More Dell Streak joy
Dec. 21st, 2010 01:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
peterbirksSome entertaining adventures in the life that is learning to live with the Dell Streak.
I left my charger in Bletchley and, although it has been posted to me, there's a good chance that it won't arrive until Christmas.
Finding a charger for the Dell Streak appears to be on a par with the Holy Grail. When I went into the O2 shop on London Wall and asked for one, the guy said that he would have to check. Meanwhile another guy said "sure, we have one", and sold me an Apple I Phone connection.
Now, I was fairly sure that this wouldn't fit, but I bought it anyway (my master plan will eventually be revealed). I then opened it, took it to another part of the shop, and confirmed to myself that it wouldn't fit. I took it back to the guy who had sold it to me and said, all innocent-like, "sorry, I'm useless with stuff like this. Could you show me how it connects?"
Needless to say, it didn't connect.
That kind of put them in a bit of a bind, because they had actually sold me something that they said would work, but didn't. Their easiest way round this was to break open a new Dell Streak box and cannibalize a charger lead. Well they might not have done that. Perhaps they did have a charger lead just lying around. But I somehow doubt it. So, my purchase of something that I knew would not work achieved its aim; I got something that would work. Even better, they let me keep the I-Phone charger lead!
++++++++++++++
On the DLR train home I couldn't connect to the Internet. There was a phone signal, but no sign of 3G or any of the other Data connections. I suspected that the 2.2 upgrade had caused a problem, but I couldn't work out what that problem might be.
Here, thankfully, the Dell forum (i.e., the users, not Dell itself) came to the rescue.
This was also an interesting example of what I shall, perhaps unfairly, call a typical (unhelpful) "expert's response", and the alternative, a helpful "intelligent user's" response (i.e., a response from someone who had suffered the problem).
Here's the original problem:
And here's the response from "Dr Android".
Perfect grammar, and utterly useless.
However, such is the dominance of this kind of unhelpfulness (I know, I'm being unfair, Dr Android is doing his best to help, but his brain simply can't make the leap to that for someone not entrenched in the system) that people actually apologize for failing to understand something which they can't be expected to understand.
Later on in the thread, we get a guy who had suffered the problem, and knew how to explain what to do.
And, indeed, that was precisely the problem that I was suffering, and following these directions (not much longer than "Check your APN settings") enabled me (and, I would guess, most users) to solve my problem.
+++++++++++++
On the brighter side, Android 2.2 offers Swype, something that I very nearly paid cash for a few weeks ago. Swype is a keyboard input system that uses sliding as well as tapping, and it speeds up input on a screen-based keyboard by a factor of anywhere between 2 and 100.
Of more interest is the guide on the Swype web page. Now, THIS is how Help files and "product tours" should be done. A collection of short videos, clearly explained by the voice-over.
I mention this because, if Swype can do it, surely other companies can too? Just knock off the Swype system and apply it to your own software. If Microsoft adopted this technique for Office 2007, it would be a joy to learn.
So, it can be done.
Meanwhile, Android continues to generate icons that, slowly, I am coming to understand and remember. At the beginning it was also (loudly) telling me every time a new e-mail arrived (a bit of a bummer when you get emails for Facebook responses, 2+2 responses and LiveJournal Responses). Under Android 1.6 you had to manually refresh. I worked out how to tell it to collect emails only once every half and hour, and not to bother to beep or vibrate or sing and dance when it did so.
While pressing meaningless icons to discover what they do I managed to put in a five-minute call to the callback number 901 without realizing it. Luckily I returned to the relevant screen and saw that the button "End Call" was still lit.
So, it would be nice if all of this was easy and effortless, but, once you get used to using the darned thing, it is, in the main, remarkably good. It's already faster to check my emails on the phone than to go to the web-page on the PC. There would appear to be a number of options for PC Browser/Device integration that I might, one day, look into more deeply. Unfortunately it seems to require that I use either Google Chrome or Firefox. I use neither of these as a matter of course, although I quite like Chrome when I do use it.
It's reported that the Dell Streak processor struggles with Android 2.2 when the operating system is running at full blast, and apparently this can cause lock-ups. That could well be a fundamental flaw with the Dell Streak, but I accepted when I bought it that one of the penalties for early adoption was paying rather more than do later adopters. If I have to buy another mini-tablet within a couple of years, so be it.
