On the pre-production status

[Pico 27]

1 hour ago, B.X said:

The product is finished, lets do our part to make it a success.  Talk about it in your IRL social groups, post your excitement in phone sites and complain to editors if they don't have anything about the phone for you to up-vote.  Tweet about it, IRC about it, Instagram about it, blog about it, if you must even say something on Facebook.  Tell the world that there is a slider phone option that is done and starting to ship. 

Another 500 paid orders can make all the difference so lets make that happen!

Untill they ask where can they see a hands on review of the final product and there isn't one. I'm sure if editors had their hands on one they would talk about it. They ask, "When can I get one?" Who knows it's been a sliding date in poorly worded, irregularly timed messages.

 

Edited November 14, 2019 by Pico
Brevity

[Rob. S. 1,664]

4 hours ago, Pico said:

Untill they ask where can they see a hands on review of the final product and there isn't one. I'm sure if editors had their hands on one they would talk about it. They ask, "When can I get one?" Who knows it's been a sliding date in poorly worded, irregularly timed messages.

 

There are several hands-on reviews of the final product out there, while of course technically the devices were preproduction samples. Everything I read was positive, by the way, even though they came out of preproduction. There were even reports on German IT news sites like Golem.

[Rob. S. 1,664]

Sorry if this has been answered already, but this thread is getting ever harder to search through –

• If all pre-orders are expected to ship until christmas, as I read in community.fxtec.com/topic/2461-pro1-pre-orders-updates, does that mean that regular orders now probably won't? 
• Is it still a thing that QWERTZ keyboard orders might ship earlier than others even if they were regular orders, not pre-orders?

Cheers and all the best,
Robert

[kthxbye 71]

4 minutes ago, Rob. S. said:

Sorry if this has been answered already, but this thread is getting ever harder to search through –

• If all pre-orders are expected to ship until christmas, as I read in community.fxtec.com/topic/2461-pro1-pre-orders-updates, does that mean that regular orders now probably won't? 
• Is it still a thing that QWERTZ keyboard orders might ship earlier than others even if they were regular orders, not pre-orders?

Cheers and all the best,
Robert

Regarding your first point all orders at this time are pre orders apparently. You can't have a regular order. It's just a wording thing in their software.

Edited November 14, 2019 by kthxbye

[glumreaper 144]

7 hours ago, B.X said:

 

The product is finished, lets do our part to make it a success.  Talk about it in your IRL social groups, post your excitement in phone sites ...

It's worked out the other way around for me. I *was* doing this, back in June and July. I was showing friends and colleagues the website, and enthusing about the phone and the potential return of hardware keyboards.

Now those people look at me like I've fallen for a scam. And after the months of vague, misleading, or dishonest-by-omission, communications from FXtec I'm almost ready to agree with them. If I ever get the phone, and if it turns out to be as good as we all hope, then I'll happily evangelise for them, but right now I'll keep telling people "it's a nice idea for a phone, but not a good company".

Hopefully this will be the week that improves my feelings. Hopefully I'll see the photos on here from those recieving their phones. But then again maybe not.

Edited November 14, 2019 by glumreaper

[EskeRahn 5,471]

23 hours ago, Krzysieq said:

.... I'm actually hanging out for the first independent reviews from something like techradar as well, but I'm pretty sure there's a lot more cautiously-natured people interested than just me. 

There are a number of independent reviews already, including from TechRadar here, Though for obvious reasons not on the released units yet.

There are quite a lot that can be found Googling
https://www.google.com/search?q=fxtec+pro1+(preview%2C+review)

Though technically mine is independent too, I'm so enthusiastic about the whole idea, that it can be said that I'm not completely impartial. 😇

 

[adidas88 29]

1 hour ago, glumreaper said:

It's worked out the other way around for me. I *was* doing this, back in June and July. I was showing friends and colleagues the website, and enthusing about the phone and the potential return of hardware keyboards.

