6 ms·

Tohands – Smart calculator for small businesses

239 points by anujdeshpande 3y ago

anujdeshpande 3y ago
Syncs with their phone app, to keep a track of bills and expenses. Based on the Espressif ESP32. Quite handy for small shop owners who can't have a full-blown computer+screen cash register. Disclaimer: I am working as a freelancer for their next version of hardware that will be based on Linux.
- scoot 3y ago
  /disclaimer/disclosure/
  - anujdeshpande 3y ago
    Noted :)!
    - scoot 3y ago
      Great! Others could learn from your attitude :)
  - scoot 3y ago
    I'll take the downvote as a measure of the number of HN contributors that still don't know the (important) difference. At least four people have hopefully learned from that comment. A strong signal to continue pointing it out.
- pettycashstash2 3y ago
  Necessity is mother of all inventions
- OJFord 3y ago
  I don't live in India (nor run a shop!) but I imagine for businesses that take both cash & PhonePe it could be a useful feature to collate the two, if there's some kind of API for that? i.e. so you'd have all sales in one place, regardless of payment method, and the daily/weekly/etc. total would cover everything. Just a thought. I like the design! Keeping it simple & familiar, calculator works (or almost, just missing feature), no need to reinvent that part. :)
- LeafItAlone 3y ago
  What is the hardware like in the next version?
  - anujdeshpande 3y ago
    It's a lot more capable than the current version - but from the outside it's almost the same size and shape. - Denser display with full color range (current one is monochrome) - USB support - Cellular modem built-in (WiFi isn't always available in stores, shopkeepers mostly end up using phone hotspots. It will still have WiFi though) - Speakers
    - fuzzfactor 3y ago
      Would you say a shopkeeper could pick these up for themself or their salespeople and immediately continue with the same workflow, if they had been using a popular plain calculator up until then? And it could provide additional layers of local and remote data handling from an easy to administer server app on the owner's phone without the need to concern the end users of the calculators with software whatsoever? Seems to me one thing the calculator in hand can do is traditional real-time negotiating and discounting. Where something like the distraction of software could be a disadvantge compared to what came before.
    - jacknews 3y ago
      The current version looks like a great solution, because it's so basic. You risk adding too many features (and cost) in the next version. A cell modem is going to require certification and of course a separate sim-card/data plan. Do they need USB unless they have a computer already? And speakers? Is this to play the radio while tending shop? I'm sure even the most illiterate can still read numbers, so TTS would be just a gimmick IMHO.
- nojvek 3y ago
  Anujdesh, this is amazing. Is the calculator being manufactured fully in India or shipped from China? Curious. Love the WiFi connected ability. Does the user have any choice on what api they want to export to? Or it has to be a specific app? Even in the US, 90+% of gifts bought for Christmas are made in China. Almost anything containing electronics, plastics and some kind of plush fabric / faux leather seems to be made in China. I wish the world didn’t depend on China so much.
  - porridgeraisin 3y ago
    The name is split as: Anuj Deshpande So Anuj is probably what you wanna call him on first name basis :)
    - nojvek 3y ago
      My bad. Should have just used the whole username.
  - anujdeshpande 3y ago
    Components are from China - everything is assembled in India (Bengaluru). It's probably impossible to manufacture with locally sourced components in India in 2023(especially displays, processors, memories).
- detourdog 3y ago
  I think moving to a full blown operating system is moving in the wrong direction. I think moving in the other direction towards a strictly hardware double entry book keeping system would be progress. I think any operating system over complicates and encumbers the idea with un-needed dependices. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-entry_bookkeeping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-entry_bookkeeping
  - TeMPOraL 3y ago
    > I think any operating system over complicates and encumbers the idea with un-needed dependices. The prime problem is latency, which becomes both noticeably larger and unpredictable. Both those aspects cause huge loss of ergonomics. It's quite easy to tell whether a piece of hardware is doing things directly in firmware, or if it's running a full OS with a software stack - the latter has neither instant nor predictable feedback. A good example would be phones, for anyone who remembers the transition from feature phones to iOS and Android smartphones. That transition is where we lost predictable input latency, and thus ability to develop muscle memory and operate device without looking at it. E.g. texting people while keeping the phone in your pocket was a typical thing teenagers did, that became impossible with modern smartphones.
