Hi Smachers,
We still cant give more details about the ImasD breakup, but wed like to give another update to answer some of your most common questions.
New Partners:
After the ImasD failure, we dont want the success of the project to rely on another third party. Thats why the new hardware development team will work with our team as a part of SMACH Z, even if they are an independent hardware company (On Testing S.L). We will be in full control of the project so we will be able to communicate more freely with you. The lack of communication with backers was due to the scarcity of progress updates from ImasD.
The new team is very experienced, and were confident that they will do great work, but we dont want to rely only on one team. Were looking forward to adding more partners to the project. Were in negotiations with Bleujour for the AMD integration and BQ and TicNova for the production (though the deal is not closed yet).
New Schedule:
Its early to have a new schedule because the new team has just started. Also, were still dealing with ImasD to get the materials in order to continue the work.
Because of the change from Rhomb technology we will need to redo all the work related to Rhomb, including the AMD SoC integration. As an preliminary date were estimating having the final version developed in December 2017 and start shipping to backers on Q1 2018. Well give more details as soon as we establish the new schedule.
Modularity:
SMACH Z wont use Rhomb technology anymore. However, SMACH Z will still be modular, and itll be possible to upgrade the SoC, RAM and storage as promised. Were working on our own modular solution, following standards of M.2 for the SSD and laptop DDR4 RAM.
Refunds:
We understand your concerns and people asking for refunds, however that is not feasible at this point as those funds are invested in completing the project.
As you may know, its quite usual for new projects to be delayed. More than 80% of Kickstarter's top projects shipped late, and especially hardware projects. Some examples of renown projects that have been delayed and were finally successful are Pebble, Oculus Rift and TouchTime.
Like those projects, we are dedicated to overcome the inherit difficulties in producing new hardware and appreciate the your support and patience.
Compensation:
Were working on introducing improvements to the console's hardware in order to address your concerns about the delay. We will disclose more details as soon as we can.
Thanks for your support.