Related
I decided to make this app out of necessity as I (as I'm sure some of you do as well) work a job where my hours vary from pay to pay. I created this program to estimate how much my paycheck is going to be. Once your information is entered all you will need to do is enter in the amount of hours and it will give you a break down of everything that should be on your paycheck.
This app is in it early beta stages and it will have some bugs which I'll note below. I figured I'd release this to you guys to see how many people are interested and see if I should continue development and also get some feedback from you guys.
Instructions:
Install the cab file.
Run Winpayday.
Menu >> Settings
Enter in your data:
Pay period- How often your paid
Pay Rate- The amount per hour
Overtime rate- How much your paid for overtime(ex 1.5 = Time and a half)
Enter your taxes withheld Percentages. A good way to get these are to take a recent paycheck and divide the amount taken out for each by the Gross Pay. Then obviously move the decimal two places to the right. I understand these numbers will change from week to week depending on how much you make, tax rates, etc. but this will get us as close to the actual amount for next weeks paycheck. I leave mine based on a 40 hour work week and its never off more than a dollar each way.
Mark if your benefits are taken out before taxes (Most are).
Mark if you have Medical, Dental, or any other amount taken out. Then enter in the amount taken out per pay.
After this is all set up there should be no reason to have to come back into the settings screen (Unless we get a raise which would be nice). Everything is saved in settings.xml in the application folder under Program Files where ever it was installed. You can copy this to your SD card to make a backup in case you need to reinstall/reflash.
I know it doesn't look pretty but I needed something that was functional and easy on the eyes and I see no reason to skin this app but if there is an interest I'll take suggestions.
Again this is my first released app so please if you have any problems list them here and I'll try to address them as fast as I can. Any other comments/questions/suggestions please feel free to post, Thanks guys.
Disclaimer- The Default Values that come preloaded in the application do not represent anyones actual salary, including my own, nor do they represent what I think you should be making, so back off, lol. This application does not connect to the Internet in anyway and all the personal financial data you enter stays in the settings.xml file and is not shared with anyone, including myself.
Too early for feedback but I will say this at a glance looks very handy for myself...
For this being in beta stages it seems pretty darn good...
Thx for sharing
Will report any mishaps
This seems to be a very good application, will post feedback asap.
I'll also write an article about it.
EC
Thank
Thanks guys, hope you enjoy it. I'm working on a debug application and error catching for the main app right now and will update it when I can. Thanks for the article as well!
That's pretty cool. Will save me a lot of pen and paper when i'm figuring up bills for the week.
edit: Just compared it today with my actual paycheck, extremely accurate. Would be nice to figure in 401k as a percentage instead of a dollar amount.
Skinning
Working on adding some skinning and new control type functionality, stay tuned!
Don t forget to post up your experiences or any issues you guys have!
it worked ok but wouldn't work when monthly is selected in settings
Thanks for the feedback guys
Thanks for the feedback guys. Ill work on adding a 401k percentage and making the other deduction either flat or a percentage. as for the monthly Ill have to look into that as I dont remember if I tested it, my apologies on that one should have a new release with the fixes soon. Glad to hear it was very accurate for you. Ill update the posting soon. thanks guys!
Compiling an updated version right now. Please keep an eye on the Opening post. Thanks for all the feedback guys!
thanks...i need it a program like this..is there any updates..i saw u just released one for android
Unfortunatly the developer I gave this project to quit and took my source code with him. As of now I dont have a windows mobile phone to test with and I'll have to rewrite the app from the ground up. If I get the new one for android stable I'll be sure to reserect the original version for your guys. My apologies. I'm looking through file backups tonight to try to hopefully find the source code. Thanks for all the support.
Title says all. Can anyone tell me anything about it(if you have attended) besides that its expensive as all hell. Like is there any requirements to attend or is it open to anybody that can afford it?
How expensive is it? lol I'd love to go.
I/O is more of a development conference than anything else. You can still access the live blogs on some tech sites.
It was 400 for registration last year. But I do believe all the people got a n1 for registering
Sent from my Cyanogen Froyo using XDA App
Yeah that's the thing... didn't they give free white evos out last time?
Yea I do believe so... I'm not certain tho because I have yet to attend.
Sent from my Cyanogen Froyo using XDA App
My husband and I went to Google I/O 2010. We were both sent Droids in the mail before the conference and both received a black Evo while at the conference. All of the phones included a free month of service. If you sign up during the early bird registration, you save some money (last year it sold out during early bird). Google gives out other freebies like socks and shirts too. They also had breakfast and lunch all days of the conference and dinner (with alcohol!) at the party. I think it's well worth the money. We stayed in California for the whole week and took full advantage of Groupons for dining and entertainment. We will be going back in 2011 because it's an awesome experience and well worth the money. If you really want to go, I would just set aside the money in advance so you don't have to worry about the whole cost at once. We paid for our conference tickets the week they went on sale, the plane tickets the next month, hotel the next month and set aside money for everything else during the other months we were waiting to go. It's a really incredible experience!
Around when did the early bird registration start? Really interested to go, want to bounce some ideas
My receipt was dated 1/14/10 for last year
I checked my receipt for Google IO 2010 and it is dated January 14th. I am sure I registered within a week of the announcement. I would expect to see registration announced and open shortly after New Year's. Put money aside now as it will sell out VERY fast. Last year it sold out during early bird registration period.
Does anyone know where to get tickets for the Google I/O confefence 2011? Thanks
earldriscoll said:
I checked my receipt for Google IO 2010 and it is dated January 14th. I am sure I registered within a week of the announcement. I would expect to see registration announced and open shortly after New Year's. Put money aside now as it will sell out VERY fast. Last year it sold out during early bird registration period.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to the people that went to IO last year, are you developers or just people that wanted to go? if you are the later, what were your thoughts on the actual conference? is it worth it for people who don't develop?
Should non developers attend?
schwincat05 said:
to the people that went to IO last year, are you developers or just people that wanted to go? if you are the later, what were your thoughts on the actual conference? is it worth it for people who don't develop?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not a developer per se, and I went last year. The swag in and of itself makes it worth attending. Additionally I had an amazing time attending the Android workshops and in the area where all the various software companies had their displays (I got a square reader for example). I will be registering as soon as early bird registration opens, I already have purchased my flight tickets. If you are as much a phone geek as me I would strongly recommend attending.