    - smabie 3y ago
      That's because we lost keyboards?
    - tokai 3y ago
      Nah it's all the fault of touchscreens.
      - TeMPOraL 3y ago
        It isn't. Forget texting from pocket. Consider why we can't really operate any of the common touchscreen devices, like phones, tablets and computers, without looking at them. It's because of unpredictable input latency, unpredictable UI timings, and unpredictable UI behavior all across the stack - from the apps with bullshit flashy UX, down to the OS which is not a real-time OS, and will introduce arbitrary latencies for arbitrary reasons. The touchscreens and their driving hardware is itself fine. It's the introduction of a proper, non-real-time OS, that's the "original sin" here. Everything else is just decades of practice of writing for such OSes, with the fundamental unstated assumption that interactivity means user is looking at the display while operating the device. This assumption bleeds all the way to the very core of *nixes and Windows.
tralarpa 3y ago
[Serious] Can you not just connect a physical numpad to your phone and use the phone screen as display?
- jannes 3y ago
  I think you could, but you wouldn't leave your phone in the shop for other employees to use. You would have to buy a dedicated phone for the purpose... At that point you can also buy a dedicated calculator instead.
  - InCityDreams 3y ago
    [flagged]
  - elicash 3y ago
    Many people have an old phone they could wipe, however. Even a brand new phone for this purpose would be cheaper than this smart device. Still very cool and there are UX benefits to this device.
    - abdullahkhalids 3y ago
      This device is for 40 USD. What phones can you buy at this price point that provide the same latency, reliability, and big keys you can smash, as this device?
      - elicash 3y ago
        I did the conversion wrong! My mistake!
- hexmiles 3y ago
  Smartphone can be finicky to use, also you "lose" access to the calculator if someone call you.
- Closi 3y ago
  Because these are businesses that are probably using a calculator anyway. It's very much a cultural thing - punch numbers into the calculator and pass it back and forth when negotiating on a price, or add up the costs on a physical calculator on your market stall. You aren't giving receipts or anything, so hard to keep track. I'm in the UK so don't see it often, but if you go to India / Vietnam / Thailand etc you see lots of people punching numbers into calculators everywhere rather than using some sort of POS system. Asking why you don't just use your phone with a numberpad is missing that the selling point here is that the user interface IS a calculator.
2Gkashmiri 3y ago
would you people be interested in opening up the api to connect to third party softwares? i have [gnukhata](https://gnukhata.org/ https://gnukhata.org/) which is AGPL licensed accounting software and this would be great synergy between local hardware and software.
- robertlagrant 3y ago
  Genuine question: would this software also have to become AGPL licenced, if it's connecting over a network?
  - 2Gkashmiri 3y ago
    Nope. Thats never the case. you'd just open an api which hopefully the devs will make a connector for.
    - robertlagrant 3y ago
      Sorry - what does "open an API mean"?
      - 2Gkashmiri 3y ago
        What I mean is, how would your device send data to a software? Open an api meant this interaction from hardware to mobile or computer is documented somwhere with all parameters and auth tokens and such.
        robertlagrant 3y ago
        As in call an API via IPC of some sort, e.g. HTTP? I thought that AGPL meant that the copyleftness of the licence would survive that.
2Gkashmiri 3y ago
i have a fundamental problem with "accounting" for small businesses. 1. if they are registered with GST, they should probably start maintaining inventory and for that,this device is not useful. 2. if they are NOT registered with GST, they can't even bother with this because nowadays UPI is becoming the norm and all sale gets recorded there anyway. this would only serve the niche of "not-registered for GST and using cash" but knowing how big india is, with the right marketing, this should blow up in a good way
- cnu 3y ago
  I think having a single place to record all your transactions would be a good feature. And if they have a way to send receipts to customers via SMS/whatsapp, it would be a great.
  - detourdog 3y ago
