New pricing and bundles!?

[ThinkPad]

Hello,

I am a long time lurker, and i love the device but i just want to say 1 major thing:

This price is ridiculous! 

Nobody will pay more than 150 Euro for this hardware except Pandora fanboys.

Well, don`t get me wrong because I am a Pandora fanboy too, but my commonsense tells me that, for a 500 Euro I can get a high end phone which will do the same and even more, or even a new hardware wise gaming PC.

I know all about the issues that you have, but in order Pandora to make a splash you need to work in direction to lower the prices.

Best Regards.

 

[hedwards]

Hello,
I am a long time lurker, and i love the device but i just want to say 1 major thing:

This price is ridiculous! 

Nobody will pay more than 150 Euro for this hardware except Pandora fanboys.

Well, don`t get me wrong because I am a Pandora fanboy too, but my commonsense tells me that, for a 500 Euro I can get a high end phone which will do the same and even more, or even a new hardware wise gaming PC.

I know all about the issues that you have, but in order Pandora to make a splash you need to work in direction to lower the prices.

Best Regards.

Well, TBH, at this point, I don't think anybody is ordering new units, or keeping their order, who isn't some sort of Pandora Fanboy.

 

[_wb_]

There is no way this hardware can be produced for 150 EUR, not even by a giant like Apple, Sony or Samsung. The only way to get near that price is to sell millions of units, sell them at a slight loss or roughly at cost, and lock the device down with proprietary software and DRM so you can compensate those losses by selling expensive software for it (e.g. 50 EUR games). Not the kind of business model most of us are in favor of.

 

[Klumpen]

Sidebranch: Well, i'm getting nearly nothing for all my high taxes and at least here in Berlin, many people die, because they are poor, their families are a disaster and no one gives a shit about you, if you haven't got a real address. I was in some diffucult situations before, where i had to relie on the good will of any other people, than the bureocrats. I know people here, that do not have any teeth left with 30 and as my company got one guy from the street (actually, we are woodworkers, but social ones), i know, what ridiculous difficulties are existent in the real world in getting someone a roof and some walls in germany, if he has got nothing other than some skills.

OnTopic: Will the upgrades get new prizes too?

 

[klapse]

For gaming, typing and websurfing I want a real keyboard and controls. The pandora does what I want while on the go better than or as well as high end phones. It is not too expensive by that measure.

 

[Moridian]

Aww, how cruel. So shortly after I ordered and recieved mine. Ohwell I dont mind, it was money well spent. It have allready replaced my mp3 player and my asus transformer.

Only thing I did mind was the import fee. They really hurt in Norway as they charge 25% of whatever you paid.

Just curious - how did the Pandora replace your asus transformer? 

As an ideal travel partner with more options. With Android on the pandora I can do most things I could do on the transformer+all the goodies from the pandora itself.

 

[Grench]

Hello,
I am a long time lurker, and i love the device but i just want to say 1 major thing:

This price is ridiculous! 

Nobody will pay more than 150 Euro for this hardware except Pandora fanboys.

Well, don`t get me wrong because I am a Pandora fanboy too, but my commonsense tells me that, for a 500 Euro I can get a high end phone which will do the same and even more, or even a new hardware wise gaming PC.

I know all about the issues that you have, but in order Pandora to make a splash you need to work in direction to lower the prices.

Best Regards.

Really?  150?  That's like $240 or so.  You can't even build a cobbled together Raspbery Pi portable for that.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/20/pi-to-go-portable-raspberry-pi/

Even that home-spun Franken-puter winds up being $400 in -parts-.

You don't have to be a 'fanboy' to see that the Pandora is WAY more computer in the palm of your hand than that.

A 'high end cell phone' won't do the same tasks - not even remotely.  If you think that, then you have no real concept of what a Pandora is.  Put Audacious, FileZilla, DosBox and a real file manager on your 'high end phone'.  Then add nubs, dual full sized SDXC, a usable keyboard and real audiophile quality headphone sound to it.  Good luck on that.

I have a 1Ghz Pandora and a Samsung Galaxy Note II.  After owning a Pandora then getting the GNII - the GNII was a bit of a let-down.  Yes, the GNII has it beat on specs hands down.  As a 'computer' or 'game device' though, I go back to my Pandora and am glad I have it.

If they were building millions of these, the price would be high.  For a low-volume device - it's actually pretty good.

 

[Klumpen]

He used my favourite miniature-keyboard.

