The first batch of Turing phones has started shipping

Remember the Turing phone? Its early backers, those who allegedly payed upwards of $600 for a unit to kickstart production, might finally be getting something in return. After slipping into oblivion for some time and then reappearing out of the blue last month, the manufacturer appears to have actually made good on its last promise to ship the first batch of Turing phones by July 12.

The company claims it finally shipped out the first batch of units on said Tuesday and has promised a second and third wave on July 22 and July 29. The packages also include a 2.5D glass screen protector, two Wallaby port cables and a charger. This will likely cover the aforementioned original pre-orders and the future after that still remains unclear. In order to meet this self-set deadline, Turing had to skip on the water-repellent nano coating process for the units, as it would have reportedly taken a few extra days.

In the grand scheme of things, we seriously doubt a couple of days would have been a deal breaker for any of the eager future owners. More likely corners had to be cut to fit within budget and that also includes the originally promised free Bluetooth headsets. The explanation given there is that Turing is busy customizing the "sound design", pushing them back to August.

And just to be clear, the Turing handsets in question here are what the company has now categorized as "evaluation units". Due to the tardiness of the project, their hardware is now quite outdated, featuring a Snapdragon 801 SoC, 3GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, a 13MP main camera and a 3000 mAh battery. Officially, the "TRI Elite Club" is supposed to address this. If its pans out, all of the original "believers" will automatically be treated to any of the company's future trials and products free of charge, including a high-end version of the Turing phone, equipped with a Snapdragon 820 SoC.

Turing phone renders

Yes, that does sound incredibly fishy and it doesn't help either that the company admits the Sailfish 2.0 OS that was originally intended to be the core of the Turing isn't in its final state either and all sorts of bugs and missing features can be expected. Still, this is a whole lot better than the prospect of just seeing Turing tank and gone for good.

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