Help me choose between the Pro1 and the Astro please !

[nima01]

Gymbo,
I also doubt than any one will benefit from continuing this conversation much longer. But just to let you know, I am pretty well versed in European consumer protection matters. Countless marketeers, involving all sorts of businesses, have over the years been reprimaned or fined by consumer authorities across Europe for misleading advertising designed to make potential customers or investors falsly believe that only a very limited quantity of XYZ are availabe at a discouted cost, thereby psychologicaly pressuring them to act quickly.

I can attest that the Astro Slide early bird remaining offers count was repeatedly reset with the same price/discount, leading potential backers to falsely believe that they would miss out unless they sign up promptly.

And assuming that you reside in Norway, as your profile seems to indicate, I would be extremly supprised if exactly that sort of regulations are not also implemented in your national consumer legislation.

[jakfish]

What I think this thread is really about, psychologically, is the disappointment over PC's production of the Astro and how a bulk of backers are still without the machine.

Yes, I understand the effects of covid lockdowns and the supply-chain difficulties. That said, PC might've been more forthcoming with its updates, since many times, that was all they could provide. Often, the machine is not in active production, giving plenty of downtime for PC to explain things to their backers. A true failing is the continued absence of a linux build. No excuses there--I assume that at least PC has an Astro or two, so the OS should've been ready for download long ago. Flashing instructions, the works.

[Full disclosure: as an owner of the Gem/Cosmo, I did not back the Astro precisely because of these kinds of issues]

But there's no sense quarrelling among ourselves when we wouldn't be doing so if people had their phones. A two-year wait for a beta, potentially outdated device will make people testy, but we should try not to be testy with each other.

Jake

[gymbo]

@nima01

Since you claim "I am pretty well versed in European consumer protection matters", could you please tell me what kind of regulations could forbid Planet to offer perks at different discounts?? And as I also stated, the perks with the HIGHEST discount are already taken down. Do you seriously believe they are not allowed to set their own prices for their "product"?? "Well versed" is NOT how you present yourself, in my opinion...

(There are several possible, and totally legitimate, reasons they let the number of available perks "run out" and then offer new ones. One is that they need to "sell" a certain number of "standard" perks for each with the higher discount. Another possibility is that they have refunded someone with the same perk when they add new ones. And I really don't buy that it is illegal for them to keep adding them regardless of WHY they keep adding them either. And I REALLY don't think those who HAVE gotten these "cheaper" perks would have preferred that Planet didn't add them...)

[86turbodsl]

Planet has said they try to deliver phones roughly in id order, but within a production run, they need to make batches with the same keyboard layout, because reconfiguring the laser etching machine is slow. They also do quality checks and shipments to distribution centers in batches. They often prioritizes the more common layouts, which is why some US Astros in the 4-5000 id range was ready for shipping in August, while my sub-2000 Astro, with a Swedish keyboard, as far as I know, hasn't left the warehouse in Hong Kong yet.

As a backer, you will get email updates a few times a month. Previous updates, 73 thus far, are available here:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/astro-slide-5g-transformer#/updates/all

I have no idea how long it will take them to get to the 10000 id range. That'll depend on everything from the mind of president Xi to the weather. Hopefully you will wait a lot less than me. Today is exactly thirty months since I contributed (though actual deliveries began earlier this year and, at first, almost exclusively went to Planets biggest market, Japan).

As an early bird backer, with US/US configuration and number ~ 4XXX i'm not even locked yet.  I suspect they have a much more complicated prioritization schedule than just larger batches first come first serve.

[vader]

When I got mine 2 days ago, the battery history said the last charge was 195 days ago. That is over 6 months since it was powered on and tested. So the manufacture date was at the beginning of June (maybe late May - to be tested in June). Yours has also been manufactured I would bet, just not delivered. I was contribution ID: 21xx, on April 6th 2020. Yours should be on its way soon.

[Cedd]

Good morning,
 Finally, not being ready to be delivered (maybe in 1 year or 2...), I bought an astro from a French baker.

 I am writing to you from here.

 I'm delighted, but now I want to root it

[Cedd]

I didn't have time to test it thoroughly, just 2 hours.
I have a lot of positives to highlight, far from the criticisms I've heard, but I'll expand on that later.
My first feedback is that it seems to correspond to the smartphone of my dreams, a worthy successor to my Qtek 9000.
The keyboard is a pure delight.