Considering the fact that they missed delivery date of the previous one by at least 150% (I am still waiting) announcing new one with "Available Dec 2016" sounds like tasteless joke.
The rule of thumb seems to be if they did a kickstarter, don't touch the company in any way till there's proof that a significant % of the backers actually have the product in their hands.
If you're interested in activity from users, https://bbs.nextthing.co/ is the place to go.
I did a presso at a Scala conference back in February about using Scala on Chip, you can view the deck here:
I was an early order of TextBlade too, cancelled after waiting a year for a device that was supposed to be in production and ready to ship. I got tired of letting people hold my money who wouldn't tell me the truth. The TextBlade forum is now being purged of anybody who complains; having originally created a "Rants" section, ranting is no loner allowed. For uncensored information, go to the TextBlade Reddit.
The TextBade mobile app, required for firmware updates and adavanced keyboard mapping has been in the iOS app store since last December (it's needed to be a beta user). Only mock-ups (at best; the video could well be fake) of the Android app have been shown; previously WayTools said they would not begin development on Android until after they started shipping product. They basic attitude has been that they don't give a crap about Android users but like their money.
Checking your Scala on Chip deck, I'm pretty deep down the Scala rabbit hole since a couple of months ago.
If you can use it do to some serious work like porting stuff to it, I'd at least lend it to you. Send me an mail (in profile), I'm in Europe.
That said, I have my PocketCHIP. It is a great little Linux box, the perfect thing to .. indeed .. stick a pencil in, ssh into, and use .. well, like .. any other Linux workstation .. like, omfg, could this actually BE a decent Linux desktop? Answer, immfo, is this: YES! Worth the wait!
I haven't figured out what exactly I want to do with it but it's been fun so far having a little midget debian box with a tiny screen. It forces you to use the console more which is healthy. like eating your vegetables.
I've already borked the OS like 3 times messing with packages and trying to see what window managers run... So at least flashing it is easy with the chrome app.
My only complaint so far is that the video drivers suck.
If the new ones are only $16 and they have the video driver sorted sign me up.
Also do yourself a favor and make sure to change the default passwords ASAP because it's just 'chip/chip' for everything.
It's odd there's such a disparity in shipping; I feel as though I've had mine forever.
I will say this: I wish there was something like the Pocket CHIP for the Pi, without having to build your own from the board up.
We all had to wait. We bought them in November 2015, but we (like many others) were told from the start that shipping would have begun from June 2016, in order of purchase time.
Edit: I was part of the kickstarter batch.