In an earlier post, I wrote about Ledger and their new Nano X product offering. I was very pleased to begin receiving notices several days ago, that shipment was imminent. Then, step by step "across the pond," getting notices that it was on its way!

So ... In the early evening yesterday, the DHL delivery man showed up at our door with the long-anticipated package - my "shiny new" Ledger Nano X!

_{Source: Ledger Website}

I set to work last night to get right on setting it up and seeing what it could do! I thought you might benefit from my "rest of the story" post this morning, dear reader ...

Off to a "Flying Start"

As I say above, the whole notification and delivery process went flawlessly. Not a trivial matter, when the product was shipping out of France and making its way to me here in the western United States.

As we can see, it came very well packaged. I particularly noted and liked how both product boxes were shrunk-wrapped into place inside the delivery box. Nicely done! 👍

Quickly reminding my readers that Ledger elected, without it being asked, to "make amends" for their delayed shipment (there was no delay in my money being withdrawn from my bank account, soon after ordering ... 😏), by offering those of us affected a new Ledger Nano S at no extra charge.

The size differential is considerable. The Nano X is roughly twice the size of the Nano S - more or less. Still, the original Ledger Nano S was never very big to begin with, so the increased size shouldn't be much of an issue for most of us.

Out of the box, everything went smoothly. It had the "feel" of how Apple has handled the business aspect of the "customer experience" when you open up a "shiny new" iPhone ...

• Note: While these "image" things really matter very little to me (I prefer to focus on character and substance instead ...), we see I did get a "limited" edition sent out to Ledger's first customers, for its state-of-the-art product.

Okay, so far looking good then! 👍 Now ... On into actually getting my shiny new "Genesis Block Limited Edition" set up and working ...

Setting Up 😊 and ... Bogging Down ... 😞

My first "preview of coming attractions" was opening up the "Getting Started" insert. Okay, better than nothing I guess ...

But ... Don't know if it is just me, but I am not a big fan of the "minimalist" approach to set-up instructions these days. Again, my past experiences with Apple come to mind ...

The issue is simple to me. As an engineer, if those responsible for building and delivering a product have experienced all that may and far too often will go wrong, or at least "sideways," then I do not feel well-served as a customer, if I am allowed to just "stumble" through it and hope for the best ...

Nonetheless, most of us are likely well used to this approach by now. We anticipate that any details we may (almost certainly ...) need are going to be available to us in some sort of electronic format. Most likely, online ... And, in this case, perhaps via some app on a "smart" phone ... Or both ...

• Note: We see the "Need help?" questioned posed at the bottom of the "Get started" page, with reference to where it can be found. As though it is an optional extra that shouldn't / won't be needed. Right ...
  
  To save you some time and trouble, dear reader, here is a "free, no extra charge" link to what you are very likely to want to be able to reference - Ledger Nano X Set-up
  
  

Moving right along, my problems began almost immediately ...

As we can see, I did manage to follow the "minimalist" instructions successfully and at least experience getting the word "Ledger" to show up on my "shiny new" Ledger Nano X display pain-free. That is pretty much the end of the good news.

________________________

With the "show and tell" portion of this post mostly over, I will now provide a brief (for me ... 😉) outline of what followed:

• Challenge 1: With the Ledger powered up (just following the "Get started" steps, in sequence ...), I got my phone and began to work on finding, downloading, and installing Ledger Live on it ...
  
  Meanwhile, "back at the ranch" my "shiny new" Ledger decided its battery had too little power and needed to be charged! Oh, wonderful ... So, with no advance warning of this possibility or instructions, I plugged in the USB cable and into a charging port. The resulting symbols that displayed on screen were too small to clearly indicate to me that it was charging.
  
  So ... "Right out of the gate" I was having to stop and find my way to the Ledger website for support ...

• Challenge 2: Once the Ledger was finally (it was SLOW ...) powered up enough to begin, the low power screen disappeared and I just saw "Ledger" on the display. I immediately ran into two problems simultaneously:


1. First, no matter what I did, I could not get the screen to change. It appeared to be frozen. Great ... Perhaps a "soft" or "hard" reboot would fix the problem?
   
   Yes, well ... Unlike the Nano S, there is no obvious way to "power cycle" it. It has a battery! That finally now had a considerable charge in it ... So how long did I have to wait, before it powered down? Consulting the Ledger "support" screens, I found what I hoped would be there:
   
   
   • The good news? There is both an immediate power-down option, as well as an option to set power to shutdown after a certain amount of inactivity.
   
   
   • The bad news? The default of the latter appeared to be set for "Never Power Down!" And either option had a "press both buttons" requirement ...
   