    I would like a simple record keeping box that can be shared with more complex devices for applications requiring messages or complex reports. I would like to see the device maintain a simple "Datagram" approach for each transaction with text file export of grouped transactions.
- jasonjayr 3y ago
  If the device is cheap enough(so theft is not a concern), and it has a wifi signal, a barcode scanner could easily be plugged in, or added wirelessly so it can track SKUs or whatever the shop uses. It syncs to a more powerful device which can maintain inventory counts .
  - 2Gkashmiri 3y ago
    Oooooooo Now you are talking. The website does NOT explain this. I read about the app which is meh. You end up like thousands of copycat khata apps that do single entry accounting. Didnt test your app but that is quite difficult to do on its own so if you are able to connect with existing accounting softwares, then it can be much better.
gbin 3y ago
This product page is just terrible. I went through it, played a couple noisy videos, I could not even read the labels of the 3 first rows of buttons, I have no idea how it exactly works... Surely just adding and subtracting like the video shows doesn't record cash in hands etc?
- hvs619 3y ago
  Hi, I work at Tohands. Thankyou for the feedback! We're confident that you'll notice significant positive changes in the upcoming months. We would love if we can get more feedbacks for your end in order to be better.
  - idiot900 3y ago
    Simply posting your product manual online ought to be easy for you and helpful for your potential customers.
  - yoz 3y ago
    Just a few of the problems: * If your browser viewport is narrower than 1024px wide, the above-fold page section (i.e. the top, before you start scrolling) doesn't have a product pic. If the viewport is between 768px and 1024px wide, the main pic is left aligned and there's a chunk of empty space. * Most people will view this page on a phone, which means that - unless there's a product pic - the headline alone has to do the initial work of explaining who this is for. The photo shows the ideal customer: a shopkeeper. It should be above or alongside the headline even when viewed on a phone. * Top headline is about one of the main features but doesn't grab you with an obvious concrete benefit (e.g. time saved, not having to learn a complex new tool). "easily" is too relative. "Track your sales without any extra work" is more concrete (and I don't think it's a great slogan either, but it's better) * The notice about "Unable to take orders" should be lower down the page, maybe on a separate page entirely. Let people click "Order Now" to see it, and you can track the clicks to see how well the page sells * The Instagram videos are good but take up too much of the page, especially on mobile * The YouTube videos don't explain anything well at all. The "Calculate Record Sync" video at least shows the ToHands in action but goes too fast and doesn't walk through clearly, step by step. There's a blue text bubble that had lots of text in it that looks useful but it disappears far too fast. This video should be at least a minute long and walk through multiple different steps. There's a lot more to say about this and I'm not even a marketer, I'm a software engineer! But I'm happy to chat for a little longer about it if you'd like - let me know.
elicash 3y ago
This is great. If you mistakenly cash in/out, is there an undo? I get the logic of it, but I wouldn't put those two buttons right next to each other.
- garyfirestorm 3y ago
  yes a ux disaster
xpe 3y ago
Seems to me most of today's "calculators" are either (a) dinosaurs of the past or (b) what used to be called a supercomputer. Lately, I've gotten interested in the less unexplored middle ground!
- hackdads 3y ago
  you might enjoy Swiss Micros take on old HP classics. DM42 and DM32 are lots of fun!
  - xpe 3y ago
    indeed!
AnonymousWD40 3y ago
[dead]
mariopt 3y ago
It's quite an elegant solution, especially for older people who are not used to smartphones or lack the budget for expensive POS.
benj111 3y ago
Can this scan barcodes aswell? That seems like a useful feature.
- anujdeshpande 3y ago
  There's USB on the upcoming version - and it's a Linux based device too :)
account_created 3y ago
Nice project. Few suggestions: 1. Change/Update your logo. I find it hard to read it the font is not best for alphabets. 2. In the product itself, the brand name is reversed for the shopkeeper. I initially thought maybe it's some smart name that could be read in reverse as well (like 1300135 lol). It is overengineered, just keep it simple it. 3. Add a real use-case demo in your website. It is currently filled with garbage/gibberish.
- gulbrandr 3y ago
