
Zoom announces a $599 touchscreen device for remote workers - tortilla
https://www.theverge.com/2020/7/15/21325542/zoom-dten-me-tablet-video-calls-webcam-home-remote-work
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sowellecho
Famous short-seller Jim Chanos appropriately called Zoom a "Covid stock". It
is clear why after seeing this story.

[https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/02/jim-chanos-says-beware-
the-v...](https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/02/jim-chanos-says-beware-the-virus-
stocks-like-peloton-zoom-benefiting-temporarily-from-lockdowns.html)

Will people _really_ want this monstrosity around post-pandemic? I hope we can
somehow miraculously get back to normal work just as this device enters the
market in August, and we will have an epic failure called DTEN ME (which
sounds like "detain me") as a cautionary tale.

~~~
btown
Zoom may well be overvalued, but it is doubtless _more_ valuable on a long-
term basis than it was pre-COVID. So many firms in expensive cities will have
permanently adapted to a world in which they can access talent from places
with lower costs of living, and Zoom is an indelible part of that narrative.

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odomojuli
Ultrasonic pairing?

Okay... from TechCrunch: "not Bluetooth".

Also it says it emits from "18 and 22 kHz" which "most people can't hear". Um,
most adults. 18-22 kHz is DEFINITELY audible to teenagers and children. Or how
about a dog! On the flipside, insects don't like hypersonic frequencies
either, maybe I'll get less bites. Anyone remember mosquito ringtones blaring
during class where the teacher would not even notice? That's how they get kids
to quit loitering. So that might be a benefit for the WFH parent. This is what
they use to see babies so imagine what it can see beyond your camera.

I already know from using ultrasonic devices that I can hear this. They're
loud and sound weird.

From my understanding, frequencies in that range also interfere with hearing
aids, monitors, and smart devices. In my head I'm like oh man, a bigger
microphone array is going to make harvesting that audio data so much sweeter,
that's a huge value proposition! If those devices are vulnerable to 'dolphin'
attacks, or inaudible commands, this is yet another security concern.

I wonder if they'll include support to map the acoustics and layout of your
room through sound detection for projection optimization. Scary and enticing.
This seems like a reasonably well designed tool that can either make my life
more productive or help destroy it simultaneously. I mean if it's covered as
an office expense, it's better than opting for webcam, monitor, microphone,
speakers in a more svelte package.

Apologies if this comment seems par for the norm to hate on Zoom. I'm actively
trying to give them the benefit of the doubt to balance discussion here, but
some of these choices are specifically bad.

~~~
fossuser
> Um, most adults. 18-22 kHz is DEFINITELY audible to teenagers and children.

I think 18kHz children can barely hear, I don't think they can hear above
that.

The mosquito ringtones were usually lower than that.

I don't disagree with your other points, but I suspect that frequency range
won't be detected.

~~~
Enginerrrd
As someone in my 30's that hears all of these god awful ultrasonic sensors,
please don't assume that.

Lighting occupancy sensors are the worst.

And yes, I've had my hearing tested, and I am in fact, a freak.

~~~
guenthert
> I am in fact, a freak.

It's rather common to assume that a good share of the adult population is near
deaf.

A few years ago I went to a restaurant with outside sitting near Big Sur.
There was a nearly unbearable high pitch whine of which most other guests
seemed blissfully unaware. I asked a waiter about it and he informed me, that
they recently installed a system to shoo away birds from the tables. I think
they also shooed away quite a few customers.

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xadoc
HN crowd might diss this product but if you consider all those execs and
managers in medium/large corporations that rely on personal assistants to get
their email and meetings sorted out this might be very successful.

Seems to be the perfect use case for them "It also syncs with your calendar
and displays your upcoming meetings in a menu. (You can tap one to jump in.)"

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thih9
This product makes me worried.

I‘m afraid that putting a teleconferencing app on a separate device will make
it easier to add distracting or privacy invading features.

