1 November 2007
My Chumby Came Today! *Updated* *Twice*
[Oh, PearlBarracuda, don’t look so concerned… I like you! We’re friends!]
I’ve only had about 20 minutes of play time with my Chumby so far (say hello to “PearlBarracuda”), but here are my initial observations:
The good…
1. It’s a cool novelty that could eventually be very useful, but that all depends on the types of widgets that are developed for it. Right now it’s just a neat toy.
2. It’s soft and leathery. And it comes with cute rubber charms so you can give your Chumby a little bling.
3. It’s a fairly quick and easy activation process… maybe 10 minutes start to finish.
4. It came in a sweet burlap sack with the Chumby logo on it… super packaging job! A pleasant surprise upon opening the box.
5. Most importantly… it’s completely open and hackable (I mean… that’s pretty much the entire point). How awesome/functional/popular this thing gets really depends on the community and how they respond to it… which will be very interesting to track. I’m also anxious to see if this ever hits the mass market.
The Bad:
1. The touch screen is awful, just awful. Maybe I’m spoiled by my iPhone (oh, you poor girl!), but the thing has absolutely no sensitivity. I tried my finger, my fingernail, a stylus, a chopstick, the end of a pen, a donkey… all to no avail. It took me 7 tries minimum to get the screen to respond… and it didn’t always respond in the way I was expecting.
2. Lack of battery ability
3. Current limited selection of widgets (although that’s simply a time-zero prob).
4. It’s a bit unstable and unpredictable… sometimes updating the channel online doesn’t immediately work on the Chumby itself (even after refreshing the channel).
5. The connection is super slow, although it’s hard to determine whether that has more to do with my wifi network or the Chumby itself. For the sake of fairness, let’s blame my network for now.
Overall, I’m amused, but left wanting more. I’ll be very anxious to see how the developer community responds, as the coolness quotient is majorly in their hands. We have two here in the office, so we’ll be doing our part!
*Update* [11/2/07]
Last night, I received an email from Sam, Chumby Support Manager, who had read my post and responded with some helpful tips for recalibrating the touchscreen so that it’s more responsive. Thanks Sam! After using the tip of a mechanical pencil (upon Sam’s suggestion) to recalibrate, it’s working MUCH better. Still doesn’t work with my finger, but the pencil is just fine as a tool. Maybe the Chumby should ship with a Stylus if this is a common problem? In any case, great customer service… I didn’t even need to reach out to Chumby- they reached out to me… very impressive.
*Update* [11/2/07]
Now that I’ve had a chance to add more widgets, I have to say, I’m totally digging my PearlBarracuda. It’s a pretty nifty always-on device… and set next to my laptop and iPhone, I can rest assured that I’ll ever *not* be suffering from Digital Info Overload. I set up Craigslist to show me open apartments in Cambridge, along with a slew of RSS feeds (Goog News, Slate, Slashdot, and so on). My iGoogle page will never play second fiddle to a Chumby Channel, but it’s got a little healthy competition. The question still stands: Do I only love this because I’m a nerd?
Technorati Tags: The Web Outside, Chumby, widgets, open source, third party developer community
4 Comments currently posted.
G says:
Nikki L says:
I covet your chumby. Majorly.
LocaJayne says:
nikki, if you promise to come back on one of your breaks and check out our new office, you can play with the chumby for as long as you’d like. Also, Mike has one that you can try to steal.
The Web Outside » Chumby Has Its AHA Moment says:
[…] had my Chumby since last November, anxiously waiting for it (him?) to wow me. Although the wowing was somewhat anticlimactic, it […]
I’m not sure if the touch screen issues are from the device itself, or the fact that all interaction with it is through flash widgets (including the control panel).
I’ve had mine for a few weeks now and I love it.