The Samsung Galaxy certainly looks like a potential rival, but I expect that even better machines of precisely the format that I want will soon become available.
I left my charger in Bletchley and, although it has been posted to me, there's a good chance that it won't arrive until Christmas.
Finding a charger for the Dell Streak appears to be on a par with the Holy Grail. When I went into the O2 shop on London Wall and asked for one, the guy said that he would have to check. Meanwhile another guy said "sure, we have one", and sold me an Apple I Phone connection.
Now, I was fairly sure that this wouldn't fit, but I bought it anyway (my master plan will eventually be revealed). I then opened it, took it to another part of the shop, and confirmed to myself that it wouldn't fit. I took it back to the guy who had sold it to me and said, all innocent-like, "sorry, I'm useless with stuff like this. Could you show me how it connects?"
Needless to say, it didn't connect.
That kind of put them in a bit of a bind, because they had actually sold me something that they said would work, but didn't. Their easiest way round this was to break open a new Dell Streak box and cannibalize a charger lead. Well they might not have done that. Perhaps they did have a charger lead just lying around. But I somehow doubt it. So, my purchase of something that I knew would not work achieved its aim; I got something that would work. Even better, they let me keep the I-Phone charger lead!
++++++++++++++
On the DLR train home I couldn't connect to the Internet. There was a phone signal, but no sign of 3G or any of the other Data connections. I suspected that the 2.2 upgrade had caused a problem, but I couldn't work out what that problem might be.
Here, thankfully, the Dell forum (i.e., the users, not Dell itself) came to the rescue.
This was also an interesting example of what I shall, perhaps unfairly, call a typical (unhelpful) "expert's response", and the alternative, a helpful "intelligent user's" response (i.e., a response from someone who had suffered the problem).
Here's the original problem:
"I've had my streak about 10 days and for the first 9 days everything was great. Yesterday I stopped being able to connect to 3G, EDGE, GPRS networks and there is no icon in the top task bar. My settings show "enabled". AT&T sees no reason not to have it on their end and thought it my be corrected with a software update. Any suggestions? Wireless works fine, but I'm not always in a wireless zone. Should I do a factory reset?"
And here's the response from "Dr Android".
"Have a look at your APN settings. Also delete any APNs not being used."
Perfect grammar, and utterly useless.
However, such is the dominance of this kind of unhelpfulness (I know, I'm being unfair, Dr Android is doing his best to help, but his brain simply can't make the leap to that for someone not entrenched in the system) that people actually apologize for failing to understand something which they can't be expected to understand.
At the risk of sounding really dumb - when you say check the APN setting, what am I checking for?.
Later on in the thread, we get a guy who had suffered the problem, and knew how to explain what to do.
Select Settings>Wireless And Networks>Mobile networks>Access Point Names. The APN list was found to be empty, but touching the "menu" button gave me a "Reset to default" option and selecting this populated the APN list with three "Vodafone Internet" APN possibilities. Selecting one of these (at random!) seems to have done the trick!
And, indeed, that was precisely the problem that I was suffering, and following these directions (not much longer than "Check your APN settings") enabled me (and, I would guess, most users) to solve my problem.
+++++++++++++
On the brighter side, Android 2.2 offers Swype, something that I very nearly paid cash for a few weeks ago. Swype is a keyboard input system that uses sliding as well as tapping, and it speeds up input on a screen-based keyboard by a factor of anywhere between 2 and 100.
Of more interest is the guide on the Swype web page. Now, THIS is how Help files and "product tours" should be done. A collection of short videos, clearly explained by the voice-over.
I mention this because, if Swype can do it, surely other companies can too? Just knock off the Swype system and apply it to your own software. If Microsoft adopted this technique for Office 2007, it would be a joy to learn.
So, it can be done.
Meanwhile, Android continues to generate icons that, slowly, I am coming to understand and remember. At the beginning it was also (loudly) telling me every time a new e-mail arrived (a bit of a bummer when you get emails for Facebook responses, 2+2 responses and LiveJournal Responses). Under Android 1.6 you had to manually refresh. I worked out how to tell it to collect emails only once every half and hour, and not to bother to beep or vibrate or sing and dance when it did so.
