On October 20 I ordered both my colleague and my wife (for her birthday which has already passed) Dell Studio 17 laptops with the new Intel i7 mobile processors.  The laptop is equipped and priced comparably to other 17″ laptops made by Toshiba, Sony and HP. Both my colleague and my wife are accustomed to Dell laptops so the decision was made to order the Studio 17′s from Dell rather than change to other brands.

Note: The only difference between my colleagues Studio 17 and my wife’s Studio 17 is the processor. My colleague opted for the faster Intel Core i7-820QM Quad Core while I got my wife the Intel Core i7-720QM Quad Core Processor. As you read on you’ll find out why this is an important detail.

The Order Process

I ordered the laptops in the late evening of October 20th. When I was in the check out process, the expected “ship” date for the laptops was November 10th. My first frustration came after ordering both laptops and finding that this date was moved back to the 11th on both during the checkout process. Okay, one day, I can deal with that.

The second part of the order that got me frustrated was how the pricing of shipping is calculated. I first ordered my colleagues computer, shipping overnight was going to cost $40, where 2 day was $24 and 3+ day was going to be $16. At the time I ordered the laptop, I figured the laptop would just arrive in time (Thursday, November 12) for the conference we were attending that weekend. With the changed shipping date after checking out, this meant I should have selected the overnight option for $40 rather than the 2 day that I did.

Then when I purchased my wife’s Studio 17, shipping totals were way different, $24 for 1 day, $16 for 2 day and $8 for 3+ day delivery. I then decided to do 1 day since the price difference wasn’t that big. That’s when I started wondering how the shipping total was being calculated. My colleagues order had a mouse added to the order that cost $14. Adding that item nearly doubled the shipping. Had I known that, I would have not ordered the mouse from Dell and just went to Microcenter and got a comparable mouse. It wasn’t till after I placed the second order, then re-assembled the 1st order in their shopping cart that I confirmed that Dell increases the shipping based on each item added. If you don’t watch the shipping line item in your shopping cart, you would never know the factor one other item puts on the total shipping.

Changing Shipping Method of my Order: Not Allowed

What’s more frustrating was calling Dell and trying to change the shipping method on the first order. I will not even talk about how rude the call center folks are but you can definitely tell Dell is still using call centers outside of the United States. I won’t even get into my opinion of that, but lets just say if you want to do business somewhere, put your support staff in the same place please!!!! At the time I was willing to pay more and even expected to have to pay some sort of order modification fee. Instead I got a cold reality that calling for support really meant calling to hear someone tell you no.

Expected Ship Date Came and Went

As November 12th (the date Dell switched the ship date for the order to upon checkout) came and went, no status changed on the dell.com web site for both orders. The next morning, I got separate emails from Dell that both orders have been delayed exactly one week. After passing on the bad news to both my colleague and wife, I decided to just wait till next week.

According to the email from Dell, both computers will now be shipped on or before November 18th.

Conclusion for Studio 17 with the i7-820QM Quad Core Processor

On November 16, my colleagues computer was finally shipped and he received it on November 18th. Sadly, no apology letter or any token of appreciation for waiting was included in the shipment.

Current Status of  Studio 17 with the i7-720QM Quad Core Processor

This computer has been delayed another 12 days and is now scheduled to be shipped on or before November 30th.

Customer Satisfaction

The emails I’ve received for the shipping delays included a new phone number I can call to talk to customer service for customer satisfaction. This is where the last straw has been pulled by Dell. If you tell me to call a number and wait on hold while being transferred 3 times to find out the person I end up talking to cannot do anything for me, then why waste my time? Where’s my satisfaction coming from with this pointless call? The way the email is worded, I fully expected to call this new number and have someone say sorry with an explanation and give me something, if not something of value, like a token gift by mail such as a mouse pad that says Dell on it or even just a formal snail mail apology letter. If Dell was really on their game they would give me a substantial discount on my orders for the inconvenience. If they have any intention of maintaining a reputation, they should discount the orders to the wholesale value of the parts. Yes, Dell would loose their profit and cost of labor on my order, but I think that would be fair for missing customer expectations and is a common customer service solution in other businesses.

Why the Delay? Dell Will Not Tell You But I Can

If you search forums, in particular Dell’s forum as well as other PC forums you will find a number of threads of folks complaining about their delayed orders. I’ve found threads for the Studio 17 as well as for the Studio 15 and Studio XPS 16. What they all have in common is the i7 processor. I wasn’t going to blog this as the reason because technically, it’s still not enough evidence. Well thanks to my colleague wanting the slightly faster i7 processor, I’ve now confirmed that the processor is the reason for the delays.