  > In the product itself, the brand name is reversed for the shopkeeper but it is not reversed for the client, who may be a potential future buyer of this product.
  - account_created 3y ago
    I know, I understand the thought process behind it. But the font selection ruined it completely. If someone picks the device, optically the first letters in the logo looks like "SOW" and brains tries to read the word. Edit: Also looks like it has a display underneath for "TO". As I said, this is overengineering, removing it will save cost.
santhoshr 3y ago
I think this is a ridiculously brilliant idea. It's probably hard for Americans and folks in the West to imagine why this is a big deal. There are millions of vendors who basically dominate India's retail market, which is probably one of the largest unorganized corners of the global economy with the world's largest population. There have been tons of efforts and a significant amount of VC funding to digitize unorganized retail (the Kirana segment) in India, and many of these companies have struggled. I think part of the challenge is that they were trying to get shopkeepers to change behavior and force them away from their existing sales and checkout process. The elegance of the Kirana sale/checkout is efficiency - no barcodes to scan, no POS to deal with, and it's probably 3-4x faster than any modern checkout process. However, there is one tool they always use - a calculator. This product basically enables me to do what I already do as a shopkeeper and maintain existing efficiencies while I also have the opportunity to digitize my transactions. I think it could be a game-changer. Full disclosure: I grew up in a tiny town in India, and this was pretty much 100% of my retail experience!
- TeMPOraL 3y ago
  > This product basically enables me to do what I already do as a shopkeeper and maintain existing efficiencies while I also have the opportunity to digitize my transactions. I think it could be a game-changer. Perhaps a stupid question on my part, but I wonder whether it'll really help you "maintain existing efficiencies". I'd imagine that a classical calculator-based workflow has efficiencies of the following kind: - Approximately zero latency on I/O. Whether it's adding a digit or performing a calculation, screen updates instantly. This is something no smart device I've ever seen offers, because modern tech stacks make it near-impossible to achieve. - Optimized for speed. Beyond no latency, this also means error-tolerant workflow. You can feel when you make a mistake, and it's easy to nuke the entire calculation you're doing and re-do it again. On the product site, I couldn't find a video showing how it's actually used, but going by the diagrams alone, Tohands seems to be effectively committing every time you press the "=" button. That feels like adding a pain in either having to undo things, or having to be super careful. Please tell me if I'm wrong about the product, or the calculator-based workflow. I didn't work in retail, but I did observe people doing calculator-based retail and accounting in the past.
IG_Semmelweiss 3y ago
Question - what is the language used in the app ?
nsonha 3y ago
why not just use the (smart) phone?
- asadalt 3y ago
  speed
- yoz 3y ago
  For the same reason that we prefer typing on a physical keyboard instead of a flat touchscreen. When you need to type for more than a few minutes, screens can be exhausting. This device is aimed at people who use them for hours every day. Also, unlike a phone, the advantage of a single-purpose device is that it doesn't need to be switched back to the right app, is unlikely to crash, and isn't something you depend on for a whole load of other things in your life.
shanmuga_ 3y ago
Hey guys, Happy to see your comments. Shanmugavadivel Here, Hardware Engineer and Co-founder @Tohands
- indrora 3y ago
  Very neat product and idea. What challenges have you had developing hardware for this population? (Literacy, cost, picking what to focus on, etc?)
- smusamashah 3y ago
  A single video showing actual device working will be very useful. Even if its just a prototype.
smusamashah 3y ago
It will be help if any of the videos showed this thing actually working physically. So many flashy videos but none of them actually shows how it looks and works in practice.
justinlloyd 3y ago
This is absolutely brilliant. It doesn't change the way shopkeepers and small business owners currently work, which is absolutely critical to its success. Uses a familiar form factor, another critical aspect to its success. Can work offline. Store the history of millions of transactions and then sync the next time it connects. Is mechanically robust. Has a long warranty by industry standards. Congratulations to whoever came up with this.
xydac 3y ago
This is an amazing idea as well as execution providing best use of resources to end users.

