On the pre-production status

[glumreaper 144]

It got a bit... Derailed! I'm eagerly awaiting news as well though.

[EskeRahn 5,350]

3 hours ago, kthxbye said:

A post "sorry we messed up and haven't shipped because X" literally takes 5 minutes AND will save a ton of hours from support. Where is the reasoning flaw now?

And more in accordance with reality, the same goes for  "sorry something did not go as planned and the shipping has been delayed because X"

It is more than likely that the delays are related to things outside their control.

[Gazza 3]

9 hours ago, Gon009 said:

Fxtec is not a charity company, we gave them money and i want to know what is happening with that money. The fact that they abuse their position of being the only one who is creating landscape slider now and they know that people have literally no other choice is just disgusting. Yeah, Fxtec is not Samsung or Apple but also it means that there is no complex structure in that company. These's no big CEO who has other officers, who have other subordinates who have other subordinates who finally can tell people about current situation, no. Also they sure follow every part of manufacturing and know exactly what is happening. Would a startup like that just tell the factory "Manufacture x phones for me and ship them to warehouses"? No, even Chen is visiting factory from time to time. They have to follow what is happening or else it will be a disaster. It also means that they know exactly what is happening with our orders, that the case won't exist etc. It also means that they have knowledge to tell us about everything, about every problem etc. but they are being dishonest and they are doing this knowingly. They finally took a step forward when people started cancelling their preorders but quickly they made few steps back again. The other problem is that many on the forum are trying to be white knights for Fxtec and are trying to give an excuse for every mistake Fxtec makes with the explanation "it's a startup", "just wait" etc. and without any other valid point. If this was a charity company, I wouldn't even care about mistakes but they aren't a charity company. They took money, they told things that turned to be invalid few times, they are vague, they know that there are people demanding answers but they ignore them knowingly. To be clear, I'm sure that my money is safe, I'm not afraid of this and I don't think of Fxtec as a scam anymore. However I'm not sure if they can fulfill what they told they are doing and they won't answer that or will answer with "soon" which is as good as no answer. What is more, if they know that they won't fulfill some orders, they aren't going to admit that at all until it's all too late. Numbers please.

They are NOT the only ones making a landscape/portrait slider or similar.

I've had my eye on this for a while and they have a great track record of manufacture: https://store.planetcom.co.uk/products/cosmo-communicator

 

I'm just not brave or foolish enough to be an early adopter of expensive new tech. 🙂

Still using my Passport ......and it has a protective cover.

 

I'm sure Fxtec will come through very soon..........we've seen the boxes!

Edited November 3, 2019 by Gazza

[ravelo 11]

New twitter tweets by Liangchen are available. Basically: Devices are currently shipped to the warehouses. Good news are coming soon.

It looks for me as there was bad luck lately. A lot was done upfront but not all could be foreseen.

I am eagerly awaiting the first reviews of devices.

Edited November 3, 2019 by ravelo

[EskeRahn 5,350]

41 minutes ago, Gazza said:

They are NOT the only ones making a landscape/portrait slider or similar.

I've had my eye on this for a while and they have a great track record of manufacture: https://store.planetcom.co.uk/products/cosmo-communicator

 

Well with a HUGE emphasize on "or similar" Cosmo is a folder, and this means you can not use it as a slab, but only as a 'mini laptop'. So similar when open, but very different when closed.....

[glumreaper 144]

43 minutes ago, Gazza said:

I've had my eye on this for a while and they have a great track record of manufacture: https://store.planetcom.co.uk/products/cosmo-communicator

 

Thanks for the tip. One to watch if the Pro1 doesn't appear. It doesn't look as slick, but it's a nice concept. I applaud any resurgence in this form of phone.

[vlycop 38]

Do we know if there is any patent ? On the hinge maybe ?

Else even if this project fail due to bad pr we could still see it picked up by another company.

I'm pretty sure anyone thinking of getting the phone and reading the forums 5 minutes run away sadly 

[glumreaper 144]

18 minutes ago, ravelo said:

New twitter tweets by Liangchen are available. 

