ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
Livingroom: BL3, BL11, BV11-46 Kitchen: Beosound 1 GVA, Beocom 2 Bathroom: M3 Homeoffice: M3, Beocom 2 Library: Beosound Emerge, Beocom 6000 Bedroom: M5, Essence remote Travel: Beoplay E8 2.0, Beoplay EQ, Beoplay Earset
BS Moment, BS Core, BG 4002, BC 4500, BS1, BL18, BL19, BL8000 + RCV1, A6, M5, M3, A1, P6 (tks Botty), H5, TR1
Hi Hiort,
you beat me on this one.
MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
iPad version updated - tile view looks a bit more sensible on a tablet.
One thing though - when you select "show all", it reverts to a list.
This is still horrible - at least on a tablet, the "show all" should expand to a tile view you can scroll up and down.
In order to have just one thread on this subject, I’ll add my post from the one that I made....right at the same time as this one from Hiort.
The version 2.6 brings ‘New music view design‘.
Which changes do you see?
Only difference, that I see, are a different icons, when you pick your music server.
By the way. - I never understood why I have to see the ‘folders’ for pictures and video in a music-only app 🤔
P.S.
There might be changes with view of Deezer - which I don’t use (when yes, which?)
Other changes, that I do not notice?
I'm not exactly sure when these features showed up, but I recently noticed:
1) Essence and Beosound 2 now have "reboot" option under product -> configuration -> troubleshoot
2) The Eclipse stand and speaker group can be changed from the app.
Woot!
Edit: I now realize this is the "beta" thread, and the above features on in the "released" product...
BV Harmony 65 / Eclipse 55 / BL 50 / 19 / 18 / BS 2 all brass
BV Horizon 48 / V1 40 / BL 17 / Beoplay S3 all black
V1 / BL 3 / BS Essence MKII / Beoplay A3 all white
BS Moment / BS 3000 / BS 3200 / BL 400 all silver
Headphones / bluetooth speakers / BLC NL-ML / BLGateway
I know…B&O virus has grown on me !
Best regards - Dyssegaard
Living room: Beovision Eclipse 55, Beolab 3 / R1 (back), Beolab 2 / R1 (sub), AppleTV 4K. Bedroom: Beovision 11-40, AppleTV 4. Home office: Beoplay M5. Kitchen: Beoplay M5. Travel: Beoplay H8, Beoplay A1. NAS: WD My Cloud Home / Plex DLNA Server.
I've got the same issuea with my Essence Mk2/V1 integrated setup. It seems the integration feature is broken in the newest versions of the beta app.
With my huge collection of portable speakers, headphones, and earphones, the ability to organize the products in a given view is really essential. For example, there could be groups for (1) home multi-room, (2) office, and (3) portable devices.
I follow mbolo01 I think the user interface design (UID) is horrible in comparison to other apps I use.
1) The product view looks like a B&O catalog page out of the 80ties. Perhaps good for selling products to my parents, they are used to this styl. But as hint to the developers, I already own all the products listed. For the intended use to choose a product I want to configure it is terrible inconvenient. And you need many klicks and pages to get what you need.
2) The Music & Radio page are very confusing and you have to scroll a lot to get an overview. And you need too many clicks and see different pages until you can start listening - the main purpose of this page. Besides missing many technical features like: Deezer flow, what I heard last, etc.
3) The multiroom page is ok, it shows your online B&O equipment. You can link it. Probably the best page of the four. Very minimalistic and it shows what it does - that is good! But still it could be enhanced by more information, for example showing what is currently played, status, etc.
4) The player view is ok, but I miss the integration to the Music & Radio view. You are not able to make it smaller, so that you can still access the major functionalities while looking at the other views e.g. Music or Radio. All other player apps I use are offering these feature.
What I totally miss is the link between these four main areas. I always have to switch between the different areas with many clicks, it is not logical linked at all.
Considering that B&O likes to be a design company focusing on user experience, they should invest more by using professionals.
Closing with a sarcastic interpretation: I get the feeling that B&O tried to save money by using four computer science students with no experience regarding UID, forbid them to talk to each other and let them develop four different functionalities for a iOS app. After this unique experiment (following the brand name beoPLAY) they put all functionalities together in one app …
New 2.6.0 out, still poor design and missing translations for new buttons.
I wonder if feedback sent through the app is taken into consideration anytime ...