I can't wait
I know I can't wait to go to GOOGLE I/O this year, when is registration?
Save the date for Google I/O 2011
Google I/O just recently came to a close, but it won’t be long before we start gearing up for next year. And we’d like to make sure it’s on your calendars!
May 10-11, 2011
Moscone West, San Francisco
We’ll keep you updated when registration opens for I/O 2011 on the Google Code Blog, Twitter, and Buzz.
Google I/O registration opens this month. Be prepared to sign up quickly. Bet it sells out very, very fast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
twitter.com - vicgundotra
Student Registration
Hey Question!!! how does the student registration work... when you get there is the only thing you have to show is a student id, also do students get the same perks that the full fair paying paticipants get...ie gifts...lol
My perspective on Google I/O
Google I/O is the conference to go to for all Google's developer tech. Not just Android, but Google TV, Chrome, GWT, etc...
As a European I have to say the cost is very low. Java One last year cost $2000 - that's $400 a day. An open source conference in London this spring is charging the equivalent of $500 a day. I can fly in to SF for a full week, stay in a nice hotel, go to Google I/O and spend less than the cost of a week's training in the UK (yes, I know I/O is only two days).
Devoxx is similar in approach - a fantastic value conference in Belgium that from a training and development perspective is a no-brainer. I'm a freelance consultant so I don't say this lightly - when I'm training I'm not earning!
If you're interested in going then you need to keep an eye on the Google Code Blog (googlecode) at blogspot (I've not enough posts yet to insert a URL) or the twitter feed 'googleio', which just yesterday said that registration would open this month. See you there!
Can anyone give me some feedback/justification on the android information at google io?
My company is willing to send me if it is worthwhile, and I need to find out as much about it as possible.
Is this the best conference for android developers to go to? Is there a better one?
Innova133 said:
Can anyone give me some feedback/justification on the android information at google io?
My company is willing to send me if it is worthwhile, and I need to find out as much about it as possible.
Is this the best conference for android developers to go to? Is there a better one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well i mean no one has more knowledge on the android system them the people who developed it? ive never been to one, but by the sounds of the people posting, it seems like it would be very worthwhile. if i wasnt a poor college student, i think that i would sign up to go.
Edit: just saw the student price.... now I'm for sure going
I'll be there this year. =)
I made the decision to go after seeing the swag^H^H^H^H conferences from last year. Money is budgeted for my daughter (student) and I to buy tickets as soon as they open up.
I was about to get this thing, I had been waiting quite some time in front of my comp for this sale. I noticed a little lag, figured it was just because of my Macbook's recent permissions issues. So then the sale price hits, and eBay slows to a crawl. now, that might have been foreseeable years ago, but it's almost 2012 and large online businesses should know by now to prepare for bandwidth issues during sales around Christmas.
so anyway, the sale hits, and I hit add to cart, and nothing happens. crawl, crawl, crawl. so then I finally get the cart to open after about 15 mins or so, with the 16 GB version in it, and I click again for the 6th or 7th time on the 32 GB for me, to add it. after another few minutes, the cart opens, with both touchpads in it, and tells me that they are both UNAVAILABLE. despite the fact that I had had them in the cart and was signed in, eBay's sytem sold them anyway.
now, if I was at a Best Buy, and put something in my cart on my way to the counter, but then got delayed by someone walking slowly through the aisle, do you think a Best buy employee would take an item out of my cart and sell it to someone else? unlikely, unless they wanted to get fired.
this was all on my school's T1 connection btw. just tested at 75 down, 40 up. every other site is running flawlessly but failBay.
They had like only 2400 ish of the 16gb and 2500ish of the 32. Sad... Couldn't process payment either.
Took me almost an hour and many, many failed attempts but I was able to snag 32 GB honey. Now anybody know where I can find the accessory kit that was supposed to be available with the touchstone charger and keyboard? It's not in HP's store or elsewhere on eBay that I can find.
I was able to get a 16 in my cart, but when I went to check out I got the error it wasn't available. That was at 6 past the hour.
So much for employees only today and public sale tomorrow.
All this demand and excitement should show HP there is room for another pony in the tablet race. Hopefully when they make their next webOS tablet they do it right, and do something crazy like market it and advertise that it exists.
Sent from my Galaxy S II (i777)
I got a 32 gb model which is what I was aiming for.
When I hit Buy It Now it wouldn't go through so I manually changed the address bar to ebay.co.uk instead of ebay.com and it went through with no problem and I got my payment confirm email.
Ebay must have been hammered.
Had to use the Canadian ebay site to get a 32gb touchpad.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
I tried for both a 16GB and 32GB exactly at 6pm Central Time and no luck ... zip ... nada. I wanted to gift the 32GB and use the 16GB as a back up since I'm tinkering a lot with mine. I heard at another site that the servers crashed and that they might have more in stock. I'm still refreshing the eBay page.
all the sold items are from people in pacific time....hmmm.
via EVO.
How exactly is this eBays fault? This **** always happens whenever there is something a lot of people want. When I purchased a few dozen TouchPads from the HP SMS It was a lot worse and I was double charged a few times.
Its also quite amazing seeing all those pathetic buyers leaving Negative feedback to HP for charging 19 for shipping. As that was what HP was charging on its SMS page.
I spent an hour and a half trying to buy 2 of them, even called up ebay!! And no luck -__- so furious!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium
I managed to get myself a 32GB but i got it at the loss of my F5 key. Poor button got worn down to the contacts lol. It took me about 40 + minutes for the whole process.