While pressing meaningless icons to discover what they do I managed to put in a five-minute call to the callback number 901 without realizing it. Luckily I returned to the relevant screen and saw that the button "End Call" was still lit.
So, it would be nice if all of this was easy and effortless, but, once you get used to using the darned thing, it is, in the main, remarkably good. It's already faster to check my emails on the phone than to go to the web-page on the PC. There would appear to be a number of options for PC Browser/Device integration that I might, one day, look into more deeply. Unfortunately it seems to require that I use either Google Chrome or Firefox. I use neither of these as a matter of course, although I quite like Chrome when I do use it.
It's reported that the Dell Streak processor struggles with Android 2.2 when the operating system is running at full blast, and apparently this can cause lock-ups. That could well be a fundamental flaw with the Dell Streak, but I accepted when I bought it that one of the penalties for early adoption was paying rather more than do later adopters. If I have to buy another mini-tablet within a couple of years, so be it.
The Samsung Galaxy certainly looks like a potential rival, but I expect that even better machines of precisely the format that I want will soon become available.
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Inspiration
Date: 2010-12-21 03:06 pm (UTC)Much of modern life is either routine, or trying to route around stupid rules (usually encoded in help support systems) which never envisaged non-standard requests.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-22 12:44 pm (UTC)Niall L
Dr Aardvark Peels Your Brain
Date: 2010-12-22 11:52 pm (UTC)Both commenters above are entirely correct, and yet miss the central point a bit. (As do you with "Dr Android is doing his best to help, but his brain simply can't make the leap to that for someone not entrenched in the system." Dr Android couldn't give a stuff about being helpful, btw. Being helpful is not what he's paid for.)
Slowjoe is right about routine/stupid rules, and yet not quite so when it comes to non-standard requests. In fact, help desks/dire company web pages are only set up to deal with a small subset of "standard requests." The answers to these boil down to:
(1) Have you turned the power on and off?
(2) Does your licence/password still work?
(3) Have you tried exiting the application and re-entering it?
Anything else is beyond first-level support, because it isn't on their flash cards. Unfortunately the whole help-desk concept was set up in the days of internal systems. The people you really needed to talk to were second-level support, who would only talk to you if you were a member of the company. This seems to persist into the customer space. If you have a real problem, of course, you'll need to talk to third-level support, who are even more introspective and who won't touch a problem unless it's been logged into the bug-tracking system and given a ticket ... which system first-level support does not have the appropriate privileges to access.
Web pages are much, much, worse, because they are under the control of marketroids and thus any useful information on them is instantly sucked out on the grounds that it "might show the company in a bad light."
Well, you're not being charged for support, and you get what you pay for.
Niall and you fall into the trap of thinking that this crap is in any way supposed to be an "expert's response" (although Niall correctly puts it in scare quotes). It is not intended as any such thing. A real expert -- that is, somebody versed in the subject matter, who can program and who has been involved in testing and who has written technical documentation and who is good at dealing and empathising with customers -- is as rare as hens' teeth. Their price is consequently ludicrously beyond budget.
In other words, at no point in the process are you likely to be dealing with an "expert." In fact, chances are (and you have probably sussed this by now) that you are dealing with somebody who is far more ignorant on the subject than you are.
Niall's point on MVPs is germane here, because the outside world thinks of MVPs (if they think of them at all) as Microsoft-qualified, and probably as Microsoft-employed. Generally speaking, they are neither. The MVP program was simply an early Microsoft effort in "social networking" at the geek level, whereby Microsoft would hopefully get an army of freetards to do their support for them, and they would be sorted (and rewarded) by customer approval rating. Unsurprisingly, the whole thing is a fiasco.
Well, that was a lot of guff just to reinforce what's already been said, and I apologise. But please stop tarring those of us who actually are professionals with the same brush as those who manifestly are not. We are no longer in charge. And for reasons of personal hygiene, amongst others, we are no longer allowed to mingle with the customers. And, one step beyond that, we are not really even allowed to consider the customers, because we live in a newly corporate and segmented world, and the "customer experience" is now the job of graphical designers (who like pretty, shiny, things) and out-sourced slaves in Bangalore (who will faithfully reproduce any system behaviour they are told to reproduce, no matter how cretinous they know it to be).
