Database Develop

[edited title] - This one's for the trolls. Knock yourselves out.

***EDIT:
Turned out most of the folks who responded to this thread were trolls who didn't read the OP anyways, so I've deleted it. If you want to see the original message, it was quoted many, many times (bummer I didn't add any photos). Since my entire point was to try to calm nerves and direct anger away from XDA, I'm deleting my OP. As of now, I'm giving this thread to the trolls. Enjoy.

Ineffective
Relatively good idea but ineffective. Reason? Google don't/won't give a damn anyway. They simply don't care and buying from another store won't make the slightest bit of difference.
What will make a difference is: Noise. And lots of it.
The only thing I think will work is if everyone who is irritated by the fact that their pre-orders are going to arrive AFTER retail stores stock and sell this device starts getting VERY noisy about it on Google+, facebook, anywhere where there is a community. Google+ would be ideal - there's already noise on there about this farce.
So it is ridiculous that a company can so blatantly alienate it's pre-order (and therefore most likely loyal and fervent) customers who would most likely evangelise about Google, it's services and products. It's the very definition of dumb and the sad truth is that they genuinely don't give a damn. They don't care at all.
I'm very tempted to simply cancel my order because if they don't care enough to organise things so that pre-order customers get their orders first then thank you very much but see you later. It's not a premium tablet and yet, I very much have a case of sour grapes going on here as I'm sure others here can relate too. It doesn't bode well for the ego in me to see that some others have ordered on other websites AND had their devices DELIVERED before Google themselves can even get their ass into gear and organise delivery for their loyal pre-order customer. I have to say - pre-ordering this product at such an early stage is/was genuinely an act of faith in that lots of us who did so didn't have all that much info to go on as to whether this product was any good. It seems that Google, like virtually EVERY other company out there simply doesn't believe or operate with the belief that treating customers well is good business sense - and why should they. They get by just fine without our tablet purchases from them thank you very much. I've invested a lot of time in Google's products and services. I'm a self-confessed, labelled "geek" and believe me - this has me pissed off enough to move to other services, and as the elder-geek in my circle of friends and family, I'd take them with me slowly but surely. Sour grapes indeed.
So: A: Google simply don't care
B: Make some noise!

alsheron said:
Relatively good idea but ineffective. Reason? Google don't/won't give a damn anyway. They simply don't care and buying from another store won't make the slightest bit of difference.
What will make a difference is: Noise. And lots of it.
The only thing I think will work is if everyone who is irritated by the fact that their pre-orders are going to arrive AFTER retail stores stock and sell this device starts getting VERY noisy about it on Google+, facebook, anywhere where there is a community. Google+ would be ideal - there's already noise on there about this farce.
So it is ridiculous that a company can so blatantly alienate it's pre-order (and therefore most likely loyal and fervent) customers who would most likely evangelise about Google, it's services and products. It's the very definition of dumb and the sad truth is that they genuinely don't give a damn. They don't care at all.
I'm very tempted to simply cancel my order because if they don't care enough to organise things so that pre-order customers get their orders first then thank you very much but see you later. It's not a premium tablet and yet, I very much have a case of sour grapes going on here as I'm sure others here can relate too. It doesn't bode well for the ego in me to see that some others have ordered on other websites AND had their devices DELIVERED before Google themselves can even get their ass into gear and organise delivery for their loyal pre-order customer. I have to say - pre-ordering this product at such an early stage is/was genuinely an act of faith in that lots of us who did so didn't have all that much info to go on as to whether this product was any good. It seems that Google, like virtually EVERY other company out there simply doesn't believe or operate with the belief that treating customers well is good business sense - and why should they. They get by just fine without our tablet purchases from them thank you very much. I've invested a lot of time in Google's products and services. I'm a self-confessed, labelled "geek" and believe me - this has me pissed off enough to move to other services, and as the elder-geek in my circle of friends and family, I'd take them with me slowly but surely. Sour grapes indeed.
So: A: Google simply don't care
B: Make some noise!
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Might I suggest reading the whole message before you start typing a reply next time?

..

noble effort, but i really dont think even the slew of pissed off people on here would make a dent.
plus, those other app stores suck.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a bit pissed about the whole shipping thing... but this is the first time google had ever pissed me off and I'm a long timer user.
A few days isn't going to make that big of a difference.

Except that we do get the best warranty coverage since we bought from the Play Store. Google is going to handle our warranty stuff instead of Asus, they will ship a new one out before as soon as we say something is wrong. And pay the shipping for our broken tablet to be shipped to them.
And while this might be slightly annoying, Google is and awesome company that I use every single day.
If you want to really protest do the following:
Step 1: Switch to HotMail.
Step 2: Change your Search Engine to Bing or Yahoo.
Step 3: Sell your Android Smart Phone and Tablet to buy an iPhone, have a ton of fun loading your awesome custom Rom's onto it.

agreed, while i am mad stores have them first, let's all take a deep breathe and relax here. I got my shipping emal saturday morning so i will have my device on Tuesday, i am happy and it and looking forward to my tasty treat!

What fiasco? Google started shipping when they said they would.
Get over yourself.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0b7mwTK564o&feature=player_detailpage#t=88s

I've decided to be positive and think that it's a blessing in disguise...perhaps the early adopters will sort out issues for us so that we don't have to....
My life for Aiur

The delay isn't what bothers me. What has annoyed me is their handling of cancelling the order. It hadn't even been shipped and they were refusing to give a refund or stop the shipment. Ridiculous.

slack04 said:
The most effective protests are the ones that require minimal effort. Occupy would have been effective if everyone who agreed with the ideology could afford to spend a few weeks camping in a park. The Tea Party would have been effective if everyone who agreed could afford... um... high school? You get my point.
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That Tea Party line made me completely lol! Hilarious.

slack04 said:
Might I suggest reading the whole message before you start typing a reply next time?
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Might I suggest a less condescending attitude. There is nothing in my message that indicates that I didn't read your initial post.

