Viewsonic Steps Up with Memory Label on Box

[Jason Dunn]

The Pocket PC community (us included) was <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5372">pretty hard on Viewsonic</a> when it came to the memory issue (36 MB user accessible rather than 64 MB as we thought), so I wanted to give them an equally big pat on the back for being very up front about it on the packaging. It's one thing to put it in a small six-point font at the bottom of the spec list on the back, but when I received my V35 a few days ago, it had a big sticker on the front:<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/viewsonic-label.gif" /><br /><br />Good job Viewsonic. In an era of dishonest marketing, I value the fact that once you realized your mistake, you didn't shirk away from doing the right thing. Way to go! :way to go:

[Ed Hansberry]

Awesome! I gave them a pat on the back in the http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5435 thread a few months ago. Glad they have taken it to the next level.

[Yuta]

Sorry, but the fact that it only has 36MB it's something that you realize from the first minutes you turn it on. At least that's the first thing I do when I buy a PDA, (to check what's inside). This way the only they'd get by hidding that fact is unsatisfied customers!.
They were utterly slow on responding to this!!! :evil:
There was months of guessing at important PDA forums if certain russian report that said that it only had 36MB RAM was true or not. Certainly we didn't wanted to believe that!.
We asked them about this and they refused to mention anything until the firsts units came into ppl hands and they told us.
My guess is that they did it on purpose so as to maintain big expectatives about the unit. I don't agree with that kind of marketing.

[Janak Parekh]

Sorry, but the fact that it only has 36MB it's something that you realize from the first minutes you turn it on. At least that's the first thing I do when I buy a PDA, (to check what's inside). This way the only they'd get by hidding that fact is unsatisfied customers!.
Your last sentence there precisely implies that it was a mistake. You're assuming that an organization as large as Viewsonic has handheld experts throughout marketing. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I've worked with marketing groups, and I can tell you, they vary widely in technical expertise.

Most likely, what happened is that complaints finally propagated up to high-enough levels once the product shipped so that action took place. The fact that Viewsonic did so forthrightly after the fact is what we're commending.

--janak

[jizmo]

Yeah, thumbs up to Viewsonic for being such a good sport. :way to go:

Now only if they'd make a 400mhz version with new XScale and introduce it to Europe. Sometimes I get this feeling that only Toshiba understands the value of the European customers.

/jizmo

[Ed Hansberry]

Sorry, but the fact that it only has 36MB it's something that you realize from the first minutes you turn it on. At least that's the first thing I do when I buy a PDA, (to check what's inside). This way the only they'd get by hidding that fact is unsatisfied customers!.
They were utterly slow on responding to this!!! :evil:
They responded within days of changing their web site. We don't know that they added the stickers just this week or not. Jason just got his V35 and noticed it. They may have been using the sticker for months.

[Ed Hansberry]

Now only if they'd make a 400mhz version with new XScale and introduce it to Europe. Sometimes I get this feeling that only Toshiba understands the value of the European customers.
Toshiba? That is the company that won't give us an EUU3 for the E570 or E310, right? :roll:

Everyone here raise your hands if you think Toshiba will give us an EUU4 for the effectively discontinued E330 (now that the 350 is coming out) and the E740 (now that the 750 is out) if MS does another EUU? Come on. Let me see those hands. Ok, thanks. That's what I figured. Me neither. :(

[powder2000]

Now only if they'd make a 400mhz version with new XScale and introduce it to Europe. Sometimes I get this feeling that only Toshiba understands the value of the European customers.
Toshiba? That is the company that won't give us an EUU3 for the E570 or E310, right? :roll:

Everyone here raise your hands if you think Toshiba will give us an EUU4 for the effectively discontinued E330 (now that the 350 is coming out) and the E740 (now that the 750 is out) if MS does another EUU? Come on. Let me see those hands. Ok, thanks. That's what I figured. Me neither. :(


That's exactly why I got rid of my e570. Even though it was their first US ppc, the support should have kept going for it. :?

[Weyoun6]

Its better late than never...

I think we should all keep viewsonic in mind when making our next ppc purchase, since they were not afraid to admit a problem.

[Thunderstruck]

I think we should all keep viewsonic in mind when making our next ppc purchase, since they were not afraid to admit a problem.