Thanks for pointing that out. I liked this one:

 

 

So it looks like they are reading the forum and/or social media.

If so, I'd want them to know - I personally don't think they've lied - just in their enthusiasm been less clear and open than ideal. Examples: making a big deal of the ship date of the 29th without clarifying that this wasn't shipping _to customers_. The late change of case to sleeve. No clarity around batch sizes and times that would give people an idea.

 

All the noise here is because people want to know when they'll get the phone they're excited for. The phone they paid for. The phone they thought they would get in July. Some better idea of exactly when each person might get it would be great. If this can't be predicted, say why.

 

[silversolver 849]

21 minutes ago, Gazza said:

They are NOT the only ones making a landscape/portrait slider or similar.

I've had my eye on this for a while and they have a great track record of manufacture: https://store.planetcom.co.uk/products/cosmo-communicator

 

I'm just not brave or foolish enough to be an early adopter of expensive new tech. 🙂

Still using my Passport ......and it has a protective cover.

 

I'm sure Fxtec will come through very soon..........we've seen the boxes!

I'm sure F(x)tec will come through soon too. I had forgotten about the Cosmo, but I had previously dismissed it because it's just too big to be practical as a phone IMO. In my world it's more of a UMPC. Also, have you looked at the unsubsidized price of an iPhone lately? :O

Come on, Pro1 baby! :)

[silversolver 849]

6 minutes ago, glumreaper said:

Thanks for pointing that out. I liked this one:

 

 

So it looks like they are reading the forum and/or social media.

If so, I'd want them to know - I personally don't think they've lied - just in their enthusiasm been less clear and open than ideal. Examples: making a big deal of the ship date of the 29th without clarifying that this wasn't shipping _to customers_. The late change of case to sleeve. No clarity around batch sizes and times that would give people an idea.

 

All the noise here is because people want to know when they'll get the phone they're excited for. The phone they paid for. The phone they thought they would get in July. Some better idea of exactly when each person might get it would be great. If this can't be predicted, say why.

 

They are people too, and have feelings, and can be disheartened like anyone else. Encouragement makes the world better. If you're reading this, Mr. Chen, just know that most of us are grateful that you are doing this at all, and understand that setbacks happen, and eagerly but patiently await the final glory of a new portrait keyboard slider. :)

[anonim001 105]

This message is NOT to those understanding that we're not unhappy with not getting the device, but the dishonesty we're being treated with.

Don't take it as "bitching" or "crying" or whatever some of You called it, but look at all that with sober mind. When for example a new restaurant or any other business opens and their service is really bad for the 5th time You visit them, do You still say "let's forgive them, they are new"? This is market, this is business. We're talking real money here. There's no mercy here - if You are bad at something, You have to count with negative opinions and fight them with being honest and hard-working to do better. 

FxTec said clearly - from the moment we paid, it's  not a pre-order anymore, it's a real order for a real product. There are some legal restrictions behind those words.

Most of my friends think I'm a sucker - including me, because if it was literally ANYTHING else, I would definitely not be so patient. Love is blind, and I think this is a similar feeling I have about this phone. Yet again, being new does not give You the right to screw around with people. And the forum is the right place to show our feelings, also those negative ones.

Just try to look sober at all this, not with a "fanboi"'s eye.

This is my last post regarding this whole situation, at least until I see some new updates from FxTec. 

[silversolver 849]

4 minutes ago, anonim001 said:

This message is NOT to those understanding that we're not unhappy with not getting the device, but the dishonesty we're being treated with.

Don't take it as "bitching" or "crying" or whatever some of You called it, but look at all that with sober mind. When for example a new restaurant or any other business opens and their service is really bad for the 5th time You visit them, do You still say "let's forgive them, they are new"? This is market, this is business. We're talking real money here. There's no mercy here - if You are bad at something, You have to count with negative opinions and fight them with being honest and hard-working to do better.

