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Hello rotary friends,<br>
<br>
It would seem to me, by my personal assessment, that I now have a
fully operational PCB assembly line! See some behind-the-scenes <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1htLNpPZcP65q82vckiRw5ktmBqCqnVRk?usp=sharing">here</a>
if curious. <b>I feel confident that all pre-orders placed to date
will be sent out in November, as previously promised,</b> 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.<br>
<br>
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:<br>
<br>
<img moz-do-not-send="false"
src="cid:part1.t75eOWjq.c3q6HHhP@skysedge.com" alt="Complete Kit"
class="" width="1156" height="605"><br>
<br>
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:<br>
<br>
-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).<br>
-Next week we'll be doing the pad printing for the early orders (by
"we" I mean a family member I roped into this).<br>
-Through the end of this month I'm going to be working bugs out of
the firmware.<br>
-I believe I'll be able to do the production of all 200 of the
initial/early N. America phones from August 29th-31st. <br>
-I want to ship these units to customers during the first week of
September. <br>
-I'll be rushing the documentation <i>after</i> the first kits go
out, so there may be a few days where customers have them but don't
have the instructions yet. <br>
-A new YouTube video showing functionality, etc, will go up some
time in September.<br>
<br>
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!<br>
<br>
~Justine<br>
<br>
<p>***** UPDATE No. 13 (6/27/22) ******</p>
<div>
<p>Hello again customers and subscribers,</p>
<p>It's June 27th! June 27th and I haven't sent out a single phone
yet. </p>
<p>Progress report: I can now assemble boards. Here's one coming
out of the reflow oven:</p>
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.<br>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"> 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.<br>
<br>
~Justine</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><br>
</p>
<p>***** UPDATE No. 12 (5/23/22) ******</p>
<p>Hello all,</p>
<p>I've been neglecting (dreading) sending updates, so if you've
been wondering where No. 12 is, voila.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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. <b>Orders
placed now are still in the November delivery block.</b></p>
<p>Umm what else. I guess that's it for now. </p>
<p>~Justine</p>
<p> </p>
<p>***** UPDATE No. 11 (4/12/22) ******</p>
<p>Hello again subscribers, customers, and generally-interested
personnel,<br>
<br>
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: <a
href="https://youtu.be/xKAfQlkbDaw" target="_blank"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://youtu.be/xKAfQlkbDaw</a><br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
Stay tuned. I'm trying, I'm trying. Cancellations honored on
request as always!<br>
<br>
~Justine<br>
<br>
<br>
***** UPDATE No. 10 (9 was skipped somehow) (3/23/22) ******<br>
<br>
Hello everyone,<br>
<br>
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:<br>
<br>
Atomic Hotline Red:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Some more high-res pictures here: <a
href="https://skysedge.com/unsmartphones/RUSP/Photos_P5/"
target="_blank" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">
https://skysedge.com/unsmartphones/RUSP/Photos_P5/</a><br>
<br>
~Justine<br>
<br>
***** UPDATE No. 8 (3/15/22) ******<br>
<br>
Hello everyone,<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Please request a refund if your inclination is to get mad that
this is taking so long. <br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
Also, I should have those new pictures for my next update email
(in about another week).<br>
<br>
~Justine<br>
<br>
<br>
***** UPDATE No. 7 (3/6/22) ******<br>
<br>
Hello rotary un-smartphone customers and subscribers!<br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
Note that the previous couple updates are pasted below.<br>
<br>
~Justine<br>
<br>
<br>
***** UPDATE No. 6 (2/21/22) ******<br>
<br>
Hello customers and subscribers,<br>
<br>
Sorry for sending this email is going out a day later than
promised. The <br>
next one after this will be next Sunday, 2/27.<br>
<br>
My assembly (pick and place machine) is still broken, so the
possibility <br>
that I'll get orders out in the next week (before the end of
February) <br>
is vanishing. March. I'm planning to get those first 84 orders
shipped <br>
in March. Please wish me luck getting this machine running, and
again, <br>
if you'd like a refund, just let me know.<span
style="color:#888888"><br>
<br>
~Justine</span><br>
<br>
***** UPDATE No. 5 (2/13/22) ******<br>
<br>
Greetings pre-order customers and subscribers!<br>
<br>
I'm trying to send the first 84 North American phones out this
month*.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Considering the ongoing protracted timeline, which I know is
frustrating most of you, I would like to emphasize that I'm <b>encouraging
folks to request refunds</b>, 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. <b>Failure is not
an option. The only way this won't happen is if I drop dead </b>
(knock on wood).<br>
<br>
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:</p>
<p> </p>
</div>
<p>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. <br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
From now on I'm also going to be sending updates weekly. Expect
the next on Sunday, 2/20.<span style="color:#888888"><br>
<br>
~Justine </span></p>
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