Hi community,
In our new years update, we lifted the veil on a successor to the V, the world’s first crowd-developed 2-in-1 tablet and laptop computer. I’m thrilled to finally be able to tell you more about it!
A new first
The T1 was Eve’s first product. It was in essence a ready-made tablet, that Eve tweaked, branded and sold. For its time and in its price range, it was pretty awesome.
The V was Eve’s first crowd-developed product. It was designed from the ground up with input from our community. There were delays and other issues, but the device itself was pretty awesome.
Now it’s time for another first: Eve’s first sequel! No, wait, don’t tune out! We know sequels are rarely as good as the original, but Terminator got it right and so will we. With your help, we will make it awesome!
This will be a different kind of project, because we don’t have to start all the way from scratch. After all, we have 2017’s V and can use it as a basis for what we create next. We already have contacts with suppliers and manufacturers, a functioning supply chain, and a load of experience. But more importantly, we have more feedback from actual end users than any prototype stage could ever provide! All of this will form the basis for a new 2-in-1 device from Eve, with everything you love about the V and more, available later this year.
2017: The V’s pros and cons
The V was slated for release in early 2017, but due to delays devices did not ship to initial backers until late that year. Feature-wise, it was (and is!) still ahead of its competitors, with an amazing display and a port selection its peers could only dream of. And for most users, the difference in performance is negligible, with the V performing splendidly in everyday tasks.
It’s still a computer though, and in a market where newer, more powerful hardware is introduced every year, the V fails to keep up with newer offerings from our competitors in the eyes of more demanding users. And the device is not without its flaws. Many of these are small issues that many users won’t notice or care about, but others may find annoying. Others are more glaring, like issues with keyboard reliability that go unnoticed by those not affected, but throw a spanner in the works for those unlucky enough to be affected.
Following the release of the V we have carefully collected all feedback about the device’s features, usability, and reliability. We know that despite the issues experienced by some people (who understandably have been quite vocal about this!), most users are happy with their V and rate it quite highly. We are proud of the device we developed together with our community! But we have also learned from every press- and user review, survey, customer support ticket, and community suggestion. These things combined are a treasure trove of information that we will use to make our next device even better than the V already was.
2020: Learn from the past. Adapt. Improve.
With this project we are not looking to re-invent the wheel. The device we’re building is like the V, but better: it’s still a tablet-first 2-in-1 tablet and laptop computer with a kickstand and a folio keyboard. It uses an x86 processor and has a good selection of ports.
With suppliers and manufacturing partners already in place and industry contacts established, we have a head start compared to when we set out to create the V. We have also grown to the point where we can buy components like display panels directly from manufacturers, without having to deal with shady middle-man vendors that promise to deliver next week every week. We’ve been working on this behind the scenes for some time, and all of this makes it so that we can launch our next 2-in-1 later this year.
Some of our choices are easy. Newer SoCs are faster and offer a broader feature set, there are newer, faster types of memory, there are new standards for WiFi and Bluetooth. Other things aren’t quite as straightforward. Do we stick with aluminium and its cooling benefits and silky finish, or do we choose weight reduction by switching to magnesium alloy?
This is where we will combine powers once more with our amazing community, to work out all the things that go beyond straight-up ‘newer is better’. By the time we are done, we’ll give the Surface Pro line a run for its money with a new 2-in-1 tablet and laptop computer that’s developed by Eve and its community. Made by them us.
So what’s next?
We’ve made a lot of preparations behind the scenes to ensure this project will stay on track. Those who have participated in Project: Spectrum may remember that the first design stage involves deciding on the overall look and feel of the product. Our design team are excited to get your input on their initial design directions in our first major discussion topic for this project as early as next week!
As a techie myself, I understand that some of you may be chomping at the bit to talk specs. We’ll get to that! For now, we want to ask you:
What do you think makes 2-in-1 devices awesome? How do you use yours?
It shows a supposed render of the Eve Version 2.0 with a modified port layout, keyboard hinge, and little else. But, I haven’t seen anything straight from Eve directly with this image. Maybe I’m looking in the wrong places? 