We are thrilled to announce that the Comet+1 has officially entered the Engineering Verification Test (EVT) phase. This milestone marks the culmination of months of intensive design work and a logistical sprint through the heart of the world's electronics manufacturing hub. In this update, we’re sharing a first look at our upcoming PCB, the successful integration of our Linux-based display driver, and a journal from my recent trip to Shenzhen to finalize our custom pogo pins, heatsink, and battery cells.

Comet+1 goes to EVT

We started designing the new Comet from mid Feb this year, and set a ridiculously hard timeline for ourselves. Today I am glad to announce that we have signed off on the EVT prototype of the new Comet and it will enter into production tomorrow.

The PCB (10-layers, in 1.2 mm) will first get ready in the next 8 days, followed by SMT in Bangalore by 10th June. We are hoping to have the first 5 boards with us by June 12th.

The actual PCB is going to be matte black 😎

Display is working!

While the EVT was getting designed, our BSP team has been busy getting the peripherals up - we were already done with Audio and Camera, and we have been working with the display since last 4 weeks. It gave its fair share of troubles - after weeks of troubleshooting along with the manufacturer, we were able to get it working with the EVK board and its driver for Linux is now ready.

Check it out in action, this is the Weston Compositor running from our EVK

China Trip (Journal)

I got back from China on the 11th, but since then have been busy getting things aligned for the EVT release. I had 7 meetings all across the Shenzhen region to cover in 3 days, so you can imagine my running around. Here is what happened in them -

Day 1

🏭 Plastic / Metal and Rubber Parts - I had visited their factories last Dec, so this was just a meet-and-greet, but we discussed our timeline, how to get the initial pilot batch ready, challenges with assembling the AMOLED, vacuum casting for prototypes.

📷 Camera - discussed our custom design, argued over male vs female connectors and most importantly, how to get the ISP tuned for the camera once the EVTs are ready. Our camera module customization will start next week.

Day 2

⚡️Pogo Pins - Visited our pogo pin manufacturer, got to see how pogo pins are made, assembled and packaged. I saw a 2 mm pogo spring contact - this was unbelievable. We reviewed our custom design for the male and female pogo pins. We are currently exploring alternate approaches in their design - we will finalize the design in the coming week.

🎩 Accessories- I met our accessories supplier to plan customization and timelines, they also make power banks for one of the largest Power Bank makers today. We are trying to get their labs to help us get our battery battle-tested.

Day 3

🔋Battery - I visited our battery manufacturer, saw the entire process of a LiPo battery being made - I was a bit tensed (thanks Samsung), but they have a 0-accident history. I had a sit-down with their design team, and we discussed how the battery can be improved largely in terms of cycles, reliability and getting it evaluated eventually. Our battery will end having 6 certifications to make it easier and reliable enough for shipping by air. Our custom battery production starts next week.

📺 Display - This was my last meeting. I visited our display module manufacturer, and was able to witness how a display module like the ones that go into our phones/tablets is made - from glueing in the display IC to bonding the cover glass - everything is automated. This was probably the cleanest factory I have ever seen in my life.

By evening on 10th May, I reached Hong Kong - spent the evening with family there and got back to India next day. I didn’t take a lot of photos but I have convinced most of our suppliers to record videos when our parts are getting manufactured.

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Can't wait to get the EVT now, more updates soon. In the meanwhile, the extensions are coming 🚀

Thanks for reading! Today apparently is Geek Pride Day! Wishing you all geeks a Happy Geek day - live long and prosper 🖖