I don't think GPH has the rights to GP32, much less Open Pandora. They probably don't actually have electrical/mechanical source and drawings et al and would have to start from nothing. So really they'd be doing a GP32-like handheld, and it wouldn't be any easier than doing any other handheld from scratch.
I think what you're after here is hardware compatibility with GP32. You would have to have an SoC with the exact same peripherals and memory map, and I doubt that Samsung makes a drop-in upgrade for the part, much less one with a much higher clock speed - I just can't see there being much demand for it. Also, the screen has to be the same and you can't replace SMC with SD because they're not interface compatible even from a software level. You could possibly move up to
though (I giggle every time I see that..). I just don't see very much you could actually change while making this still work. A RAM upgrade and move to Lithium Ion batteries could be done, but if that's all it's offering I doubt many people would be releasing new software to take advantage of it.
Or maybe you want the case and controls spun similarly again. Companies will ultimately go with whatever interface they believe in, and Wiz and Pandora are designed the way they are because GPH and OP think that those are the best designs for the product. If they thought a very GP32-like design was better they would have gone with that. The stick-click design has its pros and cons and opinion varies between people, but ultimately it's too mechanically fragile.
Even if they could push this out, I think there is no way they would make enough money to recoup that spent in R&D, much less start making a profit.
Now, GP's apparent successor, "Gambros", could do something like this, and some of the things they're releasing now do look like GP32 successors, although they've abandoned the form factor and I doubt anything is backwards compatible. Nothing you can really do there. No other company is in a position to just start making more GP32s, altered or otherwise.
GP32 emulation on modern platforms seems like a much more feasible and attractive option, IMO.
EDIT: Maybe I'll try emulating GP32 some time in the future; does anyone have a list of external components that aren't abstracted by the apps processor? Like, things connected over GPIO, possibly the display controller and whatever audio hardware it had. Also if you want to send any *cough*other things*cough* that could be useful in emulation I can accept via e-mail ;D
EDIT2: MESS has had GP32 support for a while: http://www.bannister.org/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=56755&page=1 Can anyone try it and tell me how it performs? Word in that thread is that it has audio now.
