I am getting ready to buy blue 9500i when I relized it had a USB port. What is the point of that.
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9500i USB data port
I am getting ready to buy blue 9500i when I relized it had a USB port. What is the point of that.
From what I understand it currently does absolutely nothing, but Escort has "promised" to use it to deliver updates to the GPS maps, cool computer-based lockout designation, etc etc. We shall see if anything happens -- so far nothing.
Currently Escort uses the USB port to re-flash a 9500i without having to open up its case. Escort does the same with their Bel line of products via the 6 pin RJ-11 power jack. An Escort rep recently told me that they really, really are working on a software interface to allow customers to update their 9500i's with new firmware, GPS locations, et cetera. The rep confirmed (after I asked) that their biggest issue is security and protection of their firmware code since the firmware used in all Belscort radar detectors is highly proprietary, and that their biggest quandary is choosing and implementing a suitable update method which is very secure yet which will allow customers to readily update their 9500i's with new firmware and other promised features. Thus, the big holdup revolves around the security issues regarding their highly proprietary firmware.
So, I guess the good news is that Escort's engineers are actually working on the USB upgrade/data sharing feature, yet it appears that it may be a while before it becomes available.
BS
That's a BS response from Escort, if these are their excuses for the hold ups then they need to fire their current software developers and hire real ones.
They will never be able to release software that's going to be 100% secure, or a platform in which to release it on that will be 100% secure.
If their competitors wanted the software bad enough they could just buy one of their detectors and reverse engineer the software out of it.
Other industries have been offering software flash updates for their equipment for years, so this is not like its a new technology they are breaking ground on, its called a EULA, End User License Agreement, thats the best they'll ever hope for in protection.
They have a software update currently available, they need to just come up off it and release it already rather than requiring people to send their products in for them to do the update on it.
Maybe I'm just special but when I opened my new box the first thing there is I seen was a card that reads...
It doesn't say as an added benefit I'll be able to mail my new advanced detector into the factory to have new software installed each time it becomes available. This product has been on the market a year now already and you still can't do anything with the USB port or the marketed and promised ability to update the software yourself with a simple downlaod and flash. If they were going to (and did) use this this as a selling feature they should have had it ready to go beofre putting these on the market. A year later and they still require you to send it in for simple software updates?
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Congratulations on your purchase of the world's most
intelligent radar and laser detector. As an added benefit,
you will be able to download and install software
updates directly from our website.
My private theory abou Escort's politics is:
- If we don't give people USB software for now, they will send us their units (for updates), so we could download their databases of marked areas etc, to make OUR OWN DATABASE.
- When we collect everything we want - here you are - we make USB software available.
What do you think?
Beltronics and Escort have always false advertised, how they get away with this is amazing. They have always marketed their previous RD as upgradeable for any future new threats, so when people started asking about POP, Ku band, the manufactures said/did nothing.
If they ever reeased the software, it would be reversed engineered/hacked and people can turn on features disabled in the lower models. There is already a guy in europe that can modify the freq of Beltronics detectors. As mentioned before, this is truly the reason why it is very unlikey the software will be made available.
See below on USB:
http://www.radardetector.net/viewtop...&highlight=usb
The software that is used to interface the Escort 9500i to the computer can ALREADY do all of this via phoning home and none of us would know.Originally Posted by €
There's no need
There really is no need for them to do that, if they made an online database available everyone would voluntarily upload their data for use on it. Heck, people would probably even pay them a monthly fee to do so and to have access to it.- If we don't give people USB software for now, they will send us their units (for updates), so we could download their databases of marked areas etc, to make OUR OWN DATABASE.
- When we collect everything we want - here you are - we make USB software available.
I don't see use of the USB port and interface software to public share databases amongst people as a selling feature for myself. I think anyone anticipating this capability is going to be sadly disapointed when and if it ever becomes a reality. The biggest problem will be from people purposely entering in false data to poison the watering hole with. Then there will also be those people who are barely capable of concious thought uploading their own screwed up files to the data base where they marked off every single time an alert went off or what ever else such people are capable or incapable of.
Not to mention the simple fact that the other side of all this would also have access to such a data base and once they find everyone has marked their favorite speedtrap spots they know its time to move them to a fresh location.
This is just going to turn out to be one of those many things in life that sounded good on paper, or on reading the box on the store shelf when trying to decide on a product purchase and in reality turns out to of been not such a great idea. We have too many bone heads out there in the world who are guaranteed to screw up such an otherwise interesting concept.
The true benefit in this is just the ability to update the firmware driving the device, especially on a product like this that seems to of been rushed to the market like it was. There are going to be bugs and glitches in the software, thats unavoidable, there already has been some that require you to send the product in for the firmware update. The other benefit is the ability to back up and save your own data. This could be critical for anyone who has spent a great deal of their time marking locations and then find themselves with a brand new unit all of a sudden because of a catastrophic failure requiring replacement or due to theft.
On a more solid note, at least this is an indication that they put the software release on hold and instead focused on the more pending problem of getting a fix out. I'm sure this probably attributes to some cause for the delay.
Rather than your big brother type theory on the matter it could even be more likely they are waiting for warranty periods to of expired before being flooded with warranty claims by people who screw up doing a firmware update and make the device unuseable. Someone, more likely even many will be guarnteed to dispite how much you warn them power the thing off during a firmware update and not be able to get the thing to ever work again. This is why a beta release with a clear use at your own risk warning would be a great start. It would also go a long way in helping Escort further develop the software because they'd have plenty of people using it at their own risk in a real world environment under more conditions than their own testers would ever be cabale of. The feedback from this would not only save them a lot of development time and bugs, but save them development cost. Its good that they are so focused on their field of expertise, but they should not turn a blind eye to other industries lessons learned and put into practice with working and not working results, no sense for them to try and reinvent the wheel if you know what I mean.
Within the relm of the big brother theories and fears I'd like to so the ability to permanently identify a unit by a ROM encoded UID built into each unit and the capability for the satalites to identify and locate each seperate device. This would not only make for an exceptional theft proofing device, but would make catching a theif a whole lot easier if as soon as they turned on the stolen detector thewy could easily be located.
The toughest part of making that a reality though would be in the same problems we already see with laptop computer capabilites of doing this and the paranoid users need to be able to disable such a feature or the insanity of thinking they were always being tracked woiuld drive them over the edge. Its tough to make something so the legitimate user can enable or disable it if desired, but at the same time prevent a thief from doing the same. In any case, I'd find that to be a much stronger selling feature than the claim of a potential shared public database of marked locations.
X2, Esoterica. Personally I only want the USB for updated, adjusting "A" mode speed sensitivity and Mark Location radius. 8)
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