Now those people look at me like I've fallen for a scam. And after the months of vague, misleading, or dishonest-by-omission, communications from FXtec I'm almost ready to agree with them. If I ever get the phone, and if it turns out to be as good as we all hope, then I'll happily evangelise for them, but right now I'll keep telling people "it's a nice idea for a phone, but not a good company".

Hopefully this will be the week that improves my feelings. Hopefully I'll see the photos on here from those recieving their phones. But then again maybe not.

Exactly my thoughts. I was telling anyone at work about it. Now I keep quiet and hope every day that my Priv doesn't die soon (would have to reinstall everything what I have postponing for a couple of months now, hoping to get it soon).

When I will have the device in my hands and it will turn out as great as I hope it to be, I will gladly tell anyone. Right now I am just waiting.

I am not mad about pre ordering something which was delayed. That could happen. I am upset because would I have known that before I would have bought an intermediar device.

I am going to have a new device for christmas. I am just hoping that it will be a Pro1. 😀

[divstar 164]

I have talked about the Pro1 at work, but since stuff gets delayed, there's nothing to tell my colleagues.

Once I hot my device though, I do know a few, who might just buy one for the same reasons.

[Krzysieq 55]

8 hours ago, B.X said:

I propose an additional factor--  F(x)tec likely started with an Angel investor who got them to the point of being able to take pre-orders.  The proven customer interest let them get a loan for development.  That short term high interest loan started coming due in early August and F(x)tec has probably been making payments with the money collected from buyers.  Development continued and expenses continued until everything was ready to go, but the money probably ran out.  They scraped together a few more orders (the current rate is about 3 to 5 per day) and are using that money to pay the factory to trickle out a few phones but unless orders continue there will be no money to pay the factory to make the phones that customers already paid for.

So rather than complain about the delays, we need to help F(x)tec drum up business so that payments on new orders can go directly to building phones.  Time is critical because they have to catch up before the next loan installment is due.

Each new order probably represents about TWO phones being shipped to already paid customers so we need to get the order count up there and let F(x)tec catch up!! 

The product is finished, lets do our part to make it a success.  Talk about it in your IRL social groups, post your excitement in phone sites and complain to editors if they don't have anything about the phone for you to up-vote.  Tweet about it, IRC about it, Instagram about it, blog about it, if you must even say something on Facebook.  Tell the world that there is a slider phone option that is done and starting to ship. 

Another 500 paid orders can make all the difference so lets make that happen!

No offence, but the mechanism You're describing here is very very similar to a Ponzi scheme :)

[schmock 3]

1 hour ago, EskeRahn said:

There are a number of independent reviews already, including from TechRadar here, Though for obvious reasons not on the released units yet.

There are quite a lot that can be found Googling
https://www.google.com/search?q=fxtec+pro1+(preview%2C+review)

Though technically mine is independent too, I'm so enthusiastic about the whole idea, that it can be said that I'm not completely impartial. 😇

 

Yes, few working prototypes were apparently made, so were the prototypes for the said Motomod Keyboard. Sadly you can always make a few prototypes but mastering cost effective production is another game.

[EskeRahn 5,471]

2 minutes ago, schmock said:

Yes, few working prototypes were apparently made, so were the prototypes for the said Motomod Keyboard. Sadly you can always make a few prototypes but mastering cost effective production is another game.

Indeed, but the request i answered was for reviews, and though not on the released final product, they are there. And there are no reasons to expect that the released units are deteriorations over the prototypes. The "Final sample" I have been testing are in all but cosmetic details the same functionwise as the early prototypes - it 'just' got to be a more polished/finished product.

[rejujacob 77]

1 hour ago, EskeRahn said:

There are a number of independent reviews already, including from TechRadar here, Though for obvious reasons not on the released units yet.

