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As if all the talk of the Notion Ink Adam falling nothing short of a scam wasn’t enough, it appears the situation is getting worse. Originally quoted with a ship date of January 6th, at least one buyer has been notified that their device won’t ship until a few weeks later, between January 15th and 22nd. Now, we still want to believe that Notion Ink is a respectable company, but they are making it harder and harder for us every day. Take, for instance, the story one reader sent in:
“I’ve been trying to get [Notion Ink] to give me the 2100 mHz band model for the past week. They refuse. They keep changing their story about why also. They are now telling me they will send me the one “which we determine is appropriate for your region.” Before, they told me that the United States only uses the 1900 mHz band for 3g. I told them they were wrong on that. That was AT&T’s 3g band and that T-Mobile uses the 1700/2100 mHz bands. They told me I was confusing GSM with 3g.”
What followed was a series of back-and-forth emails with what could only be described as clueless customer support flat-out refusing to honor the customer by changing the order. It really shouldn’t matter what 3G bands are available in a region; if a customer pays for it they should get what they want. It isn’t up to the manufacturer to determine if a certain model is fit for your region.
Any other tales of woe from those waiting on order with Notion Ink? We get the feeling the above examples aren’t the only cases of miffed customers.
[thanks, Dee!]
first this time!!!
This is a shame. It has such potential. It’ll probably be another Juujuu…
Oh, do you think we could get “Mr. First” a nice vacation from commenting? I don’t think that’s a very constructive comment.
I was ready to pre-order the other day before reading multiple reports on Android blogs about how this could POSSIBLY be a scam (or at least not deliver on the hype).
Much thanks to our Great Android Community & Bloggers for breaking the news.
Well this just keeps getting uglier and uglier for NI.
Mine is planned for the 9th.
A news for nothing…
In regards to the shipping date there is the following message when I check:
Prior to December 15th, there was an error in this page due to which the shipping date was being calculated incorrectly. We apologize for the inconvenience. The date shown here is the correct value, which reflects the date shown at the time you ordered.
*This is our best estimate of the shipping date. The actual date may vary; we will keep you informed in case that happens. If you want to modify or cancel the Pre-Order, please contact [email protected]
They were very up front during the entire process that the January 9th shipping date was estimated to the best of their knowledge, and so a few day change, I personally would not take as a sign of a scam with or without the current context. And as for the other (singular) customer who had a problem with their customer service; I live in Indonesia but will be moving back to America and traveling around the world so even though I am having my Adam sent to Indonesia, I requested a U.S. plug for my charger and they were happy to oblige.
Check SlashGear… Notion Ink has resolved this issue, and it only affected 50 people. Slashgear has all the details.
I have the 3g/ Wifi pixel qi model ordered and have not received any such email. Would be curious to know which model the person referenced in your article bought. Wonder as well whether the preorders exceeded their initial stock and therefore require 2 different ship dates. I was actually less concerned about the ship date than the android market/honeycomb questions. However, reading through Rohan’s blog, and watching his videos, I have VERY little concern that access to either will be a problem. I did not, but those who want to hold on to their money for now should make sure they’re comfortable with the product before shelling out so much cash. But the abilities of this tablet blow away all others potentially, including the Motorola tablet. But we know that Motorola isn’t going anywhere, which is the only reason to prefer their tablet over NI’s. However, NI is going to sell out of their preorders, we know that. And if they’re product looks good on the initial videos, then CES, then in consumer hands, then it will continue to sell out and will be dificult (just like re iPad initially) to find. I’m betting that this company is heavy on tech know-how, and behind on business know-how. The latter is very important, but much easier to find than the former. We’ll see.
Who in their right mind would pre-order to tablet from a completely unproven manufacturer, when we know that several tablets from reputable manufacturers will be announced at CES in only about 2.5 weeks? Seriously, this thing has yet to pass the FCC or Wi-Fi certification, and they’re taking preorders? What company does that?
I was very annoyed when the model I wanted to pre-order in the public pre-order was already sold out, now I’m not so annoyed anymore…
Come on this isn’t a delay. Its just initially the website didn’t calculate the right date.We are talking about a week! Its a startup, give them some slack. I have had all my issues resolved by their customer support very promptly.
