Pandora's Rival: The Gizmondo

[Sphinxter]

Gizmondo is backed by a rather large team of wealthy investors and companies... The Pandora is not

You should invest your life savings with them immediately.

 

[Chip]

Just in case anybody is not 100% up to date with the cavalcade of absurdity that is Gizmondo Inc, this Wired article should fill in the blanks. It is a long read, but fascinating. If it were anybody less reliable than Wired I would swear they were making it up.

Personally, I will not be holding my breath for the Gizmondo II. Though I do hear they have Duke Nukem Forever lined up as a launch title

 

[Sphinxter]

It's deader than the first one according to gizmodo
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/gizmondo/

 

[aconsumer]

Regardless of what GizMan-Does I think will be sticking with Pandora. I really like the design, and the possibility of chiptune creation with the microphone jack, touch screen, dual SDHC cards, as well as the processor. Besides the GP2X has a long history of great programs that hopefully will be ported over to Pandora. And I wont even get into the history of the Gizmondo..whats the point..=]

 

[Prophet]

I know it's shallow, but personally I could never quite get past the name "Gizmondo." It's just so... bad. It's hard to have faith in people who would willingly call their product "Gizmondo." Ugh.

The unattractive design and lack of games (in a world populated by DS and PSP) didn't help much either.

Anyway, it's no competition to Pandora IMO. Pandora is very unique, and is targeted and designed specifically for a very small but also very real niche audience. I think the Pandora team understands their audience, while I don't think the Gizmondo people have a clue who their audience even is (assuming it even exists).

 

[Squidge]

Gizmondo is backed by a rather large team of wealthy investors and companies... The Pandora is not

If by "wealthy investors", you mean criminals and fraudsters, then yes, I'd agree

 

[EvilDragon]

And I guess we don't throw our money away having some parties (errmm... and more...) with some... chicks

.
.
.
.. damn, we're doing something wrong.

 

[Iorgy77]

I hope they plan on releasing a version of outrun 2 c2c with a ferrari enzo as an unlockable car.

 

[Gaeryc]

Gizmondo is backed by a rather large team of wealthy investors and companies... The Pandora is not

:rolleyes:

Let me guess.. texas instrument's, meaning the guys behind the processor want to use pandora as example of what their processor thing can do and are funding the pandora?

 

[Null]

I hope they plan on releasing a version of outrun 2 c2c with a ferrari enzo as an unlockable car.

Or a version of Burnout.

 

[Eclipse]

I'd say the Pandora is in a worse position as far as trust is concerned..

I am really wondering what makes you say so.

The people involved in Pandora are known by this community and can be trusted (at least I trust them).
That doesn't make it 100% sure we will see the Pandora, but I certainly trust them more than people gambling cash as Gizmondo's guys


they actually did a commercial console, ok they failed war versus nintendo and sony but they are much bigger than GPH itself.
Pandora's Team instead today are almost nothing more that a bunch of guys, pretty skilled of course, but with nothing more that a project on paper and some 3d renderings.
This "Opened" Gizmondo will surely came out first if they announced it like this, and it's a powerful console too...

Btw only time will tell

Oh, it have also a cooler shape

 

[BaDToaD]

I'd say the Pandora is in a worse position as far as trust is concerned..

I am really wondering what makes you say so.

The people involved in Pandora are known by this community and can be trusted (at least I trust them).
That doesn't make it 100% sure we will see the Pandora, but I certainly trust them more than people gambling cash as Gizmondo's guys


Pandora's Team instead today are almost nothing more that a bunch of guys, pretty skilled of course, but with nothing more that a project on paper and some 3d renderings.


Wow you really have done your research haven't you LOL

 

[Eclipse]

not at all, there are videos of Pandora running apps?

edit: just clicked on "latest pandora informations", impressive: videos of a fake pandora made of paper for size comparisons, renderings with fake Heretic 2 screenshots (a game that will never run, also because it's closed source) and so on... pretty impressive how much fake material here. I've to admit and change my words to
"Pandora's Team instead today are almost nothing more that a bunch of guys, pretty skilled of course, but with a lot of fake videos and renderings with stuff that will never run on it"

it's ok now?

oh and i was not trolling, but now i can't understand why i said of wrong. lol.

 

[BaDToaD]

oh and i was not trolling

But you are now?

 

[Eclipse]

nah, i just dislikes that type of replies :\

 

[Gaeryc]

not at all, there are videos of Pandora running apps?

edit: just clicked on "latest pandora informations", impressive: videos of a fake pandora made of paper for size comparisons, renderings with fake Heretic 2 screenshots (a game that will never run, also because it's closed source) and so on... pretty impressive how much fake material here. I've to admit and change my words to
"Pandora's Team instead today are almost nothing more that a bunch of guys, pretty skilled of course, but with a lot of fake videos and renderings with stuff that will never run on it"

it's ok now?

oh and i was not trolling, but now i can't understand why i said of wrong. lol.

Not all of the pictures and videos are made by the makers of pandora, do you realize that?