There are quite a lot that can be found Googling
https://www.google.com/search?q=fxtec+pro1+(preview%2C+review)

Though technically mine is independent too, I'm so enthusiastic about the whole idea, that it can be said that I'm not completely impartial. 😇

 

https://www.stuff.tv/fxtec/pro-1/review

Last para is interesting:

"F(x)tec is also already planning its next smartphone, which is set to bring back more nostalgic features from the ghosts of the mobiles past. So if (like us) you're a sucker for nostalgia and tech, watch this space."

[schmock 3]

3 minutes ago, EskeRahn said:

Indeed, but the request i answered was for reviews, and though not on the released final product, they are there. And there are no reasons to expect that the released units are deteriorations over the prototypes. The "Final sample" I have been testing are in all but cosmetic details the same functionwise as the early prototypes - it 'just' got to be a more polished/finished product.

Reviewing a a prototype by few selected media outlet does not make the mass production happen.

Edited November 14, 2019 by schmock

[EskeRahn 5,471]

28 minutes ago, schmock said:

Reviewing a a prototype by few selected media outlet does not make the mass production happen.

Did anyone say it would? 😲

[kashif 350]

Well does anyone got the tracking number yet?

[Erik 1,487]

2 minutes ago, kashif said:

Well does anyone got the tracking number yet?

I confirm some people have received their tracking, more to follow by the end of this week :).

[Noob 158]

18 hours ago, Zamasu said:

I've only seen 1 person on here who said they were in the first batch and would also be APAC. And they haven't posted since. So not even that weird honestly.

I'm in the first batch and in the APAC region.  I am surprised that it hasn't shipped yet (I haven't gotten a shipping reference), given that stock has already arrived in the UK according to this tweet, and I was under the impression APAC orders would be shipped from HK which is much closer to the factory.  😕  I can only guess that there's an issue between China/HK customs due to the issues in HK right now.  If it's not that then I don't know.

(Update: An email with a tracking number came through an hour before I posted this)

I see that the Fxtec twitter account has been more active recently.  Given that it's just glorified ads without details, it makes me wonder if this is being handled by an external marketing company rather than anyone in house.  If there is an in-house marketing/PR person, I really don't understand why they're not active on the forum.

Edited November 14, 2019 by Noob

[Doktor Oswaldo 906]

2 minutes ago, Noob said:

I'm in the first batch and in the APAC region.  I am surprised that it hasn't shipped yet (I haven't gotten a shipping reference), given that stock has already arrived in the UK according to this tweet, and I was under the impression APAC orders would be shipped from HK which is much closer to the factory.  😕  I can only guess that there's an issue between China/HK customs due to the issues in HK right now.  If it's not that then I don't know.

I see that the Fxtec twitter account has been more active recently.  Given that it's just glorified ads without details, it makes me wonder if this is being handled by an external marketing company rather than anyone in house.  If there is an in-house marketing/PR person, I really don't understand why they're not active on the forum.

It is handled by an external company. Look at the vimeo account where the videos are hosted f.e. or inspect this website.

[Noob 158]

2 hours ago, rejujacob said:

https://www.stuff.tv/fxtec/pro-1/review

Last para is interesting:

"F(x)tec is also already planning its next smartphone, which is set to bring back more nostalgic features from the ghosts of the mobiles past. So if (like us) you're a sucker for nostalgia and tech, watch this space."

As much as I can't wait for more (and hopefully smaller) keyboard phones to come out, I think it's more important that Fxtec first has a internal review of the past few months to see what they can adjust from a service/delivery/expectation management perspective (i.e a retro, for those of you familiar with Agile development). No doubt they'll still be flat out getting subsequent batches out the door, but I think rather than being more relaxed once they get the first couple batches out they'll actually have more on their plate, balancing shipping of remaining pre-orders and new orders with after-sales support (software, parts, and general customer service).  Even with the phone in our hands, there's still a possibilty of the experience souring unless they focus on staying on top of this (and dare I say it, more so then they've done to date).

