On the pre-production status

[OKSun 103]

48 minutes ago, Craig said:

Remember, after IGG backers (who I think completed deliveries in previous batches?) it goes by payment date not order date, with some magic weighting related to countries nobody quite understands.

So I think first gotta ship the rest that paid in August...  I think some August payments are still waiting?  They're probably the ones getting assigned...  then September payments... and so on...

 

Yes. They had not manufactured enough QWERTZ before Chinese New Year to fullfil all pre-orders that had been paid immediately (whereas they had manufactured enough QWERTY to do so and even fullfill some later payment pre-orders). So Qwertz / Qwerty was one additional parameter in addition to payment date and the country allocation magic.

Note also that not every one received the payment request on the same day (some more than 24 hours later than others), adding some complexity to the matter.

Anyway I received also my stock allocation e-mail today (Qwertz) preordered in June (if I remember well) and paid immediately.

Although some of the delays in the production remains a mystery to me (especially up to end 2019), I wanted to give some recognition to fxtec team with this e-mail. Fxtec is developping an interesting product and bringing it to the market. If you eliminate possible mistakes and overpromises of fxtec, they must be really battling against back luck to have such delays. It must take some yoga skills to keep calm! In addition, Covid had also changed the world, and personally I accept the latest delays without bad feelings.

 

 

[rubleaj 53]

Pre-ordered and had my payment in September 10...  I know the world is a crazy place but I'm just so tired of waiting. That being said, I'm still not in this batch, so I guess nothing changes. Stay safe keyboard friends.

[Rob. S. 1,661]

12 hours ago, Joakim said:

Probably a combination of all with different weightings on each: Type of device, receiving country, payment date, order date 

And, most notably, with a substantial margin of error, too. Although they seem to have been trying hard to be as just as possible with the shipping order, it sometimes didn't work out in the previous shippings, either, and there are many possibly reasons which can thwart such plans...

[Slion 1,201]

14 hours ago, OKSun said:

Anyway I received also my stock allocation e-mail today (Qwertz) preordered in June (if I remember well) and paid immediately.

Interesting, so it looks like they could eventually resume shipping. Do let us know when you get it.

[OliverTypes 152]

My inbox

[anonim001 105]

Just got a message, that they were able to send a small batch of oldest QWERTZ orders. About QWERTY - they are waiting for delivery of the screens.

Edited April 24, 2020 by anonim001

[OliverTypes 152]

I paid on 07/28. 😕

[Dany303 8]

Mine hasn't been shipped yet. If I get it, it's uselessly out of date. Really outrageous. Fxtex fucked up. I'm really pissed.

[OliverTypes 152]

Naa, I don't waste precious anger on phones. I have much more pressing issues in my life right now, we all have. Admittedly, I could really, really use this phone ATM, so it would be really, really great if it finally shipped. But I'm not angry. Bit sad though.

[EskeRahn 5,460]

6 hours ago, schmittlauch said:

Latest production update from today.

Thanks, moved to the closed info-thread.

[Slion 1,201]

7 hours ago, Dany303 said:

Fxtex fucked up

Nope, corona did.

7 hours ago, Dany303 said:

it's uselessly out of date

Not true, far from it.

I understand your frustration though.

[Rob. S. 1,661]

13 hours ago, Dany303 said:

Mine hasn't been shipped yet. If I get it, it's uselessly out of date. Really outrageous. Fxtex fucked up. I'm really pissed.

If you get it, you will probably be able to sell it for significantly more than what you originally payed, so not all is lost even if you consider a near-high-end smartphone that was announced a bit more than a year ago, with a flagship CPU from two years ago "uselessly out of date", which of course is a position you're totally entitled to. 

Edited April 27, 2020 by Rob. S.

[Dany303 8]

23 minutes ago, Rob. S. said:

If you get it, you will probably be able to sell it for significantly more than what you originally payed, so not all is lost even if you consider a near-high-end smartphone that was announced a bit more than a year ago, with a flagship CPU from two years ago "uselessly out of date", which of course is a position you're totally entitled to. 

