Ionics Sheeva Plug Unboxing...wanna see inside?

[badcam]

Now, for some comments:

Ionics-EMS are atrocious, to deal with. They seem to have the weirdest email system on the planet. Emails come in and then take a day, yes, a whole day, or more, to get sent on to the intended recipient. Now, when they send emails, they take at least three days minimum to leave their premises. It was explained to me that this was  because of their spam system. Seems to me they must be paying cheap Philippine labour (they are based in the Philippines) to sort through it manually.

When I purchased the device, they didn't charge me postage. They've since sorted out their website, so that it works correctly now.

I expect that this is just teething problems though. The item (actually, I got two Sheeva's) was sent on the 13th of Nov from the Philippines and took five days to get to New Zealand. That wasn't bad. The carton was a little crushed, but the item was packed well.

I now realise why the Ionics Sheeva looks so small. It's because as you'll see the Sheeva has a separate dongle with which the SD Card, Micro USB reset button and JTag (?) female connector are placed. The Ionics device itself only has the Ethernet port and USB port and the male JTag jutting awkwardly out the side. I think it would be hard to damage it though on it's own, but with the Plastic dongle attached?

It comes with a very nice Ethernet cable, USB to Micro USB cord and a CD with Version 2.0a of the Plug Computer Development Kit.

The device also has a permanent plug, unlike the removable and swappable one that comes with the Marvel Sheevaplug. So, if you buy one, think carefully about what power connection you need.

On it's own (without the dongle), this device is way less than half the size of the marvel plug. Nice and discrete, but of course, this means you have to run it via the nand or USB hard Drive, unless you want to have the awkward side attachment attached.

[j0n3s]

Maybe it's just me but:

- the package is not nice at all 
- I don't see any reason to split the device in two, the original it's ok, having another external connector it may just add some problems.
- from aesthetic point of view, if you run the device with dongle attached it looks weird - everything is different  - color,  material, shape...

[badcam]

I know what you mean. It's incredibly small compared to the original though. Could be quite stealthy in the right circumstances.

[snake]

- the package is not nice at all 

Haha.. Yeah, it seems that the box was wrecked during shipment. But I heard that this is how DHL or FedEx usually treat their packages (just throw them inside the plane scenario).

But if badcam says that the items were well-packed then that's good enough, you won't be displaying your carton box beside your running sheevaplug, right?

[sgnpinoy]

Maybe it's just me but:

- the package is not nice at all 
- I don't see any reason to split the device in two, the original it's ok, having another external connector it may just add some problems.
- from aesthetic point of view, if you run the device with dongle attached it looks weird - everything is different  - color,  material, shape...

I agree that the box needs to be improved and I ams sure those folks ar Ionics will be improving on it. As for the design of the External JTAG box in the SDK vesioon, I too had the same question in my mind before. After talking to the people at Ionics, I nowI understand that the reason for the External JTAG box is that there is a retail version of the SDK without this external JTAG kit (also without the PCB Cardedge) that softtware developers would want to sell as a commeciral product to their customers (the public) after they have done dvelopinging applications using the SDK version.

This will mean a commercial prodauc tthtat is really small and sexy. Way coo;. Most of us develioers who have comcmerical applications in mind will apprciate this thoughtfulness in design, I am sure.

A vistit to the Ionics websuite (http://www.ionics-ems.com/plugcomputer.html) will indded verify this. One can see both the retail and the SDK versions. Clever! 

I dfinietly will be ordring mine - can;t wait to get my hands on it. Already have a comemricall applicationn in mind and thats why I like the Retail model vs SDK model concept

[fedor]

Thanks for the informative post and the pictures. Many of us no doubt have been wondering what the Ionics plug and service would be like.

Just out of interest, how long did you have to wait from ordering till the plug shipped?

[taste]

Where did the pictures go  Are they just from the outside or also the internal PCB's (which would interest me  )

[badcam]

Thanks for the informative post and the pictures. Many of us no doubt have been wondering what the Ionics plug and service would be like.

Just out of interest, how long did you have to wait from ordering till the plug shipped?

20th of October.