   
2. Second, of course anyone familiar with the Ledger Nano S knows there are two buttons involved. Okay, simple question - where is the second button?
   
   Well, in the picture above you see the answer. If shown to you and after the fact, it is pretty obvious. Do you think you can find an image like that anywhere online, in the set-up steps in Ledger Live app, or on paper somewhere in the package? Feel free to get back to me on that. I did not ...
   
   The combination of the color difference and it clearly being shown in the "Get started" image as a swivel point for the cover set me back. I obviously eventually got there and maybe if I had started early in the day, rather than at the end of it, I would've gotten there sooner. To me, it just shouldn't have been necessary ...


So ... Aggravated as I was at the time, I did not jot down any details as to exactly what sequence of steps were tried. And which permutation of these steps finally got me "over the hump," but it was ridiculous ...What I can definitely tell you, was pressing down both buttons, once figured out, accomplished nothing. Again, it appeared to be, for reasons still unknown to me, "frozen" ...


• Challenge 3: Moving along, I was finally ready to follow the steps on the "Restore from recovery phrase" option. Going through the Ledger restoration process is likely, again, familiar to many Ledger Nano S owners. I was immediately dealing, though, with the fact the right button did not behave like the left button. When pressing the right button, I experienced four different responses:


1. It had a nice "click" sound and feel to it, pretty much like the left button, and it worked just fine! 👍


2. It had no "click" sound or feel at all (at best, perhaps "mushy" ...), but it did work.


3. It had no "click" sound or feel at all and there was a variable delay, in response times. But... It did work. 👎


4. Nothing happened, even pressing it repeatedly ... 👎👎


• Challenge 4: With all of the above behind me, the remaining set-up steps the user is walked through on the Ledger Live app went pretty smoothly. The biggest bright spot to me, was the set-up of the blue-tooth pairing discussed in more detail below. That went fine and I liked what I was reading about what it represented.
  
  Anyway, the rest of the set-up was pretty routine. Until I got to the stage of beginning to download the apps:


• The good news? Downloading an app across the blue-tooth connection went fine and was uneventful.


• The bad news? The speed at which the transfer takes place is definitely not fast. I am blessed with a very good workstation and, late last night, I just wanted it to go faster and go to bed.
  
  So ... I had the bright idea that I would just do this as I am accustomed with my Nano S - thru the USB cable connected to my workstation. It did not go well, as you will read in more detail in my "Gotcha!" section below.

When I finally called it a day (late into the night), I had succeeded in clearing most of the hurdles and had my new Nano X set-up and operational. With the Bitcoin and Ethereum app installed. I figured I would just set it aside and tackle any remaining issues once I was a little fresher in the morning.

While I hope others have a considerably happier "customer experience" than I did, just in case - in amongst all of the other details in this post - I'd highly recommend starting into setting up yours at the beginning of the day. Rather than the end of it ... 😉

________________________

Before moving on, I wanted to cover an important point. The primary (only?) reason of going to all the trouble of utilizing a Ledger hardware wallet is the "you are your own bank" security concerns of investing in the new "digital asset" class. It offers peace of mind that is well worth all of the trouble. At least, that is true in my case.

So ... My earlier post led to an interesting exchange with @abitcoinskeptic on his more knowledgeable security concerns about the use of blue-tooth on the Ledger Nano X. I discovered that this concern appears to be, at least somewhat, addressed here.

What stands out to me:

"The Ledger Nano X Bluetooth implementation uses a state-of-the-art Bluetooth protocol. This Bluetooth protocol ensures authentication by using pairing. This is numeric comparison based and confidentiality is ensured using AES-based encryption."

Source: Ledger's Bluetooth Security Model webpage (emphasize added mine)

• For "techies," here is a "deep dive" into the details of this state-of-the-art technology.

This satisfied me that Ledger is "ahead of us" in anticipating concerns about public use of their product and have taken "state-of-the-art" steps to address them.

All that said, it was never my intention, except in extreme circumstances, to use my Ledger Nano X out in public anyway, i.e. away from my home. Further, I assumed I would not otherwise even need to worry about the blue-tooth connection option at all, relying instead on the standard USB connection. Yes, well ...

_{Source: Quicken Website}

On to the last section ...

"Engineered to Amaze" Right? 👍 No ... "Gotchas!" 👎

While I would certainly hope there was some genuine thought that perhaps a proud new owner of a Ledger Nano X would think of Quicken's famous phrase, it didn't happen. At least, it certainly didn't happen with this customer!

• Note: There is a "Serial Number" option, by "drilling down" through the Control Center / Settings / General layers. I would recommend, as part of your initial set-up, to capture and store it somewhere, for future reference. Like in my case, when I intend to write to them and reference it!

