottleneck components arrive. Below you
can see my new solder reflow oven and used paste printer, with
the floor marked out for a used pick and place machine. This
undisclosed basement on the North Fork of Long Island is
effectively my new manufacturing and fulfillment center, with
the last couple machines set to be delivered before the end of
this month. With all this in place, if I accumulate parts for,
say, 10 boards, I can just run them off and send them out, and
keep operating that way indefinitely. <br>
<br>
<img moz-do-not-send="false"
src="cid:part1.2B5D57D7.A2D0AD73@skysedge.com"
alt="Basement1" class="" width="1200" height="800"><br>
<br>
So, how do we stand regarding the chip shortage? I've managed
to obtain most of the components that were originally
problematic in quantities between 100-1000 units, but some of
the other chips that originally showed no sign of being
affected by the shortage -- which I delayed ordering to
accommodate my funding profile -- are now unavailable. Because
I know many of my customers and subscribers are engineers or
have technological connections, the part numbers I can't find
<i>at all</i> are FT230XS, EE2-3TNU and TOBY-R200-82B. Similar
alternatives to the FT230XS are just as scarce though I"m not
sure about alternatives to the EE2-3TNU yet. The TOBY-R200 is
the global variant of the cell modem. I also only have about
100 of the ATmega2560V with no stock anywhere, which is
concerning.<br>
<br>
<b>Projecting Availability of Complete Phone Kits<br>
</b>Right now, it's looking like the N. American version of
the phone will be ready sooner than the Global version, as I
have stock of the former modems and not the latter, but the
other components missing above, however trivial in appearance,
are a bottleneck. I could wind up finding these parts
tomorrow, when I do my daily search, or in months.<br>
<br>
<b>2 Regions, Not 4<br>
</b>Over the summer a prospective customer pointed out an
important technical issue with the cellular modem I selected.
This led to choosing a different version of that component
from the same product family, and the new version only has two
regional variants: N. America and Global. This is a good
thing. I have 200 of the N. American cellular modems in-hand,
but the Global version is still Unobtainium. I'm pretty sure
the N. American version will work globally, and vice versa,
but the Global version supports a couple of extra bands that
the N. American version doesn't, which makes it more versatile
on disparate regional networks. I'm guessing this is why that
version is so hard to find right now, as it seems the more
desirable of the two. Anyone who pre-ordered a region other
than "N. America<b>" </b>will be getting the Global version,
and I'll be updating the website to reflect this change in
options imminently. <br>
<br>
<b>About 5G</b><br>
YES, the phone works on the new 5G networks. I'm stopping
myself from writing an essay on how what the big carriers are
calling "5G" actually isn't (AT ALL), and how the LTE standard
that the rotary phone uses will work on the 5G/4G networks
even after <i>actual</i> 5G proliferates. Actual 5G adds
mm-wave bands to the LTE standard for very high data rates in
dense urban areas, like streaming video, etc. Not something
that's useful for a voice-only phone, and there aren't any
devices or carriers I'm aware of that are actually exploiting
the mm-wave bands at this time. Hence, what's being touted as
5G in aggressive add campaigns (at least in the US) are not
actually 5G in any way, shape, or form. It's a schemeto get
people to trade-up to newer phones. The Rotary Un-Smartphone
is a fully modern device, totally compatible with the newest
LTE networks, whether you call it 4G or 5G.<br>
<br>
<b>Design Status</b><br>
For better or worse, I've allowed the chip shortages to pace
my effort on design finalization. Regardless, I'm proud to be
able to say that the phone works great on the new 4G/5G
networks, that I'm pleased with the call quality, and that the
RUSP became my main personal phone again as of a couple weeks
ago. I'm excited that the rotary mechanism really feels as
good as I wanted it to. The bigger ePaper display (for which I
had to write new drivers) works and will be protected by
Corning Gorilla Glass, the SIM and MicroSD slots are all
working, and the bell ringer mechanism works. This was a lot
of work. A lot of frigging work. There <i>are</i> a couple
loose ends I'm working on resolving, though. The OLED display
isn't cooperating yet, and the impedance matching networks for
the antennas need major optimization, but all soluble problems
in the next month or so. <br>
<br>
Oh, and the injection molding tooling process is complete.
I'll take good, complete photos when I can, but here's a quick
shot of the casings in all the colors:<br>
<br>
<img moz-do-not-send="false"
src="cid:part2.997B1D2C.D083EACC@skysedge.com" alt="All RUSP
Colors" class="" width="1000" height="513"><br>
<br>
<br>
<b>Thank You<br>
</b>I really mean this, especially to anyone who's placed a
pre-order. I would not have been able to make this happen
without the pre-order funding, which has gone to manufacturer
procurement, parts orders, machines, and test equipment. Thank
goodness I don't have to pay anyone's salary [yet]. And of
course, if all this waiting and chip shortage business is
getting to you, please don't hesitate to ask for a refund. I
do think we're getting close, though.<br>
<br>
~Justine<br>
<br>
P.S., to unsubscribe, email me with that word.<br>
<br>
<br>
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