| Author |
The letter I sent to SE CEOs about firmware - Incident closed! Solution! |
Dan_Aykroyd
Joined: Sep 13, 2005
Posts: > 500
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Well... as topic; here it is. Hope you're with me on this one!:
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Good evening;
The reason why I'm writing this is quite sad, since it's about your politics / usability of newly released firmwares. Let me explain myself:
I bought a month ago a w800 (which, I must say, is a piece of art of electronic / informatic engiering). It came with R1L002 version of the software, which worked quite well, except for minus glitches.
Then, I started the upgrading road to perdition... first, to R1N035, which introduced (among many other bugs) the primary "Memory Stick File" bug which rendered useless most of the capabilities of the phone, since every file I copied over the provided data cable was corrupted / deleted.
After a couple of weeks, I was really looking forward to the next version, R1A005, hoping it will fix the bugs the previous updated gave me. Sadly.... again, it didn't, and only introduced more bugs.
So... as I was an active participant of the SE related forums among the Web (mainly ESATO), I noticed hundred... thousands of people around the globe that were suffering the same problems, and even some more (specially those who upgraded from K750).
That's what I'm writing to you. To let you know about this, to make you consider what you're doing, releasing untested firmware for a nice piece of equipment such as this one; ruining it's original functionality... I don't know, I went speechless from that.
Consider the position of your great enterprise... by releasing software like this you put users down; we, that considered adquiring your brand in many areas (phones, MP3, audio, video, chargers, whatever) are being underconsiderated.
Don't you have a lot of people working in the software section? Testers... developers... what for? If you release firmware that will, instead of fixing bugs that shouldn't had been there in the first place, introducing new ones? You sure are damaging your image and affecting future buying consideration of your products, since most of us are just angry at this situation.
For the record, I tried using the technical support right here in Argentina... first; the call center is located somewhere in Brazil I think, since they speak portuguese, so they really helped me not at all. And the repairing points in here all that did were "upgrading" the firmware to the same version I left the phone in (at that time... R1N035): they couldn't tell me which version they would update since they didn't know (I found out myself when picked up the phone), neither could they roll back to the R1L002 since they told me they didn't have it. So... do you consider this to be an actitude from a serious enterprise? I understand I'm in Latin America where things doesn't go that right, but I met other people in the Forum that were from USA, China, Japan, even from Switzerland, where the support was as bad as here.
Hope you will do something to fix these issues and gain our trust again since; as I said before, this product was a great buy... up until you "improved" out software.
Here is the link where I, with help of other participants, are compiling all the bugs we find in the firmware versions:
http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=107062
Feel free to explore it and test them on your own.
Hope this message made a difference for you, that you'll consider what I've told (because I've had spoken for everyone that bought these telephones) and that you will try to help us out.
[ This Message was edited by: Dan_Aykroyd on 2005-11-11 00:04 ] | |
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jcpsad
Joined: Oct 15, 2002
Posts: > 500
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just hope it won't be redirected to his junkmail...
www.photos.panelo.com
www.panelo.com
www.bilog.panelo.com
www.pbalive.panelo.com |
max_wedge
Joined: Aug 29, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Australia
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dude excellent penmanship  Let us know if you get a non-standard reply  |
Dan_Aykroyd
Joined: Sep 13, 2005
Posts: > 500
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Hehe, thanks yeah; it came out good! I was inspired during work today!
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mrao
Joined: Nov 11, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Mumbai, India
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Well put, mate. Keep up posted of developments, if any.
This message was posted from a K750 |
BlueQuill
Joined: Jul 29, 2005
Posts: 419
From: India
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Would the CEO have time to reply? Dont think so, but i would that they did and consider seriously all the problems the users are having and release some real quality products from now on.
The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same. |
fullforce
Joined: Oct 12, 2005
Posts: > 500
From: Sweden
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Dan_Aykroyd
Good on you!
Wery well put! Can i use this to mail the SE people in my country, Sweden?
Have you gotten the mail-list that Leviath and i got from cloroforme?
Gracias amigo! |
WildWayz
Joined: Jun 10, 2005
Posts: 22
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Quote:
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On 2005-10-28 06:46:00, BlueQuill wrote:
Would the CEO have time to reply? Dont think so, but i would that they did and consider seriously all the problems the users are having and release some real quality products from now on.
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Maybe not, but he will hand it to one of his assistants to sort out. |
Firefreak
Joined: Jul 02, 2004
Posts: 159
From: Sweden
PM |
Just a side note. Most people don't even know it can be updated. You have to be aware of the fact that you usually only search for forums like this one once you start having problems.
This means that most people probably haven't come across the memorystick corr. issue. Us, "techies", usually update to a new firmware even if were happy with what we got. This means we have to accept the fact that even the programmers are humans.
Do you write angry letters to mainboard manufacturers or microsoft when your computer restarts och gets a bluescreen?
