Remix Tablet: Kickstarter with a twist

[Jonny Kansas]

I may have already ninja'd it with my play-by-play of the action. Again, I'm surprised Android Authority or even the Verge or someone isn't reporting on the "could-be" disaster of 155 backers being told they're in and then being snubbed because of a glitch in the system. Or, the story of the company that cares enough about it's backers to take a larger loss overall and honor those additional units. 155 is around 6K, not including the shipping. They're already 4,540 over their goal, so it's not like it would be THAT big of a loss, especially if orders in the $349 tier continue to trickle in over the rest of the campaign.

 

[pc747]

But I agree with @SquireSCA in that if I am going to pay $349 I might as well wait until it hit stores. See $199 for a beta is a deal but above $300 and I want some type of ability to send that back. And it is much easier to deal with my local best buy or even Amazon. Plus where are these guys shipping it from, overseas right? If they are shipping it overseas I definitely not feeling it @ $349. I rather pay the extra 50 for a piece of mind knowing I can box that back up and know a replacement or my money will be back in my account in days vs weeks while awaiting customs. I am intrigued and will wait for real world reviews to see how it handles. If it is legit I'll buy in stores. If not then I will wait for an updated version. But I have to wonder if these guys are really in it to continue on or if their game plan is for a Samsung, LG, or HP to buy their rights and continue on with their project.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

They're in China, so yeah.

 

[furbearingmammal]

I don't think they should be calling this a tablet. At 11.6" it's a netbook with a detachable keyboard. As such, comparing it to the Shield tablet is like comparing a grapefruit to a navel orange. They're in the same botanical family yet while nearly everyone drinks orange juice, grapefruit interacts with a shedload of medications and can be painfully astringent even if it's safe for you to drink/eat.

For me it would have been a portable content-creation device, research station, and test-bed for formatting in the Kindle app for my books. Sometimes stuff doesn't appear on the Paperwhite that does appear in the app, so I have to test for both before I feel comfortable selling.

But there is NO WAY I'm spending 6 months worth of royalty checks to test something. Not happening when people who write reviews frequently get given things like this to keep when all they have to do is write a thousand words about how fabulous the hardware is to keep it.

Yeah, I'm a little bitter. I feel no shame in admitting it.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

The hits just keep on coming with this one...

No update on the status of the 155 extra backers at the $39 level yet, but there was an update about a FAKE indiegogo campaign. I checked it out. They straight-up copied all of the pics and info from the official Kickstarter campaign. Their goal? $5k.

Here's the update:
"Dear Remixers.

We were just made aware of a fraudulent campaign going on at Indiegogo.com that has completely hijacked all of our content down to our tiers, pics and videos. Please be aware that our ONE AND ONLY OFFICIAL campaign going on is on here on Kickstarter.com.

Please do NOT be duped by the fraudulent one being run by one "Frank Haubert" on Indiegogo. We are in the process of contacting Indiegogo admin to have it shut down asap. I repeat, please do NOT be scammed by the fraudulent Indiegogo campaign.

Thanks!"

At least it's entertaining in its own crazy way...

 

[furbearingmammal]

If I'd been them I would have used Indiegogo in the first place. Kickstarter and Indiegogo are slightly different platforms for a reason, and not just the fees involved.

Hear about the Paragon induction burner? It's by FirstBuild, GE's, well, "Project X" department. They have a campaign wrapping up over on Indiegogo to see if people want a $250 single-burner induction unit with Bluetooth, so it can connect to the temperature sensor they developed, so you can sous vide and deep fry with precision unheard of before, all at a price well below professional units seen to date.

Paragon Induction Cooktop Indiegogo

It's worth reading up on the idea behind WHY they're doing Indigogo rather than traditional test-marketing, etc, becuase THIS shows you how the *bleep* you do a campaign like Jide was trying with this.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Latest update on the 155 situation:
"KS155 Situation UPDATE: KS has acknowledged they've received our emails and they have started looking into this. We apologize for the lack of communication, but honestly there has not been much movement on this front yet. I know the suspense is really frustrating, but please be patient with us. We will notify everyone the outcome the second we figure it out. As always, THANK YOU for being our earliest global backers!!! You guys are awesome and quite honestly, we kind of broke Kickstarter together (credit for that phrase goes to an member comment post from earlier)!