Morning! Still aint got ****. I preordered 7/2. Got charged on 7/13 though.
I think those "kids", yes i said it, have never dealt with a mass distribution like this on a grand scale. They're geeks, what do they really know about the production line. All it would've took for those geniuses to make a ****ing priority list and ship preorders first, then ship to retailers, instead of giving them stock and say, "hey, don't sell it yet". How hard is that?
Its simple yet so hard for one person to realize that over there? Im with the OP. Where's the loyalty???
Sent from my SGH-T959

I SO AGREE with what your saying in op post. except we here on xda is a minority compared to all the android tablet users . There are not really enough of us to make a stand with the whole no buy from market thing. Nor do i think its fair. Google is really setup to sell or distribute hardware.Asus has been a mess for the past years and getting worse. I have a asus netbook that has a issue with the camera. The repair facility is 4 miles from my house. I had to mail the thing to them using UPS. THEN WAIT for them to repair it mail it to there shipping facility in chicago. 5 hours away and then ship it to me.. TRUE STORY.
SO with that all said this is a Android tablet (Kinda a TOY) .we will all get thru this launch shipping mess .We will be happy before you know it.. Lets just hope that asus has not messed up the build quality we would expect from google.
Good luck alll

You must live on youtube... look around ...
mnotme said:
What fiasco? Google started shipping when they said they would.
Get over yourself.
... there are plenty of people who pre-ordered, and haven't heard "squat" about shipping or order completion.
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I don't think it's fair to punish a mistake, as long as they acknowledge the mistake and apologize. I don't really believe in revenge. Google has been good as a company and doesn't warrant punishment in the form of boycotting the apps from their store in my opinion. It sucks though and really Hope that they straighten this out with an apology of some sort. Regardless, i don't think I'd preorder from Google again unless i have confidence that they'll learn from this fiasco.
My life for Aiur

Refuse shipment. Buy from someone who isn't Google or wait for the next hot thing. With all the screen issues and other QA issues, it's just waiting to receive your broken tablet and mail it back to them anyway. Refuse delivery, ship it back on their dime and buy it from a store where you can check the unit before you leave. Screw Google, screw their poor customer service and screw their Play Store.

I was tempted to cancel before but if you really wanted to stop your google from processing, refusing shipment, restocking fee, you can simply freeze ur cc or req a new card and new #. Why is that so difficult? U can also tell ur cc company its fraud, and they won't allow it to go through. BofA called me and I approved the charge.
Do it! Wake up
Sent from my SGH-T959

Also to be fair, it's not entirely Google's fault. If everyone did a told, this wouldn't have happened. There are more than one factor than Google messed up. And I'm not going to say "screw Google"when they brought us Android!
My life for Aiur

Angry at Google?

I think many of us (especially us Canadians who are still mostly N7-less) are pretty pissed off at how Google handled the pre-orders. I think many of you would agree that it's a reasonable expectation that pre-orders from the supplier should come before retailers are able to put theirs on the shelf. This is especially reasonable when you consider that we were charged 2-day shipping via UPS without any other alternative from Google. It has also been reported that some Canadians are getting 4-day shipping estimates even though they paid for supposed 2-day shipping.
I know that many of you will probably tell me to stop whining and just suck it up because they didn't break any promise as to the plain writing contractual agreement. But that doesn't mean that there are implicit expectations which should be met in good faith. This is especially true for a company that has a history of catering to its users and still holds the informal motto of "don't be evil".
I know that Google has always been a pretty open company and listened to feedback, and I still trust that they uphold these values. Is there anything we can do as a group of people to voice our opinions directly to them and let them know? I am sure that many of us are also developers hoping to get their first hands on the device as well. And I'm sure that Google would like to keep its developing community happy.
Addendum:
I just wanted to say why I wrote the post. This is was not meant to be a rant. If you re-read the OP, you will see that I am actually looking for a way to collectively voice to Google our discontent. That's because I believe Google to be a high-quality company that listens to its users. And I do WANT to order from Google Play again for the next device, but not before helping them improve their process by vocalizing our disappointments to them.
A rant in itself is useless, but what I am looking for is a way to let Google know where they can improve so we can enjoy a better Play store in the future.

no point of pre-ordering if we are not given any exclusivity ><

Stop whining.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Not mad at all, I am getting what I paid for.

It's funny when people say that they aren't upset that they over paid for a product that they'll get after people that didn't pre-order.
Sent from my Nexus 7

ibopm said:
I think many of us (especially us Canadians who are still mostly N7-less) are pretty pissed off at how Google handled the pre-orders. I think many of you would agree that it's a reasonable expectation that pre-orders from the supplier should come before retailers are able to put theirs on the shelf. This is especially reasonable when you consider that we were charged 2-day shipping via UPS without any other alternative from Google. It has also been reported that some Canadians are getting 4-day shipping estimates even though they paid for supposed 2-day shipping.
I know that many of you will probably tell me to stop whining and just suck it up because they didn't break any promise as to the plain writing contractual agreement. But that doesn't mean that there are implicit expectations which should be met in good faith. This is especially true for a company that has a history of catering to its users and still holds the informal motto of "don't be evil".
I know that Google has always been a pretty open company and listened to feedback, and I still trust that they uphold these values. Is there anything we can do as a group of people to voice our opinions directly to them and let them know? I am sure that many of us are also developers hoping to get their first hands on the device as well. And I'm sure that Google would like to keep its developing community happy.
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awww big baby didnt get his shiny nexus 7 before everyone else *cries*.
Wah. get over it.