That would require that the supply would be smaller than the demand. i think i will get mine when mass production starts and fxtec will reduce the price significantly for market reasons. I then paid a lot, fxtec broke its supply promises. And no, Corona is no excuse, the delivery was already several months behind even before Corona. 

I ordered at the beginning of November, it wasn't a pre-order, the delivery promise was 4 weeks. This was broken several times. I paid a higher price for this supposed security.

I think I'm gonna cancel my order and get the money back. I will get the phone much cheaper if they do not get rid of it.

Edited April 27, 2020 by Dany303
add something

[3zet 100]

47 minutes ago, Dany303 said:

I will get the phone much cheaper if they do not get rid of it.

 Good luck with that, some time ago one has been sold on ebay for almost twice the regular price is. 

[Tsunero 215]

1 hour ago, 3zet said:

 Good luck with that, some time ago one has been sold on ebay for almost twice the regular price is. 

This. No matter how niche this phone is there is undeniable demand. I am glad I waited for stock allocation despite months of delays. I really hope Fxtec doesn't flop as a company but even if they do, they existed, there are some phones out there. Since the bootloader is unlocked the community can keep it alive for quite long, turning it into a pretty "rare" collectors item in the worst case scenario.

People say how outdated it is but I digress, there are still Blackberries sold for obscene prices (looking at you K series) and the Pro1 tops them in every single aspect. Note these phones are also mostly EOL and their bootloader is locked...

[Dany303 8]

39 minutes ago, Tsunero said:

This. No matter how niche this phone is there is undeniable demand. I am glad I waited for stock allocation despite months of delays. I really hope Fxtec doesn't flop as a company but even if they do, they existed, there are some phones out there. Since the bootloader is unlocked the community can keep it alive for quite long, turning it into a pretty "rare" collectors item in the worst case scenario.

People say how outdated it is but I digress, there are still Blackberries sold for obscene prices (looking at you K series) and the Pro1 tops them in every single aspect. Note these phones are also mostly EOL and their bootloader is locked...

i ordered the phones out of a conviction, too.

but in your worst case scenario i won't own a rare collector's item, but will have 1450€ less and won't get a phone. Just a "Sorry, we are Corona Insolvent, thanks for your money and sorry again".

If it was such a popular niche product, I could sell my outdated Motorola Photon for a lot of money. But the poor performance makes the product unattractive.

Edited April 27, 2020 by Dany303

[Hook 3,020]

1450€?  Did you buy two?

Look, get your refund if you think it's a phone you won't want.  They will give it to you, based on all previous interactions.  There's no need to keep whining. While I understand the frustration. there are people who have been waiting a lot longer than you.

[Tsunero 215]

@Dany303

Well I wouldn't blame you if you requested a refund (I was on the verge of getting one too a few weeks ago after all) but currently nothing indicates the company is going under. Production is going, just super slowly.

Refunds, afaik, were always given so far with no strings attached.

 

 

[3zet 100]

2 hours ago, Tsunero said:

Since the bootloader is unlocked the community can keep it alive for quite long, turning it into a pretty "rare" collectors item in the worst case scenario.

In a certain profession group is already used as currency 😄

[npatel1050 132]

9 hours ago, 3zet said:

 Good luck with that, some time ago one has been sold on ebay for almost twice the regular price is. 

That doesn't mean anything. Right now pro1 prices are in a bubble mainly because of supply issues. Once all orders have been filled and it's not difficult to get one, prices for this phone will come down. I hope to pick one up used for a reasonable price when the dust settles.

[Rob. S. 1,661]

47 minutes ago, npatel1050 said:

Once all orders have been filled and it's not difficult to get one, prices for this phone will come down

That doesn't mean anything. Because we neither know when exactly it will be "not difficult to get one" (it's obvious now that it wll be many weeks before even last year's orders will be completely shipped), nor how long it will be in production after that, even if we don't want to talk about the possibility of a company going out of business. 

So good luck with trying to get one cheap. Of course that will be possible at some point, but personally I would hazard no bet naming a date.

[Dany303 8]

12 hours ago, npatel1050 said:

That doesn't mean anything. Right now pro1 prices are in a bubble mainly because of supply issues. Once all orders have been filled and it's not difficult to get one, prices for this phone will come down. I hope to pick one up used for a reasonable price when the dust settles.