Dell.com Ship Estimates for New Studio 17 Orders with i7 Processor Questionable

What’s the most disturbing is the estimated ship date Dell posts next to their products when you’re customizing your computer. I’ve gone back to Dell.com and observed ship dates that don’t line up with my experience. If my estimate is right, if you order a Dell Studio 17 today with the faster i7 820QM, you may just receive it by Christmas. If you’re ordering the processor with the i7 720QM and you expect to get your laptop on 12/8/2009 as Dell estimates, good luck. I’ll tell you right now you will not get your computer by Christmas unless something seriously changes with Dell. Remember, It is now estimated for orders placed on October 20th that they will be shipped on November 30, so how can an order being placed now with the i7 720QM processor be delivered by Christmas, let alone the date they promise? Dell needs to catch up all their October orders, then all their current November orders before yours is shipped. If you want some advice, take a look at a Toshiba, Sony or HP 17.4″ laptop.

What is Intel Doing About the Shortage of i7 Processors to Dell?

I have no clue if there Intel has a shortage on their processors, but what is obvious is Dell has a shortage of Intel i7 processors. For me, the buck stops at Dell, I blame them completely for offering a computer that they cannot deliver timely. But I am curious, is the issue between Dell not ordering enough for their demand or is Intel having issues producing enough of the processors?

Dell Phone Support Suggestion

Eliminate phone support all together or move it back to North America and empower the support staff. I was upset when I learned that the phone support was outsourced to India many years ago. I’m even more upset when I call and the script they are given to read always ends with “I cannot help you sir”. Why even have a phone support line if they can’t provide support? I say eliminate it completely and pass on the savings to us customers. I honestly believe that after this Holiday season you’re going to need to provide substantial discounts on your products in order to keep what customers you have after this delayed ordered fiasco you’re having.

I wouldn’t have a problem paying $50 more for a computer if I knew I could talk to someone on the other end who lives in the same part of the world I do, who appreciates the same television shows, experiences the same holiday shopping season and just knows the difference between talking to someone from Texas to talking to someone from Ohio (for example Coke/Pepsi is called “pop” in most of the Midwest). There’s a part of the customer service that is personable that is completely lost by Dell. When I call up my cable company for example, sometimes I talk to someone from Toronto, sometimes someone from right here in Columbus. Either way, part of the conversion is defused by talking about hockey or college football.

The other part of the customer service equation is to empower your staff to be able to help the customers. Give them the ability to send apology letters, send small apology tokens like a mouse pad or some other dell corporate swag, or even give them the ability to give customers a discount for their dis-satisfaction. Let them change the orders to some degree. I understand that once an order is placed we shouldn’t be able to change the processor or major components, but it should be easy to change other things within a 3 day window before assembly. Go ahead and charge an order change fee along with that, folks will understand and it gives you a new revenue stream. Lastly, don’t BS folks like me that the shipping method cannot be changed, I’m smart enough to know you don’t print out the shipping labels till the package is ready to be shipped.

Some interesting links on related Delayed Dell Shipments

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1562314/dell-shipping-i7-studio-xps-laptops

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19300240.aspx

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19301350.aspx

http://en.community.dell.com/forums/t/19305046.aspx

Are you still waiting on a Dell laptop with an i7 processor? Please leave a comment, tell me about your experience!

UPDATE: November 23, 2009

My colleague’s Studio 17 currently does not work. When he finally got to turning it on Thursday evening, it was beeping an error code. The Studio 17 came DOA (Dead On Arrival). At present he is waiting for Dell to come and replace both the processor and the system board. I will be posting a separate blog post soon with an update on his Studio 17.

I’ve subsequently canceled the Studio 17 on order for my wife and promptly ordered the HP Pavilion dv7-3080us from NewEgg.com. It is comparable 17.3″ notebook computer with the i7 processor. It is nearly identical feature to feature except the HP comes with a twice as large hard drive (500GB), additional 2GB of memory, media remote control, and a blu-ray player/reader.  As far as cost, this machine is about $200 more than the Studio 17 I had on order. The only feature it does not come with is the back-lit keyboard. Her computer will be arriving anytime today.

I’ve had my Google Android G1 phone for over a year now, and I have a lot of good and bad things to say about it. I’ve had my iPhone 3GS for just over 6 months now and have come to a number of conclusions why I don’t like the iPhone and prefer Android.

