Several weeks ago we talked about Project CSX, a smartphone whose main interest is that it sticks to the wall and that ZTE intended to fund it through crowdfunding, following the advice sof the user community. Well, the reality is now this: ZTE is having trouble getting this project to fruition. After the design phase, the company put the cell phone on Kickstarter to raise funds needed for production in order to raise at least $ 500,000. Less than a month before the end of the campaign, however, the amount of dollars collected equals just over $ 36,000 and the accountant shows no sign of significant improvement (and the prospects are even less flattering).
The reason is simple: in determining the final specifications of Project CSX (also called Hawkeye), ZTE engineers have decided to listen to the two most voted suggestions of the forum dedicated to CSX, without taking into account the immediately following in the table of positions, which required more interesting specifications from the point of view of competitive performance. The device -although equipped with the eye tracking system and the self-adhesive cover required by users- has ended up being limited by the producer inside, resulting in a mid-range processor, and the consequence is that the same people who have helped to shape the project, now they do not and thus will not buy it.
But there is more: the final price of the smartphone is now set at $ 199 and, as per Kickstarter rules this can not be changed; what ZTE can do is change the technical characteristics to make it more palatable, without altering it to a great extent. The company has once again responded to the user community with a speech in which it admits the error and asks them in what components can work to improve things and get the initial approval again. The Chinese company would have to update and improve all the hardware specifications, at least to make their device attractive, that is clear. We'll see what all this is about to end.