Friday FAQ’s: End Customers, The Odyssey And GPS Software

Another week has gone by and what a week it has been.

Google and China have had what nuclear weapons developers would refer to as a falling out right after people got to play with Google’s new Nexus One. And we haven’t even had time to get over CES 2010 yet with its news of iSlates, tablets and 3D TVs and camcorders.

Chinese New Year is approaching at the rate of knots and if you haven’t considered what you will do for the period yet it may be time to think about it. We came to the party with a Chinavasion Stock update feed which we launched in the blog Resellers, Are You Ready For Chinese New Year 2010?.

However, like the banner above says, there are only 26 days for us to ship and 23 days for you to order, if you ship by courier before the seven day holiday.

In a nutshell get your orders in sooner rather than later. The person handling your customer service will thank you for it.

This week was just as busy for Customer Service and here are some of the more questions they had to answer:

I bought an item from a reseller and there’s a problem with it but they aren’t answering me, can you help me?

In short, probably not.

Our general policy is to offer compensation/repair to the people who have paid us the money (the resellers) and let them deal with the end customer.

This is done for several reasons:

1. As a wholesaler it does not do to deal with our customers’ customers (In a way we are ‘eating their lunch’ as the expression goes).
2. We have competitors on the market who sell similar products to us without giving the same level of service as we do and we would not know if it was our product or a competitors product.
3. Our legal contract for reparation is with the reseller so it makes any other arrangement difficult at best.

If you have bought something off a reseller whether it be on eBay or one of the many eBay alternatives we hope that you understand and that the reseller eventually sees the light, does the decent thing, and helps you out with your situation. We will do everything in our power to help the reseller resolve any issues when they do.

I love the Odyssey but the manual I got with it isn’t so good. Do you have any user guide for the Odyssey?

Manuals, unfortunately, aren’t one of Chinese manufacturers’ strong points, in fact sometimes they are little more than Ikea instruction charts with words.

Thankfully, Michael Wong the catalog expert charged with writing the description for the Odyssey WiFi phone loved it so much that he devoted hours to the product’s FAQ We’ve replicated it below He also put out a blog How To Buy Cellphones – Part 2 where many Odyssey owners shared their experiences and tips with the phone. There are 49 comments and counting.

And just recently Michael was playing around with the Odyssey at home and he discovered a way on how to Increase the Speaker And Microphone Volume on the Odyssey.

What software does your GPS receivers come with?

As the wholesaler, Chinavasion can provides the GPS- enabled hardware only, not the software.

This is because we send units all over the world and cannot have the right software for the job in every region and still sell products at the competitive prices that we maintain.

While we cannot pretend to give you good sources for software for your region we can tell you what the systems capabilities are so that you can choose the best version for your receiver.

Just take a look in the specifications of the unit for the ‘GPS Specifications’ section to learn more about the capabilities of the GPS receiver

Look, there it is.

You’ve always got the latest gadgets. What products should I watch out for next few weeks?

Yes we did promise it would come out this week, but stay tuned because early next week you will see the first ever wholesale Android phone to come out of China that features a genuine Android OS.

Also get ready for the Atom. Like its molecular namesake this mini projector is small and powerful.And completely sexy in a futuristic Philip K Dick/Arthur C Clark kind of way.

2010 might be the year of the tiger but 2009 was definitely the year of the Odyssey – WiFi Cellphone It has sold like hot cakes and here is the very extensive FAQ in its entirety.

• I can install Gizmo5, the Skype alternative on this phone?
  
  Yes, you can. Using the built-in Wi-Fi, simply point your Opera mini browser to www.gizmo5.com. There you’ll be prompted to download Gizmo for your mobile. Once you click on the download, you’ll be effortlessly guided in the setup and installation of Gizmo5 on your Odyssey Wi-Fi phone. Using Gizmo5 you can chat and talk for free to other Gizmo5 users or talk to non-Gizmo users at a much lower cost than your existing cellphone fees.

• How can I install a Java application on this phone?
  Search the internet for Java files that have the extension .jar (these are executable Java files). Not all of them will work. Some are especially for Nokia or other brand phones. Transfer it to your phone’s microSD card as you would normally transfer a file. From the FILE icon, locate your file and select it. Java will take over and ask you if you want to install it. Agree and the application will be installed for you. Enjoy!

