Does NReal really care about developers?

Development & Help
1

Hi,

I am really trying to understand NReal’s strategy. I enjoy the headset but looking at some of the posts and at the packaging of the SDK I have the feeling that NReal doesn’t care much for its developer community, which doesn’t make a lot of sense given these types of products live and die on the availability ofd apps.
Here’s a few of my observations:

1 - Per this post it would seem that the devkit will not get upgraded for newer android versiosn
2 - I am in Canada and talking to support there seems toi be no way I can buy a phone to support the glasses (unless I go buy it in the US and somehow use a VPN or something to fake being in the US).
3 - The SDK is only for Unity though an Unreal and Android one have been promised
4 - The packaging of thew SDK for Unity is dismal, it combines in a Unity file both Demo files and the actual SDK, ion order to actually package a proper App in Unity you have to start messing it up. For that matter if devs have to take ownership of moving code around why not just OpenSource the kit, at least that way we can all collaborate on making itr as bette product.

Long story short I’d really like to understand NReal’s strategy in this regard. As I stated I love the device, but it seems that if I want to invcest my tiem in developing for this device its not the right device and I shjould probably focus more on the Snap devices or go look for something else.

5 Likes
2

The sad things is that it’s not like there are hundreds of questions a day, in this forum.
Overall situation seems precarious at best, imagine not fully supporting the people making software for the glasses you’re trying to sell

1 Like
3

In my opinion, they do not act like they care about developers. First of all, we get answers to questions very late or even never, last I emailed them several times, they replied but with no name, I asked them who I am writing to a few times, but they do not even give me a name, which is a shame on them. If I will sell their products I have to have a known contact point. I cannot give a product to my customers if I cannot get proper support.

4

They’ve never shown much support for developers. I mean, the fact that they don’t even let developers test their apps on the real consumer environment until the glasses are already being sold to consumers in the developer’s region is a big problem, and now they are paying the price, since every single review calls out the lack of software as the headset’s biggest problem. My app could have been ready a year ago, but I couldn’t actually target the consumer device until it hit the US in December.

5

Agreed. I am in Canada as well. I had my unit since they shipped and it has been sitting around gathering dust because nreal never answered my simple IDE setup questions and I can’t even test out the device on my phone for the same reasons you state. Canada has a huge dev community and we are stuck, which means that nreal are losing out. Quite bizarre. Whoever is driving this within nreal needs to be fired.

6

I’m not impressed with their support either. But I do have a basic app running on my Galaxy S10 and I’m moving forward.
I’m completely new to Unity.
At least I’m enjoying using the glasses with my S10, iPad and as a second display for my MacBook.
I need massive examples.
So I’m kind of getting my money’s worth. At least I’ll be able to target other devices as they come on the market.

7

Hi Guys, I’m really sorry to hear about your past experience from our developer support.

I’m the new Dev community Manager, would you please tell me where you submitted your request or which email address you send to?

We are currently rebuilding entire developer community for you guys. I know it is a pain in the back when this happened. I sure don’t want see our developer use our glasses as paperweight.

If you guys need more help please email me at bill.yuan@nreal.ai I will try my best to solve your issues .

8

Hey Bill,

I had sent you the below to your direct email but never heard back, so thought I’d re-iterate here so others have this in threads as well.

Below you’ll find the thread I had with your support team regarding availability of phones in Canada.

The reason I wanted to get a compatible phone is due to the fact that the controller that comes with the developer kit will seemingly not get upgraded to newer versions of android based on the below post (concerning in itself, but if I could get my hands on a phone from Canada where I can run Nebula it would definitely be less of an issue).

Would also be interested to hear if there are any plans to open source the SDK or if there are plan to re-structure it so at least there’s better demarcation between the SDK code and demo / sample code.

It is great to hear that there is now traction on building a better rapport with the developer community as that has been somewhat concerning.

Cheers,
Mike

Thread with support:

after_sales after_sales@nreal.ai Sun, Dec 19, 2021 at 6:52 PM
Reply-To: after_sales after_sales@nreal.ai
To: Michael Moerman michael.moerman@gmail.com
Dear Michael,
About the compatible phone, you can check on our official website link: Nebula
Will I be able to download Nebula from the app store in Canada?
Sorry, recently only can download on America/south Korea/Japan/Spain/Germany. Other country can not download yet.
Thanks & Best Regards
Nreal after-sales team

发件人:Michael Moerman michael.moerman@gmail.com
发送时间:2021年12月20日(星期一) 07:36
收件人:after_sales after_sales@nreal.ai
主 题:Nebula Canad
Hi,
I bought an NReal developer kit. I am in Canada. I would like to buy a compatible phone in Canada, which phones
are compatible? Will I be able to download Nebula from the app store in Canada?
Thank you,
Michael Moerman

9

I think that the strategy is developing TELCO partnerships and making money that way its clear that helping developers in no way is in the horizon

10

They received a pretty nice investment from the Alibaba group recently so things might improve. I’m asuming some of it will be used for software development, some for expansion and a minor part for support as that doesn’t bring any revenue.
Also, a colab with Alibaba can bring quite a few other services to Nebula for extra income and help expand the SDK.

11

Mate, this question is already answer in the forum. If you want, take a look at the nreal light page and you’ll find a list of devices there. I personally went for a OP9Pro and my wife for Oppo from that list.

If you can’t download the app from play store, you can always use the one on the forum (albeight quite old) or get it from APKpure.
As harsh as this sound, start reading the existing answers, use the forum and spec sheet. Plenty of question have been answered on the forum and you’ll find some lovely guys/gals on discord that are willing to help even noob dev’s in MR like me.