The eSIM feature is exclusive to the x27 variant of the Gemini and it's a design/compatibility choice.

[thefloyd]

Nobody wants to receive less than what they paid for, agreed. That said, remember this isn't a shop, it's an experiment with our money. We all go into it knowing full well we may receive *nothing* (and I have; I've been stiffed on 3 campaigns to date and another one is well past 1yr late).

Planet said from the beginning the spec was the target, and subject to change. NFC was included for early backers; nobody got NFC. The battery was supposed to be 8000mAh, it's half that. eSIM appears to have been similar for some folks.


If you can't handle backing a hardware project where specs might change along the way, don't back a hardware project. Wait for it to be completed, finalized, and placed for sale as a standard "here's the item, here's the price" sale.

[speculatrix]

https://support.indiegogo.com/hc/en-us/arti...rn-ref-ent-trus

"It's important to know that you are not buying an existing product.

Like anyone getting in on an early-stage project, you accept the risk that the project may experiences changes, delays, unforeseen challenges, and it's possible that a project you fund might not come to fruition. We leave it up to you to make your own judgment about a campaign’s merits before making a contribution."



however, one problem is that in this page: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/gemini-p...bile-device--2/
under "Risks & Challenges"
it doesn't properly explain which features were already decisively fixed and which were still aspirational in the technical specifications list.


Now, I do sympathise with people who were less lucky, it's not entirely Planet's fault about the X25 vs X27 thing, but really, we received everything that mattered in the original Indiegogo campaign, and the x25 vs x27 doesn't actually matter.

[1668880]

https://support.indiegogo.com/hc/en-us/arti...rn-ref-ent-trus

I do sympathise with people who were less lucky, it's not entirely Planet's fault about the X25 vs X27 thing, but really, we received everything that mattered in the original Indiegogo campaign, and the x25 vs x27 doesn't actually matter.

So x25 vs x27 deosn't actually matter  to you I bet because you got the x27. While I know backing a project means you get a work in progress I have backed multiple projects that then fix and add things based on the backers opinions. But everyone got the same item with the same hardware in it. When the project creators were ready to launch version 2 many of us returned to back them and most were kind enough to reward us for it. Also the first 1000 backers were to get the x25 but then Planet had issues with keyboards and they then skipped over some of the first thousand backers and just went on down the line passing out the x25. I was not among the first 1000 but was Order ID 1115, Order Date March 3, 2017. So as I said before I am waiting to see how planet is going to fix this as My Gemini's right USB-C port is not working with the HDMI adapter that was sent with it from planet.

[Daniel W]

If the letter came with the Gemini then what good did it do? Mine did not come with a letter...

The point was that some posts earlier, I had asked for a written source to confirm that the claim that the x25 wouldn't have e-SIM wasn't just an unfounded rumor. Well, I had that written source myself, all along. Silly me.

Also, in that letter I got (read, and - apparently - forgot), they explained they presumed I preferred to get my Gemini earlier, rather than wait for them to sort out the e-SIM issues. Towards the end of the letter, they invited me to contact them, should I wish to discuss this further, because they want backer to love their Geminis.

Had I done so, and explained e-SIM was important to me (it could be, as three operators around here alread has launched some e-SIM support), I presume I had been given the option to return the Gemini and wait for one up-to-spec. Since, after giving it some thought, I don't think it matters enough to me, I haven't contacted them. Anyone for whom it does matter, do contact them and explain you do require e-SIM support.

[Daniel W]

There's no easy answer, other than to hope that the e-sim problem can be solved with a firmware update some time.

While I would love to be wrong, to the best of my understanding, the first batch was deliberately manufactured without a physical e-SIM chip soldered to the PCB, presumably because there were hardware issues they hadn't been able to solve in time (and, by unrelated coincidence, that batch also happened, by mistake, to get X25 chips).

[andrewl]

I will not be surprised if Gemini e-SIM never works on any of this model of Gemini, the networks may yet mess with the specification and not ever be compatible with early adopters.

Networks are not crazy about e-sim because it passes some of their control over to hardware, I would expect them to change it to keep that control.