Hey! I'm the other half that's worked on getting the Pocket FE out.
We've tried to keep everyone up to date by updating the first post in this thread and on our Instagram and Discord but totally appreciate that everyone uses different platforms so I'll try to make sure I get the information out better. If you're ever unsure just contact me on here or Discord and I'll give you an update
.
I'll just run through the current events so hopefully it gives a timeline of what's happened so you can see what we've been up to.
We originally planned to do one tier of preorders and prior to this we'd been working to get all our suppliers lined up, everything from shells to batteries. This helped us get the best price and an idea of how long things would take once we placed orders.
We closed the preorders but had a lot of people message us, the same amount as the first preorder and we thought we'd do a second tier as it was just a duplication of orders and assembly like the first tier, so nothing too complex and totally achievable.
First wave finishes and we start contacting and placing orders to our suppliers. The first problem arose when the supplier of the 2000mAh batteries contacted us and said they no longer stocked them. Then the lens supplier replied and said they couldn't do a run of 500 custom as agreed as their minimum order quantity was 1500. This was well over our budget and well over our needs. Again we weren't too worried as there had been another supplier willing to do the quantities needed but for a slightly higher price, we were just going to absorb the cost ourselves at this point to keep things on track. We thought the whole thing would take two weeks to resolve so we updated everyone.
Now, trying to find the batteries was where it got strange. We contacted 6 other battery suppliers and during this time every mention of the exact same battery pretty much disappeared from the web. Webpages would redirect, wholesale stockists suddenly had 'out of stock'. It was and still is really strange. In the end I managed to get hold of a large battery supplier via Skype who informed me that for the dimensions I was giving her it was impossible for 2000mAh batteries and most likely they were 1800mAh. I've since tested some of the 10 that were supplied as samples and despite being labelled as 2000 they were actually 1800. Having stated we were offering 2000mAh we hunted for other batteries that would fit perfectly in the battery compartment, after trying 4 others, none would fit. The last battery we tested arrived yesterday (15th October) and is just a little too tall to go in. We lost a lot of time waiting on battery samples to test. It looks like we're going to have to supply 1800mAh batteries. That said, it's not too much of an issue, when putting the prototypes together we were actually using 1800mAh (mislabelled as 2000mAh) and we were perfectly happy with them. Play time was 3-6 hours depending on the emulator being used. If you do want a 2000mAh, there is an option to put it down the back, in the cart slot, however it would sit directly over the Raspberry Pi, which can get hot, so I would not advise it but we have these batteries in stock if you'd like to use one instead, just send me a direct message on here.
Now the lens. So none of the suppliers who currently make the lens for Gameboy Pockets will do custom ones at low orders and in the end I was recommended someone who is actually a glass cutter who were perfectly happy to do the volumes we needed. The downside was that they didn't already have the specs for a Gameboy Pocket lens so I've had to design one in CAD and send it off and wait for a prototype to see how it fits. I'm currently waiting on the prototype.
Long story short, it's difficult for us to give accurate time estimates at this point as we are working with new suppliers without info on their turn arounds. Things from China can take a while. I apologise for the essay but wanted to be completely up front with where things are at so you can see things are moving along, just not on our original schedule. I'll continue to give updates as and when I get them. We've ordered the batteries so they're on route, just the lens now. That could take another week and a half once I get the sample and give the ok. The factory are saying it's a 7-12 day turn around.
Please, any questions, let me know.