Getting closer... (2011 - 12 - 01)

[ketchupstan]

Wow.


I just learned about Pandora earlier today, as my coworker and I were discussing mobile game distribution methods and extensive Wikipedia-ing revealed this device. I registered on these forums specifically to make these comments;


1) You guys have been royally screwed over by your suppliers and that really sucks. CircuitCo, judging from their abysmal website and what I've read here, appears to be a complete joke; "Our technicians utilize the latest equipment to perform the most challenging technologies" With the permission of the administrators, members of this board could email the company and urge them to carry out their contract with you.


2) This has literally everything I could want in a mobile device(phone or handheld), and fills in every niche that my latest cellphone upgrade disappointed: from emulation & mobile internet to allowing me teach myself python on the john. The thing is better in some areas than the laptop I'm using to write this. IMHO, it's now officially the future.


3) regarding the games question, I think there are a variety of small-time studios that would work with Pandora. I would check in with those on services like XBox Live, things like Bastion, Super Meatboy, and Costume Quest. Flash devs like Armorgames, perhaps. Minecraft? Oh, and this list.

 

[Night]

Aye, the pandora is indeed something i have a similar thought for, if it only wasn't for those assholes from CC everybody from batch 1 could have had their pandora a lot sooner.


Anyway i agree, games like Super Meatboy, Bastion and lots of other great indie titles will be indeed rad on the pandora.


I'm not sure wether anyone contacted Team Meat and Supergiant games about a pandora port though, hopefully they won't mind doing it.

 

[Miner49er]

Agreed. The Pandora is certainly a fantastic device, truly unique. It's just a terrible, crying shame that the project has been plagued with so many problems!


Ah well, as long has everyone stays on-board hopefully it can all come good in the end and we can all be here to enjoy Pandora 2 some day

 

[lebob23]

Forgive me if this sounds stupid but I don't think you are going to be able to sell for more than $80. Your direct competitors are the off brand tablets. This is from just looking at the specs, I have however been on this site several times over the past few years and it seems like if you would have sped up the process by about 2 years you could have sold it for around $350. I'm sorry your investment failed but its extremely hard to compete with corporations these days no matter what kind of business you are running.


Your device is now equivalent to a low end smartphone but with all the opensource compatibility it should do many interesting things.


My guess is that some of you founders where hired by your competitors and have in a way succeeded. Good luck I hope nobody lost anything significant over this.

 

[spaceharrier]

Hi Michael,


Just wondering if there is any news on the cables for the Pandora?


cheers, S.H.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

Forgive me if this sounds stupid but I don't think you are going to be able to sell for more than $80. Your direct competitors are the off brand tablets. This is from just looking at the specs, I have however been on this site several times over the past few years and it seems like if you would have sped up the process by about 2 years you could have sold it for around $350. I'm sorry your investment failed but its extremely hard to compete with corporations these days no matter what kind of business you are running.


Your device is now equivalent to a low end smartphone but with all the opensource compatibility it should do many interesting things.


My guess is that some of you founders where hired by your competitors and have in a way succeeded. Good luck I hope nobody lost anything significant over this.

There's actually no competitor that beats the Pandora.


The hardware is awesome, the price is fair.


And the device is truly open so no Carrier IQ on it :lol: .

 

[lebob23]

Forgive me if this sounds stupid but I don't think you are going to be able to sell for more than $80. Your direct competitors are the off brand tablets. This is from just looking at the specs, I have however been on this site several times over the past few years and it seems like if you would have sped up the process by about 2 years you could have sold it for around $350. I'm sorry your investment failed but its extremely hard to compete with corporations these days no matter what kind of business you are running.


Your device is now equivalent to a low end smartphone but with all the opensource compatibility it should do many interesting things.


My guess is that some of you founders where hired by your competitors and have in a way succeeded. Good luck I hope nobody lost anything significant over this.

There's actually no competitor that beats the Pandora.


The hardware is awesome, the price is fair.


And the device is truly open so no Carrier IQ on it :lol: .

let me explain the minimum industry standards are: (for a product that costs around $200)


1024x600 screen


omap 4430


1GB ram


Wireless N


Dual core 1Ghz


capacitive screen


You can see this specs in many budget level devices that have been released in the past 6 months the Kindle fire, playbook, nook etc.


I don't see how this can compete with those on the market. So atleast the hardware isn't awesome in fact its outdated almost 2 generations.


Maybe i'm missing something can you please explain the functionality of tthis device and how it is better than the failed blackberry playbook which was avaliable widely for under $200 the past two weeks. The QNX operating system has not been hacked (maybe rooted) and the playbook is a generation above the pandora in every category.

 

[WizardStan]

I don't see how this can compete with those on the market. So atleast the hardware isn't awesome in fact its outdated almost 2 generations.

