Neat devices: Version 20210817 Release Notes
Last updated on September 1, 2021
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September 1 UPDATE: In the previous iteration of this release notes, the People Count related bug (CUS-183) was listed in the ‘fixed bugs’ section. While this version has improvements in this area, the bug is still not fully fixed. We have therefore moved this bug in the ‘known issues’ section.
1. Introduction
This document describes the new features, improvements, bug fixes and known issues in the 20210817 software release for Neat Bar, Neat Pad and Neat Board.
As long as your Neat device was up and running and on the network after 12:00pm Central European Time (6am US Eastern / 3am US Pacific), on August 25, the initial upgrade would have been downloaded and your system would automatically reboot at 2am local time the following day to apply it.
If your Neat device was not powered up or online, when it is next booted up and connected to the internet, it will download the software and perform the automatic reboot during the following night / early morning.
If you had opted out of automatic upgrades by disabling ‘Automatic updates’ on your Neat device, please note that it will remain on the existing software release and will not upgrade. However, if you would like to upgrade to the 20210817 release, please enable ‘Automatic updates’ and the Neat device(s) will download the latest stable software release and upgrade as above.
Note: ‘Automatic updates’ can be enabled or disabled by going into Neat’s System settings (from Neat Pad or Neat Board) -> System -> Software Update.
Note: Previous release notes can be found here: https://support.neat.no/article/neat-devices-version-20210802-release-notes/
2. What’s in the new upgrade?
The Neat firmware builds in this upgrade are:
- Neat Bar firmware: NFB1.20210817.1033
- Neat Board firmware: NFC1.20210817.1033
- Neat Pad firmware: NFA1.20210817.1121
The built-in Zoom Room versions are:
- Zoom Room software version: 5.7.0 (1439)
- Zoom Room Controller software version: 5.7.0 (692)
The feature introduced in this release is:
- Smart Gallery (beta) and Auto-framing with Multi-focus framing
2.1 Smart Gallery (beta) and Auto-framing with Multi-focus framing
In this release, Neat team brings a new experience called ‘Smart Gallery’ (beta) in partnership with Zoom. Smart Gallery takes the Zoom meeting experience to the next level, while at the same time allowing our customers to continue to use Neat’s own Auto-framing/Neat symmetry features.
In addition, this release also allows administrators to define the default camera position for one or more Neat rooms via Zoom’s administrative portal. This makes it much easier to manage all the Neat rooms centrally, without having to go into individual meeting rooms to set the default behaviour. To facilitate this (and also to avoid confusing our users), we have removed the Auto-framing features from Neat’s System Settings and moved these to Zoom’s portal (Zoom portal -> Room profile -> Default Camera Control Mode)
The full article on how to enable and use Smart Gallery (beta) and other features like Neat symmetry (known as ‘Multi-focus framing’ in the Zoom world) can be found here: https://support.neat.no/article/smart-gallery-beta-and-auto-framing-with-multi-focus-framing-features/
Important: If you have been using Neat’s Auto-framing (group or individual) features until now, once you upgrade, you may find these features no longer work (as the options have now moved to Zoom). You will need to enable these features for your Neat room by going into the Zoom portal -> Room profile -> Default Camera Control Mode and settings either ‘Auto-framing’ (group auto framing) or ‘Multi-focus framing’ (individual framing/Neat symmetry).
3. Zoom Rooms software
The Zoom Rooms software builds in this upgrade are:
- Zoom Room software version: 5.7.0 (1439)
- Zoom Room Controller software version: 5.7.0 (692)
This is a major release for Zoom Rooms, with exciting new features and bug fixes. More information can be found here:
4. Fixed bugs and improvements
| Issue reference | Description |
| ZOOM-50 | In previous releases, Neat Pads running June 2021 or later firmware could be incorrectly identified by Zoom administrative portal as a generic Android device titled ‘NF19A1’ instead of a Neat device. This also caused duplication errors where the portal could list multiple entries for the Neat Pad, even when there was only one active device. In this release, Zoom team can now correctly identify a Neat Pad as a Neat device. However, previously created duplicate Neat Pad entries may still remain on the portal. Please reach out to support@neat.no for instructions on how to remove these redundant entries. |
| ZOOM-85 | In previous releases, Neat Pads running June 2021 or later firmware could not play ultrasonic pairing sound when used as a 3rd-party controller for a non-Neat device (e.g. other Windows or Mac based Zoom Rooms), causing wireless sharing to not work. Zoom team has resolved this issue in this release. |
5. Known issues
| Issue reference | Description |
| INBUGS-31 | ‘Unable to verify certificate’ message displayed when uploading CA certificate which has a text part before the actual certificate part. To work-around this issue, copy only the certificate portion (BEGIN CERTIFICATE / END CERTIFICATE) to a file and save it as .pem/.cert etc. |
| INBUGS-317 | When upgrading from an old s/w release to most recent Android 10 release (from June 2021), some devices would incorrectly show the timezone of Neat device to be ‘Azores Summer Time’. As a work-around, you can factory reset both Bar and Pad and the correct timezone will be reflected. |
| CUS-183 | In some cases, that Neat Bars/Boards could disconnect from the network for indefinite amount of time, and often require a reboot to be recovered (while the Neat Pad would be connected to network but report that it cannot connect to the Bar/Board). This issue occurred to users who were using the People Count feature on their Neat devices. As a work-around, please disable People Count feature from the Zoom portal (Zoom Room -> Account Settings -> Meetings -> Please disable the following: Count the number of people in room) |
| CUS-189 | In some rare cases, when a user navigates to a Neat device’s webadmin -> System page, the browser would report ‘Unable to connect to the device’. |
| ZOOM-93 | In this release, it is not possible to disable Zoom’s ‘Advanced Noise Suppression’ feature. As a result, any users using the ‘Music mode’ feature will notice that their audio is being suppressed by Zoom’s noise suppression algorithm, making the experience poor. This issue is being investigated by the Zoom engineering team. |
6. How to check if you have the new build
Zoom Rooms Version / Controller Version: Click on the Settings button on the lower left corner of Neat Pad or Neat Board. Then click on ‘About’. The Zoom software version numbers will be displayed on the right.
Neat Board/ Neat Bar / Neat Pad Firmware Versions: Click on the Settings button on the lower left corner of Neat Pad or lower right corner of Neat Board. Then click on ‘General’ and on the right, you’ll see the meeting room name displayed. Below the room name, you should find an option named ‘System Settings’. If you click on this, you’ll be prompted to enter the system passcode (this passcode is listed with the room settings in the Zoom Room administrator portal).
You will now have entered Neat’s System Settings. Next navigate from System Settings -> System -> About and you should be able to view the serial number and firmware versions for each device.
You can also see the serial number and firmware version of your Neat devices in the Zoom Room administrator portal – just click on the room name, and then click on the name of each device.
7. Getting help from Neat
We encourage you to visit our support website and view new articles, FAQs, how-to and troubleshooting guides which are being regularly added there. Please search the following page to find answers to your common questions or problems:
https://support.neat.no
If you encounter an issue with your Neat device, please email: support@neat.no and one of our technical support engineers will reach out to you.
Note: Neat provides support on Neat devices running current released software, or running software from the previous release. For more information on our support policy, please see the article ‘Neat’s technical support policy’.
IMPORTANT: Please see our privacy policy at https://neat.no/privacy-policy/