Basically, I'd just stop buying computer products altogether, if I were you. It's something I'm seriously contemplating myself...
Re: Dr Aardvark Peels Your Brain
Date: 2010-12-23 10:31 am (UTC)Several contentious arguments are posited by you here. The first is that Dr Android couldn't care less about being helpful (something I shall dispute) and the second is implied by you that the only reason that he would care less about being helpful would be if he was paid for it.
You make this point more explicitly in the second quote, which I would disagree with rather more vehemently.
The problem is, you don't get what you pay for. My experiences with what we'll call the "free" Help sector and the "paid-for" help sector have generally come down on the side of the "free" help providers (viz, the Interwebs).
Let's look at the "help" areas I have accessed this year that could be described as "paid-for".
1) BT. Definitely far better than it was a couple of years ago, but I found out most of the technical stuff I needed re phone line set-ups from an ex-BT Engineer who maintained his own web page.
2) Microsoft/ and/or Windows. Not a help desk as such, but help files. Almost universally worse than the guides you can find elsewhere on the web.
3) Thames Water. Always polite, but nearly always unable to help. One piece of advice (from a sub-contracted company) was badly wrong.
4) Dyno-Rod. The "paid-for" advice was wrong. So wrong that if I had taken it I would have been far worse off.
On the "free" front, there's been various posts re poker software from people where I wasn't charged for support, but I got much more than I paid for. You may not get the perpetuial courtesy, and you may not get brilliant communication skills, but you do (eventually) get someone who knows what he is talking about.
This brings me back to your first sentence, which implies that people will only be helpful if they are paid to be helpful. I don't think that this is true. I think that the "free" help community online, as a rule, does try to be helpful. That they don't have the communication skills or the ability to put themselves into "I am not an expert" thinking mode is not their fault. But if they didn't want to be helpful, then as a general rule they wouldn't post. And you can filter out the standard "it's a virus, destroy your computer and then reboot" responses without going beyond the first sentence.
When you write that "we are no longer in charge", it's clear that you have lost the corporate battle. I can empathize here, in that I went through similar difficulties when it came to my own job shortly after a big company took over the small company for whcih I had previously worked. The subscription delivery list became a farce (40% bouncebacks, because no-one was paid to go through them) and if things had carried on as they were, I wouldn't have had a publication to edit within a couple of years. So what did I do? I wrested back control of subscription delivery and of customer care. It wasn't part of my job description, and I wasn't (directly) paid for it. But I did it anyway (mainly because to do so was vital for the product's medium-term survival). I had a couple of political battles with the office that was "theoretically" in charge of these matters, and I thought that I rather impressively kicked things into touch, knowing that they would soon be forgotten about.
Now, that might not be feasible for you so to do, and I'm not sure what the answer to that is, apart from some hard intra-business lobbying. And that doesn't tend to be professional geeks' field of expertise.
PJ
_____________
Egregious, Heinous, Whatchamacallit, Sin
Date: 2010-12-26 05:20 pm (UTC)So I did: http://drloser.blog.co.uk/2010/12/26/you-ll-pay-for-this-10257002/.
Turns out not to be particularly relevant, and it wasn't really supposed to be, because you can always expand on these things ...
... but since I referenced your blog, I thought it only decent to double-link.
Double-linking, btw, is one of the besetting non-existent peccadillos of the Internet. Not that you'd see that by checking up a random question on a nice friendly site run by an ex-BT guy on one of those ill-advised and unfunded pensions that you're always on about.
Mostly you won't see it because the Internet (help section, subordinate) is going to hell in a hand-basket mcuh faster than the rest of society is going to hell in a hand-basket.
The fundamentals are the same, but unfortunately society has thousands of years of various protection mechanisms behind it, and the Internet has maybe fifteen years of broken links.
So, then. No problem there. Me, I blame the experts. I can always redefine what I mean by "expert" when I hit my next problem.
no subject
Date: 2012-02-04 07:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-19 08:48 am (UTC)