Swift Key 4 - Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III

I've beta tested a few things and I'm surprised at how unappreciative developers are of their beta testers. Most recently it was swift key. Honestly the flow kind of sucked in its first iteration compared to swype (or even the stock swype keyboard) but I stuck with it and provided feed back hoping it would get better and I would be rewarded for my efforts. When their release version came out i got an email the next day with a $2 discount and that my beta version was expired.
So now in addition to my time they want to take my money. And they won't even let me keep using the beta to avoid paying.
At least it wasn't as bad as solid explorer. They didn't even offer a discount. Just flipped all of their beta testers the bird and shut down the beta.
So is this behavior typical of developers? I think the least they could do is give their app for free to the beta testers that contributed to making their product market worthy.

Hmm, I've had the complete opposite experience. Swiftkey's beta program has been great to me. Either because I purchased Swiftkey 2.x or because I also signed up as a VIP to receive Swiftkey 3 beta (from awhile ago), I receive updates and emails about their betas usually the day of or day after blogs publicize them. Seems great to me, especially since they include the direct apk in each email. I don't see the issue here.
You sound unnecessarily riled though, they gave you a $2 discount off a $4 app for beta testing it. Additionally, Swiftkey frequently has a sale on their tablet and phone app even outside of holidays. Swype, before they included OTA updates, had a measurably worse practice. The only way you knew about newer betas was because your version stopped abruptly when you typed and you had to log into their site to download a newer beta. There was no supporting email system like what Swiftkey has.
Edit: I just checked and Swiftkey is $2 right now. Hasn't it been on sale since Swiftkey Flow was officially included?

SlimSnoopOS said:
Hmm, I've had the complete opposite experience. Swiftkey's beta program has been great to me. Either because I purchased Swiftkey 2.x or because I also signed up as a VIP to receive Swiftkey 3 beta (from awhile ago), I receive updates and emails about their betas usually the day of or day after blogs publicize them. Seems great to me, especially since they include the direct apk in each email. I don't see the issue here.
You sound unnecessarily riled though, they gave you a $2 discount off a $4 app for beta testing it. Additionally, Swiftkey frequently has a sale on their tablet and phone app even outside of holidays. Swype, before they included OTA updates, had a measurably worse practice. The only way you knew about newer betas was because your version stopped abruptly when you typed and you had to log into their site to download a newer beta. There was no supporting email system like what Swiftkey has.
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I'm not sure I'm at the "riled" stage. More just surprised. Seems a little nickel and dime since if they don't have beta testers they'll just have to deal with customer complaints which will cost more in the long run than the $2 they made off me and a few hundred others.

Gibscreen said:
I'm not sure I'm at the "riled" stage. More just surprised. Seems a little nickel and dime since if they don't have beta testers they'll just have to deal with customer complaints which will cost more in the long run than the $2 they made off me and a few hundred others.
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But you do though, just from the tone in your OP. I added an edit as well to my prior post. Why couldn't you use the $2 discount to get the app for free? According to different blogs, it has been on sale since officially updated the other day.

Gibscreen said:
Kinda shot yourself in the foot there. You were trying to belittle my point and instead you proved it. I didn't even know they offered the same discount to everyone. So they really offered nothing to their beta testers.
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Herein lies the misunderstanding. I read it as they gave you a $2 discount for beta testing where you would get the app for free. The latter part of your post doesn't warrant a response.

Gibscreen said:
Well since this post has devolved into name calling, it's not about the money retard. It's value for services. And get your head out of the sand. Every other industry lets beta testers keep the product for free.
But go right ahead and give away your time for free. When you start crying about not getting paid by your employer I'll just say they gave you shelter for 8 hours a day in exchange for your work.
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That's a false equivalence if I've ever seen one. If I were working 8 hours a day on improving software I would expect to be reimbursed for my time. But then again, that would mean I would be employed by the software company and payment for my extensive services would be customary.
Swiftkey is a keyboard app for a phone. I'm already going to be using a keyboard app on my phone anyway. They let me see the fruits of their labors long before the average customer does so in return I report any problems I run into. That's the relationship.

so is this where i say i bought swiftkey back in the day for $0.10 and when flow went to the full app, it's now included with my original dime purchase?
it was one of those 10 apps for .10 week's.

frankspin said:
To this day I will never understand the rationale of people who complain about the cost of an app when they have a $50/month smartphone plan and a $500+ smartphone.
---------- Post added at 04:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:05 PM ----------
I'm going to call BS on this one. Me thinks you came here looking to have someone give you the apk so you could avoid paying for it.
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Seriously? Anyone who doesn't know how to get the app for free is an idiot. For those of us who want to go about getting it legitimately, carry on.
The OP was intended to discuss the somewhat unfair practice of developers taking people's time to develop their product, which they then sell to other people. All while they penny pinch and fail to appreciate the contributions of their beta testers. I'm truly shocked that people are so developer minded that they can't even look at this issue objectively and see that the developer gets a HUGE benefit for pretty much nothing in return. We get the privilege to use their buggy product for a few months? That's the benefit?
This could have been something that a developer could have noticed and said to themselves "you know these people do provide me with a benefit. How about if I show them I'm grateful." Not likely but at least possible. Instead they'll look at this thread and carry on as usual. Congratulations.

SwiftKey 4 is fantastic on my phone. I've beta tested a lot of things and I never once expected ANYTHING in return. I have gotten things but never sought them out.

I don't like swift key. The space bar is too small. I keep accidentally hitting the period instead which.makes.my.writing.look.like.this.
Did they change this in version 4? Or heck, at least give the option to?
Edit: nope. The period is still. Ridiculously big for no reason, taking up. Precious space bar space. Time to. Uninstall again. I apparently had this keyboard purchased from back when it. Was on sale for like. 40 cents.
Edit: I took screenshots of the stock Android keyboard and SwiftKey and found them identical in length. It was probably a mental thing. I do hate how this thing auto spaces after pressing period though. I also dislike the number layout. These are things I wish the developer would consider making options for.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Div033 said:
I don't like swift key. The space bar is too small. I keep accidentally hitting the period instead which.makes.my.writing.look.like.this.
Did they change this in version 4? Or heck, at least give the option to?
Edit: nope. The period is still. Ridiculously big for no reason, taking up. Precious space bar space. Time to. Uninstall again. I apparently had this keyboard purchased from back when it. Was on sale for like. 40 cents.
Edit: I took screenshots of the stock Android keyboard and SwiftKey and found them identical in length. It was probably a mental thing. I do hate how this thing auto spaces after pressing period though. I also dislike the number layout. These are things I wish the developer would consider making options for.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
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If I'm not mistaken you can turn that off in settings.
OP - perhaps you should just enjoy the fact that they allowed you to beta test in the first place. When Swiftkey originally hit the scene beta testing was limited to a few and in almost every instance a user who had already purchased the app.
If McDonald's was test marketing the McRib in your area and gave you one for free does that entitle you to free McRibs for life?
Step off your high horse and spend 2 bucks.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

kujayhawks77 said:
If I'm not mistaken you can turn that off in settings.
OP - perhaps you should just enjoy the fact that they allowed you to beta test in the first place. When Swiftkey originally hit the scene beta testing was limited to a few and in almost every instance a user who had already purchased the app.
If McDonald's was test marketing the McRib in your area and gave you one for free does that entitle you to free McRibs for life?
Step off your high horse and spend 2 bucks.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
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I'M gonna throw my two cents...
shouldn't you want to pay for the finished product? show's appreciation for someones hard work and time? tesing a beta isn't a reward, or privilege, you do it on your own free will because you expressed interest in a product.