It doesn't have to compete directly. The Pandora isn't out to sell millions. If they can sell 10'000 (and they're already well on their way to doing so) they've succeeded. They don't want to displace Sony or Nintendo or Amazon, or HP or anyone, they just want to make a product that works.


The Pandora is filling a very specific niche: an open device with the exact set of features that a subset of the population desperately wants that isn't being supplied by any of the other devices that currently exist.


Once they've sold their 10'000+ they'll have the capital to release a superior version that I'm sure will tickle your senses as far as CPU, RAM and screen size are concerned, but since those are the things that are important to you then you are not in the 10'000 people that OpenPandora Team are trying to sell to. Since you aren't in that niche, it would be extremely difficult to explain why it is worth so much to those of us that are in the niche. I look at people that spend tens of thousands on their fancy sports car and have no idea why but I recognize that there is a reason they do. We're the same way: you may not understand why, but just know that for us it is worth it to support the project.


And in a year or two, when production has finally been smoothed out and it is time for an upgrade I will be right there waiting on the same set of features that no other device supplies.


Incidentally, capacitive screens are extremely overrated. Thanks to multi-touch resistive, there is absolutely no benefit to using capacitive and a great many draw backs to it. Any phone built in 2012 that has a capacitive screen will actually be worse off than one that uses a resistive screen.

 

[Stradian]

The response to lebob23

Spoiler

Forgive me if this sounds stupid

Nope.

but I don't think you are going to be able to sell for more than $80.

Too late, and they had been selling.

Your direct competitors are the off brand tablets.

Really? Are you aware that we have physical game controls such as nubs and buttons? A slate of plastic designed for the most technologically inadequate does not compare to a device like the pandora

This is from just looking at the specs, I have however been on this site several times over the past few years and it seems like if you would have sped up the process by about 2 years you could have sold it for around $350.

You need to lurk more. It sounds like you think that device has yet been on the market, when in fact it already had, twice or three times. They were selling then, and they will sell again.

I'm sorry your investment failed but its extremely hard to compete with corporations these days no matter what kind of business you are running.

Wow. You give pity to a group of people who are not in it for the money at all. There is NO competition, and there was no intention of one. If there was a homebrew device that could fulfill a good portion of what the Pandora can do now, the Pandora may have not been bothered with.

Your device is now equivalent to a low end smartphone but with all the opensource compatibility it should do many interesting things.

Hardware isn't everything, The pandora is fairly balanced with its specs to its battery life. Although, being opensource, you could do anything, in theory.

My guess is that some of you founders where hired by your competitors and have in a way succeeded. Good luck I hope nobody lost anything significant over this.

Complete libel.

Quote





The QNX operating system has not been hacked (maybe rooted) and the playbook is a generation above the pandora in every category.


How much do you really know what you're talking about?


Anyway... I vote for


Flotilla

 

[Linux-SWAT]

You can't evaluate a device by just reading specs.


Just grab a Pandora, and "the most powerful" device you can find. It's a no match, the OP wins easily. It's a true open Linux plus a complete rock-solid hardware.


The Zaurus did the same and was years ahead for a long time.

 

[ZXDunny]

Forgive me if this sounds stupid but I don't think you are going to be able to sell for more than $80. Your direct competitors are the off brand tablets. This is from just looking at the specs, I have however been on this site several times over the past few years and it seems like if you would have sped up the process by about 2 years you could have sold it for around $350. I'm sorry your investment failed but its extremely hard to compete with corporations these days no matter what kind of business you are running.


Your device is now equivalent to a low end smartphone but with all the opensource compatibility it should do many interesting things.


My guess is that some of you founders where hired by your competitors and have in a way succeeded. Good luck I hope nobody lost anything significant over this.

There's actually no competitor that beats the Pandora.


The hardware is awesome, the price is fair.


And the device is truly open so no Carrier IQ on it :lol: .

let me explain the minimum industry standards are: (for a product that costs around $200)


1024x600 screen


omap 4430


1GB ram


Wireless N


Dual core 1Ghz


capacitive screen


You can see this specs in many budget level devices that have been released in the past 6 months the Kindle fire, playbook, nook etc.


I don't see how this can compete with those on the market. So atleast the hardware isn't awesome in fact its outdated almost 2 generations.


Maybe i'm missing something can you please explain the functionality of tthis device and how it is better than the failed blackberry playbook which was avaliable widely for under $200 the past two weeks. The QNX operating system has not been hacked (maybe rooted) and the playbook is a generation above the pandora in every category.

Um. You're aware that everything you've stated relates to tablets? Or even on a handheld scale, devices with no gaming controls and keyboard? It's the form factor and small size that makes the Pandora special.