Maybe you should launch Angry Birds at them?

I'm a little upset I paid for the shipping from the play store when I could have e just ordered from games top.. Not pay the shipping and get my n7 sooner. It's not that big of a deal for me but everyone will forget later today when they get their devices.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

you got/will get it a week after everyone else. how will you manage to live?

Angry is probably too strong, but i'd have hoped (as with pre-ordering anything) that you'd at least get the thing delivered on launch day. Wouldn't expect to get it early necessarily and there are clear commercial reasons why this wouldn't go down well for a product thats being sold via third parties as well as from Google directly. And if the courier is struggling to keep up then its probably Google's fault for apparently giving regional exclusivity to any single company. After all, the likes of Amazon seem to cope quite well using multiple couriers and getting large volume launches of items out on time.
And certainly the communication side of things could've been alot better done than it has been, not to mention the customer services element for those who tried unsuccessfully to can pre-orders a week or more ago.

Isn't this what that OTHER thread is for?

ikn0wagh0st said:
Stop whining.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
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infamousjax said:
awww big baby didnt get his shiny nexus 7 before everyone else *cries*.
Wah. get over it.
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Can't tell if trolls or just stupid.
Did either of you even read the OP? He had an extremely valid point. We paid for required two-day shipping, supposedly in an effort to receive our products on or before the day everyone else could receive theirs. Of course this was not guaranteed by Google, but the fact that it didn't happen makes it unlikely that I'll ever preorder another Google product unless they adapt the same philosophy used elsewhere, like Amazon and Apple.
I followed the rumors since the 370T, preordered within minutes of availability, paid extra for mandatory expedited shipping, and it's finally being delivered tonight. Folks simply wandered into stores last week and picked theirs up. That's not how it should work. I'm not whining - I just believe Google should handle things differently in the future.

infamousjax said:
awww big baby didnt get his shiny nexus 7 before everyone else *cries*.
Wah. get over it.
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That's not my point as Jiggavolt has also explained. I would gladly have paid $5 or $10 shipping to get 3-week shipping rather than the 2-day shipping. But since we were required to purchase $20 (Canadian) 2-day shipping (which turned out to NOT be 2-DAY shipping AT ALL), I think it's fair to say that I feel a little cheated. Beyond that, there are implicit expectations that have not really been followed through or at least communicated. Even a simple apology to say that they were a bit slow would satisfy me.
_MetalHead_ said:
Isn't this what that OTHER thread is for?
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No, I'm seeking an avenue to communicate discontent with Google in a collective way.

ibopm said:
No, I'm seeking an avenue to communicate discontent with Google in a collective way.
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Ha! Since you stated that so eloquently, I just can't argue with it

Yeah, I could see being upset, actually. I ended up just calling all of the Gamestop stores within 15 miles (probably 6 of them) before I found one that had one in stock.

I would be angry too, but mainly about the 2 day shipping issue. However, I believe that UPS is at fault here if they cannot deliver within two days, not Google. I did not want to pay for shipping so I picked mine up at Staples on Sunday.

It's easy. Next time Google comes out with another device. DO NOT ORDER FROM THE PLAY STORE no matter what they say. You will get PLAYED again. They named it the PLAY store for a reason.
In my mind, Google has botched the entire process from start to finish.
1. Mystery specs - for the longest time, nobody could figure out if it had MHL or HDMI out, USB OTG, external storage, etc. Even media sites were conflicted on these features.
2. Saying that it will only be available on the Played store when it wasn't.
3. Shipping to retailers FIRST before fulfilling their own pre-orders hoping that retailers will hold them for an unspecified amount of time.
4. Shipping devices in no discernible order (FIFO, LIFO), etc.
5. Shipping 8GB orders first before 16GB, and then 16GB before those that also bundled a case with it.
6. 2 day shipping questionable... existing posted screenshots showing estimated time of delivery of 4+ days confirms this.
7. Canada gets brown back and US gets black back. WTF?
8. No able to cancel orders and no response from e-mails (at least for emails from Canada).
9. No specific launch date except mid-July. It's mid-July already, and some haven't even seen movement on their orders.
10. No explanation from Google over this fiasco.
The only redeeming feature was the price.
I don't know if this is Asus' fault or not, but Google is to blame. I think what Google should have done is hold shipping to retailers until they fulfilled their own Played store pre-orders first. None of this "everyone gets it at the same time" crap... WE OBVIOUSLY DIDN'T ORDER IT AT THE SAME TIME, so why go this route? If retailers don't have stock to sell, they can't sell it. However, if they do and it is taking up space, you can bet somebody is going to break the rule... esp. when there is no specific date to sell it.
The Played store is the premiere store for buying google branded devices. Google should make sure that when you order from there, you are at least guaranteed to get it the same time, if not earlier, than all other retailers at launch. Otherwise it is pointless to pay shipping when you could just walk to your local B&M and buy it right away for the same price - minus shipping. As it stands now, you would be a fool to order from the played store for the next device no matter how exclusive it will be.
The next time around, not ordering devices from the played store will be a good lesson for google.
If Steve Jobs were alive and this was an Apple product, he would have made it right by now. God rest his soul, he's probably laughing in his grave right now.

In the words of Justin Timberlake... Cry me a river.

