39 replies to this topic

[vdubster]

So how big a deal is this?

I've seen a Andypad customer having problems with a paid app because of this, will there be more problems?

Quote

Dear Andy Pad customers,As you may or may not be aware, our first batches of Andy Pads come with an unlicensed version of Android Marketplace. The statement will explain the reasoning behind this.

As we all know, it is very important for tablet/mobile devices to have an App Store installed. The end-user experience can be seriously harmed if this kind of software is not included, and we went through the normal routine of acquiring Android Marketplace.

It soon became clear that Android Marketplace is tied up with “Big Brands” who have strangled the market, making customers choose their products over smaller brands such as Andy Pad. We felt this was unfair, not just towards us as a manufacturer, but to the customers that cannot afford to spend hundreds of pounds on these higher end devices that can actually be produced for the customer at a much cheaper price. I therefore took the decision to add an unlicensed version of Android Marketplace.

There is a David and Goliath situation here, and we felt that we were doing a favour to the community as well as ourselves. I have spent millions of pounds on Google AdWords over the years and felt this would only help Google’s revenue by having Android Marketplace on the Andy Pad as this would clearly stretch Google’s reach over the market.

I think it is important to note that we intentionally never included Android Marketplace in our official advertising. We did not want to sell the devices on the basis that it came with any Marketplace installed.

Our plan is to put Amazon Marketplace on the devices once it is available. Ideally we would like to see Google’s ‘open-source’ operating system reach its full potential, and hopefully we have helped them to achieve that. This is not to be seen as an underhand swipe at Google, but more an attempt to bring balance to the technology market. We are still in the process of trying to get Android Marketplace officially licensed for the Andy Pad.

I would also like to take this opportunity to say thank-you to all the customers and the community that have supported Andy Pad through its first launch. We have been blown away by the great response that we have received from the community and developers alike.

If there is any further news or discussions, rest assured you will know immediately.

Yours Faithfully,

Andrew Kerry
Managing Director



VertiCool Limited

Edited by vdubster, 20 September 2011 - 11:43 AM.

[PaulOBrien]

It's a pretty big deal. It suggest future ROMs won't have Android Market.

P

[flibblesan]

Indeed it does. If they remove the Android Market from future ROM updates then it will properly screw over any existing customer that has purchased paid apps. So this leaves Andy Pad in a bad position. Do they delay any updates in the hope they will get Google certification, which leaves customers with a buggy stock rom, or do they provide updates with the market removed which may fix the ROM bugs but at the same time upsetting customers with the lack of an app store?

[flibblesan]

Oh dear. Customers have noticed that the CPU speed is being reported as 1GHz. I assumed this was a kernel issue but apparently not:

Quote

Hi there,

I'm informed by our techies that the processor is an A8, although what relation this is to the A7, I do not know.

The pad is clocked at 1GHz to keep it stable. You're welcome to tinker with clocks, at you own risk.

I believe Flibblesan is commenting regarding MoDaCo, who are working on another ROM for the Andy Pad.

~ PadRaptor
Andy Pad Forum Admin

(BTW, I'm not working on any Andy Pad ROM)

[vdubster]

flibblesan, on 20 September 2011 - 01:19 PM, said:

Indeed it does. If they remove the Android Market from future ROM updates then it will properly screw over any existing customer that has purchased paid apps. So this leaves Andy Pad in a bad position. Do they delay any updates in the hope they will get Google certification, which leaves customers with a buggy stock rom, or do they provide updates with the market removed which may fix the ROM bugs but at the same time upsetting customers with the lack of an app store?

Hi,

Was just reading your twitter feed and a few days ago an AndyPad customer posted a thread on their forum because a paid app they had on another device wasn't working on the AndyPad so they asked for help, as it was not forth coming he contacted both the developer of the app and Google themselves for help. They posted back in their thread this and now that thread has disappeared and that statement was release. Connected you think?

J

Edited by vdubster, 20 September 2011 - 01:53 PM.

[newbe5]

vdubster, on 20 September 2011 - 01:52 PM, said:

Hi,

Was just reading your twitter feed and a few days ago an AndyPad customer posted a thread on their forum because a paid app they had on another device wasn't working on the AndyPad so they asked for help, as it was not forth coming he contacted both the developer of the app and Google themselves for help. They posted back in their thread this and now that thread has disappeared and that statement was release. Connected you think?

J

Absolutely connected. They got caught so they had to fess up to try and keep up appearances.... This is all a huge mess, I feel kinda bad for AP customers now :/

• Illegitimate gapps means that any future ROM updates either have to also break licensing and risk legal action, or remove the gapps from the ROM.
• The ROM needs updating, as people seemingly have some nasty lag and battery issues, so they will need to update it pretty soon.
• If Gapps are removed, and you have previously bought apps on your AndyPad on the Market, you will lose access to them.
• On the box of both pads, the CPU speed is labelled as 1.2GHz, but it is clocked at 1GHz (all their marketing said 1.2GHz also), they now apear to be denying this?
• They have now put themselves in a very shakey position with Google, making an official ICS release (as they have hinted at) very unlikely unless they break license again.