D.

 

[WizardStan]

Guys, he doesn't get it and he probably never will. Explain all you want and it'll just go over his head. There's nothing wrong with that, different people have different priorities. Just pat him on the head, tell him he's a good boy for caring but we're adults who know what we're doing, and let's all carry on our way.

 

[Batou456]

lebob23:


I would say that by the standards that the Pandora addresses none of the currently available ARM processors represents a generational gap. This device is a pocket computer around the same size as a Nintendo DS, that can handle emulation of console and computer systems.


An upgrade at this point would primarily effect the desktop experience and use of native applications, which is already pretty solid from everything I've heard. Given the usual pace of things IdTech 4 should have actually been pored over and properly setup for Linux around the same time OPL should be ready to put out new hardware. At most you can argue for DOSBox going from i386 to i486 territory, but that would involve getting the highest end ARM hardware available, and you'd still probably be left wanting more processing power.


Really though you're not going to see a lot of movement in what the Pandora can do if you moved to currently available hardware. People doing testing with OMAP 4430 equipped Pandaboards have basically verified this, from what I heard of their emulator runs.


A full generation on the Pandora would require getting access to something along the lines of the projected 3GHz ARM v8 cores they're slating for server use. As always with these little diatribes about upgrading, I'm not opposing the notion of upgrading things I'm simply pointing out that it's not going to make that significant of a difference in what it can do.

 

[dreamer]

And at this point it's not so much the hardware that's lacking, but the software.


Even with the specs the Pandora has it's probably only using half of it's potential.


No matter how many ghz, core, ram, etc. you cram into a device. If nobody makes any software that makes full use of it, it's just a waste of silicon.

 

[neko]

Maybe i'm missing something can you please explain the functionality of tthis device and how it is better than the failed blackberry playbook which was avaliable widely for under $200 the past two weeks. The QNX operating system has not been hacked (maybe rooted) and the playbook is a generation above the pandora in every category.

Sales of the Blackberry Playbook were below expectations and the leftover inventory is being sold below cost.  It's somewhat interesting hardware, but the actual cost is more than $200.


The Kindle and Nook are loss-leaders which are being sold below cost.

 

[fredg999]

@lebob23:


You compare the Pandora, designed in 2007 and not changed since, to the newest devices. Sure, in 2011 the Pandora might look slower than other devices available around, but when/if a Pandora 2 gets designed, it will probably use the best parts around and could then "compete" (though that isn't true) with other devices. And some time after its release, the Pandora 2 will/would seem inferior to other devices released by then.


And also, don't compare a 20 cm x 15 cm tablet with a 14 cm x 8,3 cm Pandora for the specs, the Pandora has way less space (almost half) for chips and all.


It is also notable that the processor can be overclocked, unlike most other devices available. The screen, may it be resistive instead of capacitive (though both have qualities and flaws), has a way better resolution for its size than several tablets. For example, the iPad has 1024 x 768 over a 25cm diagonal, which gives about 51,2 pixels per centimeter (130 ppi), while the Pandora has 85.4 pixels per centimeter (217 ppi), which is about 5/3 the pixel density. So the screen isn't inferior to other devices.


It was also already said the Pandora has a 43-button keyboard and gaming controls (D-pad, two analog nubs, 4 ABXY buttons, Start & Select and 2 shoulder buttons), which very very few devices around have.


I think the Pandora has a reasonable price, especially since they have to increase it to pay for all the problems the companies they dealt with caused them, notably CircuitCo.

 

[Darkknight512]

I don't think we will gain too much with a dual core SoC gaming wise, of course desktop applications always crave more power, but at the moment, only N64 emulation craves more power and higher gen systems are out of reach for handhelds right now. Of course game developers can take advantage of the extra speed but right now, purely from a gaming standpoint it does not really matter.


The Pandora is something different and unique, it covers a different market and satisfies different needs.


If you need a cell phone and someone hands you a tablet and says, this one has a bigger screen and is faster, would you take it? Heck no, you need a bloody cellphone!

 

[diligentcircle]

Someone should write an article on how overrated "specs" are.

 

[Stradian]

Someone should write an article on how overrated "specs" are.

Seriously. People expect a performance jump similar from an upgrade from Pentium 4 to a i7. Just look at your gaming consoles, they stick around for what, 5-7 years?

 

[Annales]

I've been on board for almost 2 years now and still waiting. I'm not going anywhere since i appreciate the product more for what it symbolises than what it does (even though the gamer in me is bound to have another opinion.


Regarding CC i have the feeling that they used the parts for something of their own. Or just tried to steal the concept and product. Wild idea! But yet probable knowing the chinese.


I believe in the product and especially the team behind it. Keep it up with even more strength and trust, we shall stick with you.