The initial preordering didn’t go smoothly but there is no point trying to make a story out of nothing.
I really understand the concern of many skeptics.
However, I am glad I preorderd and I am 100% confident in my purchase. I have no reason to believe that Adam will not be everything that Rohan has said it will be. (And I am not the type to be an early adopter or to preorder anything. But I am that confident in NI and the Adam to that I put my money where my mouth is.)
Though I think we will likely have to wait until CES (January 6-9) before all questions will be answered and concerns resolved. But there should be a video of the Adam and additional information this Saturday on Rohan’s blog that we won’t want to miss…
Check SlashGear… Notion Ink has resolved this issue
Well this just keeps getting uglier and uglier for NI. thanks!
Please don’t call this company NI. The only NI I know (and is a very professional company) is National Instruments, located in Austin TX and manufacturer of very cool virtual instrumentation HW and SW products. Check it out :-)
Very glad I didn’t order this. Thought about it, but this is shadier and shadier by the day
@ImSpartacus: don’t feed the trolls, they just want attention.
I ordered my Adam Tablet on the evening of the 10th. No problems ordering whatsoever. Ordered the Pixel Qi LCD, Wifi with no problem. Have checked the pre-order status and each time gives me the same date of shipment, which is January 9th. So far I’m very pleased with the whole ordering experience.
Horrible blog! just cut and pasting one customer interaction with some technical details and trying to make things ugly. Can you do the same sample from interactions with Apple and Dell? you would be shocked how crazy can some customers as well as support can be..
Hello!..it is pre-order system. person ordering the product think through. It may take some time for NI customer service to ‘understand’ crazy types of customers who can ask varied questions..
There was no promise or talk about which mobile services you can use on the device.
Not trying to stir the pot here, but those who have give their money to an unproven company before the company ever produced the product rolled the dice and the odds are not on their favor. If the product is really that great, wait until they have one out before plopping down your hard earned cash.
I will predict that the shipping date continues to push back time and time again. Then at some point their website will mysteriously not be available and the phone calls will no longer be answered. Finally, the owners will disappear and the signs on the building will come down. Im not pysic, this has happened way too many times before. And this following the same pattern.
Sorry phandroid, but you disappoint me with that article. Please make some investigations before posting such things, Notion Ink and Adam don’t need such a bad publicity without proofs. You are a good blog, don’t fall into this, please.
all a storm in a teacup. it’s incredible how you guys are so determined for notion Ink to fail. the first tablet on the market to pose a real threat to the Ipad in terms of specs, functionality and price and all you do is bitch about the smallest of errors or mistakes.
I don’t think everyone is willing to cater to what YOU know, Mike. Also, it’s NATIVE Instruments, not National. I use their stuff myself.
*so* glad I didn’t hit the `order` button on this thing…
I was this close.
How can you just post such a blog based on few disgruntled customers? You have nothing else to write? In that case, you could start blogging about the weather!! It is so cold here in Mid-West USA.
Slashgear did their homework and verified that there are only 50 customers affected by the change in shipping dates.
its not just about any ONE issue that has come up with NI (or Notion Ink, for those of you who insist on getting your geek panties in a bunch), but more so about the WHOLE picture of what has gone on with the company in the last couple of weeks.
Regardless of the notion that you should always fulfill a customer’s order, if that reader was trying to get a UMTS 2100 tablet for T-Mobile USA, they’ll be sorely disappointed. What they need is the AWS band.
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/37314/htc-tablet-hinted-for-2011
If there a scam going on some where, it is on this blog. Wonder how much Kevin Krause got paid by some large corporate to give bad publicity to a start up company that is coming out with a revolutionary device . The Next time Mr Kevin Krause wants to question the legitimacy of an organization he should back it up with some real proof and not some anecdotal statement from an unnamed and probably nonresistant buyer.
Glad i did not pre order
PS NI is also a great virtual instrument
co. called Native instruments , very
commonly referred to as NI
Not really sure where the dates came from that said when the tablets would show up but mine stated about 6 weeks which puts the ADAM still within the time frame that the author of this complaint is stating. Also, for those who are worried about if ADAM is real, its hard for me to believe that Notion Ink bought a large shipment of pixel qi screens and did nothing with them and then proceeded to”sell out” of the pixel qi models all for the sake of a year long con. Then again conspiracy theory journalism gets more hits then confirmed facts.
