Early Adopters Beware!

[Loon]

As a confirmed geek and gadget freak, the mantra 'early adopters beware' has always served me well.

Waiting for the gp2x MK2 rather than buying a MK1, the DS lite rather than the DS phat, even the new PSP 3000 looks an attractive purchase with its funky new screen.

However, I've thrown all this common sense out of the window for Pandora, I want to be in from day one.

Having never been an early adopter in the past I'd be interested in hearing the experiences of others relating to the early adoption of tech products.

 

[Mr Wendal]

I don`t care if they make improvements in the future, I know what I`m buying now and I`m happy with it.
As long as they don`t make software compatible with only the New and Improved! version.

So yeah, I`m early adopting for the first time.

 

[azurege]

I have a habit of buying devices as soon as they are released, and I have always been burned.

The XBOX 360, I eventualy "upgraded" to the Elite model.
GP32, I "upgraded" to the FLU, then the BLU.
GP2x F100, i still have this with its rubbish "joystick" and dont use the damn thing.
JXD301, must have used it for about an hour, still waiting for emu's.
Every time a new GFX card was released by NVidia I bought it day 1.

But the thing is, I WILL order a Pandora as soon as the pre-orders start, I have faith in this machine due to the people involved with it and the specs. of it.

Roll on pre-orders.

 

[kloplop321]

Every time a new GFX card was released by NVidia I bought it day 1.

How much of a PC gamer are you?

I have a habit of buying devices as soon as they are released, and I have always been burned.

The XBOX 360, I eventualy "upgraded" to the Elite model.
GP32, I "upgraded" to the FLU, then the BLU.
GP2x F100, i still have this with its rubbish "joystick" and dont use the damn thing.
JXD301, must have used it for about an hour, still waiting for emu's.

That stinks

But the thing is, I WILL order a Pandora as soon as the pre-orders start, I have faith in this machine due to the people involved with it and the specs. of it.

Roll on pre-orders.

Same idea here

 

[Mutilator]

i think that there wont be any major problems with it at least, as they seem pretty confident about the design and have also listened to what we had to say about design choices etc.

so far ive been impressed by the team on how they get involved with us on these forums. because of this reason i think it is diferent as its a console made for us.

 

[kloplop321]

i think that there wont be any major problems with it at least, as they seem pretty confident about the design and have also listened to what we had to say about design choices etc.

so far ive been impressed by the team on how they get involved with us on these forums. because of this reason i think it is diferent as its a console made for us.

Yeah, I didn't even know the Wiz existed when it started selling until I saw something on QJ about it.

 

[TaG]

I think the nature of Pandora and the community around it, makes being involved from day 1 part of the fun (it probably should have been / was with GP32 and GP2X, and it might well apply to Wiz as well). If you are concerned, wait for batch two.

 

[gaterooze]

Mr Loon, I am exactly the same as you, with all of those examples in fact. But Pandora, I am now considering preordering.

 

[sold]

I think craigix and co. have delayed the release fo so long to get it right the first time. I've never been an early adopter, but in the case of pandora, I've got a feeling that the first batch will be the same as each subsequent batch.

 

[P-J]

I won't get a first revision for the same reason you guys will. For some reason you seem to think that because it's a community project it's going to be fine.

Nintendo have more experience of building handhelds than anyone and even they make mistakes. Lord knows what you guys are going to find in the first version of the Pandora.

I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it.

 

[andyB911]

I won't get a first revision for the same reason you guys will. For some reason you seem to think that because it's a community project it's going to be fine.

Nintendo have more experience of building handhelds than anyone and even they make mistakes. Lord knows what you guys are going to find in the first version of the Pandora.

I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it.

Agree 50%. I have no doubt there will be problems with the first batch. Hopefully they will be small and fixable, but with so many 'moving' parts I would be shocked if nothing is found that couldn't be tweaked to be better in future batches.

However, I'm still pre-ordering. You've got to be in it to win it, if you know what i mean...

