Viable Vpad
Few weeks ago, the Viable company have released the brand new technology that enables Deaf and Hard of Hearing people to communicate wirelessly with their product called VPad. They said the retail price of that product is $699 only sells at $99 at the Deaf Expo. So I grabbed the opportunity and went to the expo. The flow of the moving the lines was very horrible there was about 75 to 100 Deaf people in the line and I had to wait in the line for 2 hours! When I finally got the product, I was excited to test the product out at home.
I must say I am quite disappointed with the product because:
- It takes too long to boot up, it takes about 2 to 3 minutes to finally ready to use compared to Sorenson’s videophone that is ready to use less than 30 seconds
- It does not come in with wireless adapter where you have to buy separately for $30
- It does not come with battery where you have to buy separately too
- You can not call any other competiting videophones that have IP address
- The touchscreen is very horrible, I had to push a button several times to get it activated
- I can’t even use the Vpad’s slideshow feature to show my photos as the digital photo frame
This piece of junk for $699 ? That is a true rip off, its should be like $29.95! I am considering to sell it on ebay because its very horrible product
**Photo Copyright, photographed by Sam Dunn**
June 17th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
Nice photo from Sam’s blog site. However, I had to agree with what you said about VPAD. Give them a time to upgrading a firmware or something.
June 17th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I have VPAD. I have VP200. Let’s compare:
VP200 VPAD
Device: Free Device: $99
TV: $300 TV: any TV for free hookup
Cable: $100 monthly Cable: Wireless for free
Portable: not really Portable: yes and improving
Firewall: problems at workplace Firewall: acceptable to any
Upgrade: every 6mo. Upgrade: every 3-4 weeks
Technical support: 1 hour wait Technical support: 5 min wait
I really cant compare but I put up with Viable better than Sorenson.
June 17th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
lol be realistic, VP 200 is free to hook up any tv so therefore you have to pay more for vpad than for soreson vp.
Also not everybody pays $100 for cable you are leaving out one major detail. as I mentioned in my blog wireless adapter is not included and you have to buy it seperately for at least $30 ($30 is the cheapest generic usb wireless adapter)
I don’t see it as good buy.
June 17th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
What were you thinking? You bought an early release so you can’t
expect to use photo album and other stuff that will be very readily
available when you buy a final release VPAD the real-world price.
You get what you bargained for. You were told it’s an early release.
If any deaf buy it and expect this much from an early release then
they’re dumb–plain and simple. If comparing early and then final
releases, don’t compare apples and oranges. Get back to us when
you get off your high ground and buy the final release and give it
a fair shake in evaluation. That’s what real-world thinkers do here.
And, I’m extremely shocked you attended and graduated from Uni.
June 17th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
Before you guys quarrel even further, consider the fact that the preference for vp200 v. viable may vary in specific programs, services, location of employment(i.e. home, private business, government).
If I worked for the government, it doesn’t matter technically since both device would be blocked by a t1 (no imports as it is standard in most cities) therefore would need a dedicated DSL (cox, charter, etc) just for the specific office/cubicle. In this avenue, I would choose viable because of its portability (business use wherever I want) and the city would easily pay for it (I would still need to learn about its away messages, etc). With that being said, Sorenson has a better structured away message and personal # for professionals to contact me. I’m sure viable has one, but their training and awareness needs to get started on that in all levels (consumer, city, businesses). Having a 13-inch boxed tv supplied by Sorenson in a office just for the purpose of VP’ing is outdated. I might as well use my webcam (of course connected to a dedicated DSL) for direct business calls (envision). For private businesses, I would think the same way.
Just thinking out loud…
D
June 17th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
*gasp* you expose my bare hand! I feel so shame!
June 18th, 2008 at 6:32 am
Why $30 buy more ? Recharagble ?
How long will it answer 3 mins ? Or what?
June 18th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Syndey:
$30 is to buy USB wireless adapter if you want to use your VPad wireless otherwise you will have to use the ethernet cable with the working internet access.
June 30th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
I read similar article also named Viable Vpad, and it was completely different. Personally, I agree with you more, because this article makes a little bit more sense for me
July 12th, 2008 at 11:42 am
One time $30 for adapter is better than months months months of $100 monthly….
VP200 may be upgraded but will be still fixed in one place. i dont see portable device from sorenson. their system is fixed to H323 and is not convertable to ip mode. that is why you need SR200 router to convert both ways. plus H323 is not digital and will soon be outdated. i wont be surprise to see Sorenson one day become dinosaur.
Web cam and other digital format video will be the tsunami of the future.
Look how other competitors are following Viable - “Z”, “MVP” and what else?
July 12th, 2008 at 11:46 am
To T…
I brought VPAD to DORS and hooked up to their wired network and communicated to VRS with no problem. VPAD is firewall friendly and respects the firewall protocol router.
if you have webcam, try installing Viable Vision on computer and see how it responded to your government firewall….