Blaze firmware update - 17.8.301.4

[RhysLewis]

Sorry - I have used a provocative title for this blog post so that I can subscribe to the replies on the thread rather than having to come back to the forum several times a day to see whether the update has come out yet.

Speaking of interesting experiments while we're waiting for the update, I tried attaching the fitbit to my dog's collar when I took her for a walk hoping to earn some extra steps, but it turns out she has quite a long stride length and it only counts the steps from her front legs, so that was pointless.

(just did another sync, and it doesn't appear to have arrived yet)

Another surprisingly good free-step day was taking a horse ride through a snowy pass in the Cardrona valley, and since I was seated in the middle of the horse it registered steps for both front and back legs, and I got my highest step count ever.

(how much mobile data does it use to do a sync?  I'm hoping my employer doesn't ask about the huge spike this month)

Some other little quirks with these devices:  

- If you put the Fitbit One in your coin pocket the altimeter doesn't work so well, and you miss out on floors.

- A very windy day (I often work in Wellington, NZ) with strong gusts can register as changes in air pressure, so you get lots of floors without any effort.  Other than trying to stand up in the wind.

- So far I haven't worked out a way to get free floors from an elevator.  I tried walking round in the lift as it went down so that it would think I was climbing stairs, but that doesn't work.  Bit of an awkward silence when the woman from marketing got into the lift too.

- Turbulence won't get you any steps or floors.  If you're scared of flying it might get you cardio though.

Anyway enough of that, I need to re-sync to see if the firmware is here yet.

[bbarrera]

Thank you, the best read on this forum in months!

[Rich_Laue]

@RhysLewis i hope you realize that their is a subscribe function at the top of every thread. 

As for the firmware update we where told that we will be notified when it is released, this does not mean you'll get it imediatly, but when it does a notice will show up on the dashboard

[Driver8666]

No offense but I'd never mention a date either. Activision/Blizzard is famous for doing this. It's basically "we aren't going to mention a release date" translating to "We'll take as long as we want". This method worked very well with Diablo III and StarCraft II. Only when both had "gone gold" did they specify a release date. They still do this to this day. Both of those games are immensely popular. StarCraft is considered a "sport" for our South Korean users. 

Mentioning a release date and then not following through creates more panic, paranoia, distrust, the list goes on and on. 

[SanFit]

Waiting for the new firmware, besides for getting a cooler watch-face, I hope that it would solve the buggy Sync feature. Previously, I could sync the Blaze to my MSI notebook as well as my Lenovo K900 mobile (Classic Only).

But for the last week, it failed to sync anymore. I have uninstalled the app, the bluetooth driver, and make a fresh re-install, but it didn't help. For initial setup, it could detect the tracker and retrieve the activities data, but after that it failed to make a sync anymore. I have borrowed my friends mobile, but mostly could not pair with the bluetooth LE. It reported a wrong PIN or Password. Only the classic bluetooth could pair the Blaze, but it failed to sync the activities data. I have wasted many time in learning how to solve this problem.

[MikeF]

Correct. Classic Bluetooth is for music control only (on devices that can't control music via LE) I believe.

[Scottwheels]

I have a ride-on lawnmower, and it grants me about 5,000 steps an hour. I have often wondered if I owned a Harley I would get extra steps from all the vibration...

[Driver8666]

You should try it. It'd be funny.

[RhysLewis]

I have a theory.

What about if our ongoing complaints about the delay with the firmware update are actually the cause of the delay?

This is not just idle speculation as I have 25 years experience in software development.

Here's how it works.  The marketing team get mock ups of the Blaze with some cool new watch faces done in Photoshop, they commission an agency to do some videos, set a release date and do some press.  Then one day at the water cooler a marketing intern happens to say to someone in the dev team, "hey I really like those new watch faces".  And the developer is like, "what new watch faces?  We're still trying to do the firmware update to make it waterproof"  Later in the day raised voices are heard from a meeting room.