So now they have 2 choices. They have indicated that they will use the Amazon App Store (which is currently not available in the UK) as a replacement to the official Market. But the ROM is in dire need of fixes in many places from what I can glean from reading the forums. So do they wait for the Amazon app store to become available before releasing a ROM update? Or do they release an interim update that fixes some of the issues but has no Market at all? Either way, bad for users :/

Not looking good at all...

newbe5

[vdubster]

Doesn't sound good at all

[mooseTheFool]

well, lets not rule out that AP may have also been done over by the factory - these factories in china can be total buggers, they can promise you anything to make you place on order - it would not be beyond the realms of reality that AP were told all was in hand and all was officially licensed - you guys know more about the tech aspects of it all - but again, they are buying and off-the shelf product and just adding their own paint job so to speak

the way i see it is that they are falling for and learning the perils of dealing with these home grown Chinese products that are designed and built in the home land, down to their own home grown processor etc, the 1.2GHz is what ALL rk2918 players are advertised as , even by RK themselves, once again, they are taking face value of what they are told

this is all more of a harsh lesson for them in dealing with these factories and suppliers, its not easy and you really need your wits about you, also, just to note, if you guys did make a super duper, all winning ROM for the RK2918, i would not be surprised to see it dropping into production at the factory and added to their other products - so just keep a wicked little eye out for that one - its been done before

there are literally hundreds of tabs based on the RK2918 kit out in china and beyond, none have released source code - im not sure what AP can get you in regards to this, but again, it may be that they have been promised it, but, we will wait and see if that is honoured

anyway - hello and i hope the AP guys can learn and make good, congrats on this forum
cheers and all the best

[vdubster]

mooseTheFool, on 20 September 2011 - 03:18 PM, said:

well, lets not rule out that AP may have also been done over by the factory - these factories in china can be total buggers, they can promise you anything to make you place on order - it would not be beyond the realms of reality that AP were told all was in hand and all was officially licensed - you guys know more about the tech aspects of it all - but again, they are buying and off-the shelf product and just adding their own paint job so to speak

the way i see it is that they are falling for and learning the perils of dealing with these home grown Chinese products that are designed and built in the home land, down to their own home grown processor etc, the 1.2GHz is what ALL rk2918 players are advertised as , even by RK themselves, once again, they are taking face value of what they are told

this is all more of a harsh lesson for them in dealing with these factories and suppliers, its not easy and you really need your wits about you, also, just to note, if you guys did make a super duper, all winning ROM for the RK2918, i would not be surprised to see it dropping into production at the factory and added to their other products - so just keep a wicked little eye out for that one - its been done before

there are literally hundreds of tabs based on the RK2918 kit out in china and beyond, none have released source code - im not sure what AP can get you in regards to this, but again, it may be that they have been promised it, but, we will wait and see if that is honoured

anyway - hello and i hope the AP guys can learn and make good, congrats on this forum
cheers and all the best

And how long have you work for AndyPad, lol

Look the MD as admitted to do this

Quote

I therefore took the decision to add an unlicensed version of Android Marketplace

Now they have released a new video, still with the 1.2Ghz CPU speed. If you have had to underclock  the CPU to keep it stable then advertise it a 1Ghz.

[mooseTheFool]

lol - i dont - far from it, i am an observer and want to see how well they navigate the realms of china based media player industry and the associated factories as i know how they can be and the pitfalls that happen to anyone trying to get their own way

sorry if it sounded like "pro AP" - (sorry, cant bring myself to say the name as i hate it more and more each day!!) - i was just offering some base info is all

if i were to make an assumption (again) i could say that Mr Mattress is basically admitting to it so sound like he is in control, if he came out and said "well, the factory told me it was all ok" then that makes them look fools, and like they are not the manufacturers (as they like to call themselves) or indeed in control, this way at least they look like they are in the driving seat

we will see how his bravado pays off, im sure he is quite handy as being the big man in the mattress world but im sure they dont have the kind of kicking power and lawyers that Google do

[furbs]

I took the decision to return the pad on Monday following the CPU issue and more importantly for me finding out about the charge times/issues with battery meter issues.

To be fair to their customer service team so far they have been absolutely brilliant in agreeing to the return (device is being picked up tomorrow). That said, they did try to convince me that 7 hours was normal for most tablets (not according to reviews I've read!) including the iPad, and that most manufacturers underclocked.

This latest thing with the market place is just mental though and really does shake my confidence in the brand (I was going to keep an eye on them to see if any product revisions fixed the issues). It does seem remarkably underhand and not giving the customer full disclosure. They also don't seem to understand their target audience - their pre-launch marketing was aimed firmly at enthusiasts via tech blogs and the like who will pick up on these things quite quickly, and be most put out by issues that I consider at best lazy and at worst extremely sneaky. Had they come out at the beginning and said "theres no market place because Google won't allow us access to it", people who were interested would at least have understood. Now they've just opened themselves up to a massive amount of returns and it genuinely makes me wonder about the future of rest of the company.

