Packaging Concepts: Help Us Pick!
almost 8 years ago – Fri, Mar 03, 2017 at 07:40:09 AM

Now that the O6 design is complete, we have begun developing the packaging that will deliver the O6 to you. We have two concept designs and we would love your input to help pick a winner. Voting instructions are at the bottom.

Concept A

Concept A is a simple, compact but elegant design. With premium and nice hand crafted box, the packaging delivers a high quality perception on self. When you open the box - there is an element of surprise - O6 is displayed by a patterned tray, which acts as an extension of the O6 body, the embossed logo with emphasis on the brand image. The box is covered by a removable sleeve allows for easy-to-manage system for different languages and product colors. 

Concept B

Concept B delivers a great experience encouraging you to pick up the package and explore. You can open the magnetic flap flap to explore the product in a retail store. This will greatly help other consumers in a retail store to make the purchase decision. The color, shape, size and finishing of O6 will be directly exposed through a sealed transparent cover. The magnetic flap door great increases the area for graphic - allowing for a great print space for marketing communication. The big front face of the packaging will capture a great visibility on a shelf, while the thin profile emphasizes the compactness of the O6. 

Voting

Vote for your favorite here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7HS3ZMC

Thank you for your help!

O6 Production Update
almost 8 years ago – Fri, Mar 03, 2017 at 07:40:03 AM

Today, we’re excited to share images of the first 10 units to come off the O6 production line! These Design Validation Test (DVT) units are built entirely with production-grade components and tooling. As we head into mass production in just a few months, these DVT devices allow us to assess and fine-tune the current functionality and performance of the O6 and O6 charger.

See a few snapshots of these DVT units below. You may notice one new addition -- an LED on the O6 charger that indicates battery level.

Our initial rounds of testing on these units revealed a few tooling and firmware issues that will require hardware adjustments. Once these adjustments are validated, we’ll produce 100 more units by the end of October. The DVT stage is crucial because it helps us identify and solve both functional and cosmetic issues in small batches before we scale to mass production.

If you are interested in trying out these DVT production units, we welcome you to reach out to us at [email protected]. Our DVT units will be available for trial in San Francisco where we are based. We will be traveling to Seoul in South Korea in November to work at our Manufacturing Plant, so if you are located in Seoul, please feel free to reach out to us. We would love to meet you and would welcome your feedback.

The Product Behind the Product - Test Rig

Every devices that comes out of production has to be tested to make sure it works. Testing 5-10 units at a time is relatively easy, but how do we approach quality assurance when our production runs scale past a thousand?

Every critical O6 production part must be tested and approved before it’s passed on to the next stage of assembly. The Assembled Printed Circuit board, for example, requires a custom piece of Automated Test Equipment (ATE) built specifically to test that part.

This ATE consists of mounting holes and a bed of spring-loaded Pogo Pins that look like nails (probes).The Assembled Printed Circuit Board is clamped down within this bed to evaluate voltage, buttons, haptic motors, wireless capacity, battery, accelerometer, and other important functionalities.

Here is our ATE designed specifically to validate the O6 Board:

A PC is electrically connected to this ATE, which then sends signals and actions simulating typical use cases and functionality. If any errors are detected within the responses, that unit does not proceed to the next phase of assembly until that problem is either resolved, or the part discarded. This will helps us diligently test and approve production parts.

We are following a rigorous manufacturing process to build reliable O6s, and we sincerely appreciate your patience and support during this process. We are on track to start shipping your production units starting no later than February 2017!

O6 Color Survey + Your Chance to Win an OS6!
almost 8 years ago – Fri, Mar 03, 2017 at 07:39:53 AM

Thanks again for taking the time to complete our packaging survey! As an early supporter, your feedback is incredibly valuable to us. We are in the process of incorporating your responses directly into our design -- we will have images to share very soon.

With packaging entering final stages, we are also in the process of planning the O6 production colors and accessories volume. We would appreciate if you could take a moment to share your preferences with us in the brief survey below:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DJMCGHR

Once you submit your completed survey, you will be entered to win a free O6 device and accessories package. Backers who leave their email address will also have an opportunity to receive and test our O6 Beta units.

More news below...

Pocket

Have you ever come across an important new article but had no time to read? By the end of the day, is your reading list seemingly bottomless? We have an exciting app update on the horizon to fix this problem.

In two weeks, you will find a new channel called Pocket in the O6 Beta app. Pocket for O6 allows you to save articles from your internet browser, Flipboard, or any of your favorite content apps. With just a few taps, O6 will add that article to your listening playlist in O6, so you can catch up on your reading list while on the go - eyes free! More details coming soon, so stay tuned!

Notifications

Wait, there’s more! When O6 is ready to ship, we will be adding a special channel called Notifications. This channel combines our proprietary technology with exclusive partnerships, enabling O6 to read out your notifications in real time from apps including iMessage, text, Facebook, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, WeChat, Twitter, and more. We can’t wait for you to try this feature!