I will do the same. I have already contacted support. That the delivery promises on the sales website were not adapted is also not okay. Maybe I will order the Pro 2 in a few months. But next time I won't be so patient.

Open bootloaders are also available from other manufacturers.

 

18 hours ago, Hook said:

1450€?  Did you buy two?

Look, get your refund if you think it's a phone you won't want.  They will give it to you, based on all previous interactions.  There's no need to keep whining. While I understand the frustration. there are people who have been waiting a lot longer than you.

Yes, two QWERTZ devices.

Those who wait longer, have paid ~70€ less and they were also promised no shipping in 4-6 weeks.

I don't want to change anyone's mind here and I find it sad that FX-Tec has no significant competitors. An established manufacturer could never allow itself such a behavior without being punished. Apart from the keyboard, smartphunes under 300€ are already more powerful. Open bootloader included.

I would also order a Pro2 if there was one. But next time only if it is in stock. The trust is gone, I read every few weeks that production is about to start. Enough! (for me) 

 

17 hours ago, Tsunero said:

@Dany303

Well I wouldn't blame you if you requested a refund (I was on the verge of getting one too a few weeks ago after all) but currently nothing indicates the company is going under. Production is going, just super slowly.

Refunds, afaik, were always given so far with no strings attached.

Thank you. I hope I get my money back. You'll know if it worked or not. I broke my old smartphone last week, so I'll have to get a new one from someone else.  I had to realize, that the Pro1 is not only the housing and the keyboard, but also old stock from 2017. 

As I am not affected by the current qwerz deliveries, I think that FxTec would deliver in 3 months at the earliest based on the experience so far. At the current price they can keep the things.

 

 

Edited April 28, 2020 by Dany303

[EskeRahn 5,460]

5 hours ago, Dany303 said:

...Apart from the keyboard...

Well those that do not find a hardware keyboard essential (or at the least very important), would never even dream of looking at this, so comparing it with things without a real keyboard really does not make much sense.

This is a niche product. For a mass product selling in the millions the development cost distributed per unit is negligible, but for a niche product it is a totally different story.

We know from other threads (custom declarations) that the raw hardware price per unit produced is around $300 (Again: low quantities gives high prices), and that is BEFORE adding the heavy price for licensing, and the distributed cost of development of hardware and software, plus the administrative part (including this site)... Hopefully they can add a little profit too, and finally taxes on top... So personally I would have been more surprised if it had been priced substantially lower.

Actually there ARE cheaper alternatives for keyboard lovers though, perhaps not so attractive, but they do exist, I tried to summarise the few option I know of here.

[Dany303 8]

6 hours ago, EskeRahn said:

This is a niche product. For a mass product selling in the millions the development cost distributed per unit is negligible, but for a niche product it is a totally different story.

We know from other threads (custom declarations) that the raw hardware price per unit produced is around $300 (Again: low quantities gives high prices), and that is BEFORE adding the heavy price for licensing, and the distributed cost of development of hardware and software, plus the administrative part (including this site)... Hopefully they can add a little profit too, and finally taxes on top... So personally I would have been more surprised if it had been priced substantially lower.

Actually there ARE cheaper alternatives for keyboard lovers though, perhaps not so attractive, but they do exist, I tried to summarise the few option I know of here.

I realize that. That's why the price was reasonable six months ago with the delivery promise.
I read about FXTec every week, and they give us lapidary excuses. No own admission of guilt, no idea of compensation for the damages incurred on the customer side.

I wish all of you that you will not have to wait much longer. For me the matter is now over. Thanks.

[npatel1050 132]

17 hours ago, Rob. S. said:

That doesn't mean anything. Because we neither know when exactly it will be "not difficult to get one" (it's obvious now that it wll be many weeks before even last year's orders will be completely shipped), nor how long it will be in production after that, even if we don't want to talk about the possibility of a company going out of business. 

So good luck with trying to get one cheap. Of course that will be possible at some point, but personally I would hazard no bet naming a date.

Waited this long, I can keep waiting. I would wager it's in the company's best interests to pump these out as fast as they can and fulfill the demand.