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Public Hardware Beta Tests

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the first-one-is-free dept.

orangerobot writes "Commercial software companies have performed public beta tests of their products for quite some time but more recently Philips Electronics has started holding public betas of new consumer hardware gadgets. A few months ago it was the Streamium MC-i250, and now it's their iPod clone the HDD-100. Public hardware betas seem like a great way to do a bit of marketing and user testing at the same time maybe more companies will pick up the same idea." This seems like a great idea for a company wanting to collect usability data on their interfaces, so that the release version can be tweaked.

13 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. Yeah... by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 4, Insightful

    And when I get killed "beta-testing" a not-ready-for-prime-time automobile or something, that'll be really great!

    Whatever happened to releasing a product when it's ready?

    --
    You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
    1. Re:Yeah... by anthroboy · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The sad part is that it's been common practice to beta-test far more dangerous products than not-ready-for-prime-time cars... I mean, if FDA mandated "clinical-trials" aren't the pharmacological equivalent of beta-tests, what is?

    2. Re:Yeah... by Evil+Adrian · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Whatever happened to releasing a product when it's ready?

      It's a good idea to give a product to the public to test; the geeks get their new toy early, and will use it and abuse it in new and creative ways that the engineers wouldn't have dreamed up.

      It is impossible to know, with 100% accuracy, in which situations a new piece of hardware or software will fail. Extensive testing, no matter how careful, still will not catch all of the problems. So, they test and tune, and release it when they believe it is ready.

      Subsequent usage of the product always yields problems -- which is why we get things like recall notices, software patches, etc.

      Many (not all, but many) companies really do try their hardest to release a good product. Good products mean a good image, more profits, and not having to deal with irate customers.

      Time spent fixing a broken product is time taken away from working on a new product -- companies want to minimize the former and maximize the latter.

      --
      evil adrian
  2. Damn You Slashdot! by birdman666 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Now I'll never get into that HDD-100 beta test.

    --

    Nothing from nowhere I'm no one at all
  3. Good work by Mattygfunk1 · · Score: 1, Insightful
    While already there are the usual "let me test a bmw" posts, I think it is great to see companies ready to challenge established conventions within the computer industry.

    Full credit to Philips Electronics for trying something new. I hope they get some valuable promotion and some excellent feedback from these tests.

    __
    cheap web site hosting

  4. argh by ziplux · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Why can't these companies support formats that don't suck? MP3 and WMA are great if you're short on space, but with 15 gigs i'd be hard pressed to fill that up. They either need to support a lossless format like FLAC or even Shorten, or even better release an SDK so the users can code the support in. Hard drive mp3 players should not be marred by low quality music!

  5. How is this an iPod clone? by Thag · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It doesn't look like an iPod, and Apple wasn't remotely the first to put out an audio player with a hard drive. Plus, this thing can apparently record from audio in, which might be very cool for some applications if the quality is there.

    Jon Acheson

    --
    All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
  6. Beta testing is the side effect by Planck0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I actually got an e-mail a few days ago about this "beta test". While I'm all for it and realize that it does provide Phillips useful feedback on their product, I just wanted to point out that the beta test portion of it is really a beneficial side-effect of what they're after.

    The actual reason Phillips is doing this is to get people to fill out the very detailed survey regarding what you look for in a portable storage device like the one they're beta testing. They ask what features are important to you, what price you're willing to pay, and other information that's much more valuable to them than the manufacturing cost of 50 or 100 units.

    Don't get me wrong, I'm all for this (after all, I filled the survey out), but let's realize that they're not trying to give 50 or 100 units away to geeks, they're really just trying to decide where to invest research and development.

    1. Re:Beta testing is the side effect by fiftyfly · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Don't get me wrong, I'm all for this (after all, I filled the survey out), but let's realize that they're not trying to give 50 or 100 units away to geeks, they're really just trying to decide where to invest research and development.
      Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty sure we're on the same page, butI'd like to point out that I think that this is really cool. Really cool. Somebody, who makes cool shit, wants to know what kind of cool I want to see. not just what I want to see butstuff I'd like and have a hope in hell of affording. They didn't even call me at supper time. Rock on.
      --
      "Sanity is not statistical", George Orwell, "1984"
  7. OGG by The+Ape+With+No+Name · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Look, even if it is just a shot in the dark to get a beta slot on this program, go ahead and fill out the form anyway and be sure to ask for OGG Vorbis support. Maybe they will look at it the stats and say "hmmm" there's something to that and support the open source format!

    --
    Comparing it to Windows will be a moot point, since El Dorado is going to have a 40% larger code base than XP.
  8. Re:abusing a Hyundai by Osty · · Score: 2, Insightful

    100+ in a Hyundai? You are abusing a Hyundai if you start the engine and idle.

    And yet, people do it. There's nothing wrong with economical cars, but drivers don't seem to differentiate between types of cars. For example, I borrowed a friend's SUV the other day (had to pick up some stuff that I couldn't fit in my car). I was going 60-65 on the interstate (speed limit of 60, traffic flow around 75), and wouldn't dare drive it faster. The SUV simply wasn't made for that, and it wouldn't be safe to do so. However, on the same roads, I could push my car to 120+ (well, if it weren't for police and traffic, anyway). I don't, but I could. While I usually drive around 70mph, I routinely get passed by SUVs, Civics that are falling apart, Hyundais, Kias, jacked up 4x4s on nubby off-road tires, and any number of cars and trucks that weren't designed to handle sustained high speeds (or even standard interstate speeds, in some cases). Scary, yes, but scarier is the fact that I'm usually the one that gets pulled over, while those speeding death traps just zip on by.

  9. Re:Let me know by rusty0101 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    and express a compleat lack of interest in WMA.

    -Rusty

    --
    You never know...
  10. Ogg support! by GreenKiwi · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Everyone should go onto their site and fill out the survey and say that Ogg support is important... let them know that we want it!