As he mentioned we fixed the bugs that we was experiencing. Also we should not that he was using an Android unit, which was the most buggy of all the platforms. The UX on the iPhone and Blackberry for review units, was much more stable.
I specifically asked whether devices were shipping to customers and you indicated that they were, at the same time that you sent me a replacement WakeMate unit. If this is not final hardware I reviewed then what is being sent to consumers?
Secondly, you never expressed any concerns about my testing on Android and I was quite clear with you about the issues I was having, and even delayed the review so that I could use a more recent version of the software.
Finally, when you contacted me and offered me a WakeMate in the first place the subject was "WakeMate review unit" and inside that e-mail you repeatedly used the word "review."
I'm sorry, but I can't cut any slack on a reviewable product that is shipping to customers.
I'd also ask that if you have further concerns you contact me directly rather than posting here.
Sincerely,
-tim stevens (dude who wrote the review)
MAN IN LINE: It's the influence of television. Yeah, now Marshall McLuhan deals with it in terms of it being a-a high, uh, high intensity, you understand? A hot medium ... as opposed to a ...
ALVY (More and more aggravated): What I wouldn't give for a large sock o' horse manure.
MAN IN LINE: ... as opposed to a print ...
Alvy steps forward, waving his hands in frustration, and stands facing the camera.
ALVY (Sighing and addressing the audience): What do you do when you get stuck in a movie line with a guy like this behind you? I mean, it's just maddening!
MAN IN LINE: Wait a minute! Really? Really? I happen to teach a class at Columbia called "TV Media and Culture"! So I think that my insights into Mr. McLuhan-well, have a great deal of validity.
ALVY: Oh, do yuh?
MAN IN LINE: Yes.
ALVY: Well, that's funny, because I happen to have Mr. McLuhan right here. So ... so, here, just let me-I mean, all right. Come over here ... a second.
Alvy gestures to the camera which follows him and the man in line to the back of the crowded lobby. He moves over to a large stand-up movie poster and pulls Marshall McLuhan from behind the poster.
MAN IN LINE: Oh.
ALVY (To McLuhan): Tell him.
MCLUHAN (To the man in line): I hear-I heard what you were saying. You-you know nothing of my work. You mean my whole fallacy is wrong. How you ever got to teach a course in anything is totally amazing.
ALVY (To the camera): Boy, if life were only like this!
[Alvy, fast forward to 2010 and Hacker News. It is now.]
(I don't mean for this comment to judge either person's opinion, just that I find it so interesting that you never know who's going to drop by Hacker News and join the discussion.)
And Woody Allen, too.
There'll be a new HN thread soon enough, and they always blunder just enough in each that their company stays at log(n) on the Cuil scale (where n is the number of threads).
You couldn't wait a bit to send a final version?
Now we top it off by chastising a reviewer in public?
Really?
Your experience might contain some good tips or lessons learned for other Android developers.
In my experience (since I developed the entire BlackBerry app, and did a lot of work on making the Android app a lot more stable than it was), the apps are working great right now, and they get better every day or two. I mean, I push updates to the app VERY often, and our users have no problems with it, besides the occasional bug, which I generally fix in the following hours.
My only real comment on the matter is that writing code that works well with Bluetooth is REALLY hard, so if you can keep a persistent connection when the app is open, try to go that route.
One big problem with Android though, is that some of the phone manufacturers decided that it was a good idea to tamper with the standard Android Bluetooth code, so that caused (and still causes) some seriously problems.
The issue with battery estimation occurs when you do not fully charge the unit (as we indicated to him) and we are currently working on improving the estimation even further.