” It really shouldn’t matter what 3G bands are available in a region; if a customer pays for it they should get what they want. It isn’t up to the manufacturer to determine if a certain model is fit for your region”
Hmmm ? Is this a site about mobile phones ? Since when can i walk into a store in Europe and demand a CDMA phone ? Since when can i walk into a store in Japan and demand a phone with European HSDPA bands ?
Sorry, but your statement is simply false – it’s exactly up to the manufacturer, it’s his responsibility that he will not sell you a device which doesn’t work OK in your enviroment or even worse, breaks some FCC or european regulations…
Kevin really did a bad job on this one the lack of investigating and details are disappointing.
These stupid blog reports will carry on until the product is properly showcased and is seen to live up to the specs and hype that has preceded it for nearly a year. It’s that simple.
In the mean time, any old blog writer (Phandroid! shouldn’t it be Phapdroid!) is going to cash in on the uncertainty by posting the words NI, SCAM or LEGITIMACY into their blog title and watch their blog counter rise up quicker than a horse’s hoof on the chase for a mare!
How many days to go till the video? Three – gosh, I should just lock myself away from all this infantalism till then!
I’m still waiting for the morons that like to use the phrase vaporware to start in. If you think Notion Ink is bad then try Archos who changed shipping information and availability by the hour. Cut Notion Ink a little slack. I see a company that is jumping on the problems quickly and giving a solution, not some canned response to check back later. I’m glad that NI Ink is devoting their resources to producing a good device. I look forward to watching the critics eat crow.
And to all you Apple fans out there google apple big brother and see what Apple is getting a patent for. They will be able to spy on you through your iPhone. Now that is a real problem.
@F. Augusztin
Your analogy is fail. In this case, since the store sells BOTH bands, it’s simply ridiculous that they refuse to sell the exact model the customer wants. To correct the analogy: If you walk into a phone store in Europe that carries both CDMA and GSM phones, and you insist upon the CDMA version for your own reasons (travel), why the heck would they refuse to sell it to you?
Like I said, you fail.
—
On another note, here are the questions I hope to see answered before I pull the trigger on an Adam. I am posting these on every blog article related to the Adam with the simple hope that Rohan takes notice, or someone who interviews Rohan takes notice… and maybe — just maybe — we’ll finally get some real answers along with the upcoming video.
1. When will the first review units arrive at Anandtech, Slashgear, and other reputable reviewers?
2. Does the final version of the Adam have a rear touchpad?
3. What max resolution does the camera record?
4. How much memory comes pre-installed on the Adam?
5. What is your estimated production schedule (Adams/month) during H1 2011? When will additional Qi-equipped Adams be available for ordering?
6. Will the full Android Market be available on the Adam at launch?
7. Does NI have a trouble-ticket and technical support system in place?
8. Will you be opening a standard discussion forum for the NI Adam where we can interact with, and receive direct support from, the engineers at NI?
9. Are you partnered with any retailers or distributors outside of India? Or, will the NI facilities in India be the only location and POC for all sales and support?
10. What are the actual warranty details for the Adam?
11. How/where will repairs, replacements, and returns be handled by NI? Will NI cover shipping to/from the NI facilities for WARRANTIED repair services?
12. Who has NI officially partnered with for peripherals (ie. cases, adapters, screen protectors, keyboards, docks, etc)?
13. What are the exact contents of the box that will ship with the Adam?
14. Will the original Adam definitely be 100% compatible with Honeycomb (Android 3.0), or is that still an unknown?
15. Is NI still planning to charge customers to replace units that arrive DOA?
16. Is NI still planning to charge customers for cancellations that occur BEFORE their Adams even ship?
17. Who are you sharing a booth with at CES?
—
WOW.
I can’t believe even SlashGear fell into this bashing game.
I thought they were Adam’s fans.
…and for the record, if a product is not available in the 3g frequencies desired, just don’t order it.
