Kreyos backers lose faith

KreyosMeteorburnsuponentry
Contact: Kenneth Larsen stigkl@yahoo.com
Authors: Andrew Wright and Kenneth Larsen
Kreyos contact: press@kreyos.com
Kreyos support forum inc. bug reports: http://support.kreyos.com/forums/
Indiegogo campaign page with comments: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/kreyos-the-only-
smartwatch-with-voice-gesture-control#comments
Introduction
The Indiegogo-funded Kreyos Meteor was billed as the leading smart watch when it was announced in
June 2013. Kreyos wished to raise $100,000, and its funding campaign closed in August 2013 with over
$1,500,000 of contributions. Several stretch goals were announced during the course of the campaign,
but with the exception of providing some (very low quality) screen protectors these have not been
delivered.
Originally due for release last November, its launch was delayed several times. Crowd-funded projects
are always a gamble, but with units finally trickling out to some of the original backers in August 2014 it
is now painfully clear that despite the extra time and raising 15 times more money than it originally
requested Kreyos has fallen very far short of its promises. Now its patient backers are stuck with a
device that has come a generation too late and that is not and can never be fit for purpose, due to
critical hardware issues such as unusable speakers and failed waterproofing, on top of poor, buggy
firmware and unusable (and even entirely missing, in the case of Windows Phone 8) companion
smartphone apps.
Many are now fighting to get refunds or proper resolution from Kreyos. Even though thousands of
orders still remain unsent/undelivered (despite Kreyos claiming two weeks ago that they were all being
shipped within a couple of days), eBay is already showing dozens of devices being dumped on an
unsuspecting public (often at highly inflated buy it now prices) by unscrupulous buyers who
regurgitate Kreyoss misleading marketing material and like Kreyos give no hint of the watchs
shortcomings.
Over the course of the last 15 months, the Kreyos team has hidden behind anonymity, suppressed bad
feedback by deleting posts and banning members from its forum and Facebook page, failed to deliver on
its initial promises and stretch goals, is delivering watches to much later pre-order customers in priority
over the early backers that enabled it to go into production in the first place, and continues to lie about
deliveries to others (many people have still not received shipment tracking numbers yet). In the mean
time, photos have been circulated showing the CEO of Kreyos posing with a red Ferrari and posing with
bags full of designer shopping.
Indiegogo has failed to commit to hold Kreyos to its obligations under terms that absolve itself of
responsibility while theoretically requiring projects to refund or properly address failures such as
undelivered perks and stretch goals. Coincidentally, it transpires that the Indiegogo team has its own
Kreyos Meteor watches to keep them happy:
https://twitter.com/Indiegogo/status/499694664128032770.
Facebook group
Some backers led by Kenneth Larsen originally tired of waiting for refunds that were promised to
backers who could see the writing on the wall set up a Facebook group titled Kreyos we are tired of
waiting for our refund: https://www.facebook.com/groups/469833006482519/. Membership stands
currently at 186 individuals and the list grows each day. It is de facto the only place where Kreyos
backers can discuss issues freely.
We as a group assimilated because we want others to be wary of two things here. First and foremost of
the Meteor smartwatch, a product that so far in version 1 has not lived up to its expectations in too
many categories to be able to seriously compete with all other reputable brand products on the market
place currently. Secondly of Kreyos itself, which has sadly shown by its actions that it doesnt care about
its own product, that it has no intention of tackling its serious issues, and that it has not got to grips with
the fundamentals of customer service.
What backers want is simple: working hardware and software that meets the original firm promises and
campaign stretch goals, or else a sincere attempt to meet Indiegogos terms for its campaigners by
offering timely and satisfactory resolution of our concerns.
Kreyos web presence
Facebook page:
Kreyoss own page https://www.facebook.com/kreyos has thousands of followers, but the Kreyos
team sweeps away negative comments and bans dissenters at least daily while only posting itself
sporadically. The spin of its posts and comments are obfuscations of the real issues and amount to
deception of existing customers and any new purchasers considering the Meteor.
Indiegogo page:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/kreyos-the-only-smartwatch-with-voice-gesture-control
There are now over 6,500 comments here, although the monolithic list format means it is hard to pick
out relevant information. Comments on the Indiegogo page are also met with a barrage of copy-and-
paste responses that amount to whitewash.
Kreyos support page:
http://support.kreyos.com/
Many bug and missing feature reports here are being ignored.
The catalogue of issues
Hardware
Production-ready design
Back in June 2013, when Kreyos launched on Indiegogo as a crowd funding campaign, backers bought
into the product on the basis of the promises Kreyos made about the product and their firm assurances
that the design work was completed and there would not be the same delays and missing features
experienced by backers of other smartwatches.
Kreyos has tested, dropped, hit, dunked, tested again and discovered that the Kreyos Meteor is ready
for production. A few of them are in the hands of select media for review, and were simply burning to
turn on our production line.
Because we already have our Kreyos Platform and proprietary operating system designed and
developed, we are in the position of being able to get to market faster than anyone else. In fact, we