I can't say I'm exactly thrilled over the situation. I found out Staples has them on the shelf right now. Meanwhile, I've received nothing from Google regarding my pre-order. No status update, no shipping notification, nothing. It stings a little bit to realize I'm paying more to get it later when you factor in the shipping cost... especially when I could have one within 5 minutes since Staples is just down the road...
I'm not exactly angry to go to war with Google over this, but this is definitely some serious food for thought for future purchases. I can't see myself possibly pre-ordering through Google again.

Anyone who pre-ordered with the expectation of receiving it before those who didn't pre-order, had the wrong expectations. I've been involved with many pre-orders and known of many many more. I've never seen one with that expectation.
However, you should expect to receive it on the generally available (GA) date. That's where this release broke down. Whether it's Google or Asus, it doesn't matter. The process failed.
However number 2. When I saw that pre-orders were paying for shipping and taxes, a flag went up for me. I decided to not pre-order as it would be cheaper for me to walk into a store and buy on the GA date. I saw little value in pre-ordering.

A Truly Terrible Purchasing Experience

The title is a little misleading, as I was unable to actually purchase anything, but I think it gets my point across for the most part.
For a company as big as Google to botch two consecutive high profile product launches has me scratching my head. First, why would Google not let eager, and most probably loyal, customers simply pre-order the N4? That way they could gauge interest, and if there was a back log, they could just tell pre-order customers their N4s would be delivered at a later date. Sure there might have been disappointment for backlogged orders, but at least they'd know when they would be receiving their N4s.
Second, why on earth would you make us jump through hoops to find out when exactly the N4 would be launching? If it weren't for the persistence of your dedicated fan base, we would never have know if the launch was at 12am pst, 9am pst, or all the other times inbetween. Even the generally accepted launch time of 12am pst was pushed back for 9am pst in NA, but you botched that too by opening preorders at 8:30am pst. WTF! Not to mention the staggered release times in Europe and Australia.
If Android wasn't such a kick ass operating system, I'd probably just pick up a Lumia 920, but you have most of us by the balls, and you seem to know it.
Seriously though, I just want a product launch that doesn't suck. It doesn't have to be awesome, it just has to make me not want to kill myself.

Not much you can do when you get DDoS'd by worldwide over-demand.

It is the worst I've seen for a store front!!

So make a thread about it..!
Along with every other large thread out there.

They should have imposed a 2 phone limit on all people and used there IP address to prevent purchasing more.
What's happening is people are buying 10+ and selling them on eBay at a 200% mark-up.

AlexWekell said:
They should have imposed a 2 phone limit on all people and used there IP address to prevent purchasing more.
What's happening is people are buying 10+ and selling them on eBay at a 200% mark-up.
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Whats wrpng with that? We do not live in a communist country during 1950.

Please continue discussion here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1962514

Intentional hype?

Am I the only one here thinking that it was part of google's plan to make it look like they sold a bunch of N4s in order to get the media's attention by bragging about how many they sold? Just Google: "nexus 4 sold out". You will find many websites reporting that nexus 4 are selling like hot cakes/or are sold out. I'm going to have to look at the next news paper, I bet we will see it in the headlines. This is wonderful news for Google. Great advertisement.
More over I would like to know what you guys think of this. Don't you think that such a rich company like Google would have for seen this?
Also the fact that the number of sold devices are not being reported, wouldn't that indicate that the amount of devices are actually not that much after all? (mentioning the # of sold units would discredit their bragging right? - Of course, only if it is not high)
Chances are they have a lot on stock but want to sell only a certain amount for the time being.
Now what would concern me is, if it actually is the truth that they ran out of supply. I mean, LG? There are few people who have faith in LG, their android update policy is enough to associate that company with incompetence.
Even with the nexus phone being an LG, they already managed to leave a bad impression in countries with no play store by announcing a price which could be nearly up to double the price of the nexus 4 in the play store.
What if LG is not able to keep up with demand? What is your say? What do you think is going on?
I visited a site that mentioned that Google has done this before, in order to see how high the demand is and to fulfill the needs a few days/weeks/month later. Was not following the galaxy nexus sale , anyone that experienced this here?
Hope this thread doesn't get closed, I could imagine some interesting discussion going on

no, just scumbags trying to make a profit by hogging all the stock

AznDud333 said:
no, just scumbags trying to make a profit by hogging all the stock
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I think it its engineered, why not Apple do it all the time

Naw, I mean, there really weren't any commercials over it or anything. Google has the money to spend on advertising for it, but they honestly didn't. I feel they just weren't too sure on when to do it themselves and that we were probably making more out of it than needed to be.

dahmmy said:
I think it its engineered, why not Apple do it all the time
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google's site never lags
it lagged today.

It's a big global conspiracy to ruin your day. Mission accomplished.

