I ordered the text blade a little while ago and should be receiving it end of May. Wanted to see if anyone here has had the chance to use it and if so what did they think?
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TextBlade???
- Thread starter philipandrews
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Since TextBlade is designed for iOS devices and this forum is for Mac Peripherals you might not get the response you were hoping for. For a more receptive audience this would have been better if posted in the iPhone Accessories or iPad Accessories forum.
At any rate, (assuming everyone's still interested) textblade can be used outside of iDevices, like on Mac, Apple TV, and etc. It's really up to the user.
In my case, I pre-ordered it soon as I saw the article written by MacRumors. I am interested in proper portable keyboards that will work. I tried touchfire, which did work for awhile but became a hassle at the end of the day. I tried one of those laser projection keyboard, but it was nothing more than a cool gadget. I need a real keyboard I could carry around with my devices that can be plugged into any bluetooth-enabled computers/smartphones/tablets.
From what I can gather, TextBlade is promising to solve that particular issue. However, the way their forum is working (with absolutely disastrous communication) and how they have been making delays. Here's one example. I gotta admit, I didn't even know there were delays until I looked up my order manually on their website. They didn't even email me, or make a blog post, or call me. I don't know, there are multiple ways to do it, yet they decided to keep things quiet.
I'm actually wondering whether I should simply cancel my order and wait till Amazon has them.
Well, this is an old thread, but to bring you up to date, in late March 2016 they started what they call TREG. Which is a group of customers they selected to do more testing, outside their own company. It was said to number in the hundreds so we figure at least 200. They've added some more twice, but no idea how many more. A small number of those selected were from the WayTools forum site - including me. Right now there are 29 from there, though some either don't post anything or rarely do. Still, we do get a good number of hands on reports.
I was one of those selected. I think the device is great. I don't think a single tester has said otherwise. There have been bugs discovered. The firmware ones have been fixed quickly. All the hardware issues have been reported as fixed for the past few weeks, but they are still testing, especially now as they start applying the changes to the normal assembly line process - they need to make sure the steps they take in assembly don't cause problems. They did a small test last week with positive results. This week is supposed to be a bigger test. I'm hoping we'll have a new update from them this week. Lately they've given updates every 6-7 days.
While it takes some getting used to, everyone praises the feel. Most, including me, find it better than a standard keyboard so it isn't a compromise on size. I use it mostly with my iMac, replacing my Apple wireless keyboard.
While working on the hardware updates, they continue to put the things in the firmware they announced were coming anyway and a few new things that were expected after shipping or which were suggested by the testers.
For example, we can already do Jumps (switch from one device to another in just a couple seconds). They also added a number pad lock like a ten-key setup. And an edit mode lock. More areas or layers have been opened up to customization. An example of that would be the function key layers. Previously they would only give you the 20 function keys, but all the rest of the keys would do nothing. Now you can edit those other spots (40 of them!) to do other things. I have one spot set to turn the TextBlade off.
I assume the 2014 date you wrote was a typo since it wasn't being sold until 2015. But, as for the rest, remember what I wrote: "While working on the hardware updates, they continue to put the things in the firmware...."
So it isn't the adding and perfecting of firmware that is slowing things down. They simply have the people who do that work not wasting time.
No, the hardware needs to be properly tested but IN THE MEANTIME they are making firmware improvements. It isn't likely that the same people do both jobs. Why should they firmware group sit around and do nothing while the hardware is finalized?
So, really, the only issue is how fast they should ship the hardware. Hardware is the issue affecting release - so why should it be released if not ready?
It MAY be ready. That is, all their fixes seem to be working at last report. The assembly process MAY be working, but that is a process, not a one-time evaluation. Problems that don't show up with individual fixed by hand in California may show up in even small scale mass production. Things that don't show up in a relatively slow approach to mass production may show up when you ramp up the speed. Thus you test as you gradually ramp up the speed.
You want it shipped now. Well, so do I. But at the same time, I don't think it should be shipped just for the sake of shipping. If they had shipped what the first TREG testers got to everyone, there would have been a rather large number of units that would have been sent back. Now it seems to be far more solid. They are just making sure, using common business practices. It is only all the prior delays that makes this all frustrating. They should have thought of the TREG program months ago. I don't think they realized how different users could find problems they never saw.
So, really, the only issue is how fast they should ship the hardware. Hardware is the issue affecting release - so why should it be released if not ready?
It MAY be ready. That is, all their fixes seem to be working at last report. The assembly process MAY be working, but that is a process, not a one-time evaluation. Problems that don't show up with individual fixed by hand in California may show up in even small scale mass production. Things that don't show up in a relatively slow approach to mass production may show up when you ramp up the speed. Thus you test as you gradually ramp up the speed.