Gibscreen said:
I've beta tested a few things and I'm surprised at how unappreciative developers are of their beta testers. Most recently it was swift key. Honestly the flow kind of sucked in its first iteration compared to swype (or even the stock swype keyboard) but I stuck with it and provided feed back hoping it would get better and I would be rewarded for my efforts. When their release version came out i got an email the next day with a $2 discount and that my beta version was expired.
So now in addition to my time they want to take my money. And they won't even let me keep using the beta to avoid paying.
At least it wasn't as bad as solid explorer. They didn't even offer a discount. Just flipped all of their beta testers the bird and shut down the beta.
So is this behavior typical of developers? I think the least they could do is give their app for free to the beta testers that contributed to making their product market worthy.
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Hold up... It was an open beta... You mean to tell me that you expect them to give everyone a free copy... Pay the money, it's worth it.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

I will chime in just for the sake of it, we all got the email about final release and one thing that did strike me was in the email they said it was free and not $2, not complaining about the price just the wording and false advertisement of the email I got because before I got the email I read on Endgaget that it was on sale for $2. Checked my email and saw I got one from Swiftkey thanking me for beta testing yadda yadda and at the end saying it was free with a play store link, wrong fail. If you're gonna give a discount than just say it, don't say it's free when it's only free if you already purchased Swiftkey prior. Just my 2¢.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

kujayhawks77 said:
If I'm not mistaken you can turn that off in settings.
OP - perhaps you should just enjoy the fact that they allowed you to beta test in the first place. When Swiftkey originally hit the scene beta testing was limited to a few and in almost every instance a user who had already purchased the app.
If McDonald's was test marketing the McRib in your area and gave you one for free does that entitle you to free McRibs for life?
Step off your high horse and spend 2 bucks.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
I find the number layout easier to use. The layout of some punctuation, not so much lol but it is liveable. The Autospace/Autopunctuate can definitely be disabled.
Other than that, the keyboard is fast, the predictive text is accurate, but non-invasive, and it's a keeper for me. All I need is a real theme for it lol.
Meanwhile.. Thread reported. 98% of this thread is pure BS and a waste of forum space. Too much of that here at XDA IMO...

I got the app for free myself. Beta tested then updated the next day after all was said and done. Win-Win.
Sent from the Dark Side of my Eclipsed GS3.

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Related

Swype Latest Version Download Thread

Can we please keep the latest version of swype on a single thread for us to download? There are so many threads about swype and all it's themes but i can't find the latest version of "Vanilla" swype anywhere. I am not on the beta swype group, so the swype installer doesn't work for me. I need an .apk
So what is the latest? And can someone please provide the .apk
mods, please forgive my ignorance if this is something that is forbidden.
afaik its being worked on by some people on irc but not perfected yet ill let you know if i hear anything new
I recently installed the official latest beta and swype sucks four me now. Came to the forum to look for a link to an earlier version. Poor accuracy, junk words, constant"hidden word"pop ups and words won't delete. On top of all that swype stops responding after every reboot, habr (habr is good example) to switch to regular keyboard and back- known bug on dinc. Garbage now.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
marcmarshall said:
I recently installed the official latest beta and swype sucks four me now. Came to the forum to look for a link to an earlier version. Poor accuracy, junk words, constant"hidden word"pop ups and words won't delete. On top of all that swype stops responding after every reboot, habr (habr is good example) to switch to regular keyboard and back- known bug on dinc. Garbage now.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That had to do with the apk you have. It has been edited because swype implemented security that is supposed to keep you from using it if you are not a registered swype user for the beta program. I hear that the evo swype works tho.
Sent from my HTC Incredible using XDA App.
No, I am a registerd user and this is the official latest beta. It blows
marcmarshall said:
No, I am a registerd user and this is the official latest beta. It blows
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Well no issue here...
Sent from my HTC Incredible using XDA App.
Guys, I don't mean to be a stick in the mud, but swype has asked pretty nicely for their beta to stay for registered users. they have been pretty cool about it (my thread stayed open for a long time) if someone posts a new beta with their security cracked, they are going to be pissed off and take it out on xda. Just my 2 cents.
I'd pay for swype if they would put up a final release. Get on it swype!
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
marcmarshall said:
No, I am a registerd user and this is the official latest beta. It blows
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I'm having the same issues. Posted in the q&a forums, but not much for responses yet. What rom are you using?
Go to the evo's forum. Thats where I download the swype i'm using to type this message lol.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=8213068&postcount=37
Seems to work fine. Newest version.
-M
Luniz7 :
Well no issue here.
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Wow. That surprises me. It is seriously bad for me. Others on the Swype forum report similar problems. (funny I was just able to Swype all this without a pop up!)
bilbobrian said:
Guys, I don't mean to be a stick in the mud, but swype has asked pretty nicely for their beta to stay for registered users. they have been pretty cool about it (my thread stayed open for a long time) if someone posts a new beta with their security cracked, they are going to be pissed off and take it out on xda. Just my 2 cents.
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The problem most people have is that the Swype company doesn't allow new beta sign-ups. I don't understand why they are limiting the number of people that can test their product. I would gladly pay for swype even if it was in beta. But since I can't pay for it, because it's not on sale, i must "pirate" it.
sheepforwheat said:
The problem most people have is that the Swype company doesn't allow new beta sign-ups. I don't understand why they are limiting the number of people that can test their product. I would gladly pay for swype even if it was in beta. But since I can't pay for it, because it's not on sale, i must "pirate" it.
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Can you explain to the rest of the class why you have a *right* to use Swype?
Behavior like this is exactly why developers walk away from a platform. Then again, I'd expect nothing less from the xda DInc community.
aarinjb:
PHP:
Behavior like this is exactly why developers walk away from a platform.
So do you think apple is going to drop their platform because of all the jail breaking. The new os was jail broke the day after it came out.
I once read an opinion that MS actually profited from the days before they started all their elaborate activation protocols and you could simply copy Office from any CD, usually from where you worked. The idea was that the ubiquitous theft of the software caused it to be the predominant platform and drove the competitors out (whatever happened to Word Perfect?)
I doubt Swype is too upset about ( a relatively small number of geeky) users who like their software so much they are hacking it into their phones. Not like they are losing sales since it's not for sale anyway.
I'm not condoning software theft, just don't think the code police are going to start tracking us down via the gps on our phones or shut down the forum. Nor do I think Swype is going to give up developing and marketing for the Android platform.
The point arronjb is trying to make is, when a company puts security on software and someone cracks it that is completely wrong and in my opinion is outright theft. I personally don't think its too big of a deal for a beta to get passed around if there is no lock on it. This is the reason I closed my thread. Btw aaronjb low blow about the dinc forum.... Again just my 2 cents
bilbobrian
when a company puts security on software and someone cracks it that is completely wrong
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Can't argue with that, their intention is clear. I don't think HTC wants us rooting and cooking roms either then. I guess the difference may be that I own my phone. The courts recently ruled that phone providers cannot stop people from unlocking and hacking their phones, except in certain situations I believe.
I also wonder why aaronjb singled out the dinc forum on XDA?
aaronjb said:
Can you explain to the rest of the class why you have a *right* to use Swype?
Behavior like this is exactly why developers walk away from a platform. Then again, I'd expect nothing less from the xda DInc community.
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Click to collapse
Really? This is no different than the music industry *****ing. The nature of the internet is supply and demand. How many people p2p anymore for music? Itunes and Amazon sell music for what people will buy it for. Until swype sells a product, this will be what goes on.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
mzmartipants said:
Really? This is no different than the music industry *****ing. The nature of the internet is supply and demand. How many people p2p anymore for music? Itunes and Amazon sell music for what people will buy it for. Until swype sells a product, this will be what goes on.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Click to expand...
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Oh, sorry, didn't realize you were an Internet genius and Robin Hood rolled into one. Back on topic:
http://swype.uservoice.com/forums/1...l-response-to-downloadable-versions?ref=title
Is anyone else having a problem with this version of swype? I have installed and uninstalled it NUMEROUS times. It will work for a day or so, then for no reason at all it locks up and you can't swype at all. You have to touch to type. What's up with that? I'm getting sick of doing the installer and uninstalling over and over again.

