Dear backers and early supporters,

Andrew here, cofounder and CEO of Sentio. I'm writing to you from Barcelona, as we get ready to present The Superbook by Sentio to the folks at Mobile World Congress. We’re finalists for the ‘Disrupted by Mobile Award’, and I have the pleasure of sharing with the world our product - the product that each and everyone of you helped bring to life. However, before we share the Superbook with the world, I think it is only fair that I share it with all of you. So here is a major hardware update for your eyes first.

First, before diving in, a small request. If you’re at MWC and you are press or work at a telecom, OEM, or related partner in the mobile space, reach out to me directly at andrew@sentio.com or come by our booth at L4.5 in Hall 8, Fira Montjuic. We are in the 4YFN section of MWC, where the startups are.

Second regarding timeline, we are still on track to ship in June. We are in the middle of the tooling process, with the appropriate amount of time set aside for testing, certification, and logistics. Most of our major components are covered for, and we should be seeing our early testing units towards the end of March. Thank you to all of the wonderful backers who have offered to be early testers at the risk of getting slightly less-than-ideal units. While we haven’t confirmed anyone for the program yet (mainly out of other priorities at the moment), you’ll get an email closer to ship date.

OK, now the good stuff

So with more ado, here are the photos of the updated (and mostly final) design for the Gold superbook (taken on my Pixel, while writing this):

Gold Superbook

Side view, showing the power port, type A accessories port, and the type C connector port. Note that these prototypes still need some fine tuning around the fit of the shell, which will get resolved as tooling is being completed. Additionally, as we mentioned in our Backer Slack, the power port is DC instead of a Micro-B as charging via Micro-B USB was incredibly incredibly slow during the testing process. All backers will receive DC chargers fit for their locale.

Look at that logo <3

Slightly more straight on and you can see how nicely the Sentio logo came out.

Here’s the other side, and you can see just how sleek the new tapered edge is.

And finally a quick shot from the back.

The Superbook logo will likely change between now and shipping. We’re experimenting with some ideas, including my personal favorite:

The Gold Superbook in action, along side early prototypes of the Black and Silver. Not pictured here is the Kickstarter Special BLUE which will be revealed after the special batch is made (and then never made again).

The Keyboard

One thing that will change in the final version of the Superbook is the keyboard layout. We’ve taken the liberty to design our own keyboard layout, complete with a few surprises! :) Here’s the current layout:

Superbook keyboard layout

There are a number of unique flourishes on our keyboard. First off, the three Android navigation keys have been updated and sit on the top left side of the keyboard. We also have controls for screen and backlit key brightness (for those of you who upgraded), along with the all purpose ‘Search’ key. We have also put in our Sentio key, which you’ll be able to map with Sentio to do custom keyboard controls.

Quick word on app release

Our latest release is out. Although you won't be able to tell from the app itself, we made some major infrastructure improvements to make the app more stable, along with other framework improvements. One major change to note is that we’ve separated the main ‘OS’ app Sentio from the basic apps pack, Sentio Apps. This is to add additional flexibility and stability to the experience. Check them both out, and let us know about bugs (there are definitely some outstanding) and suggestions.

Finally, a few other things

In case you missed it, everyone will be getting a new survey to fill out their shipping address a month prior to shipping. If your address changed to somewhere with a higher shipping fee, there will be no extra payments needed - we got you.

a month prior to shipping. If your address changed to somewhere with a higher shipping fee, there will be no extra payments needed - we got you. Have you joined our Backer community on Slack yet? If not, request an invite!

We’re posting preview videos and photos of the Superbook on our Instagram - follow us to get the latest.

The Superbook is up for the ‘Innovations in Connecting People’ award at SXSW. Let us know if you’ll be there to root us on!

Until next time, and with undying love,

❤ Team Sentio