A Stranger In The Fog Knocks On Craig's Door

[WizardStan]

With a camera built into your Pandora you can take photos anywhere and instantly email it to your friends or upload it to Facebook, your blog or a forum.

And with a phone built into it you could make calls, and with an IR port you could control your TV, and with an accelerometer it could detect tilts, and with...
You can justify almost any extra feature that you can possibly think of, but the reality is that at some point in time you have to say "that is enough, anything else can be added on"
And they can be. It would not be difficult or expensive (maybe $20 at most) to build an external camera that plugs into the EXT port controlled by software SPI/I2C for those that want it, and those that don't want it don't pay for it.

 

[Mr.Gonzo]

With a camera built into your Pandora you can take photos anywhere and instantly email it to your friends or upload it to Facebook, your blog or a forum.

And with a phone built into it you could make calls, and with an IR port you could control your TV, and with an accelerometer it could detect tilts, and with...
You can justify almost any extra feature that you can possibly think of, but the reality is that at some point in time you have to say "that is enough, anything else can be added on"
And they can be. It would not be difficult or expensive (maybe $20 at most) to build an external camera that plugs into the EXT port controlled by software SPI/I2C for those that want it, and those that don't want it don't pay for it.

Wham bam, that hits the right spot

 

[Trip]

If the mobile phone companies would allow sharing of the phones built in camera via bluetooth or wifi, that would be my preferred way to go. That way the phone can be used to supply the Pandora with Internet access, text message sending + camera functions etc. leaving the Pandora to do what it does best

 

[Rathum]

Do you guys also consider webcams on netbooks/notebooks to be useless?

Gimmick, Yes; Useless, No. It's hard for things to be useless as long as they can perform a function.

-God Ginrai

A drinking bird is a gimmick and is useless when carrying out it's function.

They are quite useful for certain functions. Namely repeatedly hitting a key without using a software solution.

 

[borgqueenx]

thanks for the pictures and your thoughts....but still i cant touch it, or own it.
Its taking so damn long, its like everything that could go wrong, is going wrong.

Sorry i sound so sad about this, but well...i cant wait much longer. im going to cancel if the next cases are not green lighted.

 

[Jourdy288]

IDK, I still like the idea of a camera for certain ingame functions. It's like them d-pads....

 

[x68000]

So, how much did Craig pay you for this? Is there anything you didn't like about it?

When Craig give me such a generous backhander, I couldn't possibly pick out any faults

Seriously though, the all important things such as screen, controls, keyboard and general 'feel' were all excellent. The only (non)issue I could see was one or two parts of the case were very very slightly out. When shut, the two parts did not sit 100% flush at both ends. But this has already been rectified and won't be an issue once we get the final product.

I was genuinely staggered at how good it really was.

 

[skyeyemachine]

thanks for the pictures and your thoughts....but still i cant touch it, or own it.
Its taking so damn long, its like everything that could go wrong, is going wrong.

Sorry i sound so sad about this, but well...i cant wait much longer. im going to cancel if the next cases are not green lighted.

I've only been around the community here a short while compared to the 2-year veterans around here, so I can't speak from experience, but I think that if the Pandora is really what you want, you would regret that decision. The boards are done, the cases are extremely close to being done, and the mass production setup is prepared. OP is still holding out financially and is genuinely excited about their product, and they seem to have a good working relationship with the plastics factory, despite the delays. I lack the market experience and expertise many others on the forums here may have, but based on the information available, a true catastrophe at this point would come as a great surprise to me. It just doesn't seem like there's anything left to do that would realistically cause serious problems, at least from OP's end. :huh:

Anyway, regardless of what you choose to do, I hope your decision works out for you. If you did cancel, you'd have all that money back to spend on non-essentials like, I dunno, food.

 

[willrandship]

With a camera built into your Pandora you can take photos anywhere and instantly email it to your friends or upload it to Facebook, your blog or a forum.

And with a phone built into it you could make calls, and with an IR port you could control your TV, and with an accelerometer it could detect tilts, and with...
You can justify almost any extra feature that you can possibly think of, but the reality is that at some point in time you have to say "that is enough, anything else can be added on"
And they can be. It would not be difficult or expensive (maybe $20 at most) to build an external camera that plugs into the EXT port controlled by software SPI/I2C for those that want it, and those that don't want it don't pay for it.

Wham bam, that hits the right spot

USB Webcam, anyone? If it works with linux, it will (very likely) work with the pandora!

Hey, that gives me an idea for a new accessory! A clip on shell that acts as scratch protection and acts as a multiple external device holder, for such things as a camera or 3G modem.

 

[God Ginrai]

Do you guys also consider webcams on netbooks/notebooks to be useless?

Gimmick, Yes; Useless, No. It's hard for things to be useless as long as they can perform a function.

-God Ginrai

A drinking bird is a gimmick and is useless when carrying out it's function.

I said hard, not impossible.

-God Ginrai

 

[Nova]

Technically a drinking bird's function is to be completely useless, which is a bit of a paradox.




...oh shit, is that a black hole over there?

 

[Sugar_Kane]

thanks for the pictures and your thoughts....but still i cant touch it, or own it.
Its taking so damn long, its like everything that could go wrong, is going wrong.

Sorry i sound so sad about this, but well...i cant wait much longer. im going to cancel if the next cases are not green lighted.

Chin up, Borg. You're not cancelling, and you damn well know it!

 

[Phawx]

Do you guys also consider webcams on netbooks/notebooks to be useless?

Gimmick, Yes; Useless, No. It's hard for things to be useless as long as they can perform a function.

-God Ginrai

A drinking bird is a gimmick and is useless when carrying out it's function.

I said hard, not impossible.