If this was Apple then, yes, I would believe it was intentional but honestly the server was crashing. What I saw you can't fake. It was like a DDoS attack. That server was basically brought to its knees. SERIOUSLY.
Sent from my Nexus 7

Ravynmagi said:
It's a big global conspiracy to ruin your day. Mission accomplished.
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The Illuminati. Yes! They are watching us!
@above: hmmm. I prefer Lg is incompetent

I think it may be a combination of Google's lack of concern about their customers combined with a poor working relationship with LG. I don't think Google wants publicity about this launch because they and LG won't come off looking too good. Google must have thought it was getting more units from LG because they had indicated they would sell the Nexus 4 via Playstore in the Netherlands and Belgium. Then at the last minute, they had to cancel those commitments because they didn't get enough units from LG. At the same time, non-US carriers selling the phone at a much higher price than Google got units ahead of launch time so their customers could physically have the phone today. Hence, you have a number of users posting threads here about problems with their brand new Nexus 4 phones, which they have in hand. So, LG shorted Google to send phones to vendors that sell the Nexus 4 at a higher price. I suspect the whole sales cycle of this phone may be marked by problems between Google and LG, resulting in supply shortages for the lower priced Google-sold phones. If consumers want the phone and don't want to wait for weeks at a time between LG's periodic shipment of a meager supply to Google, you may be forced to buy from other vendors at a higher price or, in the US, a contract commitment to T-Mobile. It looks like Google + LG= oil + water; they don't mix well.

mke1973 said:
I think it may be a combination of Google's lack of concern about their customers combined with a poor working relationship with LG. I don't think Google wants publicity about this launch because they and LG won't come off looking too good. Google must have thought it was getting more units from LG because they had indicated they would sell the Nexus 4 via Playstore in the Netherlands and Belgium. Then at the last minute, they had to cancel those commitments because they didn't get enough units from LG. At the same time, non-US carriers selling the phone at a much higher price than Google got units ahead of launch time so their customers could physically have the phone today. Hence, you have a number of users posting threads here about problems with their brand new Nexus 4 phones, which they have in hand. So, LG shorted Google to send phones to vendors that sell the Nexus 4 at a higher price. I suspect the whole sales cycle of this phone may be marked by problems between Google and LG, resulting in supply shortages for the lower priced Google-sold phones. If consumers want the phone and don't want to wait for weeks at a time between LG's periodic shipment of a meager supply to Google, you may be forced to buy from other vendors at a higher price or, in the US, a contract commitment to T-Mobile. It looks like Google + LG= oil + water; they don't mix well.
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.... Or maybe not. That's quite the stretch.

shadehh said:
Also the fact that the number of sold devices are not being reported, wouldn't that indicate that the amount of devices are actually not that much after all? (mentioning the # of sold units would discredit their bragging right? - Of course, only if it is not high)
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It is Google's policy not to release sales figures. So it indicates absolutely nothing. Asus released some Nexus 7 sales figures last month and apparently Google was not too happy.

This is what happens when things are under-priced. Whether mandated by law (price controls) or whether a company does it out of its own desire (Nexus 4). Selling something below its true value will lead to shortages because the demand will be too heavy. Combine that with Google probably trying to not overestimate the demand in order to not build too many, it should be no surprise that it sold out so quickly.

FallN said:
If this was Apple then, yes, I would believe it was intentional but honestly the server was crashing. What I saw you can't fake. It was like a DDoS attack. That server was basically brought to its knees. SERIOUSLY.
Sent from my Nexus 7
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very true... i had an N4 in my cart 8 times today (EIGHT freakin times) and each and every time i tried to proceed, i got that craptastic yellow banner telling me that something happened on the back end. their servers were absolutely hammered.

PincheKeith said:
This is what happens when things are under-priced. Whether mandated by law (price controls) or whether a company does it out of its own desire (Nexus 4). Selling something below its true value will lead to shortages because the demand will be too heavy. Combine that with Google probably trying to not overestimate the demand in order to not build too many, it should be no surprise that it sold out so quickly.
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I'm happy with the low price and even if I have to wait a year to get a nexus 4 I'm so happy Google set new standards. I don't find the price too cheap, they could have easily added 50 bucks more for all I care. But I'm glad they set new standards for great hardware all others phone manufacturers must now adjust

I waited all day, from 3:00 AM EST when it was SUPPOSED to launch, to 12:00 PM EST when the "second" launch time was "announced", resulting in two times in which the "Add to Cart" button popped up but didn't work after clicking through. The minute I step inside my house, I rush to my computer, and see a nice, red SOLD OUT sign.
It had to be either a) testing the waters in terms of demand for the device (highly unlikely), b) a publicity stunt in order to garner more (free) attention for the Nexus4 (as we say it, any publicity is good publicity), or c) as stated a shortage of devices as a result between miscommunication/communication breakdowns between LG and Google.
Thoroughly disappointed. I sold my phone (GNexus) in the hopes of upgrading for very little $, and now I'm stuck with no phone at all.

oceansaber said:
I waited all day, from 3:00 AM EST when it was SUPPOSED to launch, to 12:00 PM EST when the "second" launch time was "announced", resulting in two times in which the "Add to Cart" button popped up but didn't work after clicking through. The minute I step inside my house, I rush to my computer, and see a nice, red SOLD OUT sign.
It had to be either a) testing the waters in terms of demand for the device (highly unlikely), b) a publicity stunt in order to garner more (free) attention for the Nexus4 (as we say it, any publicity is good publicity), or c) as stated a shortage of devices as a result between miscommunication/communication breakdowns between LG and Google.
Thoroughly disappointed. I sold my phone (GNexus) in the hopes of upgrading for very little $, and now I'm stuck with no phone at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
man, i feel you. i sold my gnex and my backup (g2x) device in anticipation of the nexus 4. I'm old and tired. So, i'm just going to go to my tmobile store and pick up a note 2. I got one for my wife last week and she has been completely satisfied with it. I'll re-evaluate the state of android in a couple months, whereby I might sell the note 2 to finally get the nexus 4. we'll see.

If you believe that its all a conspiracy, put your aluminum foil hat back on and go sit in the corner.