Change in this version: "new design for BT volume control" ...
I gave up on the app a good while ago.
I use it to start a product in another room before I get there, and thats it.
For music, it's a poor experience. The native apps (be that Tidal, Spotify whatever) are much better, and even these are far behind Roon.
For radio, the app is fine.
And more broadly, it just takes far too may taps to do basic things.
I completely agree with you, I'm shocked by every new release of this app. I don't understand how a design driven company can completely fail on the UX of its main app.
Nothing is consistent (black+white interface mixed, now circular volume control + volume bar), there is way too much clicks/taps, and ugly visuals (like full color perspective products picture instead of product pictograms).
I think that now that there is a developer team working on this app (which was completely left over before this time), there is no UX designer, developers are working alone.
diisign.com
Dyssegaard:I have tested the new design for Bluetooth volume control on my A1: It works ok, but I don’t understand why B&O uses a different design for Bluetooth compared to the multiroom speakers (e.g. M5) when it comes to volume/playback control:
It works ok, but I don’t understand why B&O uses a different design for Bluetooth compared to the multiroom speakers (e.g. M5) when it comes to volume/playback control:
Maybe that is to seperate these devices (1: multiroom and 2: bluetooth) - nothing wrong with that.
I don’t care - I would never use the app for my A1 anyway.
Or maybe it’s the new way of doing things, that will merge into the (app) control of the multiroom devices?
P.S. In the controlling for the tv’s there is yet another/a third way of handling that.
mbee: I completely agree with you, I'm shocked by every new release of this app. I don't understand how a design driven company can completely fail on the UX of its main app. Nothing is consistent (black+white interface mixed, now circular volume control + volume bar), there is way too much clicks/taps, and ugly visuals (like full color perspective products picture instead of product pictograms). I think that now that there is a developer team working on this app (which was completely left over before this time), there is no UX designer, developers are working alone.
+1 totally agree
jans:The latest versions allow to select the speaker groups for your television. It doesn’t work with my V1. The app shows the correct speaker group, but selecting another speaker group doesn’t work Are others experiencing the same problem?
A silly question : How can I download this beta version ? Is it also possible to have it in addition to the released version in the same device ?
Thanks,
Jean
Hi all
Planned on starting this thread but you beat me to it and Easter slowed me down. Some comments on your observations
Some words on design. Currently we support 60+ products over many categories all with different features. We need to find a common interface that works for users with big setups like yours, to people with only a few BT products. From users on Beolink and Masterlink to users on Airplay 2. Compromises has been made. Currently we are reworking everything, starting with music and setup, then homeview and control. We need to do it in steps, so there will be inconsistencies until we are through everything.
We read and take note of everything in here, even though there are gaps between my posts. Yes, we do have UX designers in the team, please keep it constructive.
My best to you all and thanks for the feedback. As always it is much appreciated.
Thomas, Bang & Olufsen
altist:Hi I have same problem on my BV11. The old app worked fine. I have brought this to beocare’s attenrion and they say they have referred it back the development team. I’m not a beta chap but someone replied to my comments a while back that it didn’t work, and said it has never worked properly,even in initial beta release. Let’s hope they sort soon..it’s been wrong for too long!
MrAndersen: Hi all Planned on starting this thread but you beat me to it and Easter slowed me down. Some comments on your observations Translations are coming tonight Speakergroup selection for BV11 is fixed and will come out tonight Shuffle is fixed on the product, not sure when it will be rolled out The volume wheel cannot be used on a scrollable interface, simply doesn't make sense. Secondly it is just to big for small screens The home view is being re-designed and grouping/categorisation being added. Images are there to stay though, they are just better There are several outstanding issues on integrated setup. These will be dealt with soon but they are extremely time consuming, since the whole integrated setup solution is overly complicated. I cannot promise all quirks ironed out soon, simple too many combinations to work with. Some words on design. Currently we support 60+ products over many categories all with different features. We need to find a common interface that works for users with big setups like yours, to people with only a few BT products. From users on Beolink and Masterlink to users on Airplay 2. Compromises has been made. Currently we are reworking everything, starting with music and setup, then homeview and control. We need to do it in steps, so there will be inconsistencies until we are through everything. We read and take note of everything in here, even though there are gaps between my posts. Yes, we do have UX designers in the team, please keep it constructive. My best to you all and thanks for the feedback. As always it is much appreciated. Thomas, Bang & Olufsen
I certainly agree that you have a huge task but I would not count products like Essence-1 or A9-1 as being supported, except at the most rudimentary level. It would be more integrity if B&O would just announce that support has ended, and suggest other directions. Essence 1 now works much better without the remote and the app, Only B&O advantage is speaker connection.