239 points by anujdeshpande 3y ago

Syncs with their phone app, to keep a track of bills and expenses. Based on the Espressif ESP32. Quite handy for small shop owners who can't have a full-blown computer+screen cash register. Disclaimer: I am working as a freelancer for their next version of hardware that will be based on Linux.

scoot 3y ago
/disclaimer/disclosure/
- anujdeshpande 3y ago
  Noted :)!
  - scoot 3y ago
    Great! Others could learn from your attitude :)
- scoot 3y ago
  I'll take the downvote as a measure of the number of HN contributors that still don't know the (important) difference. At least four people have hopefully learned from that comment. A strong signal to continue pointing it out.
pettycashstash2 3y ago
Necessity is mother of all inventions
OJFord 3y ago
I don't live in India (nor run a shop!) but I imagine for businesses that take both cash & PhonePe it could be a useful feature to collate the two, if there's some kind of API for that? i.e. so you'd have all sales in one place, regardless of payment method, and the daily/weekly/etc. total would cover everything. Just a thought. I like the design! Keeping it simple & familiar, calculator works (or almost, just missing feature), no need to reinvent that part. :)
LeafItAlone 3y ago
What is the hardware like in the next version?
- anujdeshpande 3y ago
  It's a lot more capable than the current version - but from the outside it's almost the same size and shape. - Denser display with full color range (current one is monochrome) - USB support - Cellular modem built-in (WiFi isn't always available in stores, shopkeepers mostly end up using phone hotspots. It will still have WiFi though) - Speakers
  - fuzzfactor 3y ago
    Would you say a shopkeeper could pick these up for themself or their salespeople and immediately continue with the same workflow, if they had been using a popular plain calculator up until then? And it could provide additional layers of local and remote data handling from an easy to administer server app on the owner's phone without the need to concern the end users of the calculators with software whatsoever? Seems to me one thing the calculator in hand can do is traditional real-time negotiating and discounting. Where something like the distraction of software could be a disadvantge compared to what came before.
  - jacknews 3y ago
    The current version looks like a great solution, because it's so basic. You risk adding too many features (and cost) in the next version. A cell modem is going to require certification and of course a separate sim-card/data plan. Do they need USB unless they have a computer already? And speakers? Is this to play the radio while tending shop? I'm sure even the most illiterate can still read numbers, so TTS would be just a gimmick IMHO.
nojvek 3y ago
Anujdesh, this is amazing. Is the calculator being manufactured fully in India or shipped from China? Curious. Love the WiFi connected ability. Does the user have any choice on what api they want to export to? Or it has to be a specific app? Even in the US, 90+% of gifts bought for Christmas are made in China. Almost anything containing electronics, plastics and some kind of plush fabric / faux leather seems to be made in China. I wish the world didn’t depend on China so much.
- porridgeraisin 3y ago
  The name is split as: Anuj Deshpande So Anuj is probably what you wanna call him on first name basis :)
  - nojvek 3y ago
    My bad. Should have just used the whole username.
- anujdeshpande 3y ago
  Components are from China - everything is assembled in India (Bengaluru). It's probably impossible to manufacture with locally sourced components in India in 2023(especially displays, processors, memories).
detourdog 3y ago
I think moving to a full blown operating system is moving in the wrong direction. I think moving in the other direction towards a strictly hardware double entry book keeping system would be progress. I think any operating system over complicates and encumbers the idea with un-needed dependices. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-entry_bookkeeping https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-entry_bookkeeping
- TeMPOraL 3y ago
  > I think any operating system over complicates and encumbers the idea with un-needed dependices. The prime problem is latency, which becomes both noticeably larger and unpredictable. Both those aspects cause huge loss of ergonomics. It's quite easy to tell whether a piece of hardware is doing things directly in firmware, or if it's running a full OS with a software stack - the latter has neither instant nor predictable feedback. A good example would be phones, for anyone who remembers the transition from feature phones to iOS and Android smartphones. That transition is where we lost predictable input latency, and thus ability to develop muscle memory and operate device without looking at it. E.g. texting people while keeping the phone in your pocket was a typical thing teenagers did, that became impossible with modern smartphones.
  - smabie 3y ago
    That's because we lost keyboards?
  - tokai 3y ago
    Nah it's all the fault of touchscreens.
    - TeMPOraL 3y ago
      It isn't. Forget texting from pocket. Consider why we can't really operate any of the common touchscreen devices, like phones, tablets and computers, without looking at them. It's because of unpredictable input latency, unpredictable UI timings, and unpredictable UI behavior all across the stack - from the apps with bullshit flashy UX, down to the OS which is not a real-time OS, and will introduce arbitrary latencies for arbitrary reasons. The touchscreens and their driving hardware is itself fine. It's the introduction of a proper, non-real-time OS, that's the "original sin" here. Everything else is just decades of practice of writing for such OSes, with the fundamental unstated assumption that interactivity means user is looking at the display while operating the device. This assumption bleeds all the way to the very core of *nixes and Windows.