-God Ginrai

I'm not arguing semantics. I apologize if you feel I was putting words in your mouth. Also, I wasn't solely targeting you as I was more referencing backasswards statement that a webcam would be a waste of space and money. My only opinion was that webcam's serve a very real purpose. I would even go as far to that that if you handed a regular person the Pandora, they would rather a webcam over game controls, which they would find gimmicky.

To give you an idea of how I read your sentence.

"Yea, cameras are gimmicks. If you want a camera, get a good one that uses SD cards."

What I saw in my head was:

"Yea, game controls on the Pandora are gimmicks. If you want real control, get a good wired joystick."

At least to *us*, the game controls on the Pandora is what separates it from the rest of the pack. But to *others* they may want a handheld netbook. In my personal opinion, I think it would behoove OP to include more netbook features, of which, the only thing I can see it's missing is a webcam. Again, it's only my opinion, but I believe when more handheld computers begin to show up, it would be in OP's best interest to be able to compete in the handheld netbook market as well.

And I have absolutely no intention to use *any* webcam for taking stills. I wholeheartedly agree for stills, one should use a camera. However, in two years time when Pandora2 may be coming out, I don't think webcams would be very expensive, nor take up very much space.

I suppose the only point I wanted to make was that any opinion either camp cheers for, should be evaluated against what the competition is doing in the future.

 

[EvilDragon]

The only thing I could criticize the Pandora as it is right now is the Software - and that's still in development and will surely see many updates during the next year

 

[Dead1nside]

Thanks for your impressions.

 

[worzyl]

I didn't realize how small the device was compared to the new DS. Where the dimensions scaled down a little at any time during the creation? It looks really neat and compact.

A very lovely machine indeed.

 

[Awakening]

The only thing I could criticize the Pandora as it is right now is the Software - and that's still in development and will surely see many updates during the next year

So, you are saying that we won't have any updates THIS year?

I didn't realize how small the device was compared to the new DS. Where the dimensions scaled down a little at any time during the creation? It looks really neat and compact.

A very lovely machine indeed.

The DSi XL is 21 x 8.4 mm larger then the Pandora. This is why I'm all for a larger Pandora 2 so we could get a larger screen with a higher resolution. Something like 1024 x 600 would be very useful for surfing the net, reading PDFs and other files or working. We could also be playing games at 800 x 600 resolution.

 

[Pleng]

If the mobile phone companies would allow sharing of the phones built in camera via bluetooth or wifi, that would be my preferred way to go. That way the phone can be used to supply the Pandora with Internet access, text message sending + camera functions etc. leaving the Pandora to do what it does best

The chinavasion dual-sim jobbies allow using the phone's camera as a webcam over bluetooth, as well as sharing of an internet connection. They're quite a nice little match for Pandora, really. Though not without their faults!

The whoe point of having a cam built into Pandora, though, would be to avoid having to carry another device. The clip-on device described by God and the USB webcam proposed aren't really convenient solutions. I don't foresee a situation where I see something I want to take a picture of and have the time to get my Pandora out, Open it, Clip in a webcam, and then take a photo. The clipping in of the webcam adds an awful lot of time. Not to mention how geeky you would look.

anyway, back on topic...

Is there anything you didn't like about it?

Considering the amount of time that has been spent refining the system I would really hope there's nothing that somebody here (ie somebody who knows what to expect from the unit) doesn't like after a couple of hours play. Any flaws / personal dislikes about the unit (example, the d-pad being a bit too low ) would probably only surface after a few days/weeks use. IMHO

 

[God Ginrai]

To give you an idea of how I read your sentence.

"Yea, cameras are gimmicks. If you want a camera, get a good one that uses SD cards."

What I saw in my head was:

"Yea, game controls on the Pandora are gimmicks. If you want real control, get a good wired joystick."

At least to *us*, the game controls on the Pandora is what separates it from the rest of the pack. But to *others* they may want a handheld netbook. In my personal opinion, I think it would behoove OP to include more netbook features, of which, the only thing I can see it's missing is a webcam. Again, it's only my opinion, but I believe when more handheld computers begin to show up, it would be in OP's best interest to be able to compete in the handheld netbook market as well.

I am not saying that a webcam would be a deterrent to getting the Pandora 2. I would still buy one even if it had a webcam. But I have to say that the Pandora does not need to try to compete with the handheld netbook market. If someone wants a netbook, then that is what they should get. The Pandora exists because Craig and Co. decided they wanted to make the gaming handheld that the GP2X should have been. The system was created with gaming as its function, so gaming controls on such a device would never be a gimmick. Also, if you suggest a wired joystick, you take away the most important feature of the Pandora. Mobility.

-God Ginrai

 

[Awakening]

I am not saying that a webcam would be a deterrent to getting the Pandora 2. I would still buy one even if it had a webcam. But I have to say that the Pandora does not need to try to compete with the handheld netbook market. If someone wants a netbook, then that is what they should get. The Pandora exists because Craig and Co. decided they wanted to make the gaming handheld that the GP2X should have been. The system was created with gaming as its function, so gaming controls on such a device would never be a gimmick. Also, if you suggest a wired joystick, you take away the most important feature of the Pandora. Mobility.

-God Ginrai

Carrying around a gamepad would be as mobile as carrying around a USB camera

A netbook is way bigger then a Pandora, there's little reason why someone interested in a Pandora would get a notebook just for a built in camera. However, a Pandora with a built in camera could potentially interest more people. I would say it's an interesting way to increase market share. The Pandora is already beyond being only a gaming handheld, there are so many around here that want to use it for more then playing games. Bloging and sharing experiences with others online is only increasing in popularity. For a next generation device OP must ask themselves how they can sell even more units.