The stupid thing in all this is all the launch announcements made it sound like the ROM was being tested by their own inhouse guys. The fact these problems have come to light within 3-4 days of people owning the devices almost makes me wonder if the "inhouse guys" were the Chinese programmers at the end of Skype or email.

Its a shame, but my next tablet is definitely going to be from an established name, even if there is a premium to it.

Edited by furbs, 20 September 2011 - 06:24 PM.

[flibblesan]

Update on market issue

Quote

Marketplace
Marketplace has never been actively advertised by Andy Pad. It's only when questioned we've said that it comes with Marketplace. As a marketer, I was informed to state that we had Marketplace, and to the best of my own knowledge, we did. I believe there were talks with Google right up until the last minute before ROM finalization and I'm pretty sure that this is actually still going on.
For all existing customers, we are sorry if you feel cheated by this and we'll be happy to offer a full refund, no questions asked. Android marketplace will not be remotely removed from your devices or anything, whatever happens, and you'll be able to keep the apps you already have, of course. I believe what Andrew was trying to say was that 90% of customers will likely install Marketplace themselves. For future ROMs and pads we may include separate marketplaces such as Android Pit or the Amazon Marketplace, but this will not affect existing customers.
As soon as I know anything myself, I'll let you guys know.

[mooseTheFool]

for what its worth, there is a new test firmware for the T760 on teclast FTP

ftp://d:[email protected]:2121/teclast/mp3/Other/T760-V3.00-733A.rar

this is using the new so-called SDK 2.0 that i see you have been chatting about on twitter, just in case anyone is wanting to play about

the FTP will be super slow as is always the case with teclast and i have no idea how to install

[vdubster]

A few AP customers now reporting faulty PSU's, one even went POP.

It just sounds like a cheap package all together now.

J

[flibblesan]

vdubster, on 25 September 2011 - 09:53 AM, said:

A few AP customers now reporting faulty PSU's, one even went POP.

It just sounds like a cheap package all together now.

J

Yeah.. quite a few issues with Andy Pads not charging at all, faulty chargers and one exploding. Not good at all is it

[vdubster]

flibblesan, on 25 September 2011 - 04:52 PM, said:

Yeah.. quite a few issues with Andy Pads not charging at all, faulty chargers and one exploding. Not good at all is it

I'm just reading some of the comments i've made on the AP forum and it got me thinking. Am i being rude/harsh by passing there problems around?

Having said that i have read some of the comment their "Support" team post and to be honest they need some help.For the lasest example, the thead regarding the PSU that went pop and smoked was removed. The OP made a new thread becase they wanted to no why and the reply was this;

Quote

"In light of the new and updated forums coming soon (no more rich text formatting!) we are having a clean-up of the forums.This particular post was being dealt with by email and so was not needed on the forums as well."

Now i'm sorry but removing something that could warn current and new customer to a potential fire hazard should stay right?


James

[flibblesan]

vdubster, on 26 September 2011 - 05:12 PM, said:

I'm just reading some of the comments i've made on the AP forum and it got me thinking. Am i being rude/harsh by passing there problems around?

Having said that i have read some of the comment their "Support" team post and to be honest they need some help.For the lasest example, the thead regarding the PSU that went pop and smoked was removed. The OP made a new thread becase they wanted to no why and the reply was this;



Now i'm sorry but removing something that could warn current and new customer to a potential fire hazard should stay right?


James

Right. And I'm disgusted that they are removing such posts.

[pastyboy84]

dont think there will be any support or future updates that company is going up the shitter along with mattressman they are laying people off like they have lost loads of money. i got the boot this morning and what makes it worse is they layed me off in andypad office. stay well clear of andypad most have been returned loads of faults and the hole company is micky mouse both sides mattressman and andypad so it was no suprise to anyone that it had unlicenced software and core speeds were wrongly advertised. Cowboys STAY WELL CLEAR YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.....


And i almost bought one but when i went in office i knew somthing was up one day later market statement was posted

[vdubster]

pastyboy84, on 03 October 2011 - 07:39 AM, said:

dont think there will be any support or future updates that company is going up the shitter along with mattressman they are laying people off like they have lost loads of money. i got the boot this morning and what makes it worse is they layed me off in andypad office. stay well clear of andypad most have been returned loads of faults and the hole company is micky mouse both sides mattressman and andypad so it was no suprise to anyone that it had unlicenced software and core speeds were wrongly advertised. Cowboys STAY WELL CLEAR YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.....


And i almost bought one but when i went in office i knew somthing was up one day later market statement was posted

Sorry to hear that mate and good on you for bring it to the attention of current and potential customer, Something AP seem unable to do with the list of problems.

Hope you find another job soon.

J

[vdubster]

Looks like AP website is down? Maybe they are updating things, although i've never understood why they take their whole site down for updates?