Finishing up, here are some of the "headaches" I have encountered so far:

Hardware:


1. With the "dust settled," at least somewhat, by far my biggest issue is the problem with the right button, as detailed above.


2. When entering your PIN code, it is not uncommon (at least with me) to "fat finger" it on occasion and with it the need to start over. Ledger has not devised an easy method of doing this. __*And*__ if you *fail* to get it right 3 times in a row, it wipes itself clean.
   
   Rather than go through any undue stress (think late at night and tired ...), then my standard practice has been to stop and power off. Then start over. So ... Comparing the two product options:
   
   
   • With my Nano S, I simply disconnect the USB cable. Plug it back in and try again ...
   
   
   • With the Nano X, you have to deal with the battery. The current solution is to set the "auto power-off" option for however long you want to wait for it to shutdown. Then, power up and try again ...
   
   I accept that this way of solving the problem may not be for everyone. And both of these solutions do work. But, ideally, from an engineer's perspective, I would just like to have a better option for both.


3. The user has to press both buttons, hold them down, and keep holding them down, to get Control Center to come up. The response time is long and variable. Potentially linked to the issue with the right button ...

Firmware:


1. My single biggest firmware issue is actually of unknown origin, but I have put it here for now. Specifically, that the USB connection to Ledger Live on my desktop does not work consistently well. The fact I have no issues on my Nano S, but I do on my Nano X, tells me it is a firmware issue in how the new Ledger OS is interacting with Windows.


2. The Bitcoin app, version 1.3.8, opened my Account on Ledger Live on my desktop just fine, using my Ledger Nano S. However, it would not open it, on my new Ledger Nano X!? 😧 Good grief! How can the new product's OS fail to open the single most important "crypto" app in the world!? Not good enough ... 👎
   
   Note: To confirm it is just this one app, I went next to my other most important app - Ethereum. Opened my account on the MyEtherWallet website just fine.
   
   I don't know yet about the other apps, until I get all of the apps installed and individually tested ...


3. Once finished with the Serial Number screen, if my recommendation is followed, there is no way to get back, i.e. no "Back" option provided! You must power down and start over ... 👎

Other:


1. On site a Ledger customer reads about the "Auto Power Off" option. But, on my device it is the "Battery Saver" option ...

________________________

So ... Finishing up on a "high note," other than these few trivial details, the set-up of my "shiny new" Ledger Nano X was ... uhhh ... 🤔

_{Source: Pixabay}

😉

Closing

It is not my "style," dear reader, to do anything other than "to call a spade a spade." My experience, thus far, with the Ledger Nano X, is ... uhhh ... "less than optimum." 👎 Since writing my earlier post about how well Ledger handled their earlier problems meeting their original shipment deadline, it would appear to me that perhaps they "rushed it." In several aspects of my experience so far, it just has a "not ready for prime time" feel to it.

At least on the OS (operating system) side of the issues, I would presume future firmware updates can resolve those issues. In fact, I have read more than once about the "business decision" made, in the software world, to rush products to market knowing they were not ready, but going ahead anyway to meet marketing-driven deadlines. And knowing they were going to use you as their de facto guinea pig "beta tester," to save on the time and expense of doing their best to handle that internally ... 😏

But, the "stickiness" of the right button is practically a "showstopper" for me, at this point. Further, this is not addressable by any other means (I don't think WD40 is going to "bale me out" of this one ... 😏) than to send it back and get another one. Hoping, as stated above, that this is not an overall product ... uhhh ... "limitation," but simply that I got a "lemon" ... I am looking forward to hearing what my good Steemian friend, @newageinv, experiences when he gets his new Nano X and sets it up.

Well, that's enough out of me for now. Hopefully, in time, I will have better news to report. In the meantime, I’d love to hear any feedback you may be inspired to provide.

Until "next time," all the best to you for a better tomorrow, as we all work together to build up our Steem Communities and increase the value of the Steem blockchain! 👍 😊

Respectfully,
Steemian @roleerob

Posted using SteemPeak and “immutably enshrined in the blockchain” on Saturday, 18 May 2019!

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• Unless noted otherwise, all images "filmed on location" in @roleerob's office! 😉

Interested in reading more of my “technical aide” posts? Great!

• Welcome to the Steemisphere! Getting Off to a "Flying Start," Version 1.0 – Covers the full spectrum of what a new Steemian needs to know to get off to a “flying start.”
  
  
• User's Guide to the Steemisphere, Version 1.0 – Covers the recommended apps and tools a new Steemian needs as they begin to engage with our Steem blockchain.

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• Tech Aide: Investing in the Steem Blockchain on Binance and Bittrex - Covers investing in STEEM and SBD - both sending and receiving - on these popular exchanges.
  
  
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