PincheKeith said:
This is what happens when things are under-priced. Whether mandated by law (price controls) or whether a company does it out of its own desire (Nexus 4). Selling something below its true value will lead to shortages because the demand will be too heavy. Combine that with Google probably trying to not overestimate the demand in order to not build too many, it should be no surprise that it sold out so quickly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Finally someone who understand economics.
Put gas half price today. Guess what will happen. Even if gas stations prepared. EVERYONE will gas and you can't prepare for that. Supply is driven by how valuable it is to sell. Demand is determined by how much value you get. They released a 600$ phone at 300$. Take off your tinfoil hats and go to school.

There is no conspiracy. We are talking about about a relatively small cell phone player in LG and a device with a small profit margin. Considering that both these companies are banking on the same profit model, ie, google wants large volume sales for ads and LG wants large volume to compensate for smaller net profits per phone. With the next big phone literally always around the corner, to delay sales in any way is very bad for both companies.

shadehh said:
I don't find the price too cheap, they could have easily added 50 bucks more for all I care.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then it is too cheap If people are willing to pay $400 or $450, and they sell it for $350, that's too cheap. That's why demand is (and should be!) so high.
I don't think they did this intentionally, they have a great device at a great price and it sold out.

F(... you over)tec

I honestly don't know where to start... there is so much to unpack.
I guess I'll just try it chronologically...
So, Fxtec sold us a smartphone with SD835 SoC, which would get Android security updates for at least another two years.
When using a community-driven OS like Lineage, security updates would even surpass this.
Shipping was supposed to take place in March.
The shipping cost was a flat fee of $40. This was supposed to include pre-paid customs, which was a key point for me, since custom rates are effing high here.
All of this at a somewhat steep price, considering the hardware's age (e.g. almost 4 year old SoC).
But the idea of having a (more or less) modern smartphone with a proper keyboard was just too tempting.
I opted in.
But I remained concerned about the SD835 and it's upcoming EOL.
I wasn't all too sure the advertised two years of Android updates would cover SoC firmware updates as well. (Android updates =/= firmware updates)
Without firmware updates it doesn't really matter which OS you are running, since you become vulnerable at the lowest software-level. Exploiting firmware vulnerabilities can allow for total control over the device. And no OS update (not even a community-driven one) could ever fix this.
When I asked questions about this in the campaign's comments, nothing happened at first. Although other questions got answered by Fxtec. I was being ignored.
After multiple comments and finally reaching out to them via email, I got an answer.
I was told not to worry, 'since the phone would get Android security updates for at least two years.'
Yeah...that's a wake-up call right there.
Following above explanation, anyone should be able to see why this answer is such borderline ingenious sh*t cake.
Anyway, I had already lost too much time asking questions to get a refund. And since none of the other backers seemed to be interested in a secure phone, I faced the facts and told myself that I'd just sell it (probably at a minor loss, due to the old hardware) once it arrived in March.
Oh! Look at that! It's March.
So I just went to check on the campaign to see, when my phone will arrive.
BAM! Huge campaign update.
The SoC hit EOL even before they could build the phones!! Their supplier can't provide the SD835 anymore!
If I wasn't affected myself, I'd be ROFLing all over the house right about now.
Instead of the SD835 everyone now gets a phone with an SD662.
>But fear not, at least this SoC still gets proper security updates, as 'SO MANY OF YOU' were concerned about that...<
>Oh, by the way, there might be a *slight *drop in performance<
>Oh, and we silently updated our FAQ. Now it mentions that the $40 shipping doesn't include customs anymore. It's because of Brexit. We specifically said Brexit wouldn't be an issue. But now it is.
Well, not our money that's gettin' p*ssed away.
Enjoy spending ~25% more than expected on your already expensive phone.<
...* nice, deep breaths --- in ... ... and out --- in ... ... and out *...
Ok. So. Let me get this straight.
Now I am forced to pay 25% more for an already expensive phone, that was already a little weak on the hardware.
Hardware that just got further downgraded from an old flagship-SoC to a new and ~20% slower mid-low range SoC.
... anything else?! Well, yeah, delivery has been postponed. New estimated shipping date is August.
But at this point: who gives a f*ck?!
What's my endgame/why am I writing all of this?!
To be honest, I simply HAD TO write this. If I hadn't, I would probably have smashed someones car or something.
Yes, I'm insanely furious. And I feel betrayed.
Needless to say I will never deal with Fxtec in any shape or form ever again.
And should the name ever come up again when I'm around -be it online or IRL-,
I will strongly -and with every fiber of my being- advise people against any kind of dealings with Fxtec.
Backing this company has been a huge mistake!
Shame on you, Fxtec. Shame on you!
And shame on XDA for partnering up with such a company!
NEVER.AGAIN.!!

A little late to respond, but 100% had the same feelings. I contacted them about a refund when the news hit, which they refused.
We're getting a worse phone, later in the year. We're getting a SoC that's available in 130 euro phones TODAY, in a 600+ euro package IN AUGUST AT BEST. And we get to pay additional import fees. They 100% had to know this was coming. If they didn't, their purchasing staff simply didn't do their job. The responsibility rests with them.
I was really on the fence when backing this phone, as it had an old SoC, and it was pretty expensive. But I like slider phones, and I'm pretty sure this was our last hurrah before they go away entirely - being stuck with an older phone seemed fine if they used a flagship CPU and promised long community support. I also thought "what could go wrong, it's an existing product, they've been selling these phones for a while now".
100% feeling ripped off. That keyboard would bettter end up being amazing. Never going to back a technology based crowdfunding again.
My guess is that F(x)tec is probably in financial trouble and unable to give out refunds for disgruntled backers. They'd rather take the reputation hit on the chin and postpone bankruptcy for a while. Though with one niche phone that didn't sell great, and this attempt at building a bigger community around their product backfiring massively, I doubt it will save them for very long.

