Anyone Else Lost Interest?

[Keen]

I've spent 380€ in Pandora, including case, UPS ship and Dev Fund donation.
If by november i am still waiting i want my money back.

What is strange is if Pandora is on the verge of mass production as Gruso said, why Craig is not able to say "Don't worry guys, Pandora is going to be released the second half of September" or "the first half of october" or whenever, but with a concrete date, because a project like this should have real deadlines. All the information that we can get is brought by Gruso, wich as he says is not official information. We are dealing always with speculations about it, but for me, my money and my waiting time are real, is not for you?

 

[bzar]

I've spent 380€ in Pandora, including case, UPS ship and Dev Fund donation.
If by november i am still waiting i want my money back.

What is strange is if Pandora is on the verge of mass production as Gruso said, why Craig is not able to say "Don't worry guys, Pandora is going to be released the second half of September" or "the first half of october" or whenever, but with a concrete date, because a project like this should have real deadlines. All the information that we can get is brought by Gruso, wich as he says is not official information. We are dealing always with speculations about it, but for me, my money and my waiting time are real, is not for you?

As Craig said, a "proper" company would take the estimated date, add about half a year and say it's ready then. These guys want to give their latest estimates with no buffers added. The dates estimated so far have been the most optimistic concievable given the information at hand at the time. Because of this they can not in my opinion give accurate dates this close to production. If all goes well, by latest estimates we'll have our pandoras in september/october. If something comes up, say the board tests fail, it will take some time to sort out. This is just the way it goes and frankly, I rather get the latest information even if it may prove unreliable than a blanket "it will be ready by 2010". Many of the delays have been because of external problems, which can not be reasonably factored into estimates. Which is why they haven't.

Sorry if this rambling is incoherent, I think I've caught the swine flu as well.

 

[icurafu]

Well, i was going to get N900 instead but turns out that will be 600 Euro. lol. So I'll just get whatever is available and reasonable at the time. Try not to think about it too much.

 

[fiori_musicali]

[ ... ] because a project like this should have real deadlines. [ ... ]

That's exactly what a project like this does not need (and would be difficult to provide). In a real company - the kind of which would usually take on a similar project - you would have departments with staff trained to work efficiently in the narrow areas that they are specialized in, an actual organizational structure and logistics, experts giving estimates and the budget analyzed by finance advisors to make long-term plans that set conditions for deadlines.

Practically Pandora is just a bunch of guys calling around "Hey, I know we're small-fry here, but we have an idea, designs and money. Can you make this happen?" I'm pretty amazed they have made it this far, plus I don't need a deadline when I have the confidence that the team wants to get this thing out at least as bad as I do, and they want to do it properly regarding ensuring the quality.

 

[tcdev]

Seriously, it's ridiculous how much people complain that the Pandora is being obsoleted. It's completely absurd.

It was more an observation than a "complaint". Given that it is fast approaching 12 months since I pre-ordered, and knowing it'll likely be 18 months by the time I finally do get one (if indeed I do), I was pondering whether or not waiting another 6 months would see the release of something superior to the Pandora...

As for open, you have a point. However personally, I've very little interest in homebrew, and am much more interested in running emulators, watching videos and listening to MP3s. You don't necessarily need an 'open' platform to do those - it helps, and is easier, but not required.

Anyway, I'm sure impatience will get the better of me and I will order from the 2nd batch...

 

[pelrun]

Considering that there isn't much left to do besides assembly, testing and shipment, there's no way that it's 'likely' to take another 7 months.

 

[Shaun199three]

I'm finally at a point where the Pandora doesn't consume my thoughts so my interest is being lost. I really can't wait till the first Pandora's ship cause its quiet embarassing telling people about the Pandora after all these delays since most people think you got scammed. Only one of my friends knows about my wait and its akward when they ask you about it so I have told no one else lol.

 

[peca]

I can't lost interest until comparable product came to the market. This mean fully capable pocket computer with:
- keyboard (acceptable for thumb typing)
- big hires screen (at least 800x480)
- good gaming controls (D-Pad, 4x buttons, 2 shoulders, 2 analogs)
- fully powered and capable USB host
- long operating time (8+ hours)
- connectivity (WI-FI + BT)
- 2 slots for cards
- power of OMAP 3530
- 2 Gb RAM
...

That all and more just for 330$! As there is not no such other device, I stay waiting for Pandora.

OK. For those who can't count: 2 Gb = 256 MB. Rather no bad joke

edit: Anyway. Money was send out and write off.

 

[guizm]

2 Gb = 256 MB ? Fantastic! Then i should have 16 Gb of Ram in my pc ( 16 Gb = 2 Gb )
Why did you say that?

 

[mindlord]

The lower case b = bit, so 2Gb = 2048 Gigabits / 8 = 256MB MegaBytes. It's something that hand-held devices (especially flashcards like for the DS) have done for a long time to consume the confuser... err confuse the consumer.