Your analogy is seriously flawed. The restaurant hasn't opened yet. No one has received any food beyond a few samples, but those samples are like nothing else available elsewhere, and as a result people have placed preorders for their dinners when the restaurant opens as a means of ensuring that it does open. People are understandably annoyed that the restaurant is not yet open, when the plan was to have it open months ago, but setbacks happen. The restaurant will open, and people will get what they've been promised.

In the meantime, no one is starving to death. Expressing annoyance with vitriol and meanness just demotivates people. If this project is to have a long life, we need to be supportive. This is a special project, and needs to be given a little special grace and understanding so that the fine people at F(x)tec have the motivation to keep doing it long after their financial obligations are fulfilled. Only this way can we hope to have a long production run of the Pro1 and a successor.

[Hook 2,821]

I think some people here don't appreciate how dependent F(x) Tec are on other people at this phase, how quickly things can change and, until you are an established company, you are low priority with all of them.  They are not being dishonest.  All they can give us is hopeful dates because a lot is not in their control.  I guarantee you, they, especially Chen are even more frustrated than we are.

What I see is a small group of people who have created a great product and are doing everything to get it to us as soon as possible. And I believe that will be soon. They can fix the communication problems when they are no longer knee deep in getting the phones out.  I will continue to cheer them over the finish line.  That, to me, is sober.

[theo.hallenius 31]

34 minutes ago, silversolver said:

Your analogy is seriously flawed. The restaurant hasn't opened yet. No one has received any food beyond a few samples, but those samples are like nothing else available elsewhere, and as a result people have placed preorders for their dinners when the restaurant opens as a means of ensuring that it does open. People are understandably annoyed that the restaurant is not yet open, when the plan was to have it open months ago, but setbacks happen. The restaurant will open, and people will get what they've been promised.

In the meantime, no one is starving to death. Expressing annoyance with vitriol and meanness just demotivates people. If this project is to have a long life, we need to be supportive. This is a special project, and needs to be given a little special grace and understanding so that the fine people at F(x)tec have the motivation to keep doing it long after their financial obligations are fulfilled. Only this way can we hope to have a long production run of the Pro1 and a successor.

I can already imagine people standing in line in front of a restaurant for months xDD Not a pretty picture. But I understand what you mean, meanwhile you can go to a different restaurant, and in our case different phone manufacturers.

Edited November 4, 2019 by theo.hallenius

[silversolver 849]

29 minutes ago, theo.hallenius said:

I can already imagine people standing in line in front of a restaurant for months xDD Not a pretty picture. But I understand what you mean, meanwhile you can go to a different restaurant, and in our case different phone manufacturers.

Haha, that weird mental image came to me too. :O Something akin to people camping in the Wal-mart parking lot all night and then trampling each other in the morning (one to death, actually) to get the doorbuster deals. Wal-martians........

[netman 1,424]

22 minutes ago, silversolver said:

Haha, that weird mental image came to me too. 😮Something akin to people camping in the Wal-mart parking lot all night and then trampling each other in the morning (one to death, actually) to get the doorbuster deals. Wal-martians........

isn't that pretty much an apple store before iphone launch day?

[silversolver 849]

1 minute ago, netman said:

isn't that pretty much an apple store before iphone launch day?

Haha, pretty much. It's amazing how excited people get about having a latest thing that 1% different from the previous latest thing, and often has functionality removed. iCult members are strange to me.....

[magicafternoon 38]

I won't blame Erik if he decides not to come back. This thread has become a nightmare. Even Liangchen is upset.

I hope everyone on the f(x)tec team will take a few days to de-stress before returning with a clear head. They're all doing great work, and shouldn't let a few forum trolls and troublemakers distract them from that work.

I hope folks on this thread will recognize that the f(x)tec team is doing their best to deliver. Being less than perfect communicators doesn't make them liars or scammers. They can't control delays that happen after the phones leave their hands. 