What else is there to say? Apprehensive-jumped hit the nail on the head.
I too was on the fence,
Who's F(x)tec, I said.... But my love for, and loyalty to XDA and it's community made me believe, "it's XDA, they wouldn't partner to a relatively no name if they didn't do thorough research first, right?"... Christ all mighty....
To think now, that I would back a company, with $$ I should have kept in bank cause the pandemic destroyed my smart home business just weeks later, with the bull**** they have force fed their backs for what seems like an eternity.... Boils my blood doesn't quite fit the bill.
I will second that motion, so hopefully it carries... To EVERYONE'S ears, and well into the future: For shame F(x)tec, for shame.
I would flat out call you thieves in the night, if XDA wasn't attached to this.
(To be clear, I still, and always will, have faith and respect for XDA. I'm certain they did not know f(x)tec was selling snake oil....)

According to their latest update (November Pro1-X update | Nov 30, 2021 • 11:02AM)
"""
We are re-booking a manufacturing slot with the factory for the 5th January 2022. Due to the number of steps/complexity involved in the Pro1-X production line, it is difficult for us to book an assembly slot any sooner. For reference, we have 30+ individual procedures, compared to a generic smartphone which typically has around 10 steps).
We will manufacture some pre-production units from the 15th December 2021 to get familiar with the production line and all of the necessary steps required for mass manufacturing ahead of January 2022. These pre-production units will then be sent out to all of the OS developers to help us verify the production quality and functionality internally.
"""
Sound like some of these devices may actually begin to exist within the next few months. Who knows with shipping. I just accepted it as a loss and move on with my life. If a phone ever shows up, cool.
I don't think ill ever do crowdfunding any more, too many crappy kickstarters and indegogos out there its just not worth the risk.
too bad its so hard to find a phone with headphone jack and no stupid hole or notch in the screen these days.

0xDE57 said:
According to their latest update (November Pro1-X update | Nov 30, 2021 • 11:02AM)
"""
We are re-booking a manufacturing slot with the factory for the 5th January 2022. Due to the number of steps/complexity involved in the Pro1-X production line, it is difficult for us to book an assembly slot any sooner. For reference, we have 30+ individual procedures, compared to a generic smartphone which typically has around 10 steps).
We will manufacture some pre-production units from the 15th December 2021 to get familiar with the production line and all of the necessary steps required for mass manufacturing ahead of January 2022. These pre-production units will then be sent out to all of the OS developers to help us verify the production quality and functionality internally.
"""
Sound like some of these devices may actually begin to exist within the next few months. Who knows with shipping. I just accepted it as a loss and move on with my life. If a phone ever shows up, cool.
I don't think ill ever do crowdfunding any more, too many crappy kickstarters and indegogos out there its just not worth the risk.
too bad its so hard to find a phone with headphone jack and no stupid hole or notch in the screen these days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It would be nice if the XDA team would drop by one in a while to give us some hope, but my post at the beginning of the month has no replies but my own. At this point, even if we get the hardware I'm not sure the software will be maintained or updated by anybody. There's certainly no indication of XDA interest here. There are no ROM threads, no representation from Ubuntu Touch nor LineageOS.
Sure, I get it that until the hardware is out, there won't be anything to install, but someone somewhere must be working on it if there is intention to support it. I'm not seeing any evidence of that, though.

it's now april.
I still do not have this device. in fact this device is still not in production yet.
I backed this project strictly on the reputation of xda and I feel royally ripped off and cheated. in the time since the campaign ended I have purchased 2 devices both with better specs than this device. a "brand bew" device that will receive less than a year of security updates if it eventually comes out.
the thing that I am majorly disappointed in is that xda isn't or hasn't used its influence as an entity cosigned on this project to push fxtec to honor the backers that requested refunds due to the delays and spec downgrades that were initially promised. their reputation is also put into question here.
I'm saying right here and now that if this actually gets made and shipped that I'm not keeping it. I'm not interested in any 2017 midrange device that will barely be given updates in 2022 maybe and a gimmick like a physical keyboard isn't enough for me to have anymore interest in this massive money sink and disappointment.

ctkatz said:
it's now april.
I still do not have this device. in fact this device is still not in production yet.
I backed this project strictly on the reputation of xda and I feel royally ripped off and cheated. in the time since the campaign ended I have purchased 2 devices both with better specs than this device. a "brand bew" device that will receive less than a year of security updates if it eventually comes out.
the thing that I am majorly disappointed in is that xda isn't or hasn't used its influence as an entity cosigned on this project to push fxtec to honor the backers that requested refunds due to the delays and spec downgrades that were initially promised. their reputation is also put into question here.
I'm saying right here and now that if this actually gets made and shipped that I'm not keeping it. I'm not interested in any 2017 midrange device that will barely be given updates in 2022 maybe and a gimmick like a physical keyboard isn't enough for me to have anymore interest in this massive money sink and disappointment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well said
Big thumbs up to your "why is XDA completely mute" part... They too have silently washed their hands of this grossly incompetent project...!??

Another great example of the pitfalls of crowdfunding - very difficult to truly protect yourself from people who take the money and run. Hard enough these days depending on what you are trying to fund to not have the crowdfunding service itself steal your money.
This phone did pique my interest when I first read about it the other day, but not anymore. Sad for the folks that got suckered.
EDIT: Also, another bad example of how people are being taken advantage of by a business model that puts unfinished products up for sale, increasingly dependent on software and of course the bugs that come with it. Cars, appliances, smartphones... We are giving them permission to do this to us by continuing to buy their dook.