 

[Pleng]

2 Gb = 256 MB ? Fantastic! Then i should have 16 Gb of Ram in my pc ( 16 Gb = 2 Gb )
Why did you say that?

Yes you have 16Gb Ram in your PC, but the follwing:

16Gb = 2Gb

is incorrect. It should read

16Gb = 2GB

at least I think that's correct...

(Edit: Beaten to it!)

 

[Phawx]

Alright guys. Let's just hang in there. It's going to be dry for the next month.

Basically what is happening with OP right now is this:

Pretend OP is a shuttle. And right now it's behind the moon, so we can't talk to it just yet until it comes around. But when it does come around we will get new information and more importantly, it will coming back to earth to land.

So, literally. All we can do right now is wait.

 

[WizardStan]

Pretend OP is a shuttle.

I thought it was a bus.

 

[SirAileron]

... a shuttle bus?

 

[Poem58]

No, a space shuttle bus...

or maybe you prefer a flying Winnebago?

 

[kuru]

... a shuttle bus?

Or a bus shuttle. Makes me think of

 

[sephiap]

... a shuttle bus?

Or a bus shuttle. Makes me think of

Col Sanders: "Corporal, get me the video cassette of Pandora the movie!"
Dark Helmet: "What do you mean fetch Pandora the movie? We're still in the middle of making it!"
Col Sanders: "Instant Video Cassettes, they're out in stores before the movie is finished, we simply fast forward two months and see if Pandora's been released"
Dark Helmet: "... and if it hasn't...?"
Col Sanders: "We fast forward another two months and try again, sir."

 

[whiskthecat]

I'm finally at a point where the Pandora doesn't consume my thoughts so my interest is being lost. I really can't wait till the first Pandora's ship cause its quiet embarassing telling people about the Pandora after all these delays since most people think you got scammed. Only one of my friends knows about my wait and its akward when they ask you about it so I have told no one else lol.

Agreed

 

[chuckr]

My biggest fear with the Pandora is that when it does finally get released, that another similar more mainstream device will appear on the market for less cash

You sound like one of those 80's newbies, complaining that they really ought to wait because there will always be better/cheaper right on the horizon. Guys, haven't you realized that this is the nature of the beast? The point here is that there has been quite a long hiatus in new features for PDAs and game machines, especially for those of us who can appreciate it. Pandora's main long term effect is most certainly going to be the fact that this project stuck a big, painful needle in the ass of all those lazy, greedy folks who believe that everyone is stupid, and that they should only produce for the most simpleminded. Remember these guys of ours are not doing this as their main jobs, so it's just flatly impossible that they should be able to be completely as fast as folks who can put 100 times the resources into it.

Have you noticed the trends in PDA designs lately? Can't you see Pandora's direct effect on things? I'm sure happy I did this, and I CAN'T afford it. Industry is FINALLY seeing that folks really DO want better features. I bet that Pandora is well known in those circles. They don't want to do Pandora any favors, they just want money, so it's far more difficult to give those folks the news. They are forcing industry idiots to cater to you, and that (for my money) is WELL worth things. Pandora's design points the way just exactly where I want it to do, so we can finally get the entire industry going where we want it to.

 

[mduffor]

Actually, my interest in Pandora has increased recently as it gets nearer to release. I've been following the development of the Pandora on and off for maybe a year and a half it feels like. I haven't ordered yet, but hope to have the funds for it around Christmas or maybe the start of next year (convincing my wife that I need it is the tricky part). In the meantime, I'm starting to play around with compiling apps for my Nokia N810 since the screen res and abilities are along the same lines. But games on the N810 are pretty weak, since it doesn't have very good controls for any game not specifically designed for a touchpad.

Personally I'm really impressed that a few knowledgeable people were able to team up and produce a piece of open hardware like the Open Pandora. A project this complex takes some time, and is bound to have some pitfalls and timesinks. And even once the actual hardware is in people's hands, it is going to take some time before a good deal of software is available for it (outside of emulators and existing games, whose porting seems to be moving along at a good rate.) What I'm looking forward to is the indie games that people will be able to write for this machine!

To me the Open Pandora isn't a drop-in replacement for your PSP or DS gaming scene. You're not going to have the number of titles or commercial support that a handheld from established companies like Sony or Nintendo provides. This is something different. This is something you can really sink your teeth into and modify the way you want it to work. This is something that gives the "little guys" an opportunity to (legally) strut their stuff in a handheld format that has great gaming controls. That's what makes this platform exciting.

Cheers!