dont need the money for development. We need it for production. And that means that as soon as we
reach our target on Indiegogo, production begins.
We have completed most of our moulds required for injection parts. What you see in the pictures are
ACTUAL injection samples, NOT PROTOTYPES made from 3D printers.
Speaker and microphone
One of the principle reasons given for delaying launch was to improve on the quality of the speaker and
to reduce feedback to the microphone (see http://www.connectedly.com/interview-kreyos-co-founder-
steve-tan). The speaker in the released watch sounds like a cheap childs walkie-talkie, making it
completely unusable for phone calls or interacting with personal assistants like Siri or Google Now two
of the primary features demonstrated when raising funds. Kreyos has just announced it will address
speaker quality through firmware updates although users remain justifiably skeptical of this.
Demonstration: Kreyos Meteor: Or how I spend $170 on a useless watch with a walkie talkie speaker...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L3krLRIUj4 (jump to 2:20 to hear).
In addition, users who have tried the call function report that there is still an unusable amount of
feedback causing distracting echoes and distortion for callers.
Waterproofing
Kreyos claims the watch is waterproof to beyond 5 meters. Several users have found that in fact it
breaks immediately on taking a shower or immersion in shallow water (such as a bowl) see photos in
appendix and read more here: http://www.genki.co.nz/cramp/the-kreyos-is-not-waterproof/ and
http://instagram.com/p/rcFz2jL_WK. Kreyos has stated that the non-waterproof watches are from a
defective batch that should only affect a small number of watches, but anecdotally so far there seem to
be more recipients reporting waterproofing failure than success, so there is no credible evidence to
support Kreyoss claim.
Pedometer
The pedometer function is rendered useless by the fact that it is triggered by the watchs own vibration
alerts, and some devices are vibrating all the time for such reasons as Facebook photo upload
notifications constantly refreshing to show upload progress (see http://nuts4.net/post/Kreyos-Meteor-
The-(not-so)-ONLY-watch-with-(NO)-Voice-Gesture-Control!-Android-Review). Some users cannot get
steps to register at all following firmware updates. This, together with the waterproofing failures, make
it entirely unsuitable as a sports tracking watch.
Buttons
The buttons are clunky and have to be pushed hard to register presses.
Battery life
Battery life is claimed at up to 7 days but in practice seems to last just over 24 hours.
Firmware
Users reports the user interface design is atrocious.
Stretch goals
Stretch Goal 1: Gamification Platform (on $300,000 of funding). Not delivered.
Stretch Goal 3: Sleep Tracking (on $1,000,000 of funding). Not delivered.
Stretch Goal 4: Gestures to control applications on Windows and Apple computers (on $1,500,000 of
funding). Not delivered, along with gesture control of the watch itself (see below).
Gesture control
The very title of the Indiegogo campaign states that the Meteor supports gesture control, but no such
functionality exists in the released version of the watch. It remains to be seen whether it will be added
through later firmware updates Kreyos isnt saying.
Activation through smartphone app
The watch will not work at all (remains on a screen saying Install the Kreyos app see photo in
appendix) without activating via a smartphone app (but no Windows Phone app is available see
below).
Firmware update failures
Many users have been unable to successfully update the firmware despite several repeated tries.
Soft reset bug
The official advice for some problems such as firmware update failures is to soft reset the watch.
Unfortunately, users are reporting that doing so often causes the watch to freeze entirely. They must
then wait for the watch battery to run completely down in the hope that this will cause a hard reset that
will restore functionality.
Watch face designs
The designs that come with the watch are amateurish and ugly. In general, the screen display graphics
are poor and not representative of the original product photos shared online by Kreyos.
Units of measurement
Despite the Meteor being an international watch used for fitness tracking, there is no option to change
units from metric to imperial, so distances remain only in meters for US and users and those in the UK
that would prefer imperial.
Watch application support
Kreyos has announced that despite the myriad uses to which they illustrate the watch being put, the
devices storage will only permit a single app (e.g. for a sporting activity) to be installed to it at a time.
Flight mode
The advertised flight mode feature is absent in the watchs settings.
Notifications
Users report that they are only seeing phone call notifications on the watch, and not email or text alerts.
Others report that the watch will sometimes vibrate on receiving a text message but not display it.
Keeping time
Kreyos Meteor can keep time even when disconnected from your phone. Kreyos Meteor also has
inbuilt widgets that comes included. It works independently WITHOUT any smartphone connected.
Users report that the watch fails to keep time unless it maintains its Bluetooth connection to the
smartphone. One users watch was still showing the time from the previous night until he re-paired it
with his iPhone. This is a fundamental failure for a watch.
Supporting software
First, the funding campaign was established to finalize our software development and go into mass
production. Some of the funds were used to further the IOS, Android and WP8 software development
but the primary use of the funding was applied to complete the final software coding, testing and user
interface design.
So far, it is hard to see where the money was spent.
No Windows Phone 8 app
