play date, The portable mini console counting with crankAnd Postponed until early 2022. The Panic team, which is responsible for this innovative product, explained in a statement the reasons for this change of plans, which are due to the problems caused by excessive battery consumption in the first transfers. The goal was to start global distribution later this year.
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The first batch of Playdate did not pass the quality controls
As we read in the statement (Playdate owner update #1), which was emailed to the device buyer, was met with an unpleasant panic upon receiving the first 5,000 units of Playdate at its offices in California, US: Batteries have a much lower autonomy than that estimated by the manufacturer. This translates into an immediate suspension of distribution plans, as the North American team sees these are not the terms:
Hello! If you have pre-ordered Playdate, check your email for a copy of Playdate #1 Owner Update.
There’s bad news (battery tragedy means late 2021 units are now early 2022, see email for your timing) but there’s also good news (Pulp + SDK release dates!!)
Thanks for reading it. pic.twitter.com/03BUolZetY
– playdate November 11, 2021
“We soon became concerned that some [Playdate] They didn’t give us the battery life we expected. The Playdate battery is designed to last a long time and is always ready, even if it hasn’t been used for a while. But it wasn’t: in fact, we found several units with batteries so drained that the Playdate didn’t turn on at all, and couldn’t charge. This is the worst case scenario for drumming.”
An expensive decision to put quality and customer satisfaction first
Positive? According to Banek, the positive thing is that they realized this inconvenience before To make shipments, no after, after. The decision was straightforward (and expensive): Replace all existing batteries with new ones from a different supplier.
Although they describe the situation as “frustrating,” they had no choice but to ensure the quality of Playdate and the trust of buyers that allowed the project to move forward. The defective units were returned to Malaysia; Meanwhile, the new companies have just arrived in California offices, so they are already working on getting shipments back to work, and it won’t be possible to do so by the end of 2021, but early 2022. “We have already received the new batteries from the new supplier, and they look really great: they are exactly what we expected, even better than the old ones.”
source | Playdate owner update #1
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