Bad News

[Pickle]

I doubt the PSP Vita mattered and it came down to finances, they simply didnt sell the caanoo, cant pay the bills.

 

[akator]

This is disappointing news. I'm still waiting for an official statement, though. Maybe what was mentioned before will happen, that GPH won't release new designs, will continue making and selling the Caanoo, and focus development on software. Having the same model on the market for a few years could help the Caanoo build support.

I know a lot of people have complaints about the Caanoo, but so far I like it a lot more than the Wiz. I like the controls and the larger screen, even though it isn't as bright as the Wiz screen. Having the speakers on the back doesn't bother me. My only complaint is the screen bezel problem, but that isn't enough for me to get rid of mine

 

[EvilDragon]

And I chose the locked down device and then unlocked it. Problem solved. I don't allow my personal feelings toward Sony/MS/etc. interfere with the actual hardware decision.

And it's fine if you choose the locked Sony device and unlock it. That's totally your decision.

I don't have any personal feelings against Sony, MS, etc.
I also have a PSP. There are only two or three games that really interest me on that system, but that's something else. The PSP was a nice system.
I also own an XBox360. It has some pretty good RPGs.

But for opensource and homebrew, I rather decide for a product from a company who tries to support me with such a device.
I use PSP, etc. for commercial games and WIZ, Caanoo and Pandora for homebrew games.

The Caanoo is beta quality hardware. I wanted a finished product with strong support. I wanted the better machine and that's what I got.

The quality of the Caanoo is actually pretty good. It has some design flaws, but the hardware itself is great.
In fact, my first model PSP is worse quality. It has creaking buttons and very visible broken pixel circle in the middle of the screen (about 15 pixels broken!)
I remember when I checked the web back then, others had similar issues. That was also one of the reasons the European release was one year later.
The current models have not such issues, I know, but the first model of the Caanoo doesn't have any real quality issues either.

Also, the Caanoo (or other OpenHandhelds) has other features I like. Like an USB host port where I can connect keyboard, USB sticks, etc.
I'm also very happy it uses Linux. If I wanted to create a cheap server from it, I could put a small webserver or samba server onto the NAND, connect a harddisk and a WiFi dongle to the USB host port and that's it.

It always depends what you want to do personally.

The things I do with opensource handhelds can't be done with jailbroken PSPs. At least not that easily.
I like experimenting as well as gaming.

You probably wouldn't miss these features. Others would.

So basically: For commercial games, I use the handhelds made for that.
For homebrew games or other stuff, I also use the handhelds made for that, not others with some workaround.

About support: If you have trouble running homebrew on a jailbroken device, good luck trying to get support from Sony.
For the Caanoo, you would get support.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with one making a personal choice that suits their beliefs, even when they aren't the same as mine. However, just don't expect me to agree with every attempt to justify that position, or attack mine, especially when they don't make much sense.

Can't see anyone here attacking you.
For me it seemed you can't understand why someone would choose a Caanoo rather than a PSP.

I can understand why a PSP does suit you better. But then you should also try to understand why others would rather choose the Caanoo.

Anyone who argues that the handhend homebrew scene offers a stronger gaming library than commercial, including the entire MAME\NES\SNES\Genesis\PS1\PSP\etc catalogs, is just arguing for the sake of argument. It's not really a fair comparison to begin with since homebrew projects are made by small teams or single individuals. Once again, perhaps commercial games don't meet your ethics standards.

No, it depends on the games you like.

I grew up with Amiga games, they always were made by small teams.
They were simpler than commercial games today, but the team put their love and time in it.

I love those kind of games. And these are the games you usually find from Homebrew- or Indie-Developers nowadays.

You will find a bigger library of such games on OpenSource handheld devices, not on the PSP.

That doesn't mean the PSP doesn't have good games, it sure has.
But some users (like myself) prefer the simpler but fun games than the commercial blockbuster titles.

One of my most favourite puzzle games of all times is Wind & Water Puzzle Battles.
That does not exist for the PSP. But for the GP2X, WIZ, Caanoo and Pandora.

GPH is NOT dead.
However, their gaming devices (most properly) are.

GPH split the gaming company into its own company which is now working on software and FunGP.
The Caanoo is still available and can still be bought from GPH.
They are currently NOT planning to build a new handheld, as the Caanoo didn't sell too well.

ED : what does that mean really ?

Well, they are still supporting the Caanoo and will continue production as long as there is interest, but there is no new gaming handheld in development and probably never will be.