- The Remix Team"

I'm thinking KS is going to tell them they have 2 options, either KS can send rejection emails to the last 155 in their database to have signed up for the $39 deal, which sucks for anyone who would've jumped into the $199 tier when they had the chance, or they can let the 155 stand and fulfill the orders. People on the facebook group think KS should kick in some money out of their pocket since it was their system that messed up in the first place, but I don't see that happening at all.

Yes, it was an error with the KS system, but, in the end, it seems to me like the decision is up to jide (the company that makes the tablet). They're the ones who take a bigger loss if they sell more tablets at that discount. It's the weekend in Beijing, where they're located, so updates are expected to be more sparse over the next couple of days.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Oh sure! Here I sit wondering what my fate will be & they just send this gut one! Haha!

He's got an unboxing & first look video as well, but in this one, he actually offers good insight & opinion on the device.


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[Jeffrey]

Looks good It has some neat features. @ $39. it's a deal. Gut tells me you will get it @Jonny Kansas

 

[Jonny Kansas]

As I've said multiple times here, I won't hold my breath, but I'd love to give it a spin & share my thoughts & experiences with this community.

I'll understand if I'm just bumped for being above the 200 mark, but kinda sucks that people like me won't have had the same opportunity to get in on the $199 deal that those who were rejected right away. Idk if I'd still go for it if offered that price now. In the heat of the moment when I first pledged, I might've, but as I've also stated here, I'm not really in the market for a new tablet, just love a great deal & a chance to test drive new tech. If I was in the market, $199 is still a good deal though.

There's a lady commenting on the Facebook page that claims she got an email from kickstarter saying that she IS a backer & WILL receive one, even though her number is above 200. I'm sure we won't hear anything more from the deciding parties until after the weekend at the earliest.

I'd be ok if it's all just a ploy. What if jide purposely said 200 on Facebook, but intended the 355 all along? Heck of a way to build buzz & I'd still get one. I wouldn't even be mad.

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[leeshor]

Did anyone say if it supports the Play Store and/or Amazon?

 

[Jonny Kansas]

Did anyone say if it supports the Play Store and/or Amazon?

Play store. It was said somewhere & he shows it towards the end of the unboxing video (I think. Watched them back to back.), but didn't have his account signed in show it asked him for a new or existing Google account when he tapped it.

If not, I wouldn't be near as interested.

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[Macktion]

was not trying to ninja it

I appreciate your consideration man, but you totally could have.

I may have already ninja'd it with my play-by-play

Frankly, I am glad that you did Jonny, I have been keeping an eye on it, and I had some things that I wanted to say about it, but you have been beating me to the punch; for the better! I think it has more impact from you. I cay say that it happened, but you, being one of the people to whom it happened: You provide a better voice than I think I would.

 

[Jonny Kansas]

If it wasn't for you though, I'm not sure I would've even heard of this device yet, let alone got in on the kickstarter, whether I end up getting one or not.

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[Jonny Kansas]

Latest Kickstarter update:

"Kickstarter
#4
KS155 Update
Posted by Jide Tech
Hey Everyone. We value transparency and wanted to keep you informed about the latest concerning the overflow 155 (now dubbed the KS155) at tier $39. We've been able to connect with Kickstarter about the situation but have yet to hear an official response from them. We would advise everyone who feel they might be in doubt for the $39 tier to be patient because KS themselves mentioned that this had never happened before as far as they could tell.
To review, after careful planning and budgeting, we set the $39 tier limit to 200 backers only. But, when we launched, there was an incredible rush on the $39 tier and when the dust cleared, there were well over 300 backers in a tier limited to 200 backers. "Huh?!" was our internal reaction.
Since there seems to be no precedence for an occurrence like this, we've got to give KS some time to sort through things. Regardless, we are also discussing internally what we can do, within the limitations of being a startup, to alleviate the inevitable disappointment that's going to come up. We'll update as soon as we have some relevant news.
Thanks again for all your support and patience!
- The Remix Team"

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