tralarpa 3y ago

[Serious] Can you not just connect a physical numpad to your phone and use the phone screen as display?

jannes 3y ago
I think you could, but you wouldn't leave your phone in the shop for other employees to use. You would have to buy a dedicated phone for the purpose... At that point you can also buy a dedicated calculator instead.
- InCityDreams 3y ago
  [flagged]
- elicash 3y ago
  Many people have an old phone they could wipe, however. Even a brand new phone for this purpose would be cheaper than this smart device. Still very cool and there are UX benefits to this device.
  - abdullahkhalids 3y ago
    This device is for 40 USD. What phones can you buy at this price point that provide the same latency, reliability, and big keys you can smash, as this device?
    - elicash 3y ago
      I did the conversion wrong! My mistake!
hexmiles 3y ago
Smartphone can be finicky to use, also you "lose" access to the calculator if someone call you.
Closi 3y ago
Because these are businesses that are probably using a calculator anyway. It's very much a cultural thing - punch numbers into the calculator and pass it back and forth when negotiating on a price, or add up the costs on a physical calculator on your market stall. You aren't giving receipts or anything, so hard to keep track. I'm in the UK so don't see it often, but if you go to India / Vietnam / Thailand etc you see lots of people punching numbers into calculators everywhere rather than using some sort of POS system. Asking why you don't just use your phone with a numberpad is missing that the selling point here is that the user interface IS a calculator.

2Gkashmiri 3y ago

would you people be interested in opening up the api to connect to third party softwares? i have [gnukhata](https://gnukhata.org/ https://gnukhata.org/) which is AGPL licensed accounting software and this would be great synergy between local hardware and software.

robertlagrant 3y ago
Genuine question: would this software also have to become AGPL licenced, if it's connecting over a network?
- 2Gkashmiri 3y ago
  Nope. Thats never the case. you'd just open an api which hopefully the devs will make a connector for.
  - robertlagrant 3y ago
    Sorry - what does "open an API mean"?
    - 2Gkashmiri 3y ago
      What I mean is, how would your device send data to a software? Open an api meant this interaction from hardware to mobile or computer is documented somwhere with all parameters and auth tokens and such.
      - robertlagrant 3y ago
        As in call an API via IPC of some sort, e.g. HTTP? I thought that AGPL meant that the copyleftness of the licence would survive that.

