Bugs and poor usability problems being swept under the carpet.
AnsweredI listed some bugs and usability problems under "Fix Existing Bugs And Usability Problems Then Add New Features"
https://support1.bluesound.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/9885272339223-Fix-existing-bugs-and-usability-problems-then-add-new-features-
Tony W. - Product Support Manager - gave an irrelevant answer then removed all existing comments and closed the post. I can tell by his answer that he either didn't read my post, or he didn't understand my post, or he has stuck his head in the sand and is deliberately trying to sweep the bugs and usability problems under the carpet.
Lets be clear I have had the latest generation Node for over 6 months and I have had no problems getting a direct WiFi connection to my router.
My post related to the bugs and usability of the Node and the BluOS app after a failed connection.
I dare say you can replicate an unsuccessful connection by simply entering an invalid password - and the Node's status LED will still be blue even though it doesn't have a connection - so its a bug. And the BluOS App on your Android mobile phone will just sit there looping forever trying to find the player. If something is stuck in an infinite loop - it's a bug.
Worse still every time you get a failed connection you have to reset your Node and do a Force Stop to the android BluOS app. Re-setting the Node is really not fun if your power-point is behind the cabinet, or is more than a couple of metres away. To make things worse, you have to re-enter all of your config details - eg subwoofer, volume, gain etc. This is a usability problem.
I recently bought a WiFi repeater that has a good connection to the router and provides good signal improvement - but even though I tried several times, I cannot get a connection between the Bluesound Node and the repeater. Hence my experience with bugs and usability when you don't get a connection. (I have heard that Nodes don't play nice with the 5-GHz band - so I tested mainly with the 2.4 GHz Band). FYI - I can easily connect my mobile phone and my laptop to the repeater - and get access to the shared music folders on my NAS.
Luckily I've also got an old repeater that I haven't used in a long time (because it doesn't seem to provide much signal improvement), but when I tried using it with the Bluesound Node, I had no problems getting a connection and playing music - so no bug here and usability is fine.
In my original post I also mentioned the rather useless error messages the BluOS app provides - and this is important, because now I have one repeater that works with the Node and another repeater that doesn't - and the only info provided by BluOS is "Error connecting to the network". How can you diagnose a problem with that?
So with all of this re-setting of the Node going on, I had the pleasure of finding out what you have to do if HotSpot mode times out before you get to retry a connection.
If you have to go out and buy a very long Ethernet cable to connect your Node to the router - so you can put the Node back into HotSpot mode - that is a usability problem.
Or if you have to disconnect your Node and move it into the same room as your router (so your cable is long enough for an Ethernet connection), just to put the Node back into HotSpot mode - that is a usability problem. (I ended up just re-setting the thing)
It was just a coincidence that firmware BluOS 3.20.21 was released at about the same time as I was having issues with the new WiFi repeater. Unfortunately that release added additional complications because it broke the access to the shared music folders on the NAS. Somehow the developers forgot to include sending the credentials when trying to access the shares.
Two issues here, 1, the app didn't provide any error message - so again, its useless for diagnostics - even if the message was just a code, at least that's something you can provide to the support team. 2, Why is my Node getting firmware updates that relate to other products - I own a Bluesound Node! I don't have a POWERNODE EDGE! And it also doesn't have a CD or an ejection problem, and it's also not a soundbar. You enhance the possibility of introducing bugs every time a firmware update occur - and I don't want the bugs intended for another product.
So I have had a lot of experience in getting both successful and unsuccessful WiFi connections to the router, and just to reiterate, my previous post that was shut down relates to the status of the Node and the BluOS app in the event of an unsuccessful connection. It was nothing to do with - "How do I get a connection".
Does Bluesound care about fixing bugs and usability issues - or do they want to keep the issues hidden and shut-down any attempts at discussion?
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Official comment
Hi Chris
Thanks again for your feedback - what you are experiencing is not a bug but a security requirement of your player timing out after not being set up for 15 minutes.
A simple restart of your player will restore this - it cannot be done through the App because the network card went dormant after 15 minutes.
Please continue to work with our Support Crew as mentioned in my previous post and they will be happy to help you and also help resolve why you need to re-set up your player constantly.
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