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
Falkner09 said:
I was about to get this thing, I had been waiting quite some time in front of my comp for this sale. I noticed a little lag, figured it was just because of my Macbook's recent permissions issues. So then the sale price hits, and eBay slows to a crawl. now, that might have been foreseeable years ago, but it's almost 2012 and large online businesses should know by now to prepare for bandwidth issues during sales around Christmas.
so anyway, the sale hits, and I hit add to cart, and nothing happens. crawl, crawl, crawl. so then I finally get the cart to open after about 15 mins or so, with the 16 GB version in it, and I click again for the 6th or 7th time on the 32 GB for me, to add it. after another few minutes, the cart opens, with both touchpads in it, and tells me that they are both UNAVAILABLE. despite the fact that I had had them in the cart and was signed in, eBay's sytem sold them anyway.
now, if I was at a Best Buy, and put something in my cart on my way to the counter, but then got delayed by someone walking slowly through the aisle, do you think a Best buy employee would take an item out of my cart and sell it to someone else? unlikely, unless they wanted to get fired.
this was all on my school's T1 connection btw. just tested at 75 down, 40 up. every other site is running flawlessly but failBay.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok dude..
bit you DO realize, that eBay is an AUCTION plattform?
dunno where you live and what you experienced till now... but they're no regular shopping site like you seem to misunderstood ..
eBay too is first come first served.. and holding them responsible for not guaranteeing you one EVEN THOUGH you had them in your cart... sry .. but srsly? first-time ebayer?
if you followed this whole Touchpad-madness from the beginning you should have known what to expect.. otherwise you were just unprepared ..
as it was only expected to mass-kill servers again..
then again.. you should have completed ONE order at a time.. do you could have had one now instead of nothing maybe?
just for the next time..
oh and congratulations to everyone who joined the club of TouchPad-owners
People probably had the ebay page with everything ready to go when it began
YoMaMa7467 said:
I managed to get myself a 32GB but i got it at the loss of my F5 key. Poor button got worn down to the contacts lol. It took me about 40 + minutes for the whole process.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here. I was able to snag a 32 after about 45 min of refreshing.
I am not sure why anyone would be surprised that ebay checkout would be dicey on this deal. I considered trying to get in on the action, but went to bed early instead. I snagged a 16gb in the original HP firesale and have been very happy with it.
A few have commented that the demand for these touchpads at $99 and $149 should make HP reconsider the platform. HP cannot make a profit at that price point. Take the Kindle Fire as an example. It is estimated that Amazon is losing money on the Kindle Fire. They intend to make up the profit on the sale of books, movies, and apps. If Amazon is losing money at the $200 price point on a 7" unit with a stripped down feature set, what price would HP need to get to break even on a 10" touchpad? HP would probably need to charge at least $300 just to break even, and maybe $350-400 to make a profit. Add to that the fact that HP is not a media sales company. Apple has itunes and Amazon has its media empire. Apple and Amazon have the infrastructure to make tons of cash on the sale of apps and media. HP has no such outlet. They are purely a hardware manufacturer. Add to that the expense of running and developing your own OS and you have a recipe for failure.
The other hardware manufacturers like Samsung, Asus, etc are using Android and therefore saving a boatload in software development costs. Therefore they can price thier devices a bit lower than HP and make a profit.
Bottom line, the touchpad at $499 was a complete joke. At $299 it may have been viable - but HP would not be able to make a profit on the hardware and they do not have the infrastructure to make a profit on the sale of books, media, and such.
How I scored 2x's 32gb Touchpads, last night...a pay by play.
I'm not trying to troll here, or get flamed for this post, but I don't see Ebay as the bad guy here...or HP.
Ebay's not bad. Neither is HP. Don't be bitter if you didn't get lucky or prepare.
Here are a few thoughts. I'm in south England and was lucky enough to get (not one, but) 2 32gb models. But I expected the sales rush and made proper preparations. I mean, the way this was publicized, even if only 1% of the US population (excluding the rest of the world, mind you) was interested then there were somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 million people trying to get on that auction. Knowing this, like I said, I made some preparations. Maybe these steps helped, maybe I got lucky, maybe I made a deal with the devil...but the moral of the story is that I gave it thought, prepared as much as I could, and got exactly what I was hoping for...here's how it went down. [auction began 12:00AM local time]
1. (9:00PM local time) I powered down my laptop for about 2 hours, to let the processor and mb cool down (I know, probably excessive, but I really wanted a pair of pads)
2. (11:45PM local time) I turned off my wifi adaptor and connected directly to my router with an ethernet cable (my housemate offered me his 20 meter cable, but I opted for my 2 meter cable...again, probably overkill: worrying about signal reduction and loss over an additional 18 meters of ethernet cable)
3. (11:48PM local time) I manually killed any programs and processes running in the background at reboot. If I didn't need it for the browser for this auction, it was terminated. Why waste processing power on ObjectDock or WinAmp?!
4. (11:49PM local time) I deleted my cache, browser history and cleared all data in my browser and killed a few unnecessary browser extensions (again, why did I need them last night?).
5. (11:52PM local time) I logged into ebay, and opened the HP store and the touchpad stores in spare browser tabs about 10 minutes before the auction prices dipped. (This probably didn't increase my chances of being effective, but it made me feel better that I could see the auctions.)
6. (11:54PM local time) Possibly the most effective measure was copying the URL for the auction I wanted to get in on to the clipboard (I assume we all know CTRL-C, here). This was helpful when the REAL traffic hit.
I had absolutely NO problem loading the site, until 1 minute after the price change (12:01AM local time). Then all hell broke loose. I assume there were several servers in the Ebay server bays that literally almost caught on fire last night (ok, maybe a bit of literary hyperbole there). I clicked to add a (first just 1) 32gb pad to my cart. I was taken directly to the pay for my cart-page...but then I decided that my wife would probably appreciate one for her bday in a few months, so I decided to damn the torpedoes and go for broke (12:03AM local time). When I went back however, was when problems started popping up. The servers weren't returning data...basically it was an admin's worst nightmare. There would've been nothing they could do even if they had been watching it happen. Here's where #6 was handy, I popped open a new tab and with CTRL-V pasted my destination URL. Working as frantically as a xmas-elf high on meth on xmas-eve, I had to rinse and repeat this step a few times (now we're up to about 12:05-7 local). I had a strategy for reloading the page, too. I noticed before the prices dropped that the site either loaded in about 1-1.5 seconds or it took up to a minute, and had a tendency of crashing (message: no data returned from server). So after several reload/wait half a second cycles I managed to get 2 of those bad-boys in my cart, and immediately paid for them.