[ANNOUNCEMENT] I wanna change VPlayer to a PAID app.

At first, let me thanks for your supporting to VPlayer.
I want VPlayer to be free at first, because I think the users will help me if I give out a better app. Now I wanna change my mind.
Considering the situation:
Gingerbread, Tegra 2, HTC hero, Droid X, EVO...
Hundreds of devices and feature requests are coming to me every day. And I want to accomplish these requests as soon as possible.
However, I cannot make it. 'Cause I can't afford these devices and don't have enough time to programm for a free software.
Although I've recieved many donations, but the amount can't even afford a nexus S. So many people are using VPlayer and request more features everyday. But they won't help me at all.
They didn't send me $1, They didn't send me a crash log. They just gave me 1 star, "fc on droid 2 / Nexus S", "If you support HDMI for EVO, will 5 star".
How come they want more and more but won't help any more ?
At last, I think I should make VPlayer a paid app to make it better.
Well, I don't use VPlayer but I totally agree.... If you are putting in that much effort and require funds to continue then yes a paid version would be a good step forward.
I would recommend though you try to keep some form of 'Ad-Support' version. After all, you need new numbers to test and report back.... Plus what with Google's new 15min rule a lot of users are thinking twice now before parting with their cash.
Having said that, VPlayer is easily tested within 15mins.... Providing it does not lock out/FC/Time Slip/etc at 16 mins onwards.
I'd have to agree that a lot of commenters in Market are plain brain-dead and they really discourage developers who put a lot of effort to bring quality software for free.
I will gladly pay for your app, its one of my favs!
Go ahead and make it a paid app, it deserves to be (and its your choice). Also consider an ad supported (in the settings/menu) version for us xda folks
Thanks.
I found RockPlayer to be the only player that would play an avi on my Nexus S, so I looked into buying their product. Then I realise it is done off market and tied to you IMEI number. I e-mailed asking them about this, saying I change device every 2 or 3 months and they said they would move a license twice. For this they want $10?!?!?! (On sale at $5 now I think)
I am thinking of e-mailing them back just to let them know they have put me off buying. If it was tied to the market I would probably have paid $5 already.
Anyway, to bring it back to relevance to this thread, if you charged $1 or $2 I would probably pay for it, if I knew it would play all the video types I needed.
I have to be honest though, I think your logic and reasoning is wrong though. You surely wont make enough money from this to buy every device that someone says it doesn't work on. I would prefer you were honest and just said, this app is taking a lot of time and you'd like some pay back from it. I don't think anyone would deny you that. (That sounds harsh, I don't mean to imply your not being honest now...)
Thanks.
Abitno,
Go ahead and make it a paid app. Time is money. If nobody else is providing what you have to offer I believe you should be entitled to be compensated to support development for such great work. If people don't like it, they will then have to go without an app that supports all the formats VPlayer can handle. I for sure will be willing to pay for such great work. Just make sure you strike a midpoint price. I would suggest a price range between $2.99 -$4.99.
Thanks for the great work and count on me on making a purchase although I already have the latest free version.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Be careful, I would suggest anything over $1.99 will put a lot of people off and you would end up with less...
You might find $0.99 would actually be the most profitable price point. I buy quite a few apps at that price without caring too much if they're useful or not!
Yup! I'd pay a dollar, hey if you did that you might make a killing.
I was using you app last week to watch the Cleaveland Show, really pleased so far. Personally I would prefer if it was a smaller file as have limited space on my N1.
Keep up the good work!
I've tried Vplayer on my Evo and I liked it a lot! I'd be willing to pay for it. Great software.
Agree on everything, make it a paid app!
yea, make it a paid app. But please give us a ad-version too!
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
best video app on the market i would go 3 on it no prob
ok, i hope you read this,
as you can see, i am living in egypt where not even Google Checkout is supported, i mean i can't even buy an app off the market even if i wanted to,
i developed a couple of apps, so i'll try to open some ideas for you,
Android Market have countries who can see paid apps, and most can't
making your application paid only leaves me no options to get it.
however making it ad-supported ( in a non spam-ing way ) makes it a good option,
you can also play with the filtering options as much as i can hear in the market to offer both versions in country specific way.
hope i made you see things more clear ...
mezo9090 said:
you can also play with the filtering options as much as i can hear in the market to offer both versions in country specific way.
hope i made you see things more clear ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you
mezo9090 said:
making your application paid only leaves me no options to get it.
however making it ad-supported ( in a non spam-ing way ) makes it a good option,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would suggest releasing two versions: Full/Paid, and a Free ad-supported one.
I've heard some people complaining that ads don't get you very much money, especially if no one clicks on them. I don't have firsthand experience with that, though. But even if the paid version doesn't add any extra features, label it a "donate/ad-free" version and some people would buy it just to get rid of the ads. Extra features in the full one just add more incentive, and the ad-supported one can still be used by those who can't buy it, like mezo9090.
What I suggest is that instead of making it paid, you should make it... open source. Yeah, open source. If such a great app becomes open, more developers will certainly join in (count me in once I finish that C++ course), which means more devices for testing and faster development in general. So, what do you think?
IMHO (as a non-developer) I would suggest you market it carefully. Id guess that your main competition is RockPlayer. I use both VPlayer and RockPlayer as I find some formats work better on one than the other.
I agree with a poster above that you would get a lot more response by pricing it low - I tend to be happy to throw a $ or two on a whim but anything more i tend to want to see a demo first ....
This is my favourite app - without it there would still be one area where Windows Mobile outperforms Android (well, there's RockPlayer, which was okay, but less developed, and with that annoying banner).
Add a price, and I'll pay it. My suggested price-point is £2 to £3. Congratulations on a fantastic App.
By the sounds of it, the Angry Bird developers have found it profitable to have an ad-supported version (although I know they have critical mass on their side). I's suggest a paid and an ad-free version if it's simple to put together.
All the best, very proud to have you on this board
I understand your case but if your app is to be on XDA it has to be free, or free with an optional paid version. Ads are reccomended in your case. PM me if you wish to carry on this application development, best wishes.

[Q] Where did team defuse go?