I wouldn’t want to keep this thing always on and let anyone connect anytime.

~~~
boardwaalk
I certainly wouldn’t trust the webcam or microphone indicator, if one exists,
to be truthful, vs a hardware switch or an Apple product (who doesn’t have
skin in the game).

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chadash
$599 sounds steep and I probably wouldn't pay for it. But if you are actually
using zoom quite a bit, this isn't a bad deal. For that price, you are getting
a very nice sized screen and it seems like the cameras and microphones are
better suited to video conferencing than an iPad.

Sure, it's probably overkill for most people. But then again, my laptop is
overkill for most people and even for me 90% of the time, but i like having
something powerful for that 10%. If i were in meetings all day, or even if I
had a few meetings where my role was particularly important (e.g. a professor
who is going to be giving lectures via zoom) i'd definitely shell out for
something like this (and i bet my employer would too).

~~~
mNovak
I suspect they're expecting enterprises to foot the bill, not individuals.

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jayd16
Can it be used a monitor/peripheral? Like a cheap Cintik, maybe?

Can it be used as a stand alone device with no other hardware?

I really miss sharing a big whiteboard with coworkers. Any chance this can
replace that experience?

~~~
VectorLock
Cisco WebEx was generally what I'd consider 'hot garbage' but the one thing
that I did think we cool was their giant monitor/whiteboards with speaker-
focusing cameras.

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fossuser
I think there is a vacuum in this market for good products.

The Facebook portal is excellent and has basically no competition anywhere
close to its price, but it requires use of Facebook (or Whatsapp).

I just want a decent camera/mic set up to attach to computer that's connected
to my TV and all of the options are extremely expensive and thoroughly
mediocre . I ended up getting the Logitech Meetup which required the
proprietary expansion mic to work well enough in a relatively small room and
was over one thousand dollars. The 'right sight' software still doesn't work.

The Zoom product is also a miss to me, I just want a decent room scale mic and
camera to attach to a TV and use for videoconferencing. The Portal includes
computing hardware and software to make calls, but really that's a bonus. The
MeetUp is just a dumb camera/mic that requires a computer (which for me is
perfect, I can use any video conferencing application that I want), the non-
portal products that include compute hardware are usually around two thousand
dollars.

At least this is more reasonable priced.

~~~
dogma1138
Android TV, dev options turn the webcam support on plug in a USB webcam and
you’re sorted.

~~~
fossuser
The USB webcams suck though, I want a better quality camera and mic for the
entire room.

~~~
dogma1138
Buy a better webcam, Logitech BCC950 works on my Sony A1, for mic you can use
any BT/wireless USB microphone if the one on the webcam doesn’t work well
enough in your room.

Konftel cameras also work, just limit yourself to 1080p unless your TV has USB
3.0.

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xnx
Single-purpose and supersized version of the Nest Hub Max ($229). I have no
doubt that Zoom has consumer aspirations somewhere in its future.

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schwartzworld
> While $599 may seem like a steep price to pay for a Zoom-calling device when
> you can already Zoom from a phone or computer, the idea seems to be that
> it’s an easy way for newly remote employees to jump right into Zoom without
> having to deal with installing the software or setting up any complex
> equipment.

You can run zoom directly from a web client without installing anything, and
the app is trivial to install on Mac, windows and Linux. Both methods work
fine on my Chromebook which I bought for $200 5 years ago, both in ChromeOS or
booted to GalliumOS (Ubuntu really).

I don't understand who this product is intended for. if you're a remote worker
you have to have a computer. $600 is more than enough for a webcam, good USB
mic and an extra monitor, with leftover for a nice steak dinner out with the
wife.

That's not even mentioning Zoom's questionable history with privacy...

