Getting started with PyGos and Pylife

[Gustav Hilding]

I am an early backer who got a pygo1 and a pygo2. I also had to pay import taxes. Furthermore I only got one strap instead of two. Both my devices overheat when charging wireless, hence they charge about 3% then shut down. Pygo1 upgraded fine in the app. Pygo2 had some error and did not show details in the app. Hence I connected my pygo2 via uart to my computer and started troubleshooting in vscode. I connected the pins according to the data sheet found on https://docs.pycom.io/pylife/devices/ and got a terminal with the device. From there I managed to update to 1.20.4.r4. However there are still plenty of problems

1. my pygo2 does not communicate via ble, terminal shows error when app is communicating. This must be a bug:
   File "_ble_rpc.py", line 236, in feed
2. the devices do not charge at all over Qi, please fix this if it is a SW bug. Otherwise recall and reimburse.
3. is there a SIM card or an e-sim in the pygo2, and where can I find instructions?
4. pycom please improve your QA processes, clearly you did not finalise acceptance testing before shipping
5. pycom please make sure you ship the correct accessories, even if you ship a cradle I am still missing a strap, please improve your QA
6. the app feels pretty useless other than checking battery status and setting some mesh config, is there a purpose besides providing a POC of (useless) messaging?

All in all I am very disappointed!

[DEFRAINE.JM]

@Brian-Wyld For me in Belgium the overcost is 46,17 € ( Thank you M. Johnson !!!!!! )

[hjoe]

Pycom wrote: „We have therefore decided to ship free of charge a cradle to each of you. This will be done this week onwards.“
Did it already start? When can we expect these gradles?
Heinz

[Matthijs Mullender]

Both my PyGo1 will not charge on the wireless charging dock. They just gets hot, burning hot.

Any suggestions?

[Keptenkurk]

@Matthijs-Mullender said in Getting started with PyGos and Pylife:

Any suggestions?

This appears to be the experience most of us have. The suggestion is: wait for updates from Pycom.

[Peter Bankuti]

@Keptenkurk Well... i am waiting patiently. Today i checked my Android phone if there is a new release of the pylife app. Yes, there is a new update on that, but after downloading it i do not notice ANY difference. I still get stuck while scanning for my pygo2 with exactly the same message "NOT_VALID_DEVICE". Have no clue why that happens but that issue does not seem to be addressed in the new app release. Maybe it is a firmware related bug (??). Will need to wait until i get the cradle and i REALLY hope the FW update will finally solve the issues.

[bomtarnes]

Latest iOS app installed. Now get as far as "cannot connect to..." (wifi AP name). Still a brick.

[hjoe]

@Pete-Allen-0
Can you please add a Pylife version number to the App? And, while the firmware is (tried to) uploading a progressbar is helpful.

Heinz
PS
Pylife Android App is still not available, even the link at https://docs.pycom.io/pylife/gettingstarted/ does not lead to an current updated version.

[Alaric TABARIES]

This post is deleted!

[Alaric TABARIES]

Android / Pylife v1.0.10

• can not update the firmware "error device is not connected" while displaying "connection status : connected"
• battery level not updating

Add that to a delay of more than 1 year on delivery, lack of communication, the addition of taxes on shipping (VAT+DHL gift of 17.5€). I wish you good luck in building a relationship of trust with your customers.

[Alan Zhang]

@Peter-Bankuti Getting the same NOT_VALID_DEVICE on my phone as well. Updated firmware via cradle to Pycom MicroPython 1.20.4.r4 [v1.11-258cda230-dirty] on 2022-06-13 and am still getting the same error, so I'm not sure what's going on here.

[Peter Bankuti]

@Alan-Zhang Thanks for the info. I am wondering how this project must have been executed, i mean they are keep failing the communication from the very beginning, tell us there is chip shortage, factory issues, etc. At the delayed product launch it turns out the FW is full of bugs, most pygo1 do not even respond and the app/FW updates do not solve anything. I can not see this trend to change no matter what happens, this is no bueno...

[blackansible]

@Matthijs-Mullender My Pygo2 does not charge too.

[robert-hh]

So it seems that the PyGo device I ordered are on their way now. But is seems to me quite thoughtless that the devices are shipped to the EU from the UK instead of the Netherlands. Pycom should be sufficiently professional to consider tax issues of their customers. Companies like Mouser of Digikey can handle Worldwide shipping without addition tax and customs trouble for their customers. So it is possible. With the actual approach of Pycom, selling to the EU is aggravated.

[andreas58]

What I'm wondering is there anyone whose these PyCom devices do what they are supposed to do? I have made a 3d printed cradle myself. With that I can charge them, but that's about it, they don't keep functioning. Also the new IOS update has not brought any improvement. I find it really shocking that PyCom is sending to its KickStarters after more than two years. Frankly, I'm assuming this is not going to work out.... wasted money.

[robert-hh]

@Pete-Allen-0 So I received my PyGo devices yesterday, uploaded the new firmware using the supplied cradle, and that's it for the moment. The devices do not charge beyond a display of 25%, the Android PyLife app does simply lock up, and besides that the pygo devices behave like a severely handicapped WiPy3.
I can connect though USB to REPL, I can connect to my local AP, I can exchange files using ftp, runs scripts, ...
I could start playing around with the built-in modules like _Display etc,, to find the interface to the display and the radios. But why? What was the intended use of these devices?

Edit:

• The PyGo2 shows full charge, the Pygo1 25% max., and drain empty pretty fast.
• The PyLife app needs access to the position to work. Otherwise it simply stalls without any complaint.
• Trying to set the Lora Region fails.

[Peter Bankuti]

In the past few days they have finally included a link to the newest android app. Downloaded it, but it is just a waste of bandwidth. First it did not want to update the previous version. Ok, uninstalled the older one, then i installed the new one. Since my first day with the least connected devices i forgot my account password, so wanted to change that. I got a link via email just as one would normally expect, the link opens up a webpage you are supposed to enter a new password twice, but for some reason as you are typing, your input gets populated in both input fields... What is more of a problem, nothing happens when you click on the save button. No wonder the app does not accept the new password if the webpage does not replace that.

Never seen anything like that in case of a released product. One would expect such to happen when an amateur who knows some PHP and HTML and has never done something like that is trying to come up with a solution for the very first time.

I short version check reveals they linked Pylife app version 1.0.9 into the docs... well... i had previously 1.0.10 installed.

Guys who is sitting behind the wheel? Do you care at all what the hell you are doing?

[hjoe]

@Pete-Allen-0 said in Getting started with PyGos and Pylife:

make sure you are using the most recent version of the app.

Which version number will this be? And where is the version number shown in the App?
Pete it's tim to tell all of us the truth

[Stephen Glavin]

Did you get any updates on this? Still waiting for a cradle here too.
@hjoe

[Alberto Fassio]

I received my Pygo two days ago. It does not charge nor configure. Impossible to load new firmware even from cradle. Unusable