End of story. Sorry that got so long, but I'm long winded...
Anyway, sorry to those who didn't make the preparations or have the luck that I did. Like I said, I dunno which it was...but IMO the prep paid off.
I had three phones two computers both connect to a t1 server and I was unable to buy the 16gb version at all! Ended up just getting the 32gb instead and it took 20 min to order it.
Sent from my HTC Sensation XE with Beats Audio using xda premium
I friggin had one and stupid payment site kept messing up. By the time I got to confirm payment it deleted the items!!
This was a cluster ****.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App
Puenos said:
ok dude..
bit you DO realize, that eBay is an AUCTION plattform?
dunno where you live and what you experienced till now... but they're no regular shopping site like you seem to misunderstood ..
eBay too is first come first served.. and holding them responsible for not guaranteeing you one EVEN THOUGH you had them in your cart... sry .. but srsly? first-time ebayer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
long time ebayer actually. which is why I know that its NOT just an auction platform. the sale last night was, in fact, from the STORE section of the site. i.e, the regular shopping site.
As for the cart thing, yes, they should be guaranteeing people products if the item has been placed in their carts. that's what first come, first served actually means. It means I actually got there first, and got the item, yet ebay then sold it to someone else just because their own site was lagging.
as for the site ag, eBay is indeed responsible for that. it's a business' responsibility to make sure it is prepared for its customers, not the customer's responsibility to redesign the store.
Falkner09 said:
long time ebayer actually. which is why I know that its NOT just an auction platform. the sale last night was, in fact, from the STORE section of the site. i.e, the regular shopping site.
As for the cart thing, yes, they should be guaranteeing people products if the item has been placed in their carts. that's what first come, first served actually means. It means I actually got there first, and got the item, yet ebay then sold it to someone else just because their own site was lagging.
as for the site ag, eBay is indeed responsible for that. it's a business' responsibility to make sure it is prepared for its customers, not the customer's responsibility to redesign the store.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its a calculated business risk. Should Ebay pay to have enough server capability and bandwidth to handle an event (and the traffic that comes with it) that happens maybe once a year?
Then answer is an emphatic no. That would be a colossal waste of money. Will that decision piss some people off? Sure. For the great majority, though, they will either A) get a Touchpad, or B) Understand that these things happen with a popular product (especially since we JUST saw it happen 4 months ago). You seem to be in category C. and Ebay is betting that the lost goodwill from those in category C. will be less than the cost of paying a ****-ton for servers and bandwidth.
A perfect brick and mortar example would be that you are essentially saying that Toys R' Us should buy three buildings for every store. One to house the store as we see it now, and the other two that the open only around christmas to shelve all of the tickle-me-elmos that are demanded at that time. These other two buildings would remain empty and unused the rest of the year. I am sure you would agree that this would be a horrible waste of capital and whoever suggests it should be fired.
Oh and to respond to your best buy analogy, I just want to let you know that there are a TON of reports out there about customers grabbing items out of the carts of other customers on Black Friday, so yes it does happen.
Point is, you are frustrated that you didn't get one, this is understandable. But you got greedy and got burned. Sucks, but there it is.
Good Day,
I am starting this thread to provide general updates and information on current or future products. In addition, at times I will address rumors where applicable.
Request-
1. I travel a lot, especially this time of year as there are numerous events. In addition I am also responsible for notebooks, netbooks, desktops, monitors, networking, audio, motherboards and video cards as part of the Technical Marketing umbrella so the majority of time I spend on forums and assisting users has to be segmented and is usually on my personal time. Having a family also interferes with my personal time as do 14-hour flights.
2. As such, when sending Private Messages please include a contact email address and the serial number of the unit. It will greatly assist me in ensuring that return contact is quicker and less obtrusive.
3. In the very near future, there will be additional ASUS technical support on this site and other Android centric sites for our Tablet products. Obviously this is an extremely important service for our valued customers and the direct feedback allows us to further improve the products.
Items- 3/8/2012
1. For users with the WiFi/BT dropout problem we expect additional materials or replacement units in stock at the repair depots by 3/12. We apologize for some of the lengthy waits a few customers had to endure but it will be solved shortly.
2. As to the rumors of a hardware fix for WiFi/BT dropouts, the actual fix is just ensuring that the hardware utilized in current units is performing to tested standards. Basically to ensure this level of compliance we are replacing components within the WiFi subsystem on an as needed basis and then testing the units before shipment.
3. I am still responding to messages sent during my last two events at the end of February and beginning of March. I should be current by the weekend.
4. I will have some exciting news in about two weeks on the TF201.
5. Expect to see a .16 or later release in the near future with further tweaks and updates.
Rumors - 3/8/2012
1. As to various rumors or threads about every unit having a problem, the numbers indicate otherwise as evidenced in the CNET article and an upcoming followup. While not dismissing there have been some problems, the return/repair rates are no greater than other competing products based on current data and are actually lower than several. I am not going to defend us 100% as like with all manufacturers we have areas of improvement.
2. That being said, I want to discuss a certain population of users who complain about multiple unit problems or seem to have every problem that is discussed in a forum.
a. Of these problem repeat users, around 71% (varies on a monthly basis) never responded to direct communication attempts.
b. Of the remaining users (around 30%), we directly assisted 9% of these users and confirmed actual unit problems. Of the remaining 20% or so, we could not verify all of the problems reported (multiple units, service, returns). However, I would like to give two examples that generally mimic a lot of this 20% contact.
2a- User reported in the forums and private messages purchasing and returning 5+ units, all of which had various problems. Actual purchase history indicated only 3 units purchased and for each purchase the user called for an RMA number, was granted an RMA number that day, and yet returned the unit the next day to the retailer and purchased another unit and then cycled the same process for the next two units. This user also has a repeat history of doing this process for other items including notebooks over the past couple of years and then claiming to receive a new product after said complaints. We tracked down one problem unit based on purchase/serial number history and guess what, no problems discovered and in fact the GPS works wonderfully on this unit as I sit here testing it. As to the other two units, we will locate and test those also.
