302 No more support for the PB302?

[Yoths]

News from the PB representative "Kluchnik" ("Ключник") on the Russian forum: The firmware update for PB302 has been postponed for an unknown time because of working on new features for the Pro serie (link)

[kacir]

Originally Posted by Yoths

News from the PB representative "Kluchnik" ("Ключник") on the Russian forum: The firmware update for PB302 has been postponed for an unknown time because of working on new features for the Pro serie (link)

They have also postponed the release of SDK for ALL models.
I am starting to wonder how many developers they have.

[adbosch]

Originally Posted by Yoths

News from the PB representative "Kluchnik" ("Ключник") on the Russian forum: The firmware update for PB302 has been postponed for an unknown time because of working on new features for the Pro serie (link)

Why doesn't this surprise me at all? The only surprise is that they actually communicate the postponement. Normally they would have said nothing.

Well, let's just patiently await the next (xxxxx-th) promise. Those Kiev guys are really funny. As long as you don't buy their stuff.

[guyanonymous]

Thanks for passing on the info. And don't worry, we won't kill the messenger

Now, I have to admit, I'm no longer angry about this. I'm laughing because my current expectations for the company keep being met! (And yes, that means my expectations are for repeated disappointment, lack of follow-thru, and continually ensuring that I will never invest another cent in a product from their company.

I'm in an average of 3 different work environments a week, often new ones. Someone asks me about my reader in the lunch room on a daily basis, and my current reply is, "I love reading on an e-reader and can't imagine going back to paper books for novels etc...BUT, I don't recommend the one I have. I suggest checking out the Kobo and Sony models."

People usually ask why I don't recommend mine, and recommend the others and we have a good chat.

I've probably had this same conversation at least 20 times in the past two months.

[Metal Mick]

Originally Posted by kacir

They have also postponed the release of SDK for ALL models.
I am starting to wonder how many developers they have.

Hi Kacir et al,

I think the answer to that is, "as few as they can get away with." If they are selling large numbers of readers, why should they "waste" money on support? Better to stash away the profits so they cannot be touched if the company goes bust.

Is there an ereader company at present that has less respect than Pocketbook?

[LoneTech]

As a "Pro" model owner, I can only point out that this is patently ridiculous. The only new features they've been working on (I can't exactly count the reenabling of a function present in the obsolete SDK as new development) are entirely superfluous, and I honestly would much rather see the 302 series promises finally upheld than this!

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by LoneTech

As a "Pro" model owner, I can only point out that this is patently ridiculous. The only new features they've been working on (I can't exactly count the reenabling of a function present in the obsolete SDK as new development) are entirely superfluous, and I honestly would much rather see the 302 series promises finally upheld than this!

The North American release of the 603/903 should be coming up soon, so I wonder it they aren't trying to boost some of the touchpad functionality for that. Americans (bless them) are much less shy about complaining and returning goods than most.

[mtravellerh]

We (PocketBook Europe) apologize for the mistakes that have happened in the past.

Obviously our programmers in Kiev can't provide firmware upsates and SDKs in time. We will not give any release dates in the future.

As for service/support, this has been outsourced and really begins to work again. Please forgive the problems that we had during our move. We will be available here, per mail and phone for any questions or problems you may have.

[adbosch]

I mean this very seriously: glad to see you back on this forum, mtravelerh.

[HenkH]

Originally Posted by mtravellerh

Obviously our programmers in Kiev can't provide firmware upsates and SDKs in time. We will not give any release dates in the future.

Thanks for your views on the subject.

Can you get a confirmation from the guys in Kiev that we don't have a guarantee that a new firmware for the PB302 will ever be released and that (until proven otherwise) the support from Kiev for the 302 has effectively been stopped?

[LoneTech]

The problem is that service without fixing the firmware is nearly pointless, because the firmware hasn't reached release quality (and isn't exactly headed there). You're reduced to hardware replacements then, and the hardware is in fact relatively good. I've only had two niggles on that front with my 903:
1. The battery cover lock mechanism simply doesn't work, and excessive force is needed to remove the cover. Not a problem in common use, but eventually I may want to install a SIM module. By the way, we were told that was part of the deal...
2. The power switch is very easily triggered. The included firm sleeve buckles at the corners, and therefore turns the device on in the bag. I worked around this by adding a little padding in the middle.

Meanwhile problems that are not addressed include quite useless zoom levels, crude panning controls (broken more recently), inability to write on SD, power switch triggering immediately, and so on. It looks like more effort has been spent working to make repairs impossible (for instance, an apparently GnuPG based update prevention system - which you haven't published as the LGPL requires) than to clean up issues. I want to have my reader as a usable tool, not a minefield of defects - intentional and not. A point that really makes me frustrated is that the SDK isn't actually any work to produce - it's the same tools GIK already use.

Oh, and welcome back, mtravellerh.

[rkomar]

Originally Posted by LoneTech

...It looks like more effort has been spent working to make repairs impossible (for instance, an apparently GnuPG based update prevention system - which you haven't published as the LGPL requires) than to clean up issues.

Would you elaborate on this? What sort of updates?

[mtravellerh]

Originally Posted by LoneTech

The problem is that service without fixing the firmware is nearly pointless, because the firmware hasn't reached release quality (and isn't exactly headed there). You're reduced to hardware replacements then, and the hardware is in fact relatively good. I've only had two niggles on that front with my 903:
1. The battery cover lock mechanism simply doesn't work, and excessive force is needed to remove the cover. Not a problem in common use, but eventually I may want to install a SIM module. By the way, we were told that was part of the deal...
2. The power switch is very easily triggered. The included firm sleeve buckles at the corners, and therefore turns the device on in the bag. I worked around this by adding a little padding in the middle.

Meanwhile problems that are not addressed include quite useless zoom levels, crude panning controls (broken more recently), inability to write on SD,
power switch triggering immediately, and so on. It looks like more effort has
been spent working to make repairs impossible (for instance, an apparently GnuPG based update prevention system - which you haven't published as the
LGPL requires) than to clean up issues. I want to have my reader as a usable tool, not a minefield of defects - intentional and not. A point that really makes
me frustrated is that the SDK isn't actually any work to produce - it's the same tools GIK already use.


Oh, and welcome back, mtravellerh.

Iam just here for tech support as I realized that nobody is doing this anymore.

1)agreed
2)problem should be solved with 2.0.6

As for the rest of your mail, no idea what you're talking about, my man

[kacir]

Originally Posted by mtravellerh

Iam just here for tech support as I realized that nobody is doing this anymore.

I do appreciate that very much.

I just hope, you meant *official* support.
There are *many* people here (myself including) that provide volunteer support for PocketBook devices 24/7. In some cases those volunteers provide things such as unofficial SDK for 602 ... 903 devices.

[Yoths]

Now we know why the new FW is postponed (or contains no significant improvements for the new models): PocketBook 360° Plus & DOOM II

Corresponding posting from the PB representative "Kluchnik" ("Ключник") on the-ebook.org: rus. original (eng. translation)