 

[BaDToaD]

I've been a member of these boards for over 4 years and lurked for some time before that. I've been on the recieving end of some freebie and cheap offers made by Craig to the fourm regulars and can say the guy seems pretty sound to me. Likewise ED has been around for a long time and has my respect and trust too.

Either the Pandora is building up to the greatest April Fool ever played in the console world or it's legitimate. Personally I'd believe it's legit!

Finally does this sound like a system that's only on paper and in renders to you?

This is the layout for the beta board. I didn't have access to a couple of the parts (such as AV port and volume slider) for this layout so the first design will look like this. ED designed these changes based on a dimensional diagram I gave him from that PCB. There will be one more board revision to clear up any errors that could be found plus a finalization on component choices.

The volume control (a wheel for now due to ease of purchase) is jammed into the corner to allow a JTAG port to be accessible from the bottom without affecting the battery compartment.

What I have proposed for the final design is a volume slider more centered between SD2 and the edge, and the power switch moved way up on the right side of the unit. The slider is less deep and should allow me to fit a stylus in behind it running along side the battery, extending about 100mm into the body of the system. Injection molds have not been made yet because they are very expensive and they don't take as long to make as some of the lead times of other parts in the design! We are continuing to use rapid prototyping methods until everything is nailed down.

Also, the internal microphone is located in the right hinge area, next to the power/charging LED. The hole is at the top and front edge so that you could use it even with the lid closed, should the need to dictate notes come up. It's not shown in this picture. That LED is to extend to the top as well so it can be seen with the lid closed, also not shown.

The Dpad is still unmodified but will change. The analog nub colors are still not changed and we all know they are silver with black pads in the middle. All of the silk screening for final character selection on the keys is not printed on the render either.

I investigated the possibility of four shoulder buttons but found it quite uncomfortable in the vertical configuration (as we are not extending controls out of the bottom of the case). A configuration in the horizontal direction was easier to handle but still not perfect and was obscured by way too many components on the PCB! There is a fair bit of supporting hardware to go along with the OMAP chipset. As you know, we have done what we can to make this a fairly self-sufficient device, free of cradles and such. There are lots of components crammed into the little space available around all the buttons. I can't place a bunch of parts under the main gaming controls because the plastic case has support structures to make sure this is a rigid and sturdy unit for even the toughest gamer out there. Having said all that, I took the liberty of running extra GPIO's to pads and placed them in the corners so that if some hacker wants to figure out a way to strap on more buttons, they have the pins at their disposal.

The current plan is not to provide the second audio jack. The AV port needs more room and there isn't enough space to stick it in the left lower corner. The only option is to move it up near the middle of the left side which puts it into the battery compartment and it doesn't make sense to shrink the battery down for this feature. The headphone part of the AV connector will be as close to the corner on the front edge as is practical without getting in the way of your palm, so a right angle connector will be the best solution here (for pocket use).

I don't think RED is currently a selectable color for product launch but perhaps we can have a selection of colors from most favorite to least favorite with the pre-orders to see if we get large enough grouping in select colors to make it worth doing a batch? We shall see.

I hope this was informative enough to answer any questions this picture created.

 

[streak]

the REAL handheld life begins when handheld is released to the public [ you could buy it in shop ]. In that matter Pandora and new gizmondo is in the same positions. Personally i believe that new gizmondo will be a good concurent for pandora if they really release it. And at the end. ... let the better win... no matter giz or pandora.

btw. Imho, pandoras cover design still sucks. I know Craig want to put all next gen stuff in one box, but for gods sake... who needs a 2 pseudo-analog controllers-* in a handheld ? and a DUAL SDHC slots ...

*-Only useable for psx emulation / n64 emu .. but only game that REQUIRES a REAL analog controller in PSX is ... Saru: Get You // Ape Escape. On N64 emu we dont need analog controll either.. toi be honest: why dont put there a touchpad for ScummVM interpreter <LOL>. We need to remember one thing. We need a HANDy handheld, not EEE mini clone.

 

[Squidge]

This "Opened" Gizmondo will surely came out first if they announced it like this, and it's a powerful console too...

Have you ever coded for the Gizmondo? If not, then I encourage you to attempt it before calling it a powerful console. Yes, it has a 400Mhz ARM, and yes, it has NVidia graphics, but just try and use that combination for 2D games.

 

[Null]

btw. Imho, pandoras cover design still sucks. I know Craig want to put all next gen stuff in one box, but for gods sake... who needs a 2 pseudo-analog controllers-* in a handheld ? and a DUAL SDHC slots ...

*-Only useable for psx emulation / n64 emu .. but only game that REQUIRES a REAL analog controller in PSX is ... Saru: Get You // Ape Escape. On N64 emu we dont need analog controll either.. toi be honest: why dont put there a touchpad for ScummVM interpreter <LOL>. We need to remember one thing. We need a HANDy handheld, not EEE mini clone.

I would say something more worthwhile, but i'm following your lead on this one.

Edit: results of next gen psp survey, RC Stunt Copter