You want it shipped now. Well, so do I. But at the same time, I don't think it should be shipped just for the sake of shipping. If they had shipped what the first TREG testers got to everyone, there would have been a rather large number of units that would have been sent back. Now it seems to be far more solid. They are just making sure, using common business practices. It is only all the prior delays that makes this all frustrating. They should have thought of the TREG program months ago. I don't think they realized how different users could find problems they never saw.
I have read your posts on this and other threads and I believe you are actually a support person for WayTools. You defend them and give them way too much slack. You writing style matches that of some of the email responses I have received from them.
Why aren't you folks close to release this product and when will all the delays end? Your TREG appears to now be at least three groups, why as that was not planned? What is the level of effort to repair the product in hand.
Right now, I like most others see no end in sight for your development.
Well, this post of yours is a bit more aggressive than the one in the other thread. First, you simply believe WRONG. My connection to WT is strictly as a customer and one of those selected for TREG.
And, like all the others who decide they can't defend their positions, you ignore the reasonings for my positions and assume I work for them. Well, it is convenient to avoid trying to counter the actual arguments made. Heck, I had one poster claim I was Knighton, the owner. And part of their "evidence" was by name because she claimed it meant the boss, those I must be the boss of WT. Amazing stuff.
Of course, you are starting with the presumption that I'm part of the company. Wrong again. But whether I am or not, you questions have already been answered the best I can with what I do know and what other experinece I've had in manufacturing. So, whether you think I'm part of the compani or not, why are you asking what I've already answered?
As for three groups for TREG not being planned, lets look at facts anyone following this should know.
1. TREG was apparently not part of their original plan at all.
2. The three groups, once TREG was added, may have been part of the original plan for TREG. I and others read the WT comments about doing a rolling shipping of TREG units and assumed it meant one group, but maybe take a week or so to get all of them out. Then we had a second and third group and, initially, thought they had made a change in plans. But here's the thing - that also just happens to fit their original TREG description of doing a roll-out. Maybe that wasn't their plan. Don't know. But it DOES fit what they said so our interpretation could be the problem.
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You sure seem to have a lot of info for a customer. Especially one that signed an NDA.
You sure seem to have a lot of info for a customer. Especially one that signed an NDA.
You just can't do anything except assume I'm working for WT. Even after I point out that that is what you keep doing. Sad.
Pretty much everything I've posted has either been said publicly by WT, or has been brought up by various TREG testers on the forums. A small portion is originated by me - though I also post it on the WT forums. And a good portion is my analysis - often because of the vagueness of WT comments. In fact, the post you quoted covers that with the issue of multiple TREG groups. I was very clear that I don't know if they added more which was not part of the original TREG announcement or if it was part of it, but we misinterpreted it. And even explained why. I don't claim to know things I don't know. I present rational possibilities and back them up.
As for the NDA, you sure seem to not have much knowledge for someone interested in this subject. The NDA has been covered in detail, even with the full text posted on the WT forums. After all, an NDA is NORMAL for things like this.
But more noteworthy is that the NDA is, to me, amazingly lenient in what we are restricted to. Key points are:
1. We can not discuss future products. Pretty sure that is a good requirement.
2. This second point isn't even a requirement - just a request - that if we discover a problem, they ask us not to discuss it outside the test group for one week. This is to give them time to either correct what may be a user misunderstanding or to correct the actual problem. As far as I know, all problems have been fixed within a week.
That's about it. We can talk about our impressions, opinions, we can even talk about most things that may come from communication with WT. And most of us have done all that with no complaints from WT.
They have been bad about delays. They have been bad about general communication (though better in the past 2-3 weeks). OTOH, you've been consistently bad about having to assume someone works for them when the fact is, I do not.
But it's okay. I sometimes enjoy pointing out how some people can't make sensible arguments.
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New information about the TextBlade will be provided here. Mostly based on my own testing of it but sometimes relaying comments from other testers or from WayTools itself.
We are 33% into Q4, no shipments and no update. They had to remanufacture all PC boards in September? I have been waiting for 1 year and 10 months. I don't feel they are any closer to a ship date. There is no way they were truthful from the start about shipping prospects. I suspect this was their plan all along. They don't get the cover of crowd source funding here as they did not use a platform for that. They took preorders for a March 2015 ship date and that was a lie.
Personally, I would prefer Waytools comes here and posts so please don't post for them. If you want to talk about your testing fine, but speaking for them in any other way is not your job.
Personally, I would prefer Waytools comes here and posts so please don't post for them. If you want to talk about your testing fine, but speaking for them in any other way is not your job.
When you say information, do you mean the scads of half baked propaganda you have been inflicting on MR for months?
Cool, I await your posting with a sense of disinterest and weariness
Second ZipZap's propsal. Get Mark Knighton up off his backside and get him or his people to post here. We are all bored of the monkey, organ grinder time please.
R
My "job" is to provide information for people who don't go to the WT forums - it's already been said that not all go there, but still want the basic information.