In a nutshell, G1 hardware sucks, Android OS and applications rock. iPhone hardware is rock solid, iPhone OS, though easy to use, is very limited and applications do not seem to be as innovative, most likely a result of the limited OS. Lucky for Android users, there are now more than a 1/2 dozen better Android phones to pick from with more available in the coming months.

I got the Android G1 phone back in October of 2008, about a week after it came out. The first 24 hours with the phone was frustrating. Once I read the manual that came with the phone and watched a couple videos, I quickly understood how the phone worked and went from frustrated to enlightened. I’ve met a number of other folks who had a G1 for a few days and then quickly returned them. I suspect if they just spent the time to read the manual their experience would have been a better one.

I got the iPhone 3G S this past summer, essentially a week after the 3G S phone was released. The 3G S is provided by work. Being in the podcasting and new media business, it was important that I have and use a iPhone because it makes up such a large portion of the podcasting market share. It was easy for me to start using the iPhone, I never had to refer to a manual to get started. Coming from Android though, I quickly came to the realization how limited the iPhone is. I will get more into that shortly.

My Analogy of iPhone vs Android: An iPhone is like a desk, it can handle lots of work, but the only way the work gets done is if you do it. An Android phone is like having two desks with a secretary; one for you and another with a secretary working 24 hours a day 7 days a week. You still have to do your work, but it is nice to have your secretary tell you when you get new email, future appointments, Facebook reply, Tweet message or if there’s a flood warning.

This is my biggest frustration with the iPhone. I’ve been told by some iPhone users that the phone can be hacked to do what I can do with my Android phone. But that’s not quite how things work in Android. Not only can multiple applications run at the same time on Android, but all push type notification for things like Twitter, Facebook, Weather alerts, etc.. all funnel into a single stream of notifications that are easily accessible at the top of the screen. Even with a hacked iPhone, the user has to load the specific app to see if anything has changed.

I’m indifferent in opinion if the iPhone should evolve to be a multi-tasking push notifying device like Android. Referring back to my original frustration with the G1, I think there will always be a market for a simple one task at a time, only work when I tell you to work phone. I have a feeling that Apple did this on purpose so users can start using the phone quickly without frustration. Keep it simple works for most.

Unfortunately for Apple, I’m not most people. I have a lot of work to do all the time. Android, though it is initially more complicated than the iPhone, simply does more.

Hardware wise, the iPhone is definitely a well built phone. I am not at all worried that something will break or fail on the phone. I cannot same the say about my HTC G1, after 1 year of use it feels aged.

Some specific features missing in the iPhone found in Android:

• Multi-color LED light: Applications in Android take advantage of this. I setup my twitter app to blink cyan when I have new tweets for example.
• Desktop Widgets: I never have to load the calendar or weather applications, I can see what my next appointment is and the weather simply by looking at my home screen.
• Micro SD card: Comes in handy, I’ve actually downloaded documents on my G1 then plugged the SD card into my laptop.
• Notifications Bar: Applications such as Twitter, Facebook, Weather Bug, system updates, etc.. add little notifications in an easy to access list available by pulling down the top of my screen with my finger like a curtain.
• Google Voice: iPhone doesn’t have this functionality, not because it can’t, but because they didn’t allow it. Sad because Android has 2 applications for Google Voice, one made by Google and another called GV made by Evan Charlton which is even better than the Google version.

Some things about the Android G1 phone I don’t like:

• Hardware on the G1 seems weak. I’ve seen other G1′s where the sliding mechanism feels very sloppy. Since I’ve seen that I’ve been very careful when I open/close my G1. The plastic clear cover over my camera lens has cracked and I find the plastic used on the phone to be of a poor quality.
• Camera is slow – I thought this was a problem with Android, but I’ve seen the Hero take pictures faster and they’re much more crisp compared to my phone.
• Touch keyboard in Android sucks – It can be improved, the only thing I do like is the short vibrate on button touch feature. I haven’t seen Android 2.0, reportedly the touch keyboard is much better on it.
• No 3.5mm audio jack – I have to use a Mini USB to 3.5mm adapter in order to plug headphones into the phone.

Applications noted with an asterisk* are applications I highly recommend.

Applications I use on iPhone (besides what comes with the phone):

• NPR News* – If you like NPR, this is a pretty good app.
• WordPress 2.0* – App made by Automattic.com for working with your WordPress blog. Prefer the wpToGo but moderating comments with this app is superior.
• Bump* - Exchanging contacts by bumping phones
• Facebook
• Flickr
• PogoPlug – Works with your pogoplug account.
  