I have the V35, and I love the thing. I have yet to run into an issue where the available memory was an issue, TBH. My only complaint so far is not with the unit, but with the lack of accessories (like cases) available for it at this time. Hopefully, that will change soon as more people pick one up. :)

[mscdex]

Toshiba? That is the company that won't give us an EUU3 for the E570 or E310, right? :roll:

The EUU3 is available for Toshiba handhelds, and has been available for quite awhile now. It's located on Audiovox's website: http://www.audiovox.com/PPCupgrade3.html.

[jizmo]

Toshiba? That is the company that won't give us an EUU3 for the E570 or E310, right? :roll:

Everyone here raise your hands if you think Toshiba will give us an EUU4 for the effectively discontinued E330 (now that the 350 is coming out) and the E740 (now that the 750 is out) if MS does another EUU? Come on. Let me see those hands. Ok, thanks. That's what I figured. Me neither. :

e310, e330, e740 etc have been widely available in Europe and not that much after introducing them to North-America.

I've yet failed to see any Viewsonic PDA's in computer stores I've visited in Europe. I find this strange because the same companies have iPAQs and Toshibas. And quite a wide range of Viewsonic monitors.

/jizmo

[Janak Parekh]

I've yet failed to see any Viewsonic PDA's in computer stores I've visited in Europe. I find this strange because the same companies have iPAQs and Toshibas. And quite a wide range of Viewsonic monitors.
I think Viewsonic is currently targeting the US market. However, you can get the same Pocket PC in Europe under the Medion or NEC brand names (and there might be other brand names, as well).

--janak

[shawnc]

My guess is that they did it on purpose so as to maintain big expectatives about the unit. I don't agree with that kind of marketing.

I'm with Yuta on this. I don't remember the exact timeline but I don't think Viewsonic came clean until they got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. It was only after overwhelming negative response did they agree to change the way they marketed the product. I find it VERY difficult to believe that this was an honest mistake.

BTW, I saw an ad in COMPUSA a few weeks ago and they still promote it as a 64MB device. I understand that VS can't control C/USA's advertising strategy, but I think they could stop this type of deception from their retailers if they really wanted to.

The real shame of this is I think their PPC is a good little unit and that their sales suffered tremendously as a result of their deception. I had one on order and was so angered by their strategy that I decided to go elsewhere. Now they are relegated to the "Other" category on this site. Good for them. I hope they learned their lesson.

[Jason Dunn]

I'm with Yuta on this. I don't remember the exact timeline but I don't think Viewsonic came clean until they got caught with their hands in the cookie jar. It was only after overwhelming negative response did they agree to change the way they marketed the product. I find it VERY difficult to believe that this was an honest mistake.

I believe it was. Based on my correspondence with them, Viewsonic believed they were reporting their RAM in the same fashion as the other OEMS. As a first-time OEM, I don't think the understood that other Pocket PCs that didn't use NAND Flash ROM had a much higher percentage of user-available RAM (95%+) than their device did.

Think what you will, but Viewsonic did the right thing in my books.

[Rob Alexander]

My guess is that they did it on purpose so as to maintain big expectatives about the unit. I don't agree with that kind of marketing.

I don't believe ViewSonic became a successful company by raising great expectations in their customers minds, then dashing those expectations upon receipt of the product. No company is successful with a strategy like that. Face it, this was a mistake. It was unfortunate, but still just a mistake.

[Take1]

“Note: ViewSonic V35 utilizes state of the art NAND Flash technology in conjunction with SDRAM for optimized system performance. Your application are loaded into SDRAM which reduces accessible memory but your applications will run faster.”

Processed through the PR Spin translator:

“Note: ViewSonic V35 utilizes the recently introduced and extremely cheap NAND Flash technology which sucks your RAM dry and , as a side effect, makes things run faster. Your application are loaded into SDRAM, which is because the cheapo NAND flash technology is incapable of running things directly from the ROM, which reduces accessible memory but your applications will run faster because you're paying for the speed increase with almost half your useable RAM! Waddya expect for $299?! Just buy one already.”

Funny how NAND is represented as a benefit when really it's a downgrade. For the price of the unit, it makes sense, but to promote it as something fantastic and 'state of the art' when really all it is is CHEAP.

Sorry for the skepticism, but at least Viewsonic has some reference to the actual useable RAM in the unit (albeit heavily coated with perfume).