There website says suspended and fission rom manager no longer works???
the website has been doing that a bit lately, probably for maintenance, it should be up later
as for where theyre at, Angdroid is still planning his wedding, and hes been gone for a long time, he doesnt even mention the D2G in his updates anymore...
Site says Account Suspended, doesn't seem like maintenance...
its done this before, it did it last week actually, thats why i said its probably maintenance.
About how long was it down last time?
Account is still listed as suspended and my FRM isn't working either
I guess, guys, many of you do not know what means to be getting married. The fun just begins, wait to see when couple of kids appear.. I don't blame the guy. After all the day is only 24 hours long...
Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL
Getting married and repeatedly failing to make good on claims over a period of a couple months are two different things. As a businessman (due to the level of donations they get, he is one) you're expected to maintain a certain level of contact and production. Not saying I expect a release a week, but telling us a Fission ROM was done in January and still not having uploaded it near April makes me question my choices.
Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using XDA Premium App
???
Yeah I feel you on that. Gingerbread was suppose to be around the corner in january, but I guess he meant in astronomical units.
gifferjesus said:
Getting married and repeatedly failing to make good on claims over a period of a couple months are two different things. As a businessman (due to the level of donations they get, he is one) you're expected to maintain a certain level of contact and production. Not saying I expect a release a week, but telling us a Fission ROM was done in January and still not having uploaded it near April makes me question my choices.
Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using XDA Premium App
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I think you are mistaking business with hobby. Donation is not a salary, neither puts any obligations to the person accepting it. What it says is "if you feel my work is worth your money, feel free to send me some, here is how". I donated too, I am not using fission, but that's a decision I made. I am not asking for my money back and I am still respecting the time the guy spent tweaking the software of our phones and his willingness to share the results with us.
The only one with obligations to provide us with software updates is Motorola. Certainly not the community or its members.
Sent from my Milestone using Tapatalk
gifferjesus said:
Getting married and repeatedly failing to make good on claims over a period of a couple months are two different things. As a businessman (due to the level of donations they get, he is one) you're expected to maintain a certain level of contact and production. Not saying I expect a release a week, but telling us a Fission ROM was done in January and still not having uploaded it near April makes me question my choices.
Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using XDA Premium App
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You donated for the version that exists. Not so you could get updates!
Why don't you go complain to Google why they haven't releaed Gingerbread for D2G yet?
They made a lot more money off you than Ang did!
Asphyx said:
You donated for the version that exists. Not so you could get updates!
Why don't you go complain to Google why they haven't releaed Gingerbread for D2G yet?
They made a lot more money off you than Ang did!
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Its not googles fault, they didn't make money off of you buying the phone and they're not responsible for you getting updates, its motorolas fault
Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using XDA App