I tend to agree that speaking for WT isn't anyone's job other than WT. I appreciate getting personal impressions of the testing unit, but perhaps avoiding any appearance of speaking for WT is a good way to ensure this thread doesn't get closed like the other ones.
For the record, I never speak "for" WayTools. Some get that wrong. I give my experiences. I relay what others have experienced. And I relay what WT posts or what they tell me in messages or phone calls. I also challenge some of the criticisms (some!) that I feel are unwarranted. I agree with others.
No company has any obligation to post here or on any other forum. And, yep, it is true they should do better on their own forum, in my opinion. But that is the only forum where there is any such obligation, moral or otherwise. So I think it is pretty nice that the NDA says we can report our experiences any place we want, which means other forums, like here, can get information.
A lot of people get it wrong. Much like some people say the testers are "rubbing it in that they were selected". I have never seen a single post that did that. I've seen them be excited to be picked. Nothing wrong with that. I've seen them excited as they post about their initial experiences - which should be considered a good thing to anyone thinking of buying one!
Emotions are funny things. I remember decades ago then I left a job I just couldn't tolerate anymore - and did so without another job lined up. So for awhile I was out of work and I swear, it seemed I couldn't watch a tv show without finding some reference to someone being out of a job! Of course, it wasn't any more common than before and it wasn't happening as much as it felt it was, but at that time I was simply more sensitive to any such references.
No reason to get mad at the TV shows. The problem wasn't with them. The problem was my over-sensitivity to the subject. Realizing that didn't make me feel any better when it happened, but it did keep me from blaming people unfairly.
I think you should stick to posting your experiences and relaying what WT posts pubiicly. Relaying your private conversations with WT and defending them from unwarranted criticisms will just lead to squabbling with other posters, which will get this thread locked, too.
Another long post defending what you do and trying to placate the masses. I stand by my thinking that you are affiliated with Waytools. I dont care about private communications you have with waytools. Why dont you call Mark Knighton and tell him to start emailing his customers and posting to this site.
I have received nothing from him directly in over a year. Everytime I do go to his site I see more issues that equal more delays. I never see a project plan or shipping comittment.
People dont want an update from you. They want to hear from Mark.
Post when actual shipping begins. Talk to you in a year
I have received nothing from him directly in over a year. Everytime I do go to his site I see more issues that equal more delays. I never see a project plan or shipping comittment.
People dont want an update from you. They want to hear from Mark.
Post when actual shipping begins. Talk to you in a year
Sorry, tuned that all out. It just becomes a high pitched whine after a while.
Go get Mark, there's a good chap.
Or won't he come here to verify your repetitive, pointless, hearsay littered spam?
R
I'll defend where appropriate - No company posts to every forum and no obligation to post to one you prefer.
So, no, won't tell Mark to post here either. They are poor about communication elsewhere - and I've told them so. I don't defend things that are legitimate criticisms.
Assumptions are great things for - well, not really great things. Simple fact, my only affiliation with WT is as a customer and tester. Period.
Whether you care about private conversations or not, I'll continue to post them because I would want the same if I wasn't a tester. Why this tendency to insist I only post what you want and if you don't want it, no one else gets to hear it???
As for updates, people would certainly PREFER it come from Mark, but short of that, people that want information want whatever they can get. For those who don't want the information, they simply don't need to read the thread. Simple.
So, no, won't tell Mark to post here either. They are poor about communication elsewhere - and I've told them so. I don't defend things that are legitimate criticisms.
Assumptions are great things for - well, not really great things. Simple fact, my only affiliation with WT is as a customer and tester. Period.
Whether you care about private conversations or not, I'll continue to post them because I would want the same if I wasn't a tester. Why this tendency to insist I only post what you want and if you don't want it, no one else gets to hear it???
As for updates, people would certainly PREFER it come from Mark, but short of that, people that want information want whatever they can get. For those who don't want the information, they simply don't need to read the thread. Simple.
The way I see it, the concern is that people seeing dabigkahuna's updates might be encouraged to order a textblade without being aware of all the delays. So what if each update includes a countdown saying how many months they are now overdue? Would that let dabigkahuma keep posting updates without people challenging his updates and getting this thread locked?
Had to read that a couple times to get it right. For example, when I saw the "so what" phrase my first reaction was to was to interpreted it like when some react to a statement with just those two words! But reading again I got your point and it makes sense.
Now I don't plan on giving a precise countdown every time I post. For one thing, I'm pretty sure all these threads have plenty of posts talking about delays and I've never disagreed with those facts. And it generally isn't my purpose to talk about things everyone agrees with.
My goal is, primarily, to give new information and, secondarily, to correct erroneous or unsupported claims.
But fine, I'm willing to sometimes include a comment about delays. But only because of a very tiny chance someone reading the threads somehow managed to miss such reports in the past.
UPDATE: I just read every post in this thread. As expected, lots of comments about delays so no one could be confused about that fact. But I'll still be glad to mention it from time to time.
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