I ordered the day their website went live. It wasn't working. In fact, I don't even think they tested it before going live. I purchased two plugs for the Asia/Ociania are, but they gave no opinion to select freight, nor did they charge freight. My first response from them was sent or created on the 23rd of October, but I never got it. A copy was sent on the 27th of October, but I didn't get that until the 2nd of Nov.

The email where they advised they I still needed to pay the shipping was created on Oct 23rd, but didn't get to me until the the 6th of Nov. That's 13 days!

Reading the source of the email shows that Google only received it a couple seconds before putting it in my Email Box and it didn't even leave Ionics until the 6th of Nov either. So, all that time it just went from the PC of the person who sent it, probably to their own mail server (I assume) and then after 13 days, the server sent it onwards. I might just send a copy of the email info onto Ionics so they can perhaps get a better idea of the problem.

Their IT people IMO don't seem to do any testing.

If you do correspond with Ionics, expect to be sending emails back and forth knowing that they probably have responded, but of course, you haven't seen it yet. They get yours straight away (at least, within a day or so, although I suspect some don't get to the recipient), because the recipient does respond as soon as possible, but what happens to it after that?

Oh yeah. If you get an email contact address for anyone at Ionics, copy sales@ in as well, or any other name for that matter.

[fedor]

Thanks for the reply. That is disappointing to hear. Their service is only marginally better than Globalscale's then, if you've seen my thread. They probably also charged your credit card the day you ordered too?

It is almost like they don't want us to buy these things... They couldn't throw more obstacles in the way of customers if they tried...

[badcam]

Thanks for the reply. That is disappointing to hear. Their service is only marginally better than Globalscale's then, if you've seen my thread. They probably also charged your credit card the day you ordered too?

It is almost like they don't want us to buy these things... They couldn't throw more obstacles in the way of customers if they tried...

Yes, to both.

However. I've sent a copy of my email hear info to Ionics and this I understand will be forwarded onto the IT department to look into. Having just said that, did you notice I indicated a response?  Heh heh, they did actually reply within a few hours, so maybe the problem with their email has already been resolved?  That fact that I actually got a fairly rapid response suggests so.

Overall, I think it's just teething problems.

[badcam]

Hey Folks.

A word of warning about the Ionics plug computer:

I've purchased two of these devices. Unlike the Sheevaplug, which is completely silent, both of the Ionics emit noises. The noise is not loud, but in a silent room, it becomes quite annoying. The sound is like that of a Modem, but nowhere near as loud.

I'd like to know if anyone else has noticed this and if they find it as annoying as I do. They can't be used,in my opinion, in a quiet room.

I'm thinking about sending them back.

[Magus]

That's very interesting!

I had sent an email to Ionics asking whether their unit was UL, Ce, and FCC approved, but I didn't get a reply. Does your plug have a sticker indicating this?

I am really keen to know as that will decide whether I buy from them or not.

[badcam]

That's very interesting!

I had sent an email to Ionics asking whether their unit was UL, Ce, and FCC approved, but I didn't get a reply. Does your plug have a sticker indicating this?

I am really keen to know as that will decide whether I buy from them or not.

I have had a good look and no, there are no approval details on these things at all.

I'm not an engineer, nor an expert on insurance. So, if I'm running this device and it catches on fire for instance, I might not be covered for insurance. As for the noise, surely it should be silent, or should I expect at least some extraneous noise from this thing?

I notice also that the USB Output is 5VDC 500mA. Isn't the Sheeva's USB Output 5VDC & 780mA? That would mean attached USB devices may be more likely to be needing a powered USB hub.

[badcam]

Further to this:

Having another look at their site, I see that all these approvals are pending. I'm sure that won't be a problem, but they shouldn't be releasing these things until approval has been given. Surely? 

http://www.ionics-ems.com/plugcomputer.html

[fedor]

The buzzing noise may be the high frequency switch mode power supply in the device - the thing that converts 110 - 240 volts to 5V for the device. Some laptop and Li battery chargers make a humming / buzzing noise when they are under load.

Regarding approval of electronic devices, I think you'll find it is legal to import one that is unapproved but you may not be able to provide the devices for retail in your country without gaining approval first. I may be wrong, better check with your country's laws.