Disappointed Again

[benjiro]

Im not a fanboy nor am I a conspiracy theorist, just someone that knew what I was getting into when I paid the money.

Really, then you knew more then what most people was promised to them.

While it has been a year, from the pre-order time, and my memory may be fuzzy, but there where some clear promises how it was all going to ship 2 months later. I for one, do not remember the "You will get your product in a year time, with two month interval promises" clause when the pre-order started.

Then the rest will start shipping. I know. It's 10 months late. But it's a Pandora 1.5 with dozens of bug fixes and upgraded hardware.

From a technical point off view, does that even count as upgraded hardware anymore? That upgrade happened around 11/2009, as was promptly used to get people to reorder after the bank fiasco ( and i still find it strange, that nobody bothered to go to that bank with a lawyer or the cops, and get things released, as it clear what the bank did, was illegal ).

But, that upgraded hardware is today looking less then stellar, when you see that most new smartphone's, and other portable music/gaming devices, are using similar or better hardware. Even the 256MB memory, that was a result off the hardware upgrade, is today, the standard for all those new devices. We even see 320MB version, with the 1Ghz Snapdragon. So, lets not call that "upgrade" as a sales argument anymore.

At the same time, its kind off funny, when people are making a big deal out off the change in the TI's manual, about 720Mhz speed. Or how the battery, holds more then 4000mAh, like they get something extra, while that extra has been there from the start.

Even more funny is, when the Pandora was presented to the people, it showed a similar hardware to the Archos5. Today, we see that Archos is pushing out with new devices, with 800Mhz OMAP3440, or 1Ghz Snapdragon ( on its 4.3" Phone ).

And Craigix, you call this the Pandora 1.5, with a dozen bug fixes. Take it from a developer, the things that you find, and a few other people, are nothing against what bug will be found when it hit mass public. Its better to call it Pandora 1.1 ( at best ). Its only when the device is in a large quantity off people there hands, who will do things that you, or the other developers did not think about, that the bugs will show up...

What most people also forget is, even if the first Pandora's start shipping in October, that just the first 100 boards. How long for the next batch, and the next batch. Something tells me, if the last person ( off the 4000 pre-orders ) gets his one, by December 2009, he will be at luck. There is a lot off focus on those first 100, but the people at the bank off the line, seem to be forgotten about there possible delivery time. And then we are 2010, what will we be seeing in Q1? 1.5Ghz Snapdragon... 1Ghz Omap36xx?

And, what about the people that ordered there SD cards? They where expensive even then, yet, we are talking a year ago. The prices off SD cards have dropped. What about the value to those people there pre-ordered there SD cards with the Pandora?

To be honest, as a old observer, that pops in from time to time, there are still a lot more questions open, like the software side off things ( what seems to have changed several times during the past year ).

 

[RajTakhar]

It will be all good in the end

Some of us have been waiting since the Pandora project was first conceptualised

Yep I did pre-order - and have to say it should be well worth the effort and hopefully the N64 emulator may work out ok as well

There are enough software side projects on the go which should keep us distracted until the lucky buggers from the first 105 machines get their pandoras

Mine will probably be last knowing my luck - be can but wait

 

[tds48]

Removed - I choose to wait, patiently without complaining. As pointed out so aptly by certain people everyone has a right to an opinion

 

[john4p]

I can look on the bright side now. The Pandora might arrive just in time for my birthday. On the 29th of February.

So the Pandora arrives in 2012 since there is no 29th of February in 2010 and 2011...

 

[gadgetoid]

I can look on the bright side now. The Pandora might arrive just in time for my birthday. On the 29th of February.

So the Pandora arrives in 2012 since there is no 29th of February in 2010 and 2011...

What can I say? I'm admittedly a little optimistic, but everyone has to have their dreams!

 

[matzesu]

hope i get my one long bevor the youngest jugment (apokalypse) so i have enough training in quake 3 to owne the satan in a match where my soul is the price.. B)

or why else is his name "pandora"?

some times, i had strange minds..

 

[jaycee900]

I'm sticking with what i said 3 months ago, if the machine isnt in my hands by the end of september i would request a refund, everyone has their limits and i've reached mine, i'll maybe reorder one next year but my times coming and its 99.9% not coming in time.

 

[matzesu]

i wouldnt cancel my order because: my payed price last yeahr was 250€, so if i reorder next yeahr i must pay 50€ more, and if i cancel, the mony gos on my bank acount and there is a - of 500€ so the mony is better by ED as my bank acount, there not to much dispo cost..

i can whait until i dy, but not longer.. B)

 

[Patrick R Ludvigsen]

I find it amazing how much contempt the OP team appear to have for the very people who helped fund this entire venture.

It's not an official press release, only pretty much a joke

Besides, it's not like he's denying the delay or something

 

[bzar]

That's actually a great idea! I'd love to help you put it together! I'm quite busy, ATM, but perhaps with the aid of a simple RPG maker we could make one! I think that's ingenious. 10+. Any ideas of a simple GUI RPG maker? LOL, why does this sound familiar?

Oh, and I'm not going to panic, delays are certain. Bigger companies experience them too, although we just don't really hear about it. The Pandora will not be Indreama. It will be Pandora. These delays are simply a series of unfortunate events, nothing more. Unless Craig got himself cursed somehow

Sorry, I'm already neck-deep in my current projects and about to start working on my masters thesis. But if you want to make something of the idea, go right ahead

EDIT: Think something in the lines of "take this sword to the king", but it takes the whole game to do so.