2b - Users posted numerous times about a multitude of problems and yet would not return the unit for an RMA or replacement and instead offered to quit "*****ing" in the forums if we would provide a free unit, replacement unit or upgrade. We still do not know if said user or users actually owns a unit or not. (note - had this situation play out several times with users in this forum and other forums)
2c - Total number of users we tried to assist reporting multiple TF201 problems - 43. I will leave the math up to you.
Also be aware that some companies will instruct personnel to post problems, complain about products or services and generally ensure some type of problem is mentioned numerous times while pimping their own products in forums. In addition, also be aware that legal representation from firms or users looking for a quick handout or settlement might be doing the same. I know several PMs I have received looked exactly like a legal beagle wrote the questions expecting a response that can be used in trial, especially once you run the message through heuristics. Of course, I could be incorrect and those questions were from extremely articulate individuals with product law knowledge that I apologize to for not answering the questions in requested detail.
As I stated before, I am not excusing any problems actually experienced due to a manufacturing defect or service issue. We certainly can and will improve but based on the hard numbers, what I am seeing is in alignment with most electronics and for the "A" users posting here, just do a search for WiFi, Screen bleed or lockup problems at their forum. This launch has been a humbling process in several areas, we fully recognize it and will improve our services and responses as quickly as possible.
At the same time, the amount of effort we expend tracking down false or misleading reports only serves to disrupt services to valued customers. I know this is part of doing business but it does not make it right. Just my personal opinion.
3/9/2012 Update:
General Comments-
1. Thank you to any members contacting me and including their serial number and email address, it really helps as I now receive email notifications directly once a PM is generated. It will cut down on the time required to respond and allow me access to requests regardless of travel or event schedules. I have one last request, please ensure the email address provided is current and working. About 25% of the email addresses provided yesterday bounced back. I think we cleared all of those up by this morning.
2. I will be working with our North American Service and Customer Care group shortly to train individuals to assist in tracking forum problems (product or service), product suggestions and in providing consistent information to our valued customers in this forum and others. Once we roll this out I will make an introduction to the new team members and contact instructions. I will still be available but will concentrate more on product trends and technical aspects of the hardware and software as this is my primary job responsibility. Of course, if you into a roadblock feel free to contact me.
3. Even though I am North American centric, I am still assisting international users at the moment. Hopefully, those users who contacted me over the past two weeks have been contacted by a regional rep today. If not, probably no later than Monday. In the meantime, the same requests I have asked of our Customer Care group for direct forum support in North America has also been requested of our other regions.
4. I apologize for any delays over the past couple of weeks and I should be current by Sunday night.
Product Comments-
1. Speaking of trends, I have noticed a pattern in several messages over the last couple of weeks with people complaining about slight pauses, hitches or browser closures. One item that seems to be a common thread in most of the messages is that the user recently downloaded the Chrome Beta. I will start a separate thread on this after I speak with Google/Nvidia on Monday. However, if you are up for wasting a few minutes and have these symptoms, please uninstall Chrome, reboot, uninstall Flash, reinstall Flash and see if the native browser works any better along with general system responsiveness.
3/20/21012 Update -
1. I will be back to the forums on 3/22/2012.
2. We will have a major ICS update (.19) arriving shortly (might be .20 now).
3. We will have a major announcement on the TF201 in the near future.
4. We will have dedicated forum assistance starting in the near future.
3/22/2012 Update -
1. I am back for the next few days. I will get caught up on messages and updates shortly.
2. The next firmware update is in qualification testing now. We are also working on solving some flickering problems reported by a few users and hopefully that will be addressed in this next release.
3. The announcements on the TF201 (not being canceled as speculated) will occur as soon as I have a release to do it.
4. Full time forum support at a few Android centric sites will be launched in the near future as discussed.
3/26/2012 Update
1. Firmware Update 9.4.2.21 will be released by 3/30 for North America. Updates and fixes galore for the lack of better words.
3/29/2012 Update -
I hope to announce some TF201 updates in the near future. We are finishing testing and should be able to discuss the update shortly.
4/2/2012 Update -
Still working on the details regarding the announcement and once finalized it will be released as quickly as possible. In addition, I have gathered additional details from a few users who are seeing locks or weirdness after playing a Tegra 3 optimized game after a few hours. I will be in California next week to work with NVIDIA and Google on this problem and browser slowness or closure that a few users have also reported.
4/5/2012 Update -
I guess the cat is out of the bag in regards to the planned announcement discussed above. I cannot comment officially at this point but will provide a detailed update once released to do so. In addition, if you PM me, please include an email address for contact within your message. It will greatly facilitate receiving an answer.
4/9/2012 Update -
I am in California this week to meet with Google, NVIDIA and others on current software packages and upcoming products so there will be some delays in messages. As for the GPS Dongle program on the TF201, we will make an official announcement (program details and registration) next week.
4/20/2102 Update -
Please contact me if you are a North American owner and have any issues with the GPS dongle. To date, testing has proved successful on a wide variety of units but we want to ensure a pleasant user experience. Also, working on validation testing on a new firmware image now.
4/27/2012 Update -
We are still validating a new firmware release. We are also tracking user reported issues with Tegra 3 games, WiFi Direct and some continued random reboot/lock problems with a few units. Based on current regression testing at HQ, NVIDIA and Google it appears we will need to swap out a few units to pinpoint exact user problems. For the unlocked audience, we have requested a version of NVFlash that works properly for users who unlocked their units.
5/3/2012 Update -
We have new NV base code that is undergoing validation testing now. I will released this firmware to a few beta users in the near future. It addresses random reboot/lock problems among a few other items. In addition, we are still working with NV and Google on code changes to address browser issues once multiple browsers are installed and Flash is not uninstalled and reinstalled again after a cold reboot.
5/9/2012 Update -
I have been out with pneumonia but will have messages forwarded to the Customer Care Team.
5/10/2012 Update -
I will provide test build 9.4.2.25.2 to a few power users tomorrow that addresses ANR problems identified with NVIDIA and Google. If this tests out fine, we will release as general beta to a wider group and then qualification release for users. Various browsers use different WebKit versions and thread priorities, which create some of the problems users with multiple browsers have been experiencing and even with other applications.