Windows Phone support has been promised since the start of the Indiegogo campaign. A recent video
even showed a Kreyos app working on a Windows phone, but the app has still not been released many
months after Kreyoss original launch deadline and after watches are in customers hands.
Missing SDK
It is hard to imagine anyone wanting to develop for it at this stage, but many of the features Kreyos
mentioned on its original Indiegogo campaign page such as golf, baseball, and swimming analysis
(assuming the watch survives a dip in the water) are dependent on third parties developing them. Yet
without release of an SDK this of course remains impossible.
Buggy iPhone and Android apps
Despite months of extra development, Kreyos is battling to release fixes for many, many fundamental
bugs, as they state on their blog and Facebook page.
Among other critical issues, iOS users report that the app crashes when trying to log in. The app is only
compatible with iOS 7+. And on losing Bluetooth connection (which happens all the time), users are
reporting that it can be impossible to re-establish connection without a soft reset.
The apps will not open at all if the phone has no internet connection, e.g. in rural areas or when
travelling with data roaming disabled.
Customer service
Refunds
Kreyos has consistently promised and, until recently, delivered refunds to its Indiegogo backers who
were unable to wait for their watches through the many delays. Recently, Kreyos established a cut-off
date for shipping, saying that backers who did not cancel their orders before the deadline would have to
wait until their units were shipped and then return them for a refund with an RMA.
In early August, immediately prior to watches arriving in customers hands, Kreyos has amended its
terms https://www.kreyos.com/refund-policy and has now retrospectively introduced a clause
denying refunds to any Indiegogo backers (despite having issued hundreds or thousands of them
already, as the Indiegogo comments page reveals). See the Wayback Machines archive of 30
th
June
2014 to see the previous page which had no mention of Indiegogo backers:
http://web.archive.org/web/20140630234239/https://kreyos.com/refund-policy.
This is a slap in the face for those backers who kept faith in Kreyos until the end, hoping for a product
that would at least come close to its original confident promises. To institute a new policy just before
backers get hold of defective and functionally incomplete products is not only dishonest but also
bizarrely discriminatory against the very people who enabled Kreyos to go into production in the first
place. If Kreyos now has a product that it is proud of and that it is attempting to sell commercially, why
punish the backers over those who are buying the product with open eyes following release?
Indiegogo was contacted by an unhappy backer and received a standard response about contributions
being non-refundable, but also stating this: That said, campaign owners are still held by our Terms of
Use (http://www.indiegogo.com/about/terms) to fulfill perks. If for any reason they're unable to offer
you the perk you claimed, campaign owners are obligated to reach out to their contributors and work
out a mutually satisfactory resolution this resolution could be an alternative perk, a promise to issue
the promised perk at a later date if the campaign owner is able to raise additional funds, or a refund.
According to Kreyos policy, those that have pre-ordered the Kreyos (rather than the earlier crowd-
funding backers) and are therefore permitted to obtain refunds must now wait for delivery of their
unwanted watches even if they have not yet been picked and packed, and no tracking numbers sent.
International purchasers will lose their international outbound postage, return postage, and will also be
charged a 15% re-stocking fee, even for a product whose shortfalls against promises contravene
consumer protection laws in most countries.
Launch date
We expect to have our first batch ready for shipment in late November after we reach our Indiegogo
goal. As a supporter, you will be among the first to receive your own Kreyos Meteor. So pledge today
and youll be enjoying the most advanced smartwatch on the market in time for the holidays.
Kreyos has announced several rounds of delays only just prior to their self-set deadlines, despite clearly
knowing of issues well in advance each time.
Not long after the funding campaign closed, the first email announcement campaigns were made saying
that the shipments which were initially promised in November 2013 would be delayed until Christmas.
Unfortunately the delays have now grown to the point that as of August 2014 the first watches are just
trickling out to backers in the US. Reasons provided for the delays were that the company had found
issues with the microphone initially which was replaced, and then with the speaker enclosure,
necessitating scrapping of the original parts.
Shipping
Many users are being sent incorrect colours of watches/accessories. In particular, there seem to be a
great many backers receiving female watch bands instead of male. In addition, several backers who had
cancelled their orders and long since received refunds have been sent watches, while many others have
not even been sent tracking notifications yet.
Backers have been sent tracking numbers which dont show up on the tracking portals.
Kreyos promised the first 5,000 backers that they would receive their shipments first, but are now
sending watches out in geographic batches.


Photos
These photos owners may be contacted through the Facebook group of unhappy backers.

Non-functional watch due to missing Windows Phone app

Waterlogged Meteors
From Facebook group:


http://instagram.com/p/rcFz2jL_WK:


Other links
Stream of complaints on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mykreyos
User reviews not listed above:
http://www.genki.co.nz/cramp/kreyos-meteor-review/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=kFUeNxjKj2I