GPH made money with the VocaMaster, not the gaming devices.
So while GPH gave up designing handheld devices, they are continuing their VocaMaster and are currently switching to Android devices.

GPH is not dead, but their gaming devices will cease to be.

Caanoo and Wiz production is stopped ? We can buy them until they're out of stock from the sellers ?

WIZ is out of production for a year
Caanoo has enough stock left, and as far as I know they have not stopped producing it.

When I placed my last order with them a month ago, they told me the black Caanoos are nearly out of stock and there won't be more until the end of the year.
So production is still happening as long as the demand is there.

I wonder if the recent news regarding the PSP Vita's specs acted as the proverbial straw that broke the c.amel's back. This is only a theory, but if GPH were on the fence about releasing a new system in a couple years, I could see where the Vita would discourage them. With sales down as they are now, how could they imagine competing with something even better right around the corner? Their recent 1 step forward, 2 steps back approach just won't cut it against the next generation.

No, the decision was made early this year, before the VITA was announced.

That said, I find this news unfortunate. I was definitely intrigued with the possibility of GPH redeeming itself in a couple years.

Yes
I always offered my help. I wished we could've done something like the Pandora (including a version without keyboard) together with them.
We know what's important for gaming and they have the knowledge and experience for a proper production run.

Imagine our ideas combined with their design and production knowledge... it would've been way better for both.
But they never were interested

I doubt the PSP Vita mattered and it came down to finances, they simply didnt sell the caanoo, cant pay the bills.

Thankfully, they can pay the bills, thanks to the VocaMaster.
But it doesn't make sense to continue to put money into it if it doesn't make profit.

 

[EvilDragon]

This is disappointing news. I'm still waiting for an official statement, though.

Knowing GPH, I don't think this will happen.
They will just at one time stop producing Caanoos and won't release a new handheld.

Would be something new if they told you themselves about that.

 

[Pickle]

I doubt the PSP Vita mattered and it came down to finances, they simply didnt sell the caanoo, cant pay the bills.

Thankfully, they can pay the bills, thanks to the VocaMaster.
But it doesn't make sense to continue to put money into it if it doesn't make profit.

Ok this is a different story then we got from Simon, but that could be that he was upset over being fired.
The second part that doesnt make sense, ok the gaming devices didnt make profit. But why in the world did they developing 3 devices with similar hw....the only difference with vocamaster was the software. Make one hardware device and ship different firmwares if you have to. Even the software frontend could be the same. Lunacy.

 

[akator]

I'm late to the GP2X scene. The Wiz and Caanoo caught my interest, because I thought that maybe they would relieve the hassle of dealing with updating PSP custom firmware. Otherwise, I was very happy with CFW PSPs.

IMO, the Wiz was as much trouble as a CFW PSP, and worse it didn't offer easier use or better use.

IMO, the Caanoo is better hardware. Sure, there are many things wrong, the biggest problem being the screen bezel, but it's still a great handheld.

IMO, the Wiz lost support because the Caanoo was released less than two years later. (Meanwhile, CFW PSPs are so successful because the platform is now 7 years old and still basically the same hardware.)

The Caanoo is awesome... but it followed too quickly from the Wiz and wasn't compatible with the Wiz. This fractured development.

Blah, blah, we all know this information.

IF... GPH doesn't make another handheld design, that is OK. The Caanoo is awesome except for the screen bezel, which they should have fixed ASAP.

IF... GPH continues to produce Caanoos when needed, eventually the handheld will reach a saturation point that there are *more* developers and the Caanoo becomes a standard.

IF... GPH focuses on software development, and fixes the site so that people can use it without "IE 6 & 7" compatibility, they will make money. Plus they have to accept my money from the US for me to make a purchase. There are 2 games on the GPH site I would pay for because those games catch my interest, however the GPH site is broken and they don't accept US$ that I can see, so they lose my money and my faith.

IF... GPH fixes their site, that would be 500% better for them. There is nothing worse than having a broken site, especially if they are trying to sell something. I don't understand why the GPH site is such a problem, because that should be something fixed in less than a week. If they can produce a handheld, why can't they make their site work? There is no way that anyone on the planet would trust a company that can't make their website work, especially since that is so cheap and easily possible. HFS, I can even make a site with PSP, HTML, and CSS that would work better than the current GPH site that would provide a solid cross-platform identity. HFS, they could even do that themselves with Wordpress and sales plugins. There is no excuse in the 21st century to fail with a website the way GPH has. I guarantee you that there are thousands of computer literate students in Korea that would even jump at the chance to create a site for GPH and use that on a resume. GPH could even hold a university competition, attracting thousands of students from multiple schools, to create a fully working site. Reward: recognition. It wouldn't even cost GPH a dime to get 90% of their site fixed. So... why haven't they done anything?