 

[ThinkPad]

@Grench

I think that ICP2+ Anyphone setup, will be way more coast and performance effective then Pandora, at least you will have 3G.

Or one of these next gen JXD devices 7600b/5600b, they will support 3G sticks out of the box. Yes they do not have physical keyboard but as far as i can see their controls will be okay but maybe their batteries will suck.

Pandora is still a great neat device but is overpriced way too much for her performance just like Openmoko was.

To be honest i was aiming to get 1Ghz Pandora for Christmas, but actually I am pretty confused and still cant make a decision.  

There is no happiness for me.

Best Regards. 

 

[Chock]

Buying a new 1GHz Pandora would be cheaper than upgrading my 2008 pre-order. Tempting. But I doubt craig will give back any refunds before this 'deal' ends.

Which is why Craig's advertised upgrade price (350$) in November email is more fair, even if that still makes the console more expensive than the current price (330+350->680 , versus $602 + shipping... (shipping already paid in advance in 2009 for 19$ by the way, and with a TV cable...).

 

[Ian J]

@Grench

I think that ICP2+ Anyphone setup, will be way more coast and performance effective then Pandora, at least you will have 3G.

Or one of these next gen JXD devices 7600b/5600b, they will support 3G sticks out of the box. Yes they do not have physical keyboard but as far as i can see their controls will be okay but maybe their batteries will suck.

Pandora is still a great neat device but is overpriced way too much for her performance just like Openmoko was.

To be honest i was aiming to get 1Ghz Pandora for Christmas, but actually I am pretty confused and still cant make a decision.

There is no happiness for me.

Best Regards. 

My 2 pence (I live in the UK)

Yes the Pandora isn't as powerful as newer smart phones when you look at the numbers but I have a Samsung Galaxy 3 and most emulators I have tried run better on the Pandora.  I'm putting this down to the constant optimisations of the awesome coders on this community.

I also have an iCP and I really cannot be arsed to sync it with my phone every time I fancy a quick blast on an emulator.

The Pandora controls work straight out of the box, every emulator I have on my phone requires some set-up to get the controls mapped, doing that without a proper keyboard to navigate MAMEs menus was really tedious, I ended up plugging in a keyboard to my phone and using that.

Overall if you want to play anything more technical than a touch screen game go for the Pandora, you really will not regret it.

I am a linux noob and rarely use the Pandora for anything other than gaming, but for me it was worth every penny for the experience of true controls and a full keyboard.

 

[Binky]

My two cent(ence)s:

The datasheet specs for every iteration of the NDS are specacularly bad.

I have persuaded a few nerdy (by not-yet pandora-fanboy) friends to buy pandoras.

 

[Yoyobuae]

Pandora is for users that are tired of being told "no, you can't do that" by computer hardware manufacturers and software developers.

A computer (of any kind) is the epitome of customizability. It's annoying when that capability gets taken away and devices get locked down because:

• The company behind it wants to control how the device is used for their advantage
• The company assumes that users are too dumb and need to be protected from themselves

ARG!!!!!

Pandora offers the same kind of freedom one can get from "real" computers in portable form, with gaming controls, with an awesome community and developers supporting it. For me this is heaven.

 

[Ian J]

I'll just add that this community is the best that I have experienced since the days of the Amiga.

In my opinion the Amiga was the last great era for bedroom coders / computer clubs.

Genuine people getting together to enjoy a love of computers.

 

[Linux-SWAT]

About the 64G bundle, i think the card may be sdxc, not sdhc.

 

[ekianjo]

I'll just add that this community is the best that I have experienced since the days of the Amiga.

In my opinion the Amiga was the last great era for bedroom coders / computer clubs.

Genuine people getting together to enjoy a love of computers.

+1 - I would add that there was a real love for the machine itself. Now PC, macs just feel like they are appliances. No love for them.

 

[Wrath Of Khan]

^^^^^So true. The pandora has soul.

 

[Klumpen]

I am a Linux-noob and i have got a simple 3 year old phone (clamshell from Samsung) with a battery life of about 1,5 weeks and a CC-Pandora that is mainly used for gaming or XviD with nearly the same spectacular battery life, which may be upgraded to 1Ghz and the platinum-case sometime and am very happy with it.

I wouldn't change it for a smartphone with iCP in any way, regardless the difference in pricing.

I am manufacturing an international niche-product in germany as well and can say, that the prize really isn't too high for the amount of pandoras that are build.

 

[fritata]

₦ł₡E

 

[klapse]

Who is doing the assembly of new units?