Next thing the dev team that was working on the waterproof code get all their leave cancelled and are now doing the watch faces.  The release date comes and goes.  About this time one of the devs points out that there isn't enough memory on the device for a seconds hand, and more leave is cancelled.

Meanwhile the test team has broken out the doughnuts because there isn't anything to test.  One of them starts reading the forums, and sees all these complaints about bugs.  This strikes fear into the heart of any tester, because if a bug goes live they get dumped into the regression test dungeon.  So they start writing up masses of extra test suites (eg. upgrade must be tested in all timezones at all times between 1 Sep and 1 Nov) so that they won't take the blame for anything.

So you can see how it starts to go.  The more complaints, the more test suites, the later it gets, the more complaints, the more tests etc.

What you need to do is project the impression of being happy beta testers.  Lot's of phrases like, "I have to reboot it about 5 times a day, but I really love my fitbit, and I've bought them for all my friends."  Next thing you know there's a firmware release every week.

[RhysLewis]

One more thing - the team that comes up with interesting and new ways to charge each device has way too much funding.  Those people need to be sent back to business school to teach MBAs and not let anywhere near a design project again.

Fitbit need to take a leaf out of Ford's playbook and start re-using stuff, like the Focus indicator stalks in the GTO.

[MikeF]

Interesting although I'm not sure how 'real world' it may be. I'd have been sacked for some of these stunts!

The best bit for me is the 'waterproof code'. If only...

[rkvm]

Great blog Rhys like the one about the dog poor thing did you see what I did there, anyway I've found a way to get your steps up recently did a whale watch trip in Victoria every wave you hit jumps the counter, bit of a costly way to raise the limit but enjoyable at the end when you stop.
Also there's a great hyke to do if your in Vancuver inside the Hyett Hotel up the back stair well 33 floors but every floor is painted with a Canadian Sean it's great when you get to the top believe me I've done it any way off to try the one about the horse now.

[rkvm]

Poor thing and paw thing probably dident need to explain did I sort.

[RhysLewis]

@meresydotes I used to sync with my OSX laptop, but discovered one day that the desktop app has high cpu usage when the dongle isn't attached, and it was killing my battery, so I don't do that any more.

Also, my wife uses an iPhone, and there is a restriction for applications on iOS where they aren't allowed to run randomly in the background, which means the fitbit doesn't really sync regularly unless she opens the app.  Some apps get around this by using the location alert as a way of running for a short time, but Fitbit don't appear to have taken that route.

So in the end the Android app seems to be the best of the lot that I've tried.  Is there a reason you don't want to use it?

[RhysLewis]

@cenetti Which device is it that you are using with home automation?  I would have thought you needed Tizen/Android/iOS to do that kind of thing.

[meresydotes]

@RhysLewis Because I'm a luddite who prefers my giant desktop and does not like to get my d#$%#$%^ phone out all the time.

[FerdinandFitbit]

Hi all! I'm glad to see you in the forums!

I know you've been waiting for so long for the new update to come out and we REALLY appreciate your patience with all this. The process of developing, testing and making sure it's working good is not as easy as you would think but I can promise that this will be release pretty soon. Just hang in there a little while more.

Thank you all for your comprehension and we hope you can all enjoy the new features that will come with it!

Anything, let me know!

[rkvm]

Many thanks I think we all appreciate the update so far , it will be good to finally have the update.
Regards
RKM

[RhysLewis]

The worst part about this whole, "when is the release coming?" debacle is that no sooner will the release arrive than my kids are going to start up with the, "how many days is it until Christmas Dad?" thing.  I'm going to spend at least a quarter of this year waiting for stuff.  I can't wait until New Year when it will all be over.

[meresydotes]

@RhysLewis You should tell the kids that, every time they ask, Christmas gets delayed by 5 minutes. That's what my brother did to my mother when she used to ask him when he was getting married. Approximately.