2Gkashmiri 3y ago

i have a fundamental problem with "accounting" for small businesses. 1. if they are registered with GST, they should probably start maintaining inventory and for that,this device is not useful. 2. if they are NOT registered with GST, they can't even bother with this because nowadays UPI is becoming the norm and all sale gets recorded there anyway. this would only serve the niche of "not-registered for GST and using cash" but knowing how big india is, with the right marketing, this should blow up in a good way

cnu 3y ago
I think having a single place to record all your transactions would be a good feature. And if they have a way to send receipts to customers via SMS/whatsapp, it would be a great.
- detourdog 3y ago
  I would like a simple record keeping box that can be shared with more complex devices for applications requiring messages or complex reports. I would like to see the device maintain a simple "Datagram" approach for each transaction with text file export of grouped transactions.
jasonjayr 3y ago
If the device is cheap enough(so theft is not a concern), and it has a wifi signal, a barcode scanner could easily be plugged in, or added wirelessly so it can track SKUs or whatever the shop uses. It syncs to a more powerful device which can maintain inventory counts .
- 2Gkashmiri 3y ago
  Oooooooo Now you are talking. The website does NOT explain this. I read about the app which is meh. You end up like thousands of copycat khata apps that do single entry accounting. Didnt test your app but that is quite difficult to do on its own so if you are able to connect with existing accounting softwares, then it can be much better.

gbin 3y ago

This product page is just terrible. I went through it, played a couple noisy videos, I could not even read the labels of the 3 first rows of buttons, I have no idea how it exactly works... Surely just adding and subtracting like the video shows doesn't record cash in hands etc?

hvs619 3y ago
Hi, I work at Tohands. Thankyou for the feedback! We're confident that you'll notice significant positive changes in the upcoming months. We would love if we can get more feedbacks for your end in order to be better.
- idiot900 3y ago
  Simply posting your product manual online ought to be easy for you and helpful for your potential customers.
- yoz 3y ago
  Just a few of the problems: * If your browser viewport is narrower than 1024px wide, the above-fold page section (i.e. the top, before you start scrolling) doesn't have a product pic. If the viewport is between 768px and 1024px wide, the main pic is left aligned and there's a chunk of empty space. * Most people will view this page on a phone, which means that - unless there's a product pic - the headline alone has to do the initial work of explaining who this is for. The photo shows the ideal customer: a shopkeeper. It should be above or alongside the headline even when viewed on a phone. * Top headline is about one of the main features but doesn't grab you with an obvious concrete benefit (e.g. time saved, not having to learn a complex new tool). "easily" is too relative. "Track your sales without any extra work" is more concrete (and I don't think it's a great slogan either, but it's better) * The notice about "Unable to take orders" should be lower down the page, maybe on a separate page entirely. Let people click "Order Now" to see it, and you can track the clicks to see how well the page sells * The Instagram videos are good but take up too much of the page, especially on mobile * The YouTube videos don't explain anything well at all. The "Calculate Record Sync" video at least shows the ToHands in action but goes too fast and doesn't walk through clearly, step by step. There's a blue text bubble that had lots of text in it that looks useful but it disappears far too fast. This video should be at least a minute long and walk through multiple different steps. There's a lot more to say about this and I'm not even a marketer, I'm a software engineer! But I'm happy to chat for a little longer about it if you'd like - let me know.

elicash 3y ago

This is great. If you mistakenly cash in/out, is there an undo? I get the logic of it, but I wouldn't put those two buttons right next to each other.

garyfirestorm 3y ago
yes a ux disaster

xpe 3y ago

Seems to me most of today's "calculators" are either (a) dinosaurs of the past or (b) what used to be called a supercomputer. Lately, I've gotten interested in the less unexplored middle ground!

hackdads 3y ago
you might enjoy Swiss Micros take on old HP classics. DM42 and DM32 are lots of fun!
- xpe 3y ago
  indeed!

AnonymousWD40 3y ago

[dead]

mariopt 3y ago

It's quite an elegant solution, especially for older people who are not used to smartphones or lack the budget for expensive POS.

benj111 3y ago

Can this scan barcodes aswell? That seems like a useful feature.

anujdeshpande 3y ago
There's USB on the upcoming version - and it's a Linux based device too :)

account_created 3y ago

Nice project. Few suggestions: 1. Change/Update your logo. I find it hard to read it the font is not best for alphabets. 2. In the product itself, the brand name is reversed for the shopkeeper. I initially thought maybe it's some smart name that could be read in reverse as well (like 1300135 lol). It is overengineered, just keep it simple it. 3. Add a real use-case demo in your website. It is currently filled with garbage/gibberish.