The Battle for $1: User vs Designer

So today I was greeted with a simple PM that quickly escalated to nonsense for no reason. I am putting it here because I wan't to hear the community's thoughts on this. I have erased the user's name and other information to avoid any humiliation. Please keep your discussion specific and don't flame. Blue color for my conversation and green color for the other party.
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Hello, just love your Berry Black Keyboard Theme!
would like to download it, it's posted as free on xda - clicking on link you've provided - and it appears to be paid. maybe some kind of mistake.
can you please be so kind sharing?
and do you have webmoney accound so i can donate? we don't have / can't pay through paypal in ukraine.
thank you.
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It's not for free sorry. I made a mistake in the thread, I have updated it now.
You can buy from slideme app store they allow world wide users to buy apps easily.
Berry white and ICS Froyo are the two free keyboards.
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LOL first developer not sharing 1$ eight png images to the other person kindly asking. even if he asked by mistake and willing to donate for the app he thought was free.
checked slideme - same thing with my country, anyway the deal is not about the money.
maybe i think so because i do some serious stuff in real life.
but i will never understand how 1$ and some png images can beat kind words.
wish you all the best - so your life changes the way 1 bucks won't be such an issue.
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Thats the whole point my friend. A bunch of images and random colors organized in a nice fashion is what makes it worth something. Just like mining gold. Have you ever asked the question why there is no berry black keyboard theme in the market in the first place ? Theres literally thousands of free keyboard theme apps and not one black berry styled keyboard ? Why ?
And as for sharing a $1 app, I've had users email me and they were kind enough to do a video for it as well. You are like the 100th person to ask me for free. If I gave all the other 100 people the theme for free then whats in it for me ? Like seriously ? In normal case scenario if a person has a life and other things to do why would he make and then do all the extra overhead work of creating icons and market listing and upload it and then give it out for free ? I would have given you the app anyways after you checked and told me what happened with slideme but like others you too had no patience and had to add your own smart comments.
Your right It's not about money, I give out free apps every week. People like you need to realize that $1 not because its worth $1 but because it will not sell at higher prices. It takes about 15 hours to finish a keyboard theme from start to finish and testing it on all resolutions. So if my rate of earning were to be even $10 per hour then its 10x15=$150. Which means until I sell 150 keyboard themes I have not earned enough. And then comes the 100+ people who want it for free. This is why developers quit in the middle of working on kernels and roms here in xda because when people want something they will make noise but not work on it themselves. When someone does it for them they got even more complains.
Unlike other designers here on xda I fight for designers. I don't care about your $1.
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are all these people live somewhere where electronic money transactions are REALLY hard. ebay doesn't even accept transactions for random goods to anyone in ex-ussr. didn't know that, sure?
were all these people thinking it was free and willing to donate even more than you want for it (i didn't even notice it was 1$ until i started with slideme) but with webmoney which we have exchange for?
that's not a reason for you, you're thinking of other 100 free askers and all that pity math. you concerned about money more than you try to imply, believe me it's well seen.
now as for stuff you call desiiiign - a simple recent example of an app everyone uses WhatsApp modded
price was the same as you 8 png images but this person did MUCH more work, including photoshop, smali editing compiling etc etc etc. 15 hours for your skin? than how much for testing and drawing the whole app? it'll take a year with that productivity.
and concerning the marketing question, believe me, a lot more users would download themed whatsapp with extra features not implemented by developer itself, rather than one of thousand keyboard skins.
guess what, he is giving it out for free when it was paid and than made it donate version. yes he can sell thousand of copies of this skin but he doesn't.
he earns money for his work but he is not shaking for every bucks when situation doesn't worth it and stay a real man. you live not far from russia, hope you understand the meaning of being a man in our meaning. there are things men can not afford because they're too cheap for them. not literally of course.
and the xda full of those examples.
free apps, kernels, roms, mods! years of man work for free. all this stuff needs much more knowledge and work than those 8 images you call design. and all this app can be successfully sold! but they're not. how do you think why? as for berry keyboard and first places - there's just nothing special about it no one looks for it and no one downloads it that's why it's not on a first place LOL.
donations and earning money for any work is good.
but being such a principle person in such a simple situation - trading for such a mediocre work makes me smile.
believe me, if you were such a principle person with EVERYTHING in your life you won't think about 100xxxwhatever persons 150xxxwhatever dollars and all that funny numbers. so you're not that sharp. and you're telling me you don't care about 1$. that's a funny stuff showing me i was right from the beginning.
and for the keyboard we were talking about - already got that
Order date: March 4, 2012 11:47:50 AM PST
Berry Black Keyboard
CA$1.00
Total:
CA$1.00
- doesn't look as good as it was on a screenshot - won't use it, deserves a refund in my opinion, but i won't, just because i prefer to be principle in real life with some really worthy stuff and can afford a bunch of so-called "Designer_Stuff organized in nice fashion".
just to support person who says he doesn't care for 1$ and stands for designers, but writes a huge explanation with examples from 1$ math and doesn't have anything we call design on his deviantart. keep believing LOL
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So first you message me that you love the theme and you want it for free because you cannot buy it. Next you buy from market somehow and now your complaining. I just proved my point. Your purchase has been refunded. I did not come knocking on your door you came to me trying to be cheap. You can say what you want about my deviantart I dont really care, I do things my way. You wrote an entire essay complaining maybe you could have used that time to design your own keyboard that will satisfy your needs.
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you're funny little person.
i was trying to donate for free app. remember/no? how's your memory today?
needed to ask another person to download it for me, than send money to him through webmoney... a lot of actions to do. taken about an hour, ain't it too much for a couple of images?
that's why i asked it for free first.
but such a looser like you would better believe someone tried to cheat him for 1$. greedy piece of LOL can see nothing but money. you thought someone would even bother to write a message not to pay 1$? are you that retard to not understand how small that amount is for anybody in this world?
i buy "designers" with such "creativity" and way of thinking you just clearly demonstrated for a couple of hundreds per dosen. believe me i didn't mean to steal you dollar. LOOOOOOOOOL
you've made a refund? funny enough i've noticed your apk on some other forum. so doesn't really matter. if i'd find this leaked version earlier i wouldn't meet a man that don't deserve being a man. greedy pays twice, or loosing a lot of potential buyers one way or another.
first impression is the right one. cheap stuff smells in a special way and shows itself in everything related to a person.
now get lost, tired of your pathetic mind.
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I told you before you would have got your theme for free but you had to be sarcastic from start thats why you didnt get it. If you were nice you could have avoided everything but you chose this course of action. As for the apk in another forum you just proved that you wanted to pirate it in the first place, thats why you were still looking for it in the other forums. You thought it would be nice if you could ask me directly for it so you dont feel guilty. I get many people like you every day and this is not support. I don't need nagging people like you to support me when I have the support of my designer friends in deviantart. They see something in me and you don't, go figure why. All the kernels and roms and free stuff I use from xda I have personally offered all those devs my apps for free. Some agreed others said they will buy it from the market. I don't need to explain anything to you but I'm being nice and explaining to you so your narrow one sided mind can understand that it was you who messed it up. Your the pathetic one with zero patience.
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i didnt need your theme for free clown! i needed it with less possible actions to download. see the difference?
it would be nice to ask not to feel guilty? for what? i'd use it if i like it and so what? it wouldnt work if i dont buy it? why spending time sending message waiting for answer. why talk to some clerk thinking he is a designer?
are you retard tell me? or you think sun walks around you? that's getting funniest conversation ever. you live in interesting world where you believe in some idiotic stuff you wanna believe and proving it further. that youre designer, that someone will talk to you for 1$ hahaha too much for your pity self. telling you once again - no one writes message for 1$ believe me.
you don't need to explain? you were just offered to get lost but you still here smelling in my PM. why? because im right. zero are you and you can do nothing with it. you are angry because you understand that people see how pathetic everything you do and wanna call design. its worth 1$ nothing more you're right.
youre offering apps for free to devs stuff you use? how about others? or you're only a tradewhore offering 8 images for whole kernel rom etc?. think its equal? how convinient. its like nothing to 1$ even less, we are talking about.
do you understand how low are you telling this stuff as an argument. and who uses your great skins in their roms? never seen it anywhere even for free.
get lost you're plankton, prooved in three variations.
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Moral of the story, no more PM's for me. No one is pointing a gun at your head and making you buy my apps.
Don't respond to the trolls, especially when they can't write in proper English.
Agreed, don't feed the trolls. They never are grateful for it.
Now I know what a troll is...
retareq said:
Now I know what a troll is...
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essentially if it is something that makes you angry or makes you want to write a long message in reply to explain yourself and rant about it, delete it.
Sent from my ICS SCH-i500
sageDieu said:
essentially if it is something that makes you angry or makes you want to write a long message in reply to explain yourself and rant about it, delete it.
Sent from my ICS SCH-i500
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Good advice. Its in effect right now.
spunker88 said:
Don't respond to the trolls, especially when they can't write in proper English.
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Wow that was serious stuff. And his English its understandable. People are crazy nowadays
Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
Don't let idiots get you down buddy. I'm sure this made you very upset - I myself would have been livid. But fortunately people like this don't make their opinion valid in too many ways that come across as reasonable or pointed. Them trolls are insignificant in the long run - you know how hard you work on your many projects and what they're worth, as does anyone else with half a brain
melissapugs said:
Don't let idiots get you down buddy. I'm sure this made you very upset - I myself would have been livid. But fortunately people like this don't make their opinion valid in too many ways that come across as reasonable or pointed. Them trolls are insignificant in the long run - you know how hard you work on your many projects and what they're worth, as does anyone else with half a brain
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Surprisingly I am not upset or livid. I was at first but I took this opportunity to train myself to be nice in stressful situations. I think I did well
Name & shame! Obviously wanted app for free, that's why they kept the focus on not wanting to pay "1$" and making personal insults.
sent from my legend, currently using extream legend fuse™
And this is why I just assume everyone who's not American is a Terrorist. And I do not negotiate with Terrorists.
we don't have / can't pay through paypal in ukraine.
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End of Conversation.
lol
What a flapwit.
Sent from my Optimus 2X using Tapatalk
It's 2012 the sob story of any problem is now an alarm bell..... Especially when based on any value of of real $..
I lost my mind and faith in humanity in my last few sales jobs... Apparently too honest to survive... People would blatantly lie to me in the dumbest ways thinking it would save them a penny...
When will people learn that only your mom thinks your the best or smartest...
And to the people who believe that you could out canive everyone on survivor, is the reason why north america is about to fall under its own incapability to be efficient... all this weaseling is making it impossible to do anything right the first time.... Integrity is dead..
Sent from my HTC Amaze 4G using xda premium
Sadly for him, you don't owe him anything. You are free to sell your work for any amount of money. You are free to be a slow designer and take plenty of time to do work that would apparently take shorter. It's not your fault he cannot buy your work. It's not your fault the economy is what it is. It's not your fault you're part of a bigger machine, as one of the billion cogwheels that actually needs to work to be able to afford their food and other items. Or just to buy your second multi million dollars yacht. None of anyone's business.
He never had the intention to buy in the first place, otherwise he would just have done so. He did it later on only to prove his point rather than to acknowledge of your work. If you were treated as his equal, he would have had no qualms about putting as much work as you did to buy it. Instead, he started diminishing your work, insulting your efficiency and your talent.
If you were to deliver software for free, then it would be because you wanted to. You're not instantly a better person because you give your work for free, and if someone does this to get a good reputation, then I believe you're not doing it for the good reason. I've gave work for free before. Plenty of time was spent with no remuneration other than a thank you and a smile and I've felt good about that. But on the other side, I've had plenty of remuneration, in the form of monetary compensation, for things I would do naturally without expecting anything in return. All in all, it balances.
polobunny said:
Sadly for him, you don't owe him anything. You are free to sell your work for any amount of money. You are free to be a slow designer and take plenty of time to do work that would apparently take shorter. It's not your fault he cannot buy your work. It's not your fault the economy is what it is. It's not your fault you're part of a bigger machine, as one of the billion cogwheels that actually needs to work to be able to afford their food and other items. Or just to buy your second multi million dollars yacht. None of anyone's business.
He never had the intention to buy in the first place, otherwise he would just have done so. He did it later on only to prove his point rather than to acknowledge of your work. If you were treated as his equal, he would have had no qualms about putting as much work as you did to buy it. Instead, he started diminishing your work, insulting your efficiency and your talent.
If you were to deliver software for free, then it would be because you wanted to. You're not instantly a better person because you give your work for free, and if someone does this to get a good reputation, then I believe you're not doing it for the good reason. I've gave work for free before. Plenty of time was spent with no remuneration other than a thank you and a smile and I've felt good about that. But on the other side, I've had plenty of remuneration, in the form of monetary compensation, for things I would do naturally without expecting anything in return. All in all, it balances.
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+1 Nicely said

