World’s most convenient Fast Charging power bank that wirelessly and wiredly charge All Your Devices - up to 5 devices at the same time
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Dear Just Simple community,
Thank you for waiting patiently. I have some good news today. In the update below, we would like to communicate the following
1. Results from the last survey.
2. Our decision to accommodate both backers who prefer to keep the MIcro-USB built-in cable and backers who prefer to not have it.
3. We are taking volunteers to receive the first batch of the fully functional products (without Micro-USB built-in cable and with USB-C and Apple Lightning Only). The first volunteers will help to test the products.
Thank you for participating in the survey. Almost 400 backers informed us of their needs and preferences. We’d like to share with you the survey results
a) Do you still use devices that are charged via Micro-USB (choose only one)?
b) If you answered "yes" to the above question, please let us know what Micro-USB devices you use (you could enter as many devices as you'd like)
The most frequent answers were headphones and tablets such as Kindle.
c) What do you think about Just Simple Power Bank's Micro-USB built-in cable (choose only one)?
We also read every single piece of feedback in the survey and agree that many of you made really good points.
We realized that there is a good mix of backers who still need the Micro-USB built-in cables and those who prefer not to have them.
Around 60% of backers still use micro-USB devices and 30% prefer to have the Micro-USB built-in cable. The main feedback is that the power bank is meant to replace all the cords and therefore having a Micro-USB built-in cable is essential. Around ⅓ of backers don’t own any micro-USB devices and therefore prefer to get the product sooner without the micro-USB.
After negotiating with the factory, we decided that we will try to accommodate people who prefer the version without the micro-USB and then still accommodate backers who do need the micro-USB. People getting the version without the Micro-USB may receive the product slightly sooner.
Please note the following as it is very important.
If you’d like to stick to the Micro-USB, Lightning, and USB-C built-in cable, you don’t need to do anything and could ignore the following survey. We will assume you still choose to receive the version as the original design. However, if you prefer to have the version without the Micro-USB built-in-cable, please fill out the survey here.
We now have the first batch of black units (without Micro-USB) ready to be shipped and tested. Although we have thoroughly tested the product ourselves, we invite the first receivers to test the product with us. Because we are a small operation, failing to identify issues before mass distribution and resulting in high numbers of returns would crush a small business like ours. We would like the first receivers to provide us feedback before we continue to ship products in the future.
For people who choose to receive the version without a Micro-USB cable, we allow you to indicate your interest in the survey to become volunteers to receive the first batch of products. Please only indicate your interest in volunteering if you are happy to provide product feedback. We will send you a survey after you receive and test out the product. Please also understand that since we have limited numbers in the first batch, we may not be able to accept every volunteer.
Again, if you prefer to have the Micro-USB built-in cord, please ignore this survey as everybody who doesn’t respond to the survey will default to a preference for the original design. We will send you an email when we are ready to ship to you.
Going forward, we are most likely going to ship out products by batches as products become ready. Please keep following our updates.
Best Regards,
Just Simple Team
Dear Backers,
Hope your 2021 is off to a good start. This is our first update of the year.
In mid-December, we sent a representative to the factory to pick up our first batch of products, but we noticed there were quite a few things that didn’t meet our standards. To confirm whether we need to reject or accept this batch, we requested to have the final units sent to us via air freight so we could do our thorough quality check ourselves. Hence it took a while since our last update. We apologize for the delay and we really want to communicate our progress and get your input.
Instead of making the decision ourselves, we’d like to ask our backers to make a decision together. We would like to get your input for the following:
Micro-USB built-in Cable - keep it or not?
As you know, in the most updated product design, the power bank contains two cords. One cord contains a USB-C chip and the other cord contains a dual Apple Lightning and Micro USB chip (see picture below on the two sides of the dual-chip).
However, the factory made the mistake of using a regular Apple Lightning ship as opposed to a dual lightning & Micro-USB chip. Therefore, the built-in cables don’t have a micro-USB function.
The factory has apologized for the mixed up and promised to replace the single chips with dual-chips at their costs.