You mean something like "drop this ring in a volcano"?

 

[Exophase]

Oh come on .. you knew it was a grass roots project ... Its kinda like saying oops I didn't know I would loose my virginity if I had sex. You knew (if you did your research that is) that it was a bunch of guys, across the globe, trying to build a new device for the first time (with very little experience individually). They make statements with the information they have to hand, and they are not all powerful, external factors do happen!

Give me a break. Maybe people should have known the likelihood of the device they're ordering actually being released within 2 months, but don't you think Open Pandora should have known that a little better? Then don't you think that taking preorders with a release date that they said they'll meet was dishonest? Companies don't normally charge full price for consumer devices that are not already at the end of development cycle - usually mass production has already started - why should anyone have known better? Nothing about how "grassroots" this is should have indicated such a thing, and your sex analogy is pretty demeaning.

Yes, I understand that the banks were responsible for delaying things, but how should anyone have anticipated that this could have been a problem? You have to understand that the vast majority of people here, preordering or otherwise, had no idea that OP was relying on preorder sales in full in order to fund the first production run of the device. If this weren't the case then the delays shouldn't have stalled anything. For that matter, the bank delays shouldn't have stalled case design, software development, or getting out the rev3 prototype boards. So I think if anything those incidents have been convenient in providing a bit of a distraction from other internal delays.


For that matter, the bank probably froze their account for the same reason PayPal did - because they were taking a bunch of money on something they were not prepared to deliver within a couple of weeks. I doubt this is illegal, it's probably within their policy. Why financial institutions would have a policy like this should be obvious, because they have a policy to help protect people from getting ripped off. It's not enough to just have a policy where you're forced to trust the vendor like you are in this situation. If OP turned tail and all of those people demanded refunds from the institution then they'd be in serious crap, and they shouldn't have to deal with that.

I'm not saying that OP was being intentionally dishonest in what money they need, but if they had gone further to make this clearer earlier then people would have probably been more patient and understanding. But there also may not have been as many preorders. They also should have realized that some financial institutions would not be okay with what they were doing. That they didn't realize this just goes further to show how much confidence they appeared to have in the November ship date.

Do you even have a pre-order ??- If not, go play in the traffic your negativity is not asked for nor wanted - If you have pre-ordered re-align your expectations or get a refund.

What about your negativity? I don't understand this kind of hostility. It's easy to understand why people would be frustrated about this, whether or not you see OP as deserving any fault for it. I'm personally not upset or bothered by the delays (I have a lot of other things to do that preempts any usage of a new device), but I still shouldn't be shunned for giving my opinion on things, even if it's not 100% positive.

For those people who have been highly anticipating this it's about a lot more than just money. I'm sure for many, having to go without the money they put down for this long is nothing compared to having to constantly wait longer and longer for something that they expected last year. All the while with other devices with similar or better hardware coming out (fortunately, nothing very Pandora-like yet). When it comes out it will be less cutting edge, and while that's not disastrous it does take away some from the initial value of it.

 

[aaronson911]

+1

 

[Phawx]

I'd have to agree with Exophase.

 

[tds48]

Removed - I choose to wait, patiently without complaining. As pointed out so aptly by certain people everyone has a right to an opinion

 

[Asmo]

+1 to Exophase.

Hindsight is always 20/20. What was expected and/or should have been anticipated by those preordering was based on the information to hand from those at the top at the time. 'About to enter production'.
Anyone doubting delivery by early '09 last year wasn't exactly received well.

 

[TheRain]

I disagree with Exophase. All of these things -delays, miscalculations, needed fixes, failed relations with manufacturers- are simply due to the grass roots and low budget nature of the project. These guys may be smart and talented, but they are not experienced with this kind of project. I'd venture to say no one out there is experienced with raising up a project like this from the ground up with just community support, from a production stand point. Technical abilities aside (these guys have that) navigating bringing something like this through production on such a low budget is simply something that has not been done before for a device like this.

I think that people here should try to put themselves in the OP team's shoes a little harder. I think they deserve it because of the nature of this project and because of what the nature of this community *should* be.

 

[droneb]

+1 2 exophase, -1 2 TDS48K

things can be said slowly and well toned, this will get things get more smooth if everyone stats badgering this forums would reach down to useless.

i can only add that preorders come, preoders leave. just hope they are enough so everyone should look and help to find more preorders/not loosing any more.

i really dont care if someone whines like a lil kid or keeps asking "stupid Q", since this is a OP forums, not everyone knows about the panda since its roots as the same there are pp who knows everything (as theres also pp who kills kittens at the two ***(tm) im not pointing my finger to nobody)

everyone shold have the right to express their point of view, and everyone has the right to correct em if something seems off, thats all.

 

[tds48]

Removed - I choose to wait, patiently without complaining. As pointed out so aptly by certain people everyone has a right to an opinion

 

[Loonie]

Personally, I've seen enough half-baked crap rushed to market. I'm glad someone still wants to get this stuff right.

 

[tds48]

Personally, I've seen enough half-baked crap rushed to market. I'm glad someone still wants to get this stuff right.

A loonie voice in the dark +1