gulbrandr 3y ago
> In the product itself, the brand name is reversed for the shopkeeper but it is not reversed for the client, who may be a potential future buyer of this product.
- account_created 3y ago
  I know, I understand the thought process behind it. But the font selection ruined it completely. If someone picks the device, optically the first letters in the logo looks like "SOW" and brains tries to read the word. Edit: Also looks like it has a display underneath for "TO". As I said, this is overengineering, removing it will save cost.

santhoshr 3y ago

I think this is a ridiculously brilliant idea. It's probably hard for Americans and folks in the West to imagine why this is a big deal. There are millions of vendors who basically dominate India's retail market, which is probably one of the largest unorganized corners of the global economy with the world's largest population. There have been tons of efforts and a significant amount of VC funding to digitize unorganized retail (the Kirana segment) in India, and many of these companies have struggled. I think part of the challenge is that they were trying to get shopkeepers to change behavior and force them away from their existing sales and checkout process. The elegance of the Kirana sale/checkout is efficiency - no barcodes to scan, no POS to deal with, and it's probably 3-4x faster than any modern checkout process. However, there is one tool they always use - a calculator. This product basically enables me to do what I already do as a shopkeeper and maintain existing efficiencies while I also have the opportunity to digitize my transactions. I think it could be a game-changer. Full disclosure: I grew up in a tiny town in India, and this was pretty much 100% of my retail experience!

TeMPOraL 3y ago
> This product basically enables me to do what I already do as a shopkeeper and maintain existing efficiencies while I also have the opportunity to digitize my transactions. I think it could be a game-changer. Perhaps a stupid question on my part, but I wonder whether it'll really help you "maintain existing efficiencies". I'd imagine that a classical calculator-based workflow has efficiencies of the following kind: - Approximately zero latency on I/O. Whether it's adding a digit or performing a calculation, screen updates instantly. This is something no smart device I've ever seen offers, because modern tech stacks make it near-impossible to achieve. - Optimized for speed. Beyond no latency, this also means error-tolerant workflow. You can feel when you make a mistake, and it's easy to nuke the entire calculation you're doing and re-do it again. On the product site, I couldn't find a video showing how it's actually used, but going by the diagrams alone, Tohands seems to be effectively committing every time you press the "=" button. That feels like adding a pain in either having to undo things, or having to be super careful. Please tell me if I'm wrong about the product, or the calculator-based workflow. I didn't work in retail, but I did observe people doing calculator-based retail and accounting in the past.

IG_Semmelweiss 3y ago

Question - what is the language used in the app ?

nsonha 3y ago

why not just use the (smart) phone?

asadalt 3y ago
speed
yoz 3y ago
For the same reason that we prefer typing on a physical keyboard instead of a flat touchscreen. When you need to type for more than a few minutes, screens can be exhausting. This device is aimed at people who use them for hours every day. Also, unlike a phone, the advantage of a single-purpose device is that it doesn't need to be switched back to the right app, is unlikely to crash, and isn't something you depend on for a whole load of other things in your life.

shanmuga_ 3y ago

Hey guys, Happy to see your comments. Shanmugavadivel Here, Hardware Engineer and Co-founder @Tohands

indrora 3y ago
Very neat product and idea. What challenges have you had developing hardware for this population? (Literacy, cost, picking what to focus on, etc?)
smusamashah 3y ago
A single video showing actual device working will be very useful. Even if its just a prototype.

smusamashah 3y ago

It will be help if any of the videos showed this thing actually working physically. So many flashy videos but none of them actually shows how it looks and works in practice.

justinlloyd 3y ago

This is absolutely brilliant. It doesn't change the way shopkeepers and small business owners currently work, which is absolutely critical to its success. Uses a familiar form factor, another critical aspect to its success. Can work offline. Store the history of millions of transactions and then sync the next time it connects. Is mechanically robust. Has a long warranty by industry standards. Congratulations to whoever came up with this.

xydac 3y ago

This is an amazing idea as well as execution providing best use of resources to end users.