• Pandora – Streaming radio
  
• NASA – Keep track with NASA missions
  
• WeatherBug

Applications I use on Android (besides what comes with the phone):

• KeePassDroid - Android version of KeePass
• ShopSavvy* – scan bar codes while at the store and get both regional store and online compared pricing
• TasKiller (Free/Pro) lets you kill tasks that run in the background, useful if you want to extend battery life
• AndroZip File Manager - Handle/create Zip files on the phone.
• Bluetooth File Transfer – Exchange files with other Android phones
• AndFTP - FTP client
• Wifi Analyzer* – Analyze all the Wifi signals so you can determine the best channel for your wireless access point.
• Key Ring Reward Cards* – Scan all your grocery store and box store cards into your phone. More abou this app below.
• wpToGo* – similar to WordPress 2.0, works better for writing posts, but the WordPress app for the iPhone moderates comments better.
• Listen* – Podcatcher (audio only at present) that runs in the background and downloads any size media. I’ll write more about this app near the bottom of this post.
• T-Mobile Visual Voicemail - just like visual voicemail on iPhone. I prefer the interface better tahn the Voicemail on iPhone actually.
• Pandora – Streaming radio
• WeatherBug* – Way better than WeatherBug on the iPhone becuase it has a desktop widget and adds notifications to my notifications bar in Android. Other than that, it’s similar to the WeatherBug app on iPhone.
• httpmon HTTP Server Monitor – Monitors web sites.
• Barcode Scanner – Alternative to Bump, all your contacts have square barcodes you can use this to scan in or give out your contact information easily.
• Voice Recorder – Simple application for recording.
• FxCamera – Camera app that lets you add effects
• Tuner – gStrings - lets you tune your instruments with the phone
• Qik* – Stream video from your phone’s camera live on 3g or Wifi (unlike the iPhone)
• Snap Photo Pro* – Camera app with a lot of options (default camera doesn’t have that many), it is worth buying this application.
• PogoPlug – Works with your pogoplug account.
  
• T-Mobile My Account – Get account usage and also monitors battery life
• Facebook for Android
• Scoreboard – Follow sports teams
• ConnectBot – SSH client
• GV* – Google Voice application, works better than the one by Google
• Bubble – Level application
• iTweet* – Twitter application, more about it below
• ToggleWifi- Toggle on-off Wifi from a desktop icon.
• ToggleBlu - Toggle on-off bluetooth from a desktop icon.
• Rings Extended – Use any audio on your phone as an audio setting for any application that uses notifications.

Key Ring Reward Cards

This has to be one of my favorite applications on Android. I used to have a half dozen of those cards on my key chain. Sometimes I would go to the grocery store with my other keys and not even have my reward card on me. Now both of my sets of keys are free of these stupid cards. There is also a cool factor when the person behind you sees you using a phone rather than your keys to scan in your rewards.

Listen (Google Labs Podcatcher for Android)

The Google Listen podcatcher is way better than iTunes on the iPhone. It does not have the 10MB limit on 3g like the iPhone does. It also has a pretty easy to use listen queue that allows you to organize the podcast episodes you want to listen to into a simple list. Anything in your listen queue automatically gets downloaded in the background. The application has a lot of potential. The only major downfall of the application currently is its search. You would think anything having to do with Search and Google would be brilliant, but finding podcasts in the Listen app is nothing but brilliant. The trick I’ve found is to search for episodes based on the episodes show notes. Searching for a podcast program is futile at best, but by episode notes typically works every time. You can add podcasts manually by RSS feed as well.

i Tweet (Twitter app for Android)

Not to be confused with iTweet.net, the i (space) Tweet app on Android is the best phone interface designed Twitter application I’ve seen to date. I was using Twitroid for a while, but found its memory usage  and clunky interface got to be quite annoying. i Tweet works in the same way and can run in the background to make use of the notifications features built into Android. When my phone blinks cyan, I know I got tweets waiting for me.

UPDATE!

I noticed I missed some other Android applications that I am using. Here’s the remainder of the list:

• Toddler Lock – Locks the screen so toddlers can play with the phone. makes sounds and displays color shapes.
• BistroMath - Calculate tips when dining out.
• Compass - What direction is north.
• ASCII Chart – Displays the ascii chart and its numeric values (for programmers)
• GPS Speedo – can detect yoru speed when GPS is enabled.
• Where - Find dining, shopping, etc.. based on your current location
• Pick a # – Lets you randomly get a number based on a range you specify.

Here are some more apps suggested from Matt Gunn:

• Movies – Display currently playing movies at nearby Theaters
• SportsTap – Sports portal like Scoreboard
• Foursquare – Explore major cities
• Robo Defense – game