Next steps for Samsung Nougat and Substratum

To all our Samsung Nougat Rootless users. We thank you dearly for journeying with us into being the first modularized external-OEM-based theming system. You guys have been wonderful and although there have been many ups and downs, our team would like to thank each and every one of you!
Now come Android Oreo for Samsung users, we have to unfortunately state that we will no longer be supporting Nougat’s Sungstratum Addon as they are running on a completely different theming system. As we have BIG plans with Andromeda, we plan to keep it updated even when users upgrade to 9.0.
Instead of maintaining multiple complex projects just to end up abandoning support on an Oreo version of Sungstratum, would cause more code hiccups and potential bugs. So we decided that we would drop the price of Andromeda at a 50% discount for the next 4 days - STARTING ON FEBRUARY 15TH 00:00GMT, TO THE 19TH’s 23:59GMT!
Again, we know to those who are disappointed, we would definitely want to help but our redemption codes are limited to 500/quarter, which would be reserved for upcoming, more frequent giveaways! To our current dedicated substratum users on Huawei, OnePlus, Samsung, Essential, Honor and the like, with Oreo, we would like to thank all of you!
We understand many people would not be content about this, but also if we made amazing changes for andromeda and people from samsung gets the crappier end of the deal, it would be even worse. The idea of andromeda - comes from the idea that everyone is part of the same galaxy now, and it is universalized.
We would like to clarify that the addon for Nougat support is NOT dead and the addon will keep working as long as you are running Android Nougat - as the addon advertised since day one in the description.
Well said @sykopompos ! It will be much better to have everyone on the same page
I'm not gonna pay again for something I've already paid for
Before making such harsh decisons users opinion should be taken in consideration
I'm not gonna pay for another app
You guys should play fair for those who have alreadg purchased the app should get the app free rather than paying for it again
sykopompos said:
To all our Samsung Nougat Rootless users. We thank you dearly for journeying with us into being the first modularized external-OEM-based theming system. You guys have been wonderful and although there have been many ups and downs, our team would like to thank each and every one of you!
Now come Android Oreo for Samsung users, we have to unfortunately state that we will no longer be supporting Nougat’s Sungstratum Addon as they are running on a completely different theming system. As we have BIG plans with Andromeda, we plan to keep it updated even when users upgrade to 9.0.
Instead of maintaining multiple complex projects just to end up abandoning support on an Oreo version of Sungstratum, would cause more code hiccups and potential bugs. So we decided that we would drop the price of Andromeda at a 50% discount for the next 4 days - STARTING ON FEBRUARY 15TH 00:00GMT, TO THE 19TH’s 23:59GMT!
Again, we know to those who are disappointed, we would definitely want to help but our redemption codes are limited to 500/quarter, which would be reserved for upcoming, more frequent giveaways! To our current dedicated substratum users on Huawei, OnePlus, Samsung, Essential, Honor and the like, with Oreo, we would like to thank all of you!
We understand many people would not be content about this, but also if we made amazing changes for andromeda and people from samsung gets the crappier end of the deal, it would be even worse. The idea of andromeda - comes from the idea that everyone is part of the same galaxy now, and it is universalized.
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Definitively unfair. People like me who supported you by purchasing your app are the ones who are getting hurt. Asking us to pay again for a new app with "50% discount" sounds to me like you could care less about your loyal customers and only care about getting more money in your pockets.
You can give promo codes, make the app free for a few days, convert the old app into a license key to unlock the new app, etc. Anything to be fair to us instead of ignoring us.
Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk
I think everyone complaining about how they have to pay twice isn't understanding just how much work it took to make Andromeda. It's not just a few more lines of code, they had to completely redo how theming worked. The way it's implemented in Nougat vs Oreo couldn't be more different.
Not to mention, it's $3. You guys are really complaining about $3? Skip your morning coffee or better yet, just don't use it. Nobody is forcing you to pay $3. Want to use Substratum for free? Root your phone. Don't have root and don't want to pay? Go make your own, then you'll really see how much work it is. In fact, I'll bet you won't be asking for $3 afterwards. Maybe more like $50. It's open source, after all, so go crazy and have fun.
xDark_ said:
I think everyone complaining about how they have to pay twice isn't understanding just how much work it took to make Andromeda. It's not just a few more lines of code, they had to completely redo how theming worked. The way it's implemented in Nougat vs Oreo couldn't be more different.
Not to mention, it's $3. You guys are really complaining about $3? Skip your morning coffee or better yet, just don't use it. Nobody is forcing you to pay $3. Want to use Substratum for free? Root your phone. Don't have root and don't want to pay? Go make your own, then you'll really see how much work it is. In fact, I'll bet you won't be asking for $3 afterwards. Maybe more like $50. It's open source, after all, so go crazy and have fun.
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I really dislike people like you. Honestly it could been a $1.. I m more than welcome to purchase. But it's the principal of me purchasing a key already. It's like if the dev of sdmaid or other Debs that has keys sent an email saying we are having another key, and the pervious that you paid for wouldn't work.. That's not a proper way to do things and I know I'll get heat for saying that (which I don't care). I understand how much went to it, trust me I wanted to switch my phone to opo to just use substratum... But saying stuff is just $3 that's not how things should work especially if I helped out already
xDark_ said:
I think everyone complaining about how they have to pay twice isn't understanding just how much work it took to make Andromeda. It's not just a few more lines of code, they had to completely redo how theming worked. The way it's implemented in Nougat vs Oreo couldn't be more different.
Not to mention, it's $3. You guys are really complaining about $3? Skip your morning coffee or better yet, just don't use it. Nobody is forcing you to pay $3. Want to use Substratum for free? Root your phone. Don't have root and don't want to pay? Go make your own, then you'll really see how much work it is. In fact, I'll bet you won't be asking for $3 afterwards. Maybe more like $50. It's open source, after all, so go crazy and have fun.
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I dislike users like you with your mindset. <Mod Snip> It does not matter how much it is. It could be $0.99 for all I care. I am NOT paying for another app when I already paid for the Samsung Substratum add-on. The developer could easily give those users a free promo code but they would rather have them pay for another app again so they could increase their revenue. That's not fair from the end user's point of view.
A Reddit user put it best: "Sorry, just buy our other app! And in 6 months we'll make a newer, better one! You also need to buy that one too."
milojoseph said:
I really dislike people like you. Honestly it could been a $1.. I m more than welcome to purchase. But it's the principal of me purchasing a key already. It's like if the dev of sdmaid or other Debs that has keys sent an email saying we are having another key, and the pervious that you paid for wouldn't work.. That's not a proper way to do things and I know I'll get heat for saying that (which I don't care). I understand how much went to it, trust me I wanted to switch my phone to opo to just use substratum... But saying stuff is just $3 that's not how things should work especially if I helped out already
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No, the SD Maid analogy doesn't work. But here's one that does:
Google goes ahead and completely revamps how the file system works in Android 9.0, thus breaking all apps that use the filesystem, like Solid or SD Maid. The dev(s) takes weeks and months rewriting the code so it works on 9.x and when they're done, they've pretty much recoded the entire app.
So you're saying because you and others paid $1 for the app in 2016, they should get nothing in return for weeks of work?