However, we have received another piece of information. The vendor of the dual-chip had been receiving feedback from their clients that, unlike the single lightning chip where the front and the back both work the same, a Dual chip with Micro-USB needs to be inserted into the device the right way. But some users would mix up the front and the back of the micro-USB, insert the chip into the device by force and cause potential issues.
As micro-USB has become less and less popular, we’d like to reach out to you and understand if Micro-USB is indeed something the backers need. If most of the backers still need the micro-USB, we will keep it and do extra education to avoid misuse of the micro-USB chip If micro-USB is no longer something that the backers need, we will eliminate this functionality. Please let us know your thoughts on this survey by 8 pm Thursday night on Jan 28 (Eastern US time).
Digital Display
This was an issue that has already been solved. Because the current setting of the Quick Charge icon could be potentially confusing to many users, we decide to only keep the icon for wireless charging, which is the only feature that’s meaningful for the backers anyway. We want to keep things simple and only incorporate things that the backers actually need.
Details - White Button
This is another detail we noticed - the white button doesn’t match the white color of the power bank. We have asked the factory to fix this to the details that meet our standards.
There are other details of the packaging that we weren’t 100% satisfied with but we have communicated with the factory. They are being fixed so we won’t bore you with the details here.
We look forward to your responses to the survey. Please feel free to leave any additional thoughts in the survey.
We also have a thought to have 100 backer volunteers to receive the first 100 units and test it out for other backers. Once we know what to do with the Micro-USB cord, I will reach out to you all about that!
Have a great weekend!
Best,
Just Simple Team
Dear backers,
We apologize for missing our last weekly update due to my family obligations and the holidays. We are picking it right up from here. We have made some progress, although slow but still worth reporting.
Sample Unit Testing Results Overview
As we mentioned in the previous update, we have sent our unit sample to a third-party testing lab. They informed us that our Just Simple Power Bank meets the FCC, CE, and ROHS requirements. We don’t need to make any product changes.
Production Progress Update
There had been a delay in the arrival of one of the parts for the PCB board mass production that the factory didn’t communicate with us until last week. The parts have a long backorder is due to the high demand in holiday seasons as well as the weakened supply chain during a pandemic.
We were very unhappy about their oversight, but because our priority is to get the production moving forward, we didn’t argue too much with the factory. We want them to focus on the next step. However, we apologize for the delay.
After the parts had arrived, the PCB was assembled and tested with no issues. We also requested to make sure that we test the Fast Charging status icon on our digital display when fast charging is turned on.
We will keep communicating with the factory and make sure that they let us know early when there’s anything causing any delay.
Thank you all for your patience and understanding. We will update you soon.
Best,
Cassie & Lang
Dear backers,
As we are so close to Thanksgiving and Christmas, we have been competing with other companies trying to deliver their products before the holidays on factory labor and machine resources. We’ve been having touchpoints with the factory almost daily to try to push our production forward (we nag as polite as we can...).
A couple of things to update this week.
Packaging
Below are the packaging samples printed out last week. Mass production for packaging is going to finish soon. If you remember our previous packaging design iteration, we have come a long way.
Shipping
When we ship out your product, (hopefully will happen within 3 weeks), you will receive the package via USPS if you live in the U.S.. If you live outside of the U.S., your package will first be sent out from the US to your country via USPS. Then your package will be delivered to you via your local post services. You’ll receive an email notification with a tracking number when your package hits the USPS mail stream.
However, please note that even though all of your packages will have a tracking number, if you reside outside of the US, your tracking number may only track whether the package has been delivered to your country. You may not see the portion when it’s being delivered via your local postal service. We will confirm this with you all when the time comes closer.
Testing Started
We shipped out the final functional units from our factory to our third-party testing lab last week. They have already started the verification process yesterday. They will inform us if anything needs to be changed to obtain FCC, CE, and ROHS certifications. We will update you if we hear anything.
This is another short update while we keep working with the factory. We will talk to you soon!
Best,
Cassie & Lang