I'd love to know how many people have signed up to the openpandora news letter. I'd guess something like 20% of those will actually pre-order so would be an indicator if first batch will sell out in days or whether in fact they will have stock left when the pre-orders start getting delivered.

 

[kevcal]

I won't get a first revision for the same reason you guys will. For some reason you seem to think that because it's a community project it's going to be fine.

Agreed - I don't risk my hard-earned cash - but will be monitoring the status - and may kick myself for waiting
Trouble is until large batches are built you don't know what problems could occur, etc.
Still, fingers crossed it's smooth sailing

 

[Ignatzthemouse]

I think id swallow my worries and sign up if i knew how quickly it will boot.
I found the time my f200 took to get going okish for games but as someone who was mainly using it for music ... and especially as something to get an idea down quickly it just annoyed me too much.

 

[ashdjones]

Assuming you can take the thing apart and swap peices we should be okay right?

 

[PoisonedV]

I'm sure there will be issues, but I'm too excited to care.

 

[Arialia]

Very difficult to choose :

for DS : i hate button of DS lite but love screen, i prefer DS phat more ergonomic unless screen

for Pandora : we don't know if a second batch will be make .... so i prefer buy one in the first .... but i'm little afraid , i would prefer wait second launch but if it has none ?

 

[fishybawb]

It's a tricky one really, if too many people decide it's too risky to be an early adopter, there won't BE a second batch. If you're an early adopter and/or eager to see the Pandora succeed and order one regardless, you may have to deal with "teething" issues. GP32/GP2X owners are likely to take it all in their stride, but I can't say the same for the new influx of "UMPC/mini-computer" fans, who are used to devices more heavily financed/QA-ed.

 

[Clad]

I've always been a enthousiastic early adopter and the only time I did regret it is with the GBA. The SP with it's lighted screen is so much better, and the NDS isn't that good at playing GBA games (windowed, poor control...)

Other than that, I bought the first GP32 and had always been happy (I don't care the GP32 doesn't have a lighted screen, contrary to the GBA it's readable enough to me), I bought the first edition GP2X (and it got broken because of my own stupidity, damn universal PSU that I forgot to set back on 3V after playing Master System !), I bought the first NDS on day 1 japanese release and the only problem is with the shoulder button (that I can and will replace myself, they are just aging it's just the "amiga mouse" syndrom)...

And that's only for hardware that ended up having a new revision (which you can't know on purchase), I'm perfectly happy with my day 1 gamecube, and Isee no reason to be ever disapointed with my day 1 Wii. (I can't say the same of all my dreamcasts, that all ended up dying on me... All 5 - so far - of them. Quite frustrating with the first one I paid full price on release.). I even bought a Mk1 EEE (701), and never really felt I was needing anything the newer revision offered.

Now, since the Pandora will be retro-lighted and I can't even see what else I could expect better from a new revision (I didn't give a damn about touchscreen on the new GP2X for instance), why would I wait ? Sure they could have 3G wireless, but I don't want to pay for a 3G ISP, or they could add wimax, which isn't available in my country. I wouldn't care if they add camera or webcam... Really, I can't think of anything that could make the current model obsolete to me. Except more ram, CPU and GPU power but that would be an all new product then.

 

[PsoBloke]

It's a tricky one really, if too many people decide it's too risky to be an early adopter, there won't BE a second batch. If you're an early adopter and/or eager to see the Pandora succeed and order one regardless, you may have to deal with "teething" issues. GP32/GP2X owners are likely to take it all in their stride, but I can't say the same for the new influx of "UMPC/mini-computer" fans, who are used to devices more heavily financed/QA-ed.

Essentially what I was going to say. Still though, I genuinely believe there will certainly be enough early adopters that once we have our hands on it, will be extremely excited regardless of teething issues.

 

[Mr Wendal]

...you may have to deal with "teething" issues. GP32/GP2X owners are likely to take it all in their stride, but I can't say the same for the new influx of "UMPC/mini-computer" fans, who are used to devices more heavily financed/QA-ed.

That`s me ... never had a GP32 etc ... this thread makes me sad.
Ignorance was bliss