Before that though, they should be giving themselves a huge pat on the back and maybe write off a day or two with a party. 🙂 The missed dates and patchy communication has been frustrating, but I think producing a phone from scratch in a previously extinct form factor in less than 1.5 years is an impressive achievement (based on the Indiegogo updates, I'd estimate the start of this phone's development around Aug/Sep 2018) 👏

Edited November 14, 2019 by Noob

[agent008 243]

11 hours ago, B.X said:

I propose an additional factor--  F(x)tec likely started with an Angel investor who got them to the point of being able to take pre-orders.  The proven customer interest let them get a loan for development.  That short term high interest loan started coming due in early August and F(x)tec has probably been making payments with the money collected from buyers.  Development continued and expenses continued until everything was ready to go, but the money probably ran out.  They scraped together a few more orders (the current rate is about 3 to 5 per day) and are using that money to pay the factory to trickle out a few phones but unless orders continue there will be no money to pay the factory to make the phones that customers already paid for.

So rather than complain about the delays, we need to help F(x)tec drum up business so that payments on new orders can go directly to building phones.  Time is critical because they have to catch up before the next loan installment is due.

Each new order probably represents about TWO phones being shipped to already paid customers so we need to get the order count up there and let F(x)tec catch up!! 

The product is finished, lets do our part to make it a success.  Talk about it in your IRL social groups, post your excitement in phone sites and complain to editors if they don't have anything about the phone for you to up-vote.  Tweet about it, IRC about it, Instagram about it, blog about it, if you must even say something on Facebook.  Tell the world that there is a slider phone option that is done and starting to ship. 

Another 500 paid orders can make all the difference so lets make that happen!

Although it seems to be only speculation, this is very credible. I for one always thought of the process of a startup manufacturing anything, to be similar to what you described. It gets (like so many other things in life) to sort of a paradoxical point where exactly the moment the startup needs most of all that orders continue trickling in, is when they start losing the supporters' trust in them because of the (very possible, real and quite normal) delays.

I haven't been posting here too much because it is easy for our words to become (justly or unjustly, I'm not judging) impatient/unsatisfied colleagues' fuel for complaint, or even troll food. But the best I think I can do is to be patient. I know each one's finances is their own problem, but in my case even though what I paid is (for me) a large sum of money, I "wrote it off" as a risk investment the very day I made the payment. That helps me keep it cool during this whole delay thing.

What everyone will really appreciate now, I agree, is that be it even just one guy/gal, the first person that gets any tracking info just give us all a shout. That would surely be a HUGE bucket of fresh water to cool off the topic's turmoil.

[agent008 243]

3 hours ago, Krzysieq said:

No offence, but the mechanism You're describing here is very very similar to a Ponzi scheme 🙂

I know you meant it for fun (hence the smiley), but I think the fundamental difference between this and a Ponzi scheme, is that each unit sold turns a markup (it is sold at much more than the unit cost), as more units get sold, this markup will eventually offset the debts and costs and will start turning a profit for the company. Classical business economics.

Unless, they are selling the phones at a loss or too slim a markup. It could happen but I believe these guys got their experience from the Moto Mod and wouldn't be so naïve right now to the point of making such a mistake.

[VaZso 1,998]

See the other thread about tracking number. 🙂

[vlycop 38]

@Noob hi, just saw you got a tracking number from HK, are you around HK ? I thought the additional delay where because the phone needed to reach distribution center in europe and US.

[Noob 158]

Just now, vlycop said:

@Noob hi, just saw you got a tracking number from HK, are you around HK ? I thought the additional delay where because the phone needed to reach distribution center in europe and US.

I'm in Australia, so yes it makes sense for delivery to be from HK rather than a Europe/US distribution centre.

[Krzysieq 55]

29 minutes ago, vlycop said:

@Noob hi, just saw you got a tracking number from HK, are you around HK ? (...)

 

27 minutes ago, Noob said:

I'm in Australia (...)

Close enough! :) First tracking number on the forum, make sure to remember to post some pictures when You receive the phone :)