I got my refund from you guys (dock+ tablet+ shipping) thanks again! Hai trat was wonderful! Keep up the good work!
Don't let people discourage you!
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
Can you post a "procedure" or "guide" to obtaining full refund based on displeasure with GPS performance? Along with detailed information on who is "qualified" and who "isn't".
Gary Key said:
4. I will have some exciting news in about two weeks about the TF201.
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Click to collapse
Exciting! After returning mine for a bright pixel and being tabletless for a month, I'm hoping... price break or updated hardware with bulletproof GPS, Wifi, Bluetooth, and no light bleed. Now that there are 2048 x 1536 resolution tablets out there for $499, the value proposition doesn't work as well as it did even if the TF201 didn't have the alleged level of errors people are stating.
Very good post Gary, it really does make a difference to my own personal view on Asus.
I very much doubt that any other manufacturer would put as much effort into backing their product.
Please keep visiting and putting various issues at ease, its what makes a big difference, although you will never keep everyone happy.
Very interested to see whats in store for us with future updates etc .. keep us posted.
P.S. I wish there was a UK based Rep on the forums too.
this is exciting news!
Thanks for the update and hopefully wifi/bt dropout will be fixed soon!
Thanks for getting me my refund Gary I cant wait to buy the next Asus tablet that comes along.
Can't wait to hear the "exciting news" about the TF201 in a couple of weeks. Except, now you have me getting all anxious again!
Good to see you guys really taking care of the issues and in contact with the users
Thanks for taking the time to come to the forums and put a face to Asus. Not many companies will reach out like that, and it's much appreciated. I know all you mainly hear are the negatives, so as a new prime owner as of yesterday, I can tell you thus far I'm very happy with the device.
Based on the level of community involvement and my brief experience with the device so far, I'd be more than comfortable recommending an Asus tablet to friends or family.
Thank you Gary, good on you!
but please get rid of your ugly
- https://discussions.apple.com/thread...art=0&tstart=0
in the signature. No insult buddy, but many people are allergic to apples. You might try dates or a link to figs, much sweeter...
We all agree on being happy not having to post in that thread and this link makes another great and exceptional statement little.
Give me a thanks and help me survive till the 17Th or so
Gary,
I have emailed a few times with requested info but never heard back. If I am doing something incorrectly, please let me know. I did hear from your friend in the repair center and he suggested waiting until parts come in. Unfortunately, I lost his name and email address. If you could send that, I would like to email him and now set up the return. I bought mine before GPS was removed from the specifications and was very disappointed to see that development as that is why I bought the Prime over the iPad 2.
Thanks for any info.
MBO
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk
Gary, thank you for the update.
I happened to have received an email from an someone outlining the steps at first and this was the first response:
Dear ,
Thank you for contacting ASUS and providing your feedback. I do apologize for your inconvenience. In the meantime I would suggest you to have it reset to the factory default by going to the 'settings' -> 'Backup & Reset' -> 'Factory data reset' (Please backup all of your personal data before this process) and please let me know if the problems still persist after this process. I'll be providing you with overnight shipping label to have the unit sent in for service. (Please provide shipping address for the process) You may also contact us at 888-678-3688 if you have any questions.
Thank you,
-Asus Tablet Team
I did as the email stated with no improvement. I then requested this.
Thank you for the offer, but I am going to send my Prime back to Amazon if I can't get a new fully tested unit from Asus directly. The reason being I don't feel I should have to wait for Asus to fix my new tablet I bought. I would consider keeping it if Asus was willing to ship me out a new unit so I don't have to wait for it to be fixed. If there is some way we can work this out so I don't have to go without a unit and one that has been fully tested that would mean the world to me, since I use it everyday.
I did the data reset and still the same issue. My Prime also has screen bleed, no GPS at all and washed out colors even when not in power saving mode.
Please help a loyal Asus customer.
Thank You
To which Asus responded
Hello,
We can only provide you a waranty service but if you are still within warranty with Amazon we recommend contacting them if this will be a faster process for you that will shorten the waiting time to have a unit.
Thank you,
Rodel L.
So I did exactly that, and boy am I glad I did. My new screen has saturated colors, wifi is about the same, I haven't tested the wifi/bluetooth experience yet.
Thanks for the update
Gary,
Thank you for coordinating the efforts to fix the problems and for all the communication with the forum members.
I pretty much gave up on the Prime because I need a strong WiFi performance and also need the WiFi to work simultaneously with BT. I also lost confidence on getting a Prime without bleeding since all 4 units I got had the problem. I returned my 4th prime and will wait for the Infinity. It will be a long wait but having the higher screen resolution is an added incentive.
We do have some unanswered questions about the Infinity that I was hoping to know the answers so I am not waiting for a product that would not meet my needs:
1) Will the WiFi work imultaneously with BT with no performance impact on either one, on the Infinity? I believe some users spotted on the FCC filing that this will not work on the TF300 so I am wondering about the Infinity?
2) Will the TF-201 docks be compatible and color matched with the Infinity? My dock is non returnable so I will need to sell it if that's not the case.
Thanks in advance.
Thanks for the updates, Gary.
The number one thing that will drive away my business is when companies are completely unwilling to engage their customers honestly. It's refreshing to see you guys take a different approach.
Asus' attention on these forums is also what made me take the plunge with the TF201 purchase even after reading all the alarms raised here. I can only encourage as much transparency as you can possibly provide, which I think helps quell some of the crazy bald speculations that some people try to pass off as facts around here.
For what it's worth, I think it's totally fair for Gary to point to the forums of *other* manufacturers. The "just works" myth is deeply ingrained in so many people's heads despite lots of evidence to the contrary. Noting that *all* products have some growing pains at launch injects a much needed dose of reality into the discussion.
(short story: I was frustrated with the WiFi signal on my Prime this morning and asked my wife if I could use her iPhone 4S to test throughput. I tried opening up speedtest, but the App Store was totally hung. I asked my wife about it and she said that problem happens often and can take hours to resolve itself.)
Thanks Gary, really appreciate the frank information. It is certainly eye opening to see the behavior of some members, though honestly not totally surprising.