Backing Indiegogo campaigns is gambling. There's been more than a quarter million failed Indiegogo campaigns. You're lucky if you get anything from backing one.

Mine arrived... with a defective screen!
The backlight on the keyboard is also disappointingly variant in brightness, and the letters are misaligned. The bottom of some letters are lower than the key right next to them.
i say avoid this company like the plague.

Welcome to 2023. Fxtec didn't do due diligence on their manufacturer's claims that the 662 could do hdmi out, so we get software video out. "But its not our fault," they say.
Meanwhile most backers haven't gotten their devices, while Expansys is selling them for HALF the price backers paid.

Backer 1977 here. Purchase date: Dec 7, 2020
So lets recap....
downgraded SOC. how did they not know it was EOL ~3 months before it went EOL? do they not read the spec sheets and documentation?
no hdmi out which was part of why i purchase
wait 3 years, now obsolete out of the box in combination with #1
sold on xpansys for LESS
absolute silence from XDA across multiple threads:
this one
Reproach to XDA
I find it depressing that you let them use your brand name (XDA) to promote this pseudo-scam. I have always considered this forum the top in the field of telephony and modding. I hope that your association will prosecute F (x) tech by giving a...
forum.xda-developers.com
Moderators: get XDA to start updating this forum!
The 3/2022 update from F(x)tec says it will be mere weeks to delivery, still nothing here! Moderators emailed me after my last rant in another section - to you, I cannot reply from that email because the service only receives. If there really...
forum.xda-developers.com
now I am willing to give a break on #3 due to supply chain issue industry wide, thats not on fxtec to be fair.... and manufacturing is not trivial. however that point is made complete moot by #4 which really rubs salt in the wound to pay more for a device thats now being sold for less on xpansys, and worse somehow those devices are delivered BEFORE backers from 3 f*****ing years ago? thats really icing on the cake. why did xpansys get devices? why not give backers the phones they sold to xpansys? how do xpansys phones exists but backers phones do not?
re #5: a simple "hey sorry, manufacturing is difficult" would suffice, but they seem to lack the integrity to even acknowledge it.
cool i guess.... cant wait for it to arrive so I can sell it immediately and MAYBE recoup half of the cost. i dont know if ill even bother opening it play with it cuz itll sell for a little more factory sealed.
wish i purchased a Pinephone instead. GrapheneOS is the only usable android these days anyways.

the comments section on the indiegogo is also a bit of a ride.... probably worth a yt video of its own

VelosterM14 said:
Another great example of the pitfalls of crowdfunding - very difficult to truly protect yourself from people who take the money and run. Hard enough these days depending on what you are trying to fund to not have the crowdfunding service itself steal your money.
This phone did pique my interest when I first read about it the other day, but not anymore. Sad for the folks that got suckered.
EDIT: Also, another bad example of how people are being taken advantage of by a business model that puts unfinished products up for sale, increasingly dependent on software and of course the bugs that come with it. Cars, appliances, smartphones... We are giving them permission to do this to us by continuing to buy their dook.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Normally I wouldnt have crowd funded but it was XDA's involvement that gave confidence, and the fact that they succefully deliver the previous model proving they could deliver.

As someone who wants to start up a crowdfunding campaign for making a phone, I hope I won't upset customers to the point of this....

AltFantasy said:
As someone who wants to start up a crowdfunding campaign for making a phone, I hope I won't upset customers to the point of this....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well...simply make sure you can deliver what you promise. use this as a case study of what NOT to do lol.
good luck with your project!

I have to say I am satisfied myself. It took longer, some specs changed, but fortunately those were not issue for me. I had time, and I prefer battery life over faster clock. It's now 3 months I am using. I haven't tried android, only LOS.

I want to be as fair as possible. I will reiterate that I am not upset at the wait, again I will not blame fxtec for the supply chain issues caused by the pandemic. I don't even mind a slower SoC at this point as long as it works. And I still like XDA.
The real reason I posted was when I discovered they were selling backers phones on expansys. This crosses the line from an unfortunate investment in to some sort of fraud (IMO, not a lawyer).
This image sums up how it feels:
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"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
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"lightbox_download": "Download",
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It's currently listed as discontinued but luckily the wayback can tell us that as of Oct 5, 2022 they had at least 5 in stock:
F(x)tec Pro1 X Dual-SIM (6GB/128GB, Black, QWERTY Keyboard) - EXPANSYS Hong Kong
Buy the F(x)tec Pro1 X Dual-SIM for HK$2,249 with free shipping to Hong Kong & Taiwan. Also accessories, special offers, reviews, videos, specs, features and forums.
web.archive.org
And there is currently a review, proving that expansys delivered a phone BEFORE fxtec fulfilled backers:
PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG! I do not want to be spreading misinformation. But how is this fair?
----
Given that this device had an SD card slot (rare now a days) and was going to have HDMI over USB-C, one of my use cases was going to be loading up an SD with movies/shows and being able to have a mobile movie theater for movie nights or hotels / travel.
If not fraud, then at the very least false advertising given that they STILL list and sell "USB Type-C with HDMI support" on their site:
I want to like this phone. Really I do. But this is kinda silly at this point.

jan4321 said:
I have to say I am satisfied myself. It took longer, some specs changed, but fortunately those were not issue for me. I had time, and I prefer battery life over faster clock. It's now 3 months I am using. I haven't tried android, only LOS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you please test HDMI over USB-C? Is it really not supported? I want to be wrong.