More details coming soon, so stay tuned!

O6 receives prestigious CES 2017 Innovation Award
almost 8 years ago – Fri, Mar 03, 2017 at 07:39:48 AM

Today, our team is thrilled to announce that O6 has been named a CES 2017 Innovation Awards Honoree. To be selected as an honoree for this award is a gracious reminder of how far we've come. We would not be here without the support of our incredible Backer community. Thank you for believing in us, and supporting the development of technology when it was just an idea. Without your support, O6 would not exist. Congratulations to all of you for making this happen! 

The inclusion of O6 in this prestigious program is a testament to society’s urgent need to address the dangers of multitasking on the road. Every moment, 660,000 US drivers look away from the road to use their smartphones. Over 2 billion smartphone users worldwide endanger their lives everyday in the attempt to check their phone while commuting. O6 is the first product to solve this problem with eyes-free browsing. 

Products entered in the CES Innovation Awards program are judged by a preeminent panel of independent industrial designers, independent engineers, and members of the trade media to honor outstanding design and engineering in cutting edge consumer electronics products across 27 product categories. We are humbled to be recognized alongside some of the most bleeding edge technology products in the consumer electronics space today. 

O6 will be displayed with fellow honorees on the CES 2017 show floor January 5th-8th. If you are attending CES and would like to meet with our team, we invite you to send us a brief intro and request to [email protected].

O6 Manufacturing Update
almost 8 years ago – Fri, Mar 03, 2017 at 07:39:41 AM

As 2016 comes to an end, we are filled with gratitude for your support. Thank you so much for believing in our product. We're honored to have you in our Kickstarter backer community. Now that the first batch of O6 Beta units are ready, our team is working full-steam through the holidays to fine-tune any issues that arise in testing.

As testing ramps up, we’ll provide periodic updates on Beta insights and shipping timelines. Find our first dispatch below.

Additional Beta Users Needed

While most of our O6 Beta hardware is tied up in R&D and reliability testing, we would like to extend some units to our Kickstarter backers for early feedback. If you drive long distances frequently, use the O6 app a lot, or plan to be a heavy user of the O6 device, send us an email at [email protected] with details on why you could be a great O6 Beta candidate. The initial testing group will be small, but we plan to expand the program once more O6 Beta units arrive off the production line.

Better support for International Languages

The app should read in almost all languages, however, we’ve received some Beta reports that the international language narration is not quite up to mark.

To improve language detection, we recommend that all multilingual users enable the language in settings:

Settings > General > Language & Region > PREFERRED LANGUAGE ORDER > Add Language

Manufacturing Update

Our first production run of pilot, reliability, and automotive testing units is complete. These units will be shipped to few of our automotive partners, who will be conducting extensive tests to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of the device. We also have a batch of O6 Beta units dedicated for internal reliability testing under various conditions (high temperature, high humidity, ultraviolet radiation, drop test, etc). 

Here are some of the updates that we like to share with you on the latest product development:

Steering Wheel Mount

After finalizing the Steering Wheel Mount design, we manufactured an initial fleet of units. The O6 attaches easily to the Wheel Mount, with the option to face the unit in any direction. With patent pending orientation design, the O6 is built to work the same way regardless of positioning. Find a packaging preview below:

Charger Circuit Revision

We upgraded the charger circuitry to detect current power level, indicating precisely when the device is fully charged. (Red: charging, Blue: fully charged)

Here is a video showing the development and fine tuning of the Charger circuitry and algorithms:

Streamlined Hardware

Our team successfully eliminated the screws that were once on the bottom of the unit to enhance aesthetics.

There are some pending issues that we need to address before moving into the next phase of the product manufacturing. For example, we noticed electromechanical contact reliability issue in some of the units related to the buttons registration and sensitivity. We are going through another iteration in the design of the mechanical components and the PCB layout. Also we ran into some issues with our contract manufacturer in terms of tooling cost, unit price, battery certification, etc. We are working hard to address these issues and meet our timeline for product shipment. We will keep you updated as we make further progress in coming months.

Shipping Timeline

Early usability test results lead us to the conclusion that a small hardware change was necessary before we go into full production. To accommodate for the implementation of this change and additional testing, we now anticipate that production will begin in late March 2017 as opposed to February. As mentioned, we will keep you updated on progress and exact shipping timelines. We appreciate your understanding and sincerely apologize for the delay.

We are excited to hear from those of you interested in O6 Beta. For those of you located in the San Francisco Bay Area, we’re in the process of organizing a community event for our Kickstarter Backers to come give O6 Beta units a spin. Keep an eye on your inbox for details.

In the meantime, we wish you restful holidays and a happy New Year!

-Team O6