Are all these commenter’s getting paid to defend this company? I hope this tablet ships and is great, but how can you shrug off all these problems so easily?
@Tom At least Archos ships products, these guys haven’t even shown off a working prototype.
omg ONE customer!” atleast ONE customer” got problemm….. Out of those 96 countries from where Notion ink got their orders…….looks like scamm…hummm….
@ turbo
Paid to defend? It only takes a little common sense to put these ‘problems’ into some context. That’s the problem, I see a good startup bringing a great product to market, and then a bunch of blog whores jumping on the slightest sign of inexperience (replace with ‘incompetence’) and then dumping on the company big style. I doubt all this hyena activity is going to make that much difference though, because a good product from NI will eventually drive a massive bulldozer through these kinds of comments.
But I’d really like to see Notion Ink get the press they deserve. The reality is, they have been riding a wave of optimism, and the rule with the media is ‘we build em up so that we can bash em down again! – cos it makes us feel important!’ So, Phandroid, I hope you’re feeling important, cos come Saturday, you’re going to feel a bit of a chump!
My pq now has the 15 – 22 as well.
@Mark
“I see a good startup bringing a great product to market”
How are they good and how is the product great when no one has even seen it work or a final product? Even a prototype version doesn’t exist. I would define a good startup as one that succeeds, all they have succeeded in is hype so far. I just can’t see how anyone can call this product great when the product haven’t been seen yet. Be realistic about it, don’t be disingenuous.
I hope the company does succeed but this isn’t a great start. Hopefully they prove me wrong.
@Tom
Huh,what? Archos is an established company with proven products that has been around since 1988. Not this startup run by a bunch of kids that has nothing. They just have one (still non-existing) product and it’s a proto based unit. With CES just around the corner, one must be a fool to part their money. Even if NI gets the Adam out, it will be too late and it will be eclipsed by better hardware coming out.
I would NOT put my money on an unknown company with no history and zero experience, especially if it’s based in Asia.
Will laugh when you jerkoffs don’t get your non existent tablets.
Honestly WTF is the problem with getting a half decent tablet out there? #$^* notion ink’s crap – Shinanagans
Mark-
I am making a new 9″ tablet, Tegra 2 dual core processor, 1GB ram, 64GB storage, magic pixel display. I haven’t made a prototype yet, but will be going into production very soon. I’ll let you preorder right now for a special price of $199.99. Please let me know how many you want to buy.
Thanks.
Decided to go take a deep dive on their website. I was unaware that Notion Ink is based in India. No recourse if they rip people off. And, looking at the contact us page, their is no phone number. All of you who preordered this have way more faith than I do.
There are a lot of people who want to believe in Notion Ink. People like to root for the underdog.
Mine is still on order for the 9th of January, 3 days wont kill me :)
And about the rumours above due to the frequencies, has said before. If it doesnt work on your country dont buy it :)
I hate to stereo type but this does not surprise me. Having to deal with India everyday for my work.
It’s a cultural thing for Indians to say “Yes yes yes” to everything knowing full well they can’t deliver or just don’t know. Having watched some of the YouTube clips when the interviewer asks questions about up and coming features…. the response was always “of course” but not able to show proof.
Again dealing with Indian developers on a daily basis I hope they give the source out and have the community reengineer the device as the generally the work out of India is subpar.
I hope I am proven wrong!
I hope they prove me wrong also.
QUOTE: “The official Notion Ink site notes that there was an error on the website that caused the shipping date to be “calculated incorrectly””
Testament to shitty Indian development that the simplest task riddled with errors ( Stereo typing again, but stereo types are born from some truths )
Who in their right mind would pre-order to tablet from a completely unproven manufacturer, when we know that several tablets from reputable manufacturers will be announced at CES in only about 2.5 weeks? Seriously, this thing has yet to pass the FCC or Wi-Fi certification, and they’re taking preorders? What company does that?
^^
I would, Take a risk – Could well be worth it, I’m protected against fraud with my card company anyway, As soon as I get the chance I’m pre-ordering my Pi 3G Adam.