[Kyrotonia 4]

Wow, this is nuts. I feel bad for the fxtec team right now. I've been on preorder since May, but things happen. I know there are probably many others waiting much longer, but still... The team are still just people, and can still be upset by these people acting like toddlers. Professional or not, things you say can still be hurtful. I was initially a little miffed, maybe disappointed at the delays, but I am willing to wait for something that stands out like this product does. I was so bummed out by my note 9 that I was willing to have a basic slider-phone and a tablet. But on the plus side, my brother gets my note 9 when I get the pro1, so we both win. I won't have totally wasted $1000 on another cookie cutter Samsung product. Ouch. I'm done with that lol. If any of the team sees this, just know that not everyone is flipping their lid. Preorder products can take much longer than this, really. Just take a break from the forums, you likely need it.

 

Edit: And yes, I registered an account to say something. I'm not precisely new.

Edited November 4, 2019 by Kyrotonia

[electristan 34]

I guess that my expectations have been high.

As Liangchen Chen is now focusing and deflecting with comments about them not being in control of Logistics (which you can control/mitigate by choosing the right carrier, and sending products in good time) and why give updates as people are calling us liars and demanding to much, instead of addressing the reasonable complaints people have (communication, slipping dates, removal of hardcase)

I feel bad for Erik being left alone to deal with the community. I know he is in a difficult position with limited information. No blame on you.

I'll just wait for it to arrive and hope that it's as good as initially expected, and that if there ever is any issues they have improved by then.

[kthxbye 71]

I don't think anyone is getting upset that it's taking longer, or that they are not shipping their CEO to the warehouses for real-time GPS updates.
There seems to be some kind of framing going on that people are flailing around ranting about not having a tracking number.

In my opinion that is wrong, and fxtec dug their hole themselves. Everyone was surprised when they announced shipping to pre-orders on Oct. 29. Nobody forced them to give that concrete date. Likewise nobody forced them to claim batches would be sent within days, and that pre-orders would be completed by end of october.

Chen now going for the witch hunt defense shows a severe lack of reflection. There is no message here that they are not doing their absolute best. The message is that they keep advancing wrong claims and don't correct their estimates which is unequivocally true. Nobody is asking Chen to get himself shipped with a GPS chip, but what about taking a minute to update "first batch arrived at UK warehouse".

Edited November 4, 2019 by kthxbye
s/ ship / chip /g

[Noir 112]

1 hour ago, kthxbye said:

Everyone was surprised when they announced shipping to pre-orders on Oct. 29. Nobody forced them to give that concrete date. Likewise nobody forced them to claim batches would be sent within days, and that pre-orders would be completed by end of october.

That's not entirely true, people were in the same state as they currently are, expecting shipping times and getting angry because of an unclear situation. F(x)tec has been under the community's pressure for months now. They were not forced to give the 29th as a date, but they were kind of forced to give any date, to reuse your words.

[illie-vanilli 58]

I think there is a big difference between someone rationally ventilating ones annoyance about the lack of communications about the (unforeseen) delays, and people that get so angry about the delays and lack of communication that they just start to 'yell' wild accusations, assumptions and destructive criticism. 

I think it's seriously damaging to claim things like 'F(x)tec is a huge scam', 'they are liars' or 'they promise things and then don't come through'.

Although the lack of communication can cause feelings like that I really miss these commenters lack of rationally approaching the situation and automatically assuming the worst.
It can be very damaging (aside from the personal demotivation it can cause for the founders and members of the small staff) for a startup company if they get accused of being a scam, even when there is no concrete proof of this. While at the same time there is actual proof of the contrary (people getting refunded before during the indigogo-campaign, the factory-video, etc.)

Granted, my previous joke might have been a tad immature as well, and was most definitely not directed at the people rationally voicing their concerns, but I just think it's unfair to act as I described above.

[EskeRahn 5,350]

49 minutes ago, illie-vanilli said:

I think there is a big difference between someone rationally ventilating ones annoyance about the lack of communications about the (unforeseen) delays, and people that get so angry about the delays and lack of communication that they just start to 'yell' wild accusations, assumptions and destructive criticism. 