If the dev updates the app it could potentially break functionality for people on lower versions. If they make it a separate app but use the same license key app as their older version, they're still not getting any money. $1 is a bag of chips. Rent isn't $1. Utilities aren't $1. Hell, $1 doesn't even start to cover how much work the dev had to do to get the app running again. Not to mention that means the dev now has to maintain two codebases and two sets of users, all off your one dollar.
And don't give me BS about "oh why not just add a donate button" because everyone and their mom's know damn well no one clicks that shxt.
So, why did I use that particular example? Because that's what the Substratum devs had to do. Do me a favor: go to the Sungstratum GitHub and the Andromeda GitHub and compare how many lines of code are different and the same.
So tell me, how are things supposed to be done?
Would you prefer it to be free and have them show ads?
Or maybe you would've preferred it to be 100% free so the devs get very little to no tangible support for their efforts?
(Which, BTW, that option exists - root your phone and you don't need Andromeda.)
Again, don't like it? The app itself is open source on GitHub, so feel free to make your own implementation that's free. Hell, I'm sure the devs would even encourage you to.
haloali said:
I dislike users like you with your mindset. <Mod Snip> It does not matter how much it is. It could be $0.99 for all I care. I am NOT paying for another app when I already paid for the Samsung Substratum add-on. The developer could easily give those users a free promo code but they would rather have them pay for another app again so they could increase their revenue. That's not fair from the end user's point of view.
A Reddit user put it best: "Sorry, just buy our other app! And in 6 months we'll make a newer, better one! You also need to buy that one too."
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So don't. Who's forcing you to? Substratum isn't SystemUI, you don't need to buy it or else you can't use your phone.
And I've already addressed the "I already paid for it!" argument above.
So I'll offer the same challenge to you: look at the source of Sungstratum and Andromeda and see how many changes were made.
Well I bought the Sungstratum add-on so I deserve this 'Andromeda' app for free
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app
xDark_ said:
So tell me, how are things supposed to be done?
Would you prefer it to be free and have them show ads?
Or maybe you would've preferred it to be 100% free so the devs get very little to no tangible support for their efforts?
(Which, BTW, that option exists - root your phone and you don't need Andromeda.)
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You're not thinking. They made an app that users paid for that they expected to work for the whole time that they had it. If you pay for an app, you EXPECT the developer to update & continue to make it work with newer versions. These devs are just making a new app and saying, "Oh, sorry guys! You have to buy this new version which works with the new system updates."
That's like a car manufacturer saying, "Oh, sorry. This car you bought last year is not able to be driven on highways any more. You have to buy this new car to be able to drive on the highway now. Don't like it? Go build your own car." It's the stupidest **** I've ever seen and users like you are arguing FOR this. I just don't understand your logic.
I expect the developers to let the users who already paid for it upgrade to the new version for free. It's what the customers are expecting. Anything else is retarded.
haloali said:
You're not thinking. They made an app that users paid for that they expected to work for the whole time that they had it. If you pay for an app, you EXPECT the developer to update & continue to make it work with newer versions. These devs are just making a new app and saying, "Oh, sorry guys! You have to buy this new version which works with the new system updates."
That's like a car manufacturer saying, "Oh, sorry. This car you bought last year is not able to be driven on highways any more. You have to buy this new car to be able to drive on the highway now. Don't like it? Go build your own car." It's the stupidest **** I've ever seen and users like you are arguing FOR this. I just don't understand your logic.
I expect the developers to let the users who already paid for it upgrade to the new version for free. It's what the customers are expecting. Anything else is retarded.
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Did you read what I wrote? Samsung changed how theming worked so much from Nougat to get in line with how every other OEM would implement overlays on Oreo. This meant Sungstratum was pretty much worthless and pretty much had to be completely rewritten. Not to mention, Andromeda isn't Samsung-specific. It works for most, if not all, devices on Oreo.
It would be more akin if the US government decided to put regulations on self-driving cars, saying they had to have certain software installed and third-party hardware checks before they could be used out on the road, around the same time the Tesla Model 4 was released. Unfortunately, Tesla's Model 3 and lower with autopilot don't meet these standards set by the US government and Tesla can't upgrade older vehicles to meet those standards (remember autopilot v2?) due to logistical and money reasons. This means that Tesla will have to disable autopilot on all 3's and lower - it can still drive normally, but just no autopilot.
This would make you angry, yes, but it's necessary. Tesla isn't going to give you a brand new Model 4 for free nor are they going to upgrade your existing car. But now that there are known regulations in place, future Tesla vehicles won't have this issue. But that means in the short term, Model 3 and lower users are screwed. And what's Tesla gonna do? Probably give you $5,000 off a new Model 4 or something, or they may do nothing at all.
It's a similar thing with Samsung. Google and OEMs have decided to finally implemented a standardized way to installing overlays on Oreo. However, the new implementation is incompatible with Sungstratum. And for the mean time, Sungstratum users are screwed. But now that OEMs have decided on a proper way of doing overlays, this means that Andromeda will work for the foreseeable future and not a hacked up solution like Sungstratum/Samsung's Nougat implementation.
Not to mention, this money helps fund Substratum development. Ya know, the base app that can theme apps? The one that's free? That isn't free to them - servers, developers, they all cost money. If Subs goes, theming goes.
But if you really do want to use Andromeda for free, just root your phone.
Meh
Well paying $1-3 isnt the problem the problem is that it isn't my headache that what the developers have to do. I paid for something and i need support for it you just can't abadon a project and leave all user fustrated cuz a team of devs wants to make money every 6 months of so. That ain't fare to the users and in google play terms. All devs are transfering keys and i don't see them crying
Solution to combat the issue
Make the app free for 24 hours
Make the previous a key for this app to work then only users that have bought the app can access the new app and you guys will still get new users
Ask for a donation rather than imposing one i will happily donate but if you devs plan to use cheap tricks to get a new app that ain't happening
sykopompos said:
To all our Samsung Nougat Rootless users. We thank you dearly for journeying with us into being the first modularized external-OEM-based theming system. You guys have been wonderful and although there have been many ups and downs, our team would like to thank each and every one of you!
Now come Android Oreo for Samsung users, we have to unfortunately state that we will no longer be supporting Nougat’s Sungstratum Addon as they are running on a completely different theming system. As we have BIG plans with Andromeda, we plan to keep it updated even when users upgrade to 9.0.
Instead of maintaining multiple complex projects just to end up abandoning support on an Oreo version of Sungstratum, would cause more code hiccups and potential bugs. So we decided that we would drop the price of Andromeda at a 50% discount for the next 4 days - STARTING ON FEBRUARY 15TH 00:00GMT, TO THE 19TH’s 23:59GMT!
Again, we know to those who are disappointed, we would definitely want to help but our redemption codes are limited to 500/quarter, which would be reserved for upcoming, more frequent giveaways! To our current dedicated substratum users on Huawei, OnePlus, Samsung, Essential, Honor and the like, with Oreo, we would like to thank all of you!
We understand many people would not be content about this, but also if we made amazing changes for andromeda and people from samsung gets the crappier end of the deal, it would be even worse. The idea of andromeda - comes from the idea that everyone is part of the same galaxy now, and it is universalized.
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xDark_ said:
Did you read what I wrote? Samsung changed how theming worked so much from Nougat to get in line with how every other OEM would implement overlays on Oreo. This meant Sungstratum was pretty much worthless and pretty much had to be completely rewritten. Not to mention, Andromeda isn't Samsung-specific. It works for most, if not all, devices on Oreo.
It would be more akin if the US government decided to put regulations on self-driving cars, saying they had to have certain software installed and third-party hardware checks before they could be used out on the road, around the same time the Tesla Model 4 was released. Unfortunately, Tesla's Model 3 and lower with autopilot don't meet these standards set by the US government and Tesla can't upgrade older vehicles to meet those standards (remember autopilot v2?) due to logistical and money reasons. This means that Tesla will have to disable autopilot on all 3's and lower - it can still drive normally, but just no autopilot.
This would make you angry, yes, but it's necessary. Tesla isn't going to give you a brand new Model 4 for free nor are they going to upgrade your existing car. But now that there are known regulations in place, future Tesla vehicles won't have this issue. But that means in the short term, Model 3 and lower users are screwed. And what's Tesla gonna do? Probably give you $5,000 off a new Model 4 or something, or they may do nothing at all.
It's a similar thing with Samsung. Google and OEMs have decided to finally implemented a standardized way to installing overlays on Oreo. However, the new implementation is incompatible with Sungstratum. And for the mean time, Sungstratum users are screwed. But now that OEMs have decided on a proper way of doing overlays, this means that Andromeda will work for the foreseeable future and not a hacked up solution like Sungstratum/Samsung's Nougat implementation.
Not to mention, this money helps fund Substratum development. Ya know, the base app that can theme apps? The one that's free? That isn't free to them - servers, developers, they all cost money. If Subs goes, theming goes.
But if you really do want to use Andromeda for free, just root your phone.
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ITT: Not developers.
Let's compare this to Microsoft and their Office line of products. Let's say you bought Office 2010 back in 2011 and have used it for around a year or 2. Then, Office 2013 came out. Why was it okay for them to charge an upgrade fee/new license fee for that upgrade? Even then, however, 2010 still worked.
This is akin to Sungstratum still working on Nougat. Do you want the upgrade or do you want to stay on an old version?
Just buy the thing or don't theme...
chfreak said:
Well paying $1-3 isnt the problem the problem is that it isn't my headache that what the developers have to do. I paid for something and i need support for it you just can't abadon a project and leave all user fustrated cuz a team of devs wants to make money every 6 months of so. That ain't fare to the users and in google play terms. All devs are transfering keys and i don't see them crying
Solution to combat the issue
Make the app free for 24 hours
Make the previous a key for this app to work then only users that have bought the app can access the new app and you guys will still get new users
Ask for a donation rather than imposing one i will happily donate but if you devs plan to use cheap tricks to get a new app that ain't happening
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Click to collapse
Did you read any of what I typed or...? Cuz I've addressed this argument twice now.
You guys have to realise that you bought an add-on, that in its description EXPLICITLY states that it allows the user of Substratum on Samsung Nougat (7.0/7.1.1). Nowhere did it say that it was guaranteed to support Oreo (8.0), or any future versions of Android.
The reason why Sungstratum can't be updated for Oreo support is because on Oreo, a different system of theming is used (OMS) than Nougat (RRO).
This isn't a question of personal greed, it's a question of system limitations. Heck, they are putting this add-on on sale to make it cheaper for not just migrating Sungstratum users, but anyone to hop onto the Andromeda train right now.
Now, some of you might ask, why can't they just update Sungstratum to clone Andromeda on Oreo? Well, this would create unnecessary work, and waste time for the Substratum developers by maintaining two branches of development for Andromeda and Sungstratum Oreo, instead of consolidating it into one project, and this also helps to reduce confusion, making sure which add-on you will need for Oreo.
So please, step back and have a think about why it has to be this way. Don't jump to conclusions.
Sent from my Samsung SM-G955F using XDA Labs
haloali said:
I expect the developers to let the users who already paid for it upgrade to the new version for free. It's what the customers are expecting. Anything else is retarded.
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You do realize how software development works right? When you buy software, the developers give you a list of features and guarantee that it will do those features. If it doesn't, they'll fix it. There is NO guarantee of getting new features or an upgrade with the package you purchased; they are free to do so at their discretion but they are not obligated to. We have never stated that Sungstratum will be supported on Oreo.
So please, stop using our software. You clearly don't care how much time and effort we put into developing and supporting it.
Sent from my Google Pixel 2 XL using XDA Labs
I'm not here to argue.... I don't want this thread to be clean... But point blank if purchase a key, the key should work forever.. I purchased so many software keys.. App keys.. Ranging from titanium backup to Microsoft words to adgaurd... I don't mind supporting a dev. But to tell me a key is no longer working ehh...
No one is taking anything away from anyone, Sungstratum will still work just fine on nougat. Andromeda is another app altogether and the devs have put in many many hours of work on it, so everyone would be able to theme Oreo. I can't believe people are crying so hard over a couple of dollars.
haloali said:
I dislike users like you with your mindset. <mod snip>. It does not matter how much it is. It could be $0.99 for all I care. I am NOT paying for another app when I already paid for the Samsung Substratum add-on. The developer could easily give those users a free promo code but they would rather have them pay for another app again so they could increase their revenue. That's not fair from the end user's point of view.
A Reddit user put it best: "Sorry, just buy our other app! And in 6 months we'll make a newer, better one! You also need to buy that one too."
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Andromeda was created with the unification of all OEMs in mind. Unlike Sungstratum, Andromeda is a utility app with a full suite of desktop apps made specifically for Oreo devices and above. Ever since the start, the Samsung addon explicitly stated that it would only support 7.0 and 7.1.1. Nowhere in the description has it ever said it would support Oreo because we can never ensure that it will be supported the same way with the hack we used. In Andromeda, we planned to stick with official Google documentation and access grants, with a plethora of new features coming down the line (was meant to be after we formally decided about the Samsung integration.)
As stated in the original post, there are only 500 codes per quarter. There are way more than 500 users on sungstratum.
We would like to clarify that the addon for Nougat support is NOT dead and the addon will keep working as long as you are running Android Nougat - as the addon advertised since day one in the description. We have not dropped support on Substratum side and the next build of subs will have a lot of build optimizations done specifically for Samsung Nougat.
Please keep in mind that we are working BEYOND the sandbox of a typical Play Store app or root app. We aren't SDMaid or Nova Launcher that will just work as long as you have root or simply, a way to install apps (third party launchers).
People said on Reddit that we could have just migrated people over to Oreo through a duplicate flavor in gradle. If they actually read the OP, it clearly stated that we would like to refrain from doing that as we are not only destroying the unified experience of Andromeda but also when we decide to give Andromeda many more features that were already in the works, Sungstratum users will DEMAND that they get the same treatment.
You're not buying "another Samsung addon" if you bought Andromeda. You can even hop on over to Huawei and rock your purchase there. You bought a Samsung addon for Nougat, you got the product that was advertised.
So in Sungstratum add-on description there is statement "An add-on to enable Samsung mode for Samsung devices (Nougat 7.0 - 7.1.1)" and in Andromeda description the statement is "An add-on to enable rootless mode for stock Android Oreo devices (8.0+)". What happen if Android 9.x release? There would be another add-on and so on and so forth every Android version

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