In only the last few days, I have told 6 people about how much more I love the Caanoo than the Wiz. 5 of those people went to the GPH website and though I was full of shit because of the website and how it doesn't display properly (the 1 person left didn't care anyway because he was about to buy a tablet). If I tell 6 friends to buy a Caanoo, and they go to the website and think I'm full of shit because the website sucks, I look stupid and GPH looks even worse.

All of this can be turned around. I don't understand how a Korean tech company could possibly ignore their website and leave it broken for a week, let alone several months. No one else in the world could understand why any tech company, from any nation, would present a broken web site.

</rant>

 

[BAFelton]

Thanks ED

 

[kayuz]

thanks ed too
eh eh eh, found the gph's vocamaster site!
this work very well, why fungp is too bad? http://www.vocamaster.net/

 

[Ovsanka]

Hey, guys. There's a question about Caanoo now. I'm from Ukraine and it's pretty hard to find those devices in our country. But I was lucky and now I can get it in my city for less than 90$. So, the question is: is it worth it now, when support is actually stoped?

Thnx!

 

[glezmen]

Hey, guys. There's a question about Caanoo now. I'm from Ukraine and it's pretty hard to find those devices in our country. But I was lucky and now I can get it in my city for less than 90$. So, the question is: is it worth it now, when support is actually stoped?

the official support is dropped, but the community is still very strong, and the device itself is definitely good, so i'd say it's still a best buy for homebrew/emulation softwares (and i'm saying it as a Caanoo AND PSP owner)

 

[Marty]

Sad to hear this bad news,i would guess the open source platform would be hard to make money, most platforms make money from software sales and sell the consoles at a loss, maybe only at the start.
I got my caanoo for $120au, how much of that is profit for GPH?? i hope its a lot because i want my caanoo for emulation only...all the software i use is free because members of our open source community created and upload it for free..No money for GPH there....

P.S
Thank you to the guys who develop for the caanoo, i love your work!!!

 

[Berserk]

And it's fine if you choose the locked Sony device and unlock it. That's totally your decision.

I don't have any personal feelings against Sony, MS, etc.
I also have a PSP. There are only two or three games that really interest me on that system, but that's something else. The PSP was a nice system.
I also own an XBox360. It has some pretty good RPGs.

But for open source and homebrew, I rather decide for a product from a company who tries to support me with such a device.
I use PSP, etc. for commercial games and WIZ, Caanoo and Pandora for homebrew games.

You have more than one handheld, which puts you in a different category altogether. Why worry about what one does when you can have both or several? For those interested in only one handheld, unless the person's a passionate homebrew hobbyist, the reasons favoring the PSP outnumber those for the Caanoo (some of which I listed in the Caanoo vs. PSP thread). Sure, a homebrew hobbyist likely favors the Caanoo, but that's about as shocking as a gun obsessed democrat voting republican.

Sure, I'd rather Sony support open source as well, but their lack of support isn't a deal breaker for someone who wants to use it for games and videos, which pretty much describes the average user. Those who absolutely have to have homebrew might be better off buying a Wiz than a Caanoo. It's had more time to mature, has a dpad, and has stronger emulation support. The Pandora priced itself out of the casual user category, so what it does or doesn't do is completely irrelevant, imo.

So yeah, I agree with you that the Caanoo attracts specific users, but that doesn't make it a better device. Just because it matches certain interests better doesn't excuse the number of shortcomings it has. After all, a Kia with $4000 rims is still a Kia (I was originally going to say Yugo because it sounded better, but that wouldn't have been fair since the Caanoo is clearly a solid device).

In some ways this is like comparing apples to oranges (homebrew vs. commercial games), but in most ways it's not (hardware advantages, video capabilities, support, console games). Part of my own decision was influenced by personal bias, but even if I weighed homebrew and commercial games evenly, I still would've purchased the PSP based on everything else.

 

[Iorgy77]

And it's fine if you choose the locked Sony device and unlock it. That's totally your decision.

