@Irene If you become a backer of a project on something like Kickstarter and don't read the updates that are sent out every month then it is very likely you are going to end up with a metric tonne of surprises when the project finally reaches fruition.
If it was like a store, and you just ordered things and they were guaranteed to be delivered as described then that would be a great. But projects on KS are rarely like that and shouldn't be treated like that. You are usually pledging to fund R&D, prototyping, production and all sorts of other activities. At any of those stages problems may turn up that mean the original specification just isn't possible. The updates will detail this process.
I'm not going to answer your specific questions because every single smegging one of them has been covered in at least one update. If you didn't bother reading them I'm not going to bother regurgitating them for you.
As for the alpha, if you have the same "Your NFC ring order is on it's way!" (their typo not mine) email as me then it details exactly what the situation is with the alpha ring and how to go about getting one.
And just in case you think I'm being a bit harsh, my final shipped order also had not a single ring that I ordered. But I did read the updates and engage with support when requested, so it wasn't a surprise. Just a disappointment.