• Does the M56 come with an analog TV tuner?
  Yes, watch TV and be happy with The Odyssey wifi phone.
• Is this phone like the iPhone?
  No, this phone is better than the iPhone! Unlike the iPhone, the M56 comes fully unlocked and ready for use with any network or carrier straight out of the box. You do not need to use any firmware hacks and risk “bricking” the phone. The M56 also has dual SIM and video recording functionality (unlike the iPhone).

• This phone has an accelerometer, what exactly is that?
  This is a built-in motion sensor that tracks when the electronic device has been tilted or swiveled. It is a feature most commonly used to change images in a photo viewer or to change tracks in an audio player.

• How long should I charge the battery before first use?
  Before you use the battery for the first time, please charge it for 12 hours.
• Should I load MP3’s or WAV music files into my phone to listen to?
  
  It’s a trade off really. With MP3’s, you get lower audio quality, but because of its small file size you can fit more into memory. With WAV files, you get CD quality music, but on average, one WAV file is equivalent in size to ten MP3 files.

• Great to hear that the phone comes with 2 batteries. What if I need more batteries, what should I do?
  
  Simply contact our customer support department to order replacement accessories. Easy peasy.

• How many contacts, can the phone hold?
  
  The phone itself has the capacity to hold 800 contacts. SIM cards usually hold 250 contacts. Since this phone can hold two SIM cards, altogether you are looking at 1,300 contacts. That’s a lot of friends!

• Can I change the ringtone with this phone?
  
  Definitely. The phone provides for many preset ringtones. Wonderful classics like the Pachelbel Canon and music from Nintendo’s Mario Kart video game series, You can also load your own MP3s to act as ringtones or use the phone’s sound recorder to record your own voice or sounds as a ringtone.

• How do I change my ring tone?
  
  Tone volume and set up is found by pressing PROFILE icon and not the SETTINGS icon. Once in profile, select GENERAL and then CUSTOMIZE. You will be given the opportunity to change ringing options.

• I heard somewhere that I can record phone conversations with this phone. How do I do that?
  
  When a calls come in, you will be presented with an option box. Press that key and a menu will appear. One of the items on the menu will allow you bring up the sound recorder to tape the entire conversation as a sound file for playblack at anytime.

• What is Dual Standby and does the Odyssey phone have it?
  A phone which is designed to work with 2 Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs) are called Dual SIM phones. Of these Dual SIM phones, the ones which allow both SIMs to be active at the same time so you can receive calls on both are called Dual Standby phones. Yes, the CVDQ-M56 is a dual SIM, dual standby phone.

• How does the built-in answering machine work?
  From the main menu, select the ANSWER icon. You will be taken to another menu that will allow you adjust settings like how long before the answering machine picks up the call and how long your caller’s message should be. When an actual call comes through, the answering machine will save your calls to the memory card and you can review them at anytime.
• I hear that the phone has “In Call Background Noise”. What is that?
  As far as sound effects go, if you use this feature – you decide what background noise your caller hears when they’re talking to you. You can set the background noise so your caller thinks you’re in a restaurant, in the subway or a host of other settings. Perfect for the devious in all of us.
• How can I change the placement of my icons in the main menu?
  There may be certain icons you want closer to the first page, in which case the Odyssey phone was designed to allow you to move the icons about just like you would do on your computer desktop. Simply place your finger or pen stylus on any icon for more than 3 seconds and all the icons will start shaking. This indicates you are in icon moving mode. Locate the icon you want to move and place your finger or pen stylus on it for more than 3 seconds. It will increase in size indicating that you can move it. Just drag it to the new location. When you’re done moving icons, press the black select button at the center of your phone to exit icon moving mode.
• How do I setup a wake up alarm?
  Click on the CLOCK icon. You will have the ability to setup 6 different alarms depending on frequency and day(s) of the week.
• You mentioned that you can setup a different ringtone for each caller on your contact list, how do I do that?
  
  It’s really easy. Simply press the CONTACTS icon on the bottom of your screen and select “caller ringtone”. After choosing the ringtone, you’ll be prompted to associate it with a particular contact in your phonebook.

