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Konica Minolta, Ricoh, Samsung and others are now moving to Android tablet style displays on their MFPs.  I'm just curious what everyone's thoughts are?

To me they fly in the face of the KISS principal.  (Keep It Simple, Stupid)  While there is a lot of neat fluff to be had on these displays, at the end of the day its just that, FLUFF.

I've never had a customer who wanted to walk up to a copier and encounter a complex display.  They want simple with the fewest key presses and least clutter possible to accomplish their daily tasks.

Do customers really want to surf the web, go to 5 different cloud apps or even type up or edit a spread sheet or power point in the display of the copier?  If so, I haven't seen it.

As these displays become more the norm I'm envisioning a help desk nightmare as the buttons on no two machines will be in the same place as every machine will get fiddled with by the customer or individual sales rep.

I'm already aware of one situation where a tech had to be dispatched on-site simply because when the help desk call came in the person who tried to help was unable to walk the frustrated customer through the proper steps to resolve the issue over the phone due to the communication gap between the customer and the help desk person in our showroom who were looking at different displays on the same device.

Perhaps the best route will be for the individual dealer to standardize (dumb down) all of their displays to their preference and then lock them down with an admin password before the machines are delivered and then only sparingly add things if there is a specific need in a client's office.

Curious to hear other's thoughts.

 

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It's my opinion that the Android interface can allow many of the manufacturers to customize their feature sets and optimize processes for larger fleets of devices. 

It's not about us old guys and gals anymore, it's about millennials and GenX.  I probably have the most SOP's in the field compared to other sales people, so far so good.

Art, 

I worked with Biscom to take their Android App (already Developed) and loaded the apk file on a Samsung. I was able to send & receive a fax, I was the first one in the world to do this,. I then worked with the Biscom Developers to tweak this app so it understood what a Scanner & Printer was and how to use them. They were able in 30 days to have a working Biscom Fax App, and another 60 days to have their SFT (Secure File Transfer). I am working on other Apps now because Apps (killer Apps) are the future of our industry. The problem with Canon, Ricoh, etc is they don't open up their SDK or they charge for it. Samsung not only gives it to you (You sign an NDA) but they have developers to support you when you have questions or issues. Canon * Ricoh want to pick winners & losers. Samsiung wants 1,000 apps written for their Android MFDs. That's a big difference.

By the way you MUST dumb down the main screen and get rid of anything your customer doesn't use. You can move it to the right or left screen and teach them to swipe. Or you can LOCK DOWN the Main Scenn & Apps so they can not change anything.

Samsung has the right model, and apps are the future of our industry!

 

That's My $0,02

Vince McHugh

 

Last edited by VinceMcHugh

The Android operating system has been proven to be vulnerable to security threats from viruses and malware.

There was a new breach just this week.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/new-m...s-15-seconds-1550062

I do not know of any copiers been effected but it is a topic of conversation and a seed of doubt when competing against Samsung.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/05...-malware-report.html

Copiers are generally installed on a five year lease and used by many people.  A lot of bad things could happen during that time.

A major new flaw found in Android security that could effect a BILLION mobile devices!

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/08/08...-patchwork-mess.html

A new flaw shows Android security is still a patchwork mess <noscript></noscript>

All that means the time from when a flaw is identified or disclosed to when it is fixed is longer than it should be, sometimes leaving hundreds of millions of phones vulnerable for weeks or months.

"The problem continues to be that Android security updates are really hard because of [their] fragmented ecosystem,"

 

Android is a very versatile and stable platform. Ricoh, Samsung, Toshiba have all adopted them. I'm hearing that Lexmark is on their way towards android as well. I find it funny Konica Minolta was the first one to investigate Android as a platform but they have not come out with one yet. I wonder if HP will Pick up Samsungs Android OS and drop OPX'd.

For those who are concerned about Android being a security risk, Someone should speak to Blackberry (Yes I said Blackberry). Blackberry has the one of the best hardening  systems for Android, I'm sure this could what they do with Android phones could be applied to a Android OS MPF.

Speaking of blackberry I'm surprised no OEM actually looked at using QNX. http://www.qnx.com/content/qnx...rino-rtos/index.html

QNX is owned by Blackberry and is one of the most stable operating systems in the world, it dominates the medical and automotive industries if your car has ABS is it most likely running QNX OS.

 

 

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