artlebedev

Optimus mini three delayed until August, bumped to $160

We knew it was too good to be true. The Optimus mini three keypad, which was due out this week, has apparently been delayed until August 15th, due to "additions and improvements," including bumping the button life to 100,000 presses, increasing OLED lifetime to 8,000 hours and adding a brightness control. Art Lebedev Studio has also apparently chosen to switch contract manufacturers, and will be producing the long-awaited device in Taiwan instead of China. So, what do loyal customers get for their patience? Something of a discount, since they were able to pre-order the mini three for $100. Lebedev is still accepting pre-orders for $120, but the price is expected to go up to $160 -- a pretty hefty bump for a product that, so far, exists only in mockups. Still, we're itching to see this one get real, so we hope this delay is just the usual hiccup for a new manufacturer creating an unusual product, and that we'll be able to check one of these out before the end of the summer.[Thanks, Len]