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morog
The in-laws bought us a Facebook portal to keep in touch with the grandkids.
It is kept unplugged and in a drawer except for when in use. We only use it
for WhatsApp calling and it is an impressive device, excellent voice quality
and tracking camera for the price.I'm just annoyed it doesn't work with
jitsi...or zoom or Google meet/hangouts. Same problem as this zoom device,
what happens if you need to join a WhatsApp call or something else...surely
it's feasible to build a dedicated video calling device on Android that is
multi platform at this price point.

~~~
guenthert
> surely it's feasible to build a dedicated video calling device on Android
> that is multi platform at this price point.

Yes, but will it still be easy to use? I'd wished there would be a standard
way to encode voice, so that various applications, devices and service
providers were compatible. You know, like phone service used to be ...

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dwightgunning
> While $599 may seem like a steep price to pay for a Zoom-calling device when
> you can already Zoom from a phone or computer, the idea seems to be that
> it’s an easy way for newly remote employees to jump right into Zoom without
> having to deal with installing the software or setting up any complex
> equipment.

Hang on a minute... their partner manufactured hardware product is easier to
setup than their own software?

How hard is it to install on the major OSes?

Seems like a strange angle.

~~~
mNovak
Yeah, this is sort of a silly statement from Verge. I suspect the point is to
bring dedicated and high quality videoconferencing equipment into the home, so
we don't have to deal with low quality, below face level webcams. I have to
imagine the Cisco stuff you see in boardrooms costs quite a bit more.

Of course this hinges heavily on the quality of the user's WLAN / internet
connection.

------
GaryNumanVevo
This is a smart move by Zoom. A lot of traditional companies with poor remote
/ WFH policies are looking for any "solution" to increase "productivity". I'm
using quotes here because this product doesn't have to actually increase
anything, just be marketable enough for some big corporation to shell out for
1000 of them to cope with the reality that offices won't reopen for a while.

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boardwaalk
I dislike the idea of these sorts of single-purpose devices when you know it’s
just standard hardware and could be a full blown device if it wasn’t locked
down.

You know what would be better? A Roku-type device meant to sit on top of any
old monitor/TV with integrated microphone/speakers/camera and HDMI out. With
support for bluetooth headsets and or HDMI audio out maybe.

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tonetheman
This would be nice if it is super easy to use. Like could I give it to my
parents or other family members and say click here to see me.

~~~
jayd16
True. Maybe we'll finally get the retro 60s future video phone. Think of a one
button click Jetsons phone. There's certainly a market for appliances as well
as tools.

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codingdave
Somebody else is making the hardware, and most of the rationale for this is
fairly absurd -- A new device is easier than an install? The hardest part of
starting remote work isn't your job, it is getting on a Zoom call?

This feels like a joint marketing stunt more than a new product.

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blakesterz
The actual "Zoom for Home - DTEN ME is an all-in-one personal collaboration
device for your home office" is here:

[https://dten.com/me](https://dten.com/me)

Looks like they make a bunch of conferencing things?

~~~
humblebee
My first question was how to share a presentation. Though I guess maybe this
is targeted at user who wouldn't do this themselves? I don't know how
realistic this is, particularly for a home device. Presenters not in control
of the slide deck never seems to work.

On the specs sheet it does have an HDMI in, so I'd assume you can use it like
a display, and share the input? It doesn't appear to be highlighted anywhere
though.

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Finnucane
It's pretty easy to do Zoom on an ipad, and you can do other things with it.
So a dedicated zoom device seems like a complete waste.

~~~
amitutk
ipad doesn't have 27" screen, 3 cameras and as good mics. This is a dedicated
device, so you set it and forget it.

~~~
xenospn
How do you know if the cameras/microphone are active when you're not using it?
You don't.

~~~
chrisseaton
How do you know that on an iPad? Or any other device in your home?

~~~
christefano
Camera and microphone indicators have been added to iOS 14:
[https://9to5mac.com/2020/07/07/ios-14-what-do-the-orange-
and...](https://9to5mac.com/2020/07/07/ios-14-what-do-the-orange-and-green-
dots-in-the-status-bar-mean/)

~~~
chrisseaton
Right... but I mean they choose whether or not to show those indicators... so
why do you trust them to do that?

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mcraiha
How common is to release device like this without giving out any actual
hardware specs?

~~~
chrisseaton
If it's good enough to run Zoom, isn't that all the specs you need to know?
Since that's all it does? What are you going to do with the information about
how much RAM it has?

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thelazydogsback
"Detain me"??