Keeping ourselves in the fronline of technology has its quirks. Software development is a trial and error business and the best way to test a new firmware is to release it. Usually programmers are responsible for a particular feature in the phone. Like the radio for example. A guy rewriting the radio section might affect other parts of the software not noticed until released.
Anyways, I'm not saying that I don't want SE to test their firmwares better just that you have to understand the process. Stop updating to the latest firmware until you know its safe.
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W995 Black |
credo
Joined: Oct 16, 2005
Posts: 14
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Quote:
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On 2005-10-28 11:50:33, Firefreak wrote:
This means that most people probably haven't come across the memorystick corr. issue. Us, "techies", usually update to a new firmware even if were happy with what we got. This means we have to accept the fact that even the programmers are humans.
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True, but R1N035 is supposed to be a refined version of previous firmware - but the fact is it's worse in more ways than it is better. I'm on R1L002, which has terrible bluetooth problems, and would love to fix these with R1N035 - but dare not for reasons we all know.
Credo |
Firefreak
Joined: Jul 02, 2004
Posts: 159
From: Sweden
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Quote:
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On 2005-10-28 12:10:39, credo wrote:
Quote:
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On 2005-10-28 11:50:33, Firefreak wrote:
This means that most people probably haven't come across the memorystick corr. issue. Us, "techies", usually update to a new firmware even if were happy with what we got. This means we have to accept the fact that even the programmers are humans.
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True, but R1N035 is supposed to be a refined version of previous firmware - but the fact is it's worse in more ways than it is better. I'm on R1L002, which has terrible bluetooth problems, and would love to fix these with R1N035 - but dare not for reasons we all know.
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Yes but the memorystick issue might be a side effect after something else was fixed and sometimes these things can really escalade into even bigger problems. Just hold tight and wait for them to work these things out.
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W995 Black |
max_wedge
Joined: Aug 29, 2004
Posts: > 500
From: Australia
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Quote:
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On 2005-10-28 12:10:39, credo wrote:
Quote:
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On 2005-10-28 11:50:33, Firefreak wrote:
This means that most people probably haven't come across the memorystick corr. issue. Us, "techies", usually update to a new firmware even if were happy with what we got. This means we have to accept the fact that even the programmers are humans.
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True, but R1N035 is supposed to be a refined version of previous firmware - but the fact is it's worse in more ways than it is better. I'm on R1L002, which has terrible bluetooth problems, and would love to fix these with R1N035 - but dare not for reasons we all know.
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I'm on R1L and don't have ANY bluetooth problems.
If you are having problems with multiple bluetooth connections, check the power save setting under bluetooth settings. Powersave for bluetooth limits connections to one at a time.
Also, if you are using the SE phone explorer tool with Mobile Phone Monitor (MPM), forget it! Get myphoneexplorer (http://members.aon.at/fwechsel/) it actually works, whereas SE's MPM is a dogy ho', and makes it look like the phone has bluetooth problems when it really doesn't. This happened with my K700 until I realised that I only had problems when I used either my belkin adapter, or SE Phone Explorer!! Also make sure it's not your dongle (try someone else's). My D-link dongle never falters, whereas my Belkin dongle is a crash monkey from hell (no matter which computer or phone I use it with)
If your BT power save is off, and you have checked your dongle and don't use the SE phone explorer, have master reset your handset just in case the firmware needs "rebedding" (sometimes the firmware gets corrupt and can be fixed with a master reset), then you probably do have the bug. Not saying you don't, but I have never seen this bug in any of the R1L handset's I've used. If you are lucky it is just one of the above problems.
Not casting aspersions on your techo ability, you may have checked that shit already. Just mentioning it incase it helps, and for other dudes who may not actually have firmware problems but it just looks like they do.
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Dan_Aykroyd
Joined: Sep 13, 2005
Posts: > 500
PM |
@fullforce:
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Yes, feel free to use it; it's not copyrighted yet! Also... send me the list of emails please so I can send them to them too! Thanks
@EveryOne:
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Well... I got this today:
"Sorry to hear about your problems with the W800 and our service. This is something that we take serious and will make every effort to correct for future cases. Meanwhile, Guillermo who is our Customer and Product Manager will contact you today to see how we can help your particular case.
I thank you for 1. having bought a Sony Ericsson W800 and 2. for contacting us with a very informative mail regarding the poor service you have received.
Please feel free to contact me directly. Finally hope that beside your problems you will enjoy your W800 after we correct the SW issues as it is the very best we have to offer."
... still waiting for that 'Guillermo' though...
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Yze
Joined: Oct 26, 2005
Posts: 68
From: Las Vegas, NV
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awesome dan! nice to know they gave a personal reply |
BUFFBOY
Joined: Jul 20, 2005
Posts: > 500
From: Sydney
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ask him when will the new release come out 
BMW M3 | |
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Access the forum with a mobile phone via esato.mobi
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Posted: 2005-10-28 04:10