Posted on NI’s blog about why I will no longer be ordering an Adam until after the first group get theirs and report they are working. I didn’t call anyone names or use harsh language, I just point out that it’s very unprofessional for them to have terms and conditions that leave so much to the imagination and include sentences that make no sense, not to mention to respond to criticism by distorting what their critics have said. Apparently that was too much for the sensitive nerves of Rohan. My post got deleted.
Mine was listed as Jan 6th up until this morning. now they have changed to between January 15th and 22nd. it also has a disclaimer that it could chnage again, but despite the miscalculation this is the actual date. i ordered mine dec 9th. I am starting to get concerned! i doubt that i am 1 in 50. i was part of the public preorder.
@Nate:
Ooh, sign me up for a dozen! I’ll email you my credit card information. I can clearly see you are a good startup and your product is naturally of the highest quality, so any concerns over the fact that no working model of your product exists must be coming from trolls paid off by HTC and Motorola.
@All the flamers rushing in to defend Notion Ink:
You are either fools or agents provocateurs of Notion Ink. When a company has never released a product, has demoed no working models, and yet is promising a release within weeks while asking for fully-paid preorders, it is only reasonable to be cautious. With all the positive press this site has given the Adam, they would be remiss if they didn’t discuss worrying developments.
hi gunia pigs (U.S, U.K peoples).
Thanks for supporting NI
The scam talk is ridiculous. Is Pixel Qi a scam company too?
The ship dates changing is unfortunate. I was affected by this myself. Mine changed from the 9th to to “15th January 2011 – 22nd January 2011”
Buying the product of a new company is risky. We’ll see. As long as it’s not plagued with defects I think it will be great.
I’m pulling for NI (get over it!) to get this product out and have it reviewed pretty quickly.
I dunno what defines “prototype” in some folks’ dictionary. There are a handful of videos from last CES IIRC with a working prototype.
I’m sure when it comes out and it does exactly what has been touted all along, there will still be some goofballs spouting off at the mouth.
Having said all that, I’m waiting until the early adopters have a go at it and flesh out any issues. I’ve made that a habit with Ubuntu Linux, phones, and other tech.
I’m pretty sure this has already been addressed. NI said there would be 6 intitial shipping waves. And after each waive preorder is sold the next will begin. It sounds like the problem is not that the company is scamming people but one of too little information.
If you read the blog at NI, you will see that several people have made the statement to NI and there cult-like following, that the product will not be successful in the US market unless there is more information. And that information should be everywhere. Americans like to feel confident in there purchase so we like to see specs, t&c’s, shipping dates exc. on every webpage possible.
My 2 cents only.
Do you base all of your articles on info from two people and then try and trash a company. Get your facts straight. You had the chance to have an informational article and you turned it into just another NI smear. You bad!
When you grow up to be a real journalist I may come back and see how you are doing. Checking the “ignore” box.
If Rohan (CEO of Notion ink) has very rich investors why doesn’t he then hire some professional people. May be there is no investor, he may be using the money he got from pre orders to pay for the next batch of adams. Can Rohan please throw some light on the qualification of his staff.
he has to listen to his customers as he is not running a charity and we are not getting things from him free. we paid up front and without even seeing the product, what he has to offer is some Bull@ shiit and have you seen his replies it is as if some one is holding a gun on his head telling him not to write or speak. Mr Rohan we can easily drag you into a court because you made false promises to us. Not responding to a customers question is against the consumer protection law. People must have asked you a million times about the size of the internal hard drive but you kept mum and why couldn’t you answer even once about the back track-pad before the pre-orders. I hope you have good lawyers who have finished their law school not some students working part time as sir you are going to get sued if there is even a slight problem with the multi touch screen as someone has mentioned in a post about adam having a less sensitive touchscreen.
Take care
Yet again I see how severely the American* tech press has a hard-on for NotionInk.
It’s the ghost of the CrunchPad/JooJoo (and every other tech gadget you got disappointed by): You’re all pissing on the Adam before it’s even born because once in the past you really really wanted that magical gadget that was going to make you whole, and it didn’t.
Or maybe it’s that girl who broke your heart in college. Whatever. It’s just hardware. Practice what you’d preach: get over it, and let an honest, un-FUD-tainted market decide.