• Can you tell what’s the difference between the CVDQ-M56 Odyssey phone and the CVDQ-M50 Voyager phone?
  From the perspective of firmware and functionality, they’re almost identical. The Odyssey phone has a larger screen though. It’s 3 inches compared to the Voyager which has a 2.8 inch screen.

• At the bottom of the screen there are four main icons: phone, contacts, opera, and music player? Is there any way I can change those or are they permanent?
  Yes, the four short cut icons can be changed. Simply press and hold one of the icons in the main area and the entire icon set will vibrate. Next select the icon you want to become a shortcut and it will increase in size. This shows it can be moved. Then simply drag it into the shortcut icon area and it will replace the one you dropped it on.

• When I am entering the name of a new contact in my phonebook, what is the maximum number of characters I can use?
  You can enter a name that is 14 characters long.

• Where are the accelerometer settings for image rotate?
  Image rotation is achieved by viewing a photo and touching the screen. A rotation icon appears that allows you to switch from portrait to landscape mode and vice versa.

• I understand that I can input text in many different languages, but what about displaying websites in different languages aside from English?
  When you go into the Java menu you’ll have the option of using different language versions of the Opera mini browser so you can view different country websites. The different web browser versions are: Chinese, English, Brazilian, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Indonesian, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

• Is there a Twitter client for this phone?
  We were able to install Twim for mobiles on the Odyssey which will allow you to send tweets to your Twitter account. For more information about Twim, please google “Twim”.

• I’ve noticed that in general Chinese phones don’t come with sync-ing or contact software. What do I do?
  In this case, consider getting a SIM card reader for reading and writing your contacts to your phone with ease. Furthermore, we’ve figured a way to hack the phone so you can update the TASKS too. In this case, create a vcalendar file using notepad and save it as whatever name you choose, but it must have the extension .vcs
  The format for the file is:

  BEGIN:VCALENDAR
  VERSION:1.0
  BEGIN:VTODO
  DUE:20091015T160000Z
  SUMMARY;ENCODING=QUOTED-PRINTABLE;CHARSET=UTF-8:Type your message here!!!
  CATEGORIES:Date
  STATUS:0
  PRIORITY:0
  END:VTODO
  END:VCALENDAR
  

  The message can be changed from the line which begins SUMMARY. As for the other parameters, we’ll let you figure that out. Then move the transfer the file to your phone with your USB cable.

• What kind of operating system does this phone use?
  It’s called Nucleus RTOS.

• Why is my fully charged battery being used up so quickly?
  This isn’t a problem with just this phone or Chinese phones. It’s a problem everyone is experiencing with all smartphones whether it’s a Nokia, Sony-Ericsson, iPhone, etc. Just google WIFI cellphone battery problems. We’re seeing battery power being significantly lowered across the phone spectrum by the following three functions in these types of phones: WIFI, Bluetooth, and GPS. To conserve battery power, disable WIFI, turn off BT, and disable GPS if you have it.
• I’m having trouble logging onto WIFI, can you help me????
  First set the correct time on your phone. The time must sync with the router time for logging to occur. Next, the Odyssey phone works best with 802.11b routers. Since 802.11g routers are backwards compatible, they shouldn’t pose a problem. As for 802.11n routers, they may or may work depending on whether the n router in question works with a, b, or g routers.

• How hackable is this phone?
  If you like to hack things, by that we mean squeeze more functionality out of a thing than was originally intended then this phone is for you. Keep in mind that any attempts to open up the phone, flash the firmware, basically mess with it, will void the warranty. Having said that, if DIY hacking is your passion then you might find gsmhosting.com very interesting. Especially the section about Chinese models and cloned phones.
• Where can I download some great free music for this phone?
  We love magnatune.com, great music from all genres. Check out Lara St John’s amazing version of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons or DJ Cary’s Eastern Grooves. Aurgasm.us also has some very delicious tunes.

• I live in India, can I buy this phone?
  No. This phone is not for export to India because of existing OEM agreements.

For a bigger list of questions visit the Chinavasion FAQ page or to ask your own question leave a comment to this blog (provided you don’t mind the whole world knowing about it).

We’ll answer them here and, if they’re good enough we may even re-publish them in a future Friday FAQ.



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