That's life in tech. When you try to please everybody you please nobody.
MrAndersen:Shuffle is fixed on the product, not sure when it will be rolled. Currently we are reworking everything, starting with music.
Hi mbolo01,
thanks for posting this play queue insertion issue, I have the same problem and do not think it is intuitive at all. It is also inconsistent with other media type apps available.
In my mind, I would expect the following -
- if I am browsing media in the app and tap the play icon I would expect the current play queue to be cleared and the new selection to start playing.
- for other options (ie insert into current queue or to play next) I would tap on the three dot menu and select those options.
- in regards to previous play queues, I think that it is reasonable that when a device goes into standby the play queue is automatically cleared. The queue would then be empty the next time you start the device and make a selection.
Just some things for the development team to think about.
Dion.
BeoVision Harmony77 G1 with BeoLab18 x 4 & BeoLab14 4.1 (7.1.4); BeoPlayA9 Mk4; BeoSound2; BeoSound1 x 2; BeoPlayH95; BeoPlayE6; BeoPlayH3 ANC
..and it all started 20 years ago with a pair of B&O A8 Earphones...
MrAndersen: Speakergroup selection for BV11 is fixed and will come out tonight
Dion: Hi mbolo01, thanks for posting this play queue insertion issue, I have the same problem and do not think it is intuitive at all. It is also inconsistent with other media type apps available. In my mind, I would expect the following - - if I am browsing media in the app and tap the play icon I would expect the current play queue to be cleared and the new selection to start playing. - for other options (ie insert into current queue or to play next) I would tap on the three dot menu and select those options. - in regards to previous play queues, I think that it is reasonable that when a device goes into standby the play queue is automatically cleared. The queue would then be empty the next time you start the device and make a selection. Just some things for the development team to think about. Dion.
How about the app team making a little video to explain how they think these (Play/Queue.....) options should/can be used.
Or let Christian do that - could be ‘for internal use’, but easy to find for us beta testers.
Dion:Hi mbolo01, thanks for posting this play queue insertion issue, I have the same problem and do not think it is intuitive at all. It is also inconsistent with other media type apps available.
mbolo01: I may be old school,
I may be old school,
Yes, you are (and so am I....by the way).
Notheless this is not the way that most people listen to/use music nowadays - they make ‘playlists’.
Therefore these issues should be solved!
You (and I and a couple others) still can play one album at the time.......if we want to.
Personally I miss nothing with how the app works for music selection - in fact I had to test that ‘queue problem’ in order to understand what was meant.
However, when a queue function is offered, it should also work.
Millemissen:Notheless this is not the way that most people listen to/use music nowadays - they make ‘playlists’.
My app/B&O never played me anything that I hadn’t decided for previously.
It plays the album that I have choosen - and stops.
Millemissen:It plays the album that I have choosen - and stops.
Millemissen: My app/B&O never played me anything that I hadn’t decided for previously. It plays the album that I have choosen - and stops. MM
BTW MM, do you have a DLNA source? I noticed that the playing queue insertion issue is more difficult to recreate in a Deezer environment only.
mbolo01: BTW MM, do you have a DLNA source? I noticed that the playing queue insertion issue is more difficult to recreate in a Deezer environment only.
Sure, I have a DLNA source (in fact more different servers).....several thousand files on the NAS.
It has never been a problem to me, since I generally don’t handle with playlists.
I load an album (one at the time) and start to play the first track - when the album has finished, the playback stops.
The order of the tracks in an album, that the artist has made, is fine for me.
Millemissen:I load an album (one at the time) and start to play the first track - when the album has finished, the playback stops.
There is a very practical issue that has been bugging me for years. Why isn't it possible to allow volume adjustment offset for more sources than just the "line-in"? Can you seriously tell me that people in Struer haven't also been very annoyed by the higher volume of Tune In and the need to rush to the remote to lower the volume? Similarly, it would be nice to be able to adjust the volume for a datalink-enabled BeoGram connected as a source via an NL/ML converter. This seems like such a minor request to make the user experience more enjoyable.