I do have a question though, I have been searching high and low for an english-only dock in Canada, but even the CBIL units are hard to come by. I'm going on a large trip in April and was counting on having this dock in January or February, but now I'm starting to get nervous. When will Canada see the english docks in numbers where we can actually get them?
Thanks again.
I appreciate you taking the time to post this. Its good to have a voice to balance what on first site can seem like a lot of negative posts. I'm looking forward to the next two weeks.
Sent from my HTC Desire HD using XDA
After reading this post i'm officially an ASUS fanboy now. Thx gary, thx Asus.
All i can say:
<3<3<3
"I am not going to defend us 100% as like with all manufacturers we have areas of improvement. "
For me this is the difference between a good company and a great one. Making awesome products (the transformer prime is atm the best tablet in the world, yes even after ipad3 release) and still having the cojones/modesty to say they're not perfect and they try to improve.
Thats what i really dislike about those Apple guys. All you ever hear from them is "we are best best best". If you really look closly at it, they are not better than anyone. They just spend much more on advertising.
[e]
Techie2012 said:
1) Will the WiFi work imultaneously with BT with no performance impact on either one, on the Infinity? I believe some users spotted on the FCC filing that this will not work on the TF300 so I am wondering about the Infinity?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BT will always have an impact on Wifi. Its radio signals, they interfere with each other. This issue is not unique to the prime. So if you turn on BT your wifi speed will be slowed down. It even happens on laptops.
I went through two units, before giving up. The first unit had reset issues even after .15 update but the GPS worked when outside (not for GPS use in a moving vehicle.) The second unit did not experience resets, but the GPS failed to work and the WiFi reception was poor at best. I really want to like the Prime, but until they produce a consistently error free products I am going to wait on the sidelines. What type of QA did ASUS do on this product prior to release(We obviously know at this time what they DIDN'T do, it went from Alpha Test to Manufacturing, and skipped the whole Beta Test thing)?
I appreciate all of your hard work, but ASUS really has a PR problem. Most of us on this site are advanced users, and or IT Professionals living on the bleeding edge, as such we (at least myself) have the ability to recommend products and services to our companies and friends( I field at least 20 calls a week from friends and family members seeking advise on tech purchases.)
I couldn't in good conscious recommend this product to a non-tech. individual with it current list of issues, mainly GPS(I know this feature has been removed from the list of specs, but almost every Android Tablet out has this feature, and this IS a premium product), weak WiFi Signals, and problems with WiFi/Bluetooth On at the same time. This is not a 1%, 9% but probably %99 issue with the currently released units.
Again, the average users will not know the difference or know what to look for, but this doesn't excuse the fact that the problem does exist. Most people didn't know the Ford Pinto would explode if it got hit from the rear, but Ford did, and while this is not a case of people getting injured or killed, but the result is the same, if a company knows that a product had a defect, i.e. the GPS you should fix the problem, not make the spec. magically disappear. The right thing to do is apologize, engineer a fix, swallow the expense and learn a lesson and move on, not sweep it under the rug and fix it on the next product released.
I would have a lot more respect for ASUS if they would have chosen the right way to fix the problem, not the least costly to the Share Holders.
I am not a fanboy of any company but tech itself, I like certain Android based products, I also like Apple products and Microsoft as well, I think competition is a good thing, and I enjoy using and learning about all Operating Systems and associated technologies, I would get awfully board being a Fanboy for a particular company (be it Microsoft, Apple or Google.)
One last point, I would also re-train you Technical Support Staff to NOT advise a customer that he can go online and purchase a replacement Power Supply on your Online Store, instead of going through the process of getting an RMA for the defective power supply (The USB Cap came loose and I would have to pull it by the cord to disconnect it, also if it was plugged in upside down I was getting shocked when touching the back of the Prime.) It would be one thing if I was outside my warranty period, but 7 days is another. The information for this is under: ASUS Service No=1701380; Rma No=USG7222490. I returned the unit because it was rebooting (as described above.)
thanks Gary for the updates. still waiting to hear back from a few messages I sent. I know you are swamped with messages. but thanks for starting this new thread and clearing up a majority of the rumours floating around. also for indirectly calling out the users who are trying to take advantage of a situation. I see them here on online and catch them in their lies. they always changing up their stories and brag about unneccessary details or claims. funny to see one or 2 of those people, take advantage of situation, posting in this thread...now that is classic.
I'm glad you cleared up the fix rumour. which always made sense and sounded very plausible.
Anxious to here what's this new exciting news you speak of concerning the Tf-201. I have some good hunches on what it might be but it'll be best to let you convey that instead of starting up new rumors n speculations.
looking forward to new .16 update. I figured we would be getting one soon.
Also, many people here on this forum think with you being Technical Marketing Manager, you are just here to do damage control and tell users anything, including lies or misleading info. I personally, and probably alot more users also, never got that impression from you or have seen evidence of that actually occurring. I for one am glad you came to help out on the forums. Regardless if it was voluntary or if after the the issues started popping up. it doesn't matter. what does matter is that Asus is showing that they are trying Tonto the extra mile and work with users on the issues. I know its not possible to help everyone else at once. that's why some may feel like you haven't addressed them fast enough. Sorting these issues out takes time. plus add in all the false reports, misleading info, and people trying to take advantage of situation and all that only delays things even more so.
I have never seen this kind of involvement from a device manufacturer before and its appreciated. it shows alot about how Asus cares about customer satisfaction and will try to uphold that value.
this new thread by you was needed. glad to see it finally surface. hopefully will make the trolls go away now that they know we on to their tactics...lmfao. As most of us should know who example 2a. is speaking of.. I never really believed him anyways. he got caught up in lies and still lying. lol if he smart he should just quietly vanish into the night. I love it, people getting put on blast. finally exposed!
Hello friends
I made this article because I wanted to share my experience in buying a Xiaomi phone. In my case I bought 2 devices over the past two months. The first is a Xiaomi Mi5, which I ordered for my sister and the second one is the Mi5s, which I ordered for myself.
First, I’d like to talk about my choice of an online retailer. There are a couple of things to consider here.
