Also interesting because it ignores potential daughterboards/controllers options meant to solve that problem.
The P2 will be a lot smaller than P1, so where to put it ?
If you don't understand the allure of formfactor and how it effects purchasing decisions and want to confine the success of the project based on sales to "a very small niche" then full steam ahead imo. Meanwhile most every consumer product will be trimming the fat where it is feasible to do so. Cars (e.g., the Smart Car), laptops, computers, ebook readers, tablets, phones, slim versions of gaming consoles, HDTV's, computer monitors, and more all acknowledge that form factor is a consideration. As a result they are getting smaller where it matters and is most feasible to do so.
First, not everything gets smaller - cars aren't getting smaller, TVs aren't getting smaller (in fact they are getting bigger at least in two dimensions as produng LCD TVs in bigger sizes is a lot cheaper than producing big tube-TVs), Laptops are also not getting smaller - there are the ultrabooks now, but my first laptop was even thinner than an ultrabook is now (ok maybe not thinner than any ultraboook). Cellphones are also not getting smaller now, I had a cellphone 7 or 8 years ago that was third the size. At that time people began to come up with jokes that in the near future people have to worry about not swallong their phones. So maybe getting everything smaller isn't always the best solution ? And who the f.. says that it is in everyones favour that things get smaller ? People are complaining that the Pandora has no 4 cpu cores, while their phone has them, but people don't tend do ask why their phone needs 4 cpu cores (with no software available that will use it). Maybe the mass isn't always right ?
Maybe I'm a member of dying species but I would not wan't the P2 be a lot smaller. Not that I would not like it if my P2 would fit easily in my pocket - but the P1 fits barely in my Hands (having average sized hands), and playing is ok for a extend period of time. But making it smaller, will make it painfull to play. As it seems you like comparing things to "the big companies" - look at size of game controllers of the current console generation - are they very small - so even children can hold them easily ? No, because Nintendo, MS, etc. decided that their controllers need a certain size.
I don't want to confine the Pandora success to a small niche, I'm just realistic. The Pandora 2 will never be a mass market device - why ? Because the Pandora simply can't compete with big companies. Craig says that he wants the Pandora to be the best/powerfull Handheld console by the time it is released. But for how long this will last - maybe six months ? Till apple announces the 8/9...50th iteration of the IPhone with more powerfull hardware, so hardwise the competetion is insane. I know about modularity and as the idea has some genius in it, hard to believe that craig wants to produce/sell new SoC Modules every half a year. Leaving out the cost - craig says that the P2 will probably cost about 600-700€ - fair price, but not competitive in any way. The market will simply not care wether it is made with love by a small company or an evil empire.
So why scrap all that makes the P2 attractive and disticts it from the mass market ?
You don't need to bring a bunch of adapters anywhere. At most just bring the one that you need.
true I exaggerated, but having the need for a adapter at all defeats the purpose of a portable device.
I'm saying you don't even need them because you can clone the data. MP3's on your SD card in your car radio? Great, before you leave, pop out the SD card and copy the data onto your Pandy. Now you can just leave the SD card in your radio and the MicroSD in the Pandy. It's basically device synchronization and not even novel. I would just copy my mp3's from my laptop to my Pandy and SD card at the same time. The music would be in both locations at the same time.
I don't call it a feature that everytime I want to listen to music on my Pandora I'd first have to pop out the SD card from my radio, then pop it into the Pandora. Then on the return trip I would pop out the SD card from my Pandora and pop it into the SD slot of my car radio. I would just clone the data. I'm not sure why it's more preferable not to do so and it's somehow more preferable to pop cards in and out multiple times a day.
Thats strange, most of the time you write that we have to watch the market and see what it does. And now you want it the other way round ? Having data redudant in several places (and that has nothing to dow with device synchronization at all)? Its also impracticle, having to keep my car radio sd card with me every time, because there is a small probablity I'll by some new music this night that I wan't to hear the next morning during a car ride.
It still lowers versatility not having a full sized SD-Slot. Full size cards won't go away in the next few years, at least no one came up with a reason for it. And it's just a lot easier beeing on holiday and browse through a lot of pictures with my Pandora. My tablet could not help with it - yeah I know the adapter (who wants to carry and adapter with him all the time?)
But I'm all for making a "trash" forum and tossing it there...
