Aaron: Aaron: This may have been answered before, but seriously, what was wrong with releasing Textblade 1?

Don’t know what was “wrong” almost two years ago. I do know what was wrong just 10 months ago and could tell that there would be a lot of upset people if they shipped that version. So I figure it would have been much worse a year earlier.

Aaron: Aaron: user reviews that Waytools may have received 2 years ago would be something along the lines of "Wow, you wouldn’t know how small this device is unless you held it in your hands. There are a few bugs here and there with the sensors, but it generally works!

Again, based on my experience, I don’t think so. Oh, at first you’d have almost nothing but praise, but it wouldn’t last. This is because that no new user is likely to realize there were problems for awhile. It is so different, thus a real learning curve (may not last long, but while it lasts, it will be causing lots of errors), that customers are going to assume that the errors they got were their own errors. This is why the hands-on event wouldn’t result in a bunch of unhappy guests.

But once they had time to adjust, they’d start noticing they were getting swaps (hit the correct key, but the character would be a different one on the same keycap). Over time, these complaints would build. This is because, even for those of us who have months with a TB, sometimes we’ve had trouble being sure if an error was user error or TB error. But the longer you have it, the more chance you’ll have to know for sure that some are the TB. So the complaints keep escalating.

Aaron: Aaron: Now, even if it does get shipped, the reviews will most likely be “There’s definitely a lot of technology packed into this small device, but why am I still encountering hiccups when they’ve already had two years to test it out?”

I agree with this, at least from those who do nothing but complain (I have no problem with your post, btw). It won’t matter how good it is. Any error will be assumed to be the product, even if it is user error.

Aaron: Aaron: Apple held the keynote for the first iPhone when the prototype wasn’t even working (unless you followed a sequence of operation). Look at where they’re at now.

Correct. But I submit the real question should be, what if it was still flaky by the time it was supposed to ship? I don’t think they would have done so.

Not saying they would have delayed if it wasn’t perfect. But then, I don’t think WT is doing that either. I’ve been especially happy with the latest hardware, firmware, and app improvements. On one particular test, I’ve done 12 one minute tests at about 65.3 wpm and made a TOTAL of 18 errors. And I don’t think any were TB issues. Even if they were, looking at the actual errors, there is a MAXIMUM of 4 errors that even could be a TB error.

But that’s just me. While I know most are reporting positive things, there are some with problems. Some of it may be the OS system - like someone may only have trouble with a windows version. Another may only have a problem with using a dongle (personally, I don’t think this should be a gating issue since it isn’t part of the original list of things it could do). I think the biggest problem, at least that I know of, is connection issues. I don’t have enough info to get a solid pattern, but for me it has to do with the latest macOS. When starting up the TB (and bringing the Mac out of sleep), sometimes it won’t connect. In serious cases, I need to open bluetooth preferences. Doing that usually lets it connect. This didn’t happen before the latest update to the OS so Apple changed something. Apparently it checks for devices and then doesn’t keep checking as it used to. I have found, with WT help, that if I start the TB first until it starts its “search” pattern and then wake the Mac, it connects. The reverse order sometimes does not. BTW, this isn’t just a TB problem. Other low energy BT keyboards have the problem too.

So easy to work around, but WT doesn’t want this to be an issue so I suppose they are trying to find a way they can work around it automatically no matter how the user starts things up.

I’m not worried about their motives, but I agree with you that I wish we could get more detailed information.

I could imagine all kinds of issues, based on problems other companies run into. Don’t usually talk about them - all conjecture, after all. But it could be that everything is good enough, but ramping up to mass production creates problems. Or that there is a problem with just one critical supplier sending enough parts that meet the necessary standard.

Every day, I keep hoping for something solid to show we are really close to shipping. Could be an announcement that all testing is “good enough”, but they still need to ramp up production (and hope nothing goes wrong there!). Or something substantive like, “We are now building inventory at a rate of thousands a day”. That would still be pretty vague, but would mean at least 2000 a day. Certainly significant. I’m rather hear something like “over 5000 a day”! I figure such larger numbers means they must be pretty satisfied that hardware is done and just leave firmware and app changes remaining.

I think we probably are only dealing with firmware and the app right now, but I’m not sure.

I’m not counting any changes they may make while waiting for necessary fixes. I assume that if those things are finished, they’ll ship even if they plan other things - such as more boundary options. But if those key things are not finished, I expect they’ll have some people going ahead and add things like more boundaries.