1. Most importantly you want to be confident that the device will come with the original MIUI software. There are many online retailers that would sell you a device with a Global version of the software, only for you to find that it is actually some kind of a fake custom ROM. You want to avoid that, as flashing the original version of the software, although relatively easy, might be a lengthy and frustrating process for many. After all you'd like to begin using your device from day one, not spend time figuring how to fix it.
2. Secondly, the price. Naturally you'd like to find the best deal possible. You should be aware of the fact that there are many retailers that do fake promotions. They would for instance write down a higher price on the product and allegedly discount it to its original price. You don’t want to fall for such cheap tricks. The best thing you could do is either observe the price of the product every now and then, or compare over a couple of retailers.
3. Delivery. Ordering a device from China sometimes means waiting for more than a month for it to arrive. This depends to a big extend on the shipping agents that the retailer uses.
After doing about a month of research I decided to make my purchase from Fastcardtech.com Why? The driving factors were as follows: I was told that they ship devices only with the original software. The second is that they offered the best price at the time of the purchase. Thirdly, I considered the services they offered. As you can read on their website they have extensively explained their policy when it comes down to the payment, shipment and after sales services (warranty). They also offer secure payment through PayPal, transport insurance and customs insurance. Transport insurance means that they would ship another phone in case the first is lost during transportation. Customs insurance costs 7% of the total order price, but means that you would get compensated if your device ends up in the customs office.
Regarding, the shipping time, I can confirm that the Mi5 arrived for 2 weeks and the Mi5s for 3 weeks. The shipping agents in both cases ware SF post and Netherlands post. Upon booting them up for the first time I was pleased to find out both devices were running the original Global stable and Chinese stable software respectively.
When it comes down to the price at the time of the purchase the Mi5 costed just under $240 and the Mi5s $297. I bought both of them in December. I paid a small fee of around $7 for processing the transaction since I used PayPal. I’d recommend that you use Paypal too, as it is a secure method of purchasing. I also paid $3 for a transport insurance. Both are included in the above stated prices. The insurance is a valuable service offered by Fastcardtech.
Regarding the packaging, unfortunately I have thrown it away but the phones came carefully packaged in a thick layer of bubble wrap. You have the option of choosing different sorts of packaging on the checkout page One aspect about Fastcardtech I'd like to criticize is that they marked both items as commercial. The value they stated was 20usd. You should explicitly tell then to mark them as gifts, otherwise you might have to visit the customs
Now I would like to tell you what it is to use a Xiaomi device. First of all, upon booting it up for the first time I was charmed by the esthetics of the software. In my view it looks better than stock android. Furthermore, I highly value the added functionality. Out of the box the phones have applications like a compass, a file explorer, and a QR scanner. A great addition is the inclusion of WPS office. In fact, I like it so much that I wrote this article on my phone. Really a great office suite optimized to work fantastically on a phone. The security app is also a great convenience tool since it is the one place to go to optimize the work of your phone. It can analyze battery usage, clear unnecessary files from the system and in general makes sure that the phone runs smoothly. You might be wondering what it is to use the phone with a Chinese software and what the differences are with the Mi5, which runs on the Global version. Fortunately, I can make a direct comparison.
All in all, there aren't any big differences between both versions, at least when it comes down to general layout. My Mi5s came with the Google apps preinstalled, however if you do not wish for anyone to open the phone there is a great application by Xiaomi that you can download to install the essential Google services framework and the play store. You can find it on the following link: http://en.miui.com/thread-405166-1-1.html What might concern some of you is the presence of Chinese apps. Some of them are quite useful do be honest. An instance is the fantastic Reader application, which is way better than any other I have seen. The only problem is that it isn't translated in English. Some of the Chinese apps push notifications but it's very easy to mute them. I have just put them in folders and have forgotten about them. As you can expect the Google apps work well. There is this small bug that there isn’t an icon for the Google app. Consequently, I have to use the widget instead. The Mi5, which runs the global version on the other hand has no bloatware has and all the essential Google apps preinstalled. The main difference between both devices however lies in optimization. The global version is optimized to work with the Google apps and other applications like Facebook and messenger. This doesn't mean it launches them faster or runs them smoother. It is just far better at "managing them". By this I mean keeping them in the background more effectively and pushing notifications more consistently. If you want that on the Chinease version, you have to tweak the Autostart options and the hide options in the settings menu so that your favorites apps are managed better. Still, this might come at the expense of battery life. Otherwise as you would expect all native apps are perfectly optimized - notes, calendar etc. Just link them to your Google account and have no worries about missing your reminder.
When it comes down to general system performance both phones are blazing fast and keep apps in memory very well. No issues here at all. Once again I would like to mention the utilities that the security apps provided. I can be set to clear the cache of the phone regularly, remove trash after it reaches certain size, reboot the phone aromatically every now and then. As you might have guessed these are important functions that do not come out of the box in stock android but are essential for keeping the system running smoothly. Speaking of MIUI features, the 8,2 update has brought cool feature like automated tasks and smart assistant which will bring even more functionality and automation to then phone. I have the update available, however haven't taken advantage of it yet, because I wanted to finish my review as it is.
Having mentioned that there isn't much more to tell about these devices. There are 2 issues Mi5s users are regularly complaining about. Battery life and fingerprint. Perhaps the update will fix them. My observation on the topic is that battery life is generally very good. There is some kind of a bug however that's drains the battery but that happens rarely. Still it isn’t very plesant to see it, but a restart fixes everything. The fingerprint is a bit tricky too. Personally, I think it is one of the best available, but needs a lot of optimization. I have seen it rarely unlock the phone after a bear tap on the button, which was intended to just wake the screen. Still more often, you’d have to put your finger in the exact way you registered it so that it is recognized. Which is sometimes inconvenient
Such an informative post in this thread.
Really appreciate.
rhrokib said:
Such an informative post in this thread.
Really appreciate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you! I am happy you found my post informative! If you have any questions, I will be happy to answer!
Ifo0 said:
Thank you! I am happy you found my post informative! If you have any questions, I will be happy to answer!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I don't find any question now. If I just found one then I'd do.
Thanks for asking.