I think it's seriously damaging to claim things like 'F(x)tec is a huge scam', 'they are liars' or 'they promise things and then don't come through'.

Although the lack of communication can cause feelings like that I really miss these commenters lack of rationally approaching the situation and automatically assuming the worst.
It can be very damaging (aside from the personal demotivation it can cause for the founders and members of the small staff) for a startup company if they get accused of being a scam, even when there is no concrete proof of this. While at the same time there is actual proof of the contrary (people getting refunded before during the indigogo-campaign, the factory-video, etc.)

Granted, my previous joke might have been a tad immature as well, and was most definitely not directed at the people rationally voicing their concerns, but I just think it's unfair to act as I described above.

The indigogo refunds is a very clear example of the high morale decency of Liangchen Chen. He had every right to say "Oh well, the money is spent and the project crashed, bye bye", as happens with most crowd-funded projects if they are cancelled. But he had the morale decency to offer people a FULL refund, or for those of us that preferred that, a voucher for this Pro1, and even with a higher value than what we paid for the Moto Mod, so we got a discount(!). And not only that; Those of us that ordered two Moto Mods were offered two coupons that could both be used on one Pro1, thus getting double discount(!!!). That was kind beyond just "decency". And I lift my hat for that.

The only complaint I got in here is the muddy communication. That is when something goes wrong and things gets delayed (being a fault they can be blamed or a third party issue) they are quite slow in communicating this. And this is a real pity. And sometimes not communicated before a previously estimated deadline as reached. raising all the commotion and conspiracy gibberish

No grown-ups expect that a start-up can make a complex project like this, that just "sails through" according to their first estimates without bumping into any obstacles, and thus delays. Sure we can all be wise and in hindsight say "Oh they should have known better", but well that is the problems start-ups encounters, and as others mentioned before as a start-up they are not always put first in line where they are dependant on a third party.

[Doktor Oswaldo 901]

17 minutes ago, EskeRahn said:

The indigogo refunds is a very clear example of the high morale decency of Liangchen Chen. He had every right to say "Oh well, the money is spent and the project crashed, bye bye", as happens with most crowd-funded projects if they are cancelled. But he had the morale decency to offer people a FULL refund, or for those of us that preferred that, a voucher for this Pro1, and even with a higher value than what we paid for the Moto Mod, so we got a discount(!). And not only that; Those of us that ordered two Moto Mods were offered two coupons that could both be used on one Pro1, thus getting double discount(!!!). That was kind beyond just "decency". And I lift my hat for that.

The only complaint I got in here is the muddy communication. That is when something goes wrong and things gets delayed (being a fault they can be blamed or a third party issue) they are quite slow in communicating this. And this is a real pity.

No grown-ups expect that a start-up can make a complex project like this, that just "sails through" according to their first estimates without bumping into any obstacles, and thus delays. Sure we can all be wise and in hindsight say "Oh they should have known better", but well that is the problems start-ups encounters, and as others mentioned before as a start-up they are not always put first in line where they are dependant on a third party.

The communication is not only late, but often contradictory.
Not official contradictory, but at least is a huge mess. We have following channels:

• Official Twitter, which does only spam
• Support-Team answers only direct Mails, no informations for the masses
• Official mails (spare)
• Website which has often wrong/old Information on it!
• This Forum which is the official Forum but we are more or less alone (Except Erik who does not communicate officially on behalf of the company)
• TMO where Chen does post but also not officially!

On top of that, Eriks role was long unclear.

How do you expect People to find out what is an official statement?
There is only the website as a source which is often wrong.

I think that is a big reason people say FxTec lied. Because they couldn't tell that it wasn't an official Answer!
(And they did not be honest with start shipment from the warehouses part).

But yeah I agree with you, I am certain they all want and will delivery sooner or later!

Edited November 4, 2019 by Doktor Oswaldo