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Hello dial dudes and dudettes,<br>
<br>
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 <i>shipped</i> by now. I've been working out software bugs
and discovered a new hardware bug that I'm trying to work around. <br>
<br>
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: <br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://youtu.be/uV1C-41tq64">https://youtu.be/uV1C-41tq64</a><br>
<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
NOW, for the early-order customers (order placed before 2/20/21):<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
~Justine<br>
<br>
<p>***** UPDATE No. 14 (8/13/22) ******</p>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:0da9fac4-f31c-596b-a519-da1024b978e0@att.net">
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:6dbd706a-8ece-42e1-a2c6-faf180b61b64@skysedge.com">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
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 src="cid:part1.ubseA0tI.9tX0iw0v@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>
</blockquote>
<br>
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