since now the company will have received the answers from the users about the lot they prefer, it would be nice to know which lot has been entered. Even just a list, published on the site, with the order number.
I think it would be nice to wait for an email you don’t know when it arrives.
4 Likes
There’s a nice marketing/blog post opportunity here that I’m still hoping to see the company take advantage of and actually post for the Sept update or even a separate blog/press release that the first unit(s) have actually shipped, with photos of the completed devices. If they were able to do this today, the date they announced as the start of the shipping window it would have put to rest a lot of criticism and prevented further disappointment.
Given the lack of confirmation here that any modem/shipping address emails have been received yet, it seems unlikely that any actual devices will physically ship today. Instead, hopefully at least the modem choice emails will go out to those getting the Aspen batch as the “official start” of the shipping window.
EDIT: They actually did it! Awesome!
1 Like
I just looked this up, and apparently the nearly decade-old phone is still supported by the newest LineageOS! This, I think, is the oldest up-to-date phone I’ve ever seen!
1 Like
Wow, I didn’t realize anything still supported this! I have one of these as well, which still works and it currently has an outdated/unsupported version of Cyanogenmod on it. It’s not my daily driver though. It might be fun to try to upgrade it to the latest Lineage OS.
See new blog post - shipping has commenced. (Where? How many? Pics of postal workers or it didn’t happen? Do I see switch caps there?)
(edit to add: Almost forgot: Hurray! Congrats! 
)
(edit to add 2: Am I the only one that thinks this makes waiting feel just that much longer?)
9 Likes
Through the blurry pixelated haze, those switch caps look quite nice. It leaves me confused though… 
2 Likes
I wouldn’t be surprised if Purism just couldn’t commit to anything specific with the caps for Aspen, but things worked out so they’re shipping with them.
4 Likes
eh that’s a lab sample …probably.
i wouldn’t say for sure that the first batch will have them but if they will then all the better 
2 Likes
I’m so happy they’ve started to actually ship! Hopefully that will stop all the “When you getting that phone? Ha Ha” that I’ve been getting from my sceptical friends!
Now the expected arrival anxiety starts to build1 But that just makes the process more fullfilling. I think
4 Likes
So, if they have actually shipped, who are the lucky people that have received the second email with the choice of the modem? Anyone on this forum?
4 Likes
So, batch 1 actually does have switch caps. Damn it. That’s the reason why I wanted to hold off for a later release.
Oh well. I’ve waited 2 years (4 years, if you count the GTA04 that I hoped to get), what’s another 2-3 months.
2 Likes
As soon as I saw the image posted earlier I was a little irritated. I might have included Birch in my choices had I’d known.
…roll off the assembly line and ship to customers…
are they sent directly from the assembly line?
I respect this company very much but this company is not very good at communication and marketing.
or maybe we demand too much 
3 Likes
I kinda think that it’s not their strong suit, as in, they do not have a huge marketing and communications department - that’s not where they’ve put resources. The effect seems to be that received communication does not meet expected communication - which are a bit slanted away from realities as we only want more and the best example. From resource allocation point, it’s good that most chips are on the tech side - something real is being made and not just fancy words and renderings. Even that seems to be done with minimum, as is evident from the missed previous deadline and although the mountain of work may not have been a surprise, the actual size may have. From communications view, it would have been nice to see some extra coms and pr muscle (there are pros who do just this) for launch and introduction hastle - not just for us, but to drum up more publicity, as this does not seem planned communication or marketing but reactive. Then again, these are also choices and several internal and external factors contribute. Could have been managed better I quess, when compared to what some bigger and more experienced entities have done.
I’m hoping that after this hard deadline has been reached and frantic development is changing into normal process and production ops, they have time to have some event, publish more info, have a Q&A, intro vids, tech presentations, show it to experts for review etc. And still, we have to remember that all that is kind of extra, as they have been communicating (several times a month in fact) - our appetites just haven’t been met. It’s a balancing act for sure. At some point I’ve already stated that it would be nice to hear all the stories from behind the curtains and analysis - sometime in January, when everything is rolling and there has been time to look back (which is not the same as product info).
4 Likes
I think you’re on the right track, but I think there is a little more to it. Today in a information rich world we live in, it is very easy to set an expectation and then fail. Unfortunately that failure is no longer fixed with an apology, and being sued is a very real reality. Legal battles are something no small company needs.
When everything you say is being scrutinized and criticized sometimes it is best to just not say anything. Legally this is prudent. For the information hungry customer this is usually a problem. Finding a balance is a struggle. But honestly, I don’t think Purism hides much at all. Todd has responded to me several times on Mastodon / Librem Social, and their staff have talked with me repeatedly through their matrix channels. They aren’t hiding anything, but aren’t answering until they have an actual answer they can legally stand behind.
Customers conditioned to have it all, have to wake up from the marketing schemes they’ve been fed, and realize the real world can’t operate like that, especially when it isn’t a billion dollar corporation behind it.
9 Likes
Ay, size matters. Though, I don’t think this in terms of legality or secrecy. Both, to me, seem overblown and unrealistic when talking about common marketing coms. I think they want to be open but don’t have resources or experience (referring to how many times a similar product launch has been done - I think this is different form laptops) to pull it off well - coms, marketing, managing of expectations, control of flow of info, timing…
And we have to remember, Purism is more than just L5. Now here is a new product specific audience [edit: and probably several within that] that they’ve yet to connect well to, that has new needs and isn’t familiar (might not be interested in) with previous Purism message. But on top of that, it’s probably a bit difficult to tell anything, when you don’t have a solid product in your hands to tell about yet - which has now changed. So, hoping and waiting…
4 Likes
It looks like the display has rounded corners. I’m thankful it doesn’t have a notch or bullet hole. 
Edit: updated with a clearer picture.
4 Likes
Rounded corners don’t sound nice if they cut into the screen; that means that some user interfaces might not work as well, and is like having dead pixels, IMO. It also might be harder to get a replacement screen when this model is no longer produced, depending on how this is implemented.
1 Like
You can see in the picture right above your post where the screen ends. It looks pretty squared.
1 Like