I don't have any personal feelings against Sony, MS, etc.
I also have a PSP. There are only two or three games that really interest me on that system, but that's something else. The PSP was a nice system.
I also own an XBox360. It has some pretty good RPGs.

But for open source and homebrew, I rather decide for a product from a company who tries to support me with such a device.
I use PSP, etc. for commercial games and WIZ, Caanoo and Pandora for homebrew games.

You have more than one handheld, which puts you in a different category altogether. Why worry about what one does when you can have both or several? For those interested in only one handheld, unless the person's a passionate homebrew hobbyist, the reasons favoring the PSP outnumber those for the Caanoo (some of which I listed in the Caanoo vs. PSP thread). Sure, a homebrew hobbyist likely favors the Caanoo, but that's about as shocking as a gun obsessed democrat voting republican.

Sure, I'd rather Sony support open source as well, but their lack of support isn't a deal breaker for someone who wants to use it for games and videos, which pretty much describes the average user. Those who absolutely have to have homebrew might be better off buying a Wiz than a Caanoo. It's had more time to mature, has a dpad, and has stronger emulation support. The Pandora priced itself out of the casual user category, so what it does or doesn't do is completely irrelevant, imo.

So yeah, I agree with you that the Caanoo attracts specific users, but that doesn't make it a better device. Just because it matches certain interests better doesn't excuse the number of shortcomings it has. After all, a Kia with $4000 rims is still a Kia (I was originally going to say Yugo because it sounded better, but that wouldn't have been fair since the Caanoo is clearly a solid device).

In some ways this is like comparing apples to oranges (homebrew vs. commercial games), but in most ways it's not (hardware advantages, video capabilities, support, console games). Part of my own decision was influenced by personal bias, but even if I weighed homebrew and commercial games evenly, I still would've purchased the PSP based on everything else.

Can a PSP play divx and xvid? I'm asking because when I tried a few years ago I had to re-encode all the videos and that was a major pain...

 

[Berserk]

Can a PSP play divx and xvid? I'm asking because when I tried a few years ago I had to re-encode all the videos and that was a major pain...

Yes, with the PMP Mod media player. It also supports .srt subtitles. Also, re-encoding to .mp4 is quick and easy with PSP Video Converter.

 

[Iorgy77]

Why would you convert if they work in PMP Mod?

 

[Berserk]

Why would you convert if they work in PMP Mod?

Because I prefer using AVC with Sony's video player over Xvid\Divx.

 

[DingooDigitalUSA]

Ok the post going around on the gpx forums about the rumor that GPH was going out of business and no longer making Caanoo. EvilDragon and a bunch of devs chimed in about it the rumor is false here is copy of e-mail from Ellie at GPH who is head of sales.

From: sales@dingoo-digital-usa.com [mailto:sales@dingoo-digital-usa.com]
Sent: Friday, September 16, 2011 12:53 AM
To: XXXXX@gp2x.com
Subject: RE: Pre-Order

Dear Mr. Justin
Please see my answers below in blue.
Thank you
Best regards,
Ellie Cha
GPH

Ellie,

Are the rumors true is GPH going out of business? -> Nope, we don't know why such rumors are being spread.

If so how much stock do you have left and can I still get current PI shipped out to me if I
make payment tomorrow via wire transfer?

We have enough stock for holiday season. We can ship out your order within 3 working days from the receipt of your full payment(Please note that we are not responsible for any bank charge)

Regards,

Justin Barwick



Ok now for other news sorry for delays in shipping etc working 12 to 15 hour days and I'm only a one man show so mostly shipping items on weekends or pack one night and ship next day.

Dingoo-Digital is making the Black A320 again I have 25 in stock right now who knows how long they will make them.

Also Dingoo-Digital is making a version of the A330 it's just the Gemei A330 rebranded from what I can tell but will have Black ones soon maybe in the next week or so and it will be something Gemei doesn't offer.

Also now carrying the JXD 5000 and JXD A16 gaming consoles so everyone who bugged me can now get JXD from me.

 

[BaronVofortVonKermit]

Evil Dragon (and others?) didnt say GPH was going out of business, just that they wouldnt be developing any new hardware. Right?

 

[Rikku2000]

Okey GPH is still alive good so.

 

[DingooDigitalUSA]

BaronVofortVonKermit I never did say what they stated other then they had commented on the rumor. But what I get from Ellie the whole rumor is false but only time will tell for now I will go with what i've been told.